The tension in Kit fell off instantly, her shoulders sagging and her taut face smoothing out.
“That is so refreshing,” Kit said, a smile slowly creeping over her face.
“Glad to help. So, what do we have?” Felix asked, closing his desktop window.
Lily shook herself out of her own private thoughts and listened in.
In fact, everyone was here. Andrea was resting against the desk, Miu was sitting on the couch, Felicia had been tinkering with some device in a corner, and Ioana stood by the door. Ever the watchful guardian.
“Honestly, I’m not completely sure,” Kit admitted, taking a seat in one of the chairs facing the desk. “Their minds were fairly well wiped clean. What I got was fragmented. Using all six together gave me a direction, though.
“A restaurant across from what I think was where you worked. There were pictures of you in your uniform.
“There was also a black-haired man, with narrow eyes and a small face. Couldn’t have been taller than five foot one.”
Felix frowned and leaned forward over his desk. He propped his chin up in his hands and tilted his head.
“Well, that rules out Dimitry. I wonder, maybe one of his peers? Or his boss, even? I suppose it isn’t out of the question,” Felix mused aloud.
“Isn’t Dimitry our friend? As your secretary, I’ll call him and set up a meeting! Then we can make this all right,” Andrea said triumphantly. Her hands went to Felix to probably dig around for his phone. “I’ll make pancakes and it’ll be fine.”
Andrea clawed at his clothes, her fingers trying to get into his pockets.
“Andrea, stop. It’s okay. I don’t think Dimitry is the problem. Promise,” Felix assured her, fending off her quick hands and quicker fingers.
“Secretary?” Miu asked softly.
“Misunderstanding,” Kit said, turning her head to the ex-security officer. “She thinks Felix gave her a job. She thinks one of the job duties is sleeping with him, and she can’t decide if she wants the job or not.”
“Oh. I see,” Miu frowned prettily, her dark eyes fastening on Felix.
Felix slipped his phone from his pocket and under his ass. He held up his hands and let Andrea do as she would and then looked back to Kit.
“Anything else?” he asked as Andrea opened his breast pocket and stared into it. Her nose twitched, then her ears as she seemingly considered the problem.
“Not really. I get the impression they were here to kill us, though. Not rob us. They were waiting for us to fall asleep.” Kit tilted her head to one side, watching him.
He imagined she was evaluating his response.
“Then they die. Let’s keep them alive for a few days while Felicia builds me my corpse dispose-o-matic machine.
“Lily gets the souls.”
Felix stood up and thumbed the computer off with his right hand, his left hand covertly grabbing his phone.
“We’ll have a long day tomorrow. Let’s get those six secured. I’ll build a basement tomorrow for Felicia to work her magic in. I’ll be reverting everyone to zero for the night. Except for Andrea, who will remain at a fraction so she can have a few extras watching our guests, and Felicia, as I’m sure she’ll keep working.”
Felix sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Any questions?”
“I’m not sure if I want the job or not. I’ve only been intimate a few times, and that was years ago. I’m not that easy.
“I mean, well, I might be willing. Your scent is amazing, after all. And you are kinda my type,” Andrea said slowly. “Can I use one of my Others for the first time?
“There’s a couple who already said yes.”
Felix pressed his palms to his eyes.
Chapter 10 - Sausage -
Creating a basement from scratch with just his powers hadn’t worked. The price had been too high with only his normal point allowance.
Instead, he’d bartered with Andrea.
He’d offered her the job of assistant, which didn’t need her to sleep with him. But her job duties would be random and assigned as needed.
When she was doing tasks he assigned, she’d also be given her power back to let out her “Others,” as she called them.
So, he’d opened up a shaft big enough for a person to go down, into what would eventually be the basement.
The foundation was a problem. They weren’t quite sure how deep it went, or what it would support, or if they’d be cutting into it.
Felicia assured him there’d be no problems with it, and that she’d make sure everything worked out in their favor.
On her Dwarven heritage itself, she swore it.
Then again, she had an army of Andreas to direct as well, so it might happen exactly as she said.
He didn’t decline and left her to it. Which had Andrea now digging out a basement with an unending workforce of herself. Felicia, of course, was directing them. They listened to the angry Dwarven woman.
They’d make excellent progress. To the point that they could dump their would-be murderers in the basement and leave them there with no way to get out.
Felix couldn’t sleep, though. He felt like he was missing something. He’d spent his remaining points on converting gold and settled in for paperwork.
Hunched over his workstation, he stared at the six folders in front of him.
There wasn’t much overlap; except for Miu, who had a generalized skillset, and everyone had their own area of expertise. As he’d been conditioned to do in a corporate scenario, he created an employee file for each.
Flipping open the one on top, he found a picture of Felicia.
Her appearance was quite different than when he’d purchased her. Someone had been going over the finer points of fashion with her.
Her details remained the same, though.
Felix set her file aside. She was simple and easy to maintain. A workaholic if presented with a challenge. The type of employee that would go to ruin if left without a task, project, or job to manage.
Opening the next, he found Andrea. Smiling, throwing a thumbs-up, and standing in a ridiculous pose.
Felix chuckled at the memory of it. She’d insisted he write “Personal Assistant” in her file after he explained what he was doing.
She was infinitely useful for her power, and incredibly cheerful. What she lacked in intelligence, she made up for in good-hearted concern for everyone. Though she could see to the root of a problem fairly quickly, which led to some interesting decisions. Wise, but lacking foresight.
Opening the third and closing Andrea’s, he found Lily. Her picture was odd. He’d taken it while she’d had her powers active. She’d immediately doused her sigils and rearranged herself more for a business photo.
She was a curious one. Ruthless, cynical, and willing to eat the souls of those she beat.
Yet she bent herself to the tasks he gave her. Especially the non-mystical ones.
“She would rather work on something that doesn’t require her purchased through blood power,” Felix murmured.
He’d have to work on her. For now, it was simple enough to engage her in intellectual pursuits and let her work on them.
Right now, her primary duty was their financials and inventory counts. It kept her quite busy. Thankfully so.
Glancing into Miu’s folder, he nearly shut it as fast as he’d cracked it open, but stopped. He put some true thought into her rather than dismissing her.
She was a mystery still. A question mark.
She tended to avoid him whenever possible. She never skirted any duty he gave her, however.
She did everything he asked to the fullest of her ability, and then some.
He looked to her picture and had to wonder about her all over again.
She was attractive. Almost beautiful, even. Clearly of Asian lineage with the features to match. Clean, petite, elegant. Black hair and dark, dark brown eyes.
After he’d finished repairing her body, he’d found she had an athletic figure that most women tried to achieve and never did so.
Her multiplicative power seemed to function on every level. There was nothing that didn’t get amped up from its base setting.