“Think so. Probably about twenty. She’s worth it. The Fiancé? What was it again?”
Felix acted quickly when the screen flashed to Felicia’s starting price of five thousand. He jammed the button ten times.
And up her price jumped. From five to fifteen in a second, with Felix’s number in the corner.
Someone else pushed it to sixteen, to which Felix flicked the trigger twice. Pushing it straight to eighteen.
The bids ended as quickly as they came in. He was pretty sure he’d made his point to whoever else was bidding.
With a buzz, Felix now owned an inventor.
Then the channel switched as Kit held up the remote, changing the channel to normal cable.
“Wish we had snacks. Snacks would be kickass. Dial me to zero?” Kit asked.
No-Name popped in eventually with his three new slaves in tow.
“Sorry, Felix. Didn’t realize they’d put you in here.”
“I know, awesome, right? No need to be quiet or even worry about eavesdropping. Remind me to get you to invite me again next time,” Felix said, standing up.
“Yeah, really helped. Hey, are there any snacks around here?” Kit asked, leaning her head back on the headrest of the recliner
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Across the hall, actually. As long as you’re happy, then, Felix.”
No-Name stepped to the side and let the three newcomers file in.
“I’ll need the purchase amount in full. Once I’ve got that, these are yours. I’d recommend using your Pit immediately.”
Nodding his head, Felix picked up his briefcase and counted out twenty-seven stacks of one thousand dollars. They were still wrapped in the numbered bands from the bank.
No-Name pulled up a briefcase Felix hadn’t noticed and transferred the money into it.
“Great, pleasure doing business with you, Felix. I’ll hit you up again if I hear of another auction. Similar merchandise? Willing to settle for less? Or more?” No-Name asked.
“Sure, hit me up for any of that. Not a problem. Let me guess, you get a cut with me as your guest?” Felix said with a grin, holding his hand out to him.
“Damn skippy,” No-Name said, shaking Felix’s hand. “See ya, Felix.”
“Later, No-Name.”
“Leon.”
“No-Name.” Felix shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes as No-Name left.
Turning to the three newcomers, Felix fished out his owner’s box. “Index finger please, Felicia.”
Felix held it out in front of the diminutive woman. She said nothing, but glared at him as she stuck her finger into the box.
“You’re up next, Andrea.”
The Beastkin’s ears lay flat to her head as she glared at him from under her bangs. Then promptly put her finger into the box.
Moving to the beautiful magician, he smiled and held out the box to her. “You’re up, Lilian.”
Lilian’s eyebrows drew together and she stared at him for a long second. “And how do you know that name?” she asked finally, pushing her finger into the hole of the box.
“What, that your name is Lilian Lux? Does it matter?” Felix put the small box back into his coat and then adjusted it. “Time to go home. You three need to earn your keep tonight.
“First, though, we need to go buy some things.”
All three women eyed him.
Opening the rear van doors as he passed by, Felix picked up the weights and went inside house.
He’d already taken the time to revert Kit to how she was pre-auction. He wanted to put Miu and Ioana back together to a more normal state before the newbies saw them.
Both Miu and Ioana were in the living room, watching TV. He targeted Miu and put her back together, then Ioana.
If he didn’t get them put back to rights before the points reset at midnight, they’d be lost points.
Waste not, want not.
Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as Kit herded his new recruits into the house.
Setting the weights down onto the coffee table, he activated his current point balance.
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
Andrea Elex
1,300
0
1,300
Felicia Fay
1,550
0
1,550
DAILY TOTAL
8,200
0
8,200
He’d bought a bunch of fishing weights that weighed out at about half a pound each. They looked more like cannonballs than fishing weights.
Then again, he’d never been fishing.
Seemed boring.
Focusing on the first half-pound fishing weight, he pulled up the upgrade screen and selected the material.
To convert a half-pound fishing weight to gold was five thousand points.
It’d leave him with over three thousand points left over.
Hitting the confirm button, Felix chuckled as the weight became pure gold.
“Damn,” Kit said from over his shoulder.
“Yeah. So that works. Can’t keep doing this, though. Someone will eventually wise up. Hence the pawn shop idea.”
“Pawn shop?” Kit asked.
“Miu and I were talking about it the other day. A pawn shop would be a great way to launder my powers into money, without raising the ire of our overlords.”
Felicia’s hand shot forward and she picked up the golden ball. She smacked it into one of the other lead weights. She immediately pulled it up to her eye, intent to inspect it.
The dent it had caused was easy for everyone to see.
“This is gold,” she said, her voice a surprisingly low tone.
“Yep. It sure is. It’s also how we pay back the bank, the loan shark, and get our pawn shop.” Felix leaned back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head.
Chapter 7 - Investment -
“You will wake up now.” The melodic voice brought Felix out of a deep dream.
Blinking a few times, he managed to slowly focus on Lily standing above him.
“Morning, Lily,” Felix said, and then yawned. Looking over at the clock, he saw it was a touch past seven. “Little early to wake up. I don’t have a job anymore. Self-employed.”
“You will release me,” said the lovely soul-stealing monster.
“Uhm, no? Seriously. What’d you wake me up for?” Felix rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands.
“I… you will rele—”
“No. I won’t. And just a hint, none of your powers will work on me. The Pit pretty much ended that problem. On top of that, I took your powers away to fuel mine.
“Completely. You’re just a beautiful young woman right now. That’s it.”
Felix swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sending Lily scurrying backwards a few steps.
Sighing, he bent over his knees and slapped his hands into his temples twice. “Breakfast. Need food.”
“No… my magic can’t be gone. It can’t. I can’t… I can’t do anything. This is… no,” Lily said, making strange hand gestures.
“Well, temporarily gone. I can turn it back on whenever we need it. Is something burning?” Felix asked, sniffing the air.
“Temporarily? Give them back to me!” Lily stepped in close and loomed over him.
“Yeah, no. Seriously, though, it smells like burnt toast.” Felix stood up and pushed Lily back with one hand as he left his room and headed for the kitchen.
“Now, you’ll give them back now!” Lily shouted at his back, trailing him.
Entering the kitchen, he found Felicia sitting on the floor with what looked like a toaster spread across the tiles. She looked very confused, her hands holding the shell of the toaster.
The grunting snores coming from the living room on the other side of the island drew his attention. Sprawled out on a couch and sounding much akin to a chainsaw going through a zombie was Andrea.