Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (14 page)

Behind both of the other men, looking
a bit shorter, and so old and worn that he had a permanent stoop, was Finias.
The Mind Taker. Her dear old bio-dad. Smiling, she waved at him, wondering what
the plan was for the evening.

"Librarian, Cleric, Mind
Taker. Would you all like to come in? I just made some food. You can pay me for
it." It was the traditional thing to say, and oddly enough, they all
seemed pretty pleased to hear it. In unguarded moments she still felt horribly
rude saying that to people. Failure to do that though would have probably ended
in her own death, so she made sure to never forget.

Gregor clapped his hands
together, and then took a deep breath, smelling the air. He held his chin up
and smiled at her in a way that seemed genuinely pleased about everything. She
wondered for a moment if Zack would be like him, when he grew up. A bit
strange, for one of them, but kind enough that she tended to forgive that part
of things.

"That sounds delightful,
Mistress of Souls. I think we'd all love to join you." There was, if not a
bunch of nodding, then at least a mass of bodies moving into her little house.
Tarsus looked around blandly, but Finias seemed pleased by the look of things.

"Not bad at all, for a first
home. Your own territory, too? At only sixteen. That's very impressive, don't
you think, Tarsus?"

Grumpily, the older Demon moved
toward the table that was just off of the kitchen area, finding it without
having to think about placement, since it was visible from the front door.
After he sat, waiting, he spoke, his words as sour as his face.

"You passed the Second
Crucible. I was rather shocked to hear about it, to be honest. I at
least
thought
that you'd take them all as part of your Greater Demon army. They all assured
me you were most amenable, for one of us. You didn't even threaten to kill
them. That's normally the very first move that the children take, when asked to
fix things like that. It always makes it harder, but there is a certain logic
to it. You're too young to have a continent to oversee, so I imagine that we'll
keep you on as an errand girl. Could you pick up my dry cleaning? I have a good
place that does a wonderful job, but it's a bit of a commute. It's in the Elth
lands?" He smirked, because he wasn't serious.

The Elth didn't do dry cleaning.
That was just ridiculous. They
did
do wonders with magically imbued
armor however. She'd met enough of them to pick that up on her own.

She loaded the table with food,
glad that she'd over prepared a bit, and made certain that each of the others
had a full plate to get them started. Loading her own, she settled into her
chair, without speaking. Just waiting for someone to say something that wasn't
meant to get a laugh.

That turned out to be Gregor, who
did smile about it, but that was all.

"I have word that Darla is
also doing well, in her own efforts. That would be amazing, wouldn't it? If
both
girls managed to pass, in the same short time span? People will think we've
rigged the testing for them. I swear we didn't by the way. By all rights what
happened here should have been a bloody mess, at the very least. The Vile
behaved... Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was
smitten
. My
sources told me that you treated him in a manner that made him feel very
welcome. The Lover complained a little, but only because Vile got a date with
you, and she didn't."

That got the others to look at
him, but not in shock. Finias just nodded at her, gesturing with a piece of
soft buttered bread. It was white with a thick golden crust on it. Flaky and
perfect. That reminded her to keep eating, since it made her hungry to
consider.

Her father winked at her, which
seemed less creepy than normal, given how old he seemed at the moment.

"The Cartographer was none
too pleased, however. I hear you made quite a bit of work for him?
After
suggesting that The Lover's inability to enter the lines properly was the real
problem. He
is
the one to hit that way, however. After all, he loves his
work, so asking him to do more of it isn't going to cause a long term feud. He
did let slip that the others might have created a larger problem?"

Keeley ate some potato salad,
which really needed to age first, but wasn't going to get the chance. When she
finished her bite she looked at the man directly.

"The Rage and The Chaotic seem
to have either been guided or pushed into this otherwise petty difficulty that
should have been easily remedied already. I'm planning to send a note, or
possibly go visit them both in the next few days and see if they won't see
reason." She dead panned the words, and for about ten seconds kept her
face bland and still, as Gregor blinked at her. Then she let a grin slip into
place.

"Or, you know, I can let you
three handle it? Though, The Rage... Would he take offense if I sent a present
or two his way? I don't know if it will help, but I really don't want any hard
feelings there. The same with The Chaotic. It might not do anything, but you
know, when in doubt, send gifts." No one said that as a rule, she didn't
believe, but it suddenly made a lot of sense to her.

Tarsus gave her a funny enough
look that the other two men were watching
him
, instead of the fresh and
annoying girl like they should have been. That pretty much meant it was on
purpose, since she really doubted anyone like him would make that kind of
mistake by accident. Some things just didn't happen.

"That might work. It needs
to be grand and expensive, as well as suiting his needs of the moment. That
will take some research however. The Chaotic is more... Tractable, that way. I'd
also suggest not just ringing the doorbell when time comes to deliver it.
Yes... That could be of benefit, eventually. If you build a good framework with
the others, then most won't be nearly as likely to kill you, when anger flares.
It will in time. That's a rule, after all. There is always betrayal, and
pettiness to make our lives harder than they should be." It seemed a
little bland when he said it, and like he'd really have rather tried to hit her
in the jaw than give her advice, no matter how little it cost him.

Which was part of his act, in the
moment. She was young, and untried, or barely so, and he was the ancient being
that was responsible for her. Though, technically, he wasn't anymore. In fact,
he was less responsible for her than for anyone not on the ruling council.

"You know... That reminds
me, what do we call our governing body? Does it have a name? It isn't in the
memories you gave me, Tarsus. That seems..." She stopped, getting the
idea. The Void. Yes, Tarsus, The Librarian could make things hard to find if he
wanted, or even leave them out, but there were gaps in the knowledge that she'd
been given. Things that even the man himself didn't know. That the name of the
governing group wasn't there probably meant that, whoever this Void was, he was
actively working to remove the idea from all of their minds. Which had to be
annoying to Tarsus. It bugged her a little, and her area of endeavor wasn't
defined as all information, from all sources.

For him it had to be like
Alzheimer's.

Which would be why the others
were simply giving him a funny look, rather than answering.

So she ate, until Gregor spoke
again, about five minutes later.

"This is very good, Keeley.
Thank you, for providing it."

"Not a problem. So the topic
seems to have been derailed. I think we were on gifts for The Rage and Chaotic?
Anyone have a starting point? Tarsus, you suggested others too? Who first? I
don't want to leave anyone out." That would be bad. Or, depending on what
took place, not important in any way.

Some insane Demons would attack
and kill over an imagined slight, and others would just not even care for one
reason or another. Insane didn't just mean evil all the time. Just like being
sane didn't mean
good
. She was sane, as far as anyone could tell,
including herself, but good? That implied that she was a part of Human culture
and society, or at least part of some group. She wasn't truly. The closest she
came to that was Human, but her morality wasn't theirs. Oh, closer than most of
her kind, but that was really just her age showing through. So far she cared
enough about people not to want them hurt without reason. If it really came to
it, she'd sacrifice a lot of others for her own ends, wouldn't she?

It was very clear to her that,
honestly, she would. If she had to kill a person, or ten, or a million, to make
things happen, that would be what was done, and she wouldn't have a problem
with it later, either. She was the master of how her emotions rolled, which was
why she was able to think about presents for Greater Demons that she also
planned to try and exile to someplace far away.

While at the same time wondering
if that was just a joke, or a trick. Did Tarsus even have the books he'd
promised? If he did, would they work against all the beings he wanted taken
care of? Ideally they'd be able to check that out first, but she didn't think
it would work that way. She couldn't make Xenses vanish without people finding
out about it. None of the others either.

What she really needed then, was
to go after The Rage from a distance, and hope that if the whole thing failed
it did so quietly enough that she wasn't blamed for anything. Because
that
was a thing that could happen. If it was a trick, a trap or even just done
incorrectly, she was so dead it wasn't even funny. Though, if she wanted to be
totally honest, it was a
bit
humorous. She could send the man a giant
cake with a magical book in it that would pop out in the hands of a lovely
woman. Sure, he'd catch on and come and kill her later, but it was at least the
kind of thing to put someone in a party mood.

They spent hours on a list of
good people to start courting, most of whom were sane enough to be, if not
safe, then not impossible to manage. A few got left off, because they simply
wouldn't be of help to her at any point in time. Others... Well, not everyone
on the list was exactly nice, which was pointed out several times.

Gregor was the one that did it
most often, but the others did too.

"I can't suggest you get
involved with The Left Hand. He eats human flesh, and has a very annoying habit
of insisting that everyone else should too. He gets most insistent about it,
and will slip it into your food stores when you aren't looking. I think he
really believes that he's being a good friend in doing so, but white meat or
not, it's too salty to go with a good white wine. If you're going to eat Humans
you should enjoy the flesh with a nice dark lager. You simply can't plan for
that if things are being planted in your kitchen, however."

There was no smile to go with the
words, and no one acted sick or disgusted by them. She didn't even, though as
far as she knew she'd never consumed that particular delicacy. It probably
wasn't that different than pork however. Not even morally, which just went to
show how different she was becoming, didn't it? Six months before she would
have been offended by that kind of talk, and grossed out by the idea of eating
a person. Now the concept of someone pushing her to do it, or slipping it to
her was just annoying.

What it meant was a little scary
to her, when she thought about it. Not for long, since she shut it down instantly,
but she noted the feeling for just a moment, a trickle of fear that would have
been a warning to anyone else.

Somewhere along the line, Keeley
had stopped being Human, in her own mind. For real, and all the way down. Now
the idea of eating a Human was no worse than doing the same thing to a dog,
which, to be honest, was no worse than the cows she'd just had for her last two
meals. She needed to consume things to survive, and it didn't matter what, or
even
who
, it was, as long as there was a good calorie to nutrient ratio.

That she didn't feel horrible
about it left her a bit interested in what had happened to her mind. She knew
what had, having been there for the whole thing, but it was suddenly a lot more
real to her than it had been even a few minutes prior.

She was a Demon. One that simply
didn't have to play by the rules she'd always known. She got up and got the
muffins out and passed them around to everyone. They all needed to eat, and
they would be paying for it.

Shaking her head, mentally so no
one else would notice her doing it without paying particular attention, she
made a point of remembering what was suggested. Tarsus didn't do all of it, but
she did note that The Void wasn't mentioned by the others either.

There were a lot of reasons why
that might be. The main ones were pretty basic though. It was that they had
either had all that information wiped from their heads, or, just as likely,
that Tarsus really did have something wrong with him, and had done it himself.

If so, that probably meant that
he
was
The Void.

Insane too.

Smiling, she showed them all out,
and hid her thoughts better than she should have been able to, given her real
age, because letting that slip, even as an idea, would be a quick way to end up
dead.

The next morning was remarkably
peaceful for her. Most of the basic house work was finished, though she did
kind of want a larger bathtub. It was a waste of water, but would be nice to
have around later. In the summer the air there was going to be dry and warm,
which wouldn't have to affect her at all, but still, it didn't hurt to have a
few small luxuries.

That was a thing she'd never done
before, building a bathtub, so she looked up the idea online, before going
shopping for anything. It didn't seem all that hard, except that she'd want to
build on an extra room for it, to get what she actually wanted. Given that, she
decided to simply add a second tub, rather than replace the smaller one she already
had.