Nikola had no idea how he was going to make enough rakija with just the fruit on the market.
He still had some money left after commissioning the blacksmith. The man Marcel had flirted with. He shook his head. It was useless trying to change Marcel.
He was an incubus.
But a friendship with him was something that could be cultivated.
Nikola looked at the fields that were on sale. One of them used to belong to the mayor, but he apparently was now selling it not for money, but for someone who could get rid of the little Bogard who was nesting on it.
Nikola knew Bogard 's only from a certain British book. He had no idea what would happen if he went to face the thing.
But he knew one thing:
He needed land and gnomes to tend to his orchards.
His feet took him to the spice shop. There were powders in there with unsung potential.
Nikola took a jar of red pepper called: Medusa's Demise.
He went to the cash register with the slightly glowing and probably magic radioactive red pepper powder.
Fire in his heart. Fire on his fingertips.
"No! You shouldn't eat this!" The cashier was quick to grab the red pepper from Nikola and place it under the counter. "Just a sniff has already killed two werewolves!"
Nikola nodded. This was not an argument against in his books.
This was an argument for!
"I need it to kill a Bogard!" Nikola proclaimed, as he took out his bank pouch. "Please, I need this jar!"
"What? You want to kill things with it? I will lose my permit if word goes around that I sell weapons of mass destruction!"
It was the logical thing, yes, Nikola had to admit that. But the fact that this red pepper had a proven record meant only one thing:
It was going to be the perfect weapon!
"Just think," Nikola said, as he began to type 1,000 golden coins on the bank pouch. "How will you feel if someone buys up all your stock?"
"In jail, terrified not to drop the soap," the cashier told him without blinking an eye. "Look, I can't sell it to you. But you can go to the witch I bought it from. Her name is Gildana. Just don't sign any insurance policies with her. She will skin you alive before she gives you anything."
Which sounded to Nikola like a very profitable business venture.
"Please, don't come in here again, unless you want to make a mean lamb roast," the cashier told him, as she pointed at the door.
Nikola nodded.
He took his disappointment with him. For the cashier had not told him where he could find Gildana.
Probably not wanting for the police to find anything, once they got on the case of red pepper being used to kill stuff.
****
If there was one person who would know where a witch lived, then the local gossip auntie.
Nikola had known that he would need to go to the harpy, for the woman was a real harpy, one day. He had already selected the best of the dragon sausages he had been given for slaying a dragon.
Now it was only a question of him making it up the mountain. He looked at the deer path before him.
Some trees looked so dead that not even a necromancer would ever be capable of bringing them back to life. There was a graveyard to the left, and a ghost was looking at him with glowing red eyes.
"How does she hear all the gossip?" Nikola asked himself. "When it is a death sentence to even go up the mountain?"
The ghost let out a howl.
Nikola rushed up.
****
Marcel had never expected he'd see Nikola while picking poisonous mushrooms for very stubborn mothers-in-law and money-grabbing daughters-in-law.
And for husbands, who forgot when the anniversary was, but that was beside the point.
He knew that there were no innocents in a family tree. It was just his luck that most couples first wanted to try it with the couple's therapy, and not directly with the much more permanent mushroom.
Marcel was a Lich. A stunningly gorgeous Lich who looked to be in his prime and tasty enough to worship.
But as he saw Nikola praying to God and rushing through a deer trail, he knew something must have happened.
Marcel packed his mushrooms and then rushed after Nikola. Wanting to save him from getting eaten.
For Marcel wanted to eat Nikola again, one day. Ride him until his brain overheated and forced him into losing consciousness.
There was never a better meal for an incubus than one's own soulmate. Marcel hated to admit that fact, but it was the truth.
"Niki!" Marcel yelled, as he tried to reach Nikola before the man ran off a cliff. The deer trail was narrow. There was just sky on both sides. "Stop! I'm here, there's nothing to fear!"
Nikola didn't stop. He started to run faster.
At this rate, Marcel knew his crush was going to wake up the giant on the back on which the mountain had grown.
And that was never a good thing.
Marcel reached out, using a levitating spell to get the brunette to float to him.
"Niki!" Marcel said, as Nikola finally began to blink his eyes. "I'm here, love."
Nikola took a deep breath, then opened his mouth.
Only to say:
"I just want some killer red pepper that glows in the dark! Please don't eat me!"
Marcel snorted. He took Nikola in his arms and hugged him, trying to ground him.
"This is the back of the giant Pallas," Marcel told him, as he took in his scent. Even through the sweat from all the running, Nikola still smelled of honey cakes in summer.
Marcel could get drunk from that smell. He wanted to bottle it. Make a perfume out of it.
Do aromatherapy with it.
"And you are searching for the Gossip Auntie?" Marcel asked. Nikola wrapped his arms around him.
Whispering a quiet:
"Yes."
Marcel had never seen anything as cute. He couldn't help himself. He pushed Nikola a bit away from himself and kissed him on the forehead.
Wishing for more but knowing that even this stolen touch was pushing the limits.