Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 78 Want To Make A Deal?

Lenna walked over to the boss who hadn’t breathed in a little too long. He was still conscious but was fading fast. She rolled him onto his back and placed her hand on his chest. She poured healing magic into him until she heard and felt his breast bone reset. He gasped for air but was definitely out of it.

Isaac meanwhile found an unbroken chair and brought it to a relatively open part of the room. He turned it around with a flick of his wrist and sat on it backwards. He leaned against it and tried to think up what he should do with the lot of them. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and his head snapped to it. The dwarf had taken a small step towards the door. “Sit.” Isaac commanded and pointed farther into the room.

The dwarf gulped and obeyed. Lenna knelt next to the man who had barely managed to not drown in his own blood. She pushed him over and grabbed his chin. His eyes opened blearily and he groaned. She grabbed his nose with her other hand and set it straight as she healed it. He let out a scream. She held him still for a moment until her magic had done its job. ‘Well, he’s awake enough to not drown now.’ She thought to herself.

She walked over to the half-elf with the shattered elbow. He was crying from the pain. She felt a phantom pain in her own elbow from a time when she had gotten it shattered in combat practice a century ago. Back then she was crippled from the pain much like how he was now. If it happened now, however, it would hardly slow her down. Pain was something she had learned to acknowledge and then ignore. That was not a skill learned easily, nor by one's own volition.

The last time something had hurt bad enough to actually stop her was her collarbone getting broken by that chimera. Few broken bones hurt as bad as a broken collarbone. The sternum, or breast bone, was one such bone. She could empathize with the boss but only a little.

After she had stared down at the half-elf for a moment she turned and looked at Isaac. “My Lord, what about this one?” She asked. Almost every occupant of the room caught the ‘My Lord’ and many of them started sweating. Nobles had a lot more leeway with the law but most importantly they had more connections. Many of those connections were oftentimes with mob bosses or human traffickers.

Isaac turned to look at Lenna and then the boy at her feet. “If you want to. It’ll at least make him shut up.” Isaac replied. He had some sympathy for people. He could empathize sometimes. This was not one of those times. He had given them all the opportunity to surrender and escape the situation in one piece. Any of them that didn’t, deserved what they got, they were all still alive after all.

Lenna knelt next to the boy and looked down at his arm. She frowned. It was truly destroyed which meant that it would take more mana to heal. ‘Unless I don’t completely heal it.’ She thought. She grabbed a piece of broken chair and handed it to the boy, to her they were all just boys, none of them had lived over a century and it showed. Either in their obvious childishness, with Isaac, or general stupidity, with the rest of them.

He took the piece of wood. “Bite it.” She commanded him. He looked like he was going to pass out. He had gotten that pale. He did as he was told and as soon as it was in his mouth she grabbed his arm just above and just below his elbow. She straightened it and poured most of her dwindling mana reserves into fixing it. Once it had set and all the broken bits were fused together she stopped. It was still fractured in a few places but that was good enough to move him at least. Lenna was surprised that she didn’t hear him scream from the pain and looked at his face to find him unconscious but breathing. She nodded to herself. ‘I’m surprised he lasted that long.’ She thought and stood.

Her eyes scanned the room. Isaac was lost in thought again. The boss was breathing deeply and slowly trying to power through the pain of Isaac’s kick to his groin. Lenny had just sat up and was leaning against the wall, also taking in the room. The half-elf was at her feet unconscious. The dwarf was sitting a few feet from the door, his trousers were wet. ‘Gross.’ She thought and moved on. The idiot that almost choked was leaning against the wall eyeing Isaac wearily. The other was groaning on the floor in his own blood.

Isaac sat up. “Shorty, Idiot Two, grab Idiot One and the half blood. The four of you are going to do two things.” He ordered. The two in question paled. “You four are going to go apologize to all the people you extorted. Then you are going to sign up at the Adventurers’ Guild. If you don’t I won’t chase you down or anything. None of you are worth that. But,” Isaac let the silence hang in the air for a moment. “if you don’t and I ever see you again, I’ll melt your hands off so you can never threaten anyone again.”

The room stayed silent for a long minute. The two conscious ones weren’t sure what to do. They were shocked and terrified. Isaac had just disassembled their entire gang in a few seconds without the help of the battle healer that called him ‘Lord’.

Isaac cracked his neck. “Now.” He commanded them. They sprang into action. Lenny went to get up as well. “Not you.” He said and pointed at the boy. “You and your brother? Father? Uncle?”

“Brother.” Lenny replied quietly.

“Brother, are going to stay here. I have need of you.” Isaac explained evenly. Lenny swallowed hard and looked at his brother who opened his eyes to scowl at Isaac.

Once the other four were gone Isaac got up from his chair. He walked over to the door and closed it. “What do you want from us?” The boss demanded.

“First I have some questions. Where is the money you took?” Isaac interrogated.

“Gone.” The boss replied.

“Gone where?” Isaac demanded.

The boss sighed. “To paying off a loan.”

“Why extort for cash instead of working? A job would be more steady and less likely to get your shit rocked by an adventurer.” Isaac questioned.

The boss shook his head. “Interest was too high. Had to pay it off before they came looking for the money.”

“Who lent the money?” Isaac grilled.

“Don’t know.” The other man replied.

“Bull shit.” Isaac retorted.

The boss sighed again. “Nobody knows who Mr. Nobody is. That’s the point of the name. You never see him and if you do he has a different face depending on who you ask. Hells it might not even be just one person.”

Isaac thought for a moment. “How much do you owe?”

“What’s it matter?” The boss replied.

“Answer the question.” Isaac calmly commanded.

“Eight hundred gold.” Lenny cut it.

Isaac smiled. He just so happened to have eight hundred gold lying around. He remembered reading about warlocks and how they made deals with demons, devils, and fae for power. “Want to make a deal?” He said with a dark grin.

“No.” The boss replied instantly.

“What are you offering?” Lenny responded. He knew they were entirely at Isaac’s mercy. No one would come looking for them. Well, maybe Mr. Nobody, but that would only be to make sure they either paid, got sold, or died.

“A job.” Isaac replied and looked at Lenny. “I’ll pay your brother eight hundred gold and in exchange he will work for me as an informant. He’ll be putting you up for collateral.”

“Fuck off.” The older brother cursed and struggled to try and sit up.

“What’ll happen to me?” Lenny asked with wide eyes.

“I’ll put a mark on your soul.” Isaac’s eyes went black as his dark vision ability took effect. “If your brother breaks the deal, I’ll kill you. Once he has paid off his debt to me I’ll release the mark on you.” Isaac lied. He had no way to mark him let alone remove such a mark.

“Either kill us or let us go.” The older brother demanded as he managed to push himself into a mostly sitting position. He was still nauseous so he was trying to move as slowly as possible.

“How long will it take to pay off?” Lenny asked.

“Eight years for eight hundred gold.” Isaac replied with a smile and removed the shadows from his eyes. He was really leaning into the whole demon thing but also wanted them to actually agree to it. An informant inside the criminal underground of Safeharbor could open some interesting doors.

“Deal.” Lenny replied.

“What?!” His brother yelled and then winced from the pain.

Isaac turned his gaze to the boss. “What’s your name, older brother?”

“No, nope, no way am I telling you that. I know better than to tell a demon or whatever you are my name.” The boss replied with actual fright in his voice.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “What should I call you?” He asked.

“Nothin’.” He replied.

“Give me something or I’m just going to start calling you Failure.” Isaac threatened.

“It’s James.” Lenny replied. His brother looked at him with fury in his eyes. “We’re at his mercy. Either we take the deal or he’ll kill us anyway.”

“A hundred gold a year is still a good deal but if you take too long to make up your mind I’m going to change it to eighty gold a year and make you work for ten.” Isaac threatened. “I’m paying you up front.” He reminded them.

That seemed to sink into James’ mind. It was a good deal. Almost too good of a deal. The only catch was that if they broke it Lenny was a dead man. Isaac knew exactly where to prod to get what he wanted out of them.

Lenna watched the entire thing go down. ‘He’s extorting them.’ She thought with a frown. ‘It’s a good deal at least.’

“Fine. Well take your stupid deal. But, I want you to mark me instead.” James told Isaac with steel in his eyes. He had resolved to either follow through with the deal or die. There was no reason in his mind on why his brother had to be the one to die.

“No.” Isaac replied. “I don’t trust you enough to follow through. If your brother’s life is on the line I think you will.”

“Take the deal James.” Lenny told his brother.

James mentally debated it for a few moments before sighing. He had run out of options. He was cornered and he knew it. “Fine. Eight years as an informant, eight hundred gold up front, Lenny as collateral. In exchange for you not killing us here and now.”

Isaac stood up. He grabbed the chair and tossed it to the side. It vanished into his Inventory. It wasn’t a heavy chair so he barely felt the weight with it evenly distributed across his body. He walked over to Lenny. He crouched next to him and put his hand over his eyes. “Lenna, make sure James doesn’t see. Some magic isn’t for mortals to see.”

When he mentioned mortals Lenna could barely keep herself from shaking her head or rolling her eyes. He was laying it on too thick. At this rate she was afraid people in town would actually start calling him a demon. She walked around James and positioned herself in between him and the other two.

Isaac checked to make sure James couldn’t see and pressed his thumb into Lenny’s chest about where his heart was. “Bare my mark mortal until your deal is complete.” Isaac pulsed a little death mana over his thumb and got a hiss of pain from Lenny. He stopped as soon as the boy started to tense. Isaac took his hand off Lenny’s eyes and stood up.

“It’s done?” Lenny asked with pain in his face and voice.

“Almost.” Isaac told him and then looked at Lenna and nodded towards Lenny.

Lenna walked over to Lenny and knelt down. She put her palm on his chest and healed the damage Isaac had just done, removing any evidence. “It’s done.” She told Isaac.

“Good.” He replied and smiled. “Now, James.” He looked down at the man still half sprawled out on the floor. It was clear he didn’t want to close his legs at all. “I’ll get you eighty platinum coins by the end of the day. Don’t leave this place until I return.” He then looked at Lenny. “You are free to do whatever you want. I already got what I needed from you.”

He walked over to Lenna and stood in her shadow that was cast from the glowing stone in the ceiling. He smiled at nobody in particular and vanished.