I can feel the girl getting closer, almost missing the moment when she falls to me from the skies. I catch her just above the ground and, not even having time to be surprised, notice another body crash a few steps away.

Since when is my abode a public place? What is this breach of privacy?

The body moves, shaking its mane that reaches down to its ass. I recognise it; it's that almost-medium boy. He is staring back at me with clear grey eyes while, quite nimbly, scampering away, awkwardly tangling in his hair. He soon stops and immediately begins to read banal but effective enough spells that repel dark powers. Ancient symbols appear all over his skin, generating a shield of sorts.

The shield begins to look like a swarm of angry flies, whirling around their owner with extremely irritating buzzing.

"You have no right to harm me, demon." Says the boy. He then stands up, looking more confident. "You don't have any power over me."

"I don't," I agree. "Because I don't need you for shit."

I turn back to my girl but he raises his voice, releasing a net of runes. It sticks to me like a thin web, ticklish and distracting.

"Calm down, dumbass," I tell him off. "If you want to look after your girl then stand still. Otherwise, I'll have to call Clara."

Clara is already lurking nearby, circling us like a shark; slow but sure. The boy is nervously watching out for her, biting his lip. He then gives me a calculating squint.

"Can I ask a few questions?"

Smart kid, changed his panicked tone to a more normal one.

"Go ahead," I reply. "Only a couple, though. My dinner is getting cold. So, what brought you here? Don't be secretive, open your heart to me. What do you want from this old Incubus?"

He is a powerful medium. The thought-form that is sent by him is so clear and volumetric that I almost materialise in the dim room where, on crumpled sheets, squirms a blonde beauty... or who used to be one, for now her demons are wry with malicious grimaces; her mouth foams with a mute scream and dark blotches stain the light fabric of her underwear.

"She got what was coming for her," I stated. "Happens."

"I sensed a dead soul inside of her." The boy softly said. "He doesn't respond to the call."

"Old bones," I explain. "To him, your Latin chants are like the buzzing of a mosquito. Add a couple of larvae to the mix..." I remember the recent ritual of these young occultists. "It's a difficult case. The girl, who is she to you? Sister? Then she'll last another six months, a year tops. My condolences."

"How do I exorcise them?"

"You can't. To banish a dead spirit you need a warlock that works with Chthonic gods, but then the larvae will get stronger. So you have to banish them with a Christian rite and at the same time poison the wraith with grave magic via sacrifice. All of that has to be done simultaneously; can you even picture that? I can't."

"From what I know, a strong demon can destroy lower ranks of undead." The boy's voice is shaky but determined.

My hospitality is diminishing by the minute so I decide to end this ridiculous conversation.

"You're right. Go; look, plead, hope. Sorry, little one, but I have a date to keep."

With that I lure the collapsed girl to me with joyous arousal, activating the portal seal and diving into the familiar scent of irises.

***

"Son of a bitch!" I deafen myself with the shriek. I want to rip and tear but can't let myself waste the energy. My reserve won't replenish today. The girl's vault greeted me the emptiness of idiotic appeasement; I barely found the suspended spindle, following the glow of the central spiral in the darkness. What's the point?

"Son of a bitch," I repeated grievously. "You depleted her? It was definitely you, I can see it on your face! Why the hell would you waste all that energy? What do you stand to gain from all this?"

"Depleted? Is that how you see it?"

That little shit is completely pissing me off but stands too far away for me to do much. I would take such pleasure in smashing his smug grin against the floor. Make him choke on his own teeth!

"Using your terminology," The twat continued. "This isn't the last time I'll deplete her. There won't be anything left for you, I'll make sure of that. Not a single drop!"

I lose self-control for a brief moment and pounce forward, completely forgetting about the chain. The boy jumps out of the way, clearly not expecting such agility from me. A few seconds pass and I notice how the fear in his eyes gives way to pure curiosity. He approaches me, almost standing face to face, and observes how I rage on the edge of my restraint. It feels somewhat degrading.

Collecting my willpower into the hard gloves of humility, I stifle my emotions and crawl away.

"What a peculiar situation! And I just couldn't wrap my head around why you were dragging your prey to yourself." The fucker stated with a satisfied grin. "Turns out you're bound here! It's been so hard for you, hasn't it?"

The midges circle and twist around him, their cover thick enough to protect against physical harm. But not surface scans. There seems to be a decent amount of dirt in him.

"Not easy," I respond. "I have to tolerate having random scum around. And to think I almost got excited to have a visitor; decided that you were a knight in shining armour that came to rescue the princess from the clutches of an evil demon. What I got instead was more evidence of how rotten the human being actually is. You feel indifferent towards the girl and are using her as a guide only because without her you wouldn't even be able to lift a finger. What's wrong, nitwit? Thinking of trading the girl with me? To confuse me? I could get dozens like her while you cut your wrists on your sister's grave. Am I wrong?"

No response.

"You know perfectly well that I'm not. There's no point closing up now, I'll be able to find your weak points regardless... Aha! Increased sense of responsibility, family drama, repentance... oh, what a sensitive personality! There it is; you're trying your hardest for your sister? Good boy! Penance in the form of self-sacrifice. Is there anything lower?"

Lower, deeper, dirtier... "You love your sister yet that love is not brotherly but carnal. You realise that so you look for girls that don't have even a hair in common with her."

"Don't worry, I'll handle it, you haven't uncovered anything new." Answers the boy, his composure bordering on desperation. "I have heard way worse from your kind. I'm not here for a confession; I truly need your help. I'll return the favour but only under specific conditions. So can we stop baring our teeth at each other and come to an agreement?"

What a shocker! I am being invited to do a business deal!

I agree to hear him out.

The boy murmurs cancelling spells. The tornado of flies stops still and falls to the ground as grey ash. I tense up, ready to send the scanners deeper but the stench of old wormholes makes me recoil in disgust.

A deal with this... Rotto in culo?*

"Fuck off, finnochio.**" I tell to the boy, not hiding my scorn. "How many have you let through you? You're filthy, go die in a hole somewhere far away from me, demon whore!"

My words cut deep. I'm quite satisfied.

The boy closes his eyes for a second, hiding his newly-surfaced pain and not even attempting to restore the protective barriers. The wind blows the ash of the old shell around his feet.

"Never expected an Incubus to be the judge on the morality of my actions." His laughter was as dry as the cracked earth he stood on. "But there's a price for experience, no? As you've noticed, I have quite enough experience to not disappoint a demon. Demon whore, you say?"

"Do you want me to become your whore, Incubus?"

*(Italian swearing)

**(Italian word for male prostitute)