by P. S. Power
His arms were opened, expansively.
“Judy! What a pleasure. I didn’t know you were coming by today. Kait!” Both of them were hugged. Doing it back well enough that it was clear someone was getting lucky, if he wanted to.
Then the man hugged Karen as well.
“Don Holmstrum, so nice to meet you.”
Kaitlyn didn't make the secretary she didn't know introduce people. She was good that way.
“Donald? This is Karen Lester. She’s here to be your new secretary? You don’t get to try her out today though, I don’t think. I get to spend time with you first, anyway. We should go and do that?” She waved toward the office space, and moved in that direction, the man following her instantly, as if he couldn’t help himself.
Which was close to correct.
Karen looked at Linda, clearly not recognizing who was there at all. She hadn’t seen the face before, so it could be allowed. Keeley was a bit impressed that the girl had actually bothered to do what she’d been asked. Even trying was better than might have happened.
The girl swallowed and then smiled, a bit nervously. It looked cute on her, of course. She couldn’t help it.
“Hi. I guess I’m supposed to learn how to be a secretary? Do I get with you about that, ma’am?”
Linda nodded.
“That’s right. I’m Linda Demeny. This is Judy Swan, the actress? I’ll go over what you need to do, then you two should go and get something to eat or what have you. Here. The job isn’t hard, after all.” It really wasn’t, but Keeley didn’t want to train the flaky girl for six weeks.
She simply formed a packet of information and then used magic to impress it onto the mind of the hyper attractive woman in front of her. It would allow her to do everything Don needed done around the office. Even how to make coffee and tea for people coming in.
That meant Karen seemed like a natural, getting how to do everything almost instantly.
Judy seemed impressed, not getting what had happened. At least Keeley didn’t think she did. She didn’t check on that, since they were friends and it was hard to be a true friend with someone when you knew every little thing about them and they couldn’t have the same power in regards to you.
Still, she waited patiently while Linda ran the new girl through her paces.
“You’ll need to be in the office at eight-forty-five each morning. Let me get you the keys. You’ll also want to meet with Mr. Holmstrum before you leave.” She could hear that the people in the office were still busy. For the second time in half an hour.
Judy just moved over to Karen and put an arm over her shoulder.
“Keeley Thomson asked me to be your mentor. For Alede related things. That’s mainly sex and how to manage your abilities. You can change shape?”
Karen nodded, sounding a bit breathy when she spoke. That was put on, not a thing built into her. She was faking being a woman still, instead of just speaking. It seemed phony, given the rest of the package.
“Yes. I can turn into a man and also, um, a large metal person? That one doesn’t have a sex.”
Judy just nodded, having heard that before.
“Neat. I can just do two shapes. This one and my better-looking form. It’s easier to use the lesser one for a lot of things. Is it the same for you?”
Keeley knew it was, but she kept her mouth shut. The other two needed to bond, after all.
Karen went wide eyed and nodded.
“I think so. Um, Kevin, that’s what I call my boy form? He’s not as good looking. Not ugly. Better looking than I ever was before. Keeley Thomson did the work for me on that. I guess that was on purpose. I’d just kind of thought, you know, that it was on accident. That Kev isn’t as good looking, just because.”
There was a head shake from the Alede then.
“No. She’s a Wise One. If she picked that kind of thing for you, it won’t be a mistake. You might not understand why she did it, but it will be for a reason.”
Which was true enough. In the case at hand it had been to match the new woman with Alede, since she was using that basic template, minus the feeding portions of it. The rest was there.
They chatted, just standing in the office, for a while, waiting for Donald to finish up. He went for three turns, which wouldn’t have been possible without Kait using a bit Alede magic on him. She was clearly pulling out the stops, making a visit from her worth doing for the man. When they came out, their clothing rearranged and tidy looking, even if they both smelled of sex, Kait seemed happy.
“Now, we’re going to dinner? All of us, or…” She glanced at Don, then Linda, though she smiled at both, seeming inclusive.
Linda shook her head.
“Judy is being set up as Karen’s mentor. Can you take them around for the evening, or are you busy? I really need to get on top of some things. Like talking to my boyfriend.” The words probably seemed a bit out of place, coming from the older woman like it was.
Kaitlyn simply got it, of course. She was a line walker, after all.
“That’s important to do. You’re seeing Ravi, aren’t you? I was going to ask if I could see him, too, occasionally?” She held her breath, for some reason, as if Keeley were going to say no.
“That’s a good idea. Not today. Really, we should get together soon, too. We’ve never really done that. Mainly because, well you know, the whole evil thing?”
Karen let her pretty face turn to a scowl and crossed her arms.
“Wait… Are you, Keeley?”
She nodded, not hiding it, since she wasn’t really needed there any longer.
“Yep. Good catch. Not everyone would have gotten that. Now, I’ll hang here until Donald leaves for the day. Kaitlyn, can you get Karen here to work for a bit? I can pay you for it.”
Judy shook her head.
“She’ll stay with me for now. It’s not a horrible commute. She also has a job in Vancouver, at the Vampire embassy there?”
That was the truth, but they called Edom to work out a schedule. It was nice, because the others did it without needing her input at all. Donald even chatted with the Ambassador, negotiating the use of the Vampire’s shop worker. That included Ed going over what Karen would be earning, as to her salary and pressing for her to be paid about fifty percent more. It worked, too.
Then they all left, leaving her to lock up for the day.
As soon as she was out for the day, she moved to the third-floor bathroom. Her friend from the day before wasn’t there. Naturally. Her plan was to move from there, directly. Only after changing her clothing though, using magic to alter the things she had on. Her face was attractive, being her short blonde form. Not perfect. She looked like a cute, but real girl.
One dressed a bit like a sixty-year-old, even after the colors of her outfit changed. Those were in bright pink for the sweater and black slacks. The shirt she had on under it was the same white that it had been before.
Then, from the bathroom stall, she opened a rift in space and stepped through into the main node room at Westfield. It was Zack’s work space, but when he saw her, the man simply smiled. He looked normal, for him. Attractive, in a slightly nerdy way. Half Japanese, with a thin and wiry build.
“Keeley! Did you finally come to get a job here? It’s order night, so we can use the help.” He was teasing of course. Not that she couldn’t or wouldn’t help with that kind of thing.
It just wouldn’t be why she was there.
“I need a work space, to make some calls. That whole thing with DHS. It’s getting annoying.” She didn't ask if he’d heard about it. He would have.
Zack, her favorite nephew, simply laughed.
“That… I did hear, of course. Darla thinks that you’ll be another two days before you fix it. Finias thinks that it isn’t a problem at all, already.”
Both were, most likely close to true. They just had different ways of expressing the idea.
“The plan is to see to this now. I’ve been off playing for the last day or two, instead of do
ing my job. That’s enough of a vacation, I think.”
The man moved in and tapped her on the arm, not taking an impression of her life.
“I hear that. Well, you can use my office here. Then… Help stock books when they get in?”
He seemed hopeful, without believing she’d actually do it.
She promised nothing.
Chapter nine
Keeley totally skated on shelving books for the evening, sitting and chatting like she was doing, since it was a lot more fun. Interesting, as well. It took her twenty minutes for her to find the right person, then mention to him that she really didn’t need the DHS bothering her. She’d been about to make threats when Cromby, the Department head of the moment, sighed. It sounded heavy, like he was being put upon by her even having spoken to him.
“Right. Well, you fixed the problem with the terrorists already, I hear? Good enough. We don’t really want to persecute a hero. That doesn’t play well in the news, for some odd reason. I’ll rescind that order now. Anything else?” He didn’t sound bored, even if she’d caught him at home. From the sound of things, his wife and boyfriend were both there, with him. In the background, puttering around.
She made a soft sound.
“Actually, yes, if you have a moment. There’s a new television program coming out. The Department. It’s about the DHS. Do you want to get some advisors in on that? It will give you a chance to control how badly you’re maligned. Not that it’s a hit piece, but you know how it is… No one loves the cops.” Not that the DHS were that, really.
Cromby grumbled a bit, getting what she was going for.
“Sure. That’s clearly what we’re supposed to spend tax dollars on. Fine. Send my secretary the contact information and I’ll assign someone. If we need your help, I just get with… That’s William Dern? Or should I have people call you directly?”
She got what he was doing, arranging for their help without actually asking for it. Still, as long as it fit with their normal business model, that could work. It was better for them to be in the loop on supernatural things than not.
“Will Dern. If you call Division Six, it will get to the right place. We investigate the strange and bizarre, as a rule. I know that things might seem a bit more proactive than that, in the last few days. That isn’t actually the real job, if you can believe it.”
The man actually laughed then, as if the words were funny.
“I understand. That thing with the terrorists… Well, I could do without the torture, if it happens again? I have to love the response time. If we have another one of those, I can get with you, personally?” He was angling so hard that Keels nearly accused him of trying for a booty call. Except it was clearly not the case.
He just wanted to use her as a weapon, if he could.
“Right. We can do that. In cases of terrorism or at least active shooters. Again, call Division Six for that. We have a few line walkers now, and a lot of other high-end talent. We might be able to pull things out that no one else can.”
The man cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Ms. Thomson. I’ll make sure this is all logged in… Actually…” There was a sound of typing for a few moments. Then more of it. After three minutes the man spoke again. “There we go. No one will try to bother you, for the time being. We’ll need a write up on what happened, of course. In your own words. Now, I need to get back to my night, before the wife starts to scream at me for working too much.”
She had to figure that one was about to happen anyway, given the grumbling from the background in the other room.
“Take care. Call if you need me.” Then she hung up, before the man thought they were friends or something.
She was being too nice to him, already. Talking and being polite, instead of ordering him around with threats and an idea that slavery was already in the works. Yet it had worked anyway. Which meant that she could go into work the next day, like a normal person. At least a normal Division Six Agent.
Instead of going and working for Zack, not being paid for her incredible book shelving efforts, since it wasn’t her job, she simply used the node to go home. There she caught a shower, changed clothing and made a point of eating enough food to leave a large family stuffed for about two weeks. After that, she decided to go and visit her boyfriend at work. Which meant figuring out where he was that night.
She just called him, to see what was going on that way. She could have used magic for it, but doing that sort of thing, while simple enough, was a bit invasive. At least it could be taken that way. She would have, if it was being done to her, too openly.
“Ravi Pendar, at your service. How may I help you this fine evening?”
She laughed, since his charm needed to be rewarded.
“It’s Keeley? I’m planning to come visit you. I was in hiding for two days, hence not being in touch. I only blew one guy in that whole time. In case you were thinking that I ran off to entertain the masses. I didn’t manage to get with any women, either. It’s a bit sad, really.” She didn’t bother hiding things, since that wasn’t her way. She could lie, but only the weak did things like that when it didn’t serve them.
Ravi didn’t seem to take offense at her saying that. Probably because he figured she was joking. Maybe not. It was hard to tell over the phone. At least she tried to claim that, to herself.
“I’m working at Safeway tonight. Really, I get a break in two hours. That’s just fifteen minutes. We could meet after? I get off at midnight.”
It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do that evening. It would leave her with about four hours to kill. While she could go and stock books, she probably needed to handle other parts of her life, really. There were a few things she needed to deal with. The Mimic, for instance. Also, her mother.
That last one was a bit harder. Her mom had known she was a Greater Demon, of course. Really, she’d known about that before Keeley had. True, only by about a day, but it had happened that way. The thing was, like most Humans, she’d woken up one day, more than half a year before and realized that the hazy and strange things she’d been told for years, things that didn’t seem quite real, actually were. It was less of a shock for her than it had been for a lot of people, having lived that reality every day, but it was still enough to shake her to the core.
Keeley had gotten that, three days after the veil had lifted over the minds of humanity. When her loving mother had left a phone message, asking her to never talk to, or contact her, ever again. That was a reaction, of course, instead of true hatred. Fear had driven her to it.
Which didn’t mean she’d want her daughter showing up that day. Even sending a Christmas card might be too much for her to take still. They had time to fix their relationship. The Mimic was harder, in a way, while also easier. After all, he fixed himself, or she’d kill him. That was all there was to the matter.
The only person that left for her to take care of at the moment, would be her buddy, Bey. She nodded to herself, before speaking.
“Midnight then. I’ll meet you there? We can pick up something to eat and bring it back to my place. We need to get you a house, or at least an apartment. Nothing against your brother and his family, but I’d feel a bit bad, having loud sex on their back porch.” Except that was a lie.
She’d feel nothing about that at all. Unless that made it seem a bit hotter than it would otherwise.
Ravi hmphed a bit, then sounded a little henpecked, even if that hadn’t been what she was doing.
“That’s going to have to wait until after I get paid. I doubt that buying is a real option, just yet.” He sounded just a bit annoyed with her, on the topic.
Which was odd, since they’d never even spoken of it before.
“No big thing. There’s time. At least if you can do it in the middle of the night. You might need to switch a job or two around. The money shouldn’t really be a problem for you. Not unless you’re looking for a palace, first thing. I mean… Really, you could probably get a room with Tyler, if
you wanted that. The mansion has the space.” She meant for free, since she owned it, even if Living Proof, the band, used it as their home and headquarters.
Ravi made a soft noise then. It was a surprised sound.
“That… Can I afford to even rent a room in a place like that, do you think? It’s amazing and I wouldn’t have to feel too bad about bringing my girlfriend over at night, occasionally. My sister in-law kind of got after me last night. They saw me on television and don’t really get that being a line walker isn’t something dangerous. They didn’t kick me out, at least. I was grilled for three hours and not really believed when I told them all about it.”
Hence the annoyance he was feeling on the issue.
“Definitely get with Ty and the others then. I could go over with you later? You should call first, so it isn’t me managing your life for you. I’d let you go over to talk to them about it alone too, but I’m not missing out on my bootie call for the night, if I can help it. I haven’t done anything for days. Not for me.”
Ravi laughed, his voice going low.
“You said that you blew that one guy, though…”
She blinked, nearly meaning it.
“Sure, but that wasn’t for me. I was just being polite. Oh! I did arrange a date, for both of us. A threesome? With a woman, this first time. Lenore Hawthorn? She’s cute. Nice, too. A Vampire.” Her voice was serious, but Ravi laughed anyway.
“Riiight. Like you aren’t going to bring some guy to bed first. I should get a camera, so I can at least film it from that closet I’m hiding in.” There was humor in his voice over it, at least.
She got the idea. He was trying to be good and not jealous, but honestly figured that an open relationship would be her doing whatever she wanted while he suffered from lack of attention. Possibly with him being humiliated by her over the whole thing.
Which wasn’t what she had planned for him at all. You’d have to be a monster to do that to someone you actually liked.