by P. S. Power
The words got a laugh from the being. One that seemed heartfelt.
“No, no… Zachery isn’t a Greater Demon, Miss Thomson. He never was. He, more than any of your kind, never accepted that title, choosing to be a good person as well as he could and still survive. Even under the pressure of the threat of total destruction, his good nature always won out. You, as you have spoken, are an evil being. Without controls and discipline you will always go back to that state. Zack Hartley will always tend to become better that way. Still, your fight is not worth less for being hard. If anything, it’s worth more. Hold to that, as best you may. I have faith in you, Keeley Thomson. Above nearly all of your kind. Please know that I’m with you.”
She nodded. It was the current plan.
Then, nodding, the man left, waving affably as he did. Saying something at the door, which was closed as she blinked, fighting to recall what had just taken place. Whatever it was escaped her mind rapidly, for the most part.
Which got her to roll her eyes. Feeling annoyed.
After all, it meant that someone was messing with things again and even if she couldn’t understand or recall it, in her life that meant Angels were screwing with her again. A thing she had to note, right then, on the list in her head, before even that idea ran away.
Pulling the sheet of space in her head around, she noticed that there were three new entries on it, since the last time she’d bothered to check the thing at all. Each marked with an “M”, for Michael. She quickly added a time and date for the moment, with another single letter… Then put the page away, just as the whole event faded from her thoughts, totally.
“What was I doing?” She knew that one, since it was getting ready to brood over the fact that Ravi, her new boyfriend, hadn’t called her yet. The jerk. She smiled at the idea, knowing he really wasn’t like that in particular.
Just as she thought that, her cell phone rang. It was a little after seven and she was still dressed for work, which was odd, since her plans had been showering and changing as soon as she walked into the room. Instead she’d clearly made herself some soda, which was already finished. Two small glasses of it, instead of one large. She had to set the tumblers down on an end table before she could pull her phone out.
“Keeley here, how are you doing this evening?” She made her voice chipper sounding. After all, anyone calling her on her cell was probably a friend of hers. That or really wanted to sell her a time share. Either way, there was no reason to be mean to them.
“Hey! This is Ravi… Um… I’m just getting off of work. I was going to come over and surprise you, then realized that might be out of place… Do you want to do something?” There were nerves in his voice.
A natural thing, really. After all, even she’d been feeling that way a moment before, thinking he was going to skip out on her. Even after having wonderfully close sex that kind of thing was pretty common after all. Sure, she was awesome and could look like almost anyone in the world, which had to be interesting if the man had an imagination at all, which this one clearly did… Still, that could also be scary for a guy. She wasn’t just out of his league as far as looks went, she was out of almost everyone’s league that way.
Instead of dwelling on her raw emotional state, even as she let herself feel everything as it came, Keeley grinned.
“Nifty. We could go and meet some friends of mine? I was thinking of heading over to the mall. Mainly to chat with Zack. You’ll like him, I think.”
There was silence for a moment, then a clearing of the throat.
“Um… Yeah. Sure? I guess going and meeting one of your guy friends makes perfect sense for our second date.” There was a slightly rueful tone to the words.
A thing that got her to smile.
“I know. It sounds insane and would be, if you were insecure or less than you are. Still, there are other people there for you to meet up with and besides, Zack is my nephew. That really shouldn’t be all too threatening to you. It’s one of those interesting things, where he’s actually older than I am. My dead brother’s kid.”
After a tense moment, Ravi took a deep breath.
“I didn't know about that. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Don’t be. After all, when Xenses The Defiler left this world, it became a better place.” That was why she, Zack and Darla had killed him. Many times in a row, bringing him back to do it over again, using a magical time machine. It was one of her happier memories, to be honest. Thinking about it brought the scene back to mind.
The sound of Xenses’ spine breaking. The feel of his blood on her hands, burning slightly, as the monster wetly gasped. Only to be brought back while each of the others took a turn. Doing it until they were each tired enough that mistakes were going to be made that might allow an escape. Then they’d left him dead ensuring that no one would ever easily bring him back.
It still wasn’t impossible, of course.
Zack could have gotten his father from the time stream, if he wanted. Really, Keeley was nearly certain she could do that kind of thing now on her own. Darla would be able to make a more efficient time machine for the task as well, she didn't doubt.
None of them were going to do that. The others of her kind weren’t planning to do it either, as far as she knew.
“Oh? That sounds messed up. Still, taking me to meet your family? Is that a thing? I mean, do I need to get my one nice shirt on again, or is this like… Just hanging out and playing video games with your little nephew? I could get some candy for him. I’m still at work. Um…”
The man didn't have a car or anything, so would need to be picked up. That or he was walking four or five miles to her house.
“I’ll be there in… Call it two minutes? If that works for you. We probably shouldn’t take food yet. Not that Zack will mind, but it’s kind of a thing in the old culture. You fed Greater Demons to show you had power over them. It’s considered a huge insult. You might not be ready to fight him, yet, if he decided to take offense. Not that he would, of course. It’s just a good idea to be careful that way for the time being. Besides, he’ll be at work. Like I said, he’s older than I am.”
“Right. You did say that. I’ll just cool it on the jealousy thing then. Not that I’m really like that, most of the time. You know, this is new though and kind of weird. I mean, who takes you to meet another guy on the second date? I’ll be out front. Waiting. Trying not to feel like an idiot after saying all of this.”
There was no hesitation of note to his words. Almost as if they were pre-planned. Except that they weren’t and as dark as her life normally was, she was pretty certain that her new boyfriend wasn’t a shape shifter pretending to be him just to get to her. Not that it couldn’t happen.
To that end she giggled a bit. Pretending that they had banter like that going on all the time. Really, it wasn’t that far off. Even on their first meeting he’d actually done all right that way, considering they were in the rain, in a dark alley. At mid-night. Most people wouldn’t have managed as well as he had, really. Not the Human ones. Which would get her to be cautious with the man, when they met, in a few minutes. After all, for a short period of time she really could be fooled, by the right kind of person.
That someone might actually set her up that way was still well within the realm of what was possible. If that had happened and someone had tricked her, or worse, hurt Ravi to get to her, taking his place… Then they were going to die. In horrible pain. Even if it meant she could never claim to be a good person again, it would be done. Threatening any of her people would have that effect on her.
It was, she had to think, a racial trait. Any of her people would, if they weren’t using magic to control for it, act in the same fashion.
A thing that she’d known for a long time now. It seemed a bit smoother, now that she wasn’t buffering her mind with magic all the time. A bit less like protecting property and more like she was just responsible for her people.
Before heading off to meet up with Ravi, she decided
to change. There was no time for a shower, though she wasn’t going to smell bad or anything. She’d showered earlier in the day and frankly wouldn’t develop body odor like a Human being would anyway. It was just too hard for anything to live on her for all that long. Some tenacious bacteria could pull it off, but her system fought so hard against any perceived invader that it was impossible for anything to ever really gain a foothold.
Still, she tidied up quickly, made sure her breath was minty fresh and teeth clean, after taking a new shape. The blonde form from the day before, except five inches taller. Otherwise the jeans she wanted to wear weren’t really going to fit. She kept her frame the same otherwise, meaning she was thin and too light for her new height. Skinny, really. Her shirt showed that off to good effect, since it was form fitting for her old body type. There was a bit of room left in the chest area of the tight aquamarine colored shirt. Rather than be humble and ruin the look, she just made her breasts grow a bit.
Then, looking different than her original face, the one that she’d had most of her life, while being too similar in body type, she headed out at a jog, not wanting to be too late to get her boyfriend from work.
Normally she would have taken one of her cars. Probably beaten up looking little Misty, since she looked young enough to own a beater still, and had dressed down so that she wouldn’t seem out of place with her date. Instead she opened a direct portal and stepped through, not fifteen feet from Ravi, who was facing the other direction, looking down the road for her to drive up. Like a normal person would be doing.
As if that made any sense.
“Hello!” Her voice got him to turn suddenly, smiling as he saw her there. He was in a t-shirt and black jeans, with a bag that probably had his work clothing in it. A backpack that reminded her of the one that she used to carry to school, back when she was a simple nerd girl with pretensions of one day being noticed in the hallway of her new school.
Before she’d met up with Darla Gibson and found out that the world was a bit different than she’d been told about prior to that point.
Taken aback or not by her sudden arrival, the guy, her guy now, moved in and both hugged and kissed her. The second part was done well enough, considering they were standing in public, outside his workplace. There would be rules against that kind of thing, if it went on too long. Not that Keeley had worked at anyplace similar in her life.
Still, she knew enough to get that if she started blowing him on the edge of the parking lot, he’d be getting fired the next day. Not that her plans were running toward that. He needed to keep his job until he moved into the next one. Both of his positions, really. If his life changed too fast, people would notice and having him tossed out of his brother’s house for doing drugs, especially when he wasn’t, would lead to hard feelings between them. Given she’d probably have to put him up or help him find a new place if that happened was a consideration as well.
She could have offered to do that right then, but it was too soon. No one sane would trust an offer like that. Especially once it hit him that she might be manipulating him into place, for some reason. Separating him from his family in order to trap him as her own, for instance. Which was the plan. It simply wasn’t one that she wanted anyone else to know about. Really, she just wanted a normal relationship. One where they liked each other and wanted to be around for the other person.
Which suddenly sounded like a lot to ask of anyone. Thoughts of Hally came to mind and she held her new man close to her. Not letting go until she schooled her face. Not letting sadness show through. Having a new puppy helped take the sting out of losing the last one, but it didn't mean she wasn’t going to miss her old friend.
This time the idea didn’t even leave her feeling like hunting anyone down and killing them. That would probably stay away, right until she got word of Hally getting married to some accountant from Lincoln Arizona. Though… That would really be fine. She deserved to be happy. Meaning that the only thing Keeley wasn’t going to put up with would be her dating or showing up with another ex-demon.
Except Zack. He didn't really count for that. If Hally started going out with Fram, then they were both going to die for it.
She smiled, even knowing that she more or less meant it. After all, the odds of that happening were only about ten percent. At least for the woman dating another ex-Greater Demon. Less than that, if they were counting it only if Hally knew about it and got to make the decision on her own, without being coerced or magically compelled.
The trick there was that her kind could be a bunch of dill holes and pretending otherwise wouldn’t help anyone. For instance, she was literally hugging her new guy, the one that she’d chosen to be with, on her own, and was busy thinking about her ex. That was rude, and possibly a good way to start a fight, if Ravi found out about it. The man wasn’t a bad sort at all, but there had to be limits in life and she was constantly going to be pushing a lot of his for a while, even if they hit it off.
“We should go. I think… We might want to come in at Yoghurt World. The node center will be busy or can be, this time of day. That’s also where the new bridge travel service is located. You’ve heard of that?”
Holding her hand, a thing that she didn't shrug off, since normal people did things like that, they started to walk away, even though she was more than willing to vanish right in front of the rather surly seeming shopping crowd that was there at seven-twenty at night. Most wouldn’t even look up to notice anything, even with the veil gone from their minds. They simply didn't expect to see people step through a hole in space, so simply wouldn’t. She would have noticed something like that, but she bothered to look up from her phone on occasion and wasn’t too busy thinking about what else was going on in her life to pay attention to possible threats.
She walked anyway, since Ravi was clearly trying to use good line walking protocol and not have her build rifts on the sidewalk in front of his workplace. The side of the building would be good enough, or the edge of the parking lot.
Tugging his hand at the end of the pavement, by the gas station Safeway had there, after dodging a few cars, she smiled. It still took a use of power, a lot of focus and about five seconds to fold space correctly, linking to the far side of the node in Washington state like she wanted to do.
“On three, step and hop!”
Which had her halfway through the last word when they stepped through, into the back of the store. An ice cream shop that attempted to rescue frozen yogurt, using premium ingredients and a lot of skill to overcome the fact that the product idea simply wasn’t the best one possible. The best frozen dairy product already existed and was called ice cream.
Yoghurt World used the real deal, culturing their own milk to form their base. They also cheated, adding in a bit of baking soda to the mix, in order to neutralized the acid in it, taking away most of the sour flavor that people normally expected from the substandard frozen yogurt. It would have still been both easier and better to go with old fashioned ice cream.
Not that what they had there was horrible. In fact, it was probably close to the best frozen yogurt to have ever exist. It was also what they’d chosen to sell, back in the eighties when the Vampire Council had originally picked what kind of store to have in their mall locations. Since it didn't matter if the stores actually made money, it hadn’t been a horrible idea. It gave them something that looked real and wasn’t too hard to learn to do.
They were in the back of the store, which had a brick floor, a new sofa and a love seat which matched, as well as several soft lazy boy style recliners. All in the same brown color, making them seem like a matching set, even if they clearly weren’t. The style was different for each of the things, though close enough that no one that used the place would have a real reason to whine about it.
She called out, keeping her voice pleasant, leading Ravi by the hand, since they were together. Plus, if any of the Vampires saw them together, they needed to know that they’d have to fight Ravi if they wanted to sample her
tasty blood. That’s how they’d see it, until they learned who she was. He was bigger and honestly meaner looking. Not that it wasn’t a close thing. The truth was they probably both seemed like fluffy kittens, at the moment.
“Hello! It’s Keeley and Ravi.” She used both names, since there were two people. Plus, the truth was, a lot of beings would just assume that you belonged someplace if they had your name, first thing. Robbers didn’t come in screaming about who they were like that. Neither did assassins. Not most of them.
When she got to the front, things were interesting in the shop. Mainly in that Troy Lopez was sitting in a booth, across from Barbara the Vampire, who was next to Zack. Behind the counter, cleaning fairly merrily, was a younger man, who was wearing green corduroy mom jeans, had lanky dark brown hair and a stuffed bra on under his shirt. The nametag said Karen on it, which clearly wasn’t a mistake.
Karen also had an apron on, making her an employee there. One that was currently alive, even if it was the Vampire Embassy for the area.
Zack looked over, barely glancing at her, then staring a bit at Ravi. Both of them were hit with a telepathic scan that showed more power that way than Keeley would have figured Zack was good for, without using a lot more magic in the attempt to get at their information. It tingled, almost as much as if he’d been touching her.
Sure, she could have done the same to him, but hadn’t. Really, a bit belatedly, she read Ravi, then did the same with everyone else in the room, in case Zack was responding to some kind of threat that she wasn’t getting yet. It was his territory, or at least it had used to be. He knew it better than she did. Even if she’d grown up not too far from there, for the Human portion of her early life. Which wasn’t as unusual as it might have been. Finias had placed Zack there, knowing that his daughter was growing up within a few miles of that location. Most likely because her being there, even if she didn't know the man at all, having thought at the time that her father was Charles Thomson, it gave Finias a good reason to come into the area to check on things without setting off alarms for most of the other Greater Demons.
