Keeley Thomson (Book 4): Demon Trap (6 page)

"Most of what she'd said about you directly
does
involve that. But it still wasn't overly negative." Then she actually found herself at a loss for what to say. They were Demons after all, it wasn't like talking about the weather would hold any interest for the being.

Zack did though. Luckily it was a good thing, though it was very clear to her that The Cleric already suspected the same things about him that she did. Gregor hid it well though and made certain not to give things away at least, which was nice of him.

"Mr. Hartley, would I be permitted to recommend some work your way? I have occasion to come into contact with some people that have situations arise, but who should avoid working too closely with a certain type of being, for their own benefit. I will warn you, most of them won't be able to pay your full rates." The Greater Demon looked so innocent and holy at that moment that it was easy to see how he'd gotten people to go along with him when he came up with a religion.

Zach just started to agree, almost too easily. After half a sentence Keeley touched his arm to get him to stop.

"I believe what should be said here is that, while Zack is more than willing to help these people, that doesn't negate the fact that
you
would be the one hiring him directly. Perhaps you might set a rate of one favor, to be named at the time of the aid being given, for each situation you recommend?" It was a fair enough deal really. Too much so, if she were going to be honest, but if they asked for nothing, everyone would think they could walk all over Zack. Her too, most likely.

The Greater Demon sighed, and shook his head.

"That's fair enough. Though I keep full right to refuse any request and some measure of balance need be sought in each matter. A deal then?" He held out his hand to shake, but this time Zack surprised her, stepping back and shaking his head.

"We don't have a deal. An agreement only, for the specific things spoken of."

That got Gregor to chuckle and bow a little.

 "Very good! An agreement then, Mr. Hartley. I'll be in touch if anything comes up." Then without saying anything more on the matter, he walked away, seeming as if nothing had just happened at all.

Keeley didn't mention it, but after a while there was music and some food to eat. The Vampires, all looking a bit tentative, tried the blood that she'd brought for them, warmed by Rebekah in the microwave to about body temperature. Six of the people in the room had some, and five of them were over to talk to her about it not a minute after finishing.

It was the tall Manthori, Harland, that spoke first, his English being almost perfectly clear. Given the mouth full of fanglike teeth in double rows, that meant he was both decently old and had taken time to practice making himself understood.

"That was delicious. How did you manage it? Some magic?" He was baffled, but she just smiled. "It's a secret recipe. The plan however is to make it available to Vampires all over the world, if there is enough support for the new initiatives that Richard Swerlin is putting forth. I felt that having a slightly more quality drinking experience might just push a few on the fence over to our side." The side of not taking blood from people directly. It wasn't that big of an issue to her, since they had to leave them alive to get any energy from it, but the fact was, Vampires could mess up. That meant leaving corpses, or teenagers all over the world going missing, far too often.

It was hard to actually hurt a blood bag too much. The normal anticoagulant was far less than tasty however, which made banked blood a lot less than popular. It was even worse with animal blood. That already had a slightly different flavor, according to Rebekah and Richard. Adding in a bitter medicinal agent didn't help at all.

All the Vampires seemed to agree that it was a good plan.

Lenore especially.

"Since the council is behind the movement, we're already in on the plan, regardless. This will help however. Are you planning to manufacture it yourself?" There was a bit of hesitancy under the words, since she wouldn't want to be beholden to a Greater Demon in particular. None of them would overly.

"After a fashion. Rebekah will be running things on the Vampire side and be our public face that way. I'll be aiding her in setting up centers for it around the U.S. first as a testing ground. I have some experience in the field. We should have it in production inside of three months and available for sale at that time. Perhaps with delivery to the home?" The words were designed to reach Harland and Bey, sounding a bit old fashioned and stilted to everyone else no doubt. They were nodding though by the end of it and Rebekah looked a bit shy suddenly.

It was a promotion after all. In Vampire circles it would almost automatically make her a very important person. That wasn't bad, considering a few months before she'd been the lowest member of her group. The one they used for sex and as a way to make themselves feel strong and powerful. The girl Vampire needed that kind of power base though, if she were going to take her revenge on them.

They left at about midnight, which was a little early, but needed, since Zack had to sleep, given that the next day he had work. Being a gentleman though he offered to see her home himself. That didn't seem to thrill Lenore a lot, but Keeley agreed. It was a bit awkward, but Harland came along as well.

Only a bit though, since Keeley had Fram carry him through the line for them, so Zack wouldn't have to pull a long chain of people. Even if he could. That meant the others could go back to her other house directly with Balthias.

It was a bit of a cluster on the doorstep of the single story ranch style house she shared with her mother, and the lights were still on, which meant that Sherry was awake still. Probably working, since there were Christmas parties that wanted fancy decorations all week long. This turned out to be the case since she popped her head out of the front door almost instantly and then froze, looking at the array of strange people and then focusing on Fram.

Who looked like the Demon that had decapitated her husband. To her credit she attacked instantly, if not very efficiently, leaping on the man and scratching at his face like a wild animal. She really dug into the eyes too, Keeley noticed, feeling a bit of pride. If he'd been a human attacker, the man would have been going down hard.

"Mom? This is Fram. He just
looks
like Barb. Maybe you could let me explain first, before you kill him?" The Vampires and Darla all looked... Extremely calm about the whole thing, to tell the truth. Zack seemed tense, but he moved in anyway and put his good arm out, between the two people. For his part Fram didn't even shy away, just taking the beating as if it were justified.

Because, slave or not, he knew that his current form had to offend the woman. It was, Keeley realized, a good sign. Crazy as he might be, the Greater Demon was smart enough to know what not to do in most situations.

That would be helpful later.

Zack got a hug then, from her mother, who didn't let go, tears coming to her eyes. She might have been about to divorce Charles Thomson when he died, and had been fighting with him just minutes before, but Barb had killed him and that couldn't be allowed.

Keeley shorthanded the whole thing for her.

"Fram is a Greater Demon, and is going to be playing the part of Barb for a while, so that the police won't be looking for her. We need someone good for the cheerleading squad anyway." She left the slavery part off of things for the time being. It would come up, but the woman was crying, and it was distressing Zack. "Fram, why don't you go ahead and heal the damage from this now." It was a command, and happened instantly. Sherry just tried to regain her composure.

"I'm... sorry honey. I didn't mean to make a scene." She didn't explain to everyone though and moved back inside the house, which meant everyone else followed along with her. It at least wouldn't bother the neighbors as much, Keeley figured.

She started to offer refreshments, but Zack shook his head gently.

"No, thank you. I really need to get back home so I can sleep. Unless you need us to stay?" It was a gentle offer and one that got Sherry to consider it. Zack was younger than she was, but looked older than his years, so it seemed like a tempting offer. It wasn't meant that way, but he was a man, and they weren't exactly the most faithful creatures in the world all the time.

Lenore saw the set up, but didn't argue about it at all, which was strange, until Keeley realized it was all about her own perceived power. Her human boyfriend sleeping with a Greater Demon would be a direct challenge to her control over him. One that she literally couldn't beat. A human woman that was cute enough, and a little older might be a threat too, except for the fact that by Vampire rules that was totally allowable. It took the sting out of it and she thought that she might know a few tricks to keep a twenty-two year old man happy, that Sherry just didn't.

It was a complex enough arrangement that Keeley felt a bit sorry for Zack, but as long as he was happy, she decided to stay out of it all.

Instead she tried to change the topic.

"Do you have an event tomorrow?" It would explain why she was still up. So would waiting for her to get home, but Sherry had kind of accepted the fact that Keeley wasn't a regular girl, and wouldn't be out doing the drugs or off having
the sex
. Or more honestly, she might well be, but waiting up for her to get home wouldn't stop that, if it were her plan. Not that drugs would work on her anyway.

Her mother nodded, seeming more relaxed suddenly. Work was one of her favorite topics after all.

"Yes. I want some candles for it, but the set up is early in the day. I got a box of them, but they're the wrong color. I ordered red, but these are an off-plum and it won't really work right."

Zack just asked what she wanted, and said that he could have them to her by eight in the morning. It was kind of him, but after he borrowed a pen and some paper to write it down, he got everyone to leave with him, taking Harland through to his store in the Westwood mall without waiting for her to get Fram around. Then he came back, and rather sweetly, kissed her on the cheek. It was in front of Darla, her mom and Fram, so she got the hesitancy. Also, to his mind she was still too young for him. It would be an issue for a bit, she knew.

Then, using the same node she'd created earlier and used several times already, he vanished, going back to his shop.

The one way node to Finias' house in the mountains that shouldn't have gone anywhere else, or opened for him, without her doing the work.

Because
that
was normal.

For a Demon.

Chapter four

There was a bit of a problem then, since Keeley wasn't going to let Fram go and party until she needed him, since he'd probably find a way to get out of being captured like he had been if she gave him the time. Worse, if he was around too much, he'd pick up bits of information that could be used against her. There didn't seem to be a real way to safely deal with him, but, in the main, the guy was harmless. For a Greater Demon.

"OK. You're going to take over Barb's life for the rest of the year. She lived with some people that were pretending to be her parents. That means going to Raintree High, and working to take that over. You'll need a good cover story and probably have to influence some of the school staff to let you back onto the cheer team. You'll do that without harm to anyone, understand?" It wasn't that important, making it seem like the girl was back, but she had the resource and he was already Barb, so why not?

"I can do that. I'm not exactly wild about all this you know." The man didn't growl at her, but did glare a bit. It was honest enough, so she let it slide.

"I bet. Of course it was your own error that got you into this mess. We'll get you out of it, eventually, but for the next year or two, I expect you to pay for your mistake and not cause problems for me. That's the price of your freedom." It was pretty nice of her, Keeley thought.

So did Darla.

"I don't know sis, having a pet Greater Demon is a big deal. Think of all the things you can have him do. Empty his bank accounts, take all his slaves... Things to do with olive oil..." Whatever that last bit meant, it got Fram to pout a bit.

"Spoilsport." There was a dainty foot stomp and the brown trouser leg swished a bit when it happened, reminding her that the Demon would need to get to his new home that night. It was still there, she knew, having been watching it pretty closely for the last month and a half, just in case Xenses showed back up.

Nodding a bit, Keeley agreed, in general. She didn't have time to explore that kind of option though, and didn't really care at the moment, not needing to torture Fram for his attempt on her. After all, it had clearly been designed to fail. Whoever had done it hadn't even tried to warn him that she could take him like she had, even though it was common enough knowledge, after what she'd done to Ma'at. Xenses too.

Getting it all set up took hours, which meant that the new Barb would have to get herself around in the morning, since Keeley needed to get home and eat soon. They had visiting to do after all. She was blocking her hunger, but had Darla to remind her, since she was tagging along. Probably just in case Fram found some way to break the link and come for her. So far he didn't even seem to be struggling very hard. It was a bit surprising, to tell the truth.

As she sat at the kitchen table eating a pancake that was folded in half, drenched in syrup and covered with peanut butter in a thick layer, she tried to draw energy into her right hand and actually absorb it all. There was something that she'd noticed earlier, which made it far more efficient. That thing that Zack had done, re-circulating the energy inside herself, given her more time to try and grab it.

Her sister noticed too.

"Very nice. The integration is at about seventy percent. I want to see at least ninety though. Remember to use that store of energy first, when possible too. Keep this up and you'll be back to regular eating habits in no time." A pan clanked on the stove and the next pancake came off. "For one of us at least. I can't say I'm all that happy about you being discovered like that. My guess is that Xen, or one of his cronies, put the word out. Of course, they're the ones we were hiding you from, so I can't see it as that big of a deal. Now we know that they have the information. Less than perfect, but not impossible to handle. I have to say I liked the way you handled that Wen'pth earlier. Perfect for the setting, and you did it so casually it looked like you didn't even think she might be a threat. Not that she was. Most won't bother you now though. Just the loonies."