Evil is... (Once a Demon Book 2)

by P. S. Power

  As if calling her was something bad, or forbidden. That or dangerous.

  Which was strange.

  Keeley was tempted to call her back. Then didn’t. Not because it wouldn’t have worked to rekindle things with her. No, it was because it would. If Keeley could simply talk to her ex, even without using magic, only words and sweet ideas that she hadn’t been allowed to whisper when her love had left her…

  It would be very possible to take over her mind and have her back. No matter what she’d decided for herself.

  Which wouldn’t be fair to Hally at all.

  A thing, that once it hit her, was clearly the real point that had been there all along. Hally hadn’t left her because of the horror that she represented. Not only that, at least. No, it was the fact that Keeley, even when she was being good and fair, was a threat to being an individual. She was simply too good at manipulating people and even attempting to give up being an evil Greater Demon, that was a part of her that was so innate she probably couldn’t help but do it to anyone too near her.

  For a moment she tried to reject the concept. To hide it deep inside of herself under a cloud of denial and clever rationalization. Except that there was one thing being a Greater Demon had taught her rather clearly. The one part of reality that her people had been correct about all along.

  Denying what existed, no matter how hard it was to look at, was insane.

  Meaning, like it or not, she had a lot to consider that day.

  Chapter seven

  By daylight, at about seven in the morning, Keels was still sitting in her living room, having not truly moved since her small personal revelation a few hours before. The answer to the problem wasn’t that hard to work out, of course. No, the fact was she had several options.

  Going away from everyone she knew was the first and probably best option, for them. At least those she was close to. Hally, Eve, to a lesser extent Tyler and Rebekah. Will Dern was a bit safer, even if she actually liked him well enough. Ravi wasn’t. It was kind of clear that the boy, who was a man of his people in truth, at twenty-five, didn’t deserve to have someone like her right on top of him all the time.

  Only, there was no real way for her to do that, without admitting that she was evil through and through. Something so very dark that even pretending to be good for a while wasn’t worth even trying.

  That idea got her to smile. It was a fake and bitter thing, that she meant, even if no one was there to be manipulated by it at all.

  After all, evil as a concept was best examined under the light of what a person did to and for society as a whole. If at the end of the day your actions helped the people around you as a group, you were good. No matter why you were doing it. On the other hand, if you harmed the collective, then you were counted as evil.

  That was why hurting children was considered worse than murder. By doing bad things to the little ones a person was damaging the ability of the tribe to go on in the years to come. It warped the whole, if in small ways. Things that the Human mind generally couldn’t see happening, the time spans being longer than the half year or so that people could track things like that.

  Keeley knew that it wasn’t going to be hard for her to beat that portion of things. She could refrain from sexually abusing any kids for instance and always had. Murder was in the same vein for her. Oh, she knew that killing would always be easier for her than most regular people. The idea of doing things like that didn’t really bother her on the same level of being for one thing. It was a control mechanism that she simply lacked. When she killed, there were no bad dreams or worries over being caught later.

  Still, there was no compulsion for her to take lives, either. She’d do it without thinking if it was needed. Like a soldier was supposed to, or a police officer. Neither of those groups truly managed that kind of thing, of course. Soldiers were almost always left broken by war, unless they’d started out insane. Police, well most of them actually weren’t very good people to start with. They painted a thin veneer of being public servants over their mental problems. It allowed about a third of them to kill without remorse, after the fact. At least once they had a chance to rationalize to themselves that they’d done the right thing and their in-group reinforced that for them, no matter how badly they’d screwed up.

  She wouldn’t need that kind of thing. The people that she’d killed simply didn’t affect her the same way, after the fact. On the other hand, letting go of that kind of action, for the most part, wouldn’t hurt her feelings either. She wasn’t, as a rule, filled with personal rage. Thankfully. Some Greater Demons, the old insane ones, clearly had more of that kind of thing to deal with than the rest did.

  The sofa creaked as she stood up, deciding that eating another meal was in order, before heading off to work for the day. Even if it was supposed to be another day off for her. Throwing herself into work of various sorts was a better plan than not doing anything at all. That, being lazy, wouldn’t work for her at all, she knew. Only being slightly distracted was going to let her blunt the edge of her thoughts at the moment. Her worries about not being able to truly be good in the long run.

  Even as she knew that everyone had to struggle that way in life. The best person, even angels, she thought, had to make certain they did the right thing. The two that she’d met to talk to at length had both told her that being pure and good at their level was a scant hair away from being truly evil. At least her notes of those conversations with one of them spoke of that kind of thing. The difference was, that angelic, goody-good sort did it all for the right reason. Her training had given her a guide for the opposite. Doing things for the wrong reason was her knee jerk reaction. She served herself above almost everything. Even when she did things for others, there was, normally, a catch. A plan to turn it all to her own benefit in the end.

  All she had to do was live her life each day trying to do what was really the best for everyone else. Within reason. It was that caveat she needed to watch in herself. No one thought she needed to become a totally selfless being of light and love. Clearly, that wasn’t going to be possible. What she had to do was not allow herself to slip into taking the easy path all the time. Doing the wrong thing, simply because it was easier for her.

  Like making slaves of people that mildly annoyed her, or who she didn't have an instant way to fix, otherwise.

  Standing, she moved to get the food she needed, making a point of eating almost everything in the house that was left. It was a lot for her. A thing that most of the time she’d resisted doing in her life. Not that it left her feeling full or anything. Just with more energy than she was used to dealing with.

  After cleaning up, making certain the dishes were sparkling in the drying rack and her counters and table were crumb and grease free, Keeley called in a repeat of her normal food shipment. She had things brought in twice a week, since they could be left in boxes outside her house, most of the time. The clouds above still threatened rain, when she cast her mind in that direction to check.

  Which wouldn’t really matter for most of what she was getting.

  Then, after another quick shower and change of clothing, looking tidy and a bit boring with her long nose and thick lips, she walked into her yard and opened a portal into one of the side offices at the Coalition building. In the basement. A small closet down the hall from Will’s office, in fact.

  That meant she walked in at nearly nine sharp, to find her boss on the phone already, looking at the far wall. Seeming annoyed again. Given the fact that the call didn’t seem angry making in particular, lacking in yelling or really good use of invective as it seemed, it was probably down to the fact that there were still listening devices all over the place.

  “Sure, Mr. Moore. I can be there, I think. I… She just walked in. Let me ask?” He smiled, the thing not being exactly real, as he looked over at Keeley. “Steve Moore is setting up a meeting for us, today at four? We’ll need to be in at Donald Holmstrum’s office for that.”

  The look clarified a bi
t for Keeley then, since he’d already suggested that he might be able to be there in seven hours, which was possible if he left right then and drove straight through, or if he could book a plane flight. Since they had a day’s worth of work left first, a thing that a four o’clock meeting would be cutting into a bit, in theory, it clearly meant that the man wanted her to take them in and get them back home. For free.

  A thing he’d assumed without asking her first.

  Keeley fought down her own feeling of irritation then. After all, part of her job there was about taking people places. She had the skills for it now, without it being all that much work or too big of an energy drain. Plus, there was a small chance that her boss was going to learn to do that kind of thing for himself one day soon. Making it even more important for her to set the precedent of being helpful that way. Early on, before the man himself was being required to take half their staff all over the world and into different realities for free.

  There was a very small chance that would happen, but still, it fit with her new plan of trying to be good, or at least act that way, so she allowed it, without making him pay for it.

  “We’ll be there. Four sharp. Um… Hi, Steve! Have you been keeping up with your meditations?” It had only been about four days since they’d talked and the man didn’t get a real choice in what he was doing. That combined to mean she already knew the real answer to the question, before asking it. It was the kind of thing you did though, if you wanted friends. You spoke to them and asked simple questions, so they had a chance to answer without feeling like you were reading their minds all the time.

  His subconscious mind had been putting out energy beings, since the man had the same basic power type that Ravi had. The big difference was that the dark energies Ravi had put out had, when she’d seen them, only gone for the man himself. They’d been turned inward and were, in the end, harmless.

  Steve Moore’s mind had tried to murder his boss, several times. The power level he’d shown hadn’t been anything that she couldn’t beat, of course. It had been enough that he could have eventually killed millions though, if left unchecked. Worse, since it wasn’t conscious for him, the man would have watched the world being destroyed around him and never connected it happening to himself at all.

  Listening carefully, after Will relayed what she’d just said, she picked up on his words. It wasn’t truly a matter of sound, since his intent to speak to her resonated along the energy line that they shared. The thing that enslaved him to her will, totally.

  “I have been. Doing that fountain visualization, she taught me. Um… I need to talk to her about that. When I finished, there was a six-foot-tall water feature in my apartment this morning. It didn’t last for long, about two minutes…” There was a chuckle then. “Which is a bit strange. It probably means that someone slipped some peyote into my drinking water, doesn’t it?”

  There was no tone of real concern over it from the man, since he hadn’t been allowed that kind of feeling. All he could worry about was his day job. A thing that he’d always done that with anyway. Which was why he was making appointments for that day, at nine in the morning with them, no doubt.

  Keeley smiled at the words.

  “That’s great!” She made herself loud enough that his subconscious mind would pick up her words, even if he didn't really hear them. “We need to get you in for the new training program soon, if you get a chance. Until then, keep up the meditation. When you can hold the fountain there constantly for a day, you should be ready.”

  The trick she was playing was that Keels didn't just order him to focus and do it. Her goal was to teach him how to get his deeper self to do what he wanted done consciously, all the time. A thing that he didn't have real control over yet. Though making a projected fountain like that, a marble and stone work that was complicated enough to be interesting, since that was the order she’d given him on the matter, was brilliant of him. Even if it had only been there for two minutes.

  It meant he was having the desired effect.

  Will smiled, since she was doing it. To him it probably meant things were going well as to their rehabilitation program for the inadvertent threat they’d uncovered. Which it was, so she nodded subtly, to let him know they were actually on the same page.

  Shifting the black cordless phone a bit, pressing it to his right ear, Will spoke again.

  “That’s incredible! Thomson wants to make some time with you soon, for a more intensive training program. We’ll work that around your normal schedule, of course. See you at four?”

  There were a few more words then, with the television show producer getting off the line quickly enough not to be more of an annoyance for Will.

  The big man smiled at her then.

  “That’s… It’s a good thing, right? Him doing that kind of thing. Making that fountain appear like that?”

  She nodded, meaning it. A feeling of warmth moved through her, that she didn't really recognize at first. Then she got it, after checking the feeling against the information in her memories. Pride. She was proud of Steve, on a real level that she hadn’t known was really possible for her. Faking the emotion was well inside of her abilities. Doing it spontaneously was interesting, she had to admit.

  “As far as I can tell, it’s huge. Steve and Ravi are probably two of the strongest projectors that way so far. They won’t be all of them by any means. My best estimate is that we’re dealing with about ten thousand people on the planet that are going to be near the same rough range as those two. It sounds like a lot…” Explaining that it was a tiny fraction of humanity, instead of something they couldn’t beat at all was probably well inside her job description.

  Instead there was a nod back.

  “Thank God. How certain are you on those numbers?”

  She wiggled her right hand in the air. Just to show she really wasn’t all that certain on the matter.

  “Um… It could be up to double that, or half. I’m basing it on the rate that I drew them to myself. I live inside a Human society, so that’s probably about right. It’s a small enough number that we can actually teach them all if we have to. For now. Worse comes to worse, we can enslave or kill them all.” She grimaced then, even if it was the truth. They had people listening and they might get worried if they thought that the CoN was plotting to kill thousands of normal people. “So far, I doubt it will be needed. That leaves the big issue as being what the collective of Humanity does. The group mind will be the real problem, over time.”

  Her boss, along with being cute enough, was also smart and willing to fight, if it came down to it. Meaning that her mentioning murder as an answer for their problems didn’t phase him much at all.

  “That’s what the longer-term projection was based on? That two hundred years for things to really start going wrong?”

  She pointed at him, playfully. After all, being the bitch at work wasn’t going to make her any friends. A thing that she really wanted to have, she decided. Even if it was dangerous for the people around her, if her intentions toward them weren’t for the best. It was a risk, since her nature steered her toward influencing others, with every move, word and thought.

  “Correct in one, boss. Clearly, we’re seeing things happening a bit faster than we’d been told it would. Then, no one really knew what would happen. The best we had was an understanding of how long it took everything from back in the day to leave the first time. It…” She frowned then and shrugged. “Really, some things might get stronger or weaker than they used to be. I mean, clearly, Vampires are part of the collective unconsciousness that existed before the veil and got stronger when it was up. The thing is, now we have television and computers. People know that these things exist and as they learn more about them, it’s possible that many of them will gain powers.”

  She’d had the thought before. The same was true of Shifters and even her own people. The big difference was that Shifters were a race of people. Vampires were clearly an idea that had started in the fear of death
held by primitive mankind. An idea that had grown, clarified and changed, even with the minds of Humanity being locked into a single cage for thousands of years.

  Will frowned then, his face honestly troubled.

  “Which isn’t all that great. What do you recommend we do about that?” He tapped the flat black desk top in front of him with the pen he had in his right hand. It was glass, over black painted wood. The thing had just shown up one day and was probably filled with listening devices. The NSA and FBI had to be interested in the idea of the Coalition of Nations having their own investigative branch. Even if it really wasn’t about crime or anything of that nature at all.

  A hundred ideas vied for her attention all at once. The simplest thing for them to do was a combination of things, however. Really, if they did it correctly, they wouldn’t even have to do most of the work.

  “We set up that training program. See if the line walkers’ new program will work for that, first. I’ll get you and Ravi into that, if I can, so you can judge it for yourself. Then, we need to flood popular media with good examples of Vampires. Show them as a mainly positive force. Not purely so, since no one will believe that. Just like people, with a limited set of powers. Things that they can increase, but only by becoming responsible and good beings. There’s actually some precedent for that. Their ruling council is, more or less made up of Vampires like that. Powerful, but if you really look at them, that strength comes first from discipline and self-control. We can sell people on that idea, given what we have to work with as examples.”

  The nice thing about Will, Human or not, limited in what he knew as he was, came down to the fact that he was smart enough not to need to have his hand held all the time. When he did, it was mainly about not having all the information, rather than him being too slow to work things out.

  “All right. Can you get with the needed people and put that kind of thing into motion? I don’t know who to get for that. Your friend, Eve Benson? She writes, doesn’t she?” He knew that she did, at least to the level of being responsible for the new Reality Wars television project they had going on.