Keeley Thomson (Book 3): Mistress of Souls (5 page)

Sherry picked at hers, looking at it mournfully.

"I'm still not sure what to do. We'll have to move... and maybe I can cash in those stocks or something? I don't have money for a new place. An apartment maybe, if we aren't too picky. I'll work it out. Don't worry about it Keeley. I'm the adult. I'll make this work." Her chin came up then, almost proudly.

She cast a glance at Dan who nodded ever so slightly, as if promising covert help. Like they needed it.

"Don't worry mom. Since the whole thing is out of the bag, I might as well share this too. I'm rich. I extorted fifteen million from some Vampires in exchange for not destroying them about a week ago. True I spent nearly a million of that tonight to save dad, but we have the rest of it. I'm already working on buying a place. We'll be fine." Even if they had to go and live at Darla's for a while, which they wouldn't have to.

Darla smiled and took a bite of cherry filling then looked at Keeley as if they were discussing boys or something.

"You're actually going to get your own place? Perfect, I want my guest rooms back. I know he's your pet, but Balthias still annoys me. Your Vampires aren't that bad, though Eve keeps wondering how to best deploy Elis to kill those men, not realizing that she could just order it done and let him worry about how to find them. If it were me I'd just ask you to handle it, but I didn't mention that part to her. Balthias could do it in a few minutes after all and he likes her. For that matter her father could find them all in a few days using the police data base." It came out almost like a kind of shorthand, but it wasn't meant to be secret or anything. Even Eve wasn't trying to hide it.

She should be, at least the killing portion of events to come, but that hadn't occurred to her yet either.

Keeley translated for her mom.

"My friend Eve was raped by a Vampire on the night of Homecoming. That's why I was going to destroy that Vampire troop. They took her to try and renegotiate a business deal with Darla. The rape was incidental and didn't hurt Eve, but there's a principle to such things. I enslaved the rapist, Elis and hired another of them named Rebekah. You'll like her, she's great. Anyway, since Eve has been raped a lot, especially as a kid, she's planning to send in Elis to kill the worst of the men that hurt her. I don't know what she plans to do with Elis after that, because I haven't asked." There hadn't been a lot of time to check on things really. Not with the Halloween party to put together and all.

"Oh." If this news took Sherry by surprise she didn't let it show.

"Well, I'm sure that Eve won't abuse anyone that doesn't deserve it. She seems like a good girl."

That got a nod from Darla and oddly one from Dan as well, though Keeley hadn't known that he'd even ever met Eve.

He spoke calmly though.

"Indeed. All of our daughter's friends are very good people. It speaks well of the upbringing you gave her. You and Charles as well. For all that this little... snag with the stolen funds has come up, he wasn't a bad father overall. It's a shame that it had to end the way it did, but perhaps he can find happiness now?"

Maybe. Probably not though, Keeley knew. He'd carry his problems with him. The one person you could never escape was yourself after all. He also was going to feel like he was being hunted, probably for decades. Long after the money ran out he'd have to live looking over his shoulder, constantly wondering if the authorities were just behind him. It was what he chose to do though.

If the choice had been his at all.

Darla had mentioned that it might not be, but they really needed to talk about it some more, probably in private. The one sure thing right now was that nothing they said was safe. If a Demon not in the room with them was trying to send her a message, or even do the same to Darla, then they couldn't count on not being eavesdropped on at any given moment. There were thousands of ways to do that and not all of them were easy to beat.

It was probably why Darla had stopped talking about it past the tiny bit she'd mentioned. She'd done it to warn Keels that something was up, not to give real information.

Dan was making eyes at her mom as he ate his last bite of whipped cream just a bit too suggestively.

"So, Sherry, do you have plans for Halloween? I'm hosting a party, I'd love it if you could come."

Darla didn't let anyone else speak, giving her own father a hard look first.

"Brilliant. Let's invite her to a party filled with Demons, Vampires and a hundred other things that would just as soon eat her as breathe That will end well. Trust me on this one Sherry, don't go with him. Bad enough Keels and I need to make an appearance. It's going to be a pain splitting ourselves between the two parties." She turned to Keeley and winked.

"We'll have to make good use of the inroads."

That... would be a problem, Keeley knew. Looking inside the huge database of knowledge that the Demon known as the Librarian had given her, she found out some of the particulars. How to do it was right there in her mind. It wasn't so much a difficult thing as one that took a lot of practice to get used to.

About seventy years of it.

Without that no one could walk the inroads at all. The mind just couldn't handle it, and that meant access would be denied. Only, of course, she didn't have seventy years. She didn't even have seven days.

Keeley smiled.

"No problem."

It was though of course. It was a massive problem. Because not being able to walk the inroads would be a sign to every supernatural creature at the party to take a shot at her. It would mark her as being young and easy prey.

She had no clue what to do about it though, so she just smiled knowingly and tried to pretend to be far older than she really was.

Chapter three

She'd expected Darla to stay the night, or possibly set up a visit so they could talk in private, but the girl left with Dan just after the meal was finished. They had things to do no doubt. Sherry just started clearing the table, her movements a little listless and slow. Normally cleaning caused her to perk right up, but this time it just didn't seem to be enough. Who could blame her?

Keeley grabbed the plates, which were cleaned well except for her mother's and took them to the sink, where she scraped them very well into the food disposal, running the water as she hit the switch. There were specific rules to cleaning and if she didn't follow them Sherry would have to do the whole thing over anyway, even if things were already cleaned. It was simpler for her to just do it "right" the first time.

They worked together getting the job done in about half the time it would have normally taken. Looking at the clock and seeing it wasn't even eleven yet, Keeley made a decision. Her mother needed to keep busy and the thing that really made her feel better was cleaning. The place was spotless, so that meant doing more then would be normal.

Like packing up all her father's stuff so it wasn't hanging around reminding them of him all the time.

"OK, let's do this right. You work on your room and find everything that belonged to dad and box it up for the Goodwill. Everything, unless you want to keep it for sentimental reasons. I'll do the rest of the place. I can take it in the morning before school. Just load it into the van." Keeley almost expected an argument, since she was talking about spending all night working, but her mom just nodded listlessly and started on it.

A string of anger tried to take her mind as she worked on the kitchen first, taking out all the food that only her father ate. She could give it to Darla who wouldn't be bothered by having it around at all. That didn't take long, mainly being some cans of oysters and sardines. It was a dismal task, feeling almost like he'd died or something instead of just running out on them.

The other rooms weren't a lot harder, though she froze when she got to the pictures on the walls. Did she leave them or take them down? It was almost like removing the past, but she decided to put the photo's away. They were mainly family things, all of them on vacation or at various events, like her graduation from middle school. It was one of the few things that Charles had actually gone to as she grew up. They'd need new photos soon or the walls would look bare. That or some paintings.

It took about an hour and a half, working slowly and making sure she double checked each room, leaving nothing behind that was too strongly associated with her father. Even his easy chair got moved to the garage. It left little marks on the light colored carpet it was sitting on, so she pulled out the vacuum and did the whole room. Her mom would want that. Finally she went in to help finish the bedroom, finding it almost bare.

The sheets and comforter were in a heap on the ground and there were boxes of clothes and other things already set up. The sex books and toys that Keeley really didn't want to know about most likely. She could take those to the dump she decided. The Goodwill didn't need to see that either.

On the edge of the bed Sherry sat, crying softly.

"I don't... I tried to be what he wanted. I really did. I did everything. I didn't even have friends so he wouldn't worry. What else was I supposed to do? Why did I fail?" She wasn't really talking to her daughter, Keeley knew, but the words were said out loud anyway. She resisted giving the answer.

It wouldn't help in the long run. Sherry knew what it was anyway. There was nothing she could have done at all. She'd done it all, perfectly. It wasn't about her, it was a problem that Charles had brought with him into the marriage and could never let go of.

She sat on the bed and hugged her mother to her closely, trying not to notice the wash of pain and more complex emotions coming off of her.

"It's alright. We'll be fine." She murmured the words for a while until her mother, exhausted, finally fell asleep hours later.

Keeley finished the packing silently and moved everything to the garage by four in the morning. Then she took half an hour to pack up Freida the cream colored Volkswagen van and got everything situated. There was a lot of it, and the chair didn't fit at all, but she could set up someone to come take it away.

There had to be a service for things like that, didn't there?

Then she did homework until it was time to leave for the day, forcing herself to be cheery and awake with a few minutes of focused concentration. Then she made breakfast. There was a lot to do, but being hungry wasn't going to help her do it better. She made pancakes and eggs. A lot of them and ate enough that she almost took the edge off the constant hunger for a while. She'd stop for donuts too, she decided and on a whim decided to get enough to share with the police at the station, since it was on the way. It wouldn't hurt to make some friends there anyway.

She left a bit of a mess in the kitchen, but ended up not having time to fix the room again. She felt bad leaving it that way, but had to go. The early morning took about as long as she figured it would, slowed only by the fact that she didn't know any of the police on the early morning shift at first. The desk sergeant looked at her like she was trying to poison him and tried to not take the three boxes she'd brought in. That lasted until another officer walked in behind her.

It was the good looking one that Darla was grooming for something. The badge said his name was Richards, but they'd never been introduced.

"Miss Thomson? Is everything alright?" He actually sounded concerned that it wouldn't be, so she smiled, forcing herself to really feel it.

"It sure is. I saw you on television yesterday. You made it sound like that poor druggie practically killed me or something. It was more like he grabbed the purse, then hit his head on the ground. Not a lot between the two. How is he anyway, do you know?" She didn't really care if she hurt him, but looking like she did would make her seem like a good person. Appearances mattered.

The officer grimaced.

"Concussion. He had to spend the night at the hospital. He'll live but I bet he thinks twice before trying to do a snatch and run." He eyed the donuts and pointed with one finger, his face pleasant.

"Those for me? From the good bakery too..." He was teasing, but still moved to take the top box.

Keeley handed all of them to the officer, laughing as she did.

"For everyone, but yes. Bavarian Cream in the top box, make sure the Chief gets one, they're his favorite. Now, are both of you coming to the Halloween party, the one for the whole town? I expect a good turnout from the force. Make sure everyone knows that or I'll... I don't know, come and pout at them I suppose. Kind of limited options as to what to do since I don't know them, but you're all expected." She included the desk officer who actually managed to relax a bit, since Keeley apparently had a name and knew the man in charge.

"Wouldn't miss it. Clark?" Richards glanced past her at the man who shrugged.

"I was thinking about taking the wife and kids. I'll make a point of it."

With that Keeley waved and left quickly, not wanting to be late to school. Hopefully it would be interesting enough to keep her mind off of things for a while.

It wasn't. It was just about the most average day she'd ever had at Raintree. The early morning classes did almost nothing, just covering the assignments done and handing out the next ones with minimal explanation, meaning they were all busy work meant to let the slower kids catch up. Lunch was normal enough too. The only difference there was that she saw Becky and Maria Gonzales and waved them over to sit by Hally and Eve before they could huddle together alone on the other side of the room. It made for a more interesting mix at the table, being that it was normally the cheerleaders' section.

A few of them looked like they wanted to get snooty about it, since they were pretty and popular and Becky Hoader was a little chunky and had short curly hair that looked a little mousy. Maria was tiny and wore a mouthpiece to hold her front teeth in place still. The big headpiece was gone though and the girl was cute enough really, except for that.