As Evil Does

by P. S. Power

“Nope. Not first thing. It will be up to you to pick the guy, anyway, the first time. So, make that call? I’ll meet you at midnight.” She knew where to go, after all.

  Sounding in good humor, if a bit nervous, Ravi cleared his throat.

  “I’ll do that now. I’ll probably be screamed at for suggesting the idea, but I’ll do it, so that my girlfriend won’t think I’m a total wimp. Not that it will work.” He sounded certain on that point.

  “Ravi… If that doesn’t work, there are ten thousand other options for you to look into. You have all the options in the world, practically. Plus, you’re pretty awesome. I wouldn’t undersell yourself here.”

  “Fine, fine… I’m well and truly propped up emotionally now. Let me… Get to that then. Not that I know how to ask.”

  She could have told him what to say to make certain he got what he wanted. Keeley didn’t. It was important for people to do things for themselves. Even if she was making decisions for them, at the moment.

  “You’ll be fine. See you later.”

  He sighed.

  “Love you, bye!” There was silence after that, since he hung up.

  Probably half-panicked that he’d said he loved her. It was a bit early for that, but not really out of place, at the end of a phone call. The only down side was that, while she found it cute, it reminded her of Hally. Who, she realized, she hadn’t thought about in nearly two whole days. That was sad in a way, but meant she was starting to move on. Her ex wasn’t the most important thing in her life any longer. Even if she’d intruded into Keeley’s thoughts without being invited. That kind of thing was normal. So, apparently, was the idea that, even after all that time, she could go on.

  Keeley wasn’t even using magic to make it happen.

  It was just how she handled things. It wasn’t what a Human would do exactly, she knew. Still, it also wasn’t casting fire from the heavens to destroy the one who had forsaken her. For a while, a few days, Keeley hadn’t really been certain she was that stable and sensible, without using magic to control herself. The problem with being who she was by nature was that she couldn’t really be good. It would be possible to fake it for a while, using magic and acting. That wouldn’t be how she wanted to do things, of course.

  That was the goal she’d set herself, regardless. Learning to be a good person. Not a moral one. Not one that fit into some kind of foreign model, either. Just the kind of person who gave more than they took, and didn’t kill because it was easier than putting a bit of effort into things.

  That she was struggling to make that happen wasn’t wonderful, but she made herself smile. After all, Ravi had said he loved her. By mistake, at least on a conscious level, but the words were out there. It wasn’t a horrible thing. A good person would feel happy that they were loved. Even if it was only a little bit.

  She could do that one. So, smiling, she went to Yoghurt World, down the hallway of the mall. This time, behind the counter, was Ambassador Freeman himself. He smiled at her, clearly not getting who she was.

  “Good evening, Miss. What can I get for you this evening?”

  She looked at the menu board, noticing that there were several blood varieties listed. There were even flavored versions.

  “I was thinking that I’d take Bey something. Some blood. The good Human kind, of course, since it’s a gift. He lost his son last night. Chiang. That has to be difficult.”

  The man simply nodded at the words.

  “That’s a kindness. I wouldn’t have thought of it myself. He’s in China. Do you have a way to get there?” His voice was soft. Kind, even.

  She smiled up at him, the man taller than she was in her current shape.

  “I do, of course. I can use the node here?” She shook her head a bit. “Sorry, Ed, it’s Keeley? I’m not trying to trick you, this is just my date night face. I’m meeting up with Ravi after this. He’s working at the grocery store again tonight.”

  The words got him to nod.

  “Right. You know, we were joking a few days ago about him coming to work here? We have a position opening up. Being a line walker, he could get here easily enough.” The words were actually considering. As if he meant it.

  “I’ll ask if he’s interested? Probably not, to be honest. Now me, I have time in my schedule, at least in the evenings. He’s busy all the time. Really, for daytime work… Um… Can you use a Human for that? If they’re a good worker, I mean?”

  He nodded, “We can use someone like that, actually. Do you know such a person?”

  She shrugged.

  “Possibly. Let me make a call? It might fall through. If I don’t ask, I won’t know, right?”

  There was a nod, the man turning to make up a basket of blood from the cooler, as Keeley dialed her mother.

  It picked up on the third ring.

  “Hello?” The voice was fresh and chipper. It was happy sounding, if in a normal, rather Human, way.

  “Hey, Mom. This is Keeley? You know, the daughter you wished you never had?”

  “Oh. I… Hello.”

  She sighed, since the tone had totally changed.

  “I know, I know. I’m not trying to bother you, but being that I’ve given up being a Greater Demon, I’d figured on letting you know that. I was just in Yoghurt World, since I’m taking some blood to a friend. He lost his son last night. So, I was thinking of you.” That wasn’t totally true.

  “That’s horrible. That he lost his son. Do I know him?”

  Keeley had to think, but nodded.

  “Bey? The Vampire. His son, Chiang, tried to kill him. Actually, he took four small cities hostage, threatening to kill all the people in them, if Bey didn't give himself over to be executed. He was going to do it, but I’m not kidding about the ex-Greater Demon thing. It isn’t just me, either. Most of us have given it up. So a bunch of us and some of Bey’s other friends went in and saved them.” She used that as a segue to her real point. “Then, Karen, one of the people that works here, fought Chiang, in hand to hand combat. Unarmed for her. She subdued him. As a reward, she’s been given a lot of work to do. Training and what not. So, I was wondering if you wanted her old job here? It’s mainly making frosty treats and selling blood. There are Vampires occasionally, but hey, you know a lot of that type and don’t seem bigoted against them.” She also had her own business doing flower arrangements.

  Plus, a bit of agoraphobia and OCD. At least if Zack hadn’t fixed that for her. He hadn’t the last time they’d met in person.

  There was silence for a moment, then a humming sound.

  “I… Guess? Things have been a bit slow for me, over the last few months. Half a year. I stopped working with Clara. Mainly due to location. Being up here… Well, it’s lovely, but my business contacts are all in Arizona. I could use the money.”

  Keeley rolled her eyes.

  “I get the point where you don’t want to ask me for anything, given how rude you were to me, but really, you have a few million in your account. You don’t exactly have to work, if you don’t want to.”

  Those words got raspberries blown into the phone, followed by a soft growl.

  “I can make my own way, thank you very much. I’m an adult. Even if I am rude to my daughter. At least we got you to adulthood, before I flipped out on you. That’s a win, don’t you think?” She seemed contrite. Also like she was actually planning not to be a bitch about the whole thing, if she could manage it.

  So Keeley forced a chuckle.

  “It is, actually. I can set an appointment for you here, for an interview, then? How about tomorrow morning? Call it six or so?” That was early, but if you wanted to work with Vampires, you had to be willing to be up at odd times.

  Her mother knew that though and didn’t whine about it.

  “I can be there. At Westfield, right?”

  “That’s the one. Yoghurt World. Come prepared to work, if you get the job. Really, the job is nearly made for you. You get to clean a lot, make pretty frozen treats… The blood portions are a little we
ird, but you don’t have to touch it or anything, just warm it up. You know how to cook, so that won’t be a problem.”

  Her mother laughed, then.

  “I’ve heated up more than one mug of blood in my time. For your friend, Rebekah, mainly. How is she doing? I haven’t really been in touch with people. Not since… you know.”

  Everyone had that one down.

  “She’s good, I think? She has a new look. I learned how to do some shape changing and healing. I do that part time now. I also have a new job with the Coalition of Nations. I just investigate strange things.” She didn't mention the other things she did. “With Division Six.”

  Her mom coughed then.

  “The people that handled that attack on the White House? I watched that on television. That was horrible. How those evil creatures dropped all those people like that.”

  Keeley rolled her eyes. It hadn’t exactly been that way, after all.

  “It wasn’t an attack. The Settlings were just giving gifts to the President. Nice tasty Humans. They were mortified when they realized that us strange two-legged beasts were the people here. They offered to leave, after that. It was just a misunderstanding. They’re different, not evil.”

  “You were there?” Her mother paused. “I… Saw a woman there, flying, but she didn’t look like you.”

  That got her to chuckle.

  “That’s my new work face. My hot boss thought that my regular look was a bit too much to ask people to be around. Right now, I have one of my other looks going on. I have a date later. Um, Hally and I broke up. About a month ago. She left, because, you know, I used to be a Greater Demon. I can’t blame her for it, really. That didn’t make it any easier, but you know how that kind of thing goes.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that, honey! I didn't know. I shouldn’t have cut you out of my life. You have a date though? Plus, you aren’t a demon anymore? I didn't know that was an option. Weren’t you born one of those?”

  That was the thing everyone got hung up on.

  “That was always a hereditary job, as it turns out. Part of it was required of us, I think, to keep the veil up. When that fell, we weren’t needed for it anymore, so most of us have changed. It isn’t just me, either. All of the ones that you’ve met have given that up. Which doesn’t mean we’re all sweetness and light. I mean, I’m working on it, but it’s hard. I stopped controlling my emotions constantly and it turns out that I’m a bit different than I thought I was.”

  Her mom, seeming interested, urged her to go on.

  “Different how? Angry all the time, or…”

  “You’d think, but not that, really. I’m way more interested in sex than I’d figured I would be. I mean, pretty close to constantly. More territorial than I used to be, as well. I mean as far as collecting people. Not as slaves. I have a few left, but got Tyler Gartner to safely break the links on all but a few. I have six now, it was about fifteen hundred before.”

  Edom looked up at her, a wicker basket in his right hand. Four bottles were tucked into it, wrapped in a red and white checked napkin. That was handmade, but the stitching was perfect enough that Keeley couldn’t find any errors in the visible parts of it. Digging into her back pocket with her right hand, the phone in her left, after a bit of shifting around, she got her wallet out.

  “Mom? I need to pay for this now, then go. I’ll talk to you soon? I mean, we can do that on the phone if you want. You know, so you don’t get demon cooties all over you?”

  That got a laugh.

  “We’ll talk. I can see I was being a bit… Reactionary. I should have been a better mother. Really… I was just afraid. Everything was real one day. I can’t really explain it, can I? You always knew. About everything.”

  That was mainly correct. Sure, when she’d been a kid she hadn’t known about the rest of the world, but kids didn’t. When you were young you kind of understood that there were things you had to learn about. Everyone told you that. Constantly. At least she’d felt that way at sixteen, when Darla had informed her that she was, like it or not, a Greater Demon. Before that, Keels had just thought she was strange. Possibly autistic. Maybe a psychopath.

  Adding those two things together was close enough to reality, she knew.

  “Love you mom. I’ll have to bring Ravi around soon, for a visit. He’s a line walker.”

  “Like your friend, Zack?” Her voice softened then, going just a tad too sexy at the idea of talking about Zack. Keeley nearly growled over it, then didn’t.

  “Right. Just like that. Except that, of course, Zack is your grand-nephew. Not that a little thing like that should stop you from hitting that, if you want to. You aren’t blood relatives, after all.” Which was true in every way.

  The words got a laugh, at least.

  “I should call the person I have an appointment with, to confirm that. I think I can find the number.”

  Keeley just gave it to her, then hopped off the phone.

  She payed quickly, since the phone rang after a minute, just as she was finishing up. She waved to Edom, not interfering in his business. After all, she was trying to help people, not be a pain in the rear. She had to find the right memories to learn where Bey would go. To that end she looked into the copy of his mind she was holding in the library outside her own head. Floating around her, to the right.

  Bey actually lived at the main node complex there, which she’d been at the day before. A thing that had been totally held by the Vampires. Now, almost all of them would be gone. On the good side that meant she wasn’t attacked instantly, when she moved from the hole in space in the back of the yogurt shop, taking a single step through reality to a very similar scintillating weak spot on the other side.

  This time, there weren’t hundreds of candles lighting the place up. Rather than pull a flashlight, which she had in her gear, which was hidden in a pocket universe that followed her around, being linked to her body as it was, Keeley used a small bit of magic and a lot of focus, to cause the air to glow over her head. It was a dim spot in space to begin with. About the size of a basketball.

  Then, slowly, it got brighter.

  Where there had been a few Vampire bodies and blood, the day before, there was only freshly scrubbed stone now. It was nearly polished, it had been cleaned so hard. There was a sound of movement, off in the distance.

  Meaning it was time to call out. At least if she didn’t want to spark an embarrassing fight.

  “Bey! It’s Keeley. I brought some bottled blood for you.” She didn’t yell it twice, getting ready to wait, if she had to, for the man to notice her. He was there. She could feel him. It wasn’t like a slave link, but he was one of her people now. That meant they were linked, on a deep level, just from that.

  Which was a thing she’d never even heard of before.

  After a moment’s reflection she thought she understood what was going on. In her wild state, her powers were reinforcing her other traits. Back when she’d been a demon, Keeley had controlled herself almost all the time. Now that she wasn’t, there were powers manifesting that she hadn’t even suspected were there. Like a connection to her people. That was clearly linked to her ability to take slaves as easily as she did.

  The tiny man appeared in front of her, suddenly. He was just there, with no sound or movement. Standing about twenty feet away. That made sense, given she was coming unannounced.

  “Hello. I know you wanted some time, but you know, I’m a busybody and couldn’t leave you alone for too long? Here. I don’t know if you need to eat, but you have the option.” Not that he wouldn’t have his own way to get food. Probably in bottles, from America.

  The man bowed, just slightly, his hands in front of him, touching at the finger tips.

  “Miss Thomson. That is most kind of you. I hadn’t thought that anyone would come this soon. Are you well? I shouldn’t have left the death of my child to you. That was, I think, cowardly of me.”

  She kept her hand out, with the basket in it. That forced him to come clo
ser, in order to relieve her of it.

  “Bey… I’m not a demon any longer, but that kind of thing doesn’t have the same effect on me that it would on many others. He also wasn’t my child. I understand that it had to be done, but I can bear the weight of it. It’s better that I carry the weight of it.” Not that the Killer of the Council couldn’t do it as well.

  He just shouldn’t have to.

  Not when he had a friend that could do it for him.

  Rather adroitly, the small man, his bald head shining under the golden light she was producing from a ball over her head, changed the subject.

  “How do you find it? Not being what you once were?”

  She blinked and then took a breath.

  “Not bad? It’s harder than it sounds like, I think. I’m not… Really good. By nature. I think in a lot of ways that my natural state is a lot like a Vampires. Some things are different. My territoriality is mainly focused on people, not space. That’s a bit different than what you do, isn’t it? I’m not controlling everything like I used to, which… Well, I don’t think I ever really met me, before. Not as an adult. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it? Still, I’m working on being a good person.” That it might not happen went unsaid.

  Bey, an ancient Vampire, smiled sadly then.

  “That is all anyone could ask. That you try to be good and keep trying, day after day. That is how I must walk the world as well. It takes a certain strength, but I do think that you might be the master of yourself that way.”

  She could have taken the words to be patronizing. Instead she just smiled, a bit sadly herself.

  “Thanks. I should go, unless you want to talk? We’ll get together soon, regardless, so don’t try to draw inside of yourself for too long over this. You can call, if you need me? Even if it’s just to talk. I can be here inside an hour.” Faster than that, unless she got busy.

  The tiny man, looking almost frail, bowed toward her again.

  “I will keep that in mind. Thank you for coming.”

  Keeley bowed back, knowing that he wouldn’t be getting in touch with her. That didn’t mean she didn’t have to say the words. Even one such as Bey would need to hear them. That was just part of Human nature and Vampires, many of them, used to be Human.