Chapter 55 - How Much

  Alex barely stumbles through the large bay door for the courier depot just before the bell chimes, announcing the spreading dawn. Dale’s already part-way through his morning spiel, but Alex catches the tail end of it.

  “It’s a busier day, so everyone should have plenty of routes to keep occupied. As usual, the late drops from last night need to go first, so get to it.” Dale wraps up, scanning the assembled runners and making eye-contact with each one. “Well? Shoo!” He waves his hands out as if trying to brush them all away before turning back to the door into the offices and disappearing inside.

  Rather than joining the scramble for the first routes and the easier short-runs, Alex once more searches out Jewel. He finds her near the back, tidying up around the return bin and folding the satchels from the end of the prior day. “Morning!”

  Jewel looks up a smile already starting to form on her expression as she hears Alex’s voice, but it freezes as she sees him. “Alex, holy shit, what happened?”

  The reaction catches Alex up short. His confusion must have been apparent because Jewel tosses the bag she’d been holding back into the bin and grabs Alex’s arm. “For fuck’s sake, it’s like you lost a week’s worth of time overnight.” She says, turning him a bit so she can examine him better. “Your skin’s duller, and your hair too. What happened?” She asks again, clearly alarmed.

  Alex looks at his hands, and just as she’d said, his condition of being Faded is on stark display again. Then he reaches up, pulling a strand of hair to where his eyes can focus on it. A dull brown, not his usual richer tone. “Shit.” He huffs. “Guess I didn’t come out as unscathed last night as I thought.”

  He gives Jewel a brief, and highly edited, explanation of the night before. “So yeah, I got hit with a pretty severe backlash, and I guess I burned through a lot more of my vitality than I thought.” He looks at his hands again. “I’m gonna need a top-up soon it seems.” He mutters, thinking back to his visit to Hadrick’s.

  Jewel nods emphatically. “You should go today, if you can. If one of your routes goes near one of the shops, detour.” She insists, giving Alex’s arm a light shake. “Get out there, you’re gonna need the coin, so you should do as much as you can today.”

  Alex nods, thanking her for the advice. Instead of going for the long runs again, this time Alex grabs two of the shorter distance routes that are left. Under his breath, he mutters to Corvus. “Is it really that drastic?” He asks, looking aside to where Corvus perches on his shoulder.

  “Yes, but I do not believe you are in immediate danger. You were in worse condition when you initially arrived in town. But Jewel is correct to be concerned.” He warns, ruffling his wings a bit. “I would estimate you have two days before things become critical, with your typical spirit use. You should not wait for it to become critical.” The crow advises, solidifying Alex’s plan for the day.

  He checks his map, plotting his path for the two deliveries. Seeing they’re in opposite directions, he puts one back on the shelf and picks another that’s on the same street as the one he kept. “I’ve still got some coins, maybe fifteen or so.” He thinks aloud while adjusting his planned route. “I don’t remember the price, but it can’t be that much.” Shouldering the satchels, Alex steps out into the street and flares his will to begin the day’s work.

  Uril’raya’s morning is going just about as well as he had hoped. He’d barely gotten a block into his usual working territory when one of his ‘regulars’ spotted him. The poor guy needed a little help relieving some ‘frustrations’ he’d been left with from the previous evening. Uril was quite happy to help.

  Cleaning himself up in the small bathroom of the client’s apartment, Uril grins at his reflection in the mirror above the sink. A few moments later, he steps back out to see his client still lounging on the couch. The guy looks Uril over as if contemplating paying for round-2, but then just shakes his head. “Gotta say, you’ve got a bit more bounce in you today. Don’t get me wrong, you’re good and always have been. But it’s like something’s got you a bit more enthusiastic today.”

  Uril laughs softly and picks up his shirt, sliding it back onto his arms. “Well, there might be a reason for that.” He says with a wink. But apparently his smile gives something away, being more than his usual lascivious smirk.

  “Of course you don’t have to tell me anything, but come on. You look more, I dunno, satisfied.” the guy says sitting forwards a bit.

  Uril licks his lips. “My private life is my private life.” He says, waggling a finger at his client with mock-admonishment. But he can’t keep a straight face too long and breaks into a smile again. “I’m dating someone.” He says simply, surprising the other man.

  The man lets out a low whistle. “Well I’ll be. Wonder how much that would cost.” He says jokingly, but the mirth falls off his face just as quickly as Uril’s good humor turns to a hard glare. “Whoa, whoa, just joking. Didn’t mean anything by it.” He says, lifting his hands in a placating gesture.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  The incubus takes a slow breath and calms the sudden spike of anger while smoothing out some wrinkles from his shirt. Reactions like that are bound to happen, he reminds himself. “He isn’t a client, and never has been. No-one could afford what that would cost, because THAT isn’t for sale.” He says in a tone that offers no option to retort.

  “Hey, I get it.” The client says and sits back again. “Anyway, thanks Uril.” Taking that as his cue to go, the incubus makes his exit, having been paid already.

  Once more out on the street, Uril stretches and runs fingers through his hair. With that bit of a ‘meal’, his spirit is feeling sated and churning with fresh energy. If he didn’t exert at all, that feeding could last him a few days easily. Having freshly fed, it feels almost like someone gave his spirit a tune-up. Everything flows more freely. It’s a very good feeling.

  Putting a bit of a self-satisfied swagger into his step, Uril sets off to return to his normal rounds. The early session had put things well into the morning for him, and it was closer to the times he’d normally make himself available. It doesn’t take long before another client decides they need some arm-candy while they take care of business.

  By the time the noon-bell rings over the city, Alex had already completed three runs. Each one completed while carrying two packages. Every time Alex puts his hand in his pocket, the collected tags give him a small amount of reassurance. Even if he was under a bit of pressure again, he’s making progress.

  Panting lightly, Alex rests against the frame of one of the bay doors. As one of the other couriers runs past, he claps Alex on the shoulder. “Come on new-guy, it’s too early to be worn out.” He teases, unaware that Alex had already done three times the deliveries.

  “Yeah, just need a breather.” Alex says, chuckling softly. And he does need it. As the morning had progressed, each intent-movement leap had started to feel just a little more sluggish. Reaching down, he rubs at Hara’s ears, taking some comfort in the hound’s ever-steady presence. “Let me cash these in, and we’ll head for one of the shops. I think Hadrick’s isn’t too far out of the way…”

  Hara wags, taking a keen interest. “Can get kabobs again?” She asks, remembering the food-cart that had been nearby.

  Alex laughs and shakes his head. “We can’t eat kabobs every day. We just had some yesterday.” He tells her, but nearly breaks when he sees the disappointment evident in her eyes. “Look, we can’t get them all the time. Lets see how much money I have after the shop, and we’ll see about having something tonight.”

  The stone-hellhound looks up at him as if weighing the meaning of what he said. Her head tips to the side and back again. “If Alex get more coins, Alex can get more tasty things?” She finally says, making both Alex and Corvus chuckle.

  “Something like that. It at least makes it more reasonable to indulge ourselves more often.” He says, patting her side. “OK, lets go.” He quickly tells Jewel that he’s taking a longer break to go top off, and heads into the offices.

  Mack is behind his desk, writing in a ledger as he tallies the revenue from the last day’s business. The door into his office stands open as Alex approaches and he knocks on the doorframe before stepping in. “Hey Mack, got a moment to cash me out?” Alex asks, proffering the small stack of claim-tickets.

  The giant of a man holds up a finger without looking up. It takes a few moments before he’s finished with the calculation and looks up. “Sorry about that, didn’t want to leave that half-done and mix up my numbers.” He says, giving Alex an apologetic smile. “So, wanting to collect a bit early? What’cha got?” Mack reaches over the desk and collects the papers from Alex’s outstretched hand.

  Counting them, Mack’s brow rises. “Eight tickets. Two of these are from yesterday. Huh, you really are as fast as Dale said.” The ogre chuckles when Alex confirms the assessment. “Ya better be careful, you’re gonna have some of the guys jealous of you.” Mack teases lightly. He pins the stack together and tucks the bundle into a drawer before unlocking the cash-box and extracting eight coins. He counts them out into a stack on the desk before sliding the little tower of coins towards Alex. “Eight tickets, standard rate, for eight coins.”

  Alex reaches to take them and then pauses. “Hey Mack, do the coins have a name? Are they just ‘coins’, or is there a more proper name?” He asks, picking the stack and taking one to examine it more closely.

  “Most folks just say coins, yeah. But they’re called an Obol. The guy who started us using them called them that, but I’m not sure where it comes from.” Mack explains with a shrug. Alex turns the silvery disk over in his fingers. On one side, there’s a stylized sun embossed on the surface. On the other, a coiled sea-monster is stamped into the metal.

  “Neat. Thanks Mack.” Alex says, pocketing his payment. “I’m not done for the day, but I needed a lil extra for an errand.” He says, waving goodbye to the friendly accountant.

  “Take care out there.” Mack calls after him, then returns to his ledgers, muttering to himself as he starts working the numbers again.

  As Alex leaves the building, he feels like he’s heard the term ‘obol’ before, but he can’t put a finger on why. His mind keeps trying to equate it to a ‘dollar’, but the concept doesn’t quite fit. But he does get the impression that the ‘dollar’ is money from his life before, and that an ‘obol’ is something far older.

  Alex heads out, moving down the street towards the city’s edge. There’s other shops that would offer the service, and closer to him, but Alex had been treated well at Hadrick’s and he wants to go back. He walks normally for the first block, taking time to slowly stoke his intent before kicking off at the street-corner and joining the streaks of movement left behind by others using the intent-movement to traverse the city.

  The skill still works just fine, but the strain is starting to show. Even with the bolstering effect of Corvus and Hara assisting with the conjoined-activation, and the ‘easing’ effect of the roadway, Alex can feel his spirit having to work harder to supply the needed energy. Corvus might have said he’d have another couple days, but Alex doesn’t want to let this feeling of being drained linger. And if he’s intending to continue practicing perception-augmentation and telepathy, he’ll need the extra fuel.

  It takes a few blocks into the district, but Alex starts to recognize the area from his first visit. And soon after that, he steps down onto the street that runs in front of the shop. Breathing a bit harder than he’d like, Alex decides to just walk the rest of the way. The sign for ‘Hadrick’s Quick-Fix’ is already in view, so Alex doesn’t feel any need to rush.