Chương 14: [1.14] Summons Answered (Part 2)

"But uhh… before I run off…" While Angelica had already agreed to do the deed, there was something more to finalize.

"Can we discuss payment? I'm not doing this for free, right?" Truthfully, she probably would be willing to take on the request just for the joy of imparting justice onto someone who would be so cruel to animals. But from what she'd been able to glean from the Demon Summoning book with her limited vocabulary, she was under the impression that Contracts between Demon and Summoner were generally transactional.

"Yes, of course." It looked like Garvin had forgotten that part too.

"How much Essence do you want? 50? 100? I don't have much more than that on hand, but I can get it if necessary."

"Erm, Essence?" She vaguely remembered the term. That was the stuff she'd gotten after defeating the snake thing, right? The weird white floaty bits that had gone into her body? What would she want that stuff for?

"Nah, I don't want Essence. How about cash?" This left the Summoner positively flabbergasted.

"Cash? And what the hell would a Demon want with cash?"

"We, erm, don't use it?" Angelica leaned heavily into her ignorant persona.

"No, not that I've ever heard of," Garvin assured her.

"You Demons only ever go on about Essence, demand it like it's some sort of addictive drug. Let me guess. Your master ordered you to answer summons for cash in return?"

"Err, yep!" She clung to the assumption—again, not too far from the truth.

"She really is cruel if she hasn't even taught you about Essence." That made the young man's pity of her situation increase by several magnitudes.

"But it's not my place to mend that gap, and I don't want to risk the ire of someone more powerful than me. Especially because if she's in need of cash then she's likely a Rogue Summoner. My teacher always told me to never get involved with them. But very well, how much cash then?"

"Erm…" How much should she ask for? If cash wasn't usually exchanged for Demon services, there probably wasn't any sort of set rate. Looking around, though, assuming this was his home, he certainly didn't want for much. Screw it, she'd shoot high.

"How about $1, 000?"

"Done." Garvin agreed immediately, making her wonder if she'd low-balled the request. But his face scrunched again.

"The question, though, is how to get you the money."

"Couldn't you just give it to me now?" She pointed out the obvious solution.

"Hmph, you may be stupid, Imp, but I have common sense," the Summoner condescended.

"One of the primary rules of Contracts is to never pay upfront."

"Well, I'll need some money," Angelica insisted.

"Since I don't have poison magic like you suggested, I'll have to buy it outright or make it with ingredients. Either way, I'll need some money."

"Ughk, normally a Demon would source those sorts of things on their own," Garvin protested.

"But fine." He reached into his pocket and dug out his wallet.

"I have $200 on me. That should be more than enough." The young man rolled up the bills and chucked them her way, not wanting to get too close. Angelica picked them up greedily and clutched them in her palm since her current pants regrettably didn't have pockets. She had to suppress a devilish grin. Because even if she failed and the Contract had to be cancelled, she'd still gotten two days worth of her needed allotment just for showing up. This was becoming more and more worth her time.

"Why don't you just summon me back here when I'm done for the rest?"

"Ughk, your ignorance is getting tiresome. Since I don't know your true name or alias, I won't be able to summon you directly again. I'd have to try an open call once more and pray you're the one who answered. The odds of that are significantly low."

"Okay… well, I could just swing by and pick it up." Angelica would be open to travel if it meant receiving a juicy payout.

"Actually… where are we?"" Strocaster." He was quick to answer, but kept the tone sharp.

"Don't think I'll give you more than that. No way would I willingly hand you the address of this place."

"Dang! Two cities away from Vulgrest! I came that far?!" Angelica then capped her hands to her mouth, realizing her error by giving away information.

"Don't fret so much, Imp." Her panic amused the Summoner.

"So your master lives in Vulgrest. Interesting, but that's a big place, so we could do nothing with that sort of intel. And it's actually a good thing, in this situation. The man I want you to poison, he lives in Vulgrest. I used to as well, actually, until just a few days ago. The, erm, incident with my rabbit is what finally convinced me to leave and join this Sect.

"I also think that presents a solution to the problem. My old place is just a few doors down from his and hasn't sold yet, so it's completely vacant and still getting my mail. I'll have an acquaintance drop off the rest of the money in the mailbox when I receive word that the Contract is complete. Then you can pick it up a few hours later. And don't think you'll be able to get any useful information by knowing about that place. My true name has been scrubbed clean from all records." Garvin shared both addresses.

Angelica didn't know the street, but she roughly knew the neighborhood where it was located. It was well on the other side of the city from her apartment, but she could get there by taking the bus or subway. Perhaps she could use it as an excuse for a long run.

"And when do you want this done by?" That was another important distinction they hadn't yet discussed. From the little testing she'd done with this aspect, Angelica found that if she set a specific timeframe for completing a Contract, the driving urge wouldn't be as intense at the start, only increasing in its demanding insistence the closer she got to the deadline.

"Well, as soon as you can." Garvin's eyes gleamed.

"But since you're not experienced with this, I'll give you, say, three days?" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'll hopefully have it done today, but three should be plenty."

"Then do you accept the Contract?"

"I accept." [Contract Accepted | Current Contract: Afflict Mart Hucklebain with non-lethal poison | Reward: $800] Oh, so the person who she was supposed to poison was named Mart Hucklebain? Garvin had never given her any specific details besides the address, but she assumed she could figure it out from there by knowing he was a musclehead. That was an interesting conveyance of information, though.

It gave credence to her theory about Summoners and Demons just needing a mutual understanding rather than specific verbiage.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it." Garvin stared at her, clearly wondering why she was still present.

"Erm, are you gonna send me back?" Angelica looked down at her body that showed no signs of being whisked away.

"Or do I need to go get a bus or something?" Face met palm as the posh young man shook his head erratically. Apparently this was something else obvious she should know.

"Since you're Bound, you can speak with your master telepathically, correct?" Could she? Well, since she was her own Summoner, of course they shared thoughts. But that was good to know for the future. And it seemed like since Garvin had been unable to bind her, they didn't have that connection, or maybe he just didn't want to give her his mental phone number.

"Have her issue the Return command. If she doesn't know that, some call it Beckon. Others call it Heel or Leash, but they all do the same thing." Return. Angelica mentally spoke the order. Immediately, her legs began to dissolve like when she'd initially answered the summons.

"Aha, it's working!" Her face welled up with pride.

"One last thing, Imp." Apparently Garvin wanted to make sure he got the final word.

"Tell your master to give you a bath. You reek." The girl gasped at the utter insult. Before she could speak against it, lambast him with the most vile frits her mouth could spew, she was gone, returned to her apartment. Cherub, who'd been resting on her bed, suddenly leapt a good foot in the air from her sudden appearance. Angelica let the rude words of the snobby bastard fade away. While she'd hopefully be able to tell him off someday, he hadn't technically been wrong, but it was still tactless to call out.

Though he had thought her a Demon and not a young woman with feelings, it was still scuffing rude! But it couldn't bother her too much because she'd just learned the most amazing thing. The Summoner ran outside her apartment and spouted "Return!" once more. A moment later, she was back in the middle of the room, standing in her Soulbound circle. So it turned out it wasn't dead, afterall; magic was still inside.

That just furthered her belief that it had turned black because it couldn't be used anymore to summon another Demon. Garvin's had actually been colored a pleasant green, so perhaps it could still be used more times despite being clearly inferior. That was pointless to worry about for now, though. She ran out again, farther down the street. Then after she said the magic word, pop, back in her apartment. How far was the range? If it worked even two cities away without issue, would there even be a limit?

Even if there was, that was plenty of space for her daily life. Not that she really went anywhere, but it meant any commute she had would be effectively halved. Angelica wouldn't have to worry about carrying items home from the store. She could go for a run as far away as she liked until she was completely tuckered out and not worry about conserving energy for getting back home. If she ever got famous enough to be a featured guest at conventions, she'd only ever have to buy one way tickets. Think of the savings!

She tried it out a few more times, acting like a kid at an amusement park who wanted to go on the same ride again and again. And actually, she decided to go ahead to the grocery store, since she'd need to buy some things for her Contract. Never in her life had she been so excited for shopping, and it was just so that she could leave afterward.

Angelica practically skipped down the aisles of the supermarket, infatuated with the idea of her new power, but it calmed down eventually as she started to focus on the task at hand. The main thing she'd need to concoct her homemade poison was a blender. She'd always wanted one so that she could make smoothies, but could never spare the cost. Since she'd gotten a bit of her payment in advance, she could now justify the expense.

Then from there, the main things she got was milk and raw chicken, along with a few other foods that wouldn't blend well with that combination. If Mart Hucklebain was constantly chugging down protein shakes, she'd give him one he'd never forget. At least as she understood it, heinous food poisoning would fulfill the requirements of the Contract. He'd definitely be suffering even if he only took a sip.

Angelica had a bit of trouble staying still while watching the cashier painfully check out her purchases, antsy with anticipation. Normally, the bags of groceries and the uncomfortably large box for the small appliance would be a pain to lug home. But as soon as she was out the door of the store, she dashed over to the nearby alley and murmured the magic word as soon as she was certain no one was looking. Back in a flash, she plopped down the food onto the counter.

After getting the blender unboxed, she plugged it in and filled it with frozen fruit and some of the milk. She needed to test to make sure the machine worked properly, didn't she? This totally had nothing to do with her just wanting a smoothie, especially before creating something vile with the appliance, potentially ruining it for good.

In actuality, it blended up the meat and milk and other disgusting things quite well, becoming a decent-looking color that she'd be tempted to try if she hadn't just chugged down a batch of berries and cream. But the cruel chef wasn't done with the foul shake just yet. She dove into the fridge and grabbed the bag of very moldy shredded cheese that was still at the back.

"Just a bit for flavor," Angelica cackled to herself after dropping in the giant disgusting amalgamation of rotting dairy and setting it to blend one last time, feeling like a witch brewing a wicked potion. With the drink done and ready to be served, she filled up an old water bottle from her cross country days and set it onto the counter to ferment. The Summoner immediately gave a quick Order to clean out the blender, not wanting to give the mold a chance of spreading.

When that was done, though, she still had to deal with the second matter for completing the Contract. The mood in her mind shifted to worry and doubt, suddenly feeling a bit ill and woozy. If what Garvin had said was true… And unfortunately, it sounded like it was. A few things clicked in her mind from the craziness of the past week. Could it really be possible, though? Had she genuinely…? Angelica went to the bathroom and stared hard at the mirror. Despite everything, it was still her, or so she thought.

She prodded at her body once more. While it felt real, she had to admit that it looked somewhat fake. Where were the bags under her eyes that constantly plagued her? Why was her skin so unblemished? There hadn't been so much as a pimple anywhere on her body since the summoning. Maybe… Maybe she wasn't even human at all anymore. Angelica took a deep breath and steeled herself. She had to do it, had to confirm the truth with her own eyes, believing she knew the method to reveal it. It was time to face her Demon.