“I probed her once. A little. She’s… different. Her brain works in a way that I wasn’t really familiar with. Got out of there quick after that. Unique minds are touchy things. Think of the geniuses of an age and those are all unique minds.
“Her motivation isn’t there, though. It’s like she’s lacking one key thing.”
Felix shrugged his shoulders at that. “Maybe I could order her to train more vigorously?”
“Oh, oh. Here we go. We liked this one. She was the magic user.”
“Magic us—oh. Her.” Felix didn’t really care for this one. She was a powerful magic user alright. One that had fed on the souls of other supers to increase her own abilities.
She was a powerhouse. A powerhouse who was a walking demon.
Long black hair flowed down her back and shoulders, and an aura of energy crackled around her. She had black eyes that seemed too big for her face and skin that was as pale as porcelain.
Her features were sharp and elegant, something you’d expect more out of a fashion model than a villain who tore the souls out of the living.
She’d been called many things, but the name that stuck with the masses was Mab. The fairy queen of legend and story.
No one seemed to know her actual name.
Felix didn’t really get the connection or care what name she used. What he did care about was the fact that her point value was significant.
Two thousand five hundred. A cool thousand above Kit even.
That and he was pretty sure people weren’t going to bid on her. Something about stealing people’s souls made everything touch and go.
The opening bid was set at five thousand.
Nothing happened.
After a minute, the bid dropped to four thousand.
Again, nothing happened.
As if sensing the problem, the moderator in control of the bid dropped it down to a thousand dollars.
Felix thumbed the button, his own number of forty-two popping up in the top right of the screen.
The bid locked in a green color. Below that, an increment bid of five hundred appeared with a question mark.
There were no counter bids. They’d underestimated how much people had been unnerved by the soul-taking thing.
The number turned black and “sold” was written across the screen.
Mab was taken away and the next person was brought up.
Curious, Felix mentally opened his “point account” as he had taken to thinking of it. He also deliberately tried to skew his thoughts about tomorrow’s projected point values, rather than what they were today.
Today’s points were a mess of body parts and other things that he’d have to put to rights before the day ended.
PROJECTED
Received
Spent
Remaining
Daily Allotment
150
0
150
Miu Miki
400
0
400
Ioana Iliescu
800
0
800
Kit Carrington
1,500
0
1,500
Lilian Lux
2,500
0
2,500
DAILY TOTAL
5,350
0
5,350
“Her name is Lilian Lux. Lily.” Felix shook his head and closed the window.
“I doubt her parents knew what she’d become when they named her.”
“Yeah, but Lily Lux? That’s just…” Felix snickered, shaking his head.
Next, a man was brought up. He had the look of a man in his thirties who’d spent his life working outdoors.
This was another person they’d decided on trying to pick up, Aeric.
His power had been rather straightforward—he could move with unheard-of speed and grace. It put quite a strain on his body, so he’d trained himself to cope with it.
The bid started at ten grand, which Felix happily pressed his button for.
“Oh good, we might have a sho—” Kit started when there wasn’t an immediate incremental bid.
Then it jumped to fifteen thousand.
Felix gritted his teeth and thumbed the button again. They’d gotten Lily cheap. He could spend a bit more on Aeric.
He saw his bid flash on the screen, then vanish as it was replaced several times, ending at twenty-two thousand.
Felix hit the button again. It was probably his last possible bid he could throw up.
Before his number had even finished materializing, it was gone, the bid rocketing up to thirty thousand.
“Fine, whatever. For fuck’s sake,” Felix grumbled.
“It’s alright. I wasn’t expecting to get him anyways.”
“And who are you expecting we’ll get, then?” Felix asked, still grumpy.
“Andrea Elex and Felicia Fay.”
“Those were… the multiple one and the inventor?” Felix asked after a moment.
“The very same. Felicia was at my own point value, I think, and Andrea just under it, right?” Kit asked, tossing her empty soda can across the room to clatter into the trash bin.
“Yeah. I think they were about that. Why so sure on those?”
“Mind reading. There’s some seriously bad vibes going through here. But those are two names I haven’t really heard from anyone else. And those that are interested are going for the lowball bid.”
“Huh. You’re way more useful than I gave you credit for. Sorry, Kit.”
Kit shook her head and then started to laugh softly. “Yes. World’s strongest telepath. Useful for getting good buys on slaves.”
“Sorry. You’re not… er, I don’t care that you were Augur. Never paid much attention to supers anyways. You’re just Kit,” Felix said, slinking into his chair.
“No, I get that. It’s fine. Just… unexpected. Ah, here’s Andrea.”
Felix looked up to the screen as a young woman stepped into frame. She looked like a college student to him. Or so he thought, based on her face and demeanor. It made her seem out of place.
That impression was ruined when he took in her clothes.
She was wearing what looked to him like a harness and webbing for military hardware.
You could easily call her cute, maybe bordering on the side of “girl next door” pretty.
Two large ears peaked through her mess of dirty blonde-colored hair. One eye was a crystalline blue and the other a dark brown. Behind her was a limp, bushy tail that swept outward. She looked to be about five foot six and held herself awkwardly.
“Huh, she’s a Beastkin.” Felix thumbed the bid button the moment her price of five-thousand popped up.
“Yes, and she’ll be very useful for us. She’s a multiplier. Creates clones of herself.
“I think you’ll get her for six or seven, but our last one will cost us.” Kit sighed and pressed a palm to her forehead. “Can you dial me out to ten percent?”
Felix nodded and flipped her draw up to ninety.
“That… is so special,” Kit murmured, melting into her chair.
Looking back to the screen, he realized Andrea was now at seven thousand. Felix thumbed the button, pitching it up to eight grand.
The bids stopped and nothing further came through. Then Andrea was his, and she shuffled off the stage.
The camera shifted its view to center a young woman who couldn’t have been taller than five feet.
She had dark brown curls that hung short around her face. She had a petite look to her and a small hourglass frame. Her face was on the cute side of the equation, but held a fiery look to those light brown eyes.
“Oh, there’s Felicia. Lucky us. She’s an inventor. After this, we can relax.
“I almost forgot, there’s supposed to be a new season of that dating show starting tonight. The one we were watching last week. I forget the name,” Kit said, snapping her fingers as if trying to remember.
“You said she’ll be pricey?” Felix asked as the woman lifted a hand and yelled at someone off stage.