Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (15 page)

First however, she decided on
setting up a large garden. The area was going into a drought, one that would be
fairly consistent over the next hundred and twenty years or so, but no one
would fault her that year for having a little bit of green around her place.
Given the amount of land she had, putting in low water use trees seemed like a
good idea, too. That would take work, and time, but it wasn't like she didn't
have it. In potential. Smiling, she turned her mind away from what she had
planned. Not that anyone was reading her right then, but if they were, she
really didn't want to be ambushed by insane killer Demons. Or any kind, come to
think of it.

That gave her things to work on,
for the early part of the day. It was riveting, after she decided to make it
something she cared about. So, other than a few trips into town for plants and
tools, and several meals, she just worked until about seven. When the phone
rang she had to suppress a jump, and run inside fast, to get there on the
second ring.

"Hello! Keeley here."
She could hear the silence coming from the other side of the line. A single
breath came, indicating that the person was a Vampire. They had to breathe, in
order to speak, like everyone else. From the resonance of the action, it was a
female, and a being that wasn't all that huge. She actually knew a couple of
people that would fit that bill, but when the voice spoke, it turned out to be
Felecia.

Her new BFF.

"Keeley? A few of us here
were planning to hit the club later. Would you like to go? It's the Terran 2
LA..." There was hesitancy in her words, which had to do with age, or
apparent age at least. It was a specific, but slightly baffled sounding
phrasing that led her in to that idea. "I... don't know if you're old
enough to get in?"

Keels smiled, but didn't let
herself become snarky. After all, it was part of a chain of
Vampire
clubs, and Felecia was the
manager
of the place. She kind of
knew
if Keeley could get in or not.

"That won't be a problem. I
don't think so, at least. What time?"

That, it turned out, would be
around nine that night, which gave her a little bit of time to get ready. It
was, she understood, part of some greater plan of the woman. Probably to have
her denied entry to the place, so that she could leave with her and show how
friendly and kind she was, as well as impress her with how cool she and her
friends were. At least if the T2LA in Sparks was as picky about who got in as
the one that her friend Troy worked at in Washington State.

Zack's roommate. It meant she had
connections there, after a fashion. Not that getting into a club would be all
that hard. She just showered, changed into a nice black spaghetti strap dress
with matching shoes, and changed her face to look like she was in her
mid-twenties, then altered the shape just a bit, so that she'd look a bit more
feminine than normal. Not that she was
butch
looking, day to day, but
being as lean as she was could do that, if she wasn't careful. She took pains
not to make herself look unreal however. Zack had actually complained about
that to her, a few weeks before.

Saying that it made her look like
a videogame character. Not like a real girl at all.

The parking lot was full, since
it was a Friday night, and there was a long line out front. It was all made up
of Humans, other than her, but she just stood there with the rest, as the large
black man at the front door, who wore a rather tight black t-shirt, turned away
almost everyone. This, then, was the culling line. A few attractive girls
did
get in, but for the most part people were just being turned aside. When she got
to the front, the man glared at her for about ten seconds.

Then he smiled.

"Well, you have about the
right idea. Hot, but not too slutty. I.D.?" That was a good sign, and
Keeley didn't bother with faking that, just digging in her bag and handing over
her Arizona Drivers license. It said she was sixteen, which got him to make a
face, until she reached out mentally and made his mouth work for him.

"All right. No drinking
though. We run a legit club here." Then he stepped aside, not thinking
about anything for a moment, and let her inside. True, she'd cheated her way
in, but as far as he was concerned, he was just being a good guy, and not
spoiling her night out too much.

That was what she wanted him to
think, after all.

The inside of the place was loud,
and there were only six tables in the place, one of which, toward the back, was
taken up by five Vampires. One of them was her new buddy, and she had two
younger men with her, leaving the others. A man that looked like he was about
forty, in a lean and fit way, and a woman that looked an awful lot like
her
,
if in a slightly larger nosed way, with a jaw that was a good bit more square.
It made her not as good looking, perhaps, but they really could have pretended
to be sisters without causing anyone to not believe them.

Barb, from the Vampire embassy.
Keels didn't recognize the man herself, but he was in her memories. The ones
that she'd lifted from Lenore, the ambassador there. Her boss, Vaughn. If
Keeley understood the power structure correctly, he was basically the Vampires
regional director. He handled a five state area, of which, now that she
bothered to look at that part of what Lenore knew about the man, included
Nevada.

She used magic to increase the
focus of her hearing, blocking out the loud and thrumming techno music that
played in the background and the fifty odd conversations around her. It was
still difficult to manage, since the Vampires all whispered, but it was pretty
clear, even from across the room, that the topic of discussion wasn't her, but
rather the Line Walker.

Vaughn spoke softly, looking
directly at Felecia, his eyes locked with hers. He was in black, and wore a
suit that didn't fit the room, and she was in black and white, seeming a bit
more like wait staff than the Manager. It was a good sign, since it meant she
didn't really think of herself as above everyone else in the place. That showed
in her slightly downcast gaze, as she listened.

"We need to ingratiate
ourselves to the Line Walker, so each state in the western quarter is being
asked to send a person to his new camp. Sparks doesn't have a large community,
or an embassy, so this is a great honor being bestowed upon you." There
was a smile to go with the words, but it was cold and lacked even the pretence
of being real.

The woman across from him
actually shook, in fear, if Keeley got the right idea. Yes, it was artifice,
but it
did
send the right idea. She was showing that real worry was on
the table. It made sense, given that Zack was a Greater Demon, and the
description of the camp was a bit spotty so far, unless this was the tail end
of a conversation she just hadn't heard.

Her new pal sucked in air, as the
two men with her looked away.

"I... Thank you, for the
honor, Vaughn. I don't really have anyone that can be spared right now,
however. There are only five of us in town, and Cindy is too young to be sent
away. That functionally only leaves me with three others for a city of a
hundred thousand. I don't want to give insult to a Demon, but I don't see how I
can do that." She was, clearly, trying to make it seem like that was
all
the Vampires in the whole area, which wasn't true. There were more than that.
Not a huge number, but about twenty. It was just that she didn't control those
people.

The older Vampire shook his head
at her.

"I know it will be hard, but
I need you to work with me on this, Felecia. Our debt to the Line Walker is
greater than I think you may know. He refuses to take slaves, and has only
minimal need for money. The Council has decided to back him in this current
project, so we need solid, stable people to go in and see to it. That means
you, and your crew here. You've kept strictly to the new standards as far as
drinking, and that's rare. Impressive as well. Needed however, for this. Pick
someone, and tell them to pack. It will be a minimum of three months work. We
need to leave this night."

It was all Keeley could do not to
laugh at the man. Barb was clearly biting her tongue too, and not making eye
contact with anyone. What she was doing there...

Well, Keeley got that one,
directly from her mind. She'd worked with Zack, off and on, and had gotten him
to take them there directly as a freebie, so had been included. Probably
because Vaughn didn't want to risk being left there. Not that it would have
happened that way. The Line Walker was good to his friends and included people
and beings in that category that no one else could understand.

Still, if the man would just
say
the words summer camp, it would have let a lot of angst out of the
conversation. Finally, as Felecia tightened her face and seemed ready to argue
into the night, Keeley moved in and patted Barb on the back. That got her to
jump, but she didn't yelp or anything, even as she understood who was touching
her. She did swallow convulsively, and went wide eyed as Felecia half stood.

"Keeley! You got in? I...
Well, I was side tracked here. These people are..." It was pretty clear
that she didn't have a good lie ready to go. The easiest thing would have been
to introduce Vaughn as the regional manager for the club chain, which everyone
in their society would have backed, but that didn't seem to pop to her Vampire
friend's mind.

That led to a moment of pure
silence and confusion, as she pulled a chair over and moved in right beside
Barb, not touching her. She looked
terrified
, but got that under control
and backed off all the way down to merely uncomfortable about ten seconds
later. No one noticed, except one of the male Vampires. She waved at him
playfully, which got him to smile back.

He, clearly, was the fast thinker
of the group, since he managed to change the course of things instantly. Lying
like a professional.

"Is this your guest for the
evening Felecia? She's as lovely as you mentioned. Perhaps you'd like a drink,
miss?" It was a bit too formal, but she nodded, which allowed some more
time to be bought, while he called for a waitress, who was a perky blonde that
scurried over and didn't blink when she asked for a Seven-Up. She was under age,
after all, and it wouldn't do to give the place a bad reputation.

While this was taking place
Vaughn stepped in, verbally, and introduced himself.

"Hello. I'm Vaughn, a friend
of Felecia's. From work, obviously. This is my... Daughter, Barbara. I was just
asking Felecia if she knew anyone that could help out at a summer camp. I don't
suppose you know anyone?" It was a clever use of what might have been
heard, really. Also, it allowed the conversation to be turned back onto her,
without seeming too awkward.

"
Summer camp
?"
This came from Felecia, who seemed a little too baffled to really sell the
idea, even as Evan, the Vampire that had spoken to her smiled, letting just a
hint of fang show. He was good, but not old enough to really hide what he was.
Not from someone like her.

Barb finally had enough of the
whole thing and turned to Keeley directly, snorting just a bit and looking a
tiny bit angry. She was only about fifty, in Vampire years, which meant since
her death, and still had to fight to stay in control of her emotions. She
actually did pretty well, given how young she was.

"Keeley. I didn't think to
see you here. Is there... a problem?" She half growled the words, which
got her a hug.

It was a one armed thing, but the
rest of the table stared at them, as if either a fight or a make out session
where about to take place.

"Nope. Felecia just had some
car trouble last night and came by my new house, looking to use the phone. She
was kind enough to invite me here tonight. Now, I don't really know any more
people that can work at Zack's camp. Especially not Vampires. Have you tried
asking Bey?" She spoke to Vaughn directly, as Barb froze, but left her arm
over the other girl's shoulder. It looked a little chummy, but she really didn't
need them to be terrified of her.

There was a reason that Vaughn
was the Regional Director, it seemed, since he picked up the whole idea much
faster than anyone else at the table did, except Barb. Oh, not
who
she
was, but that she knew all about the situation. The others seemed to lag behind
a bit.

The man himself just grinned at
her, charmingly.

"Ask The Bey for ideas as to
who we should send along? Or do you mean I should request the killer of the
Vampire council
himself
for the job?" There was a teasing tone,
even as the rest of them went wide eyed at the idea. She got that. It would be
easy to think that Bey was a bad being, if you didn't know him very well. He
was the one that the others in charge sent to handle problems. Like small
armies of rogue Vampires and things like that.

"I meant that second one.
You're clearly supposed to be doing the rest. It's probably a bit too much for
a summer camp, having him in to see to it. He'd do
wonderfully
however.
Out of all the Vampires, he's my favorite. We should invite him here, soon,
Felecia. He can stay with me. I have an extra room. It isn't huge, but it
should work well enough for him, I think. He isn't pretentious or
anything." It was all true, but she might have as well suggested that the
President come over for a threesome with her and a Gnome.

Barb managed to speak, which got
her looked at a bit coldly by her boss of the evening.

"I suppose I could call him
up and ask? I think that you're right, however. It
would
be a bit too
much. Zack mentioned that your friend Hally is going to be a councilor there?
And... Was it Gary?"