Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (13 page)

Then, as if there wasn't a
massive problem in the offing still, they all left. Like that was going to work
for Tarsus. Then again, maybe it would? If she'd actually passed that Second
Crucible for some reason, then, like it or not, she may well be the most junior
member of the Greater Demon Council, or whatever it was they called it. Which
could give her a reason to push her nose into things, if needed. Like stopping
a war, or... She didn't know what else, but there would be something, she
didn't doubt at all.

Keeley knew that she needed to
get in touch with a few people, mainly to set up how to find The Rage and the
others, but decided that seeing to dinner was a good idea first. If she even
had meals like that anymore. It was late, so she cooked a lot of meat, mainly
steaks and hamburger patties, and made sandwiches for herself. She cheated and
used store bought bread and buns, but did have a stove and refrigerator in her
nicely renovated kitchen already. She also put on a big pot of potatoes,
cutting them up but leaving the skins on, since they were golden, which wasn't
too objectionable, and added a few extra calories.

It was nearly enough food for
herself, but just as she pulled it all off the stove and had it ready for
eating, there was a gentle knock on her front door. She didn't have a lot of
neighbors, not within a few miles at least, and while it could have been
anyone
,
she hadn't felt them coming in magically. That didn't mean it wasn't a Greater
Demon, of course, just that they hadn't used the lines to get there.

When she opened the door she was
a bit shocked anyway, since it was a
Vampire
standing there. One that
she'd never met before. A young looking red-haired girl, who seemed about
eighteen or thereabouts, with skin so pale it seemed almost translucent. She
wasn't very old, either. About a hundred and fifty at a guess. Old enough to be
in charge, but not so much that she held an important position, most likely.
Probably the local Proctor for the area, then.

Keeley smiled.

"Hello! I was just about to
sit down to dinner, would you like to have something?" She didn't have any
blood on hand, but the girl, who only seemed a little older than she was,
looked shocked.

"I... No. I was just
wondering if I could use your phone? I... My car, broke down, a bit that way?"
She pointed off to Keeley's right. It was a good enough reason to go to the
only house visible for miles, so Keeley agreed. She had a land line, since that
ran out to her place, but the cell reception was a little weak. She got three
bars, most of the time, but hadn't wanted to risk it in case something
important came up.

"Oh? Well, of course.
Please, come in." Her kind
didn't
need to be invited, in the main,
old legends aside, but the Vampires tended to be polite. Or at least that was
true once they realized you could kill them with a breath. Their training
tended to run toward respect for power greater than their own, in order to keep
their rather wild young under control.

"Thank you. I was afraid I'd
have to walk all the way into Sparks. I... Don't think I know you, are you new
to the area?" She looked around, taking in the set up, which was pretty
nice, but not something that screamed multi-millionaire. Putting it up in a
week would have, but the lady didn't really know that was the case, Keeley
noticed, as she patted the woman's bare arm gently, absorbing her entire life.
All of her hopes, dreams and memories taken in a few moments.

It was a scene of horrors and
terrors that crossed a bit more time than she'd figured it would. Nearly two
hundred years, which meant the lady, Felicia, was able to get up when it was
still light out, and even perform some basic duties during the afternoon.
Earlier, if she forced herself to act, though that was hard still.

Her eyes were a brown that had a
slight hint of orange to them, which was unusual, and probably why she'd been
brought over in the first place. A lot of that kind had something slightly
unique about them. Strange eyes, and odd hair color, or even just a goofy face.
The older ones in particular. It used to be that Vampires needed to hunt and
not be noticed, so looking attractive without sending up warning flares was
what people looked for in their new generations. Now, with all the movies and
books, that had started to shift, to a prettier model. This woman had been
attractive enough, when she'd lived, but wasn't even a seven, really. Not
without make up and nice clothing, which she didn't have on, being dressed much
like Keeley was herself in cheap running shoes, jeans and a t-shirt.

Hers said "The All Vampire
Band" on it, and had a group shot in line art drawing, which got Keeley to
smile.

"The phone's over
here?" The woman hadn't come to attack her, or even to size up the new
boss, since she had no clue at all that Keels wasn't just what she seemed. That
was the part that had gotten her attention.

After all, a young looking woman that
spent money without seeming worried over it, and who had moved into the middle
of nowhere... It could be a little suspicious, and might even play in to the
profile of a lot of different beings. Vampires being one of them. It was clear
however, that she wasn't one of their kind, and seemed Human, so the plan was
to just use the phone, pretend to call for help and then leave the girl alone.
She was too skinny to make a good meal after all, and that would be breaking
the new rules. Not that they'd been voted in yet, but Felecia had been keeping
her people in line as far as that went. It meant they mainly ate animals most
nights, or disgusting bag blood from the Red Cross, since they had a guy in
there that could be bribed. It was making people a bit unhappy, but they all
got it.

One of their own was
out
,
had run for a government position and
won
, and no one had even tried to
burn him alive yet. If the Humans could do that, then they might someday be
able to see them for who and what they really were. If that happened... Well,
on that day, it wouldn't pay to have killed their girlfriends and husbands, and
being able to point to how good they all were
might
just save on some
problems.

Keeley had to agree there. Not
that everyone would be able to understand that Vampires were real. Even after
most learned to tolerate the idea, there would be those that lived in a
protected world of delusion, totally ignoring that things were ever anything
other than what they seemed. Gary and Hally both
knew
that such things
existed and had been around them for months, and still had to kind of reassure
themselves almost every day that they weren't slowly going insane.

Felicia used the phone like an
old pro, putting in seven digits, hanging up covertly, and holding the button
down so that no dial tone sounded. Then, rather cutely, she started speaking,
to no one.

"Hey, Tim? Could you come
get me? My piece of junk broke down. You will? Thanks... Oh, out on the nine?
I'm just past that house, the white and brown one? No... It
used
to be
white and yellow. The new people here painted. Yeah... I can meet you at my
car."

She pretended to listen and then
made a face, for Keeley's benefit. Her long hair was something that had come
from a bottle as far as color went, but it worked for her. The roots were
darker, being a deep brown.

After a bit of silence she
pretended to agree, and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I can do that. I'm
probably just out of gas. You can bring some? Thanks." Then holding her
finger perfectly and using her body to block what was going on, she hung up,
and turned around a bit too fast for a Human being. It looked wrong, and made
it seem like she was on drugs.

"Thanks again. Sorry about
being a bother like this."

"Not at all a problem. Oh,
I'm Keeley. Are you sure you can't stay for dinner? Not trying to seem
desperate, but I'm new, as you guessed, and haven't met too many people
yet." The woman looked at her, and really only saw a thin girl that seemed
like she wanted a friend. One pretty enough to possibly be of use, some day.

Keeley pulled it from her mind
without much work.

"I... Can't tonight. Tim is
coming for me. Maybe we could get together soon? I work during the day, but I
should be free tomorrow night? We could get together and do something then, if
you want? I know some cool people I could bring. A little square, but not too
bad, as long as you don't mind guys trying to look down your top all night.
Chris and Evan." That was about half her people and were the two that
looked anywhere close to young enough to be out with them. The fun part was
that the woman was actually just trying to be nice, and introduce her to some
people that, as she'd put it, weren't too bad, really.

"Great! Where should I meet
you? I don't know the area too well. Here, let me get you my number." It
was clear that the woman didn't particularly want to be saddled with a kid she
didn't know, but she also, for some reason, felt sorry for her. Keeley could
use that. After all, one of the first things she needed to do in the area was
gain a foothold. Not that it was going to be all that difficult. Not with the
local leaders just walking up to her door like they were.

It would have amazed her that it
had happened, except that it was part of what made Greater Demons what they
were. The universe organized around them. The things they needed, the right
people, even coincidences, often seemed to simply be drawn to them, no matter
where they went. If she'd moved to the center of a desert, then eventually
someone important would stop by. Here it was easier, not being that far away
from town. The interesting part wasn't that it had happened, but that it hadn't
been going on in Arizona. That was going to be thanks to Darla, she supposed.
Here Keeley was on her own, and didn't have a stronger, older and more attractive
big sister around to cover for her. It was one of the reasons that Greater
Demons all led their own lives. So that they could benefit from that effect.

She didn't wink at the woman, but
made herself seem a little desperate for attention. A lonely school girl with
no one to love her, or care about how she felt. She didn't say the words, and
pulled back from it enough that it was pretty clear she didn't really expect
Felecia to ever see her again, seeming just a bit sad about it. Not on the
surface, but in her body language. The woman got the idea, but pretended not
to, since that's what everyone did.

"So, if something comes up,
you can give me a call? I should be here... In the evening."

Then she, reluctantly, let the
Vampire walk alone into the dark night. It was pitch black where they were,
clouds having come in and no street lamps being that far away from everything
else. It meant that in the inky blackness, the woman vanished. Not making even
a hint of a sound.

Keeley was careful not to say
anything however, since she'd be heard a long way off. There weren't a lot of
competing sounds to cover it after all. Instead she just ate her meal, which hadn't
even gotten cold yet. It was decent, if she did say so herself. Really, she
could do better, if she tried, which indicated that she
should
. Darla
had said that more than once. If you knew that you had room to improve
something, you should make a point of trying to do it.

That being said, she remade the
meal, adding more side courses and making some muffins for dessert. It wasn't
the best use of time ever, perhaps, but it meant that, when another knock came
on the door, two hours later, she had food ready again. This time she felt them
coming. Three of them. All Greater Demons, and on the inroads.

She even recognized them all, or
at least thought she did. That could be faked, by the right beings, so Keeley
focused, and using as little magic as she could, reached into the space that
wasn't there to her left and pulled a high powered handgun into reality. This
particular one was a forty-four, and had a lot of kick when fired, which meant
she needed to be careful about re-aiming each time she shot someone with it. It
was tempting to get a sword for her other hand, but she'd need that one to open
the door, unless whoever it was helpfully kicked her door down for her. Since
there was a momentary flare of magic, three times in a row, followed by a
gentle and polite sounding knock, she just drew energy from the universe
through the top of her head, and tried to hold as much of it as possible. It
was a complicated pattern and not a thing she really had mastery of, but then,
most things weren't.

There was no attempt to hide the
hand cannon from the three rather gentle looking beings in front of her when
she opened the door. At least they
seemed
to be who she'd thought, which
was a good, but definitely not certain, sign. Gregor, The Cleric, had been the
one trying to get her attention. He looked old, but still vigorous, and wore a
Catholic priest's black top, complete with white collar. He had round gold framed
glasses on and silver hair. That, she noticed, seemed to be thinning on top.

Next him stood Tarsus, looking
old and sour again. Thinner and more like a Roman patrician than anything else.
He had a long nose, and dark hair, but enough lines on his face to indicate
that he was the kind of person that didn't like fun. He even put little frown
lines by the side of his mouth, just to cement the idea in the minds of anyone
seeing him in public. It worked, after a fashion. The goal was to make people
feel afraid of attack, without being blatant about it. She certainly got that
sense of things off of him.

He was in a nice gray suit with a
black shirt and matching tie. It was a bit too trendy to match his face. She
didn't smile at him or anything like that. Just because they were working
together, that didn't mean they were friends. Actually, since what he wanted
her to do would probably end in her death, really that was kind of the
opposite
of that.