King of Demons [EXCERPT]

Chapter Three

"Of all the bitches in all the world," KC muttered under his breath as he fished his keys from his pocket. It was only a fifteen-minute drive to Rosalyn's apartment building, and thankfully traffic was light, because he was ready to crash her stream with a vengeance. Normally it was common courtesy not to do such a thing, friends didn't just bang each other's doors down in the middle of a streaming session, but she'd invited him. To come and 'wake her up' from this 'nightmare.'

And it's probably a setup, he thought as he unlocked the main door to the building. He was probably going to walk in there and find her smirking out of frame of her camera with a second headset, yapping in a freaked-out voice. He had to admit her acting was next-level tonight. Even in some of the collaborations they'd done in crafting games with multiplayer role-playing storylines, she hadn't been this good.

Her fans were impressed. He was impressed. He was just salty he hadn't been in on it. So he was going to give their fans a big dramatic show—a scorned streamer friend upset, a memeworthy rant and fight before they had a giggle fest and thanked everyone for coming out. Then later, later he'd grill her for all of the details of this damn project.

When had she even had time to hire people to film this? Or was it some kind of weird stock footage she was dubbing herself over? It sounded so real, though. He definitely wanted to hook up with the sound director. The level of care and detail was insane.

He reached Rosalyn's apartment door and raised a hand to knock before pausing. Would it be better to bang hard on the door and demand entry so that she'd have to monologue about hearing him and then approach the noise with her headset? Or would it be better to slip in and surprise her, maybe even slip into her seat on camera and play along for a little bit, say she wasn't there?

He decided on the second option, running a hand through his hair to make sure it was the artful tousled look he went for when he was on camera. He hadn't been planning on it that night, but life was spontaneous sometimes, and opportunities like this to give fans something unique didn't come up super often. Playing along for a little bit could be fun, and then he could teasingly tell Rosalyn she owed him for the extra realism.

He unlocked the door and quietly shut it behind him. There were no sounds inside, and the front hall was dark. Luckily he knew her place like the back of his hand, and he crept towards her office. The glow from her computer screens cast light across the hallway, and he poked his head in, hoping to catch her eye from wherever she was hiding and give her a wink and some hand signals.

But she wasn't there. The triple screens were on, the chat going crazy on the left and the game screen on in the center. Her office chair sat empty, the pink cat-eared headphones discarded on the seat. He tongued the inside of his cheek, and quietly approached the desk. Was this some extra bit of elaborate prank on him? Was she going to pop out of her bedroom and scare the shit out of him or something?

The screen in the game wasn't as dark, moving slowly through more forest towards a moonlit clearing. He glanced down at the desk and saw her beer sitting there. Condensation still clung to the sides of the can, and he touched it. Still cold from the fridge.

She's hiding in here somewhere! He stormed from the office, turning on the hall light as he went. "Rose, I'm going to murder you, seriously!" he hissed, slamming into her bedroom. He expected her to be sprawled across her bed, pretending to be sleeping with a smirk on her face. But the bedroom was empty, too. He checked under the bed and in her closet, gritting his teeth. He stormed into the kitchen and the small living room, but she was nowhere.

Had she seriously gone to all this trouble? Cracked a fresh beer and then left for another location to do the audio for the stream to make it look like she got sucked into the game? This was a lot, even for her.