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“It was kind of brilliant, actually,” Marla said. “He owned a bunch of strip clubs, and he
surrounded himself with young women, and I think he chose me as an apprentice as
much because of my appearance as for any other reason. He wanted to fuck constantly,
but he couldn’t, he’d made it impossible for himself, and the frustration and tension
built up in him to tremendous levels. He used the energy from that tension to power his
magic. So while Finch needs all these dozens of people screwing to give him power,
Artie just had to go to one of his strip clubs, and in a pinch, he could just watch some
porn. He did sometimes have people over to his place for parties, though not on this
scale. He didn’t draw his power from the guests, though, like Finch does.”
“Wow,” B said. “Pretty smart. Except he couldn’t fuck.”
“I never said it was a flawless method,” Marla said. She glanced up the stairs. “I should
go up and introduce myself. You know Finch. Is he the type to listen to a reasonable
request?”
B shrugged. “Sure, I guess. He doesn’t take shit from anyone, but he’s always struck me
as a reasonable guy. I used to think he was great, super-nice, to throw these parties in
his house, but I didn’t realize he had ulterior motives…still, sure, he’ll listen to a
reasonable request.”
“Good,” Marla said. “That’s good to hear.” She cracked her knuckles. “We’ll see how
he handles un- reasonable requests, then.” She went up the stairs to Finch’s door,
leaving B below.
6
M arla hesitated outside the door. She still had her boots on, and they were ensorcelled
so that she could kick down just about any door that wasn’t reinforced with iron, but did
she really want to go in hard? Finch was the chief sorcerer of this city for the moment,
and he was sitting on top of a geyser of sexual energy right now—maybe she shouldn’t
mess with him. He’d come down to the party eventually, after all.
She frowned and shook her head, then slapped herself hard on the cheek. Her head
cleared. Finch had some sort of a self-confidence-deflation spell going on up here,
probably to get rid of anyone who managed to wander up accidentally. Screw that.
Maybe if he hadn’t tried to cut her confidence out from under her, Marla would have
simply knocked, but Finch’s subtle little mood-altering spells pissed her off. She lifted
her foot and kicked the door, just below the doorknob, and after a sharp snap the door
swung open.
Finch was in the small bedroom beyond the door, standing up and fucking someone
who leaned over the bed. Both Finch and his partner looked up when the door opened.
Finch was a big, hairy guy—he could have been a lumberjack or a professional wrestler,
though his brown beard was neatly trimmed, and the guy he was riding was…