Greed God chapter 191

April 5th 2016 Brightedge City,  Bright City Grind, 5:00 PM EDT

I  didn't bring Amy with me to meet with Silver about the conclave. She'd  seen my wife and I together when I was in my Mammon identity, and even  if the mask was able to protect my secrets, there was no reason to push  it. Still, just to ensure I didn't have to use my draconic abilities and  blow my cover, I arranged a meeting at a public coffee shop. Bright  City Grind was a combination of a pair of shops from Gotham and Metro  that had already opened back up, even in a crazy magic combo city,  people still need their java I guess.

Silver was sitting  alone when I arrived, though I doubted she'd come by herself. She  probably had Court goons sitting among the rest of the tables waiting  for a signal. I wasn't too worried. She was still looking a bit nervous  from watching me butcher a bunch of her Talons. Nick worked for Mammon  and was her point of contact. Killing me would be a grave insult  to...well, me.

Unlike last time I'd seen her, Silver was  dressed in a grey tank top and a pair of black yoga pants. Her hair was  up and she wasn't wearing much makeup, but despite that she still looked  stunning. I smirked as I approached, flipping the chair at the table  around to sit in it backwards. "Silver. How nice to see you again.  You're looking gorgeous as always. I admit I was surprised when the boss  told me we'd be working with you. Then again, you always did have a  silver tongue."

Silver's cheek twitched. "Nicholas.  Lovely. I was so glad to get your call. I share your surprise. How  anyone as competent as Mr. Mammon could work with a hedonistic layabout  like you is completely beyond me." Her hand slipped under the table,  obviously reaching for a weapon. "I think you'll find me much more  difficult to take advantage of now that we're adults."

I  shrugged. "I was fourteen too. It's not like I was older. Besides, I  doubt I was the first. Nobody can suck like that their first time." I  gave her a lecherous wink. "I'd love to give that pretty mouth of yours  another test run sometime. But we're not here to indulge your suckslut  tendencies. We have business to attend to. I'll thank you to be  professional during these negotiations please."

Her eyes  narrowed with rage and I could almost see her smothering her desire to  lunge across the table, she really was much more controlled than  expected. Finally, I sighed, holding up my hands. "Oh calm down, I was  joking. Peace. I'm sorry about tricking you when we were younger. It was  an awful thing to do." I held out a hand. "Tell you what, if we're  going to be working together there's no reason to be at odds. Truce?"

She  looked at me suspiciously, as if searching for a trap, then reached out  to take my hand. Of course, I used the contact to tweak her desires a  bit. Nothing crazy or overt, just a bit of a blowjob fetish and some  dirty dreams I queued up for the next few nights. She noticed nothing of  course, and once I released her hand I switched to an all business  mode. I'd let that sink in for a bit before I did anything else. Might  be fun to see how horny I could make someone before she snapped and  tried to mount me by force.

"So." I said, getting down to  business. "The meeting. We've been in contact with quite a few factions  within the city. The fae are willing to attend, and we've got  representatives coming from the special ops community as well. Penguin  is interested, and we've spoken to a few of our other contacts. We need  to hammer out details, however. We need a time and location as well as  more information on your own guests."

Seeming to be much  more comfortable with the focus of the conversation, Silver nodded.  "We've discussed this with our leadership, and the Parliament are  willing to work with your employer. The new city represents and  unprecedented break in existing power structures. For ill to be sure, at  least in some ways, but for good as well. With the combination  Metropolis is on the table in a way it never was before.  Certain...interests, made it infeasible to expand our reach across the  river, and that's something our organization wishes to remedy."

I'd  assumed that much. The Court had been basically stuck in Gotham for  years, and it had to rankle. Especially given how superior and stuck up  they were. I hadn't known there was a "Parliament" but it did fit the  theme and sounded pretentious enough for them. Despite that, I didn't  see a need to humor her overly formal nonsense. "I assumed, since you  showed up here. Do you have a place we can hold the meeting? If not we  can look for something. I'm sure your resources had been stretched thin  by the fusion of the cities. It probably isn't easy to ensure a venue is  secure anymore."

That was a challenge, plain and simple.  If she admitted that they couldn't arrange something she'd be giving me  the initiative. I'd be the one in charge of the conclave, and the Court  would know it. Sure, I'd be in a position of power anyway, but that  wasn't the same as just rolling over and letting me make the calls.

Interestingly,  they seemed to have expected me to try to push, and Silver had an  answer ready. "The Pergrinator's Club will do. It's exclusive enough to  be respected, and as far as we can tell survived the combination intact.  We were able to regain control of it easily enough, and will of course  be happy to provide security." She shot me a cool smile. "Unless for  some reason you object to us arranging potential combatants at the  conclave?" If I objected I'd look weak, but I had no reason to do so  anyway.

I just shrugged. "We're happy to let you handle  security, but if anything happens it's on you." I was pretty sure  someone would try some bullshit, but probably nothing that they couldn't  handle. If they did fuck up though my girls could take care of  themselves. I'd just leave things to fall apart and then swoop in to  save them. It would give me more leverage when working with them anyway.

That  still left an important question though. "What about timing?" I said  casually. "We need to give people time to to prepare and get the news,  but we need it to be fast because we can't have random assholes popping  up before we make the arrangements for the city. Do you have any ideas  about when we should do it?"

Silver gave me a smug look.  "Of course." She said haughtily. "We've plotted out the optimal timing  based on information from dozens of sources, as well as getting our  invitees onboard. The conclave will be held in two days. Make sure your  invites go out on time. It would be a shame if you embarrassed Mr.  Mammon by failing to live up to his expectations." I caught a brief  flash of desire, not for me really, but for the power someone like me  could give her. Silver was kind of a messed up girl. The idea of ruling  over others by force got her a little wet. What a psycho.

Two  days was fine, I could arrange that with Tamlin and dad. Getting  penguin onboard would be child's play. That greedy little formal pigeon  wouldn't miss a chance to get in on the ground floor of something this  big. Deciding we'd talked enough business I switched to talking about  Silver. "So, how have you been Silver? We haven't talked in years." I  held up both hands at her glare. "That was NOT a subtle reminder of the  time you sucked my dick. It was a genuine question."

She  looked suspicious for a minute but sighed. "Oh what does it matter. I  tried to get my vengeance for that incident. I admit, I was mildly  impressed by how persuasive you were. I really believed you could  deliver on your promise of ceded territory. I suppose that was what made  me so angry about it. I felt like an idiot. I never told my father  about that of course. He was most displeased when he found out about the  assassin I hired."

I chuckled at that. "I was motivated.  You were gorgeous, and your tits were huge for a girl our age. I  couldn't resist. Still, don't sell yourself short. I can be an excellent  liar when I'm in the mood. There's no shame in believing one of my  stories. The fact that you're being so cool about it is impressive. Most  girls take that kind of thing too seriously. What's a little tonsil  tickling between friends. It's only a big deal if you make it one."

She  actually smirked at that. "I think you underestimate the impact such a  thing has on a girl, but I'll take that in the spirit it was meant. Not  that I've forgiven you, mind. I would be inflicting my vengeance on you  even now, were our business interests not aligned." She gave me a sweet  smile. "Consider yourself lucky."

I just shrugged. "It's  fine, I'm not sorry. If I thought I could use this little event to  convince you to suck my cock again you'd be on your knees in the alley  behind the coffee shop letting me say hi your throat right now." I  winked at her. "I'm much bigger now than I was last time. But hey, I'm  sure you've had loads more practice. Which do you think is likely to  happen  first? You blowing me or you getting revenge?"

Instead  of anger, this time I got an eye roll. Good. I was planting the idea in  her head as an explanation for her upcoming dreams. I could tell she  was getting a little hot and bothered though. That blowjob fetish I'd  stoked in her was making the casual references to face fucking hit in a  very pleasant way. I was getting a lot better at this whole seduction  thing over time. Admittedly the power made it way easier, but I liked to  think I was refining my use of the technique.

We spent  the next twenty minutes or so exchanging barbs and feeling each other  out. I wasn't stupid enough to think she liked me, I knew she was just  humoring me because she was afraid of 'Mammon' but I didn't mind. All I  needed to do was take my time. She was too ambitious to let go of a  chance to get in good with someone as powerful as me, and if Mammon was  the one asking her to slobber his knob I was pretty sure she'd do it in a  second, but if I wanted her as an assistant(and I did, because I wasn't  making any of my girls deal with Court bullshit) I needed to be a bit  more subtle.

Despite her continued distaste, I could tell  that I'd taken the edge off her anger with all my bullshit. Carrying a  grudge for years can be pretty toxic, and if I'd just tried to convince  her I was a good guy it wouldn't have done anything but make her dig in.  By being a charming asshole it reframed the things she didn't like  about me into more favorable terms. It would be a bit of a project but I  could turn her impression of me around.

It might seem  like too much effort for not enough gain, but I wasn't planning to have a  resentful employee stewing under me. She'd find out I was Mammon  eventually, and if she already liked Nick when it happened she was less  likely to be obstinate about it. As I headed back to the house, I made a  note to call my dad and Tamlin to set things up, and after that I  needed to make some preparations for the conclave. I had a feeling this  was going to be a hell of a party.