The demon didn’t jump though it was clear she was running her foot up his leg, under the table.
“Perhaps I will? You’ll contact me with the specifics when you have them, Officer? I can’t promise at the moment, since other factors are at play, but tentatively, I have to say that I give my support to the idea. Now, if it isn’t out of turn, I need to get to the reason I came. Then eat enough to have me labeled a glutton. It shouldn’t take long.”
The food started coming out then. It was all for Ann and Gregor, but looked professionally made. Eve seemed pleased with how it turned out. That was interesting, since he didn’t keep food there, not being able to eat it or having friends over often enough for it to be needed. The little table was totally loaded after a few moments.
Eve settled next to him, smiling.
“They’ll pay for it. I have some extra, since Ann mentioned wanting to stay for a few days. I didn't know that you two were that cozy?” The question was a real enough one.
Also, just a little catty.
Interestingly, Ann, who was loading a plate full of succulent looking meats and sauces, explained in a very rational tone.
“Oh, you know. We’ve been seeing each other, off and on for about fourteen years. It isn’t anything that serious, but we hook up. It’s a good thing to keep up with. Having friends takes work. I just recently, a few days ago, got The Technician to allow me the right to visit him here. Now I can come and go without issue, as long as I allow him to do his work in a timely fashion.” She ate several bites, then winked at Troy. “Hmm. This is great, Eve. Also, Troy, Alison wants me to remind you about working on your magic. There will be tests. Plural. Be ready for that, or she’ll probably kill you. I think the first thing she plans is on mental defenses, so work that out in the next few days. That you were taken in so easily by that mage woman earlier is embarrassing. You weren’t even banging her identical sister. Not that it would be a good excuse. It would be something though. You had everything you needed, right there, and nope… You whipped out Mr. Happy and went to town on the neighbor’s tiny poodle. Poor Fluffy.”
Eve, sitting across the table, tapping her fingers together, faked a smile.
“That, is the most complicated way of saying, screwed the pooch, that I’ve ever heard.”
The teen age looking demon girl ate for a while, then twisted her lips to the side.
“This is really excellent, Snowflake. You used to do catering, didn’t you? That’s a hint, Troy.”
He got that part, honestly.
“Except that she’s probably going to have to work for the party. I think Edom and Barbara are coming. That won’t be hard or awkward for me.” Glancing at The Cleric, who ate efficiently, but with impeccable manners at the same time, he explained. “Barb is my ex. We’re both vampires and neither of us is weak. It was going to end up being an issue, so I broke it off and moved to my splendid new palace.” He waved around at his place.
There was no art on the wall. Barely any furniture. It clearly wasn’t meant to be his permanent address, for all he’d had it for six months. Then, he’d always been playing cop, not making it his entire life, for real. The feeling of it was that it wasn’t going to be long term for him. Not that he let himself dwell on that idea for long.
The older man adjusted his collar a bit. Calling Troy’s attention to his vocation. His words were a little dry when he spoke but seemed genuine enough.
“If you don’t wish to be with the lady, then I won’t speak on the matter. If you do… Well, I understand that being vampires would make this difficult for you both. My understanding is that each of you holds a great deal of self-discipline and power. Controlling yourselves enough to overcome that part of your beings shouldn’t be impossible for such beings.”
Eve wrinkled her nose, as if doubting that. Ann reached out and touched his arm then. Now there was a real enough tingling. Part of him passed his information along to her, like he was supposed to.
“That isn’t wrong. You have things to do first. She does as well. For now, you need to focus on your work and learning that magic. That and having fun with me. Our relationship isn’t going to change just because you have some vampire bitch in your life. Right Eve?”
Eve flipped her off. Even if Ann was a greater demon.
It was done back, with a smile.
“See. Not an issue. Gregor, you were going to hit Troy up as a liaison for you? Clever of you. He can use his position here to make contacts that would be harder for you to manage. Using Zack for that is still involving a lot of debt for you. Troy can do it, just because you’re helpful to him in his other capacities. I know, you can trade the Vatican records on The Children of Baphomet for his aiding you in contacting various people in the future? No demons. If you can’t handle that, you aren’t worth working with.”
Instead of acting put out, Gregor smiled and patted the other greater demon on the hand.
“That was a lovely presentation, Ann. Thank you. It is at the heart of what I was hoping for. A bargain of sorts, but one balanced, if only in good will. I’ll attempt to keep things even, or relatively so. I of course, will benefit more from your efforts in the main, but that’s the challenge of dealing with my kind. That we might both aid others at the same time is simply a useful side effect of such efforts.”
Troy thought about it, then realized he was probably missing a lot. Greater demons were involved, after all.
“You want me to work for you? In exchange for similar work going the other way?”
“About like that. I’ll mainly be using you to contact individuals that won’t work with a greater demon, but need my help, regardless. In return, I can aid you with ideas, strategies, even information about things that might be difficult to come by, using other means. It should take no more than a few hours at a time, once every few weeks to months.”
It sounded fine enough. The trick was that he didn’t want to be tricked into doing things that would be very difficult or impossible.
Finally, he said that, knowing he didn't sound clever or anything like that at all. He was probably the slowest person in the room, mentally. By several times, and that was just compared to Eve.
The Cleric smiled, gently.
“We will do that then. An equal, or roughly so, exchange of labor. Only as each sees fit, as to it benefiting others. Very good.”
It was a weird thing for a demon to be saying, and probably had a dozen tricks in it, but Eve and Ann seemed fine enough with it. Then, they weren’t the ones that were going to be transformed into a ten-year-old boy and ridden like an unbroken pony around the town. He carefully didn't say that out loud, in case it would be insulting to the Catholic priest.
That, or give him ideas. His kind did love the kid flesh, or so he’d heard.
The demons ate, like the food was going to vanish if they didn't hurry it into their mouths. That was a thing with their kind, he knew. Mainly from living with Zack. When they first met, things were a little tough, so they’d kind of been lean at the time, barely eating at all for days or weeks. Once Zack had worked out that he was a demon, that had changed big time. Enough so that Troy had fought to not get plump for a time. There had just been so much good food around suddenly.
That had ended for him with the vampire training. Not that he’d let himself get chubby. That made it too hard to get with women. Even after he’d kind of not had time for a lot of them, he’d managed to keep himself trim enough. That meant he’d died slender. That was what he was stuck with, until he learned to change shape. Most vampires never did, so it was a great thing, for the time being.
It would be, until the skinny look meant you were poor or ill. Then it would suck, until that trend changed. Oddly enough, the idea of shape changing seemed nearly easy, compared to a lot of other things. It just made sense to him.
As soon as the food was done, The Cleric stood up, smiling. Then he pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and placed it on the table.
“This was delicious, Eve.
Thank you for your hospitality, Officer. I look forward to working with you. Soon. I’ll see about arranging things for that picnic.”
Troy stood, and moved along with the man toward the door.
“I hope we can work together to mutual benefit. Thank you for coming.” Not that he’d invited the man. Then, that was how friends acted, at times. Just showing up like that.
After the man walked out, there was a bit of waiting. Then a flash of energy as the demon moved into the lines. Leaving by folding space. It was different than going into the void, Troy noticed. Slower, for one thing.
As soon as that happened Eve clapped her hands.
“Now. Let’s clean up and teach you how to take in energy from the universe directly. Then we can… I don’t know… I’m sure something will come up.”
Ann actually pulled a bill, a twenty, and put it on the table.
“Gregor overpaid. That was about buttering you up, Snowflake. Now, go and get Troy all warmed up for me. I’ll tidy here. You can have… Oh, two hours? You can teach him something simple like that in a few hours, right?”
That sounded ambitious, but Eve nodded.
“Well, I learned it in less than that, so I bet he can do it. He used to be human, after all. They do it all the time. So do you greater demons. It isn’t that hard, though it takes a bit of effort for vampires.”
It sounded off, but he let himself be led to the living area, by the sofa. There he was told to kick his shoes off, and to loosen the tie.
“It isn’t needed for this, but you look stuffy, dressed like that. Like a wall street stock broker or maybe an evil banker. Now, there is energy all around us. I want you to use your mind to feel me move some around for a while. Tell me when you can feel it.”
She started sucking air in, and when he closed his eyes and focused for a while, he could get it. The energy was different. A blue and silver sense, instead of the red or pink of life energy. It started at her feet. Well below her, actually. Then it was drawn up through the top of her head, and circled out, then back. Lighting up points inside of her as that happened. In different colors. It was gentle, but pretty.
“Got it. So, like this?”
He tried to do the same thing. Moving the idea of energy around. Through the ground, above him into the air, then back and around.
After a long time, Eve spoke. Her voice felt far away.
“Add more to it, with each circuit. Carefully. You want to add just a little each time.”
That was harder than it sounded like. Until the whole thing clicked into place. It was all about the sense of energy. Not anything real at all. When he got that, a thing much like moving inside the void, actually, Eve clapped. That didn't get him to stop.
“Good. Do that all the time now. Let’s… I know, I’m going to do something. I want you to follow along with me… Mwa-ha-ha.” There wasn’t even a grin on the pretty face to tell him the sinister aspect was a joke.
She held out her hand, forming an idea. A concept. It was a thing that he could feel. On some level, he understood it. The idea was of a single thing. It filled the space over her hand. It was a thin thing. One that was delicate and well formed. That part was simple enough. It was pure air. Clean. Unmoving.
Holding his own hand out, he copied her. Until the idea was firm, in the air, over his hand. Then, slowly, Eve added energy to it. In a steady stream. None of it coming from inside of herself. It was from the universe. A flow of power that was steady and made calm after passing through him when he did it. Finally, Ann spoke.
“Pretty good for kids. You need to hold a flow of power at least a hundred times that. A thousand times, if you can pull it off. Constantly. Both of you. Right now, at this moment, you don’t need to drink blood to power yourselves. Great trick. If you have to fight though, using magic, you’re both going to end up drained inside a few minutes. Work on that. Give me some light and increase the power to it. Ten times what you’re doing here. Now. You’re trading sweet bedroom lovin’ time for this, my lovelies, so get your money’s worth.”
Eve snorted.
“Okay, but I get to set the rules. At least for what we do, you and I. Troy is on his own.”
He wanted to sigh, but didn’t. He could feel the trick being set up. If he didn’t take care of himself, the others would make him do bizarre things, just to teach him a lesson. It was important enough that everything in his mind cried out for him to address it. Which was odd, since that was, clearly, some kind of magical effect. Not letting him fall for their not so clever ruse.
“I get to make my own rules too, subject to change, constantly. You don’t get to do anything too freaky.”
There was a pout to the words then.
“All right… In that case, twenty times the power. I want to be entertained. Go!”
She was loud, but that didn’t stop her. It wouldn’t. Ever. Greater demons rarely thought about the neighbors and their peace of mind. Troy was almost certain of that.
Working hard, breathing in time with each other, they both pulled more power from the world around them. Almost as if it were a game, Ann started doing it as well. A constant flood of energy moving at her from all sides. It actually made it slightly harder to grab his portion of it, which was probably her point.
Above his right hand, hovering was a light. It was blue and glowing powerfully. Eve was doing the same in purple. Interestingly, her light wasn’t much brighter than his. That got him to be competitive, since for once she wasn’t just beating him about like a tiny child, for some reason. It was, he knew, her being kind to him. Most likely. That or trying to get him to push himself harder.
After ten minutes of it, Ann, sounding bored, changed the game.
“Right hand fire, left hand water!”
That ended up being really different. He had a ball of fire surround his right hand and a big globe over the left. There was no weight to either, or heat, since it was held well away from him via magical energy. Eve had a golf ball sized thing over both, about a foot away from her palm on either side.
Instead of yelling at one of them for not doing it right, the call was different.
“Up the power. More. More!” Her laughter was maniacal. Right until she changed again.
“Over the right hand, a map of this city. In color. I want detail here, people.”
It was a bit harder than a simple concept, but they both managed. His looked like a computer screen, but they both worked.
Then there was a single sound from teenage looking Ann.
“Now. Where are the people that escaped? Mark it on the map.”
To his shock, he looked, as a bright red star appeared. Outside of town, on the far side. At the Homestead Motel. With a bit of focus, he saw they were in room two-twenty-four.
Eve blinked, but her map didn't have a nifty marking at all. That meant, for once, that Troy had kind of won.
Chapter fourteen
It was a hollow victory. The possible whereabouts of the four fugitives, or more exactly the four wanted individuals, was called in after a few minutes. Troy was willing to go and check on things himself but dispatch didn't think there was a real need for that. After all, it was just about picking up some people. If they were there at the motel at all.
Three hours later, just as the sun started to rise, he got a phone call.
There was nothing in room two-twenty-four, except four crystals on a single bed, sitting on a note. One that wasn’t for him personally or anything. It just said to keep looking. Teasing them with their failure to find the mages in question. It was a magical trick at least. Ann figured it out first.
“That wasn’t too bad, really. They put their innate location on the crystals, then probably scattered into the wind. Nice. I might use that one myself, sometime. Well, no one said it would be easy to locate them. Let’s have that sex now.”
It seemed off to him and he wasn’t really interested but they were going to do it anyway. The event was interesting enough, thanks to the gymnastic abili
ty of all involved, considering he had no real sex drive or ability to experience pleasure from what they were doing. He also didn’t get tired and neither Ann or Eve was really pushing things to insane levels. That meant they were done by seven. In the morning.
Eve, after borrowing the shower, moved in and gave him a hug.
“I need to get out of here for the day. I told Karen and Roy that I’d actually visit them for a bit. Then I need to get back to work by noon. As it is, I ran off and left Phillip working for a full day, alone. He can handle it, but it’s kind of a bitch move. The brain goes dead if you do nothing but work for too long. So, I’m out, peeps. You have some kind of thing here today, right Troy? Three different people mentioned it to me.”
He got to smile then.
“The shooting range at noon. A few of us are going. I need to practice for my job. Avery is coming in. Some of her friends. Santos, who’s on the force here with me… her wife as well.” That was about it, as far as he knew. More or less might actually show up, of course. That was anything you planned like that in life.
The vampire winked at him.
“A few friends of Avery… Yep. That’s about right. I know that Kaitlyn is coming. That will work. I need to get out of here. Dad always gets up early.”
She vanished then, the door barely clicking as the woman left at a speed that was virtually untraceable. At least by him. Ann moved in and held him for a bit then, since they were alone. It was actually nice. Which was weird as all hell. It felt like they were actually friends or even closer than that.
“I should get out of here as well. I know that it’s strange, but some people get worked up when insane greater demons show up for casual events like this. It makes no sense to me, either but there it is.” She seemed pleased enough by her words but went on, sobering a bit. “I have something to see to. This was fun. I’d planned to come for a bit longer, but things came up. You understand how that is, right?”
Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Page 20
