Keeley Thomson (Book 4): Demon Trap (10 page)

No one was, in particular. They were, as far as she could determine, just a loose collection of people, actually selling the gift packages without any ulterior motives. Not past turning a profit.

A woman that seemed to be a bat shifter at a glance, a thing that Keeley knew, not from personal experience, but from having picked up the information from Zack, moved over to them and smiled. It wasn't one of the people from the Shifter Embassy, which was across the mall. This was someone new. An older woman that had the short rust colored bristles of her kind, and the very common thick glasses. It made her eyes look huge.

"May I help you?" There was a friendly smile with the words, which was also a bat trait. They tended to be high energy and happy, as often as not. After a few seconds she nodded, thinking about it all pretty carefully. It would be easier to have these people put things together than for her to do the work herself for everyone.

"Yes, I think you might be able to. I'd like to get twenty-seven baskets. Holiday themed for all of them, some going to people of, particular taste and refinement. I can get you the addresses and locations for delivery." Casually, almost as if she were flirting with the thin woman who suddenly seemed a bit excited by the prospect of a large batch of purchases, Keeley touched her arm. That gave her a flood of information, which told her a
lot
about the operation.

For one thing, the owners of the place were using Zack to carry their goods to remote locations. They weren't paying him either, having gotten him to volunteer his help. It really was a loose coalition of people though, with four of them being truly non-human. She didn't let the sudden flare of anger touch her face. They were abusing Zack, because they
could
, using him to get goods that no one else had access to, and even deliver things across the country at times.

It was the kind of thing that was handy, but also not allowed. If they wanted to do it, they needed to be at least trading something for it. In this case gift baskets would make the most sense, but they were pretty much not even giving him hugs, or home cooked meals in thanks, as it stood.

That, she decided, would have to stop.

The woman glanced at her hand and smiled. After all, bats tended to be rather frisky, and not all that discerning about who they slept with. It was a cultural thing though, not a biological one.

"We can do that! We have very good delivery. The Line Walker is helping us. It's a stroke of luck really, that he works out of here. If you'll both come this way? We can fill out the paperwork and establish the times you'll need for delivery. This is the busy season, so I'm afraid there will be a small surcharge for rushed work." She actually seemed to feel a bit embarrassed by that, but it only made sense to Keeley. People that could afford to pay more were, of course, the best potential customers. They
should
be given precedence. After all, they were the ones that would end up using the service the most.

She didn't take long to fill things out, though the woman seemed slightly surprised at both how quickly she wrote and that she didn't have to refer to anything for the information as to where to send it. Several of them were for different kinds of beings, which she made a notation of, since the people at this particular establishment were quite up on how to make that happen. You didn't need to add dried fruit for Vampires after all, and Hsreth needed to be given lots of alcohol. They loved the stuff after all. Even the very cheap kinds, though she did want the gifts to be nice.

After looking at the whole list, and doing some quick math, the Bat woman went to get her manager, a very nice looking Incubus, which was just the male form of the Alede. They had two genders, and could easily shift back and forth. This one stepped in too close to her and Hally, pressing sexual attraction from himself in a vast wave. She was able to shut that off instantly, but poor Hally stiffened, her body trembling slightly from the mix of chemicals and psychic power coming off the man.

It was a bit different, but using a bit of her own energy, Keeley figured out how to shut that off for the girl after a few seconds. She still looked interested in the man, which was healthy, since Alede were always attractive, but she didn't look ready to strip her clothes off in the middle of the sales floor, which was an improvement.

The man had a quickly rung up bill on him.

"This... Will come to five thousand dollars, is that really what you wanted?" He didn't offer anything else, not wanting to lose the large sale, but, to his vast credit, the man also didn't want to cheat, or otherwise use, what seemed like a young human girl. She was able to pick up that thought very clearly at least.

"Yes, that will be fine. I can pay for it now." In cash even, since she had about ten thousand in her bag. After all, it would look strange if she went from place to place quickly, using the inroads, and left a trail of credit and debit card transactions, or checks. The Alede gave her an appraising look then, as the paper bills came out and seemed suddenly a lot more into helping her out of her
clothing
than anything else. She just seemed exciting to him now. Being an Alede, that meant sex, even if it was really about her cash.

The fact that she wasn't a food source for him didn't register yet. It probably wouldn't, she knew. Hally boggled a little at the huge sheath of bills coming out, but she didn't comment on it. She knew that Keeley had funds after all. She even had a good idea where some of it had come from. She
did
seem a bit envious, which trickled out of her, but the girl was good, simply smiling a bit, her face not giving away much of what she was thinking at all.

When they finished there, they walked the whole mall. There were too few shops really, for a space that large, but what they had was unique enough to keep them interested. There was a nice curios shop on the second floor that held thousands of little things that were both very nice, and had the correct size to go into a stocking for instance. Hally looked at a darling silver pill box with jade inlay. When she turned it over to look at the price she gasped and started to put it down.

"It's nice, but out of my price range." Hally seemed a bit disappointed by that, which got some attention from the being watching them.

The clerk behind the counter was a Djin, and a very old and powerful one too, since he was able to hold a solid and very human like form. He didn't speak, but moved around the counter and pointed at the box, not bothering to speak. A lot of very old things just didn't bother with that.

It took a while, but it was clear he was willing to let the box go for half the listed price, since Hally wanted it so much. It was about ten times what the girl had on her.

"I can front you the money, Hally. You'll owe me a favor though, later. One that will be worth what I pay here, no more than that. Keep that in mind when dealing with Demons. Make sure that the amount of a bargain is known in advance." She got the funds out and passed it to the girl, as the Djin, who was a Lesser Demon after all, stared at her, and then bowed, finally getting at least
what
she was, if not who.

She winked back.

After all, now that she was known to be young, she didn't have to act ancient all the time anymore. Just old enough that no one would think she was easy prey.

Chapter six

"How am I supposed to pay you back for all of this?" Hally sounded concerned, since she was about six hundred dollars in debt by the time they got near the candle shop on the bottom level. People were going in and out pretty regularly. That was, she knew, an improvement, since the place used to be dead all the time. Zack had done it, organizing the space and improving it with simple hard work.

She shrugged.

"Favors, like I said. You don't have a lot of skills yet, but something will come up. I know, you can help me tomorrow with the city council. I have a lunch meeting with four of the six, plus the Mayor, just to chat. Really the plan is to get them to realize the importance of good fire hydrants. I'm just taking them to Fritters, because I'm not supposed to have that much by way of money, but you could help me coordinate everything." It wasn't really needed, but it would be something for the girl to do that didn't involve servicing a bunch of men to pay things off. Or women. It was almost tempting to set that up, just to help her learn about the importance of being careful in what she agreed to, but it was worth more to Keeley to have her good will.

Besides, she kind of liked her.

"We need to set a building on fire. You can do that. Bal will get you in. You'll have to be careful, since we want it to look like it wasn't set. He knows what to do though." She grinned and waited for the response, which came only as wide eyes and a subtle hesitation in her step.

Then her little friend nodded.

"OK. I guess. I've never done that before. I... Balthias won't let me get caught, will he?"

"Nope. Not at all. I'll make sure of it." She pointed at the shop across from their destination, since it would make a good vantage point to watch Zack, which was what Hally actually wanted, rather than an introduction. It also had food, being a frozen yogurt place. Yoghurt World. "Let's set up there."

The girl behind the counter wasn't one really, being a decently old Vampire, capable of day time activity. That was a dead giveaway, but something that Keeley had known anyway. She smiled at the woman who went very still.

"Mistress of Souls. To what do we owe the pleasure?" There was no hint of anger at her presence and only a bit of fear, which was hidden well enough that Hally didn't get it, but it was there, none the less.

"Just visiting really. Doing some last minute shopping, plus Hally came to spy on Zack and make certain he wasn't going to steal me from her. She's a bit of a jealous type that way." The words got Hally to blush, but she didn't deny what she was there for, her face looking determined instead.

The words had the desired effect on the Vampire though, since she smiled and let her right hand come out over the counter.

"Oh? I'm Zachery's girlfriend, Lenore. I have to say, I whole heartedly endorse your plan. Though I was slightly worried about... Keeley here, taking Zach away from
me
. Perhaps an alliance is in order to prevent that?" The words were smooth and professional, but seemed wrong coming from the lips of a woman that looked no more than nineteen or twenty. Her hair was tied back, to keep it out of the food, and she wore an actual dress, done in subdued colors, all variations of gold or light tan. Over that was a white apron, which didn't fit with the slick and plastic look of the place at all. It was very clean though, which was better than most food establishments by about a factor of three or so.

Hally smiled back and nodded.

"OK. Not that it's really that big of a thing. I mean, I'm not
with
Keeley, and she won't take your boyfriend away. She's not a bad person, or anything." There was no doubt in the words at all, but for some reason Lenore didn't seem convinced.

"Can I get you anything?" She didn't offer it for free, Keeley noticed, which was good manners for a Greater Demon, and about right if they were human. It was a shop after all, not a friend's house.

Keeley ordered several large dishes, but Hally just shook her head.

"I am, officially now, out of cash. Plus, you know, I have to watch my weight. It looks great though."

Lenore just smiled and made the treats for Keeley efficiently and didn't seem at all shocked when she was paid for them. She also wouldn't have been surprised if they'd just been taken. The woman really didn't want to fight with her it seemed. That was pretty much correct too, since all she could do would be lose. Even if it was just an argument made of words, it would be hard to beat a Greater Demon.

"Enjoy." The words had the ring of being rote and there was a stillness after them which indicated that she thought that might be taken as rude. Not that Keeley was that sensitive so far, but it was impossible to know what someone like her might do. Saying anything could have her taken as a slave forever, and so could doing nothing at all. More than anything she really wanted the Greater Demon to be gone, that was clear. It wasn't happening though. They settled into a booth so that Hally could do her work, watching Zack. It wasn't that interesting, but she seemed pretty close to enthralled as she did it.

"He works hard." She murmured the words, looking over Keels shoulder, her face considering. "Not that great looking. I mean, nice enough, but he's too thin. Quince is better looking." That was a reference to the captain of the Raintree football team.

He
was
nice enough looking, Keeley had to agree, but he was also a Durg. That was something that her friend had no concept of, but it was basically a cousin to a Greater Demon. All the physical traits, but lacking the mind, and a lot of the magical potential. Immortal though, and often very good fighters.

The commentary went on for a while, but she didn't really notice anything that was all that important. Keeley did though, even with her back to the other store. For instance, she realized when Finias walked into the place about an hour later, as she was munching her seventh extra large frosty treat. Lenore still wasn't pleased that she was there, but she did like making the various things. Her eating them had even gotten three others to notice and come in to get something for themselves. Two men and a woman that really didn't need to waste the calories on junk food, being too heavy already. Still, whatever worked for her was fine.

The shape of her father was the same as the night before, which was the one she thought of as Dan Carmichael. It wasn't the one that Zack knew him as overly, but with a bit of focus she was able to track things as they happened. Finias watched for a while, waiting for a lull, with
part
of Zack noticing him instantly, and another totally oblivious to what was happening, except his work.