Checking his Empathy, he saw that he'd 'unlocked' or 'uncovered' two more skills, Sexual Feelings, which was a more refined version of the Detect Feelings—and that explained why he'd felt so much more from Caitin during sex. The next one was even more telling: Sexual Empathy. That was how he'd been able to figure out what she'd enjoyed and what she wanted! Between those two alone, he didn't think he'd ever have to listen to criticisms from a bunch of ancient lionesses that he wasn't doing his 'job' in bed.

  That insult had probably hurt him the most.

  In the Influence section, he saw another skill had revealed itself, though he didn't have enough power to use it: Seduction. He had to admit, that tempted him. He'd never seduced anybody. He'd always been the one people wanted to seduce. The idea of being on the other side of that dynamic was now very appealing.

  The only other new ability he had was in Power. It was 'Convert', and it wasn't hard to figure that one out at all. When he'd fed from Caitin, he'd used it to make the power he'd taken from her into something he was able to use. Interestingly enough, when he'd given her back some power, Convert had again been active.

  That made him wonder…was he converting what he got from the djevels when he killed them? Or was that the actual 'power' his incubus self used? He'd heard the story, once, that dark elves were descendants of some form of demon from the negative planes that had escaped and taken up with the elves. Apparently they weren't 'evil' and had fled to find a more peaceful life.

  Had they all been incubi and succubi? Or had that been something some of the dark elves started out as and lost along the way? Or was it something else altogether? He wondered if there were others like him left in the world today, or if he was the only one.

  Getting up, he shook his head. "Shower, then breakfast," he muttered and, putting on his shorts that really were in need of at least a cleaning, if not replacing, he went out in search of both.

  It was around noon when he finally made it outside the hotel; it turned out he'd slept a fair bit later than he'd meant to, but then again, he'd been up a lot later, as well, plus there was the sweet diversion this morning. So he didn't feel that guilty about it. Besides, what else was he going to do?

  He didn't have a job. Truth was, he 'd never really had a job; he'd just done what he was told most of his life. He was surprised his credit card had worked; he wondered what would happen with it when the bill came due. He had a couple hundred dollars cash on him, one of the benefits of wealthy parents, but after that?

  Yeah, he needed to do something about money. Also, he needed more power—a lot more power. He could always fly out into the desert and kill whatever he found. Then he'd end up with power and money. While it seemed a little wrong to be what was pretty much a highwayman, there were no laws out here, so who was there to tell him no?

  He looked around the small square the inn, hotel, or whatever the place was, was on and decided to turn left, which, checking out his compass, was west. He seemed to recall a bigger square; he'd see if he could find it.

  His second day wandering the streets was a little more productive, in that he started to recognize the streets and other places as he walked around. It really was a walled city; the wall was about twenty feet high, and there were a few people patrolling the top of it with guns. He found that kind of odd; it wasn't like they were trying to keep the djevels out, after all.

  The biggest surprise was when he wandered by the southeast portion of Bartertown. There was a secondary wall there that only had one gate. The gate was heavily guarded, and the main wall, as well as the lower secondary wall, were heavily patrolled. He recalled that one of the helipads was inside, with one very large building and what looked like a 'tank farm' you'd see next to a processing plant for chemicals or what-have-you.

  The streets themselves were a bit of a rabbit's warren. There were a number of main streets, most of which ran to the main square. These roads were about thirty feet wide, big enough to fit most vehicles, though he didn't see any kind of car or truck anywhere. Well, other than the group of RVs on the east side of town, though who knew if they still ran.

  The main square was mostly full of merchants with their tents and stands. He actually found someone selling a compass on a wristband, and after checking that it worked, he traded his other compass plus five bucks to buy it.

  The smaller side streets were fifteen feet, or even just ten. He thought about exploring some of those after nightfall in the hopes of finding a meal.

  That thought made him stop and shake his head. He almost asked where it'd come from, when he realized his lion was prodding him a bit.

  'What?'

  'WE are the dominant predator here. Us, You, Me, I. We need to make this place our territory.'

  He pondered that a moment. Dad was the big dog at home—hell, he was the big dog in the country, and probably everywhere else, with the First handing everything off to him and leaving. His brother SJ had slowly been defining his own territory as well, after he'd taken Dania and Rania as his mates.

  'Defining what is ours is what we do,' his lion reminded him.

  Up until now, he hadn't been thinking that way. All he'd wanted was to prove himself. And he had been, until…

  Yeah, he didn't want to think about that right now, but his other half was right. He needed to find a part of this place and claim it as his own.

  'And go from there.'

  'Yes, and go from there,' he agreed with a bit of a growl.

  He looked at things in a different light after that. There were a lot of people here, thousands, he was sure, and probably only a quarter of them were djevels, possibly even less. There were a lot of humans—or, he corrected himself, as he got a sniff of another possessor, a lot of human looking people. They were probably half of what was here, and from the appraising looks he got from a couple of them, he had a suspicion that quite a few of them were elves. He saw a few dwarves, which surprised him, and he also saw several fae, who were probably using glamours, but either because he was a lion or he was part fae himself, he could see through them.

  The idea of evil fae didn't surprise him; neither did the idea of evil elves. Why the idea of evil dwarves did, he didn't know. He shook his head. It shouldn't, he guessed he was just biased because of his dwarven brothers. So far, the only surprise he'd really gotten was that he hadn't seen any dark elves or lycans. Or goblins, for that matter. This was a perfect place for goblins, and he was sure they had to have at least a spy here, somewhere.

  Which brought him back to the most important question: Why was this place even here? Towns like this didn't just spring into bein,' especially not in the middle of a half-million murdering demons. Somebody had founded this place, and the idea of doing it for trade, illegal or otherwise, didn't seem to ring true to him. Maybe it had something to do with that heavily guarded section he'd seen earlier.

  Which reminded him of the two other buildings with heliport landing pads on them, as well.

  "Never ends, does it?" he muttered to himself. He wasn't sure exactly where those were, but at some point, he'd do some more flying around and find out. Hopefully he wouldn't get himself shot in the process.

  As he walked around, he checked out the buildings off the main streets. They were mostly shops, either selling or trading stuff. A couple had craftsmen making things, but mostly they sold stuff.

  A fair bit of what was sold were the common kinds of things you'd need, like clothing. He found another pair of shorts, and even a harness he could hang things from.

  Both were either old or used, of course, he suspected everything sold in most of these places either came out of a raided house, a raided store, or off a dead body. It's not like anybody was going to ship stuff here. He also found a nice pair of sneakers he could slip on and off, so he could stop walking around barefoot all the time. A shirt would have been nice, but the wings coming out of his back made that kind of impractical. Maybe if he had a tailor, like his mother did, he could make something, but for now, topless it was.

  Heading back to the place he was staying at, he changed his shorts, then went to find Shaylee, who was behind the bar.

  "Yes, milord?"

  "Michael works fine," he said with a smile. "I was wondering if there was any kind of laundry service? I'd like to get these cleaned," he said, holding up his shorts, which, now that he wasn't wearing them, he could admit kind of smelled.

  "I think we'd all like for you to get them cleaned," Shaylee said with a smile. "Bree!" she yelled out, and another girl game out of the back. She had thick, jet black hair, green eyes like Caitin, and came up to his chin as well. He noticed she was also very attractive; the long skirt and short blouse showed her charms rather well, he thought.

  "Take Milord Michael's shorts here to be washed. Have Caitin leave them in his room after they're done."

  "Yes, Shaylee," the girl said with a slight curtsy and, taking his shorts, she left.

  "What, are you growing them in that back room?" he asked with a grin.

  "It helps with the business," she said with a smile.

  "In a place like this?"

  "How many women did you see out on the streets today?"

  That stopped him. He tried to recall, and couldn't remember seeing a one.

  "Zero," he told her.

  "Women here end up slaves of one sort or another, and there's more than a few of the local demon lords who like to buy them."

  "What for?" he asked with a frown.

  "I don't know," she said with a shake of her head, "and I have no intention of risking my neck to find out, either."

  "How do you manage to stay safe here, then?"

  "We don't set foot outside, that's how. Though even if we were to, none of us are without our own surprises. We're neither innocent nor naïve, after all."

  Mihalis shook his head. "I'm starting to think maybe I am."

  "Oh, that's not what Caitin's saying this morning," Shaylee replied with a wink.

  "Okay, I'll admit I'm not innocent, but to be honest, I can't recall seeing a place like this before. Who founded this town, anyway?"

  "Mohini Labs founded it about six years ago."

  "Would that be the place to the southwest of here? Where all the guards are?"

  She nodded. "As I understand it, their facility was the only place here back then—well, that and the walls. They convinced the djevels that this place would benefit them if they allowed it to stay."

  "And how were they convinced?"

  "They gave the workers who built the labs and the walls to the demons to eat."

  "Such nice people," Mihalis grumbled.

  "Now that's an interesting sentiment for a demon to have!" she said with a smile.

  "My people call them djevels; they're not like us, not at all."

  "Yet you eat them."

  He gave her a look as he thought about how to reply to that.

  "I'm not without my contacts, Michael. I heard about what happened at the gate yesterday."

  He nodded and then had a thought. "I understand the Fae are quite taken with fruit, but that doesn't make you a tree, now does it?"

  Shaylee laughed. "A sore subject?"

  "With all of us. We don't care much for the djevels."

  "Then why are you here?"

  "That question is still in search of an answer," he said, smiling. "Why are you here?"

  "I believe Caitin already answered that question for you?"

  "Sure she did." He smiled. "Well, I'm going to continue my examination of the city, maybe see where all those smaller side streets lead to."

  "Are you sure that's wise? It is after dark."

  "Free food is free food," he replied, grinning at her.

  "You shouldn't be so rash; there are some powerful demons in this town, Michael."

  "And none of them are going to be walking the back streets looking for trouble, I'm sure. Besides, a lot of people don't come out here until after the sun's gone down; it's just too hot outside."

  She shook her head and sighed.

  "Besides, why do you care? That's not a typical sentiment for a fae, now is it?"

  He had the satisfaction of seeing her blush.

  "Just…go."

  He smiled at her, then turned, and did just that. While the town wasn't really all that big, it was crammed full of buildings, and he was sure it would take him several nights to figure out all the side streets and alleyways. Especially as there wasn't any kind of map.

  He started with the side-street across the small square from the hotel's front. It ran all the way to the wall, where it stopped, but there were two smaller alleyways on the right, and another on the left. As he explored those, he found that a lot of the places back there were actual residences, and what appeared to be boarding houses. There were also a lot of very small shops, many of which only sold one thing, and only had a few of those.

  That was where he found people selling pistols, rifles, and ammunition for them. He found it interesting that there was a fair deal of silver ammunition there; apparently they hadn't figured out it didn't work? Or maybe they had, and were just trying to unload it someplace where they might be able to sell it. There was also a lot of steel, and even iron bullets. Now that people knew what worked, they all wanted it.

  There was even a man selling his father's medallions here! That made him stop and look.

  "What's that?" he asked, pointing at one. The price on it was several thousand dollars.

  "It protects you from demons ripping out your soul, if you don't mind me saying so. It also protects you from having your mind read or paralyzation spells."

  "Interesting," he said. "May I?" Mihalis asked.

  "Of course," the proprietor said.

  Picking it up, he called up his enchanting framework, and checked it. Sure enough, it was an exact duplicate of the ones his father's machines turned out.

  "I'm surprised these cost so much. I've heard of them, but I've never seen one before.," he told the proprietor as he examined it, then set it back down.

  "They're a bit scarce here, if you hadn't noticed; most things are."

  "Do they sell well?"

  "I can barely keep them in stock! These few will be gone before midnight, so if you want one, you might want to buy it now."

  Mihalis smiled. "I'm already protected from such things. You know, how much would you pay for these if I were to bring you some?"

  "And just where would you be getting them from?" the proprietor asked, eyeing him.

  Mihalis raised his wings slightly and shook them. "It's not that hard for me to travel long distances, though I probably couldn't carry many of them."

  "Hmm, that's a fair point. I'd be willing to pay two hundred a piece."

  Mihalis tilted his head a little and gave him a long-suffering look.

  "What? If you can go to where they sell 'em, you'd be getting them for less than half that!"

  "You're assuming I want to fly far enough to find those kinds of prices. I'd be buying them on the black market as well, so my costs would be higher, not to mention my risk. Twelve hundred."

  "Twelve hundred! But I'm already gettin' 'em for a thousand!"

  Mihalis smiled. "A thousand sounds fair," he said, and almost laughed as the man swore, having realized he'd said too much.

  "Fine, a thousand. Just don't show up with too many at once. I don't keep a lot of cash around."

  "I'll keep that in mind," he said as he wandered off, making a note of where the place was. He could make the coins himself with what magic he had; his father had shown him how he did it after he'd taken all of Professor Cruz's classes. All he needed were some large coins, or even metal disks.

  That would solve his money problems, but not his food.

  When he came back to the hotel several hours later, he hadn't been accosted at all, not even once. Either folks realized he wasn't one to trifle with, or people didn't attack each other in the streets.

  He guessed that meant he'd be going out flying tomorrow and looking for stray djevels to kill.

  He'd just stripped off his shorts and gotten into bed when he heard a light knocking on the door. Smiling, he got up and opened it. Instead of Caitin, Bree was there in her place.

  "Bree?" he said, giving her a quizzical look.

  "Well, Caitin thought it wouldn't be fair to the rest of us if she monopolized you—it's not like we get a lot of men out here that're any good in bed, or that we'd even be willing to bed, if you get my drift, milord."

  Mihalis stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Yeah, he wanted to do her, very much. She was quite attractive and demur looking, standing there shyly. And he could feel with his empathy that she was really interested in him, and even a little excited about it.

  But…there he was again. Before, they wanted to sleep with him because he was the only black lion around. Now it was because he was the only incubus…

  Or was it?

  "So, do you want to sleep with me because I'm an incubus?" he asked, the question sounding stupid even as he said it.

  "Ummm, well, that and it's been a while, milord, a good long while, and you didn't hurt Caitin any—quite the opposite, according to her. Besides, isn't this how you feed? I mean, don't you want to?"

  He felt like an idiot and tried not to blush.

  "Oh, I want to very much. I just don't want Shaylee tossing me out because I'm sleeping with all her staff and making them late for work," he said as he stood out of the way and let her in.

  "Just remember, if I take too much, or anything else bothers you, tell me, okay?"

  "Oh, I will, milord, I definitely will!"

  #

  "Master Sean?"

  Sean looked up at Deidre as she came into his office; she looked concerned.

  "What's wrong, Deidre?" he said, immediately getting up out of his chair and stepping over to her.

  "It's nothing wrong, exactly, but…" She looked at him. "Mihalis' credit card was used yesterday for three thousand dollars."