by P. S. Power
“Unfortunately, I can. There’s only one thing that would really affect a being like him very strongly. The Demon Ma’at would have to harm children and make sure he couldn’t do anything about it.”
Hally smelled delicious again, the scent of fear wafting off her even as she covered it with courage. Her words rang out in the room, even over the music.
“Then we have to stop her.”
Richard nodded his head, suppressing a long and deep sigh.
“Yes. I think that’s the only plan left then. If people aren’t going to be sensible about this.”
Chapter three
The Technician took the letter away with her, to use some secret and arcane device of her own manufacture to locate young Maci. Richard would have liked to see it in action himself, but not enough to risk the Demon’s ire. No one had ever mentioned her as being particularly moody or evil in her doings, but that could simply be due to the fact that she was adept at hiding her actions. That she didn’t have a lot of bad things said about her probably meant that she was very good at removing those that spoke against her.
It was a useful skill, one that he’d used himself in the past. That was in a different age however, one more easily understood. If the man that ran the local paper said negative things about the strange family on the edge of town, it was simple enough for him to perish in a fire or have a sudden and very fatal fall from a horse. Now, as he’d learned the hard way in his own political races, it was much harder. People blogged. It was nearly impossible to find them all and their constant nattering meant that they’d be missed if too many started to pass away in a short time span.
Instead he’d had to hire teams of people to say nice things about him in order to get the “haters” to back off a little. He didn’t know for certain, but Richard had a strong suspicion that his opponent in the last race had sent in minions to attack him covertly “on-line”. It seemed a mistake to him, to give the common person such power to attack officials, but it was the way of the new world. It was his part to adapt to it, for as long as possible.
The Technician didn’t have such things being said about her however. Not frequently. The Mistress of Souls even less so, but he understood that one. She probably had large armies of slaves to do her bidding, their will gone, stripped from them more completely than anyone could dream possible. If anyone spoke against her they were insane, and probably taken over before dawn the next day.
So unconcerned about anything she made up a large plate of food and ate it ravenously as they waited. It was a festive looking thing, the white ceramic covered with heaps of fudge and candied fruit, as well as a dozen kinds of cookies and delicate cakes. They were mouthwatering, even to him, which showed true skill in the making, since eating them would cause him no small amount of discomfort. If it wasn’t for the upcoming mission to try and save the child he would have risked a few bites, just to see what they were like.
“Mistress of Souls…” He started, not really wanting to risk speaking if he didn’t have too, but not really feeling certain as to what he could do in particular that she couldn’t. “I’m not certain I understand our part in this. I understand that we should, if possible, go to the girl, but if a Greater Demon is involved, there will likely be obstacles.”
That got the Demoness to push her hair back, a move that was both lovely and young, her hair like a brown wave of silk, her skin smooth and flawless. If she’d been a real person he might have been tempted to bring her over, just to preserve her beauty. As it was his efforts wouldn’t be needed. She had to swallow the pink and white convection in her mouth first, her lips rosy enough that it reminded him of the human blood he’d partaken on earlier. It was part of her personal magic to be tempting no doubt. It was a common enough thing for Demons of all stripes.
“Call me Keeley. We’re friends after all.” She said the words easily, as if they just made sense, rather than being a deep and finely laid trap. “You too Jonas.”
The young Vampire was too taken in by her charms to see the danger, so he actually smiled back at her, his mannerisms looking human still. He made enough eye contact of a flirtatious nature that Rebekah hid a laugh behind her hand. When she looked at Richard he rolled his eyes a little and spoke, not knowing what the Greater Demon would hear, but using the high speech, words in a tone above what humans could perceive.
“Jonas, there is danger here. Never let yourself forget that she is an ancient being of immense power.” He clipped the words off as the pale female nodded a bit, showing her own agreement. She was around the Demon far more often than he was, and if she knew of such dangers it carried a lot more weight, for him at least.
The younger man, still so close to human, nodded too, but didn’t answer directly.
The Demoness shrugged and then winked at Rich, making him wonder exactly what she’d picked up on. She didn’t address it, putting forth a plan instead.
“Ma’at is known as ‘The Puzzler’. Her plans are often convoluted and seem to take steps designed to baffle even the most clever of individuals. You will almost certainly be set tasks that you have to overcome in order to make your way to your goals. The only good thing there is that she feels bound to not place anything in the way of a person they cannot overcome in some fashion. That’s important to remember. She won’t cheat on it. If there is something in front of you that she placed in your way, you can beat it, either physically or mentally. She almost always uses a person’s weakest area against them though. Find your own fears and move into them to beat her.”
Her eyes went, not to the Lesser Demon, or her Vampire, but to the normal human girl in her festive and bright clothing.
“This will be hard Hally. I won’t tell you not to go, but it’s really dangerous. We can find someone else to go instead, if you’d rather stay here? You too, Jonas.”
The words took Richard by surprise. They were the youngest and therefore most vulnerable members of the group around them, and the offer wasn’t granted to the others at all, but it was more kindness, or at least seeming gentleness, than he’d have expected from The Mistress. Especially towards Jonas. He was new after all. This wasn’t something only being offered to her favorite pet.
Hally swallowed nervously and then made a tight looking face, her mouth pinched to the point her lips went white for a moment.
“I can’t say I love the idea, but I won’t leave a little kid in trouble. Or Santa. I can’t believe he’s real. I was always told…” She stopped and looked at Rebekah, who grinned at her, a full toothy thing that looked like death incarnate, as happy as it was.
“You were told a lot of things that weren’t true. Vampires aren’t real, there’s nothing under your bed and Santa Claus is a children’s tale. We were all told these things as we grew as well, but as you know full well, the world is a much bigger place, with far more in it, than most people can accept.”
Richard agreed with her, but kept his mouth wisely shut. It was a practiced thing, one that had kept him alive many times in his long existence. Undead at least. When a situation seemed difficult, it was almost always better to assess things and hold to silence, rather than to speak and cause action before it was time for it.
Puzzles… What that meant coming from a Greater Demon he didn’t know, but it didn’t sound fun. It would probably be horrible. That wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but as long as they all survived the night, it would be well enough. He hoped that would be the case at least.
Seconds later The Technician strode back into the room, a sheet of paper, new and fresh, in her hand.
“Got it. The location is in Maine, just north of Portland. I have the address, but it’s decently isolated. I used… Well, it’s a different technique, let’s leave it at that, to find Ma’at herself. She is currently in Cairo, Egypt. It’s almost the perfect situation for us. That probably means a trap, of course. Keeley and I will go there and keep her occupied as well as we can. She’s an ancient and horribly evil being. Irrational and prone to
denying reality. While we handle that, the rest of you will have about ten hours to find Maci and then track down Santa. Don’t spend too much time on that part. It may be that you can’t help him at all, not in time. Get the child first in that case.”
The words were hard and stern sounding, but not scared or doubtful. Richard found it refreshing that they wouldn’t be expected to spend their lives getting a brightly clad, rotund fellow, out of a jam, but the redheaded elf had different ideas.
“We have to save Santa. I’ve been listening you know. If he’s trapped somehow, the feeling of Christmas, the magic of it, is being bound as well. If we leave him then the whole holiday won’t really happen, will it? I mean, people will give presents and have cookies, but it won’t feel like Christmas.” She stood, pacing in the center of the room, angst coming off of her in waves.
Delicious, scent filled pulses. Richard had to shake himself a little to keep from being entranced with her. As food. Luckily he wasn’t hungry at the moment. Jonas wasn’t either, but Rebekah had to hit him covertly to get him to snap out of a similar state. No one mentioned it, which was kind of them. It would bear watching however, if the girl wasn’t going to be a snack for them that night.
Keeley stood too and after setting her now empty plate down on the small table that had held the crayon scribble transcriber earlier, held the elf closely, her arms wrapped well around her.
“That’s true Hally, but Santa won’t be destroyed easily and you can be. She didn’t say you shouldn’t try to rescue him, just that we don’t want you all to do that at the cost of your own lives. I know that Christmas is important to you, but…”
Richard sighed, a fake thing that was fairly well practiced.
“Agreed then. We’ll do our best, but we don’t spend lives on it.” In particular he didn’t want to do it at the cost of his own life. Not just for the spirit of a holiday, but the important part was getting the child. It had to be, for him. Santa Claus wasn’t his responsibility. Technically Maci wasn’t either, not being from his congressional district, but she was of Maine, which was close enough. None of the others with similar positions could do the work needed, so it had to be him and his new… friends.
That thought was scary, but at least the ones going with him were normal enough. It could have been far more trying he realized, if the two Greater Demons had insisted on traveling with them.
The address wasn’t given to him, even though it was clear he was in charge. It wasn’t passed to the Lesser Demon even, which might have made sense, given that he was to transport them all. No, the paper was passed from the hand of The Technician… to Rebekah. Then she looked at the address and handed it to the Lesser Demon herself. That wasn’t a good thing, since that could lead to a power struggle, but she grinned at him, with her mouth closed and stared at him with her intense red eyes.
“Balthias won’t listen to you directly. Not in his chain of command. It’s not a slight, just the fastest way to get things done.” Then she glanced at Keeley and looked down, shyly. “If that’s… correct Master?”
“Oh, sure. Please work together, everyone. We want you all back unharmed. I think that you should allow us… fifteen minutes do you think Darla?” She gave her sister a hard look, one without any emotion other than strength in it. The blonde woman nodded once.
“That should do it.”
“Right then, fifteen minutes, then you need to go and get Maci. I know it will be hard, but if you can’t get her in eight hours, get out. If Ma’at returns… That could mean anything, but don’t try to confront her. Just run as best you can and scatter. Hopefully she won’t be that interested in you.”
That didn’t inspire confidence in Richard for some reason. The idea that his best defense was to simply not be worth noticing at all wasn’t something he wanted to count on. Especially since it was just possible that this Greater Demon Ma’at was setting a trap for him specifically. After all, Maci had sent a letter to him, not anyone else. Or, at least, he got one. Now that he thought about it, it seemed likely that Santa had gotten one first. Otherwise why would he have shown up in the first place? It wasn’t a wonderful thing, but at least he and the others weren’t going to be directly confronting the Greater Demon themselves. It would have to be good enough.
The Technician stepped away then, without saying anything more and “Keeley” started to do the same, her last words in the room, before she vanished into nothingness in front of them all were simple enough.
“Start counting… Now.” Then she was gone. There was no sound to it, no flash of light that he could see, just a small distortion, like a ripple in water washing over her body and she wasn’t there any longer.
There was a dead and cold silence in the room after that, as they waited, the female Vampire staring closely at the clock on the wall, as if counting the very seconds so that they’d leave on time precisely. It was what had been said, but Richard had taken it to be more of a guideline, so that Ma’at would be occupied when they arrived to find the child, rather than a closely timed plan. Still, they wouldn’t go wrong by doing what was suggested too well, would they?
They waited in silence, all of them standing, except the Lesser Demon, about three minutes before they would be leaving. At one minute to the mark, Balthias rose to his feet, a silent thing that cast out a soft scent of trees and earth into the room, with just a hint of brimstone under it, which was probably too light for the human girl to pick up at all. She walked over to the giant horned beast and put a hand on his muscular arm, as if it couldn’t be more natural. It looked ridiculous, her dressed as she was, holding the Lesser Demon, her tiny form dwarfed and bright next to a wall of red and brown.
Rebekah did the same on the other side, which was a clue that he and Jonas needed to do the same, if they didn’t want to be left behind. Not that it would be a real option. If anyone went, it had to be him, and Jonas was, although new, his man. They were obligated to aid the child. Hally and Rebekah were just going because they were good people. It made backing out rather hard to do. Smiling he placed his own hand on the beast’s arm, his hand nearly touching Hally’s, standing just behind her, figuring that it would be simpler for him to ignore the scent of her warmth, blood and life, than it was for the others. Jonas did something similar behind Rebekah, but ended up closer to her, their bodies nearly touching. The woman didn’t take the time to rebuke him for it, so it was either welcome or of no consequence.
That she was the more powerful Vampire was clear, at least between those two. She might be as strong as Richard was, but it wasn’t a sure thing at all. Her mental prowess was likely to be greater, at least in the ability to cloud minds. It was needed in her kind, their strange looks making seduction too hard. They needed to feed on life however, just as he and Jonas did, so that meant having some way to do so beyond mere force.
Before the thought was finished they all stood in a small clearing near a wooden cabin that seemed to be made of logs and mud. The only thing that was odd about it was its size. There was snow on the ground and smoke rising from the rock chimney above them, allowing him to use the heat to see his surroundings. He put a hand out swiftly, to reassure the human girl in front of him, who had to be nearly blind, but she didn’t jump or start at all. In fact she took a single breath and started forward, clearly trusting in the others to lead her in the right direction.
Because it was very possible that this was the first of the puzzles, wasn’t it? How did you move a blind and flighty human girl, clearly shaking with cold and fear into an unknown situation? She spoke to herself under her breath, the words just loud enough for him to make out.
“Save Maci, save Santa, get out.” She repeated the words over and over again.
No one spoke out loud, and they moved just as fast as the girl could, the house not being far ahead, only about fifty feet. When they were halfway there Jonas spoke, his voice slightly awed.
“Is this place… Made of blood?”
It was a very strange thing to say,
but Richard thought he got the idea, they would each have a trial to reach the door and probably had to work as a unit to make it work.
“No, remember, we enter the lair of The Puzzler. Do not allow yourself to be distracted or to abandon the group. You’ve fed recently and have a lot of energy to draw on. Stay strong.” It was easy enough for him to say, at first, since nothing was happening to him as far as he could tell. Balthias was directly behind him however, and suddenly turned into a huge ball of fear that rang white hot through his mind. It made him want to flee, perhaps worse than anything he’d ever encountered. That was who the Lesser Demon was though, the embodiment of fear. He shook, a thing that he wasn’t aware he could still do at all, and kept on, wondering if anyone else was feeling what he was. If so they were very brave and didn’t let it affect them like he was.
Rebekah called out, a single word spoken, sounding hard and focused, rather than scared.
“Arête.”
It meant stop, he knew that, but Richard kept going, hoping that this first trial wouldn’t prove too much for her. She slapped at her own skin repeatedly, but with only a single small tug on her arm from the human girl she kept walking.
Jonas panted however, trying to surge to the right.
“Hold on. Don’t let it get to you. One foot after the other. You have greater strength than you think.” The words came from his own mouth, but didn’t sound nearly as certain as he would have hoped. They were in fact tentative and spoken as if he were a true coward, the fear from behind him becoming more intense with each step toward what seemed to be a simple wooden door. He wasn’t used to fear on this level. It had been bad enough to be around the dangerous Greater Demons earlier, but now, he fully understood, that had merely been sensible caution. He wanted to run off into the night, only the words of The Mistress of Souls kept his feet moving on the rough path, snow crunching with each step.
She’d told them that The Puzzler wouldn’t give them more than each could overcome. He repeated the words out loud, Hally taking a deep breath.
