by Skyler Grant
Everyone else around was already down apart from Yve.
“Yvera is trying to shield me, but she’s weak here,” Yve said. Just saying this must have exhausted her as moments later she too was out.
I tried to force my hand to reach for the windstone Malachite had given me. With that I could call her. I didn’t make it. The world dissolved into black as I lost consciousness.
Chapter 7
I had a headache. It was a terrible way to start the first day of a new job. It didn’t help that the other new hire looked perfectly put together. Yve Garland, beautiful—and you could tell she knew it—and given the way the top buttons of her blouse were undone was quite willing to use it.
I didn’t mind that. Really, I approved. Whatever it took to get the sale, you had to be aggressive or what was the point of even being there.
The elevator doors dinged open and we stepped out together into our new world. There are stereotypes you learn to recognize in the sales world. There by the elevator was a particularly stiff-looking young man carefully not looking at anything. The poor fool was in the wrong business and knew it. That was good, you always want someone to be performing worse than you. It’s the slow member that gets picked off the herd.
Yve was giving him the same sort of study. Her gaze was predatory, like a jackal that could spot the weak. Yeah, she wasn’t going to be the slow member either. Neither would I.
“New girl and guy, stop gawking and get in here,” a voice called out, all but dripping honey. Sleek and with perfect hair, and a suit that cost more than I’d make my first month. You could tell at once who was the alpha of this pack.
“I love the office,” Yve said, as she closed the distance to him and took his hand, leaning in. Close, but not too close, physical contact. He’d be feeling her warmth and smelling her perfume, and the touch was setting up a connection. She was good.
“Ms. Garland, Mr. Ottani. You can call me Charming,” Charming said.
“I’d have done that without being told,” Yve said with a laugh, as she pulled away. That was my opening to step in for the handshake. Firm, opposing hand resting on the arm for just a moment. It was a point of connection, handshakes mattered and you had to get them just right. Mine was, so was his. This guy knew what he was doing.
“You two are my golden eggs. I can tell that already. Perform and you’ll both be taken care of well. Sales define an operation and DLC is aggressively growing,” Charming said.
“I think you’ll find my performance endlessly pleasing,” Yve said. I thought that was going a bit far, but Charming didn’t seem to mind. A pale line on his finger showed where a wedding ring had been. It wasn’t likely he was playing the field at work, so that meant recently separated. No, Yve probably couldn’t go too far here.
“I imagine I will. Yve, you’ll be with me today. We’re selling the benefits of our designs to group of crafters in the village of Vak. Ottani, help Seed close the deal he’s been unable to because he’s a pathetic waste of flesh,” Charming said.
Right. Everyone had a box and I could check off Charming’s now. Slick and a total jerk of a boss.
“Seed?” I asked.
“Me,” said the young man I’d noticed when we walked in. He slumped, as much as walked, up to join us.
Charming slipped his arm into Yve’s and guided her off making chit chat as they went. Great, she’d be making a big impression with the new boss while I risked being associated with a guy named Seed.
Still, this was my first day on the job and I wasn’t going to fuck it up.
“I hope you don’t go around introducing yourself as Seed,” I said.
“I prefer Pine. Really. He just calls me the other because I hate it. He’s mean. He’s really, really mean,” Pine said, with a bit of a stammer.
“So where do we go to meet this client of yours?” I asked.
“She’s actually here today. She kept asking questions that I didn’t have any answers to, so I had her swing past the office,” Pine said.
I felt my perpetual smile grow a little strained. It was good that she was interested enough in whatever we were selling that she’d come all the way here. But if she was demanding details it upped the difficulty level of making the sale—since I still wasn’t sure exactly what we did here at DLC.
“Lead on and fill me in on the way?” I asked.
“Lara Kincaid, she’s a very nice lady with really bad luck. She’s been the sole survivor of seven expeditions into the deep mines, all of them bad. I keep trying to sell her on safety and security,” Pine said, as he walked.
Well, that would be part of the problem right there. If the woman went back into a place that kept killing her party again and again, and she didn’t care, safety and security were pretty much the last things she wanted to buy. Whatever drove this woman, it was something else.
We came to the waiting room and I could see Lara inside. Pretty, dark hair and green eyes. Leather armor, a lute resting against the wall painted the picture of her being a bard. My suspicions grew. You wouldn’t expect the bard to be the last survivor, bards were lame.
“Ms. Kincaid, welcome back,” Pine said, as he took a seat.
Lara was checking me out. I did look damned good in this suit. I shook her hand, holding it a few moments longer than necessary. There were sparks there, enough to work with.
“Liam. It is a pleasure,” I said.
Lara tilted her head, “I had questions your colleague was unable to answer. Are you an expert on these matters?”
“He’s new. It’s his first day,” Pine said.
That wasn’t helpful.
Lara didn’t react negatively. If anything her lips twitched in something of a smile. Curious. Sales is all about figuring out what people want. What did she want?
“Why don’t you fill me in?” I asked.
“We’re wanting Ms. Kincaid to become a member of our Adventurers Elite program, and to encourage others to join. It offers a twenty percent discount on all store purchases and guidance from qualified adventuring professionals. In return DLC gets fifteen percent of all loot and certain rights to any corpses and abandoned equipment after death,” Pine said.
What? I mean, maybe that was a good deal. Maybe. But what did we do with the corpses?
“What do we do with the dead bodies?” I asked.
“We either harvest the organs, or reanimate them and put them to use for purposes at DLC’s discretion,” Pine said.
It sounded like he was reading right out of a pamphlet. I glanced over. He was. Great.
Never let the clients see you blink. I turned my attention to the bard and gave her my best smile. “That all seems very straightforward. What were your questions?”
Lara leaned forward. “I just wanted to clarify what I got out of the arrangement.”
“As I’ve stated, we offer a twenty percent discount on all store purchases and guidance from qualified adventuring professionals,” Pine said, repeating word for word his pitch from earlier. I winced. I could see her game now. I could play it.
“She doesn’t care about any discounts, Pine. We make most of our profits off this program when adventurers wind up dead, and plenty of people keep winding up dead around Ms. Kincaid all the time. She wants to know what special allowance we can make for her,” I said.
“I don’t understand,” Pine said.
I guess he didn’t. I did. Lara was getting her parties killed. Maybe she was doing it for kicks or maybe she was already getting something out of it, but she was looking to cut a deal because she was providing us with a lot of corpses.
“Surely, we offer some sort of referral bonus for sales of the program,” I said.
“We can. It’s fifty gold,” Pine said.
“It’s seventy-five,” Lara said.
“No, it’s not,” Pine said.
“Sixty-five, should tragedy strike again within a month of them joining the program,” I said.
“How would you determine that?” Lara asked
.
“Payment not made until a month after they sign. Either at the old rate or the revised one.”
Lara looked thoughtful. She didn’t like that delay in payment, I couldn’t blame her. Always try to get the money upfront.
I reached out to take her hand, “I’ll be your personal liaison to make sure things are taken care of fully. We want you to be completely satisfied with this arrangement.”
Lara probably didn’t get many offers like that after someone had figured out who she was and what she did.
“Work out the details with me over lunch? I’m sure we can have the paperwork signed by the end of day,” Lara said.
“It’s really a bit extraordinary,” Pine said.
“Then go clear what you need to with legal and get the paperwork drawn up,” I said, getting to my feet and helping Lara to hers.
“We’ll be at the Three Gables,” Lara said.
Of course, we skipped the lunch and went right to one of the inn’s bedrooms. It had been our mutual plan all along. A few hours of what might be called vigorous negotiating and I had myself one very satisfied new client. Sales is all about figuring out what the client is really after and making sure they get it. I made one hell of a salesman.
Chapter 8
I bid a fond goodbye to Lara and with signed contract in hand left the inn. It wasn’t exactly by the books, but I had the feeling Charming would appreciate that—he struck me as a “sale at any cost” kind of guy.
It was a pleasant surprise to discover a naked woman waiting for me in the street. When you start the first day at a new job you never know what it holds for you, but so far things were fantastic.
“Liam, can you see me?” Lake asked. “Do you know me?”
“Having a hard time looking at anything else, so yes—and no,” I said. It was true. I didn’t recognize her and I was certain I’d remember given how much I liked what I saw.
“Damn it, Liam, look up. I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m trying to get through to you. Do you remember who I am?” Lake asked.
I didn’t. That probably meant I’d been drinking on the night we hooked up. It was a shame when that happened, alcohol could be cruel.
“From the bar, right?” I said. If alcohol had been involved a bar made perfect sense.
“Lake,” Lake said.
“Not really a swimmer, more a sinker. You must have me confused with someone else. No worry though, maybe it is just fate trying to tell you something,” I said, giving her my most winning smile.
“Stop trying to sleep with me and remember me. I’m Lake, avatar of truth. You’re a skeevy King and not a skeevy salesman,” Lake said.
Right. My winning smile wasn’t going to work here.
“Lady. I don’t know who you are, but me and the truth parted ways a long time ago. You’re name’s Lake? Listen, I must get these contracts back to the office, but when you get bored of who you’re looking for come find me. Liam Ottani, soon to be DLC’s top salesman,” I said.
Lake blinked out of existence. Not quite human then—she never seemed like it. There was something of the surreal to her.
The office was shutting down when I got there. Charming had already made his exit. Damn it. There went my opportunity to score some points. I put the contracts on his desk.
“Closed the deal?” Yve asked, as she stepped around a corner.
“Always. How did you do?” I asked.
“Same. He’s damned good,” Yve said.
I lifted a brow at her. Yve didn’t seem especially fazed.
“So am I,” I said.
“I can tell. A few of us new hires are meeting for drinks down at the Flagon. Want to come?”
Networking was good. I’d rather be networking with some of the more experienced employees, but it might be nice to meet some others in my same situation. Besides, Yve was hot and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested.
The Flagon wasn’t that far from the DLC offices, a run-down but homey tavern. A group had already clustered around a table. Yve approached them.
“I’m Yve and this is Liam, we’re with sales,” Yve said, and then as an aside to me while indicating one of the women with a tilt of her head, “Ashley. She’s new to Accounts Receivable, I met her earlier dropping off some paperwork.”
“I’m Walt, assistant to Ms. White,” Walt said. He was a strange sort with one spectral arm.
“Ms. White?” I asked.
“Total ball-busting bitch. Efficiency expert, gave me shit today for taking twenty minutes to file something. It’s my first day,” Ashley said, drinking back a solid slug of her ale and making a face.
“She isn’t that bad,” Walt said, in that careful sort of way one does when defending a new boss they hate, but isn’t entirely sure they aren’t being spied upon in some way.
“She is Charming’s Ex,” Yve said, hugging her way around. I settled for handshakes.
“You had time to talk personal history?” I asked.
“Sale took half an hour, what else was I going to do. Why? What did you do all day?” Yve asked.
Mostly I did Lara. I wasn’t going to bring that up.
“Our client was extra-demanding. It took us most of the day to work things out,” I said.
“I’d hate to be in sales,” Walt said.
“So, this is going to seem a weird question. But somehow in all the hiring paperwork I seem to have totally missed it. Do any of you have an idea what DLC actually does?” I asked.
There was a long, uncomfortable silence.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Walt said.
“I thought I was crazy for not knowing,” Ashley said.
“I didn’t really care. I can sell anything,” Yve said.
“I was selling some sort of adventuring plan today. A discount on gear from select merchants in exchange for ownership of any corpses and their possessions,” I said.
“I was selling Crafters on becoming a part of a crafting alliance. There are a lot of very specific requirements for gear. What elemental resistances it must have, how to refurbish existing equipment,” Yve said.
“We have accounts with pretty much every business in every town. We get referral fees for sending business their way,” Ashley said.
“I don’t have anything to offer. I saw a lot of places today along with Ms. White, but we didn’t stay very long anywhere,” Walt said.
That was fine. I could put some pieces together from what I knew. I already found the agreement I was selling rather suspicious, since it did seem that we’d mostly get what we wanted after an adventurer’s death. The others seemed to have jobs that would profit elsewhere—really, when you thought about it, we had a finger in just about every pie.
“So, we’re making money off the adventuring sector,” I said
“Sounds like it. I wonder where they all come from,” Yve said.
“Does it matter? We’re just lucky to have jobs and not have to be among them. Can you imagine having to kill and loot just to get by? It sounds awful,” Ashley said.
It really did.
“Have any of you seen anything odd? Like say a naked woman?” I asked.
“Thankfully not,” Walt said, with a shiver.
Yve quirked a brow at me. “If this is your best pickup line, you’re not half the salesman I thought you were.”
“I haven’t seen one naked, but there was this woman claiming to be a Goddess of Water screaming at me earlier,” Ashley said.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I told her to fuck off and that I was going to go have a drink. What else would I do? What did you do with your naked woman?” Ashley asked.
“Hopefully slept with her,” Yve said.
“I tried. She wasn’t in the mood,” I said.
“You get approached by a strange, naked woman and can’t score because she isn’t in the mood?” Yve said, shaking her head.
I guess it did sound bad when she put it like that.
“It real
ly wasn’t like that.”
“Whatever. Charming isn’t here yet and I don’t play dutifully waiting waif for any man, and you’re clearly pathetic at making moves for yourself. Take me back to my place?” Yve asked.
I was both pissed off by the implication and confronted by an offer I wasn’t going to refuse.
“Fine,” I said.
It wasn’t much of a walk back to our DLC-provided housing. With Yve it was surprising how naturally our bodies came together. It was one of those instances that make you wonder if past lives exist, because it felt more like reconnecting than something new. Oh, there was a lot of competitiveness and trying to outdo each other too. It was a long time until we finally fell asleep with our bodies pressed against each other.
I opened my eyes the next morning as my shoulder was being shaken. It took a few moments to focus on the surroundings and seeing Lake there in bed with us. It wasn’t exactly planned although I was more than willing to make a go of it however crazy Lake might be.
“So happy you could join us,” I said, reaching out for her hip.
“This is not a threesome, Majesty,” Lake said.
“Only because we’re not trying hard enough. I’m sure Yve will be up for it,” I said, moving to shake awake the redhead.
When my hand touched her flesh, Lake put a hand on both of us and I suddenly felt as if I’d been shocked.
Mind Games
I blacked out.
Chapter 9
I came to and I found myself sprawled out in a bed much nicer than the one I’d just occupied. The DLC rooms left much to be desired, hard mattresses and too-thin sheets, and completely soulless artwork decorating the walls. This bedroom was far different, red silk sheets and a plush mattress, and the room was adorned with sculpture and artwork.
Yve wasn’t here, I didn’t know where she had gone or even quite where was here. The air shimmered and Lake materialized.
“Well, if you wanted to steal me away you picked a great place for it. I really should be getting to work, but for this I think I’ll find a reason to spare the time,” I said.
