by P. S. Power
She nodded, seeming a bit scared, but she didn’t scream no or anything.
Valerie nodded then, seeming pleased.
“Very good then! Cora, let’s get you rung up, so that you can prepare for your date. Alan, Terra, perhaps you should change? Attaché Vincent… I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance. I’m sure that we’ll become good friends. I’m the Ambassador for the Alede here.”
That got people to chat for a bit, as Avery waved and left, feeling like she was abandoning her new friends. Not that Valerie seemed evil or anything. In fact, she was very kind seeming. Plus, she had sewing machines and hadn’t gotten upset when Avery used them. She’d even seemed to think the work had been to the shop’s standards. Not that it was hard to do at all. The clothing had been of simple design really. There weren’t even any pockets to put in.
Most dresses didn’t have those either, but they often had multiple layers, which needed to be sorted out. At least the ones that the women of The Gray wore.
Avery used the node right there, near the sewing machines, which took her to the front of Tyler’s home in moments. Rather than having to go and pound on the door, or ringing the rather fine bell that would chime if she touched a single button, she found several people standing there with Mr. Gartner. Her friends, Scotty, Steve and Rebekah, as well as a red haired woman who smiled at her when she noticed that someone new had come.
Tyler waved and spoke first.
“Hey, Avery. This new woman is Hally York. Steve’s sister. Believe it or not, she went to school with The Technician, so has all the secret dirt that way. Let’s get inside? I think it’s about to rain on us.”
Looking up into the dark sky, she noticed that was possible. The clouds felt thick and blocked out the sliver of moon that was on the horizon. No stars showed either, which was a good sign of that. It was late enough in the year that night was coming earlier again. She didn’t know what month it was, however.
So she asked as they went in. It felt strange, but no one mocked her about it really.
Scotty just nodded.
“Right. You did mention that Dragons didn't have much of a sense of the passage of time. It’s late October. Halloween comes next week. You’re coming to the party here, unless you want to risk me crying. That would be… Most unpleasant. The carrying on, moaning and whimpering… No, no, you’ll have to come, I’m afraid.”
He was being friendly and playful, so she nodded.
“I think I might be able to make it. Can I bring some friends? I started Human school today and no one has tried to light me on fire or anything. Yet.”
Tyler, who was in front of the crowd moving into the palace he claimed was a house, called back.
“That sounds fun. You know Eve, right? We’ll need to get her in if we can. She’s a friend of mine.”
Hally sighed then, but smiled.
“Eve Benson? You know her?”
Avery nodded.
“We’re close. Like sisters. I spent hundreds of years with her, in the void between worlds, learning to line walk.”
That got a chuckle, if only from the red haired woman. She was very well dressed and actually in a skirt, in a nice soft tan color. Her jacket matched and her hose were smooth seeming. Everything about her was.
Her voice was very professional as well.
“Well… There’s someone else you can get with on Darla. The Technician. We were all in school together. Me, Darla, Eve, Gary, Keeley, and Becky Hoader. Fram the Bold part of the time as well. Keeley is The Mistress of Souls, in case you haven’t met yet. You should, really. She’s nice. So is Darla.” There was a pause then, as she turned to look at Avery directly. “Be careful around them. They’re great people, for Demons. That means they won’t eat you, or rape you, for no reason. If they have a reason at any point, then you have to be ready to fight or run. At that, most can’t really win.” She glanced at Tyler, who simply sat a bit stiffly on the light colored sofa in the front room.
He gestured for Avery to move in alongside of him.
“It’s my turn then, I guess… Okay, The Rotted. She’s insane. Her area of expertise is in reanimating the dead. Of which I’m her masterwork. The thing there is that Greater Demon insane isn’t what we’d think of it as being really. She can behave and will, under the right circumstances. For instance, if she thinks that it’s worth more to do that kind of thing than simply intimidating people into doing what she wants.”
Rebekah, who was a Manthori Vampire, which meant pale, having totally blood red eyes and a mouth filled with fangs, made a soft sound then.
“Which works for other Greater Demons and possibly you, Ty.”
The words got a bit of a smile from the dead man. Darkness rushed to push his mouth into the right shape from the outside to make that happen. It was how he moved through the world, pushed in different directions by a strange coarse power.
“It should work for Avery, too. Not that you can beat a Greater Demon in a fight all the time. You might though, about once in every twenty or so times. That should place you just high enough up that only the most insane would risk going head to head with you.”
Steve made a face then, glancing at Avery hard.
“How does that work?”
Ty Gartner rolled his eyes, which meant using more of that dense dark power to cause it to happen.
“Giant Dragon, Steve. It isn’t a sure thing, but that’s hard to beat in a fight. Which means that you might be able to handle these particular Greater Demons, if you don’t get too involved with them. Not that you get a choice if they want to be friends. On the good side, if they are your friends, they’ll tend to be a bit gentler with you. Why beat the horse that wants to willingly carry you, right?”
It sounded good to her, but didn’t tell her all that much about either of the Greater Demons.
“Can I get more on them? Stories, tales, their favorite colors… Anything that might let me get through lunch. Also invitations for their Human friends to your party. I don’t have much to trade for that right now. Money, or line travel…”
Rebekah laughed.
“You probably don’t have to trade to get them in. It’s a party after all. We’ll just need to make sure they get home without being pregnant or so drunk their parents have to call the police. It could be fun having some regular people around. Our last five parties were filled with Hollywood types. Not that Halloween won’t be as well. Still, we get to dress up in costume, so that will be fun. No one will know which Vampire to bother with their new project ideas.”
That was, apparently, funny.
Avery had heard the complaints before, since a certain kind of person from the acting world tended to want everyone else to help them in whatever project they desired to do at the moment. It was, probably, how the world got things done, but Rebekah was mainly trying, and failing, to stick to her music career. A lot of people wanted her in movies and on television, being that she was the single most famous Vampire in the world at the moment.
Even Scotty got noticed for being himself, when walking down the street.
They chatted for a long while about various things, only loosely connecting back to the Greater Demons she was trying to find out about. When they were mentioned, they were always presented as being fine enough beings, but not to be really trusted. Which was what all of their own kind had told her as well. Which probably meant they were dealing with her fairly and honestly, in their own way.
Not that she wasn’t going to heed their advice.
Carefully she set up the invitations to the party, so that she could bring a few extra people with her. She’d need to get them there and back, but it was probably worth it, just to have a chance to bond with them. At a bit past eight, she stood up, stretched and then shook her head.
“I need to get home. I have school assignments to see to. I should have done them earlier, but there were new friends to aid, so I did that first.”
She didn't feel bad about it, but figured that she might, by
the time morning came around.
Steve moved in and gave her a hug. He was actually very polite about it, not rubbing up against her or anything when it happened.
“We get that one! Try to get some sleep, too. I’ll be in at the mall myself tomorrow night, so we can meet up?”
She nodded, since that would be Thursday, which was one of her work days at the bookstore.
“I’ll be at Hartley and Co. We can get dinner together?”
That got a smile from everyone, including Hally, the new person. Steve laughed a bit.
“Ha! Here every one was saying you didn’t like me that way.”
Avery looked at him for a bit, then shrugged.
“Why? Just because I don’t have a sex drive? That doesn’t mean I can’t like you. Or lots of people. Just…”
Steve let her off the hook, instantly, at least.
“We know. Still, yes, I’d love to do that. Say at about seven?”
They agreed to that, with her getting to leave from the front yard about then. The little partial node was a bit different she noticed, compared to the first time she’d used it. It was stronger, but linked almost exactly to the back of Yoghurt World in Vancouver. That was where she came and went to from the thing herself. That she might be the one using it most just made sense.
It took a bit to get home, then longer for her to crack her new books open and do the work desired. At eleven she’d done the readings, papers and outlines required of her however. That had been hard, taking all of her focus to achieve in a timely fashion. The main factor was that there simply wasn’t that much work, for some reason. In her courses at battle camp Avery was often required to do several hours of extra work each day to keep up with things. This was easier, by a nice portion.
The next morning, she was woken at six, by Eve, who was holding a box of donuts. That wasn’t a proper thing to eat first thing in the day, but she was more than a bit hungry, not having had enough the evening before.
“Rise and shine, Pumpkin. I have some grub for you, as well as news. After you get ready for the day?”
The tone was pleasant sounding. Which got her to feel suspicious. Eve had gotten food for her before, though never to go along with news of any sort. The fake cheer in her voice was overdone as well. Better than an angry growl. Then, most things would be.
After hurrying through her washing up, scrubbing well, and then doing her hair, which dried a lot faster than Eve’s did after a shower, with makeup on her face, she met her friend at the dining room table. A thing that Edom had assured her was mainly used for business meetings, instead of snacks. There was even a plate, filled with things for her to munch on, prepared to look nice. It smelled pretty good as well, but she was filled with a subtle dread.
After all, this news could be anything.
It might be that someone had died, or that The Gray had been seen headed toward Vancouver, coming to end her life. They’d fail at it, when that happened, but it would, one day, take place. Another idea that came to her was that her efforts to find out more about the Greater Demons had angered them, which would lead to dire consequences. Hopefully it would be about something simpler than that.
Eve waved for her to eat, so she picked up a cake donut, topped with cherry colored icing. It was her favorite kind. Maple flavored came right after that, however. She could eat jelly filled, but they were a bit gooey for her palate.
Her Vampire friend, dressed for work still, in sturdy tan, managed a nice smile.
“Nothing all that bad, except that Zack has to be gone for a few days. Someone killed Maddy Morse… Have you heard anything on that?” She seemed concerned, as if the news might impact her too hard.
Avery had never met the woman, so it really didn’t. Not more than the loss of anyone would.
“Car bomb? Eric Weise was voted in as her replacement, I heard.”
That got a nod then, which seemed to be firm. A single thing, that was well planned.
“Yes. Well, Maddy Morse was a longtime friend of Zack and his grandparents. As in he grew up with her coming over for the holidays and that kind of thing. Needless to say, that means she was on his secret list of protected people. My guess is that a lot of individuals are going to be dying soon. So, he asked me to sweet talk you into taking care of his book store for a few days? It’s short notice and he knows you have school, but he got you a magic amulet for it.” She pulled the thing out of her pocket, handing it over quickly. It was just a single silver disk, with an engraved image on it. “When you get tired, tap this and you’ll feel awake. That’s all it does though. It leaves you mentally alert. It won’t replace sleep, so after a few days of constant use, you’ll start to see things and all that fun stuff. Think of it as magic coffee. Zack said it will work on you. As long as you put it in your mouth and activate it with your tongue. Just focus on it really hard and for goodness sake, don’t swallow. We have to give it back and that would be a bit hard to recover.”
Avery carefully took the thing, or started to, since her fingers were all covered with sticky icing at the moment. Rather than scold her for her poor manners, Eve grinned and hopped up, to place the magical thing around her neck.
“So, you don’t mind going without rest for a few days, right? Troy is coming in the early part of the day to cover for the time you’ll be away at school. He doesn’t need sleep, but believe it or not, Bey actually has him working on a project for the council in the evenings. Almost like he’s grooming him to go into politics or something.” She smiled then, happily. “Considering he’s been a Vamp for less than a year, that’s huge.”
Nodding, Avery kept eating, since that was a large favor to ask of anyone. Working all the time for days like that. She could do it however. Especially if the magic talisman thing worked on her. Sometimes magic did, she knew. The kind from the alternate Mars had been effective part of the time, allowing her to stay connected to the ground and things like that.
Though that could be due to the gravity being created being real and not magical. The light there acted normally as well, so that kind of seemed right to her. After a few moments of eating, not even considering that she was supposed to say yes, since of course she was going to back up Zack if he were taking revenge for the loss of his friend, she glanced over at Eve.
Then changed the subject.
“Next week Tyler, Rebekah, Steve and Scotty are holding a large Halloween gathering. The costume wearing kind? You’re required to attend. Hally told me to make sure you knew that. She was kind of insistent on that one. Also, Keeley and Darla won’t be able to come, most likely. There’s a big thing at their father’s.”
Eve seemed to take that all in well enough.
“That sounds fun. I’ll make sure to schedule that night off. What are you going as? Or did they tell you to invite me, then forget to mention that you were invited, leaving you feeling sad and left out? That would be kind of low of them, but things happen.” She waited for an answer, as if that might be real at all.
“I don’t know. I don’t have any ideas. I don’t… I’ve never done this holiday before. The Gray had celebrations, and feasts, but they were all different. Mainly observances of different notable things in the Changing Gods schedule. When he turned the ice of Winter into the life of Spring, that kind of stuff. Or when he destroyed the great Dragon, ripping her bones from her flesh, leaving her beneath the sea to suffer for all eternity.” That one suddenly seemed a bit pointed, though no one would have meant it that way at the time.
If they’d known she was a Dragon, or might have been after her first change, they would have killed her in her sleep.
The words didn’t get a reaction, in particular.
“Hmm. Well, for you, given the venue, I’d guess you should go as a slutty something or another. Any kind of monster or witch might be offensive to someone after all. Vampires are right out, unless you want to go as a specific one. Given that all the cool ones like me, Scotty and Rebekah will be there, that pretty much just leaves Bey. At
least if you want anyone to realize who you’re pretending to be… So, yeah. Let me…”
She smiled after a moment and snapped her fingers.
“Right. Go as an Alede. You can get Kaitlyn to help you with that I bet. Oh, just so you understand what’s going to be happening, Valerie is setting all her people on you, to try and beg you to go and sew for them? That’s not even a joke. Kait mentioned it last night. Apparently you can do that kind of thing? I didn’t think it would exactly fit the sort of fashions they have there.”
That got her to rudely mumble around a bite, which she stopped almost instantly. It was a maple bar, which was well made, if a bit candy like in sweetness.
“I did a bit for them yesterday. Just taking some seams in. It’s simple enough work. I… I can help with that. If I ever have the time. On the costume however… I’m not certain I’d be comfortable being dressed that way. Half of the clothing was see through. The rest was meant to attract attention, for sexual reasons.”
She looked down at herself, her body toned and fit under her pullover sweater, but she lacked the massive breasts of an Alede. Terra would have been able to make that part work, she thought. She was, if anything, larger in that way. Her own hips were wide enough to prove she was a girl, but that was about all.
Today Avery had jeans on, of the stretch fashion, so that part showed well enough.
Eve raised an eyebrow at her, rebuking the words, for some reason.
“That’s part of the point. Feeling uneasy about anything is a weakness in our world. One that might be used against you. So you need to face that kind of thing. Constantly. I’ll see if I can get Kait to help with that. She’ll be working the store with you part of the time, but…” There was a shrug then. “Zack asked for you, in particular. He wouldn’t say why. That part could be anything, so stay ready.”