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Category: Erotica/Erotic Science Fiction
Description: An alternate dimension?demons?a dangerous game?will fiery passion be their only defense? Temp agency owner Shannon Miller likes to play video games, but she never expected to find herself in one, let alone with a sexy scientist who makes her body melt with desire. Physicist Damien Richards is blind--and not only in matters that concern his sight. Despite the accomplishments he's achieved in creating an alternate dimension, he still believes he is unwhole due to his physical impairment. When a lab accident propels the two into an experimental, alternate dimension, they find themselves playing a dangerous game, unable to return, fighting demons as well as a passion that could consume them both. Will they be able to face their personal fears and win the game of love? Product Warnings Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, mild violence, sex toys.
eBook Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd., 2006
eBookwise Release Date: February 2011

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [127 KB]
Words: 26566
Reading time: 75-106 min.

She eyed the luminescent blue swirling energies and took a cautious step back. "It's...it's...amazing. It sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie."

"It was science fiction until a few months ago."

She eyed the chamber warily. "Have you sent anything through?"

"We've sent several types of tracking devices into the vortex, and lost contact with them as soon as they penetrated what we believe is the veil between dimensions." He walked to the chamber and placed his hands on its wall, as if he could see the vortex by feeling its intense vibrations.

Awe filled his voice. "Not even the smallest particle of any of them was found when the vortex was disconnected." He brought his hands away from the glass. "Of course, even though we've created and programmed the dimension, we can't confirm the programming has worked, or prove its existence."

Stunned, she stumbled back and unceremoniously plopped into the closest chair, letting her briefcase fall to the floor. "Don't you think they might have been pulverized in the thing?" She pointed to the chamber behind him, too late registering he couldn't see the gesture, and quickly brought her hand to her lap. "A person would have to be nuts, certifiable, to step into the chamber."

"Or dying." He felt his way to where she sat, knelt in front of her, and took her hands in his. "Imagine being able to walk into the vortex with cancer and emerging in a new dimension completely healthy."

"No way."

"Not now, but in the future we hope to be able to encode the energies and construct an alternate dimension to our own medical specifications. In simplistic terms, we would provide the pattern for a healthy cell and it would be created from the core plasma energy of the vortex. We'd program it to find cancerous cells and replace them with the healthy ones. The medical possibilities alone are endless." He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "But we're years away from creating a viable, living cell. When we stumbled upon the vortex, the financial backers of the project insisted we explore more economical commercial uses first."

She cringed, imagining hundreds of people paying huge sums of money to walk through the looking glass. "What sort of commercial uses?"

A broad smile crept across his face. "Video gaming to start. Construction for gaming studios has already started in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Cities large enough to provide the power we need to generate a stable vortex, and enough employees to man the equipment and monitor the players' progress. Each studio will feature a different gaming universe." He let go of her, walked his hands across the workstation, picked up a graphic novel and handed it to her. "If the gaming proves successful, the company will create designer vacation packages. Imagine a tropical paradise without worrying about sharks." He gave her a conspiratorial wink. "We might even give a few theme parks a run for their money."

She stared at the cover. It held a montage of demons, exotic landscapes and a dark city with what looked like bits of crystal raining over all of it. In the middle, a man stood silhouetted by a blood red moon. "Lord Night?"

"It's one of the ideas we've used as a pattern for the gaming dimension." He leaned against the workstation. "In the beginning of the story, Lord Night is attacked by demons which steal his soul and shatter it to pieces, sending the crystals to the four corners of the world. Because he has no soul, he is cursed to live in a world of darkness, blind during the day. However, he has perfect night vision and some other weird powers once the sun goes down which allow him to hunt for the pieces of his soul."

She flipped through the pages. The graphics fit the storyline perfectly, all colored in the surreal hues of forties horror comics. "How does this translate into a video game?"

"The player is transported to the alternate dimension through the vortex and must defeat the demons to obtain the clues pointing to where the pieces of his soul are hidden. Once all the pieces are found, he wins."

"What if he can't find all the pieces?"

"The player earns points for the pieces he finds, and loses points if he makes a mistake. If he runs out of points before they are all found, he must exit the game and start over. There are safety features programmed into the controller, like an emergency escape, as well as normal game features like a player's manual, a holographic display of his progress, and the option to save the game if he needs to leave and continue at a later date."

She shook her head in disbelief. "And your investors think people will pay money to fight demons?"

"There are other aspects to the game. It is populated by a variety of characters who can help or hinder the player as the game progresses. And there are more enjoyable diversions. Turn to page nineteen."

She did and gaped at the scantily clad woman lounging seductively on a large, luxuriant bed. "She's some diversion."

He chuckled. "Dark desires and passions start to fill the void his soul occupied. He purchases Isobel after he discovers he can purge them by having sex, but like all his other powers, only after the sun sets."

She smirked. "Isobel is his sex slave?"