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

by P. S. Power

  Which they had a meeting for later that afternoon.

  “Her… Steve Moore, Donald Holmstrum… Krista Hall. That’s probably our starting team. Well, we can see about getting with the Vampire Council on that one as well. As long as our plans won’t weaken them and we explain it openly, they’ll probably throw in with us. We might want the Line Walker… I mean Zack Hartley. One of my people. The best of us, as far as being kind, so you can just call him up and talk to him about it. Or I could, but you know, it’s safe and he’s not a tool or anything. Honestly…” She stopped then, moved behind the desk and bumped into her boss’s shoulder with her own in a way that clearly meant she wanted to have office sex with him.

  She really wasn’t as tense that way now as she had been, thanks to the attention she’d gotten the night before from Ravi. The trick there was that Will, clearly, hadn’t managed to get anything like that for himself. The man hadn’t even had time to take care of himself in the shower. It resonated across his entire being, as his conscious mind fought to make him move away from her, even while the rest of him wanted to do the opposite.

  She backed off a bit, since being aggressive that way wasn’t kind of her. The man already liked her well enough to work with her. Really, from his point of view, when she bothered to check, he already thought of her as a real friend and good partner. Keeley didn’t need to be anything other than that for him. Not for their job there.

  To her mind, you didn't leave your friends hanging though. At least she’d always thought of herself as believing that. It was, of course, more about manipulating them to do her will than anything else.

  Grabbing a pen and piece of paper she put down a list of names and numbers, from memory. There were only six of them, with notes by each one. When it was handed over to her boss, the man raised both eyebrows.

  “Zack Hartley, who runs the extra-world travel for our planet. Tarsus, The Librarian who might have information on what we’ll need to set up. Finias… There’s no reason given for why he might help out. Gregor… um…” He tapped the paper, frowning cutely. “This says he’s an angel? Easy to work with, then?”

  There was a bit of blinking on his part, since part of him understood that wasn’t what she was saying at all. Even if it was probably true. It had been when she’d been being particularly evil, after all. That should hold for them now, when they were trying to help the world as much as possible.

  “Yes, actually. Sweet guy. Kind of cute in an older priest looking way. Also, an actual Angel. One of the fallen, which means he had a physical body here. Don’t get confused by the religious stuff. He’s one of the good guys.”

  There was a note placed on the paper, as the words were simply accepted. Even if it was strange, Will trusted her not to prank him that way.

  “Then we have… Avery Rome, who I’ve met and Troy Lopez… This says I should call up and tell him that he’s being enlisted into our program against his will? That sounds a bit heavy handed. Doesn’t he do the new bridge travel thing? We can’t really afford to piss off powerful people yet. We need to save that for the important things.”

  She grinned.

  “I’ll make part of the calls. Don’t worry though, he’ll get your meaning. You should take Gregor and Tarsus. I’ll get with Eve, since she’s one of my best friends from high school. You might do Krista though, even if she’s in that group as well. We were kind of fighting the last time we spoke at length.”

  There was a nod and more notes taken, then Will looked up at her, his blue eyes concerned.

  “Explain the bit with Hall. Why were you fighting and will it impact us here?”

  Keeley didn’t need to think about what to say at all. The trick was to tell the whole truth, and not make herself look good by controlling or manipulating things too much. No more than anyone else would. Less than that, if possible.

  “It’s the thing with Donald Holmstrum. Early on in her career he did his whole casting couch thing with her. You know, if you’re nice to me, I can help your career a lot. The thing is, to her, it was a form of rape. Only it wasn’t. He’d made an offer and she accepted. Then he paid off. I stopped short of pointing out that what she’d done was actually prostitution, even though it was.” She shrugged, since her words had been a bit closer to saying that than she was making it seem like. “Which, by the way, I have absolutely zero problem with. I mean, she’s a cute woman and has unlimited amounts of sex to trade. Don on the other hand was a sex addict that would do almost anything in order to get his fix. Her doing that kind of thing was smart of her, not evil.”

  The issue was that Krista had problems admitting the truth to herself on the topic.

  Will nodded, his face seeming annoyed again.

  “Crap. Well, it had been the topic of things at dinner that one night. You should tell her you were wrong and let it go. Even if I get what you are saying. A lot of women and some men aren’t going to be able to be rational on the topic. Really, I’m not that certain that I’m not on her side here.”

  Keeley got that one, understanding more than was being said out loud.

  “I know. Men and women both give women a lot of extra leeway in life. At least in our culture, right now. There used to be more controls on women. Those have been removed, without there being any kind of balancing measure yet. So, when a woman claims she was sexually abused, most people just believe her. Even when the claims are clearly false. I mean, seriously, what would you think was going to happen if an overweight, unattractive producer asked you to his room at midnight to read scripts? I mean you, Will Dern, macho man.”

  There was a snort from the other side of the desk then.

  “I’d assume he was trying for a Will sized booty call.”

  “Exactly. If you went, then you’d probably be at least considering putting out, too. Especially if the prize for some time on your knees was millions of dollars and more fame than you could shake a stick at. Really, if that man was a woman, then you’d go to her room and actually do it, without expecting much in return at all, even if she wasn’t that good looking, right?”

  There was a blink, but no denial from Will.

  “It depends. I mean, if we’re being honest here, then probably, as long as I wasn’t in a relationship and I liked her okay.”

  Keeley winked then, making it playful.

  “Which is incredibly different than pretending that you don’t understand what certain things mean or that it’s rape if you’re asked to do something and then do it, when you could also say no.” She took a deep breath then and sighed. “Not that I don’t get your point. Most of the time it’s easier just to go along with what the women want that way. It’s just breaking society and a lot of them really can’t be bothered to see why or how it’s happening. They’re going counter to biology and then claiming that biology doesn’t exist, when they’re called on it. I don’t want that for Krista. She’s my friend.”

  There were two large hands tossed out at her then, palms up. Tossing the ball back to her.

  “I get you there. It can be hard when you see things differently than the people you love. Still, we can’t really afford to alienate her right now. I won’t order you to lie to her… Just try to fix things up, if you can.” He stopped, his face troubled. “This is a gray area. I mean, this is a personal matter and clearly you understand things in a different way than she does. Or than I do. I heard all the words you said and can admit that you’re probably right. It still feels off to me. On top of that, I’m nearly certain I don’t have a right to tell you how to handle your personal life.”

  For a moment, Keeley absorbed what he was thinking. Taking in his words, body language and intent, all at the same time. He wanted her to get along with Krista Hall, because the woman might be useful to them at work. It didn't hurt that he wanted to have sex with her, while also getting that saying anything about it, after the conversation they’d been having, would make him seem creepy.

  Even if anyone looking at the situation with clear eyes and o
bjectively would have understood that a normal man would want to bang the hot actress, in general. Krista was even nice, making it easier to see than not, for Keeley. Most of the time the woman wasn’t that hard to work with and would see reality when it was pointed out to her.

  It was tempting to keep pushing her for a while on the topic of what was rape, harassment and simple flirting. She sighed though and wrinkled her nose at Will.

  “Right. Well, I’ll patch things over. It really isn’t that big of a problem, as long as she doesn’t have a breakdown over it. That probably won’t happen. Though…” There was a shrug then.

  Will looked at her for a moment, not speaking at all, waiting for her to finish her line.

  As if it were planned, she did it then, smiling.

  “She was a slave to the Technician. My sister, Darla. If she’s been freed of that, which was the plan, then things might have changed a lot as to how she’s thinking of things. I should probably call and check on that. I’ll do that now…” She stopped then and looked around. “I need an office. It seems a little low rent with me pushing you out from behind your desk three times a day, don’t you think?” She wanted to be teasing. It came out as being perfectly manipulative.

  Like always.

  It was so well done that Will Dern just smiled at her.

  “Take the space down two doors down the hall. The big room between is going to be where the agents have their desks. Make sure you’re ready to leave at… Call it three-forty-five?”

  She nodded and left the room. Troubled, since even trying not to guide the world around her more than a normal woman, she was.

  Chapter eight

  The early portion of her wonderful new day was taken up making phone calls and setting up her brand spanking spiffy new office. The little room she’d been given to work from didn’t pretend to be large at all. About eight by eight feet, though it did have a phone jack in the wall, meaning that she was able to secure a phone and a number that day, out of the ones their central inner embassy board had left over. A thing that she had to call the Sparks embassy properties staff to get.

  Given she was their direct boss, paying them out of pocket, it turned out not to be hard at all for her to get. In fact they had her hooked up with a phone inside fifteen minutes, the man with the physical unit actually jogging to get to her as quickly as possible.

  What she lacked was her own computer, and a nice desk. She had a small table that would work for the time being, she decided. Until she could make something for herself that wouldn’t overpower the space, while still letting anyone that walked in the door understand her place in things. At the top or so near it that they’d better pay attention to her.

  The thoughts got her to narrow her eyes after a moment. While there was nothing wrong with having a nice desk, especially if it wasn’t going to cost her workplace anything to provide, the basic concept was right back to her manipulating people, in this case everyone that saw her office, without concern as to why they would be there with her. Not that she wouldn’t be building both a desk and a chair for the space, herself.

  After all, it would mark her as special, while allowing her to show off her new wood working skills.

  Sighing, she decided to make both a bit more humble seeming than her initial desire for them had been. Possibly with a chair that simply came from storage, so that the workmanship wouldn’t be about her showing off. Part of her wanted to ignore the thoughts, while another idea tried to take over, understanding that she needed to manipulate people into thinking she was just another worker there. One with limited resources, even if that wasn’t truly the case.

  Both of the warring thoughts were unneeded, of course. Keeley Thomson was there as herself, with no lies or tricks involved. Not too many, at least. Even if it was going to be hard in the moment for her to act like it. That kind of thing had never really been the demon way. She could pretend to be humble, or outrageously grand. Neither of them was a true reflection of what she wanted though. It was, and had always been, about her controlling the world around her in subtle ways.

  Smiling, since it was obvious to her what was really going to be needed in the end as far as being herself went, she dialed her cell phone, since she had it on her and most of the people that she’d be calling weren’t going to have a problem with understanding that it was her, first thing.

  Krista Hall had been her first call of the day, earlier. To show that she was important on a deep level that her old friend wouldn’t have understood on a conscious level at all. The woman had acted friendly toward her and not like they were still arguing over her status as either a rape victim or high-level prostitute who had been well paid for her efforts in the bedroom.

  The call hadn’t lasted long, just enough to check and see that the woman would be attending the meeting later in the day. She was, meaning they could work things out there, if they had need for that kind of reconciliation. It wasn’t until her fourth call that she had to do anything more than make nice and drop some hints that she wanted work done.

  That was to Tyler, who answered his own phone, almost instantly. His dead vocal cords making his voice sound chipper and pleasant.

  “Tyler Gartner, Coalition of Nations, what may I do for you today?”

  “Tyler!” Her enthusiasm was fake, even though she wanted to sound warm with the man. They’d had some issues in the past, after she’d raped him, while pretending to be his mother, one time. A thing that the man had, more or less, put behind them. She had too, since it wasn’t actually a problem for her, if there wasn’t going to be a fight over it. “It’s Keels. We need to set up that healing for those people from last night. I was thinking that we should get Living Proof to head out for that, since it happened at their house like it did. That way we can claim that the special healing is being paid for by them, being philanthropists, like you all are.” The words slowed without resistance from her. They were even true, though she wasn’t planning on charging anyone for the efforts.

  It wasn’t the worst idea in the world. After all, there were way more sick and injured people in the world than she wanted to spend her days on fixing. Not that it would hurt anything to do a bit of that, every now and again. If it was free, she could end up spending all her time doing that kind of thing, without end. Worse, it would eventually impact the health and well being of the whole world as people lived longer and didn't die from their stupid mistakes like they deserved to for being foolish.

  Not that she could say that out loud. That her real concern was about over populating the world like that. At least she couldn’t have as a Greater Demon. Back then it wasn’t an issue for her, thankfully. She’d been the Mistress of Souls, meaning that no one sane had ever come to her for that kind of thing, thinking the price of the work would end up being their enslavement for all time. The rest of her kind were, generally speaking, in the same place, more or less. They could have cured and healed anyone they wanted.

  Doing it for free simply hadn’t been allowed, so no one had come up with a way of preventing the world from trying to abuse them over the idea. Now, if she was going to play at being good and kind, they might attempt that.

  The easy thing to do would be to put out rumors about how much it cost to have the work done. A million dollars a go would probably be enough. That and some scheduling issues if she didn't want to do the work on specific people. Or she could simply say no, if she wanted. After all, she was trying to be a good person. That didn't mean it was required of her to be a doormat.

  Ty inhaled, then let out a short, pleased sound.

  “Great plan. I know you mentioned something like that last night, but no one knew if that was something to ask about or not. I mean, it isn’t technically your job here.” There was the sound of someone speaking in the background. A woman’s voice that Keeley didn't recognize. Saying that they could set up the visit for twelve-thirty, so as to not deprive the lucky droppees of their well-deserved Jello.

  After a moment, Tyler spoke again. />
  “You got that? I’ll make certain the others are in on it and that we can get to the hospital from here. By car. We can’t really afford line travel fees for this kind of thing, even with our current budget.”

  That made sense. Even if they added a hundred times more line walkers, the service was still going to be pricey to use. She was about to hang up when Tyler kept going.

  “Oh… you looked cute last night. Ginger wanted me to point that out to you, since I think she’s interested in you. At least looking like that. Who knew that she liked blondes that much?”

  The words weren’t appropriate for a Human work place. It simply wasn’t one of those, so she grinned. After all, the man was probably just being honest with her, instead of trying to do anything other than what he was saying. Ginger on the other hand might have been. The Vampire had never particularly bothered to show interest in her before. Really, the only thing she’d ever done around Keeley had been to be polite.

  “Well, tell her I said thank you. I gave her number to Ravi, so he should be calling for her soon, to make a connection that way. I gave him your number as well, but I’m not certain you’ll get sex off of him as easily as she might. Not that he’s a homophobe. You just have that unfortunate penis he doesn’t know what to do with.” She wasn’t really certain that she could do anything about that, either, given Tyler wasn’t alive.

  Rather than get upset at being shown that kind of disrespect, the young-looking dead man laughed. It sounded real, if a little slow.

  “Well, I can work on him. We’ll meet out front at twelve-twenty-five. I’ll have a car and driver ready. Later.” The phone hung up before she could do anything like say goodbye or suggest they get together for a party later. Not that she had anything planned.

  If you wanted friends, you had to make a point of including people into things. That was all. Going out for drinks, or hosting parties was a great way to do that. An easy way to get people to think they were close to you, even if that wasn’t the truth yet.