by P. S. Power
“Wait!” The telepath looked shaken enough that the others all buzzed at him then, their supersonic version of yelling, it seemed, even though they were very still otherwise.
After half a minute, just as she readied herself to act again they all bowed.
“The girl shall be returned without further harm. Some have fed on her and Elis… had his way with her. He used coercion, but not force.”
Elis was betrayed with a single glance from the leader, he was in the line behind the pale man, in the very center of five. At least he cringed, knowing he was going to die.
So not an incredible moron?
“Fine, him and two others as my slaves. Three million and the girl unharmed more than she has been. If the harm is too great, then I take you all as my slaves. Do we have a bargain?”
The man shook his head.
“No. I can’t just let you take my people. I’ll triple the money.”
“Fifteen million, Elis and the girl on the left. She looks pretty enough. I like her hair color.” Keeley did too, it was a very unusual copper tone that actually looked a bit like metal thread.
Neither Darla or Dan were looking at her, since it was her business and really, they didn’t want to be involved. This was about to go very wrong, if these beings didn’t give her a lot more than they were offering. This was the last pass for negotiations, she decided. She’d just take them all as slaves and call it done then. After that she could just take all their funds anyway. It’s what ownership meant.
There was a reason she was called “Mistress of Souls” after all.
“Deal? Take it or leave it. Or would you like to attempt to defeat my will? No one has ever succeeded that wasn’t another Greater Demon.” It was pure truth. She broadcast that fact and readied herself on a level that had the telepath starting to push Elis forward by brute force. The leader finally had a slightly nervous look about him and the others looked like they were about to die.
“Rebekah, go, if you don’t she’ll take all of us. We… didn’t mean anything. Go, Elis, go!”
The panic in their otherwise still red eyes was delicious. It didn’t make up for her rage though, did it? Not at all.
She pointed a finger at Elis and focused her total being on him, everything she had in that moment locked on to his eyes.
“You are mine, or you die right here, do you understand? Do you agree? Any action you take will work as a full and true sign. Do you understand? A blink, a breath, a thought…” Nothing happened for a second, then two, she focused harder.
Ten.
Then it locked home, a sense of twisting inside her, a true lock being set. One that would never be broken.
“And there we go. Rebekah? Do you wish the same bargain? You have not harmed me or mine, so if you wish, I’ll leave you your will, in return for absolute obedience. Choose now.”
The female Vampire also had a broad mouth with rows of sharp looking pointed teeth. She wasn’t a grand vision of loveliness, but she’d do well enough that way, at need. She actually seemed to bother bathing and brushing her teeth, if the memories from Terry could be read that easily.
Instead of a big production and clash of wills, the woman just sank to her knees on the grass where she stood.
“I will serve you, totally. Mistress.” The words caught in her throat, which made sense. She was the bottom Vampire in their clutch. That meant she had to do all the work, was used for sex and even took care of over half the hunting, while the others played and made merry. At least Terry actually bothered to run a business, which kept that part of things going well. As a group they were rich.
Good.
No excuse not to have her money then.
She nodded.
“Very well, Elis, Rebekah, go and retrieve your new sister Eve. Elis, if you ever take any of my people by force again without permission, in any way, you won’t survive it. Do you understand? You will destroy yourself before you try. You may not harm anyone without my permission from this point on and you may not attempt to lie to me, escape or harm me. From now on, Rebekah is your leader. If you fail her, you fail me, and you die. Go.”
Then Keeley glanced back at Terry, ignoring the two people that moved, but looked hesitant.
It was the girl Vampire, woman really, she looked to be in her late twenties, who explained, carefully not making eye contact.
“Mistress? We don’t have a vehicle, we came with Terry…” She seemed ashamed of the fact.
“Are there others guarding Eve?” This got a nod from both her new people.
“Fine. Terry, please contact them and have them bring her along. You may take Elis with you. Elis, if they attempt betrayal, do your very best to kill them all. Unleash the truth and total power within, in that case, even if it means your own destruction, understood? How long will this take?”
Her new slave Vampire was breathing, which the others didn’t bother with, almost panting. Afraid.
“About twenty minutes? Maybe slightly longer if the others balk. They might not listen to me, if Terry orders them not too.”
Keeley nodded. It was a risk then. Everything in life was. Well, Eve was only one girl, and two Vampires trumped that. Or more, if the money wasn’t delivered in a timely fashion. She didn’t say that though. Breaking their agreed upon bargain would make them all her slaves after all. It was kind of great, being her. She let her rage subside.
A little. They needed to hurry though. She was getting bored.
“Terry, I suggest you not dawdle on arranging those funds either. My patience is not known as one of my stronger suits. I’ll attempt not to be unreasonable, but that will last almost exactly as long you all keep me entertained. Go now and retrieve my property. Unharmed in all ways. The rest of your people shall let these humans here go and stay until you return, without being overly noticed. Rebekah, see to that. The rest of you do as she says, without question. Now.”
They moved fast, running as if their lives depended on it. Which they did. Before they were out of earshot Keeley spun and glared at first Dan, and then Darla.
“We will have words about this. I expect all such plots to be far more interesting in the future, is that understood? If you wish to anger me, you might want to do more than to give and then steal a toy.” The words were sneering and cold, which still almost got a smile from the other two. They didn’t though. It would ruin the mood and piss her off.
“Oh, come, this one obviously wasn’t one of ours. We wouldn’t have botched it that badly for one thing.” Dan spoke gently as if placating a madwoman.
Keeley growled at him, angry still.
“Don’t try that with me, “Dan”. I know you far too well.” She did too. Going back longer than she cared to imagine.
So she didn’t. Instead she fumed a little and calmed herself as everyone else awoke. She was nearly back to normal Keeley by the time everyone else started to rouse. Everyone was confused, so Darla just put on some music and yelled loudly.
“Keep dancing! Woooo!” It didn’t work that well, since it wasn’t what Mrs. Gibson would normally say or do, was it? Keeley took over and did it herself, grabbed Rebekah and winked, then remembered not to and started dancing with her while everyone else stood up. After a few minutes most of them, still dazed, were following suit.”
“Best party ever!” She called out, getting a few slurred replies in response.
It didn’t work on everyone, the Durgs kept shaking their heads for instance and didn’t dance at all. Edith also didn’t dance, she just glowered.
Fair enough.
That situation wasn’t hers to deal with, it was Darla’s. This last one had been too, come to think of it. Oops. Well, hopefully guest rights would stop too big of a fight from taking place later. She should have just accepted the cute redhead or one of the blond boys as a replacement instead. Well, her temper was as famous as her ability to kill almost anything in existence, or bind them to her will.
It still hurt that Terry didn’t remember her. Ah w
ell. She’d just have to look him up and remind him.
They managed to get things back to normal, then breaking up by the time the others came, slightly dragging a scared looking Eve with them. Too roughly to tell the truth. Keeley was tempted to use that as a breach of agreement, but the telepath buzzed at Terry, who got Elis to let Eve go almost instantly.
She nodded and just stared at Terry, not even thinking, just waiting for him to make a mistake. The pale man gave her a slow red eyed blink and finally spoke after nearly a minute.
“I don’t know where the money should be delivered.” Terry didn’t add more, not knowing her title, other than Mistress of Souls, and just calling her Mistress would be stating she owned him. An interesting dilemma. Enough to claim they’d broken the spirit of the agreement? No. Not on that score.
“Get with these two on that. I don’t actually need money, I just like to roll around in it from time to time or give it away for presents.” She waved her hand as if it didn’t matter at all, and put her arm over Rebekah’s shoulder. The girl was slightly taller than she was. That was fine, she liked her women a little bigger. Slightly heavier too, but the Vampire was what she was. She pulled her close, relishing the slight fear the woman held in her cold tense form.
“Relax. It will be more fun that way.” She whispered into her ear, knowing that all the Vampires would hear. That and not care, most likely. They’d all had her new plaything too. Lots of use still left though. One of the benefits of owning an immortal.
She let go of her new friend as soon as Eve cam running over.
“Keeley? I, I think someone ruffied me. I don’t know what happened, but I was just going to change for the party and then I was waking up with some guy… having sex with me, telling me I liked it? Then I was here… I don’t know…” She hugged Keeley hard.
“Sorry, confused. Can you get me home, or, maybe to Darla’s? I don’t want to go to my house right now. Too many bad memories there.”
“I can do that. Maybe, should we call the police?” That got a groan from Eve and a tilt of the head from Darla.
OK, it wasn’t a real idea, but they were in public and someone had to suggest it. None of the officers were in ear shot at least, or they’d have had to deal with them too.
Eve sounded more panicked about that option than about having been raped. Then, she’d been raped a lot, for years, so maybe that was almost normal to her now? So… she wanted to avoid the police? Well, lots of people did. Mainly those that thought they wouldn’t really help them, not just criminals. It was the kind of mental error a lot of people made, thinking that not trusting the state meant a person was up to something nefarious.
Whatever her personal reasons, it worked for them in the moment. Keeley had her memories and understood the dilemma. She was avoiding Roy. Her father. There were worse reasons to not hang out with the authorities though.
She got them headed toward, and then into, the rental car, Mrs. Gibson in the front, Eve and the Vampires in the back. Dan looked at the situation, held up his right hand to wave goodbye and called for a cab.
“Don’t worry Eve, we’ll just go. Oh, this is our new friend Rebekah and her… slave Elis. If you ever want to humiliate him or anything just ask, Rebekah seems more than willing to share. Don’t worry though, Elis is into that, aren’t you, you little freak?” She made her voice smarmy, which got a laugh from all the girls.
“Yes, Mistress.” The male Vampire sounded humiliated already. Good. He had some debts to work off in that department.
Rebekah hit him in the chest with a backhand. Hard. Creating a sound that didn’t make a slapping noise as much as a bone jarring boom. The guy just took it, not moving.
“I’m your Mistress. Pay attention… slave. Or you’ll have to be punished.”
“Yes, Mistress.” He didn’t sound meek this time, but he got the words right. Eve kind of chuckled again and shook her head.
“I don’t get some people. To each their own I guess. As long as it’s all consensual… God, what did I ever do to make these things keep happening to me? I…” Tears started flowing and Rebekah patted her on the back, seeming to really mean the implied comfort.
Then, they had that in common, didn’t they? People abusing them. It would stop now, at least as far as she went.
“You’re so cold. Freezing…” Eve was pawing at first Rebekah and then Elis, touching his arm, which was more than Keeley would have expected given what had happened. Unless she just couldn’t really remember it. That seemed to be the case, because she was recovering fast.
“Strange. Why are you both so cold? Like you’re dead or something.” She groan and then sighed after panting for a second.
“Crap. I died didn’t I? Some guy gave me too much magic juice and it poisoned me. Well, that’s just great, isn’t it? So much for my military career. I was planning on working on jets. So, what’s the plan now? Tunnel of light? Meet Jesus or St. Peter? Maybe Satan? I know I haven’t always been perfect or anything…”
Keeley shrugged, “first, the plan is for you to realize that you’re alive. Don’t freak out or anything, everything is OK now. They’re cold because…” She had nothing. There hadn’t been any water around or anything, so it wasn’t just that they’d been swimming. Plus the blood red eyes were going to be a dead giveaway as soon as they got into the light.
Crud.
Fine. Not a lot of other things to do as far as she could tell and it would be better to get the truth out now, in bits, rather than all at once later. A chunk of the truth. Not the whole thing. Just enough to soften the blow.
“They’re cold like that because they both have a rare condition that makes them that way. It also makes them pretty pale, messes with their teeth and gives them really red eyes. It doesn’t make them bad people though, so try not to get all judgy on them until they have a chance to show you who they really are. Not that you would, being as open minded as you are.” There, that was vague enough, right?
“You mean like Vampires?” Eve asked, her voice innocent.
Sigh.
“Yes, something exactly like that.”
Keeley didn’t roll her eyes. She was driving after all.
Chapter eleven
“That is…” Eve sounded meek for a second, soft and a little shaky, “so frigging cool!”
She turned and hugged the woman next to her, even though they’d just met, not having much of a sense of social boundaries at the best of times, and it seemed even fewer at the moment after having her will messed with. She cuddled close to the cold form next to her and then kissed her cheek.
“Can I be one too? Do you have cool super-powers? Do you sleep in coffins or, I don’t know, how does it all work? Where you born this way or what?” After a few seconds she stopped, then sighed, laughed and started talking again.
“Or is it all secret? I get the feeling a lot of this stuff really is. I can keep a secret though. I’m great at it in fact.” From all that time hiding being molested and raped got left unsaid.
Rebekah didn’t speak at all for a while as they moved along at exactly one half mile under the speed limit of thirty-five. Sure it was night, but that just meant visibility was down. Besides, while it may not be a crime, she really didn’t want to be pulled over with Vampires in the car.
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what you’re allowed to know, I mean. Mistress?” The Vampire woman sounded scared again, as if addressing Keeley directly would be a punishable offense. That was silly though, if she couldn’t ask questions, how would she know what to do.
“Go ahead and tell her what she wants to know, as long as it isn’t too difficult for you. Please either answer honestly or refuse to answer outright though, with me as well. Is that agreeable to you?” She needed to be careful she realized, even though Elis didn’t seem to be draining her at all for some reason. He was bound, she could feel that, he just wasn’t demanding much from her. Keeley didn’t want to trap Rebekah though.
She couldn�
�t find anything in the memory library to explain why that was. No one in all of the memories she been given had ever done it. It was supposed to be hard. Almost impossible, even for a greater Demon to make a deal with one of the undead. They always beat Vampires in fights though, even groups of them. Sometimes large collections even. It was constant enough that Keeley wondered what the heck Terry had been thinking.
Then, he hadn’t been, had he? No, he’d been following orders from far above him in the social structure. It was the only way they could protect themselves, since Keeley, or probably more likely to their thinking, Darla, couldn’t just grab his information and learn everything. Not if he didn’t know the specifics. Clever really.
Also annoying.
Rebekah was silent for a while, clearly trying to think before saying anything.
“OK, um, well, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We’re stronger and faster than a regular human, get the cool teeth and sharper senses, some psychic abilities too, but those vary. I can tell the future a little, but it can also be wrong. Like earlier when I knew for a fact that I was going to die, but only if I didn’t go with the Mistress. Now I know that I get to live, but that’s all I know. I don’t know if I’ll be hurt, or raped, or even have my will stripped from me later by her, but under her protection I live.” She did not sound completely happy about that, Keeley realized.
“Normally I just slept with whoever wanted me. I didn’t get my own bed and had to sleep on the floor sometimes, even though beds are cheap and we could have afforded one. It’s a cultural thing, the one on the bottom has to be kept down. So I was beaten a lot and made to do most of the hard work, hunting and all that. It can take a long time to work out of it, being the lowest. Rich was younger than me, but his telepathy is really powerful, so it pushed him up the ranks faster.”
There was another silence then.
“So… daylight?” Eve asked, clearly fascinated.
“Sunscreen works. Actually, that’s a joke.” She took a gasping breath, staring at Keeley’s head hard enough she could feel it.