My Evolving Tentacle System: I Steal Talents

She was standing near the bar, alone despite the crowd, nursing a glass of wine with an expression that suggested she was waiting for someone specific. Her file said she was twenty-four, but she looked older in the way that people who’d seen too much always did.

Dark hair pulled back from a face that might have been beautiful if the hardness behind her eyes hadn’t stolen something essential from it.

Vance’s notes described her as smart. That was good. Smart people were easier to predict because they made decisions based on logic rather than emotion. And logic could be manipulated.

Nacho approached the bar and ordered a drink he had no intention of finishing.

"You’re new." Elena’s voice was lower than he’d expected, with a slight rasp that suggested either smoking or screaming. Possibly both.

"Is it that obvious?"

"The way you’re holding that glass. Like it might bite you." She turned to face him fully, her dark eyes running up and down his body with professional assessment. "Most clients here are either nervous or arrogant. You’re neither."

She talked pretty fancy, but Nacho wasn’t that averse.

"What am I, then?"

"Curious." She took a sip of her wine. "That’s worse."

He laughed despite himself. The file hadn’t mentioned her sense of humor.

"I’m looking for company," he said. "The kind that involves conversation as much as anything else."

"Conversation’s extra, miss."

"Money isn’t a problem."

Her expression didn’t change, but something shifted behind her eyes. Interest, maybe. Or suspicion. With someone as guarded as Elena, it was hard to tell the difference.

"Private room?"

"Unless you prefer the main floor."

She set down her wine glass and walked toward the back of the establishment without checking to see if he was following. He followed anyway, watching the way she moved through the crowd, never quite touching anyone, always maintaining an invisible barrier between herself and the world.

The private room was smaller than he’d expected, dominated by a large bed draped in dark blue silk. Elena closed the door behind them and turned to face him, her arms crossed over her chest in a gesture that was more defensive than seductive.

"So. What do you actually want?"

"I told you. Conversation."

"And I told you that’s extra. Which means you either have money to burn or you’re after something specific." Her eyes narrowed. "Which is it?"

Nacho considered his options. He could try to charm her slowly, building rapport over hours until she trusted him enough to share information. That was the safe approach, the one that minimized risk.

Or he could end this in minutes and get what he needed before anyone noticed he was here.

"Close your eyes."

"Excuse me?"

"Close your eyes. I want to try something."

She stared at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then, to his surprise, she laughed.

"You’re either very confident or very stupid. Neither one is particularly attractive."

"And yet you haven’t asked me to leave."

"I’m curious too." She sat on the edge of the bed and closed her eyes, her posture still rigid with tension. "Fine. But if you try anything I don’t like, I scream. And the people who respond to my screams are the kind who don’t ask questions before they start hurting people."

"Noted."

Nacho activated Sovereign’s Domain at twenty percent. Even reduced, the effect was enough to make Elena’s breath catch, her hands curling into fists against the silk bedsheets.

"What is that? What are you..."

"Shh. Just focus on how it feels."

His Sovereign Tentacle descended from where it had been coiled against the ceiling, invisible and silent, and touched the back of her neck.

[Sovereign Tentacle effect activated. Charm multiplied by 15x. Current effective Charm: 2,145.]

Elena’s mouth opened. Her eyes flew wide despite his instruction, then rolled back as the sensation hit her like a wave. She swayed on the edge of the bed, would have fallen backward if two of his secondary tentacles hadn’t caught her shoulders and eased her down onto the mattress.

"This is..." She swallowed hard, her voice already losing its edge of control. "This isn’t normal. What are you doing to me?"

"Making you feel good. Is that a problem?"

She tried to answer, but his third tentacle had wrapped around her waist and was tracing lazy patterns against her stomach through the thin fabric of her gown. Her protests dissolved into a sound that was closer to a moan than words.

[Target’s receptivity: 23%.]

Nacho settled into the chair across from the bed and watched her writhe, his mind already calculating the questions he’d need to ask once she was fully under. The file said she knew about Daven’s shipping schedules, his safe houses, the names of the guards he’d bribed. She was one of his most trusted confidantes, which meant she probably knew things that even Vance hadn’t discovered.

[Target’s receptivity: 41%.]

His fourth and fifth tentacles went to work on her legs, sliding beneath the hem of her gown and pressing against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. She gasped and arched her back, her hands grabbing fistfuls of silk as her body responded to sensations it couldn’t understand.

"Please," she managed. "Please, I don’t..."

"Don’t what?"

"Don’t know what you want from me."

Nacho leaned forward. "Lord Daven. Tell me about his operation."

Even through the Charm effect, the name made her flinch. Fear flickered across her face, fighting against the pleasure that was flooding her system.

"I can’t. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill my whole family."

[Target’s receptivity: 58%.]

The Sovereign Tentacle pressed harder against her neck, pulsing with warmth that sank into her muscles and bones. Her resistance crumbled another fraction, her jaw loosening as the fight drained out of her.

"He won’t know. This conversation stays between us. I promise."

"You don’t understand." Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes now, mixing with sweat on her temples. "He’s not just some noble playing at crime. He answers to people. Powerful people. People who could tear this city apart if they wanted."

That got his attention. Vance’s file hadn’t mentioned anyone above Daven in the chain. The Inquisitor had assumed he was the top of his own organization, answering only to himself.

"What people?"

"I don’t... I can’t..."

[Target’s receptivity: 72%.]