“You’re overworking yourself, Agatha,” Cat said as she took the laptop away from her new manager. “You have dark bags underneath your eyes and your skin looks like shit. A woman has a duty to her complexion. Here, some Starbucks for you. Your favorite.”
Agatha took the cup and sipped it. “D’aww. You’re such a sweetheart, Catherine!” She cooed.
“Well, you flew all the way from New York to nurse me. If that’s not being a real life-saver...”
Mr. Mouser came and rubbed his body against Agatha’s legs.
“I’m just keeping my cash cow alive, that’s it,” Agatha snorted and giggled.
“Right. I have something for you, but before that, shoot it. You surely have things to tell me.”
Agatha grinned, “My computer. Let me show you.”
She navigated to the Youtube Channel management. “Your video thanking everyone for Mr. Mouser’s return got forty-five million views and six million likes. And the count kept increasing. I had to fire two editors and hire another two. Your channel is ready for monetization and I have a few brands willing to sponsor you. There’s this pet accessory brand, PETA, and a few fashion companies. They’ll send you their products if you want to do a review. We should start other channels to keep subjects separate. Viewers are skittish about mixed content in their streams.”
She looked at the sponsorship deals when Catherine said,
The ghost girl had some radical opinions regarding animal rights. While they weren’t exactly wrong, they failed to include the practical elements of animal population handling.
“PETA is out. We do not wish to be associated with them,” Cat relayed the ghost’s demand. “The others, we’ll take all of them. We need to build a portfolio and get good relations with these brands to attract more and better sponsors. You can drop any you don’t feel is right for us, though.”
“I am already in contact with a Partner Manager at Youtube. They already reviewed the few reports regarding your videos, because assholes and trolls can’t leave anyone alone. They were all discarded. We are going to monetize your channels starting tomorrow.”
“That’s great.”
“The hotel settlement money is already in escrow with the main office in New York. We’ll transfer it to your LLC’s bank account in 3 days. What else… Oh, you got some emails from your SPAC sponsor group.”
During her time separated from Mr. Mouser, she’d forgotten about the SPAC. “Did the merger vote pass?”
“Yes, it did. The company already merged and is rising fast. You should redeem your founder warrants. It is well worth it. The stock price already climbed above the dilution drop.”
A SPAC’s greatest benefit was celerity in exposing a company to the market, as compared to the slow and costly IPO process. And in this case, thanks to that Californian solar company being forced to sell the shipment of solar panels at a cost, the SPAC did exactly what it should, converting the time saved into value.
She was due to earn a lot of money. Not only she’d already gained 20% when the SPAC went public because she joined before the “blank check” company went public but she also had warrants to buy more shares at a fixed price of $11.50 regardless of the current market price. She earned half a warrant for each share she bought during the IPO, meaning she needed to shell $3,750,000 to buy all these shares. However, she could sell those immediately and get more than she paid for them since the shares were selling for $24 right now. She could earn more than 100% in a single day if she dumped the shares right away.
But Cat knew they would reach close to fifty dollars a share because of the options she bought.
“There goes my cryptocurrency money. I’m going all in.”
Agatha glanced at her with envy, “You were broke two months ago, woman! Are you using evil magic to make money?”
“Sort of,” Cat poked her tongue out. “Look, I booked a twin room at the Waldorf-Astoria and a day spa for both of us. It’s already paid. So, my most awesome manager and second most awesome lawyer after Oliver, let me spoil you.”
The young woman’s eyes sparkled as she squealed in excitement. The two (with Mr. Mouser on the pet carrier) locked the tight studio apartment and went out to have their day of luxury.
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Somewhere in the state of New York
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“The target is inside,” a soldier spoke on the radio. “Prepare to storm the place. Save the ‘moon rounds’, only shoot if you are certain to hit.”
The rest of his squad nodded. They set the explosive charges and detonated the doors, storming the warehouse.
As he couldn’t hear them from a mile away. Humans were so stupid.
Rorgramathan was absolutely mad at being hunted by these humans. They’d somehow found a way to detect him invisible or in disguise, and had been hunting him with incessant fervor. They came with their last prayers in their lips, champions to some misbegotten cause. The demon had brutally murdered every single group that came after him but these idiots were willing to die for whatever higher cause was paying the most nowadays.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
He would love to play with these humans, except for two reasons. One, their souls ascended straight away, evading his grasp. Martyrdom was a thing and the conditions to achieve it were simple but yet hard to achieve. All they needed to do was fight evil without regret, which they were doing. Two, they developed ammunition that could actually damage him. Not much but each shot he took carved away a bit of the soul energy he had. With this rotten planet so magically dead as it was, the only way he could get more energy was to corrupt more people.
The incessant hunt made it extremely difficult. He needed time to craft a perfect deal or he’d not get as much energy as possible out of the gullible human. Awestruck cultists were willing to give themselves up for almost nothing. Rorgramathan knew that if he stopped, the humans could win just by throwing their lives away against him. Just like maggots killing a corpse-lord. He’d gladly kill as many humans as necessary until this land was devoid of all life but it all counted as martyrdom.
He couldn’t, as a sensible and responsible demon, keep feeding the forces of their Enemies like that.
And so it began again. The doors exploded, the humans entered wearing special goggles that made his invisibility useless.
“Oh, God! He’s disgusting!” One of them said before unloading his blessed rounds on Rorgramathan’s flesh.
“Pin him down! Marksman, aim for vital spots!”
Fools. A demon had no brain or heart and Rorgramathan made a point to leave these spots exposed. His true vital spot was the blisters in his blubber where the trapped souls he slowly digested for power lied. Bursting one of these up was a real blow to his pride and survivability in this realm as he at the same time lost a soul bound for hell forever and shortened his stay.
He ground his teeth, drawing ichorous blood from his gums at the thought he’d fail this mission, some stupid demon would come here and grab the girl in less than an Earth day. The mockery would last for an eternity. “How could you botch such an easy job, Rorgramathan?” He could already hear the stupid demons laughing at him.
The blessed silver rounds stung his blubbery flesh. They ricocheted against his skull and sunk deep between his ribs. These humans were good. Their elite, now about to die and ascend. He had to choose the lesser of two goods. Murder them and let them become martyrs or let them live and risk creating a Hero.
Rorgramathan knew the Universe was desperately seeking one to anoint if it hadn’t already found one. The Rules had to be followed. A Hero, a Princess, the Antagonist, the Fairy Guide. Just as he could use the power of Souls in place of magic, so could a fairy draw from Nature. A Hero backed by a fairy was the worst thing he could think of. Short of a deity descending on Earth, of course, but those wouldn’t bother with a minor squabble such as this one.
The demon canceled his concealment and heard some of the attackers retch and wail as his stench attacked them. He ran toward the closest one, the human’s gun roaring and tearing at the demon’s blubber until his claw reached the man’s neck and he was no more. He felt a stinging pain. A silver bullet had hit a pocket and a soul escaped. The Sisyphus Accords stated that a soul that evaded damnation was forever lost to hell. That one would either haunt the mortal world or go to purgatory. Two losses for him. A martyr for Heaven’s Army, a damned one lost.
Rorgramathan felt he was being played. Maybe that was the game. Keep him pinned in the Mortal Realm, unable to claim the girl’s soul, a contraption to create martyrs out of a dying world.
He finished killing the attack squad but lost another seven souls from his blubber. He should leave. Before he could move, the soldiers’ vests exploded all at once. Not a suicide bombing but a final stand. The explosion was inconsequential as the shockwaves just rocked his blubber and the heat evaporated the slime covering his body but the act of defiance irritated him greatly. As the smoke cleared, intense lights shone on him from the sky.
Helicopters, he recognized the humans’ flying machine. With guns trained on him, they roared. “The Sky does not rain Gold or Silver,” one of the humans’ prophets once said. Leave it to the stupid humans to try and fail at the impossible. But blessed silver rained down on him, nonetheless. An impressive amount.
It finally irritated Rorgramathan past the tipping point. He raised a clawed and bloated hand and spoke in the Infernal language. The ground cracked and glowed with ominous red light. Gouts of fire erupted from Hell itself and rose to meet the metal birds. The humans’ vehicles exploded spectacularly, and more martyrs ascended to the cursed Heavens.
This had to stop.
No more playing around. He had to get the girl and uncover her secrets. How could that one soul escape her due damnation?
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New Hampshire, the same day
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“He’s on the move, Arisu-sama,” the Japanese [Paladin] said. His Skill, [Holy Bloodhoud] allowed him to mark and track his foe. Back in Fort Hamilton, he’d used it on the demon. "approaching New York City."
The young woman that kept him company all these months hugged him from behind. “I wish we had more time. But Mr. Mouser was forced to fight, he gained seven levels. That might be the reason the demon decided to move.”
Shinji rubbed her arms wrapped around his waist, glad they could at least endure the cold with their passive abilities. The last few months had been draining on their magic reserves but demons couldn’t enter this State because of an old legend that turned out to be true. They could use most of their magic and even train a little without fear of being attacked.
His heart ached because Alice made it very clear it was just sex. Raised in a world where whole villages could disappear under a monster horde, she didn’t associate sex with love like most Earth-raised people like him or had the concept of chastity too deeply ingrained in her psyche.
After this was over, he knew they would go on separate ways but he longed for her companionship. He hated to admit it, but he was falling for her.
“She’s in Las Vegas,” Shinji said just to keep the conversation going. They both knew very well where Catherine was. The whole world knew.
“I’ll fill the last vials and put them in my bag,” the wolf whisperer said. She kissed the back of his neck and let go of him. “I know the demon has a way to track her. Maybe he's going to take a flight?”
"Not with the government hunting him down. I think he's going to take a hostage. Maybe her mother. You've seen Catherine-sama bet her life to keep her mother free from corruption. The demon knows she'll come to him."
"Are you ready? How is your magic?"
He nodded, “Hai, I will be fine. I still have a mana potion.”
Glass clinked as Alice stored her vials and summoned her wolves. “I'm calling her. Pack everything and I'll stow it in my dimensional bag. We need to make haste. Catherine must survive. She’ll be the key to keep us from becoming the government slaves.”
They talked about that extensively. They were exposed and people in power now had evidence that magic existed. The government wouldn’t allow them to roam freely, not when a single individual had the power of a small army. Most returners knew from experience how people in power were afraid of those they couldn’t control, especially when such individuals could fight armies on their own. Shinji and Alice knew they were minor players as some returners were far more powerful than they.
Catherine was rather unique as she was a magical individual created here on Earth and she had an uncanny ability to make money. They knew she would empathize with their plight and help them remain free. It would also be in her best interest to keep society stable as money only had value if everyone agreed.
They feared that as more returners arrived back on Earth, the situation would escalate. If an intermediary demon could do this much destruction, what would something more powerful than that do? How long until the government decided such a threat deserved a tactical nuke?