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

by P. S. Power

  Scotty had started to speak again, so she made herself pay attention. After all, his right hand was on her arm. Gently. That probably meant what he had to say was going to be addressed to her.

  “Will you be seen with young Mr. Pendar again? He was a most charming fellow.” It took her a second to work out what he meant by the words.

  Then, she nodded. After all, Scotty was making conversation and being rather polite, if old fashioned about it.

  “That’s the plan. He still has to call me back, of course. He claimed that would be happening today. We’ll see. You know how men are. They get the milk and then have to debate with themselves the value of purchasing the cow. That’s mainly about the cost of feed. Well, the cost in time and energy, but you get the idea.”

  That got a polite chuckle. No one spoke on the subject however, as if it might be a sensitive one for her. Especially if Ravi didn’t do the right thing and call her in a timely fashion.

  Chapter ten

  Keeley didn’t change shape for the meeting in L.A. with the production team. They were used to seeing her in what she was coming to think of as her plain form. That wasn’t really correct, of course. She’d simply spent so long looking incredible on a level that wasn’t strictly Human that now, hovering near being a seven, left her feeling lower than that.

  For over half her life, people, men and women both, had gone out of their way to notice her. To see her, no matter what she was doing. At times that had been a problem for her. Most days, doing a simple task like walking down the street had involved men and sometimes women, stopping to talk to her. Often with invitations to go out and do things with them, even if they were strangers.

  When she did similar things now, she got smiles and sometimes polite waves from those she passed. People did look at her and pay attention. It simply wasn’t what she was accustomed to receiving as far as passive adulation went. True, a lot of it was actually pretty annoying, day to day. Getting people to back off enough for her to get her work done had been an issue from time to time.

  Even Ravi had asked her out to coffee the first time they’d met. While standing in a dark alley, a creature of blackness having just been going for the man. That, the way she’d looked at the time, had been pure manipulation on her part, of course. Zack had joked with her that on a scale of one to ten she tended to walk around as an eleven.

  As in, she did things that weren’t actually possible even for a perfect looking Human woman. In short, she’d spent most of a decade and a half tricking people into thinking she was incredible, from the very first moment they’d met.

  Now, when she walked into Don Holmstrum’s office, she wasn’t even the best-looking woman in the room. The space wasn’t large, but it wasn’t filled to capacity either. Will was with her, wearing a plain blue suit jacket, tie and black slacks. On his huge frame and muscular body, it worked, leaving him seeming sporty and like an ex-military man pretending to have an office job.

  Already sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the big desk was Krista Hall, who, tense last meeting or not, got up to hug her when she came in. Will got a handshake. The other person in the room with them was Steve Moore. That made sense, given that he was supposed to be in charge of the production side of Reality Wars.

  He hugged her too, though Donald, for once, didn’t get up to do that at all. He just waved.

  “Keeley! Will! How you two getting on these days? Steve here was talking to me about some of the particulars of the set up. Steve, why don’t you cover all that for us?”

  Before speaking at all, the slightly distracted man, who was lean and dressed in tan corduroy that day, passed out some papers to everyone there.

  “We really should have Eve Benson in on this as well. She’s out of the country for the time being. Really, she’s off in a different reality, if that wasn’t a joke. It sounded important. Anyway, we covered enough on the phone that I think the script is working out. I have three locations to put forward as possible shooting sites. A lot of this will probably be in studio work. Sets and all that.” There was no question, though he looked directly at Krista, who was the director of the show, or would be, if it ever got off the ground.

  “Right. It’s going to be that and actually trying to set up in alternate realities. I um… Got with Zack Hartley on that, to see what it would cost. It sounds kind of pricy. About ten million each time we want to set up a location shoot.” She winced and shook her head, then glanced at Don, by habit.

  Keeley snorted, getting Steve to look at her.

  Before he could speak, she did. Stealing the march.

  “We can get it for free. We just have to work with different line walkers for the work. We need… I think Kaitlyn Swanson, Phillip Hart and possibly Avery Rome, for those. Really, given that Kait and Avery are going to be working on the show with us, we should make a point of getting with Phillip on it. I don’t really know him. We’ve never met.” That didn't seem like a big deal to her, actually. “Plus, I can do part of the work that way. I’ve picked up how to do it in the last month or so.”

  No one there thought that was a big deal, even though it meant she’d really stepped up her line walking abilities. She’d even had lessons in how to do it from Zack. A thing that would have been impossible to set up before. Don clapped a few times, and then looked a little troubled. Mainly because he wanted to tell her something and it was clearly counter to the idea that she’d put forward. In general, that meant he was wrong, of course.

  Still, not listening to other ideas was a good way to miss things.

  “You have something else for us, Don?”

  The man, who was good looking enough now that Krista kept glancing at him, even if she didn't like him very much, cleared his throat. He had permission to speak from her now. It made her sound bossy and like she was controlling the conversation. Which was honestly the truth. Anyone that knew about her would be able to work out who her slaves in the room were. Both Steve and Don were just a bit too deferential to her. Too attentive by far, even if a better-looking woman was right there, feet away from them. Most men would have kept coming back to Judy, even if Keeley had been the hot one at the moment. She was an Alede and that kind of thing was literally a super power for them.

  “Yeah, Doll… If we don’t know this Hart guy, how do we get him to do anything for us? Especially for free. Really, as much as I hate to spend money on things I don’t have to, we need to hook him up somehow. Otherwise the unions will pitch a fit. Good call on not having Kait or Ave do that kind of thing for us. We don’t need SAG coming down on our behinds if we can help it.”

  That hadn’t really been her reasoning, even though it was a good enough point, now that it was mentioned. Rather than point out that she didn't care about that kind of thing, since mind control was something she planned to work on soon anyway, Keeley nodded.

  “Right. So… Why not get with Phillip and set him up as Steve’s assistant here? I don’t know if he can do the work, but even if it’s only getting coffee and line travel, it will be worth it. That gets around the unions, right?” The producer’s side didn’t really have that kind of thing going on, being considered separate from the rest of the production. Really, they were thought of as management, more or less.

  Donald laughed. It was fake, of course. Steve just shook his head. His voice was a bit more serious when he went again.

  “Do you think we can… Trick him like that? I mean, no one that can make millions per job will be willing to work for a few hundred thousand a year while getting coffee.”

  There was truth in the words. Keeley shrugged and then shook her head.

  “You won’t be tricking any of the line walkers. The idea is to offer him a novel experience, while you openly get his help, in a sideways fashion. Here, really, we should just call him up first and see if he’s interested at all.”

  She had the number, in her head. Mainly because she had Zack’s data, as well as Eve’s and Avery’s. They all had updated numbers for the man
. Avery used to date him, and the other two were in charge of various parts of his schedule.

  No one told her to stop as she dialed the phone. She even just called the man directly, since he seemed to be approachable enough. He was in his early twenties, single and used to women getting in touch with him that he hardly knew at all, from the rumors about him.

  On the second ring, the phone picked up.

  “Phil here.”

  She didn't hesitate at all.

  “Hi, Phil. This is Keeley Thomson. A friend of Avery and Eve’s. Zack is my nephew.” She didn't know if the man would have ever heard about an aunt Keeley from his boss, so didn’t lead with that one.

  There was a pause, though it wasn’t that long at all. Half a second. Just long enough to show he was thinking.

  “I’ve heard of you, then. What may I do for you today? I… you’re with the Coalition of Nations now, aren’t you? Zack was telling me about Division Six the other day. I’ve been hearing some stuff. People in different parts of the world seeing dark creatures. Not a lot of them, but enough that they told people who told me about it.”

  She connected the dots easily enough there and nodded.

  “We need you to get with Will Dern on that. We have some reports of similar things. Right now, I wanted to see about setting you up with a job. It’s as the lowest member of a production team. You know, working with sleezy producers to make movies? It will mainly be light cleaning, getting coffee and food and taking the cast and crew to different realities for filming. You won’t get much for it… A few hundred thousand for each shooting season. The work on it should last about six months. It won’t be full time or anything.”

  Two of the people in the room with her seem scandalized by her approach. Steve and Will just watched her, as if she might be on to something. Then, they weren’t lazy or vain by nature and knew that at least some other people might not be as well.

  From the pink and silver device in her hand, there was a low sound. Almost a humming.

  “Uhhhh… Sure? I mean, I want to know more about the whole thing. Is this for Eve’s show? Or, something that Avery is in? We used to date, so she might not want me around.”

  Interestingly, Keeley had information on that last bit. Avery had dumped his ass, not because the boy wasn’t interesting or attractive, just because she’d been looking to get married and settle down, and he was an alternate reality hopping hottie that needed to be off playing the field for at least a few decades before he was going to be ready to commit.

  In short, Avery Rome didn't have a problem with him at all and still thought of him as a friend. That was foolish of her, but what was right there in the memories Keeley had picked up from her on their last meeting.

  “That won’t be a problem. Avery is very cool with you. Yes, though, she’s in this and it is Eve’s project. Judy Swan is the female lead for it. Kaitlyn Swanson, the line walker, is in it as well. Which is why we need you. We have three line walkers already on this project, but two of them are talent, which means they won’t be allowed to do work off the books like this. Zack already set the price at a discount for it, at about ten million per scene. Which we could technically afford. The thing there is that I want shooting in other locations to be a real option. That could mean half a dozen different realties for some of the episodes.”

  The boy, like all of the line walkers, was mentally adroit enough.

  “So, you’re the other line walker? Are you working with me on doing the transfers then?”

  She sighed.

  “I have a bit part in this so might not be able to do that either. I don’t suppose you have a spare line walker that we could use for this? We could hire them on as… I don’t know, the shoe shine person or something?” After all, their sandwich and coffee guy didn't need a partner. Not just for that.

  “You know… Let me ask after that for you? I have some ideas. Well, one. Vince. He only has one girlfriend right now and she lives in a different world. Putting him around some cute actresses might not be a horrible thing.”

  Keeley didn’t respond to that, since Krista would have a fit if she thought they were selling their talent just for incredibly expensive line travel.

  “I’ve met him. We can do that, if he wants? Otherwise… Well, I can make it work. We’ll have at least two people working things that way. Thanks, Phillip. I’ll have the papers you need to sign delivered to you. Probably tomorrow. That or come and get you, so you can walk into the office here directly. When would work for that?”

  There was a pause, then something like a soft grunt.

  “Call it ten in the morning?”

  She repeated that out loud, and while Don was going to be busy, he wasn’t the one that needed to have time to interview a new assistant.

  Steve waved a hand, checked his data pad with a few efficient taps and nodded.

  “That works on my end. Tell him that he has an hour with Steve Moore at ten a.m.?”

  There was a chuckle from the phone.

  “I heard that. Thanks, Keeley. Um, we’re on a first name basis, right?”

  “Yep. Thanks Phillip. I’ll meet you at… Call it Candles and More at nine-forty-five?”

  That way they could see if Vince wanted to play with them or not, at the same time. At least it was one of his normal work days and Lisa, his boss, should be there at the same time.

  After they hung up, Don writing something the whole time, Krista went a bit wide eyed. Her blue eyes seemed bright and chipper. Also a bit different. Then, once Keeley bothered to pay attention, it was clear that she no longer had a link to a Greater Demon.

  It was a thing that could be broken and the last that Keeley had heard it was even in the works. Apparently, Darla had decided to go the slave free route for herself. At least a reduced slave menu, if nothing else. Keeley still had three of them herself. Two of which she needed to see about having freed, soon. They both needed a bit more work, first.

  Steve was, she knew, going to be the harder of the two people to fix. The truth was, if Donald never managed to shake his sexual addiction, the world would go on. No one would really be harmed by it. Not even him, as long as he managed not to get any more sexually transmitted diseases.

  The other man might kill people, without meaning to, if he couldn’t master his subconscious mind well enough. It was a thing that most human beings never even attempted to do. Rarely, in all of history had any of them truly mastered it. That would be difficult and might take the rest of his life to make happen.

  Really, if there was any real aid in doing it for Ravi, she wanted to try line walker training for Steve as well. Sitting in nothingness for thousands of years doing nothing but meditating and focusing their minds really couldn’t hurt, given their powers.

  That only left her last slave. The Mimic. That situation was going to be either incredibly, almost impossibly, hard to deal with or simple. After all, the last time they’d spoken, the Greater Demon had told her rather bluntly that, if she freed him he’d kill her. Not wanting to die, she hadn’t really bothered to do a lot with the being since that time.

  Now things had changed. At least outside of themselves. The problem was that, not being free to plan or plot against her, Mimic might not have been able to change his mind. Really, she didn’t think he even knew that the other Greater Demons had decided not to be that any longer. Most of them.

  That meant the Mimic could just pick to change, if he wanted. Still, if she told him about it all, there would be no reason for him to believe her. Which made the whole thing nearly impossible for her. At least if she wanted to make certain she wasn’t attacked instantly, on releasing him.

  Not trying wouldn’t work either, though.

  There was a lot more work to get done. Steve led them into it. It was interesting, since the way that the others wanted to do it would have taken hours, if not days or weeks to get done. Without doing anything other than put in some common sense and getting Steve and Don on her side, they managed to finish six mon
ths of work in about two hours. A thing that Krista noticed, even if she wasn’t tracking why it had happened. The woman was still a professional and well versed in how things in her chosen field normally proceeded.

  “Wow… this is really coming together. I was thinking that it would take at least a year and half before we started shooting. This… We can start as soon as Red Rain ends. That’s in two months. I have to admit, I’m getting excited for this project.”

  The woman hugged her again, then moved over to talk to Steve. That the two knew each other was plain. So was the fact that the woman had barely noticed him until he’d started being put in charge of various projects on his own. Not that Krista was only interested in men for their wealth or power. It was simply that her mind, her biology, pressed her to like powerful men over those that served.

  Given Steve wasn’t that great looking, not compared to the actors around him on the set, the guy simply hadn’t rated to her mind as anything more than a useful fixture until he’d become more powerful. To the actress, who was used to men throwing themselves at her all the time, a fellow that didn't bother with that, who had only focused on doing the job at hand as well as possible wasn’t useless, of course. Her brain simply hadn’t let her see that a man like that might just be better for her than a good-looking a-hole that had a lot of money, power and arrogance.

  To be honest, that didn't make Krista particularly bad or anything, compared to most women. In fact, she was actually about fifty percent better about things like that than most ladies in her current position in life. As a single woman in her early thirties, who was probably going to be attractive in a classical sense for another ten years, if not more, Krista Hall actually tried to go out of her way to be kind to ugly guys. That she thought of solid sixes as being on the unattractive side was a bit of a failure on her part. Also not a thing that she was special or particularly bad about, compared to the average American woman.

  The trick there was that she was blind to it. If she wasn’t, then she would have probably shifted her mental patterns already, since it was a learned trait, not a natural one. Women were just as good at judging attractiveness as men were, by their biological pre-sets.