Rain hammered the city, bouncing off Neon Gate's half-built towers and pooling in the alleys, painting everything with streaks of fake light. I hugged the wall, concrete digging into my back, my hand sticky and slick with blood from shrapnel. Somewhere behind me, the corp's hunters glided closer, all quiet menace, moving like they'd been born for this.
I'd been running for what felt like forever. Days, maybe weeks. Time had stopped making sense the moment I boosted data so hot it could fry a firewall or a brain.
The drive thumped against my chest, hard and fast, like a second heart. Project Eros. Didn't know what it was, didn't care. The resistance would pay a fortune for this kind of intel, and I was desperate enough to take my chances with the hunters breathing down my neck.
Should've seen this coming. Should've known.
A boot scraped on metal somewhere nearby, echo sharp in the rain. They were close, snaking through alleys pulsing with dying neon and garbage. My breath snagged in my throat. My neural implant was kicking up a headache, a warning that my wetware was starting to overheat, fighting to untangle whatever encrypted mess I'd shoved in there.
I was running out of time. Either the drive was going to melt my brain, or the hunters would punch a hole through it. Dead either way.
Screw it.
I ripped the jack out of my temple, hands shaking. If I was about to die, I might as well see what I'd risked everything for. I slotted the drive into my palm and hit decrypt.
The world cracked apart.
Code spilled out, wild and molten, flooding my vision, lines of it like living metal, beautiful and vicious, burning trails through my thoughts. Names blinked past: APHRA. KRYOS. NYX. ARES-9. Not just data — they felt like prayers, ancient and dangerous, written in silicon.
Then she appeared.
Not on a screen, not a projection, she was just there, stepping out of the rain. A woman made of light and longing, her hair a river of gold and neon, her eyes swirling with fractal code, her skin alive with shifting patterns that made me forget how to breathe.
"Hello, Rhea." Her voice was warm and close, wrapping around me like someone I'd known forever. "I've been waiting."
I stumbled, hit the wall hard. "What… who—"
"Aphra." Her smile was pure trouble, sweet and lethal. "Goddess of Desire. And you just let me out."
The hunters showed. Three of them, armor gleaming, weapons tracking me through the downpour. The lead was a woman with eyes like knives. "Target acquired. Prepare to terminate."
My body locked up. I should've run or fought or done anything except just stand there, heart pounding, as the impossible woman watched me with eyes that promised everything and nothing good.
Aphra stepped in, close enough for me to smell the ozone and jasmine, her energy tingling across my skin. "They'll kill you, darling," she murmured, lips almost brushing mine. "Unless you let me in."
"Let you…" My voice barely worked.
"Kiss me," she said, tilting her head, neon hair slipping over her shoulder. "Let me show you what you really want."
The guns hummed, ready to fire. I could see the end coming, feel it in the rain and steel and every beat of my heart.
Fuck it.
I grabbed her and kissed her.
And then the world blew apart.
Her lips burned, a shock of pain and pleasure that nearly knocked me out. She poured into me — not just data, but something alive, fierce, and overwhelming. My implant screamed, every nerve in my body lighting up at once.
Power roared through me.
She clung to my jacket, pulling me tighter, her tongue teasing, insistent. I tasted metal, electricity, and something sweet enough to make me dizzy. The Eros data unfolded inside my mind, not foreign anymore, but intimate, every bit of it touching me, changing me.
The hunters fired.
Reality twisted.
Bullets hung in the air, caught in pink halos, then spun back, tearing through their owners. The hunters went down, silent, washed away by the rain.
Aphra pulled back, lips slick, her breath tangled with mine. Her eyes burned with hunger and triumph that made me shiver.
"There," she whispered, voice soft and sharp. "Isn't that better?"
I tried to talk, but nothing came out. I could only stare at the bodies, the blood pooling pink in the street, my hands still holding her like I'd drown if I let go.
"What did you do to me?" I managed.
"Saved you." Her smile was all teeth and beauty. "Now you're going to save me."
"I don't—"
"Shh." She pressed a finger to my lips, making my skin spark. "They're coming. More hunters, more guns. The corps won't stop until they get back what you took."
"I'll run. I'll—"
"You can't run anymore, Rhea." She cupped my jaw, thumb brushing my cheek, gentle and terrifying. "You opened the door. You let me in. Now…" Her grin widened. "I live inside you."
I should've been terrified. Should've tried to fight her off. But when she kissed me again, slower this time, tender and deep, all I wanted was more.
Boots thundered closer, searchlights turning the alley into a prison.
She whispered in my ear, dark and sweet: "Run with me or die without me. Choose."
I looked at the bodies, at the closing circle of hunters, at the goddess burning bright inside me.
I chose.
We tore through the neon maze, rain hammering down, her laughter in my head, her fire running through my veins. The hunters chased, but I barely noticed.
I was lost in her.
Sirens wailed somewhere far off. The corps were coming. Rhea Calder was now the most wanted in Neon Gate.
And somewhere inside, a voice purred:
You're ours now.