Incubus Inc Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Book listing

  Chp.1

  Chp.2

  Chp.3

  Chp.4

  Chp.5

  Chp.6

  Chp.7

  Chp.8

  Chp.9

  Chp.10

  Chp.11

  Chp.12

  Chp.13

  Chp.14

  Chp.15

  Chp.16

  Chp.17

  Chp.18

  Chp.19

  Chp.20

  Chp.21

  Chp.22

  Chp.23

  Chp.24

  Chp.25

  Chp.26

  Chp.27

  Chp.28

  Chp.29

  Chp.30

  Chp.31

  Chp.32

  Chp.33

  Chp.34

  Chp.35

  Epilogue

  Authors Note

  Incubus Inc.

  By Randi Darren

  Copyright © 2019 Randi Darren

  Cover design © 2019 Randi Darren

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews - without written permission from its publisher.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2019 Randi Darren

  All rights reserved.

  Dedicated:

  To those who know me

  Books by William D. Arand-

  The Selfless Hero Trilogy:

  Otherlife Dreams

  Otherlife Nightmares

  Otherlife Awakenings

  Omnibus Edition(All Three)

  Super Sales on Super Heroes Trilogy:

  Super Sales on Super Heroes 1

  Super Sales on Super Heroes 2

  Super Sales on Super Heroes 3

  Omnibus Edition(All Three)

  Dungeon Deposed Trilogy:

  Dungeon Deposed

  Dungeon Deposed 2

  Dungeon Deposed 3 (To be released 2019)

  Swing Shift Trilogy:

  Swing Shift

  Swing Shift 2 (To be released 2019)

  Swing Shift 3 (To be release 2020)

  Books by Randi Darren-

  Wild Wastes Trilogy:

  Wild Wastes

  Wild Wastes: Eastern Expansion

  Wild Wastes: Southern Storm

  Omnibus Edition(All Three)

  Fostering Faust Trilogy:

  Fostering Faust

  Fostering Faust 2

  Fostering Faust 3

  Remnant Trilogy:

  Remnant

  Remnant 2 (To be released 2019)

  Remnant 3 (To be released 2020)

  Incubus Inc. Trilogy:

  Incubus Inc (To be released 2019)

  Incubus Inc 2 (To be released 2019)

  Incubus Inc 3 (To be released 2020)

  Books in the VeilVerse-

  Cultivating Chaos: By William D. Arand

  Asgard Awakening: By Blaise Corvin

  One - Summoned -

  Sam tilted his head to the left, then slowly to the right.

  The view didn’t change, of course. No matter which way he looked at it, the image remained the same.

  A burning oval, floating directly in front of his coffee table.

  And it had yet to offer up any more information to him, nor would it.

  But Sam knew what it was.

  Sighing, he lifted a hand up and scratched at his cheek. He already knew he was going to respond to the summons. There was no reason for him to wait.

  Yet he felt like he shouldn’t get involved. There was no actual reason he felt that way; he just did.

  Standing up, Sam unfolded his wings and walked over to the summoning portal.

  It’d been something close to a hundred years since anyone had summoned him to a mortal realm.

  Or so he believed.

  For all he knew, it could have been two hundred years. Three hundred years. Time on his personal plane moved differently than on the heaven-built planes.

  Except this portal went to the prime material plane. The center point of all the planes.

  The unmistakable scent of the realm he’d been invited to was drifting through the open portal.

  What’s there to wait for? I’ve spent more time than I’d ever wish to just watching the other planes, as if they were television.

  After folding his wings partially so he could make the transition smoothly, Sam walked through the portal and onto the prime.

  “Oh god! Oh my god! Oh shit! Oh fucking shit!” squeaked a woman’s voice.

  Looking around, Sam wasn’t exactly surprised by the reaction. When he’d been popular, he’d heard similar exclamations often enough.

  Everyone wanted it to work, but then they were terribly surprised when it did.

  It looked as if he’d been summoned into a living room. One full of second-hand—maybe even third-hand—shabby furniture. Now that he was looking, everything had a distinctly used quality to it.

  But it was all quite clean, and it at least seemed well maintained.

  Hm. Starting from the bottom again, I suppose.

  But at least I get to start again. Certainly better off than Reixhitz.

  I wonder which relic she found. I would have thought Jena destroyed them all.

  Sam turned to look at the woman he’d heard shouting earlier at his presence.

  She was mumbling something over and over, her hand pressed to a book in front of her.

  Ignoring her again, Sam looked at the book.

  He had no memory of ever having left such a thing behind for others to summon him with.

  Which meant it was something someone had written about him, and they had included his summoning as part of the text.

  Huh. Should find out who it was and see if they need a hand. Afterlife or not.

  If this works out, at least.

  “You know,” Sam said to the woman. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’d be rather pointless considering the effort you spent to bring me here.”

  She looked to be in her mid-twenties, if Sam had to guess. Shoulder-length dark brown hair, slightly overweight, and wearing business-casual clothes.

  As she lifted her head up at his words, Sam got a better look at her face. Neither beautiful nor ugly, at best some would say she was cute. Her eyes were a translucent brown color, and her face held absolute fear and dread.

  “Really,” Sam said. “No point in hurting you just to go back to my plane.”

  “I-I-I did it?” asked the woman.

  “If your intent was to summon an Incubus, then yes, you did it,” Sam said.

  “You don’t… you don’t look like the picture,” said the woman.

  “Considering most photos ever taken of me have more than likely been destroyed, that’d be quite the feat,” Sam said with a chuckle. He wasn’t in a rush. These things had a rhythm and cadence all their own.

  Usually it started with disbelief, followed immediately by confirmation, and then the haggling.

  The woman picked up the book, then walked up to the edge of the chalk circle on the ground and held the pages open toward him.

  Looking at the sketched portrait inside the book, Sam knew immediately who’d written it. Who’d apparently left behind a way to summon him.

  Alisa. But how long dead are you?

  “She always did have a bit of whimsy about the whole thing,” Sam murmured.

  She’d gotten the broad strokes down well enough. Dark blue eyes, ligh
t brown hair, wings, and very human.

  Except she’d made him extremely handsome.

  “I mean, I’m good looking,” Sam said, “But she really overdid it. That was Alisa, though.”

  “Alisa?” asked the girl.

  “That was her name. She was a bit of an artist in her free time,” Sam said. “Did you find this book at a garage sale or something? Pawn shop? Locked trunk, maybe?”

  “It’s my grandmother’s,” said the woman, pulling the book up to her chest. “She apparently had it since she was a little girl. I think it was her own grandmother’s. She left it to me in her will.”

  “Oh? Interesting,” Sam said. He’d see if he couldn’t dig Alisa up from whatever eternity she’d been sent to just to see her. She’d been funny when he’d worked with her.

  Then again, it hadn’t been just work. He’d spent a great deal of time with her. A great deal.

  “…said I should only open it if it was a matter of life and death,” said the woman.

  “Uh huh, well, here I am. Let’s start with the easier parts,” Sam said, looking down at the symbol work on the ground. It was a well-constructed spell that would keep all lesser demons in place and restricted in their movements.

  Deciding to play the part for the time being, Sam didn’t just walk out of the circle. Instead, he summoned a chair and sat down in it.

  “My name is Sameerixis, but I go by Sam. Easier with the modern tongue. I’m an Incubus, and I’m usually summoned for material things or assistance.

  “That or sex. Judging from the state of your living quarters, I’m not here to show you carnal pleasure you’d never know otherwise,” Sam said, looking around the room again.

  “What?! No, no, no, no. I need—I need help,” said the woman.

  “Mmhmm. What kind of help? And what’s your name?” Sam asked, feeling slightly odd about the whole thing.

  She didn’t seem too perturbed about him or what he was. She’d rushed through the initial stages much quicker than he’d expected. Usually there was some resistance or disbelief.

  I wonder what Alisa wrote.

  “Abigail,” said the woman.

  Sam clicked his tongue at that. “Abby, then. Now, Abby, what exactly do you need from me?”

  “I need…” Abigail paused, licking her lips. She looked like she was firming up her thoughts on what she wanted to do. “I need money. Can you give me money?”

  Laughing softly, Sam slunk lower in his chair.

  “That’s all? Alright. How much did you need?” he asked.

  “Ahhhh. I-I need about a hundred thousand dollars.” Abigail looked far too excited now.

  “Mm. There are a few ways to go about this then,” Sam said, thinking over what he had readily available on hand.

  We’ve been very frugal in our spending. At the current rate, we can last another six hundred years before we starve to death.

  Though it sounds rather boring to live out the rest of existence on rationed meals and by ourselves.

  We could easily transmute some of that power to gold and simply give it to her, but… I don’t think she’d take the price that would go for.

  I could just go the slow route, then stay here and siphon power from the realm as I work on her deal.

  “First. I could easily give you gold in the quantity matching to your need,” Sam said. “But the price for that is… hefty. I would require thirty years of your life span.

  “Twenty for the gold, five for my own inconvenience, and five for profit.”

  “Thirty… thirty years?” Abigail asked.

  “Indeed. Thirty years. So if you would have died at eighty-four from old age, you’d die at fifty-four instead. Whatever your final destination, it would be shifted by thirty years,” Sam said.

  He didn’t mention the fact that if her destined end was ten years from now, she’d die as soon as she made the deal. Truth be told, he knew she wouldn’t take it, so he didn’t bother putting any effort into the offer.

  “What else is there?” Abigail asked. “You said there were a few ways we could do this.”

  “Indeed. The easier way is I remain with you on retainer, as it were, and we work at fixing your life,” Sam said. “The flat rate is two to one. If I stay two days, I take four days of your life. On average I tend to achieve my goals within two to six months. You can of course send me back at any time, and that’d be the end.”

  “Okay. Uhm. So… two to one. Okay. Okay. Uhm,” Abigail said. Her eyes drifted down to the ground. She was clearly thinking it over.

  “If you prefer, we could discuss your soul and parts of it, but most people find that entire conversation distasteful. To be honest, so do I,” Sam said with a chuckle. “I mean, think about it. The moment someone asks you to barter your soul away, doesn’t that just make it obvious that you shouldn’t? Such a strange thing your entertainment industry seems to love to overlook.”

  “No, you’re right. Not my… not my soul. And that’s your final price? I can’t talk you down or barter something else?” Abigail asked, looking at Sam.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Sam tried to look casual.

  “You don’t smell like a virgin, so I can’t take that in trade to offset costs. You have no wealth that would tempt me. And you do not hold any others in your thrall,” Sam said. Opening his mouth, he paused for effect, then closed it and shook his head.

  “No, what? You were going to say something,” Abigail said.

  Sam looked away, then shrugged his shoulders.

  “Well. Seeing as you’re probably a relative of Alisa’s…” Sam looked back up at Abigail. “If you can get others to summon me, and to make deals with me, I’ll offset your cost by twenty percent of whatever they spend.

  “So if you keep me around for a year, you’d lose two years of your life. Let’s say you give my information to another and they summon me, and they lose two years of their life in their own deal. I’ll give you back twenty percent of their cost to your own life force, as a sort of commission in a way.”

  Abigail nodded her head slowly. Sam could practically see the gears in her head spinning away as she thought out the deal.

  “What if I end up earning more for you than what I spent?” Abigail asked.

  Blinking at that, Sam thought on the question. “You mean, if you were to offset your entire cost, what happens if you keep giving my information to others?”

  “Yes. Would you give me something for that?” Abigail asked.

  “An… interesting question. Sure. I could do that. For now, I’d say I could easily add to your life span. Though when the time comes, we could negotiate for something else. Do you really think you can make that many connections?”

  Abigail chewed at her lip but nodded her head. “I do. And then some.”

  “Fine. Is it a deal then?” Sam asked. “I remain in your world, feeding off you directly, and work toward whatever goal you give me until such a time as you dismiss me. The rate at which I’ll take from you is two days to one.”

  “Yes, it’s a deal,” Abigail said, turning away from him. Moving to a coffee table next to her, she set the book down and picked up a box cutter. “Uhm, the book said these deals are sealed with blood?”

  “They can be,” Sam said, then got out of his chair and walked over to the edge of the circle. He hadn’t slept with a human since his last summoning, and he had been hoping he’d get a chance at Abigail. She wasn’t exactly a ten, but she was most certainly at least a six, and he wasn’t going to be choosy. “I personally prefer sealing them through sex, but blood works just as easily.”

  “Ahhhh, no. Blood—blood will do,” Abigail said. Walking to the circle, she slid the box cutter out of its sheath and then pushed it into the bottom of her palm about a quarter of an inch deep.

  Blood welled up from the cut immediately.

  Holding the box cutter out to Sam, Abigail looked at him, waiting.

  With a smirk, Sam took the cutter and made a similar cut in his own hand, then pressed h
is hand up to the edge of the warding and waited for her to finish the deal.

  Abigail took in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. Then she pressed her hand to Sam’s.

  The moment his blood came in contact with hers, he could feel his presence strengthen. He’d been passively feeding off the plane while summoned, and it’d been rather nice to feed on something rather than years’ old life Essence.

  But nothing beat the taste of a flesh-and-blood human.

  Abigail winced, her brow furrowing.

  “The feeling goes away in a minute,” Sam said. “It’s just your body reacting to me feeding from you.”

  Still holding Abigail’s hand, he turned it over, then leaned down and bent his head over her palm. Lifting her hand to his mouth, he ran his tongue over the cut.

  Her blood tasted sweet and full of life.

  “Ahhh, what are you doing?” Abigail asked. “Stop it!”

  He knew the taste of her blood. Her ancestry. She did indeed taste of Alisa.

  “Merely healing your hand,” Sam said, releasing her wrist. Stepping out of the circle, he looked at the portal that led to back to his plane.

  He spent a little bit of Essence to make the portal, the spell, and the circle all become invisible. Then he put up a small barrier to the plane itself.

  No reason not to stock up on prime Essence while I’m working. I’ll not pass up a chance to fill my stocks.

  To bank Essence just in case.

  When he turned to his dealer, Sam found her staring at her hand. Apparently stunned that it was healed.

  “Anything else you need me to lick?” Sam asked. With any luck, he’d talk Abigail into bed tonight.

  “Ahhh, no. No, thank you,” said the Human. “So… what… now?”

  Sam chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. Moving over to her couch, he sat down in it and sighed. It was nice to be anywhere other than his plane.

  His prison.

  “That’s entirely up to you. What do you want me to do?”

  “What I asked for, I guess. I need money,” Abigail said, eying him warily.

  “Ok… let’s start there. What do you need the money for?”

  “Debt.”