The next few days were some of the busiest in my life. I continued to leave the apartment to take on work, both because I did still need the money, and our intended heist required that any spies Duke Cherto might have set to watching me didn’t catch on to our plans.

The maddening part about that was that we didn’t actually know for certain whether anyone was actively watching us. Obviously there had been some amount of activity on Cherto’s part in the recent past, but for all we knew, he had sent a single group after us and then called it quits.

That seemed unlikely, though, with as proud as vampires tended to be. We proceeded with the assumption that someone was watching us, and an attack was a possibility at any time. Any time I left the house, I had at least two others with me.

Aside from accompanying me on more of my trips out of the house, Cindy’s schedule was largely unchanged, but Zarina, Sara, Rose, and Aubrette all found themselves occupied most of each day. Zarina had it the worst. Not only was she engaged in stakeouts of some of the banks we knew Duke Cherto owned and ran to identify likely thralls and ghouls of the local vampire clan, but she also began instructing Sara in the ways of wielding the Arcane. That was going to take a while to bear fruit, but it gave the newest inductee to the supernatural in my group something to focus on, a way for Sara to feel like she wasn’t always going to be helpless.

I was so focused on keeping track of everything that was going on that, for the first time in months, Cindy had to remind me about my obligation to keep her well soaked in Sin. Part of the ritual that bound her to obey my orders necessitated that I ensure she was given the opportunity to absorb a quota of Sin every day, lest the pact break. One of the very first orders I’d given her was to inform me if I was in danger of failing to fulfill that agreement. The last several months of my life made it easy to ensure that Cindy was provided for, as living with four beautiful women and having a fifth visit frequently had me generating sufficient Lust without needing to put in additional effort.

The upside about all of the effort we were putting in was that it appeared to be working. We faced no further attacks, though Zarina’s wards did detect that someone or something was continuing to hover around the apartment complex. Rose, Zarina and Aubrette managed to successfully gather the identities of several creatures—most of them ghouls—that they believed were working on behalf of Duke Cherto.

It took the three women on stakeout duty some time, but they eventually developed a system which impressed me in how simple but clever it was. Zarina set up extremely minor wards designed to detect supernatural entities near the entrance of the bank. She could do that from enough of a distance to avoid drawing attention, and they would last only a few hours which cut down on the chance that the vampires would in turn detect the wards.

When something triggered the trap, the wizard would identify the creature to Rose. The Puca’s shapeshifting wasn’t ideally suited to duplicating people most of the time, but in service of mischief—and a bank heist counted—her talents sharpened. She would duplicate the individual in the car, changing her appearance to match. While Zarina captured some video on her phone for later reference, Aubrette began employing her talent. Her biggest limiting factor in producing counterfeit documents was a lack of knowledge, but with a reference image posing in the car with her, it took the Sidhe woman only a little time to produce a copy of the individual’s ID by matching the picture to the face. Sometimes they got lucky and she was able to produce an entire duplicate wallet, since it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for that to be dropped—or apparently for Rose to have pickpocketed it. I made a mental note when I heard about that to bring up where, when, and how the curvaceous little Fae developed those particular skills, but they were serving well in this endeavor just by existing.

Zarina took photos of the ID to go with the video of the faces, and Aubrette started stretching her talent farther, finding bank documents with matching names. This part apparently took the most actual time and effort beyond the hours they spent just waiting for the wards to go off. With sufficient diligence, though, the High Sidhe could conjure temporary bank slips, receipts, and statements. The paper would go away after she stopped maintaining it, but the information was ours to do with as we willed.

Frankly, the three women working together were terrifying. I knew Cindy was probably still the most powerful of the ladies bound to me if it came to an outright fight, but most conflicts in the modern world weren’t a matter of who was faster and stronger. Aubrette, Rose and Zarina were gathering information quickly enough there were probably government agencies who would take notice if their capabilities became known.

The result of their work was that after a few weeks of constant effort, we had begun to build up a relatively comprehensive list of Duke Cherto’s associates, including their names, pictures of their driver’s licenses, and the bank accounts at Cherto’s banks they were allowed to access.

The information was impressive, but it also wasn’t enough. The problem with dealing with not just the supernatural, but specifically a supernatural organization of criminals is that we didn’t yet know what manner of defenses against infiltration they had in place. We had enough information that we could have Rose put on the face of one of Cherto’s ghouls, walk into one of his banks carrying documentation Aubrette conjured, and withdraw as much cash as the bank had available. What we didn’t have was any idea if the bank would demand proof of identity beyond matching her to her photo ID.

That meant it was time to move into the next phase of our scouting plan.

I wasn’t idle while those three were at work. I continued to work with my customers, leaving the house frequently to ensure that whoever or whatever was spying on us didn’t get suspicious. Both Zarina and Rose had some abilities that made them harder to follow than usual, so we were reasonably certain their expeditions weren’t being traced. We didn’t employ those when I was the one leaving the apartment, however, allowing my normal activities to be watched.

I continued to try to work on deciphering rituals from the tome, but with two of my three main assistants in that endeavor occupied, it was slower going. Cindy was compliant as ever when deciphering the complex script and notations, but her affinities were entirely with Sin, so any rituals that required any other variety of magic were outside of our grasp. We weren’t entirely without success, managing to decipher a ritual which would place an invisible mark on an object or creature that I could tap into later.

We weren’t sure if any of the corresponding rituals which would use the mark were actually present in the tome, but if I ever managed to find and learn them, I’d need the mark. From what Cindy reported, these ranged from being as simple as allowing me to detect the mark if I was close enough, to as complex as summoning a marked object to myself. The latter was something she’d assisted with in the past, though she didn’t know the ritual well enough to teach it herself.

I was reminded again of the apparently sourceless knowledge my Sin Demon held of the tome. After days of fruitlessly circling around the topic the last time it came up, we’d given up on investigating how Cindy knew not just the history, but a random collection of details around the magics recorded in the tome. Any demon as personally powerful as Cindy was difficult to directly harm with magic, but something had clearly erased a part of her memory from centuries before. We had no clues to go on, though, so for now it just remained a mystery that nettled me.

I took the time to call Stacy. I didn’t know how she would recall the time she was possessed or influenced by whatever force came over her the last time we met, so the call started off as a friendly social one.

I’d been friendly with the Instagram model before, but we hadn’t ever hung out socially. As beautiful as she was, I was sure she had dozens—if not hundreds—of young men seeking her time, so I was a little worried about coming off as another thirsty suitor looking to get into the skimpy underthings she occasionally posted as thirst traps online. At the same time, if she just dismissed me out of hand, it meant that she probably wouldn’t be in any danger from supernatural forces until the next time we met up in person. Getting put down as an unwelcome suitor would be a bit of a blow to my ego, but I had five other women willing to comfort me if it came to that.

Cindy and Sara wearing garters and stockings while they knelt shoulder to shoulder between my legs when I picked up my cellphone on the couch was also a definite boost to my confidence. I wasn’t entirely sure whose idea it had been, but I couldn’t deny that having Sara's lips wrapped around the tip of my cock as her tongue slowly slid around its crown, allowed me to hit “Call” on Stacy’s contact without worrying about the prospect of being shot down immediately.

To my surprise, Stacy picked up within a few rings, and her voice sounded chipper and cheerful. “Hey Jack! Good to hear from you. How have you been?” I smiled, the apparently genuine warmth in the young woman’s voice a welcome surprise. Sara’s dark brown eyes watched my expression change, and she took my change in expression as a sign to pick up her pace. Her head began to bob up and down slowly, sliding her wet lips along my shaft as I tried to muster the ability to respond.

“Hey Stacy! I’ve been… very busy, lately. How about you?” The voice at the other end of the phone immediately launched into a slightly disjointed retelling of how she’d spent her most recent road trip with her friends. She wasn’t the best storyteller, as her narrative tended to skip around chronologically a bit, and Cindy having shoved her head down to tongue and suck at my balls while Sara focused on the head of my cock did nothing to help my understanding.

Still, I tried to actually capture the gist of what Stacy relayed. Apparently their latest trip had taken them all the way down to the Florida keys, where she and four of her fellow influencers had several days in the sun and sand. There was some drama with a bell boy, the details of which I couldn’t quite follow as Sara and Cindy switched places in the middle of it and feeling one hot mouth leave my cock only to be immediately replaced by a different one threw off my attention for a moment. She eventually wound down the retelling, ending simply with, “So you actually called at a great time, we just got back a couple days ago and I was starting to get bored.”

I shook my head to focus, sliding my free hand onto the back of Cindy’s head to pause her motions and allow me to actually think and speak clearly. “I… I actually wanted to ask about the last time we talked, when you made that offer.”

Stacy immediately responded, “Oh? Did ‘Brette decide she was going to come along for the next trip?” I glanced across the room to where the redhead in question was currently seated rather primly by the kitchen, holding a book and definitely not just using that as a thin excuse to watch Sara and Cindy putting their mouths to use.

“I… probably not the next trip, but I think that at some point she could probably be convinced. Hell, I’m going to need a vacation soon. I'll call you for advice when I think we can escape for a week. I’m glad you mentioned that again, though, I wanted to ask about the last time we talked.” I relaxed my hand and Cindy responded by raising up, mirroring Sara’s earlier behavior by capturing just the head of my cock between her lips and swirling her tongue around it slowly. Sara slid her hand around the base of my cock, her delicate fingers slowly rotating and twisting while she paid attention to my balls. “At… the end, when I was finishing up, did you notice anything… weird?”

A peal of laughter immediately came across the phone. It only took Stacy a moment to gather herself again though as she teased, “Besides the guy my dad hired doing magic on a car?” She only paused briefly, not actually giving me the chance to answer before continuing a little more pensively. “Actually… yeah. I… did I come on to you? Like really hard?”

“You did, kinda, yeah. I… was flattered, really, but it seemed out of character for you.” I did my best to keep my tone even, while Sara and Cindy both apparently took this as their cue to start trying to get me to stutter or give away their activities. My bound demon’s hand joined Sara’s, both of them delicately stroking and teasing my shaft, while they placed their mouths on opposite sides of the head of my cock and started lapping at it delicately.

“Yeah, that is pretty out of character, I’m not used to getting turned down…” Stacy’s voice was still teasing, but she again grew quiet as she added, “I… I remember coming on to you, but not why…” She trailed off, then abruptly spoke rapidly, “Not that I don’t think you’re a great guy, Jack, you’re totally worth coming on to, I’m sure you have women all over you! I just meant that I normally wouldn’t have… not then. That’s not usually me.”

Apparently Sara and Cindy could both hear the conversation well enough to understand Stacy’s side of it, because they both immediately nodded their heads when the model mentioned women being all over me, before again planting their lips on my dick to begin kissing and sucking at opposite sides of it again. I did my best to speak evenly despite their distraction. “No, it seemed a little weird. Flattering and not unwelcome, but weird. I… Look, I’m kinda wrapped up in some supernatural weird shit outside of the magic. I wanted to call to let you know there’s a chance someone was trying to get to me through you. It doesn’t sound like you were harmed or hurt by it, but you deserve to know since I think they got you involved.”

Stacy was quiet for several long moments, enough that I pulled the phone to the side to check the screen and make sure the call hadn’t ended. When she spoke, her voice was more serious than I think I had ever heard her. “Jack… this supernatural weird shit, how dangerous is it?”

I had to stop and think, and Sara and Cindy generously gave me the time to do that, just planting their mouths on either side of my cock to lick gently, but otherwise stilling their motions. They resumed again as I started speaking. “Potentially pretty dangerous. I’m kinda trying to get myself in a position to do something about it, but the people I’m worried about are actual literal bloodsucking vampires. I don’t think they’re going to target you since you and I don’t spend a bunch of time together, but since they acted first and involved you… you deserved to know.”

I heard a few muttered words on the other end of the phone, but since I couldn’t understand them I guessed Stacy was swearing in Greek. She spoke up again in English only a moment later, “OK. Do you want me to try to get my dad involved? I know you haven’t told him yet, or he would’ve told me. He might not be able to do magic, but he’s got resources.” I blinked at that, surprised at the notion. I knew Phil was a fairly wealthy individual, but he was a customer in my mind before anything else. The thought of asking him for help hadn’t even occurred to me.

Eventually, I shook my head even though Stacy couldn’t see it, responding, “I… that’s a generous offer, but no. Not yet, anyway. We have a plan, we just need some time to carry it out. We’ll be OK, Stacy. Thank you.”

The voice on the phone immediately brightened at my words. “OK, good! Tell you what, Jack, I’ll keep it to myself for now so my dad doesn’t worry as long as you think I’m safe. In exchange, when you’ve dealt with all this, you’re going to tell me all the details so I can find out what kind of mysterious life of magic my dad’s car magic guy is living. And…”

She paused, and Cindy used that window to steal my cock away from Sara, sliding her lips down my shaft, her throat relaxing to swallow me. My landlady-turned-voluntary-sex-toy showed no hint of offense at her toy being taken, instead smoothly turning her head and returning to gently sucking one of my balls into her mouth. “...and you have to try to convince ‘Brette to do a photoshoot with me. I’m telling you, that girl could do numbers. She’s missing her calling.”

I looked at the three women currently in the room with me, then responded, “Tell you what, when you want a photoshoot with her, let me know. I’m sure I can arrange something you’ll like.”

Stacy let out a surprisingly throaty giggle at that. “Oooh… Jack, you keep making promises like that and this is going to be a very different kind of shoot.” She let those words linger for a moment, then continued, “Anyway… I appreciate the heads up. If you change your mind about my dad, let me know. Otherwise… text or call if something comes up that you think I should know.”

I swallowed hard, the strain of keeping my voice even while Cindy’s throat flexed and swallowed the head of my cock starting to become a real challenge. “I… I will… Stacy. I’ll call if anything comes up. And if you think something is weird… don’t… hesitate to call. “ I paused briefly, gathering my thoughts for long enough to add, “Hey, Stacy… I can’t think of a way to say this that doesn’t sound weird, but that’s just my life now. If you do decide that you want to make a pass at me—and I’m not trying to tell you that you should, or not, or anything like that—but if you do… Just… say something so I know it’s you. Marmalade. Say marmalade.” I picked the word out of my head at random, as something I didn’t think she’d ever normally bring up otherwise.

That got a giggle on the other end of the phone. “Marmalade, huh? I’ll keep that in mind, Jack, if I ever suddenly feel the need to seduce you.” To my surprise, Stacy sounded more amused than weirded out, and the flirty tone in her voice carried through loud and clear.

With my cock still buried fully in her throat, Cindy opened her eyes wide and looked up at me from my lap. Making eye contact with me, she swallowed very deliberately, muscles rippling around my shaft as she did so. I choked out a few more words into the phone, “I got to go, I’ll talk to you later!”

I heard Stacy’s farewell even as I reached for the disconnect button on my phone. The call dropped and I finally let out the expletive that had been dancing around the tip of my tongue.“Fuck! Fuckingfuck!” I slid my hand down to touch Cindy’s multicolored hair.

Sara pulled back, again fixing her deep brown eyes on my face as she asked mockingly, “Aww… is Master having a hard time focusing on flirting with a girl because two of his cocksuckers are teasing him?” She wrapped her hand through Cindy’s hair, pushing mine out of the way, and pulled back. There was no way she was strong enough to actually force the Sin Demon to move, but Cindy’s head shifted smoothly, allowing the brunette to direct her. Sara slid Cindy’s head back and forth in smooth motions, using the Sin Demon’s face as a tool while she continued speaking. “Because if you need to focus, your sluts can always help you relax.” She pumped Cindy back and forth a few more times, shoving forward hard enough to force the head of my cock down the Sin Demon’s throat each time, then pulling her back to have her lips pop free. “Coming all over our tits so we can lick each other clean will help with that, right?”

Cindy’s mouth popped free once more, and Sara began jacking me off with smooth motions, the spit coating my cock acting as lubricant as her hand slid along my shaft in gently rotating motions. Even as she did, both women snuggled up close and stuck out their chests, with the Sin Demon’s tiny tits making Sara’s perky but modest pair of breasts look almost large in comparison. The moment her mouth was free, the lithe blonde spoke up, begging. “Fuck, please Master! Please cum all over your sluts! I want to lick your cum off the little bitch, then bury my face in her tight little pussy and taste how turned on it makes her! Please!”

The two made a very persuasive argument, and as Sara continued stroking her hand up and down the length of my cock, I could tell that I was close to giving them exactly what they were asking for. I groaned, my balls beginning to tighten and pulse. Sara angled my cock down, and as spurts of cum began to pulse out of me, she pointed it left and right, spattering first Cindy’s chest, then her own with my seed. My Sin Demon lifted one hand, wrapping her fingers lightly around the base of my cock and squeezing in time with the pulses of my orgasm to tease out every drop she could.

By the time the last dribbles of cum began to drip down Sara’s hand, rather than splashing across her chest, she and Cindy were sticky messes with beaming smiles on their lips. The two immediately turned, lips meeting as they kissed deeply, each of them still with one hand on my cock. Gradually, though, their fingers slipped free as they turned their bodies towards each other. The two broke lip contact a moment later, only for Sara to drop her head down and begin lapping at the cum covering Cindy’s chest.

As my landlord-turned-sex-slave and the Sin Demon bound to me began to lower themselves to the carpet, gradually entwining their bodies, I reflected that Sara was right. I did feel considerably more relaxed.

* * *

Once we determined that we had sufficient intel on Duke Cherto’s associates to begin picking targets, we slowed the pace of our information gathering. It felt maddening to deliberately do nothing while we were more or less trapped in a few apartments, but the risk of discovery each time Rose entered one of Cherto’s banks was high enough that we collectively agreed it was safer to spread them out. It was much harder to recognize a pattern the less frequently it repeated, and I wanted to leverage that fact as much as possible.

That meant when someone knocked on the door of my apartment rather unexpectedly first thing the next morning, I was mildly concerned. Not overly concerned, because not only was it daytime, but if this was a ghoul hit squad out to shut down our operations they probably wouldn’t start by knocking.

Cindy was still in bed, and Rose and Sara were both in the adjoined apartment, but Zarina and Aubrette were both seated at the kitchen table with me. Since Aubrette and Zarina were still eating, I rose from my chair and crossed to the apartment door. Since there was still a tiny chance this was some kind of vampire trick to isolate me, I checked the peephole in the door to see who was calling this early.

Fully expecting to see either a pair of nice young Mormon lads in crisp white shirts, or—if I was lucky—one of my neighbors, I was surprised to instead see a lone woman standing a few feet back from the door with a serious expression on her face. Since I hadn’t announced myself, I took a moment to study her. She was tall, though it was difficult to tell her exact height through the distortion of the peephole. Her skin was fair, though not entirely untanned, and her glossy black hair was tied back behind her head. Her eyes were covered by large mirrored sunglasses, resting on a cute button nose over pink Cupid’s bow lips. The sleeveless orange blouse she wore was loose enough to conceal her figure but revealed broad shoulders, muscular biceps and a pair of chunky bronze bracelets, and her undyed loose cotton pants hung off well rounded hips. She held a briefcase at her side and stared at the door, waiting patiently for me to answer.

I checked my Gift, eye still up against the peephole, and froze in place. The woman on the other side lacked free will. Like Cindy—or the vampires that attacked us—she was a supernatural creature of some sort, unable to act against her nature.

She certainly didn’t seem to be a Ghoul ambush squad, though, and unlike the vampires who attacked me I saw no immediate flash of danger. I shook off my indecision and opened the door. Stepping into the doorway, I greeted her with the best smile I could muster. “Good morning! Is there something I can help you with?”

The woman flashed a polite smile at me for just a moment. As I had seen through the peephole, she was tall, perhaps an inch or two shorter than Aubrette. I actually glanced at her feet to see if her height came from tall heels, only to discover that she was barefoot. Before I had the chance to ponder that fact, the woman began speaking. Her voice was slightly higher than I’d expected, airy and flowing, with an accent I couldn’t place beyond sounding Middle Eastern to me. “Hello. Am I speaking with Mister Jack Puttman?”

I hesitated for only a moment, carefully parsing her question. Aubrette had mentioned that there were Fae who might try to leverage a person’s name against them, but this woman already knew mine, and my Gift I didn’t pick up any hidden traps in the question itself. Nodding, I gave her the most winning smile I could muster before eight in the morning. “That’s me. What can I help you with, Miss…?”

“You may call me Tzila. I am here on behalf of my Mistress, Josina Janssens. Mistress Janssens is a collector of rare and ancient books. It has come to her attention that you have recently come into possession of one such item, and she has dispatched me to offer to purchase it from you.” The woman, Tzila, canted her head to the side as she finished speaking, her eyes darting to the side for a moment.

I turned, looking to see what caught Tzila’s attention, only to see Zarina stepping up to stand beside just behind the doorway. The wizard’s motions were careful, and her voice was tightly controlled as she addressed the woman standing outside. “Greetings, Tzila. May I inquire as to how your Mistress came to the conclusion that a book she was seeking was in Jack’s possession?”

Tzila tilted her head down and then up again slowly as she examined Zarina. I couldn’t see her eyes through the sunglasses, but as her head moved, just for a moment, I could have sworn that I caught a flash of gold sparkling in the air near her face. When she spoke, her words retained their smooth flow, despite the pause that preceded them. “Of course. She had contracted several independent agents to search for the book some time back. One of them, a Mister Porter, indicated some degree of success when he was searching through records in this area, but then ceased to send reports approximately one year ago. Mistress Janssens was not immediately concerned, as this particular agent was not the most consistent in the timing of their reports. When six months passed without additional information, she began her investigations into his current whereabouts, culminating in my arrival here.”

The name Tzila mentioned didn’t register to me immediately, but as she continued talking, the context of the timeline allowed me to connect the name to the person. Mycah Porter had been the one who first performed—or at least began—the ritual which summoned Cindy to the mortal realm. I’d only heard his name in passing from Sara since he and I had barely known each other.

I noticed that Tzila had glossed over the details of how her Mistress had gone from investigating a missing contractor to sending someone to my doorstep. The fact that I’d gone into Mycah’s apartment wasn’t exactly a huge secret, but most of the people who knew it were local to the apartment complex. I didn’t know everyone in the building, but I hoped that the people I did know would have let me know if someone was asking around after me.

As I started to consider pressing Tzila on the point, she spoke up, preempting me. “Mister Puttman, may I come in to talk over my Mistress’ offer? She was quite insistent I ensure you hear it out.” I caught just a hint of a twist to the woman’s expression at the last part, a flash of something I couldn’t identify. My Gift did pick up the possibility of bad outcomes, but they were a much smaller range than the neutral or good options. Pondering sending her away actually had a worse set of outcomes than letting her in. I turned my head to look from Zarina to Aubrette, but not seeing either of them motioning me to stop, I stepped back inside the apartment, gesturing to the kitchen table.

“Please, come, sit down. I have to warn you, I’m not really looking to sell.” Tzila stepped past me, glancing around the interior of my apartment. It was slightly better decorated than it had been when I was living alone on the third floor of the building, but the living space was still more functional than showroom, and tended decidedly towards the casual rather than the formal. If that bothered her, though, she gave no sign.

Neither did she take off her sunglasses as she took the closest chair, sitting ramrod straight. Aubrette was already standing beside the table as Tzila approached, speaking up for the first time since Tzila arrived, “Welcome to our home, Miss Tzila. Can I offer you refreshment? Coffee, perhaps?” I couldn’t help but notice that the High Sidhe’s manner was nearly as stiff as I’d ever seen it. Tzila hadn’t exactly been casual, but the way Aubrette was reacting to her gave me pause by itself.

Zarina gently laid a hand on my arm as I closed the apartment door and went to seat myself, causing me to halt. She crooked a finger at me, and I leaned down to let her whisper softly in my ear. “She’s not human. I don’t know what she is yet, but I recognize her Mistress’ name.” I stood back up, considering my options quickly. So far, nothing Tzila had said or done had indicated any degree of hostility, but I also had no intention of actually giving her the book, and I didn’t know how she’d react when that became apparent. A sliver of red from my Gift indicated that there were at least some ways this could go very badly, but also that it was unlikely.

I took the seat opposite Tzila, and within moments Aubrette set a cup of coffee in front of first me, and then our guest, before moving to stand behind my right shoulder. Zarina was less stiff in her movements, but I noticed that neither did she let Tzila out of her line of sight as she took the seat to my left.

Tzila did not hesitate once we were seated, launching into speech once more. “Mister Puttman, Mistress Janssens would like to offer you ten thousand American dollars for the book Mister Porter located. The matter of how it came into your possession does not need to be investigated, and no further questions regarding your activities since you obtained the book will be raised.” Her head did not turn, remaining pointed directly towards my face.

I blinked. The offer of ten thousand dollars would, once upon a time, have provided a serious temptation to me, but it wasn’t a life-changing amount of money at the moment. It did indicate that whoever Mistress Janssens was, she probably knew at least some of what the tome contained. What threw me more was the notion that they might attempt to obtain the book by challenging my right to legally own it. I didn’t exactly have a receipt for it, and it wasn’t entirely impossible that if Mycah stole it from somewhere, there was someone else who could legally prove the book belonged to them.

It didn’t appear as though Janssens was that person, though, or Tzila would’ve arrived with the police. I shook my head. “Miss Tzila, while that is a generous offer, I don’t think that would be in my best interest…” I trailed off, only for my visitor to smoothly continue.

“Perhaps that offer was insufficiently generous, then.” She reached to the side of her chair, where she had placed her briefcase. Placing it on my kitchen table, she quickly undid the clasps. Opening it, she reached a hand in and withdrew a metal case about half the size of the briefcase itself. She closed the briefcase, set it aside with one hand, then placed the smaller case on the table in its place. The top of the case was some kind of clear plastic or acrylic, and I could easily see the contents through it. Inside, carefully arranged on a bed of black velvet, was a row of five clear cut gems, each a little smaller than my pinky nail. I raised an eyebrow, and Tzila continued.

“These diamonds are valued at an average of slightly more than twenty thousand American dollars each. If you are, for understandable reasons, unwilling to simply take my word for their value, I am prepared to accompany you to a jeweler of your choice to have them appraised, but they should be valued at slightly more than one hundred thousand American dollars in total. Mistress Janssens is prepared to offer these five diamonds in exchange for immediate possession of the book in question.” Tzila delivered her offer in the same airy, nearly detached tone she had used the entire time she was speaking to me, casually increasing the amount offered tenfold. I very nearly choked at the purported value of the gems currently sitting on the kitchen table in my decidedly not upscale apartment.

Doing my absolute best to school my expression—and probably failing—I turned to look at Zarina for a moment. The wizard was doing a decidedly better job than I was at keeping her expression neutral. Given what she’d told me about the wealth her grandfather commanded, that wasn’t actually much of a surprise. Still, given my recent conflict with the vampires and the fact that we were in the process of planning a potentially risky heist to gather the funds necessary to buy a house, having enough money for a good down payment very literally on the table in front of me presented a bigger temptation than I had expected.

What was worse… I wanted them. Something about the sparkle of the diamonds captured my eye, and I had to work hard to keep my hands still. Part of me wanted to just reach across the table and grab them, any consequences or other considerations be damned.

I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Zarina, I believe we need to discuss this.” I turned to Tzila, flashing a smile at her before asking, “Excuse us for a moment, will you?”

I quickly pushed my chair back, rising and retreating from the table before my impulses drove me to do something I would regret. As I walked towards the door joining this apartment to the next, I called out without turning around, “Aubrette, see to our guest while we converse, we’ll be back shortly.” A few steps later, I was striding into the apartment’s main bedroom.

Zarina caught up to me only a few moments later, closing the door behind her. She studied my face carefully, and a worried frown touched her full lips when she did. “It’s… the Greed is affecting you, isn’t it Master?” I grimaced as she put words to the notion that had been floating at the outside of my consciousness. My head slowly nodded, and I took a deep breath to calm myself.

“It’s… not so bad, while I’m not looking at them. It shouldn’t be enough either way, but I didn’t expect that. For some reason, hearing about the money wasn’t enough to trigger the Greed, but seeing those diamonds…” I shook my head. “It… it’s tempting. It shouldn’t be. I know what that book can do in the wrong hands, but a hundred thousand dollars would go a long way towards solving problems.” My mind began to calm now that the immediate lure of sparkling wealth was no longer filling the forefront of my consciousness. I realized my mouth was full of saliva, and I had to swallow several times to get that under control. “I don’t think there is an amount of money that’s enough to let that book out into the world.”

I stepped over to the bed. Cindy had started to stir at our voices, and I saw multicolored hair poke its way out from beneath a heap of blankets. The Sin Demon lazily pushed them aside, then sniffed the air. In a flash, her manner changed. She sat bolt upright, eyes locking on the now closed door to the living room. Her eyes bored holes through the door for several seconds, before she turned her gaze first to Zarina, and then to me. “Can I fight her?” Cindy gave no context to the question, and coming from her I didn’t need it.

I held out a hand, palm out, “Not yet. Hopefully not at all. Get dressed, and be polite out there.” I turned towards Zarina, taking another breath to steady myself. “Thoughts?”

As Cindy began sliding out of bed, pulling on the first thing she found to hand—one of my new t-shirts, which hung down past her knees—Zarina responded. She spoke slowly and carefully, clearly thinking things through even as she chose her words. “Josina Janssens is the name of a witch my grandfather has been chasing across Africa, on and off, for about the last three hundred years. Granted, it’s possible that this is a different Josina Janssens, but given the context…” She shook her head. “We cannot, under any circumstances, allow her to get her hands on that book.”

Zarina took a deep breath. “If we’re lucky, Tzila is the agent Janssens sent to retrieve the book, and she’s still in Africa.” She paused for just a moment, long enough to give some extra weight to her next words. “If we’re unlucky, she’s the witch who sent the impundulu, and she herself is somewhere nearby. It would… fit her MO. The reason she’s been such a pain for Wizard Malle to deal with is that she avoids anything that looks remotely like a straight fight. She uses proxies and agents whenever possible, and any time he looks to be closing in, she just slips away and keeps her head down for a decade or two.”

I grimaced at the information as I absorbed it, running my tongue through the inside of my mouth as though to clear out an unpleasant taste. “OK. So- what are the odds we can just send Tzila on her way and get your grandfather here to help out?” I received a shake of Zarina’s head in place of an answer, and sighed. “OK. For now… let’s try to avoid aggravating things and see if we can buy time. We need to plan, and right now we don’t have enough information. Let’s go out there, and try a polite refusal. If that doesn’t work, we stall and ask to talk again in a couple days.” I received a nod of assent from both Zarina and Cindy. Glancing at the Sin Demon, I realized she hadn’t bothered to put on anything other than my t-shirt. I sighed, rolled my eyes, then turned to face the door.

As we marched back into the living room to confront Tzila once more, I got to watch her face respond to each of us in turn. Though her mirrored sunglasses still concealed her eyes, I could see as her full pink lips turned into a polite smile when I walked through first. When Zarina followed me, her expression remained firmly in the “politely happy” camp.

When Cindy came through, a slender woman a full foot shorter than Tzila, wearing only an oversized t-shirt, Tzila’s smile vanished. Even as I walked across my apartment and sat down once more, my visitor’s head swiveled to follow the Sin Demon. Cindy remained equally focused, moving to stand behind me and to my left. It was only when I cleared my throat that Tzila started, shifting her focus to my face suddenly. Her expression smoothed after a moment of concentration, and her lips parted to ask, “Have you come to a decision, Mister Puttman?”

I shook my head slowly. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe that I’m prepared to sell right now. As generous as your Mistress’ offer is, I’m currently in the middle of a… situation… which makes it too complicated for me to be able to consider it at this time.” I spoke carefully, choosing a few words at a time and paying attention to both Tzila’s face and my Gift as I did. My Gift warned of potential danger depending on how I phrased my refusal, but I steered myself towards the best outcomes I could manage. To my surprise, while Tzila’s expression did shift as I spoke, it was a gradual fall. The polite smile faded from her lips, and the woman’s proud bearing faltered, shoulders slumping in a little as I tried to put off the deal and buy time.

Since my Gift wasn’t screaming danger at me, I didn’t expect Tzila to respond with hostility or violence. Neither, though, did any of the possibilities that I expected include Tzila reaching up and removing her sunglasses, revealing wide eyes lined with dark eyeshadow. I was accustomed to Rose’s golden irises, so it actually took me a moment to notice that Tzila’s pupils were surrounded by what looked like a mass of molten silver and gold swirled together. She set the sunglasses down beside the display case on the table, then moved her hands to her neck and begin to methodically start unbuttoning her blouse. I watched in confusion as her hands worked her way down her torso, revealing a sizeable expanse of light tan cleavage supported by a translucent lacy white bra. The blouse only had about six buttons, and she began speaking as her fingers found the fourth. “My Mistress has also commanded that, if the diamonds alone are insufficient, I am to offer you myself.” The light and airy tones from the woman’s voice were largely absent, replaced instead with determined resignation.

“In addition to the diamonds, if I bring the book in question to my Mistress today, I will return. For seven nights and seven days, I will be yours to do with as you wish.” She finished unbuttoning her blouse and deliberately pulled it open, baring her torso. She was surprisingly muscular, even compared to Sara or Cindy, with well defined abs which flexed as she reached up to undo the front clasp of her bra. Peeling it away revealed a pair of teardrop breasts, larger than I would have guessed at a glance, capped with upturned pink nipples. Each of her nipples was pierced through horizontally with a simple gold barbell, and was slightly stiff.

Tzila shrugged her shoulders, dropping both her bra straps and the top of her blouse off to hang from her arms and causing her breasts to shift in a way that instantly drew my eye down. I couldn’t deny that she was thrillingly attractive, but her manner was so far from enthusiastic that it made her offer much easier for me to resist than the temptation the diamonds had posed. I tore my gaze from her revealed skin, studying what I could see of her face instead. Eventually, I asked quietly, “Do you want to offer yourself?”

Nothing about Tzila’s posture changed, but her tone went from resigned to clipped and tightly controlled. “My Mistress commands, and I must obey.” She paused a brief moment, her metallic eyes studying my face carefully in turn, before adding, “If it is my enthusiasm which concerns you, Mister Puttman, rest assured. When she who bears the silver ring to which I am bound commands me, I obey to the best of my ability. Should she wish me to be your partner, there is no act you could request of me that I would not diligently fulfill. For the seven days and seven nights, I would be your love slave in any and all ways you desire.”

As I stared into Tzila’s eyes, for a moment I caught something, a glimmer which vanished as she controlled her expression once more. Despite her words, the resignation in her tone did not change, and her soft pink lips were drawn tight together as soon as she finished speaking. Perhaps only because of my experience in dealing with Rose, Cindy and Aubrette, I realized that her words were very deliberately chosen, fulfilling her Mistress’ commands but in a way that allowed her to give information that was not strictly required.

I nodded very slowly at her, but then gestured down towards her exposed torso. “Please, Tzila, cover yourself. While you… No, your offer is very appealing, but I must ask you to please beg your Mistress for patience. I recognize her generosity, but I am not in a position to accept today. If… if she is willing to allow me to reach out to her soon, if you can tell me how to find her, I would be more than happy to resume negotiations as soon as my current situation is dealt with.”

Despite her obvious reluctance, nothing about Tzila’s demeanor showed her to be embarrassed. She nodded curtly and rolled her shoulders, sliding her blouse and bra strap over them once more, before lifting her hands up to re-fasten the clasp of her bra. She spoke as she adjusted herself, and began to button her blouse once more. “I understand.” Her eyes flickered towards Cindy for just a moment before returning to meet mine. “My instructions included the possibility of violence should you prove overly reticent, but only if the outcome was clear. I believe I am not required to enact that clause today. I will return to Mistress Janssens and convey your requests.”

Closing the last button, Tzila picked up the display case of diamonds and returned it to the briefcase, then stood. She took a few moments to tuck in her blouse once more, then offered me a curt nod. “Mister Puttman, I believe our business is concluded for now. I thank you for your hospitality, and will now depart.” With barely a glance at any of the other women in the room, she turned towards the door, reaching it in a few short strides. Without waiting for permission or a further response, she opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it behind her.

I drew in a heavy breath, as behind me, Zarina swore quietly. “Fuck me. That’s going to make things complicated.”