Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (7 page)

She shrugged.
"So, you're going to be shocked when I pass that?"

Tarsus, the
Greater Demon and clearly a
jerk
, sighed.

"I truly
would be Keeley. Still, I'll give you a few tips, even if it's outside of the
rules. The first one is to give most of the others what they want, so they
won't feel a need to distrust you too much, while you angle into place with the
others. You need to take The Rage first, for best results. The others will
think that simply means you're strong, which might even help you be taken
seriously."

She could see
that, given everything.

"All
right. Let's go into what I want then, in return."

Tarsus faked a
cough, but was polite about it, putting his arm over his mouth.

"I think I
already know that one. I... Have a fifth book. One for Xenses? I know it isn't
death, but it makes so much more sense to do it this way. By taking them out of
play yet alive, we don't have to worry over the return of their descendent."

It was a bit of
a shock to hear, since it wasn't the horrible fate she wanted him to have, but
it was clear that the old Demon in front of her was correct. It really did make
more sense. At least based on what she knew about the general idea.

"Let's see
about this then? Where do we start?"

Tarsus, being
who and what he was, actually had a plan.

Not, Keeley reflected as she was
leaving, about ten minutes later, walking through the minefield of magic in the
front yard, that she was going to
live
through that plan. It was, at
best, a ten percent chance of survival. The thing there was almost funny
however. That part, the fact that she wasn't nearly old enough or intimidating
to anyone, was the main part of
why
it could, possibly, work.

It was, she understood, why she'd
been given the First Crucible years earlier than anyone else ever had been.
Decades, in fact. That normally took place at about seventy to a hundred years
old. That counting started from when the Baby Demon woke up, into their power
too, not birth. She was, by that accounting, not even a year old, herself. So a
true infant, handed the mantle of being a full adult for some unknown reason.

Yes, she'd still passed the test,
and as far as she could tell it had been fair enough as to how it was done. Really,
if anything Tarsus and the others had piled more crap on top of her than would
be normal. That was to prove to everyone that she'd
really
earned it.
Not that it made perfect sense. The insane ones wouldn't care and the good
Greater Demons would believe it, as long as it had been done correctly the
first time.

Which meant what? After a few
seconds, walking out of the front gate without looking back, Keels thought she
understood. It had been, not about the others, but herself. They were forcing
her to understand that, as unlikely as it had been and still was... As much as
she needed to still learn and figure out about the world, Keeley actually and
honestly
was
, within a limited scope, ready to face it. A bit of extra
time to get ready wouldn't have hurt her feelings, but she had the basic skills
down that she needed for life. She could walk the lines, shape change and work
magic. Make deals and even keep herself fed. That she still needed to get a lot
better in most of those areas, perhaps all of them, wasn't lost on her. Tarsus
had said as much, hadn't he? She'd pretty much lived the last six months
relying on her ability to make deals to protect her from the others, but if the
four she was supposed to deal with were as powerful and insane as all that, just
walking up to them and making a grab would be silly.

Trying to trick them into a
bargain or deal wasn't going to work either. That would leave them too much
time to figure out how to get around what she was doing. Probably by killing
her before she could act. So she needed to basically ambush them all, and do it
so fast that they couldn't take her out. Also with enough protections on her
that she could last through whatever their tricks were, when the time came.
That meant doing a lot of preparation.

While
trying to handle the
Second Crucible. Tarsus had let her in on what that was going to be, for her at
least. Darla was going to be off in Europe, trying to do the same thing, only,
as The Librarian had assured her, for real. It seemed that The Technician
actually had a real shot at becoming one of their leaders, someday. Keeley did
too, or she wouldn't have been given the chance she was. After all, while it
wasn't likely, there was a tiny chance that she'd pass. If that happened, she'd
be one of the ruling council. Of course, most of the Greater Demons failed to
get it done, when their turn came. Older, wiser beings with a lot more real
world experience. So, she wasn't going to bother to really try. That was the
key, she guessed. On the good side, she'd probably get another chance in a few
thousand years.

The Second Crucible was a simple
enough idea. There was a problem between a group of Greater Demons, and the
person being tested simply had to go in and fix it. They could use anything
they wanted to get that done. Bribes, tricks, threats, even stealing everyone's
will and making them into slaves. If this had been real, that would have been
her best chance, except that in this case, the three that were coming would all
know that, and be looking out for it. That meant trying to just give them all
what they wanted, while keeping them from trashing the town.

Her town. Sparks.

She stood still, the night sky an
even and deep blue-black above her, twilight claiming it as she watched, the
first stars just starting to show. A group of boys across the street called out
to her in Greek, which after a second she understood. The language wasn't
unknown to her, or at least was in the information she had.

"We're heading to the bar,
want to come?" It was bold, familiar, and the boy, who was a bit older
than she was, seemed to understand that Keeley was an unknown to him. Just
pretty enough to get his attention, was all.

"I can't today... Maybe next
time?" It never hurt to be polite, and the boy smiled and waved, as he and
his friends moved along. It was strange being approached like that on the
street, but they were doing it right, not making her feel trapped or cornered.
Just asking if she wanted to come play with them. It probably worked on
occasion, more often than wolf whistles at any rate. She fixed the boy's face
in her memory, knowing that she wasn't likely to see him again. He lived in
Tarsus's territory, and she wasn't planning to come back and hang out very
often.

Coming up with a payment to
Tarsus for the boy was a bit much, considering they didn't even know each
other.

It took a moment to step onto the
line from there, since there was interference from the wall and the shield that
it formed, behind her. Not enough to truly mess her up, but the silver lands
were empty when she looked in, and she was able to get back to the states a lot
faster, knowing the way. She landed in the front room of her old house. Mainly
because all her things were there, and she didn't have any place else to be off
to for the evening.

The house felt silent and a bit
dusty, so she wiped everything down, in case her mother popped in to visit. Sherry
had OCD and would feel a strong desire to clean the whole house if there was
even a speck of dirt anywhere. Or, to be more honest, she'd feel a need to do
it even if it sparkled, but could fight it if the place was kept up well
enough. If Zack was smart he'd have her over to his place a few times a week
for a "visit". That, of course probably was the case, since the Line
Walker had flat out told her he was going to try and get Sherry into bed. That
part was creepy, but she shut the thought down, because like it or not, her
mother wasn't hers to worry over for the time being and a bit of consensual sex
was far from the worst thing for her.

If it happened, it would be
that
at least. Zack was a lot of things, but he refused to take slaves or force
anyone to have sex. No, he'd work things around so you owed him things, which
got him what he wanted for the most part, and he was charming, or at least cute
enough to get women to like him. So there wasn't a lot of force involved in his
life. Not directed from him toward others. Because of Xenses.

The monster that was his father.
Her brother, so Keeley could sort of understand what Zack was feeling there.
Not that he owed the man anything, but that he wanted to
survive
, and
didn't think he could do that by fighting with The Defiler head to head. That
was probably even true. Still, putting him in a magical world through a book?
That probably wouldn't hurt her nephew's feelings. Darla's either, if she
explained it correctly. That part would be hard, however.

Her sister wasn't out of control,
but had been tortured by Xenses, raped, beaten and... Honestly, Keeley didn't
know exactly what all The Defiler had done to her, but it was bad enough that
hundreds of years later The Technician still wanted to kill him. Having seen
from Zack what had been done to him as a child in the fourteen months or so
that Xenses had him, it made sense that neither one of them would be all that
thrilled about her new plan to simply remove him from their world. It was
safer, and had a better chance of working, if Tarsus could be trusted, but...

Could she do that? Trust a
Greater Demon that she didn't know that well? It was pretty clear to her that
someone had been getting the insane Greater Demons to play by some rules for a
while, making things harder for her and her friends.

Yes, that could be Helmsman,
which was what she was
supposed
to be thinking, given that guidance and
making people listen to her was that Demon's main ability. It was the kind of
thought that made so much sense that it was simply correct, unless she was
being fooled on purpose. Really, it came down to the idea that everything
Helmsman said just seemed very reasonable. The problem there was, as with the
rest of them, insanity. If she decided that stripping naked and rolling in the
snow would be fun, everyone around her would
love
the idea. It wasn't
slavery, since you could resist, but it was hard to do, and most of the time
beings didn't know to even try.

That gave her a lot of power in
the world. Armies would march on her command and never realize it wasn't their
own idea. Whole technological paradigms had been skipped over or ignored,
simply because she didn't care for the way they looked.

By all rights she should have
been in control of them all, but Greater Demons, once they'd got the idea what
was going on, had figured out tricks to get around her ability. It took work,
but Keeley started on her own defenses, just sitting on the sofa in the living
room, which meant she was right there when a knock came from the front door.

She could feel that it was Darla,
now that she wasn't lost in thought. Someone pretending to be her, at the very
least. The feeling was right, but she'd been fooled before often enough that
she was planning to be careful. The meant opening the door however, which
wasn't nearly as cautious as all that. Not doing it would be paranoid however.
Unless it really wasn't her, in which case it was just good strategy.

The very good looking blonde girl
stood there dressed in a nice dark blue skirt and a white button up the front
blouse that had short sleeves. It fit the temperature of the day. It was warm
out, having gotten to about eighty. It was going to be more intense in a few
weeks, but in early June things weren't that bad to tell the truth. It was warm
enough to enjoy, without the humidity that would have made it uncomfortable for
most people.

"Keels. I thought that I'd
pop in and make sure that you're eating? Have clean clothes and all that?"
Darla seemed to be serious about it all, which got Keeley to shrug.

"I need to go shopping for
food soon. Tonight, probably. Other than that, I'm good. I... Um... I'm
planning to move soon."

That got her sister to come in,
not waiting for more information, and shut the door behind her. That was
probably due to the uncertainty in her voice, which was, she realized, not
needed. She cut the emotion behind it, barely using a touch of power to get it
done. Over time she was getting a little better about that sort of thing. It
was clear that a lot of the older members of her family didn't waste nearly as
much power on things as she did, day to day. That meant they didn't need to eat
nearly as much, though she was, she realized, starving.

Darla put a hand on her shoulder,
her face looking concerned.

"Are you... Running? I don't
know if you can get away from Tarsus. Not that I blame you. I can't believe
that he's threatening to kill you if you don't pass the Second Crucible like
that. Do you want me to have a talk with him and see what this is really about?
I know that I'm not your mentor anymore, but even that..." She didn't go
into how weird it was, or need to. It just
was
.

Keeley took a breath, calmed
herself and drew her body upright, making it seem a bit bigger, if a little too
thin at the moment. Then she held up one finger, and looked past Darla to the
door, as if thinking.

"I went earlier today and
spoke to him myself. Since I'm an adult now. He claimed that it was all about
motivating me and that he never really intended to kill me when I failed. He
said that.
When
I failed. Which is right, of course, but we had a long
talk about having some faith." Which while not the main discussion,
had
come up. So it was close enough to true that her body language was right
for it. "I bought some land in Nevada and registered a territory. Sparks,
in case it ever comes up or you want to visit. I'm planning to head out
tomorrow and get things set up. One of the places has a little house and the
building codes there are pretty lax, so I can set up anything I want, for the
most part, without having to bribe too many people. You get the idea, I'm an
adult now, and need to have my own place." She'd said it often enough,
though now her sister looked...