by P. S. Power
Each of them had put resources and time into it, she realized. More than she’d understood at all. It was subtle but over the last years they’d shaped her mind, so that she’d be ready, for all of this. Turning her into something more than just Eve, or even a girl that had practiced being undead before she really started it.
Finias was in on it too, of course. So was Lyn, though that was well and truly being done in the open, now, wasn’t it, being her mentor? Even their end goal was solid to her now. They’d created a Greater Demon analog. They would never call her that, and she could see that it was in her own best interest for it to never be known. Several of the Greater Demons seemed to though. Fram, The Lover might, and any of them that had touched her that she didn’t know about. Tarsus had collected her data, hadn’t he? It wouldn’t be lost on him.
Still, as a Vampire, no one would really think of her as being anything more than she was. Strong, fast, and willing to work hard, but not much else.
As a Greater Demon, even a fake one, everyone in the world would try to kill her as hard as they could. Thank goodness she had those personal treaties in place with Fram and Tarsus then. She needed to ensure The Lover was good with the same thing.
She blinked, and stopped thinking about that part of things, just in case someone was trying to listen to her thoughts. Instead she worked, focusing on just that, noticing the world she was in as closely as possible.
Using a bit of magic, she was able to see more of it, and prevent her brain from hemorrhaging, at the same time. The trick there, was that she needed to reshape herself, and not just try to heal from the damage, going back to what she had been before. It was so simple, now that she thought of it.
It was how she spent the rest of the night, noticing things, changing, and healing. She had the time, and between her and Kait, the books were all on the shelves by four in the morning. Super speed rocked in regards to things like that. It made the night seem a lot longer for her, but she made it feel fun, and easy. So at five, when Zack came out of the Node room, with Hiram trailing behind him, looking exhausted, they had the place looking pretty sharp.
He raised his right hand in greeting, and then hugged her, making her skin tingle a bit. In that instant, she felt it happening, her life being cataloged, the information moving from her, in a single steady stream of flowing energy. The thing was, she realized, it could go both ways. She knew that was always part of it, so tried to feel it come to her.
Zack let her, it was clear, not blocking it, or stopping it from happening. Not even letting her go. It took only a moment, but she got it all. Sort of. It was there, kind of floating around her, outside of her body, but if she thought about him, she could find it. The pain of his childhood, which was, she realized, a lot worse than what she’d gone through. Her life had been horrible. Zack’s had driven him insane. The thing there, was that he was healing now, and had been for a long time. The others didn’t know that though, having already made up their minds about him.
It kind of gave the lie to Greater Demons being perfectly sane, didn’t it?
He knew it was happening, as her information came at him. After about ten seconds he let go, and didn’t speak about it at all. They couldn’t. Not and keep her safe, which, of course, she was. For now. Maybe forever, as long as she didn’t mess things up.
It occurred to her, why they’d done it, too. Her friends, all supposed to be evil, and horrible beings, but not caring what anyone said about them.
They’d all worked together, to give her what she’d wanted most in all the world.
Safety. As much as anyone could ever have, and not live in a prison of their own devising. Possibly even more than that.
“Hey! Kait and I got the new products on the shelves. Ben wants me to let you know that you own him a big wad of cash, and a hummer. Just the blowjob, not the truck. We’re going to record it and put it up online, so make sure you wear cool underwear for it. By the way, you’re welcome. It was going to be an anal gangbang, but I talked him down.” She grinned then and stepped back a little. “Or, to be honest about the whole thing, I suggested all the cool parts. He was here for nearly three days straight, so you should at least make sure he gets paid for it.”
“Right. I’ll go with the bonus option, if you don’t mind? Don’t mention it to Darla, or I’ll be on the internet inside a week. She’s been looking for an excuse to make me do gay stuff for a while. I know I can do it, and that it’s not a big deal, but I’m still close enough to my Human upbringing to find it a bit uncomfortable. So, any news, other than about books?”
He knew, of course, about what The Lover had said. She wasn’t wrong either, as far as that went. Not getting involved made even more sense now. Still, she was going to, being that Eve would have before, and doing anything too different, too quickly, would be a mistake, and give a lot of people clues they shouldn’t have.
“Three Greater Demons are probably going for Keels. We should call her, or better yet, you should. I need to get to work, at my real job. You know, the one that no one pays me for? Even though I work my ass off and put in all that overtime?” It was funny, but she really wasn’t being paid. Not for what she was doing.
Not that she was going to whine about that. She had more money than she could spend, and really didn’t need it. That was one of those things that she never would have really gotten when she was a Human. Back then having anything like cash was a treat, and a gift. It was valuable, because other people said it was. Now, she knew that it was a fiction. Still, handy to have even if it was built out of paper bits and wishes.
Zack hugged her again, but didn’t warn her to be careful. In fact, other than grabbing her ass, he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. That was just because he was horny though. She didn’t have enough time to spend with him, she didn’t think. After a moment she was let go, and given a pleasant smile.
“Don’t worry, we can handle the Greater Demon stuff. You did your part, and more. You’ve become the Vampire we all knew you could be.”
She could tell what he meant though, that she was more than that, and he knew it.
With that she headed off to work, feeling free finally. Like things were the way they were supposed to be, finally.
True, that wasn’t going to last. She knew that before she even got into the yogurt shop. It was, she understood, quite instantly, due to the three beings standing there, in front of the serving counter. Eating waffle cones.
Even if she hadn’t had her recent magical breakthrough, she was nearly certain that she would have gotten that they weren’t normal. One of them was simply vast, for instance. Huge shoulders that rippled with muscle that was defined even under his red silk shirt.
The bull’s head was kind of a giveaway, as a capper to the rest.
Next to him was a woman so tiny and cute that she seemed nearly like a living doll. She had honest to goodness green and purple sparkles coming out of her body and head, and perfect blonde ringlets. Eve had never owned a doll as a child, but she kind of wanted to pick this one up and hold her, as ridiculous as it seemed. She was fucking adorable.
It was the last one standing there that made her blink. A whole long line of things fell into place then.
She blocked it all out for a second, turned and ran with speed that should have made the sound barrier holler at her, but didn’t, because she wasn’t actually moving that fast, she was bending time around. She threw some energy at it, to see what would happen, which didn’t make her go much faster, but did make it hurt a lot less suddenly.
So it was worth doing that way, if she had the extra to spare. It was kind of clear that she’d either need more, or need to learn to conserve things better.
When she was in front of Zack, she stopped, feeling calm and peaceful about the whole thing.
Speaking instantly, not in pain from the jog this time, even if it would have left her silent for a minute or two the day before, Eve managed a tone that was practically mellow.
“I foun
d those three Demons, I think? They’re busy eating waffle cones right now. Would you like to get the others around? I can’t prove it, but I doubt they’ve come to join in the wonderful peace treaty I put together. A bit of a shame, but two of them are clearly insane on a level that means they might not be all that reasonable. The other…” She shrugged.“I didn’t get it before. He’d fooled me totally, Zack. Everything about him was perfect, too. I mean, completely. I don’t know why he wouldn’t want to be friends with Keels though.”
Zack was brilliant, being a Greater Demon, so he made a leap, that was probably just about perfect, if it had been a story, or movie. It did show he could be wrong, which was good to know. Unless, of course, he was faking it, which, she understood as he formed the single word, that he was.
“Ben?”
“You’d think, right? Me getting a boyfriend that hasn’t run off yet. No… It’s Bob. Bob Millhouse. The Mage Ambassador. Everything about him is Demon, now. He’s sucking in energy like the rest of you do all the time, like the world’s collapsing in on him. I guess it could be someone else pretending to be him, but if so, they got it all down perfectly.”
Zack stopped, and then shook his head.
“That…” After a second, he nodded. “Okay. It doesn’t matter if I missed it before, if it’s true now. I’ll get everyone in for it. We should go in as a group, if anyone will come. If not… Then I think you should run. You aren’t responsible for these types of things.”
“No doubt. I like that plan. Just in case, ask Darla to bring me her special artwork? I’ll pay her for the loan of it. Ten million.”
It wasn’t enough, for a bomb that could destroy half of North America, but she wanted to start the negotiations off low.
Zack ran to the phone, using the one in the front, and speaking fast, hanging up with a single finger and dialing again, over and over. After about ten seconds she felt them coming.
It was like they were running fast, like she did, but it was all just slightly different. As soon as Keeley came through, she understood what it was.
Demons, walking the lines.
Keeley ran to her, slowly, after stepping out of a glow in space.
“Eve. Where are they?”
“Yoghurt World. We need to hurry. They’ll be done with their delicious cones soon.”
If they weren’t already.
After all, from all indications, the things really were pretty good.
Chapter twenty-three
The group that showed up was a slightly larger one than Eve would have expected. Keeley wasn’t alone, it seemed, for all that seven beings had decided to kill her off. Lyn, Finias, Darla, Zack, Fram and Gregor were all there for her, almost instantly.
Half a minute later, after The Cleric had appeared from the Node room, Tarsus showed up, looking like Kenneth, the little ancient Vampire.
He waved to them all, his voice sounding slightly annoyed.
“Let’s get this done. I have things to do, and don’t have time for this kind of thing right now.”
Keeley glared at him, her model pretty face going sharp for a moment.
“Oh? Then why did you start it in the first place? Don’t try to tell me it was Fram here that did it, either. You’ve had it out for me since the first time we met, and you know it. I’d thought we’d smoothed things over, and then you pull this kind of thing. Why is that, exactly?”
“Because you’re a danger to us all. It isn’t really that hard to work out, is it? Now, do you want my help with this or not?”
She actually crossed her arms and looked ready to tell the man to take a flying leap, but went with a sensible nod and kept her lips closed, being the reasonable one like she was.
They all started walking, most of them moving ahead of her, since having a nice shield of demons made sense to her. Darla moved in alongside her, and handed over the blue and green artwork bomb from her living room.
“You can’t activate this. Only I can.” It was just a statement, but Eve understood why it would be created that way. Just as she knew that it wasn’t really true. It would be really hard to set off, if you weren’t Darla, but not impossible. Nothing could really be created that way. There was always a way to get around that kind of thing, if you were clever. She didn’t have six centuries to figure it out, however.
Things were kind of pressing at the moment.
“Stay by me then, and back me up? Even if I don’t seem sane?”
Darla smiled at her, but it looked dark and grim.
“Understood. I’ll be ready.”
When they got to the shop, they all stood outside, which meant the three beings, who were indeed nearly done with their treats, came out to them, instead of being trapped inside. That would be a good thing, if the mall wasn’t destroyed. No tipped or smashed tables, for instance, or broken machines.
Eve cleared her throat, loudly, which got everyone to look right at her.
“First, we need to deal with some business. How did you like the waffle cones?” She let herself sound incredibly dark and sinister, as if there was something in them, other than delightful yumminess.
Bob, the Greater Demon, looking thin, and like he was in his late thirties, even though he was probably closer to ninety, or would have been if he were a Mage, looked directly at her.
“They’re very nice, Eve. I might have another one, after we’re done here. Hello, everyone. So nice to see you all.”
Lyn got who he was first, her head shaking a bit, as if she felt stupid not seeing it before.
“Mimic. I should have known, except of course, few would, hence your name. It’s been… Well, no more than a few weeks, even if I didn’t know it.”
“Naturally.”
Eve spoke again, since it was her job, after a fashion.
“All right, just to make sure we don’t have a problem we don’t need, have you all come to sign up with the treaty thing? You know about it, and the particulars?” She went through it all, with Keels nodding along, as if it were all her idea. Eve knew it wasn’t, but having the backing wouldn’t hurt.
The minotaur spoke next, his head moving to look at Eve directly. He had a hugely thick neck, and was so tall she could see straight up his nose.
“No, Snowflake. This cannot be resolved peacefully. The Mistress of Souls killed friends of ours. The Rage, The Chaotic, and The Helmsman. It was well done, by guile and using powers that no one would have suspected one so young to have, but no being able to do that would refrain from taking more. Not for long.”
Eve suspected that these wouldn’t be the only ones that really felt that way, but they were the ones there, at the moment.
Short of killing them, what were they supposed to do, if they wouldn’t deal?
It was, she feared, going to get her floors dirty.
Keeley sighed, and pretended to look away.
“That was forced on me, as I’m certain you all know.” There was no attempt to change their minds though, Eve noticed.
It was probably too late for that anyway.
Bob, who was, she guessed, The Mimic, moved toward the girl, taking just a few steps.
“No, this will end now, and for good. It would have worked better if we had all of the original group, but we can do it with three of us. We will destroy you, right here and now, Mistress of Souls. Your friends cannot help you, without starting a greater war. No Greater Demon can. You might take us, individually, with your power, but not all at once. This is how it must end. There is no other way. I’ve worked for years to make this happen. Even before The Line Walker was known, I’ve been laying the groundwork for this.”
Eve waved a hand in the air, “wait, did you set up those Vampires the other day? Who did that for you, Gene, from the Council?” There were a limited number of Greater Demons, if she accused enough of them, she’d eventually get one to admit to something.
It seemed that Bob the Demon was willing to play ball too.
“Yes. He’s been my pawn for the better part of a ce
ntury. I was planning to soften up The Mistress of Souls’ allies here, using an attack that would be impossible to trace back to me, but it was foiled. You, Eve, have done too good of a job, strengthening your people here. So, not to be too much of a pain, but I suggest the rest of you step aside, and allow us to handle this. It’s for the good of all of us. Either we act now, or when it is far too late.”
It was kind of persuasive, which Eve had to admit.
She waved the statue thing a bit, holding it with her fingers around one of the side pieces, It was kind of interesting to look at really, now that she paid attention to the whole thing.
“That’s a point. Still, I have the hard won treaty thing going already, so, how about this. You all either throw in with me on this, and we don’t have a problem, or I set this thing here off. It’s…” she looked at it, her mind finally getting how it must work. Not exactly how, but she could feel the links that moved away, toward the pain orb in the sky. “Well, basically it’s a sun bomb. My guess is that if it gets triggered, Darla and her friends here, will be hidden in a different dimension, and the surface of the Earth will become the surface of the sun for about half a second. You get the idea, burning hot, implosions due to the incredible gravity, everything on half a continent being dead, including anyone trying to escape on the lines. Is that about right, Technician?” She used the name, to remind everyone who’d built the damned thing.
Darla looked slightly surprised.
“That’s actually almost exactly what it will do. Very good, Eve.”