by P. S. Power
“OK, so the answer is no, in general at least, unless important. Got it. I’ll spread the word. We need something cool to offset that then. Kind of hinted that there would be something sort of naked going on. Giving away cash already, so if you think of anything, please let me know?”
“I’ll ask for ideas.” Then he hung up. Abrupt, but he didn’t sound too upset.
Keeley turned back to her dad.
“Well, good. I’m kind of shy that way. The idea was starting to freak me out a bit. Oh, hey, I was going to give all that old wine that you and mom hate to the Caterer’s. They said that they’d take it and could use it for cooking. Is that alright? I wanted to give them a little something extra, they’ve really been pulling out the stops trying to get things done on very short notice.”
“Alright… We’re not going to drink it anyway…”
The voice faded as Keeley ran to take a shower.
It was going to be a long night.
So very, very long.
Chapter eight
Showered and changed, hair still damp, Keeley wondered if she had time to use the hair dryer. It was going to be chilly out and having a wet head wouldn’t be very pleasant. It would take about ten minutes to dry her hair, but she decided it was worth the effort. She couldn’t really afford to waste even a moment though.
Keeley sighed and got dressed in a rather plain black t-shirt that had nice red short sleeves. It was new, and fit fairly well, hugging her torso tightly. She hadn’t worn a bra, but that probably wouldn’t make a difference, given how small she’d gotten in the last week. They’d been a solid B-cup before, but now she really did look a bit like a boy. She’d burned up too much of her body fat. They weren’t droopy at least. Well, nothing to be done about that either…
Or was there?
Darla had mentioned that it was so easy to make breasts larger that even human girls could do it. Under hypnosis at least. It was pretty much just causing the tissue to swell a bit, right? Closing her eyes she focused on her chest, trying to feel them as heavy, swollen and pushing against her shirt. Growing. It wasn’t an instant thing, but after about five minutes they actually ached a little. Looking down she saw why.
They were huge.
Not actually, but they weren’t an A-cup now and she sure didn’t look like a boy. At least a C-cup and in this shirt it really showed too. Smiling she brushed her hair and had to make them not hurt, so she could get through the evening. If she could do that much, and it made sense that she could, then a lot of shape changing seemed a lot more possible suddenly. Remodeling bone would probably take a lot longer, but the basic idea was there, wasn’t it?
Of course her chest really wasn’t this big and it would slip over time if she didn’t hold the idea in mind. Swollen with fluid, which strained the skin a little, but not fat, which would stick around long term. Until she burned it off.
She threw on a sued jacket and grabbed the keys, making it out the door before either of her parents could see her. It would be hard to explain that she was suddenly that different. If they noticed. They might not, she knew. Or they might have thought she just stuffed her bra. The one she clearly wasn’t wearing, just in case she did have to lift her shirt. It really was embarrassing as a thought, until she clamped it down.
Demon.
Human rules didn’t apply, not to her. Right?
Right.
At least the ones she didn’t want to bother with. That was, as far as she could tell, kind of the whole mindset. Even Darla had her moments like that, and really, Keeley had a feeling her sister was being on best behavior for now, so she wouldn’t be too scary or different. For her.
It wasn’t anything too big that gave it away, just some things on the edges, like Roy asking if she wanted to come over for sex with him and his wife. Or mentioning what human beings tasted like. Some small hesitations as if censoring herself at times. That kind of thing.
The closest event site for the evening was about a block from Raintree, so Keeley headed there first, to find a team of six people setting up, the whole thing directed by Clara, who looked a little blockier, dressed in all white, with a dorky looking white cap, kind of like a fez. No tassel on the top though. The others dressed the same way, but had black pants or on one woman, black jeans. No one would care about that, since it was a teen party, not a state dinner. If anything they all looked overdressed. Unless people came straight from the dance, then they were about perfect.
The place had been transformed though.
Instead of a small space with some playground equipment and some decently cared for grass, there were lines of glowing LED “torches” stuck in the ground every ten feet or so along the perimeter, some bamboo screens had been put up and the whole place filled with fake plants.
OK, it wasn’t exactly something that screamed teen party but it looked really nice. Keeley grinned as she walked up to Clara.
“This looks wonderful! Are all the sites like this?” It hadn’t been in the plans, but the other woman looked down suddenly, avoiding eye contact, and murmured softly enough Keeley had to lean in to hear the words.
“No Master. Each has a different theme. We had the materials on hand. As nice… I think.” She sounded horribly scared on the last line, as if saying that would be a problem.
Keeley leaned in a little closer.
“Well, it’s far more than I expected with this short a time to get the work done. I’m going to go to all the sites, but I don’t think there will be a problem. Oh, before I go…”
Keeley led her over to the trunk of her car, pushed the button on the key chain to get it open, only to find the woman, the Hsreth, cringing away. Keeley got it, she was a scary Demon and who knew what she might do. Or what she might pull from the trunk. Understanding the facts still didn’t leave her feeling happy about it. She relaxed and let that fade. Life was a lot easier without worrying, she decided. She’d have to keep that in mind.
“This is all for you and Glen. Here.” The box of wine bottles got handed over, and quickly loaded into one of the white vans the company transported things in. So did the beer, three eighteen packs.
It felt nice to be rid of them. She’d half been convinced one of the cops would see her with it and try to arrest her. That would put a crimp in her work schedule though, so now she could just skip that part.
“Now, I have to run to check on things, out of a misplaced sense of micromanagement, that probably isn’t needed at all. Then I’ll come back here and tell you how things are going. Should take until about ten-thirty or so. The real parties shouldn’t start before then. Anything you think I should know?” The words were confident, but not too bossy. Keeley wanted to sound like she just expected to get her own way, without being a pain about it. Being enslaved to another’s will just couldn’t be fun, could it? No need for her to be annoying about the whole thing.
“You must watch the Gatherer, Master. No Greater Demon, true, but a power to be contended with all the same. This one is very old, as you no doubt already know. She was sore angered by you removing us from her power and influence.” The woman sounded slightly scared again. “Though she doesn’t understand what you are. We didn’t explain when she came to enforce her will upon us. We didn’t know what you’d wish on the matter and so pretended it had nothing to do with you. She guessed anyway. Used an artifact to find your vehicle. She called and told us this, as a threat.” The fear wasn’t about Edith Givens though, it was clearly all about her.
“No need to fear me Clara, just work with me and we’ll both benefit from it. I’m known for being kind to my friends. Enemies not so much though. So Edith has been a busy girl? Good to know. Anything else I should be aware of?”
The woman nodded, “there will be attempts to spike the punch. It won’t affect the soda machines. How do you wish that handled?”
“If you see it about to happen, stop it, gently and without harm to anyone. If you cannot, report it to the officers that will be here. Try to keep at least
one container of punch free of anything like that. Understood?”
“Yes Master.” The woman looked down humbly. Of course. In her world a Greater Demon was to be feared, totally, all the time.
“Not in public please. Just Keeley. Now I’d best get to it if I don’t want to miss half the festivities. I do wonder if anyone will really show up though. Well, you get paid either way, so there’s that.”
The woman bowed which got some funny looks from her employees.
Keeley bowed back, making an exaggerated hand motion as she did, “laugh Clara. People are watching.”
They giggled about the bowing like schoolgirls and then she managed to finally get into the rental and get out of there. It wasn’t hard to find the other events, thanks to GPS, and the set up was decent at all of them. Wilson High had the nicest, to her eyes at least, it looked like a ballroom with fine red covered tables and sparkling lights set up on trellises to form a closed space. The others had been good too though.
Just as she turned to leave, since it was just before eleven and a few people had actually started showing up, Keeley caught sight of a familiar blond head. One that shouldn’t have been there at all. He was hidden behind one of the nice light fixtures, with another boy. Both were fit and both had dressed for a dance. Their dates weren’t there though. Not at all.
Sighing Keeley walked around the back and strode over calmly, smiling a bit.
“Gary, Quince. How nice of you to come to the party. This is the wrong one, of course, so I take it you didn’t come just for some extra dancing.” Gesturing at them a little she winked, hating herself for doing it, but knowing that it would seem funny.
“You both look great by the way. Did the dance go well? For that matter, who won the game?” She didn’t give them a lot of chance to answer, taking both by the hand and walking away back toward her own car.
Both of their lives crashed into her, Gary’s was a little filled with raw emotion at the moment, Quince though nearly washed that all away, with an overwhelming avalanche of history and pain. She had to lock it away just to prevent blacking out from the overload. What was clear was that both had come for different reasons.
Well, the same reason.
Vengeance.
Just different events to go along with them. Gary because of Rob, of course. Quince was there for the Gatherer though. It had taken him a long time to narrow down where she was, but he’d found her and intended to take something of his back.
Something she’d “collected”.
His brothers.
Gary tried to resist her for a moment, but she just kept walking, trying to use persistence to get him away from danger. Quince was on his own, but Gary was Darla’s, which meant kind of someone that she had to look out for too.
“Keeley… This isn’t what it looks like.” He sounded lame and Quince just walked with her, watching someone to the side of them. Hard and with hatred on his face. It was nearly rage, which got her to jerk his hand down a little, distracting him.
Glancing, Keeley saw who it was. Edith Givens.
“To what do we own the pleasure this evening? I knew that Miss Thomson was coming by, but she didn’t mention bringing a date. Dates? And such cute ones too.” There was an almost subliminal growl buried under the words, something no human could make. Gary didn’t react, but Quince did, his hand tightening on hers.
“Not dates, unfortunately. Not mine at least, This is Gary and… Kevin.” It was Quince’s “real” name, the one on the school paper work. Darla had mentioned it, and funny thing, finding out the guy was a nearly immortal mercenary kind of kept the information fresh in her mind. He gave her a funny look, but didn’t correct her.
“They’re two of my assistants for the night. There are five parties and all of them need to have the events seen to. Plus a head count, and to make sure that the right people get on camera if reporters come around. There should be a few.” Keeley figured the Chief would have done that at least. It wasn’t proper PR without the public knowing about it.
“We’re having a raffle for everyone attending, just names in a hat, but the one picked get’s a hundred dollars. I’ll be back with the cash, but we need all the names ready to go for that. Could you help us set up a table?”
The woman looked ready to backhand her for impertinence, but gave a frosty smile instead.
“Certainly, or, more to the point, I can get the writing materials from my car while these two young men do the manual labor part. Perhaps you’d join me?”
Right, like that wasn’t menacing at all. Keeley let go of the boys’ hands, just in case an attack was coming. She started walking, pointing just a little toward the right.
“Over here?” She could see the vehicle, off to the left a bit, but didn’t want to give away that she knew that. Not yet.
Hopefully the woman didn’t read minds. Whatever a gatherer was. It was probably in her memories, but she didn’t have focus to spare at the moment. The old bat led the way at a quick walk, shoulders tense, right hand in a fist. She spun by her own car door and hissed.
“If you get in my way, it won’t go well for you girl. I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m watching you. Step out of line and I’ll be on the phone to your parents so fast you won’t know what hit you, do you understand?” The implied threat kind of paled compared to what she’d expected, and Keeley had to fight to seem even a little cowed. She was going to call her parents? The woman’s go to move had been vehicular assault originally, so that probably meant she’d decided that Keeley was actually innocent, if annoying. She looked down, copying the humble look that Clara had used earlier.
It wasn’t fun at all. Focusing she remembered being scared, like standing next to Balthias. It made her shake a little, which came across well in her voice.
“Yes, ma’am. I really don’t know what this is about though. I’m just organizing parties to help keep some kids safe.” Voice trembling, she stood, swallowed hard and waited while the woman snorted, then turned around to get a notebook and some pens from a briefcase on the passenger seat.
It took a second, but Keeley finally got why this woman was so dangerous. She was insane.
“Good then girl, as long as we understand each other. Perhaps I was mistaken about you. You seem like a normal young lady now, don’t you?” It didn’t sound like that was a good thing to the women at all.
Keeley nodded and didn’t make eye contact. It meant shy in almost any situation after all. As they walked back she had to keep the act up, arms hugged just under her chest, as if suddenly cold. Both the guys were moving a long red cloth covered folding table, and looked up nearly at once, anger flashing over Quince’s face, and worry over Gary’s, seeing her so distressed.
When the woman turned from the scene, paper on the table, topped with writing implements, Keeley reached out gently and touched her hand, ready for a flood of information, or possibly nothing at all, instead finding that the woman, who was indeed a “Gatherer” was merely human.
An evil, evil human.
She did have some power though, collected over the years, gadgets and implements that allowed her to do things no regular person could, being the main portion of them. That, and people, creatures and beasts that Keeley had hardly known existed. She had her eye on the Hsreth and held a dozen others, trying to find an angle to enslave them forever. She didn’t really know that her plans wouldn’t work there either. Not with the Hsreth.
Because, outside of legend, she didn’t know that Demons were real.
Keeley wondered at that. Durgs were distantly related to Demons. Kind of the junior league version. Not much by way of magic, strong and fast, hard to kill, and she realized, able to change shape, but only over the course of years, not hours like Darla did.
So… good. The woman wasn’t ready for them at all.
When she turned back, Keeley dropped the act. Part of it. She still pretended to be a sixteen year old girl, since it was the current plan. Keeley just didn’t bother lookin
g scared any more.
“OK, you guys are in, she doesn’t realize who you are, either of you. I… Look, she had something to do with Rob’s death, she ordered it. I can’t prove that yet, but be careful. We don’t need two more dead people.” It was true. Edith had done it, ordered her six Durgs, part of Quince’s troop, the rest of them, his brothers in arms, to do it, so that Wilson High would have a better chance of winning the football game.
A stupid football game.
True, she’d ordered an attack, not a death, but the guys she had under her control didn’t play by the same rules she was used to, to them a “beating” meant going after someone until they drew breath no more. Restraint wasn’t exactly part of the training of an Acadian Apple.
They were hard core. Always.
Probably how they got away with having such a wimpy sounding name.
Both the guys stared at her. Hard. Finally she made a face.
“What do you think I’m here for? Checking up on one of the best caterer’s in town? That would just be wasting time. Now, get everyone’s name. The raffle has a hundred dollar prize and it’s a free drawing. One entry per person though. I’ll be back with some of the others later. About an hour. If worse comes to worse… Go punch one of the cops so they’ll arrest you.”
At that she turned and walked off. She needed to get to Darla and get help with all this. It was, really, her deal. Keeley was just helping out her sister. That and making her parties work.
Stupid murdering Gatherer. Who got people killed over a game? Just to keep her team wining? She’d done similar things before too. Several times in the last two months. She’d had the Durgs for years though. Trapping them nearly a decade before.
It probably explained why Quince planned to kill the woman. That and to try and break them free of whatever hold she had on them. It was a decent plan, except for the fact that killing a High School Principal at this particular party would make Keeley look kind of bad. The police too.