by Randi Darren
“And what kind of debt? Should I be worried of a loan shark coming to collect?” Sam asked.
Actually, that’d be easy. Get the money from a loan shark, then kill the loan shark.
I wonder if she’d let me.
Then again, I can’t really tell her how to do this.
I have to abide by the pact—let her tell me what she wants and how to do it.
Just mentioning the loan shark had given him an uneasy feeling. The rules were in place, and thoughts of the high planes were already weighing on him.
“College debt. I got a master’s degree in finance, and now in some strange, sick irony I owe more than I’ll ever be able to pay,” Abigail said. “On top of that… on top of that, no one is hiring people without experience. They want people who’ve already worked the job. My degree doesn’t mean anything.”
Sam only nodded at that. He’d kept current on the prime realm, more out of boredom than anything else, but he didn’t really know all the ins and outs.
“Alright. And how would you like to solve it?” Sam asked.
“Uhm. You said you’d fix my life. Can we start with a job that’s relative to my degree?” Abigail asked.
“Does that matter?” Sam asked.
“Does what matter? Getting a job my degree works in? I mean, yeah. I want to be able to use what I paid for,” Abigail said.
“Uh huh. Do you have a job right now?” Sam asked.
“Yeah. I work as a call-center agent. It’s uh… it’s a call center for a company. The warranty department,” Abigail said.
“Oh? Good. At least you have a job. You can’t eat pride, after all. And money is money. Let’s start there and work at that. Sounds like customer service, and customer service is anywhere and everywhere,” Sam said.
“But, my degree—”
“Is worthless at this time,” Sam said. “You’re welcome to pursue it on the side while we get you moving in the right direction.”
Abigail sighed, then pressed her hands to her face and shook her whole body in a “no” motion.
“You tell me, what’s your current lifestyle right now?” Sam asked.
“What?”
“Tell me. How are you living? What’s your bank account look like? Are your parents helping you? If you kept going on the path you are right now, what would happen?” Sam asked. “You brought me here, and you apparently read Alisa’s book, so you knew what would be asked. You felt it was an easier solution.”
“I… budget every single dollar out from every paycheck. Everything is already spent. I know exactly what I’m going to spend on food and gas every week. My credit-card debt is starting to go up, though,” Abigail said through her hands. “It’d only take a flat tire or something to wreck me.
“Beyond that, my debt is so high it’s more than likely I’ll never be able to pay it off. Ever. I’ll just end up making minimum payments until I default or go bankrupt. So I’ll never own a house or anything like that… I can barely afford the rent on this apartment right now. If the rates go up next year, I might have to move.”
“Mm. In other words, your long-term plan is no longer viable, and you need a short-term plan immediately to get you out of this, or you’re going to fail long before you have a chance to go bankrupt later,” Sam said. “That about right?”
“Yeah,” Abigail said, still not pulling her hands down. “Yeah, that’s about right.”
“Great, then we know how to solve this,” Sam said, hoping she’d fill in a few blanks. He couldn’t tell her what to do, after all.
“Get me promoted at work?” Abigail said, finally lowering her hands. She looked resigned but determined.
“Definitely. A promotion is a great way to make more money,” Sam said. “Now, our next step is to get me hired on at your company so I can start working. This shouldn’t be too bad at all.
“What’re you making right now, and how much would you need to be making?”
“Uhm… about thirty-six thousand a year right now. I think I’d need to make double that to be able to hit my payments and start digging my way out,” Abigail said.
“Wonderful. So we have our starting point, our goal, and a break-even point. Lovely. It’s great to have so many easy answers,” Sam said.
He was feeling better about this contract already. It was sounding rather easy.
All he’d have to do was get hired, then use some magic and a little hypnotism, and he’d be well on his way to solving this.
Now… the bigger question. How do I get her to keep me around longer after I solve her problem, so I can keep drawing from her?
A problem for another time.
“I need to go to bed,” Abigail said, scrubbing at her eyes with her hands. “I have to wake up early tomorrow for work, and it’s already past midnight.”
Ah, she summoned me at midnight to help fuel the spell?
Wise.
“Great, I could do bedtime. Let’s have sex and then sleep,” Sam said, getting to his feet.
“You’re sleeping on the couch,” Abigail said, shaking her head.
“Hmph.” Sam sat back down on the couch and dismissed his wings. They wouldn’t be useful anytime soon.
As he eyed the young woman standing there, Sam made a decision. He was willing to chase her for the time being.
But it also meant he’d have to feed elsewhere.
He wouldn’t survive on life Essence alone, and his toys couldn’t come with him from his home plane. They were constructs without life or mind that simply held Essence.
We’ll hunt tomorrow night. For now… let’s go to sleep and just… enjoy being on this plane.
Two - Client -
Stretching his entire body from his freshly summoned wings to his arms, Sam felt… amazing.
It’d been so long since he slept on the prime that he’d forgotten what it was like to feed naturally all night long.
With a yawn, he snapped his wings back down to his back and shook himself out.
Though sleeping on a couch isn’t the greatest. It’ll do for now, I suppose.
Walking into the kitchen attached to the living room, Sam began to hunt around for the one thing he knew almost all Humans had, and apparently needed.
“Ah, there you are,” Sam muttered. He walked over to the coffee maker and peered at it. It was one of the newer ones.
He’d seen people use them, but of course he hadn’t had the opportunity.
Yet.
When he pulled open the top by the lever, Sam found an old coffee pod there.
Ah-hah.
Looking at the lid, he matched it to a duplicate in the little metal carousel next to the machine.
In no time at all, he had the machine dispensing the legal stimulant most Humans needed.
With a nod of his head, Sam leaned up against the counter and thought.
His chores for the day were simple.
First, establish myself at Abigail’s job. That shouldn’t be too hard. A little magic and illusion work.
After that we’ll need… well, I’ll need some new clothes. Especially if I’m expected to start showing up at work.
And a car, even.
Sam grimaced and looked down at himself. What he was wearing right now was technically nothing. His clothes were a construct he’d made and simply kept putting back on over and over.
It was just one of the many things he’d done to preserve Essence.
For new clothes, we’ll need money, or a way to pay for things.
And unfortunately… until I have some starting funds, I won’t be able to head out to the old manse and dig up my back-up gold.
Ah… how far I’ve fallen. I couldn’t even talk a young human woman into sleeping with me.
Torment indeed.
The door to the only bedroom opened, and Abigail peeked out from the doorway.
She was wearing a bathrobe, and her hair was wet.
“Good morning, Abby,” Sam said with a wave of his hand when her eyes landed on hi
m.
“It wasn’t a dream,” she muttered, staring at him.
“No. Nor was it a drunken hallucination, nor drugs,” Sam said, grinning wider.
“I… I don’t… it was all real,” Abigail said.
“Yes. Why, were you expecting it wasn’t?” Sam said. Then he gestured at the coffee cup sitting under the maker. “I made you some coffee. Though you’ll need to flavor it to your liking. You Humans seem to have as many preferences as there are stars in the sky.”
Abigail looked at the indicated coffee machine and the mug with steam wafting out the top of it.
“I was a little tipsy last night,” she said, finally leaving her bedroom and walking over.
“Really? I honestly couldn’t tell. You just seemed a little boring and short tempered to me,” Sam said. “I mean really, there was no reason to not have sex and you just turned me down outright.”
Abigail watched Sam closely as she went about finishing the cup of coffee.
“Sex isn’t as casual as you make it out to be,” Abigail said finally. “Especially with a Demon.”
“It’s as casual as you want it to be. And I’m not a Demon, thank you very much. Nor am I a Devil, or a Fallen One, or whatever cute names you and your kind assign to people of that nature,” Sam said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m an extra-planar lord who happens to be an Incubus.”
“Extra-planar lord,” Abigail repeated, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Yes. Think of it as… a king. Though I must confess, my kingdom was ransacked, and I was forced to flee to a second kingdom I ruled that I didn’t pay much attention to. I’ve been reduced to starting over once again,” Sam said. Then he shrugged. “Truth be told, I deserved it. I shouldn’t have trusted whom I did. Especially with my plane. Live and learn, though.”
“Just like that?” Abigail asked.
“Just like that. Besides, it’ll be fun to start over again. Especially with the blood of my darling little Alisa. She was a memorable one,” Sam said, nodding his head. “Anyways. Sex. Can we?”
Abigail took in a breath and held it for a moment before letting it out.
“Sam. I’m not into casual sex. Okay? Sorry. I’m not exactly a prim little ninny, but I’m not going to jump in bed just because I have a hot guy in my kitchen,” Abigail said. “Can we talk about something else? Like how you’re going to help me?”
Sam rolled his eyes and shrugged a shoulder.
“Going to go to work with you, then take your car. I have some chores I need to get done today in preparation. Either by the end of today or the start of next week, we can begin working toward getting you better situated,” Sam said. “Though I’ll warn you now. I’m not big on giving you something you can’t handle without me. That’s just poor etiquette.”
“Handle without you?” she asked. “Ah. In other words, getting a nuclear physicist job wouldn’t be in my best interest.”
“Just so!” Sam said with a nod.
Abigail was much more expressive this morning, and she seemed to be far more intelligent than Sam had originally thought.
“Right. Well, I’m going to go get dressed,” she said and started walking back to her bedroom.
“Great,” Sam said, following her. “You can tell me more about your debt and your job.”
“I need to get dressed, Sam,” Abigail said.
“I heard you,” Sam said.
Standing behind the door, Abigail gave him a smile and then shut it in his face.
Sam clicked his tongue as he turned and leaned up against the door frame. “Fine.”
Definitely need to hunt tonight. I wonder if there’s a bar or something nearby.
Or one of those new night-club things. Haven’t been to one of those.
Ugh. Definitely need new clothes for something like that.
Suppose I could rob some people tonight, too.
Hm. Then again… do people even carry cash anymore?
This world is so much more complicated than it used to be. I miss just crushing someone’s head in and taking their things.
A much simpler time.
***
Driving didn’t look half as hard as Sam had thought it would. It seemed to be a lot like riding a horse, but considerably less difficult.
The fact that the car couldn’t throw you if something jumped out of a bush was a good example.
After driving up to a large single-story building, Abigail pulled them into a parking lot. Wheeling them around to the back of the lot, she eased her car into a parking space and gave Sam a concerned look.
“You’re just… going to go do some chores? You’ll pick me up at six?” Abigail asked for perhaps the third time.
Intelligent, yes. Determined, certainly.
Paranoid? Oh, my twisting nether, yes.
“Abigail,” Sam said, making firm eye contact with her. “Abby. If I’m going to do this, I need to feed, get information, and figure out where I’m at and what I’m working with.
“Unless you wanna have a quick go right here in the car, then I need to prepare for a night out tonight.”
Abigail blinked slowly, staring at him.
“You feed on sex,” she said.
“Yes, as I’m sure Alisa said in her journal. I fed off her daily,” Sam said. “So, unless you wanna hop in the back with me or just lean your seat back, I need to hunt tonight. That means prep work.
“Yes. I’ll pick you up at six, but I’ll need the car after that.”
Abigail was chewing at her lower lip.
“Does it hurt? To be fed on?” Abigail asked.
“No. I just feed on the energy generated by orgasms. The more intense an orgasm I provoke, the more I can feed,” Sam said. “It’s really rather simple.”
Abigail glanced at the dash-clock and then opened her car door.
“Pick me up at six. I’ll meet you right here in the parking lot. Just park somewhere out over this way,” Abigail said. “Oh, and no one can see your wings, right? I mean… is it an… illusion… thing?”
Sam gave her a brilliant smile.
“Only you can see me as I truly am because of our contract. Everyone else will just see me as Human,” he said.
Abigail nodded as she got out of the car and started off for the building.
Getting out as well, Sam moved over to the driver’s side door and watched Abigail go to work.
He’d need to know more about her and her job. He hadn’t become an extra-planar lord just by completing contracts to the minimum degree.
He’d always delivered on his contracts, and then some. The best way to get more summoners was to make sure every contract was executed perfectly.
Letting out a short breath, Sam felt a momentary flutter of anger. Anger at all that he’d lost.
Then he crushed it mercilessly.
He’d raged for years by himself.
Endlessly.
There was nothing left for him down that path. He’d meant what he’d said earlier. He was looking forward to the opportunity to prove himself again.
Abigail entered the front door of the building and vanished inside.
Sam leaned down into the car, flipped the key into the off position and pocketed it.
Might as well learn a few things now.
Folding his hands together behind his back, he began wandering over to the front door. He wasn’t in a rush and, to be honest, he didn’t want to run into Abigail in the front lobby.
That’d just be awkward.
Sam was able to read the name of the company painted on the glass door now.
Fail Safe Optics.
Sam opened the door and walked inside.
The lobby had a large open layout, decorated with display cases full of glasses and the odd marketing piece.
“Hello,” said a young woman behind the front desk. She was dressed in a business-casual look similar to what Abigail had been wearing.
“Ah, hello. I’m here for my interview,” Sam said, walking up to the d
esk.
“Inter… interview?” asked the woman, her eyes meeting Sam’s and getting stuck there.
“That’s right. My interview. I’m here for the open position,” Sam said, snaring the woman with his Incubus magic. It was the least Essence-expensive of his options. “The HR recruiter told me to be here at nine am sharp.”
“Matthew… Matthew said to be here at nine am sharp,” said the woman. Her tone was neutral and flat, as if the life had been sucked out of her. “That’s right. You’re here for the manager position.”
“That’s right. Matthew asked me here to interview for the manager’s position. Could you let him know I’m here?” Sam asked, smiling at the woman, who was completely in his thrall.
And to think I even contemplated the fact that I might be rusty. She’s completely mine.
It’s like she had no defenses at all.
Picking up the phone next to her, the woman dialed a number without looking. She was still staring at Sam.
“Hey Matt, your nine o’clock is here,” she said lifelessly. There was a response Sam couldn’t hear. “Yes, you do. He’s here for the manager position. Recruiting sent him over.”
There was a longer response this time.
“They did. He’s here for the manager position. Recruiting sent him over,” the woman said. “Okay, I’ll let him know.”
Hanging up the phone, the woman blinked once, her vacant gaze still only for Sam.
“Matt’s not taking interviews today,” she said.
“Sure he is. You just need to take me to his office. He’s so busy he can’t come get me,” Sam said, pushing just a tiny bit on the woman’s psyche with his own.
“Oh. Yes. That’s right. I need to escort you to Matt’s office,” she said with a shudder. Then she stood up. “He’s too busy to come get you.”
Sam nodded and got behind the woman as she began leading him down the hall. It was the first time she’d broken eye contact with him since he’d walked in.
“What’s your name?” Sam asked.
“It’s Lauren,” she said.
“Lauren, are you seeing anyone?”
“I have a boyfriend.”
“Ah, that’s a pity,” Sam said, and he meant it. When he was much younger, he hadn’t cared if those he hunted were in relationships or not. It had meant little to him.
