Chapter 3
“…until the end of days, the games we play together will always remain in my heart,” Eden’s softened tone echoed in his ear as he read off the lines of this month's script.
The cheesy as all hell lines.
As per usual.
In the recording booth across from his, he could see his coworker and friend, Noon, reading off his own lines, his expression no doubt a lot more chipper than the one Eden currently wore.
They’d both been a part of the universal hit game, Vanity, since its conception, and yet only one of them was actually invested in the plotlines and the character arcs.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t Eden.
Ransom, his character, was cool and all—when he wasn’t spouting gag-inducing romantic lines—but seven years in, and Eden was pretty much over it.
If only he didn’t need the money.
It was good coin too.
There was also the fact that he was still friends with the creator, Yarrow.
Vanity had started out as a project their freshman year of college, when he and Yarrow had been assigned as roommates.
It’d been little more than a rough concept then, something Yarrow had worked on all throughout their university careers, until he’d been able to present a demo version as his final project in their senior year.
Initially, Eden had agreed to let him model Ransom off his physical appearance out of a desire to befriend his new roommate.
Later, when it’d gotten more intense, and he’d been asked if some personality traits could also be used, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal.
He supposed it really wasn’t, in the grand scheme of things.
At night, he got himself through by trying to convince himself this job wasn’t too far removed from the one he’d always dreamed of having as a kid. Sure, he wasn’t using his voice in quite the way he’d pictured it, but at least he was still being paid for it.
A paycheck that was funding his new dream.
Revenge.
A dream he may be one step closer to achieving.
Or…not.
It’d been days since he’d heard from the masked stranger. At first, Eden had feared the cops showing up on his doorstep, demanding answers he didn’t have, but when that didn’t happen, and the worry had faded…He’d been left with a different sort of anxiety.
“Sounds great,” Mu, the sound producer on the other side of the glass, clicked a button and said once Eden had finished up. “Thanks, man. That’ll be all for the day.”
Eden took the headset off and placed it on the music stand before exiting the small room, trying not to think about what he’d done last night.
Alone.
With the sex toy he’d splurged on.
He didn’t even know how it’d happened. One minute, he’d been picturing his favorite celebrity crush, Yuze Quint, pinning him down, forcing him to take it, and the next, the image had been replaced by the masked stranger.
Eden hadn’t even gotten a good enough look at him to properly fantasize about him, and yet that didn’t seem to stop his mind from doing so.
He’d opted to give the guy a name in his head, so he wasn’t always referring to him as “masked stranger” and had landed on Lucifer.
It seemed fitting, all things considered.
Until Eden had cried out his name.
His fake name.
Given to a faceless masked murderer who may or may not have Eden as his intended next victim.
Fuck, what was wrong with him?
“This banner is going to be a hit,” Noon caught Eden’s attention as he joined him in the main room. “They’ve got Six and the player catching an android spy on a speed train. What about Ransom’s plotline?”
“Taking shelter in an abandoned mall after a failed mission,” Eden indulged him, grateful for the distraction. “They find an arcade.”
Vanity’s plotline was fairly simple. It took place on a planet overrun with androids trying to take control.
The appeal to the game, the thing that set it apart from other action RPGs, was the rich story and the otome features.
The player built affection points with four different love interests, or LIs, and joined monthly events where Memories, or date cards, could be won through a lottery system.
Ransom and Six were two of the LIs, with Ransom being the most popular of the lot. .
“Nice. Please tell me there’s a karaoke game?”
“Already recorded two different songs for it.” He’d spent the better part of the weekend on those, but the fans always loved it when Ransom sang, and since Eden loved to do it… “Players will get two different play modes.”
“Real fans will try them both.” Noon whistled. “Yarrow knows how to milk our strengths, I’ll give him that. Anyway, pizza?”
“No, I have—” Eden was cut short when the door opened before they could reach it, and Yarrow’s assistant, Ismay, walked in.
“Hey, boys.” She popped the bright yellow gum she was chewing and held out a holopad to Noon, who was standing a step closer. “Just need your signatures. You know the drill.”
“New contracts already?” Noon took the device and flipped to the last digital page, scrawling his signature without reading a word of the document.
“You’ll like this one,” she assured. “Gives you another ten percent pay raise and a one percent share in the company.”
“No shit?” Noon hooted.
Eden took the device and mirrored his friend's moves, not bothering to read through the thirty-six-page document either. They were all mostly carbon copies of the original, with tweaks in payment. Yarrow treated them decently.
Until you took into account how Eden and Noon’s likenesses had been used for the characters, and how they’d spent sleepless nights brainstorming and working with Yarrow to get this project up and running four years ago, yet they held no stakes in the company overall.
But it’d been Yarrow’s idea, he’d been the one majoring in development, and he’d gotten the team together to actually create and code the damn thing so…
Eden never openly complained. Besides, it wasn’t about money for him anyway. So long as he had enough to keep the lights on at home and pay for investigators, he was content. And if he wasn’t happy? Who cared?
Happiness was overrated.
…What would Lucifer ask for if he also wasn’t interested in money?
“There’s a company dinner tonight,” Ismay said, taking back the holopad once he was done with it. “It’s to welcome the new investor. He’s the one you can thank for the added benefits to your contracts, so you have to be there.”
It wasn’t often that they were forced to attend company parties or gatherings, so Eden couldn’t really argue.
“What time? I have something this afternoon.” He wouldn’t argue, but that didn’t mean he’d reschedule his appointment.
Eden had finally received a call back from a local music school.
It was small, but he’d seize any opportunity he could to return to music for himself, and as himself.
Sure, it was nice that he still got to sing, but that was as Ransom.
All of the local schools and universities already had a full staff, so there’d been no place for him at any of them, and since his commitment to Vanity meant he couldn’t move to a different town further away…This might be his only shot.
“I’ll message you the location,” Ismay said. “Just be sure to arrive by six sharp.”
The meeting was at four.
He’d make it.
* * *
Eden was in a piss poor mood when he arrived at the restaurant several hours later. His meeting with the head of the small music school for middle school-aged kids hadn’t gone well. They’d seemed to like him, up until he’d been shown one of the classrooms.
A batch of students had recognized him and gotten rowdy, asking for autographs. The excitement had been palpable, but the woman recruiting him had seen it as a major distraction. In the end, he’d lost the job because she’d feared he was too popular and none of the kids would take him seriously.
Then, when he’d tried to complain to Yarrow over the phone, his friend had said something about how it was a blessing in disguise since it meant he could dedicate more time to Ransom.
As if he didn’t already spend every free moment bringing Yarrow’s dream to life and pissing on his own.
He’d even gone so far as to suggest enough time had passed for Eden to try and move on and let go.
Let it go.
As though the unjust murder of his entire family was the same as a lost button or sock.
Let it go.
As if he hadn’t dedicated the past three years of his life to this. To unearthing the truth and getting retribution for the faces that swam behind his eyes whenever he closed them at night.
His mother had been stern, running the household with a no-nonsense approach. His father had been soft-hearted, doting on her and his children. If anyone ever came into the store short on a bit of coin, he’d wave them off and tell them to bring the rest next time. And his sister…
Ella had been a spark in the darkness. The light grounding them all, bringing them together.
Only she could soothe their mother’s anger or convince their father to enforce stricter rules at the store so they wouldn’t fear falling into the negatives.
She’d been the bridge between their parents' vastly different personalities.
For Eden, she’d been the kid sister who’d needed protecting—even when she’d been more than capable of taking care of herself. There were six years between them, yet he’d considered her his best friend.
In one single night, all three had been stolen. And not in the way a fucking button or a sock could be.
Someone had entered their small convenience store and basically tortured them to death.
At the time, police had called it a robbery gone wrong, but the case wrapped up after only a month or so with no suspects and only dead ends.
By the end of the year, even the last officer who’d been working it had called it quits.
They’d given up, and they expected Eden to understand and do the same.
To let it go.