by P. S. Power
“Great honey! So, you should come down for… When’s the next holiday?”
It was May, so she had to think for a moment. They only did the big ones.
“The Fourth of July? I don’t know that I’ll have that off, but I can ask? Though if we’re doing that one, you and Karen should come here. They put on a super massive fireworks display every year. I’ve seen it a couple of times, and it’s worth the trip. Let me know ahead of time and I can get you a good hotel room.”
She could tell it probably wasn’t going to happen, but that was fine. She hadn’t called for any particular reason, just so she wouldn’t be the one forcing everyone else away. The truth was, she just didn’t have that much in common with her family, and never really had.
They made pleasant noises for a bit, then her father, who was halfway through his work day, had to actually go and see to running a police force. Apparently that actually took management, for some reason.
She had things to do too, she thought. If not, she could make some shit up.
The first one was checking on her enemies, which she hadn’t done yet, really.
Eve wasn’t all that sneaky about it, just going to Burgerville, which was only a few blocks from Troy’s house, to see if Maggie was there, running things. She was, and looked good doing it too. Healthy, and not at all like her left eye had been ripped out of her head telekinetically. Though from what Eve had heard, it really had been. She’d tried hard enough at the time to make it happen.
The place was busy, being that it had to be just after the lunch rush, and before people came in for dinner. It was bigger than she’d thought it would be inside, and clean. Not to the standards of Yoghurt World, but for a fast food place, it was freaking tidy, and smelled right. Like French fries, and meat patties, along with onion, instead of rancid fat, like so many of them did. Around the corner, by a full sized classic car that was a polished mustard color, apparently used as a decoration, sat Bey, reading a stack of papers. Like for work, or something. She’d never seen that happening before, but it made sense. They normally only had to go and lay down the law with a Bey smack down a few times a decade. He probably did normal Council stuff most of the rest of the time.
She slid into place, across from him, which got a smile to form on his lips.
“Miss Benson! You’ve been busy, I hear? Things are going well with your other work, aiding young Ginger? David, as well.” His tone was less warm for David, she noticed.
She could see that one too.
“Both are doing really well. Ginger will be up on her own during the day in about a week or so now. David is pretty much there. Nikki, is, by the way. She’s still a bit whiney. Ginger is less so, though. Not very fast, but she doesn’t complain about trying, so I’m giving her a gold star on that one. I just came to spy on Maggie, since it seems like it’s within the rules. You?”
There was a warm nod.
“I too, am here to spy a bit. It’s a pleasant place to catch up on things for the Council, as well. There is a small difficulty that might be forming in Australia. I should have you go and look into it for us? You have some time left, before you need to meet with the Greater Demon, The Bold?”
She nodded, trying to work out how to best get there. Just in case. It would take a boat, or swimming, she thought. Unless she could work out a way to get Zack to take her? That would be hard though, given that he didn’t really need her there for any of his own projects, that she knew of.
It was the only thing that would work though, unless she flew. There just wasn’t enough time otherwise.
“That might work, what’s the situation, late taxes?” That was the most common thing, she knew. People would get mad, or lazy, and decide not to pay. Normally that just got a few letters, like with the IRS. If it got serious, then things were ramped up a bit though.
A bit angrily, Bey shook his head.
“No, there is an effort, amongst some of our kind, to infiltrate the Human government there. In secret. This is counter to the current plans of the Council. The Vampires in question are to be required to either go public with who they are, or drop from their races. They’ve been told, but our missives have been ignored, thus far. It is a sad thing, but some of our kind do need to be reminded why the Council rules, from time to time. Normally with death.” He really didn’t seem all that happy about it, which was nice to see.
Eve really didn’t want to be around people that killed for fun, did she?
“Cool. Get me the names, and some pictures, if possible? I’ll see if I can set something up.”
The people walking up to her got her to go quiet. It took a few seconds for her to really get it though.
It was Maggie, who was smiling at her, and seemed genuinely pleased to see her, and not like she figured there was about to be an epic battle. One that would trash her shop, if it happened. Behind her, looking nervous, were three men. For half a second, she wondered if they were there to guard Maggie, even if they were just Humans and seemed a little wrong for the job, if that were the case. One of them, who had tan skin, was a bit big around the middle for instance, and the black guy was thin enough to secretly be hard under his baggy clothing, but moved a bit awkwardly. Like he’d recently been hurt.
The last one she looked at was the key to bringing it all together for her though. He had clear skin now, unlike the scars and pock marks that had been there the last time they’d met, but she got who it was, and by extension who the others probably were, shortly after that.
The Jerky Squad.
She grinned and waved to Maggie.
“A present? Just for me? I can do so many things with them!”
Bey gave her a strange look, but smiled up at Maggie, who was his wife, or had been once upon a time. They seemed to get along pretty well, now, so there was that, if nothing else.
Maggie explained.
“When Eve was in the glass prison, being unfairly humiliated in front of the whole world by the Council, three men went to her and made a point of abusing themselves over her case, to further compound the injury done. I made a point of finding them, and made sure they all had jobs here, to keep tabs on them until such time as we could deal with them. They were, and are, members of the role playing group I’m involved in, which makes them my people. I didn’t order them to do that to you though, I swear. Fram didn’t either. Though I understand that he did think it was funny, when he saw the video. They were just being… I don’t know. Adventuresome?” She glanced over at them, and then at Bey, who’d shifted only the tiniest bit in his seat, his face suddenly very close to enraged, for him.
Eve cleared her throat, then winked at the boys. Not that they were kids, but none of them was thirty either.
“Well, I’ll take an apology, and then, if you want, tell you what you need to do in order to have the curses that were placed on you broken? I mean, if you really mean it.”
Maggie looked at her, slightly aghast.
“Death curses?”
“Nope. Bad luck, problems with cars and relationships, that kind of thing. They probably wouldn’t have jobs right now if not for you. It will last for a few years. I didn’t do it though, Ben did. From your group? So you all get the idea, don’t screw with him, or any of his friends? It was a bit of an annoyance, plus and I mean this with love, and trust me it isn’t a deal breaker for every woman in the world or even me, but none of you are exactly porn star material, you know what I mean?” She placed her index fingers about five inches apart. “Big enough for real life, but that probably isn’t what you want to advertise on the web. If I hear of any of you doing anything like this again however, you will be. Probably in ways that are a lot more creative than you can imagine.” She could compel them to do that.
The darkest skinned one glared at her, the whites of his eyes showing.
“You made us lick that stuff up.”
She shook her head.
“Nope. I just told you all to clean it up. I would have gotten sponges, if it were me, b
ut you did what you thought you had to. That came from inside you though, not from me, directly. Now I could do that, if I wanted, so don’t think it isn’t an option, later. For now though you need to go to the candle shop at Westfield mall and talk to a man there, named Bob. Candles and More. Then tell him what you did, and he’ll tell you what you need to do in order to break the curse. It won’t be easy. It isn’t just about magic, you’ll have to prove you won’t do it again, or anything like it. Probably do some charity work too. That kind of thing.”
None of them looked very pleased, but Bey had gone neutral, which was nice to see. She’d been worried for a bit there. Bloody boys all over the inside of the nice clean place would be tacky.
“Now, you should all get back to work, before you get fired for being lazy.” Eve smiled at them, and waved them away. She could have killed them, or had them beaten, or even humiliated, but that wouldn’t really fix anything. She could see that now.
Once they were out of ear shot, Maggie moved to sit next to Bey, across from her.
Eve winked.
“Bob probably won’t make things too hard on them. Curse breaking is one of the services that the Mages offer for free. My guess is that they’re going to have to do some work though. To show they mean it, and that they aren’t going to do that again. Because I’m going to call Bob and let him know about that part.”
Bey sighed and shook his head.
“I do not know if it is enough, to keep spirit and heart together for the wronged party, but we do not need negative comments about us in the media at the moment. It is most wise, Eve, that you handle it this way. Now, Jasmine, tell us, if you are allowed, what plans do you have? There has been some question in the Council as to your current disposition?”
Maggie moved a bit closer to Bey, her shoulder touching his. They weren’t the same size, the woman being just fractionally larger than the man was. About the same height, so not huge that way by any means, but the lady had a bit of cushion to her form that wasn’t there with the killer of the Council. Saying she was even normal however would be a mistake, since in modern terms she was slightly thin for that, but her face was round at the chin, and along the line of the face. Smooth and clean, too.
Eve stared for a bit, and made herself smile, so that she wouldn’t lurch over the table and start fighting right then. It was hard to manage, since everything inside of her screamed to do it. To struggle and survive, by removing the threat before the Vampire across from her could set her on fire.
Instead she sat there, not moving much, smiling like a creepy puppet from a movie, ready to strike down a person that she’d once thought might be a friend. One she thought might actually still be, as fucked up as that was.
Maggie smiled back, and did a better job of it, her brown eyes warm and inviting.
“I don’t have much choice at the moment. I rather sent them a message they couldn’t ignore, didn’t I? Telling them that I was taking over from them. I do notice that they haven’t stepped down yet? That’s rather disappointing. I’ll probably end up having to fight them all, one by one. I have orders, and I can’t exactly go against them. That was… Incredibly foolish of me. I simply hadn’t even considered that Marcus was more than he seemed. Many of the others in the game seemed to be roughly the same kind of being. I honestly thought he simply liked me. Perhaps wanted to date? I was seeing Fred, back then, but it felt harmless enough, when he awkwardly asked if I’d go to coffee with him. I agreed to a deal though, a bet that I lost. Not one that should have held someone like me, but he managed to grab me anyway.” It came out all at once, with a sense of resignation underneath the words, rather than panic.
Like she knew that, no matter what else took place, she was going to die.
Eve could see that. Even if she got her out from under the Greater Demon that had taken her life, and will, from her, the Council might not be so forgiving. It was so rare to break free from that kind of being that they might not believe it had happened, for one thing. Everything she knew about it came from people that had done it though, so there was that. If you killed the Demon, even if they came back, the line would be broken. That seemed like a pretty heavy thing to ask of Fram though, didn’t it? Sitting there, looking at the slightly nerdy seeming fast food manager, in her white shirt with her gold name tag, Eve didn’t feel as much like killing her as she had before.
It would come back, that feeling.
The next time she saw a flame, or felt something burning her. Probably for a long time, since having your limbs singed off could do that to a girl. At this single moment in time though, Eve really didn’t feel anything all that intense toward Maggie. A bit sorry for her, being trapped like she was. That was it.
She didn’t make any offers to help her this time though. She’d either pull that one off, or it wouldn’t be happening. They had a plan in place, but Fram would most likely try to use that to his personal benefit. Really, that was probably the only way it was going to work out, in the end. She couldn’t just grab him, and snuff his life out.
It was probably true that it simply wouldn’t work, and if she tried it, the person dying would be her. He was a Greater Demon, after all. Even if she managed it, and he was brought back, either by some trick of his, or the others, she’d be dead, she didn’t doubt. It might end up being the case, even if she did everything perfectly. The thing there was that Eve simply didn’t feel like bowing down to him.
That was suicidal, but there it was. If it meant not having the life she could have, but also not being a slave to fear, then so be it. There were worse things than death. Living in constant fear was one of them, at least to her mind.
Bey reached over and patted Maggie’s arm, lovingly. It was a slow and gentle thing, that even on the friendly being seemed different. Like an old and familiar move that had taken place a million times, but so long ago the move had developed hitches and rust along the edges. Still, it fit, even in that moment.
“Do not worry about the others, love. I will discuss this with them, and they will not seek to harm you over it.” The way he said it spoke of him thinking they were a group of reasonable people or something, rather than the idea that he’d kill them all, one by one, if they didn’t agree.
Eve snorted a bit, and shook her head.
“That might be a hard sell with some of them. Like Gene? That kid has major problems.” She didn’t guard the words, just speaking then without much thought, and felt confused when both of the others smiled at her.
Bey even covered his mouth with a hand, so as to not offend her by flashing his teeth.
“Perhaps, if the discussion was about you, dear. He does seem most negative in that regard. It is, as I have mentioned, only that he fears you, not understanding that your true power is that you seek to act in balance and wisdom, in all things. He, so far, sees only the outer trappings, and knows that if you sought his removal, he would fail. Not all of the Council has that issue, but it is his true ability, to know when he is overmatched. Still, The Burning One will not be a problem in this case. Jasmine is his maker. In many ways, he is the child of both of us. We saved him from certain death, by transforming him, and then taught him for the better part of a century.” Bey took the fast food manager’s hand, gently.
Because, of course, it made sense, didn’t it?
Then again, the older Vampires got, the closer the lines would be, in the end. That Gene would have similar powers to Maggie made some sense, if he was her child. That was the most common thing to happen, wasn’t it? You got the powers of your line, the vast majority of the time. Like how she had Bey’s speed. He was the weird one there, having that power instead of the ability to make fire.
Changing the topic, she shook her head, wrapped the salt shaker with lines of life energy and pulled it to her, slowly. She could do a lot more than that now, but Maggie understood what she was getting at, making leaps that Bey didn’t seem to get yet.
“Indeed, Eve. That power, once you have mastered it, and made it into
a thing that is unique, will likely pass to your own progeny. The mother of your own line. As I am, and as my husband, The Bey, is. I know that I was most surprised when my eye ripped out. Not that I blame you, given my entrance before that. I… Had orders to do it that way. Those poor Human women in the nail shop… I hear that all the Trollienkeine survived, with only minor injury? I wouldn’t have war with them over me, too, if I can help it.”
She nodded, the subject skipping around too much for her to think she was going to collect a lot of useful information.
“A few were injured, and I don’t know how they’ll take to the idea that you couldn’t help yourself. They seem pretty big on the idea of personal sacrifice, and might wonder how you managed to let Fram control you in the first place, without ending your own life to stop him.”
Maggie gave her a look then, that was bleak and sad.
“I have orders not to. I can’t even struggle against him. Worse, the Human authorities have been coming around, investigating the damage. DHS, not just the local police. Fram hasn’t allowed me to run, and short of killing the agents until they stop coming, I fear I don’t know what to do. It was an act of terror. The Demon meant it as such, to further his plans. I…” She went silent, like her mouth suddenly wouldn’t produce any sound.
There was a quality to it that told Eve a lot. She was trying to tell them something, about what Fram had planned, but wasn’t allowed. It was what losing your soul, your entire being, to a Greater Demon really meant. If you were a slave to one, and they wanted to eat your arm, you’d hear the order, hold out your hand and wait. You just didn’t have a choice, and had to do what they wanted.
It was why Keeley was considered so dangerous, even by her own kind. She could take other Greater Demons as slaves, and make them kill themselves, or walk into a trap and just sit there, not struggling. She’d never done it, but it was possible that she could take a group of them and use them as weapons against other people or groups, too.
