by P. S. Power
“So, how do you feel?” Darla asked as she changed clothes quickly. “A lot of the newer demons feel a little unsettled after meeting their first ancient demons. Tarsus is one of the old ones too. You probably caught the color differences?”
Keeley nodded, how did she feel? A bit like she was in shock.
“Afraid mainly?” She decided to confide. “Tarsus... Um, Darla... He didn't threaten me, because he doesn't think I'm going to make it at all. No reason to bother. Too physically weak and immature for all the information I now hold. He only threatens the really strong ones, like you, so you don't get above yourself too soon.”
Darla huffed and shook her head.
“Don't buy it. Most of the info you just got is true, but he leaves out a lot about himself and it wouldn't surprise me if he did that bit of mental sabotage on purpose, because you're so smart. Moot point though, he's wrong about who survives just as often as anyone else. We make up rules and some are right, but most of the time, when it comes to what works as a demon, each of the survivors is different.”
Dressed and ready, Keeley back in her own jeans and a t-shirt, both a little baggier than they had been the day before she thought, Darla drove her home.
“Sorry to just dump you like this, but really, odds are that Balthias won't be coming for you at all. His beef is with me, so I'll just keep it that way. He can't do much to me directly. Or you, for that matter. Yes, he could hit you with a car, and that wouldn't feel good, but you'd probably survive it. I do wish your strength would kick in, but for now just remember, he can't actually touch you himself, he'd have to use an object to damage you. So if he comes, just run away.”
“If he can't touch me, why should I run? To prevent car related blugeonings? I mean, that sounds like a more than good enough reason, I can't imagine that feeling good, but... you say he physically can't touch me?”
“Yep. Remember when he backed off the other night? Ghosts, lesser demons, most tulpas, they can't make contact with you, with any of us. But you run... because I don't want you to endanger the mortals around you if you get attacked. You'll want him to follow you and of course to meet up with me fairly quickly, since enough damage will kill you and he can certainly do it if he tries.”
“Ah. Duh, I should have realized that. OK. So I go home and...” Do what? Her homework? She was pretty much done but that didn't mean she couldn't come up with an extra credit piece or something. Or work out the advertising campaign for the homecoming game and dance.
They called first, because Darla didn't want to arrive unannounced, but both the Thomson adults waited for them when they got in. Keeley's dad managed to not drool all over her new friend, though he was clearly way too interested in her for comfort, Keeley understood now. Eeek. The new memories in her head had a lot more information about how men thought than she really wanted to know. It would be helpful, but that didn't mean she wanted to know that about her father, did she?
“Girls!” Sherry said happily when they got in, handing out hugs easily.
“We didn't expect Keeley back until later, tomorrow even... is everything alright?”
Darla sighed and shook her head.
“Not really, some... person, probably a drunk driver, just crashed a stolen car into my house. Caved in one of the walls. I mean, who does that? The crew is coming to fix it tomorrow, but I'm in a hotel for the next week or so, unless the crew can manage to fix it a lot faster than I think. Not much of a fun weekend that way, so... here we are.”
They talked about the “crash”, the damage and how “scared” the girls were. Keeley really was a bit, but that mainly had to do with the fact that as a demon, a young one, a lot of beings would probably try to kill her on sight. Including other demons, which was one reason Finias was sent out. He didn't particularly like to kill and when a new demon popped into everyone's awareness he'd know about it. So he could send her a warning. Or Darla. So far only a few people knew about Keeley at all. The longer they could keep it that way the better her odds of survival were.
When Darla left Keeley started working on her extra credit projects and then the poster campaign for the dance. She had the layout for three different ones ready to go by the next day, not sleeping at all. It wasn't that she was nervous really, Darla was right that no one would be looking for her yet, especially at home. It was just...
Everything.
She was a demon? Seriously? And now, as soon as anyone found out, they'd kill her. How unfair was that? She'd found out that she wasn't just a regular weirdo or freak and maybe virtually immortal and then, bam, she had to put up with the fact that she may not even make it a few more years? Possibly not even days if she got sloppy?
The only good thing about the whole deal was that neither of her parents had noticed that she wasn't wearing her glasses at all. That was cool. Eventually they'd notice, and she still didn't know what to tell them. Hopefully she could confer with Darla about it first and they could come up with some trick or lie or something.
Sunday was boring for her, and she felt half exhausted by six in the evening when the doorbell rang. No one else was home so she approached the whole thing carefully, wondering who would be visiting.
Darla stood outside, waving as she looked through the peep hole. Happily.
The demon swept in rapidly when the door opened and grabbed Keeley up into a sudden hug.
“Good. I was worried for a second. Roy called, he said that there have been a few attacks, mainly teenagers from our school. Balthias trying to strike at my people most likely. Just scaring them so far, roughing a few up. Reports of a man in a “demon mask” though. I came here first, obviously. You look exhausted.”
She spoke, almost manic. Like she'd mainlined something that probably wouldn't be legal. After a second without waiting she nodded.
“Right, you don't know you don't need sleep yet. Ah... Here... try to remember what it felt like the last time you were really hyper and awake, once you have it, just focus on that feeling for a minute.”
Keeley called up the memory of the day before, after she'd gotten up and then isolated what that was really like. A moment later it was like something clicked in her head. A feeling of not being tired at all just washed over her all at once.
“Oh, hey, that's cool!” She felt totally awake. Completely.
“Good. I wasn't sure you could do it yet. It probably means that your mental talents are a good bit stronger than I thought. You should be able to evoke anything now, at least inside of yourself. So you don't need to sleep if you don't want to, you can run and keep going back to a fresh and relaxed feeling and your body will follow, not feel fear, that kind of thing. You might be able to increase strength that way too. Just remember to use the skill and practice it as often as possible.” She swept in and looked around suspiciously, then sat on the brown sofa.
“I need to go and check on the others. But you come first. Oh, by the way, remember that. Not that you come first, but when you're dealing with anyone, always make them feel like they do. It will make them feel better about you. In this case I really did check on you first though. Of course, I'd say that even if I didn't.” This got followed by a grin and then she stood.
“Tomorrow morning? I'll pick you up at six-fifteen? You'll need time to get dressed. Be ready. It shouldn't be hard now, but if you decide to sleep through the boring part of things, set an alarm.”
Then the girl whisked out of the house rapidly. Moving a good bit faster than a person walking really should have been able too. Not some kind of blurring super speed, but if there was a world speed walking championship, Darla could have easily won.
Keeley didn't sleep that night, practicing instead. First making herself feel awake, then kind of hyper, moving from that into very relaxed, sleepy, angry, loving and even afraid. She remembered the terror of the lesser demon and then shut it down, even as her body shook and trembled. It was cool. She pulled the treadmill out back, behind the house and plugged it in to an extension cord. It was still
dark out, about four in the morning when she started, turning the thing up on high and running, constantly going back to feeling like she was just starting.
That didn't stop her from sweating, and her feet hurt a little...
Then she tried undoing that, the swelling and pain there.
It worked. It was slower than just feeling awake, or changing her mood, but after a minute there was no more pain as she moved, running the whole time. She nearly fell off when she looked over to see her mom standing in the door at the back of the house, the pale light coming from inside meaning that she hadn't even turned the light on. Laughing a bit she scrambled, making sure she didn't fly off the back.
“Now this is a first. I thought you hated exercise?”
Sherry was trim and loved to work out, but Keeley had always kind of avoided the whole process. She didn't like the feeling of sweat on her skin, but thinking about it for a moment she noticed she could make herself not mind that too. She smiled, a thrill of triumph sweeping through her. It may not be lifting a car, but it was a power.
“Well, I figure that If I'm going to be hanging around with half the cheerleading squad I better make an effort or I'll start feeling like a cow. Don't worry, I'm not taking up marathon running as a hobby yet. I'll let you know if I do.
“Say... mom...” Keeley nearly asked about “Carlos” but realized that it was a moot point.
It had happened and she knew it for a fact. Pushing Sherry on it would be mean. It wasn't like it could be undone now.
“Yes?”
Keeley scrambled mentally for a second, “um, how many corsages do you think you can really do for the dance? We might have a lot coming in.”
“Huh? That's real? I thought your friends were just talking.” Sherry looked thoughtful in the dim light as Keeley kept padding along.
“If I can know ten days before hand, I can probably do more than a school the size of Raintree has need of.”
“OK, I'll pass that along. It may all just be chatter, but you know, be ready just in case?”
Sherry said she would be and actually had breakfast on the table when Darla knocked on the door, which created a small log jam as they tried to get everything done and not insult Sherry and Charles by skipping breakfast. Keeley found that it was easy to not feel hungry, which was nice, but Darla stared at her as they hurried to get her dressed.
“Crud Keels!” She exclaimed, staring at her naked back, grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her front, including her breasts which were even smaller now than before.
“Eat. What the heck have you been doing? Magic? You really shouldn't without me for a bit. I mean you have the information to do a few things, more than a few, but there are some tricks and...”
“Oh, no, I... just what you said, practicing different things, like staying awake and that running thing you mentioned.”
Her mentor gave her a look that didn't quite seem to say she was a nut.
“Fine then. I'm proud of you for being so diligent, but if you don't eat I'll come and sit on you while force feeding you lard. You lost an extra size. I brought fours for you and now we have to hide the fact that you're as skinny as you are. Anymore and people will be thinking anorexia. Some already will be. Well, we'll stop for food on the way to school. I could eat a bit more myself.”
Darla's last twenty-four hours seemed more interesting, or at least busy, than Keeley's, involving a chase that went all over town, following a trail of vandalism and stolen cars. Another of which had been dropped on her house.
“I fixed that one and didn't call the police, but this is really getting annoying. People are starting to notice and the attacks are escalating. It started out with things so minor no one reported it, but two teenagers have been put in the hospital, attacked from behind. All I know is that the girls and Gary are alright. It could be anyone else though.”
They had to eat quickly, going to a donut shop and buying two dozen donuts, since, Darla assured her, people would notice if two cheerleaders went to a fast food place and got that kind of food.
“I'm not a cheerleader.” Keeley said firmly.
Darla raised an eyebrow.
“Do you really think anyone would call you on it if you put on a uniform? Riding with me, people will just assume you are. The point is, we have to keep to low profile things for a bit. So no magic in public and try to keep anything you do from being too flashy. Low key is good. Don't advertise you're the new demon in town.”
Keeley could get behind that, not overly wanting to die, so she nodded as they stuffed their faces before pulling into the school parking lot. She'd made her way through the first box by herself, amazingly, before the small crowd descended on them.
It was their “gang”, Gary, Hally and Eve, plus a few people that she just barely recognized. Gary ran up and grabbed Darla into a hug, crying. Hard.
“They killed her...”
Since their friends were all there and Maria Gonzales was visible across the parking lot, the only other person Keeley knew at all from school, clunky head gear on to hold her front teeth in place still, she was at a loss. She stopped eating though and killed her hunger, which was handy she decided. Then she tried to remember how bad she'd felt when her pet hamster, Fluffers, had died three years before. She needed to seem properly worried and upset or it would seem out of place.
“Marissa. They, someone, killed her...”
Keeley had no clue who that was, but Darla started crying, so she did the same. Fat tears flowing almost instantly as the shock of the situation hit her. No matter who Marissa was, it was obviously important to her friends. That made it important.
“I... who?” Darla said, as if she didn't know the real answer.
“We don't know. Probably some guys from Wilson. Who else would kill our mascot? They butchered her... It's...”
Ah. Keeley got it. The mascot. A potbellied pig that was kept in the greenhouse out back. It was a funny idea, since their school was actually the cougars, but apparently no one thought having a large cat on campus was a good idea. So they got Marissa. She was cute. Or she had been. That someone would kill her really was a crime. Darla still cried and now Keeley cried for Marissa for real. It wasn't fair. Thank goodness Marissa hadn't been a human, but still...
She took a deep breath.
“Right. Well, we need to do something about this. First, we don't know it was Wilson high that did it, so let's not place blame yet, are the police coming?” No one knew, so Keeley led them all to the school office to check on that.
It was important to keep busy and if they didn't want a murder in retaliation they needed to show it wasn't their homecoming rival.
That could get messy after all.
Darla took her by the hand to “pay their respects” to the mess that used to be the school mascot, a bloody and eviscerated corpse that was sliced to right down the middle, as if someone had planned on eating her. There were no obvious footprints, but no hoof prints either.
And she'd been sliced open. With a knife. The edges were clean, which meant something sharp had been used and the entrails pulled out and left in place, the legs all cut off and the throat cut.
“Not smashed flat?” Keeley whispered to Darla, knowing that the others might hear, but not wanting to wait.
“No. I see your meaning, of course.” The blond demon whispered back.
This wasn't the work of the lesser demon Balthias at all. Someone else had done this... horror. If it was the students of Wilson high, then the police needed to find them for real, because it would take a real sicko to pull this off. A budding psychopath at least. It was gruesome. More than once Keeley had to remind herself to feel steady and like she wasn't going to throw up.
Hally had followed them in and didn't make it, having to run to the hall. Embarrassing, but if anyone was going to blame her for it they weren't worth considering as a person anymore. Keeley followed the red-head and held her hair out of the way as she tossed her cookies into a garbage can lined with a
clear plastic bag.
“It's alright, it's OK.” She murmured to the girl softly, patting her on the back gently.
“Yeah Hally, this is bad, but...” The words didn't finish coming out of Quince's mouth. Instead he looked back at the greenhouse angrily.
“But, yeah.” He patted the girl on the back too, his hand brushing Keeley's just slightly.
Just enough to transfer a bit of information.
Terrifying information.
Quince, the school's football team captain, student at Raintree for three years, “D” student, and guy with a slightly goofy grin, wasn't what he seemed at all. Definitely not human and most certainly not nice and kind. He was a murderer, a killer.
A real one, of people and other things, but most recently he'd killed Marissa. Using her entrails to divine the future. Ick.
