It was several days after the riots had broken out. Lucius had disappeared and nobody knew where he’d gone off to. Some people suspected he was still hiding in the UK, but many who knew about him believed he had left for another country.
The riots had only been quelled as of 12 hours ago, when Britannia’s king issued orders to blanket the entire country in a calming drug called Aerosleep. It was a type of generally non-toxic particles that, when inhaled, caused drowsiness. You could buy it from any drugstore. People often added it into humidifiers to help them sleep at night.
While the drug had worked, not only had it taken a long time, but several people had died from overdosing. While not toxic, it was still dangerous to take too much of it. Sadly, the amount people needed to have the same effect was variable. What had been released into cities across Britannia had been the highest concentration ever recorded. Several people had also been knocked unconscious, and they were still sleeping in hospitals; entire wings had been set up for the people who’d become comatose as a result of Aerosleep being released as clouds into the city.
Anthony had been long gone by then, but he had seen reports on various news channels and social media.
At the moment, Anthony was sitting before a mirror as Marianne dabbed his face with various kinds of makeup. She was smearing some kind of cream over his face. Was it some kind of foundation? He didn’t know.
“Is this really necessary?” he asked.
“Yes,” Marianne said as she rubbed the stuff into his face. “You have a beautiful face, but it’s going to look very different when you go on television. You want to look your best.”
“I suppose.” He tried not to sigh because that would mess with her work, but it was a near thing. “You know, I’ve noticed that you never seem very shy when it comes to matters like this. At any other time, you’d be stuttering and blushing up a storm.”
“D-don’t tease me,” Marianne stuttered.
Anthony didn’t laugh, but he couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped him. “Sorry. I know you have your political face and your private face. I still find it amusing that you can only switch to your politician’s face whenever we’re going to be in the public eye.”
At the moment, Anthony was getting ready to go live on international television. He had been contacted by the WNS (World News Station) and asked to do an interview with them. After speaking to the Board of Directors, and specifically Naomi Vasquez, they had decided to accept the invite.
Anthony personally didn’t want to go on TV. He didn’t like being in the public eye. However, he was now a public figure and had little choice in the matter.
Secilia peaked her head into the room. “Hey! Are you done yet? They say we’re going live in ten minutes.”
“We’re finished,” Marianne called out as she stood back and let Anthony stand up. Anthony tried to touch his face. It felt like there was so much crap caked onto his skin that he couldn’t even feel the air conditioning blowing on his face, but Marianne grabbed his hands. “Don’t do that or you’ll ruin the makeup.”
“Right,” he sighed.
Marianne ushered Anthony out of the room, where he was met with numerous people aside from his harem. They were all part of the news crew. He walked through the throngs of people working and soon stepped onto the stage, which had been built just for this interview. Two people were already there. Trinity was one of them, and the other was a woman who looked like she could have been part of a modeling agency.
“And there’s the man we were just speaking of,” she said. “Anthony, the world’s only incubus and a man who has just recently stepped in to fill the role as one of the most powerful individuals in the world. Why don’t you come up and say hi?”
“Mira,” he greeted with a stiff smile as he walked over and let the women greet him with a hug and two kisses on the cheek.
Mira Marielle was one of the leading stars working for the WNS and with good reason. She had started her career as a model and social media influencer before she was scouted by the WNS to do interviews with powerful figures in the world of international politics and commerce. Her incredible good looks made her a hit with many. Anthony had even heard that the WNS’ international ratings had skyrocketed since she was brought onboard. It was just a reminder that beauty was its own kind of power.
“Come, come, sit down. We were just talking about you,” Mira said.
Anthony sat down next to Trinity and raised an eyebrow. “And what were you saying?”
“Nothing but good things, I assure you,” Trinity said with a smile. If her ears hadn’t been hidden by an illusion, he was sure he’d have seen them wiggling mischievously.
“What exactly did she say about me?” he asked Mira, pointing to Trinity.
“She said you have a big dick,” Mira immediately said.
“Are you even allowed to say that on live television?” he asked.
Mira waved him off. “It will be fine. I’ve gotten permission to talk about touchy subjects since you’re an incubus.”
While their back and forth might have seemed natural to some, the entire thing was scripted. Anthony had been told what to say, how to reply, and even how to sit in advance.
“Anyway, to the real topic at hand,” Mira continued, now leaning forward. “I hear that you, Trinity, and your harem, during the riots, stormed Fortress Custodes Adeptus. Can you tell us more about that?”
“Of course,” Anthony replied. He leaned back in his seat. It was a calculated move. “When the riots first began, we were escorted to our vehicle, and during the ride, we discovered that several accounts instigating the riots were linked to people who had ties with the traitorous branch of Custodes Daemonium under the leadership of Lucius Alfoy. We went to confront him when we were assaulted. He escaped while we were storming in. While inside, we found evidence that all of the riots were instigated by him. I’ve linked the data to your network, so you can pull it up for everyone to see.”
“We will do just that,” Mira said.
At her command, several holographic screens suddenly appeared. Many of them were videos of the riots, but a few were videos of conversations that took place between Lucius and the instigators before the riots even happened. All of them were timestamped so people could see the sequence of events. There were also several documents detailing the plans to cause the riots and use them as an excuse to wipe out the non-humans.
Mira whistled. “I’m surprised they had all this evidence lying around.”
“It was located in a secure data storage,” Anthony said. “And they were trying to destroy it. Lucius Alfoy activated the base’s self-destruct. I believe he was trying to get rid of us and the incriminating evidence at the same time. Unfortunately for him, one of my bondmates is the best hacker in the world. She deactivated the self-destruct sequence and hacked into their most secure data storage centers.”
“Speaking of your harem, you currently have… four women in it?” asked Mira with a sly look.
Anthony felt a sudden chill run down his spine. This was not part of the script.
“Uh… yes,” he answered.
“I know that succubus are able to only have a set amount of bondmates based on their power. The more powerful the succubus, the more bondmates they had. You were a member of Lilith’s harem at one point, and she had 13 bondmates if I’m not mistaken. Are incubus the same way?”
Anthony pursed his lips at Mira’s question but answered anyway. “Sort of… the amount of bondmates we can have has less to do with overall power, however. Since only a few incubus have existed to date, I can’t tell you exactly what genetics determine how many people we can bond with.”
“How many can you bond with?” asked Mira, leaning in even further now.
“Er…”
Anthony suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure he should answer this question. Honestly, it felt like he was walking into a trap. Mira’s smile was predatory as fuck.
“I can bond with seven women,” he answered at last.
“Which means you can bond with three more,” Mira concluded, and her smile turned even more devious. “Mind if I add myself to the list of potential bondmates?”
“Er…”
Since this wasn’t scripted, Anthony did not know how to answer. Should he be honest? If he was going to be honest, his answer would be a solid no. Mira was pretty, but her looks were all she had going for her in his mind. She couldn’t stand by his side like his other bondmates. While he didn’t really have a type, the one thing he wanted in a bondmate was someone who would stick by him, fight side-by-side with him. If she couldn’t risk life and limb with him, he didn’t want her.
He could tell at a glance that Mira was not the kind of woman who’d do that.
His incubus senses were tingling.
“You can be honest, you know,” Mira said with a chuckle as she leaned back. “I won’t be mad.”
“Then no. You’re not my type,” Anthony answered immediately.
“What a quick response!” Mira laughed. She didn’t seem too choked up about his answer, so he relaxed into his chair. “But that does beg the question… what do you look for in a woman?”
And just like that, Anthony froze again as though someone had dunked him in a bucket of liquid nitrogen.