Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (25 page)

   Yeah, she knew this feeling. It didn't take more than one exposure to get it. The lesser demon Balthias was here.

   Yay.

   That would have been a good thing, except that the jar to hold him wouldn't be ready for at least another twelve hours, if then. Goody. She was about to suggest running for their lives when she heard it. Yelling and pounding feet. Coming right for them. Not huge clomps, not hooves...

   Gary.

   “Oh, there he is!” She said brightly, making her fear vanish as she spoke. Life really was better without it.

   “Gary, over here!”

   “Drive, drive, drive... It's the devil, he's after me, I mean the real devil, Satan. I... drive! I know it sounds crazy, but we need to go or it's going to get us...”

   It was going to get them anyway, Keeley saw, since it appeared right in front of them without warning. Those in-road things? Handy, they seemed to let a being go places much faster than mere walking would allow. Keeley forced herself back to calm. It wasn't easy this time. Not at all.

   “Right,” she said, handing the keys to Eve.

   “Be careful. Take Freida and tell Darla that I asked her to meet me here, in twelve hours, thirteen I mean. She'll understand. Tell her to meet me right here on this spot. Go ahead now.”

   “Keeley!” Gary half screamed, his face beaten even more now than before. Probably from the fight with his dad earlier, given the size of the marks. If Balthias had done it the fist imprints would be larger.

   And deeper.

   “What are you doing? Get in here. We can ram it or outrun it in this...”

   They couldn't, of course. She had on running shoes at least. Well, tennis shoes. Closer than she might have had. She patted Gary on the arm.

   “Someone needs to draw it off,” this was a soft whisper just for him, but the lesser demon laughed anyway.

   “Oh, the mighty demon is going to deign to remove a little thing like me? This will be interesting, what are you going to do, trap me in a bottle like a genie? Oops, you seem to have forgotten yours. Got anything else?” The voice was deep and rumbling. The others were freaked out by it, either its looks or the pure terror boiling off, possibly both at once.

   Keeley desperately searched for a way to trap the thing, contain it, using all the memories that Tarsus had left her. In all the world there was only three things that could handle something like this. A Jar made by Darla, a blast of destructive energy that she couldn't manage and wouldn't be able to for decades or longer. And one other thing.

   A deal.

   Well, that cleared up what she was doing, only, of course, she had no clue how to make that work. Or to get Balthias to accept one. She decided to wing it and smiled, not even knowing what to say.

   “I do. You and I need to have a chat before you get in too deep, dim bulb. You three take off, remember what I said.” Keeley laughed. Sounding cheery and walked to the front of the van while the engine started and Eve jerkily tried to back up. The thing stalled twice but she finally managed to get out of there, after about two minutes.

   When it was safely gone Keeley made her move. She tossed down the silver talisman that Finias had given her at the things feet. It barely glinted in the half moon lit night.

   “Do you know what that is and what it means for you?” She said, working to sound confident, not frightened to death or moronic. It was harder to do either of those things while she lied.

   The lesser demon bent over, not touching it.

   “Demon magic? Or, wait, this is just one of those little toys you all use to try and scare the rest of us, isn't it? Well that doesn't work on me. Not anymore.” The thing bent over and picked it up, the large fingers clumsy looking, easily lifted the small coin shaped disk.

   Keeley chuckled and clapped her hands happily.

   “Not exactly, it's a lock. A soul lock. By picking that up you just became my property. If you try to break that link now, you'll simply stop being. More, you'll never have existed at all. Pretty neat, huh? I made it myself.”

   Keeley bluffed, waves of confidence being forced out of her as hard as she could, trying to counter the fear that wanted to bubble out. The thought of bubbles reminded her of Eve's desire to have some for the dance. That and balloons. And lollipops. Keeley smiled at that, and the lesser demon winced.

   “Then I guess I'll just have to break the curse by killing you, won't I?” It said, showing a bit of confidence all its own.

   She giggled again. A sharp and clear sound, like a bell tinkling.

   “I knew you were going to say that, they always try it at first, and look, here I am still. Think about why that is for a second.” That she hadn't known the words were coming even as she said them didn't matter, she was buying time, that was all.

   “The trick here is, if you do that, which I agree would be the first thing I'd try in your situation too, you end up living in the silver there, forever. No, if you want to do anything useful, you need to properly dispose of that and meet me back here in... Call it fourteen hours? Then, and only then, can you break the bond and survive it without being trapped.”

   The thing growled at her. Low and menacing.

   “I don't suppose you'd share how that's supposed to be done, would you?”

   “Not until you earn it. I demand three tasks from you, all to be done this night, before the sun is high overhead tomorrow at noon. If you cannot perform the tasks, I'll just keep you as a pet and you can run errands for me. Obey my every command without rancor or anger, that kind of thing, pretty much whatever I decide at the time. Standard arrangement, you understand? If on the other hand you do what I ask, in the time allotted, then you'll be free of the curse and can go your own way, without harm to anyone. Deal? Yes or no please, if we're going to have an issue here, I might as well get to working on those tasks myself. Things have got to get done after all. No time to dawdle.”

   For a moment, she really thought the thing was going to attack. It looked ready to move, but she just stood with a small smile on her face, arms crossed. Waiting.

   “Deal then. But if I perform the tasks three...” The thing didn't sound nearly as confident now.

   “Deal.” A funny feeling passed through her, a buzzing almost. She grinned again, probably looking manic.

   “If you perform the tasks in the time set, I break the link for you and you can go without harm to anyone, your soul un-trapped and unbound by me for all eternity. Well, at least as long as you don't force me to do it again. That's where the whole leaving without harm thing comes in, understand? I think you'll find I'm a being of my word.”

   Keeley chuckled softly, so glad that it was dark enough the sweat on her brow hadn't shown up yet.

   So far it was working, but the second she messed up, she'd probably be dead.

Chapter thirteen

   “Name your first challenge demon. It's not fair to set tasks three and then refuse to give them timely!” The lesser demon glowered at her in the dark. The eyes glowed yellow. It wasn't a very pretty color, but it did fit the lesser demons overall look pretty well.

   She couldn't see it, not clearly, just the vague outline of the giant form, all evil and ugly looking. It glared though. She'd have been glaring too if she thought someone had stolen her soul and was holding it hostage. A deal was a deal though.

   “Right. First you must travel to Michigan, and find a man named Monroe, a specific one. He may not be there now, but that's not my concern. You must find him and work a confession from him for a specific murder. It mustn't seem forced. It totally can be, it just can't seem that way to the authorities. I'm not trying to make all this too hard here.” She filled in the rest of the information she had on the murder the Yorks were accused of, giving all the detail quickly.

   “Then you must return here and show me that you've finished the task before starting the next, which is to convince a man, Kenneth Turk, that it's alright that his son is homosexual. For those first two there can be no killing or overt harm to anyone and no covert harm without specific permission from me, understood?”

   “Understood demon. Hurry.”

   “OK, the final thing, there's a man, named Rick Morris. He sexually abused a girl, a child, you must find him and... kill him, in a way that cannot be traced back to anyone in the state of Arizona. Or to you. So be subtle.” She looked at him and just hoped she wasn't leaving a trail of vast mayhem in her wake.

   “It's alright if you make it hurt though. He really does deserve it. I won't make that part of the test. Use your own best discretion as to pain levels.”

   This was all about stalling after all. If the thing realized for a second that their deal was just words, things could get... messy. Keeley nearly lost it then, fear taking her, but she locked it down and pretended to confidence. For a moment she wondered how her new ability would play in drama club. That sounded way more interesting than cheer leading anyway. Not as good for becoming popular, but that worked at the moment. She could stay low profile. Do bit parts or help make scenery.

   “Go now, you have to finish all of this before the sun is directly above me here, at noon. I...” The creature was gone. It didn't run away, it was just not there anymore.

   It was a really cool trick.

   Keeley really expected the creature to be back nearly instantly, but time passed without so much as a hint coming at all. She sat, the temperature around her a little cool. After hours of hugging herself, goose bumps prickling her arms, she realized that she was sleepy again, so remembered to wake herself up.