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Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One)

Page 16

by P. S. Power

Everyone seemed to think so too, and while Hally and Eve worried about their friend everyone else just assumed that whatever she was doing it couldn't be all that dangerous or a teenage girl wouldn't be spending time on it. Keeley sat next to Hally and nearly jumped a few minutes later when the girl hugged her.

  “We should find Gary after school, if we can. I don't know... Is that OK do you think? I...” The red haired girl seemed ready to cry again, so Keeley nodded.

  “Yeah, I think we should. Are you in Eve?”

  “Alright... can I drive?”

  “You don't have a license do you?” Keeley tried not to scowl, she definitely remembered Eve saying she didn't.

  “No, but Darla lets me drive all the time anyway.”

  “Then, no, not today at least. I'll drive. If we can today, we keep everything legal. Meet at Freida after sixth period?” She tried to sound confident and if she didn't quite make it, no one called her on it.

  It was just one of those days, so everyone was giving everyone else at least a little slack.

  Two hours later they met in the parking lot, everyone piling in tiredly to Freida, sitting in the comfortable white seats and basking for a few minutes in the drowsy warmth that had built up from the sun, even though it was decently cool outside that day. After a bit Keeley remembered to make the tiredness go away and even called up the sense of a caffeine rush. Not enough to seem like she was on drugs or even to feel sick, just enough to get her moving, motivated to do something. Anything. The grief she felt was real enough to make her slow and depressed, but they needed to be sharp didn't they? If only for Gary's sake. She got the van in gear and drove for nearly a minute before speaking.

  “Any clue where we're going?” She tried to sound calm and relaxed, but feeling a little worried. She hated getting lost. It was just a thing with her. Finally Eve yawned and pointed forward.

  “That way. We'll check by his house first, then move out from there, Gary only has about six places to go, so it shouldn't be that hard. Easy ones first?”

  His house was a bust. The only thing they found out there was that Gary and his dad had a bit of a falling out, which ended with Ken having two black eyes and a fat and purpling lip. The man clearly deserved them, but that wasn't important to Keeley at the moment. Instead she had to listen to the man, which made her wonder how Gary had held back that long. If she'd known how to fight, she realized, she'd beat the man down too. Instead she just calmed herself and waited.

  “If you see that gay little piece of shit, tell him that I'm pressing charges!” The man yelled at them, which made both Eve and Hally cower and move even further away.

  Keeley just nodded. It wasn't that she was brave as much as that she'd killed all her fear for a moment. It was a handy trick.

  “You might want to reconsider that. The courts frown on people attacking their kids for being homosexual now. You can try to say that he just beat you up for no reason, but look at you, you're what, two hundred and fifty pounds and six-four? Not exactly an easy target. No, when he tells them how you were upset because the police said he might be gay and then you tried to hit him... Well, that's a hate crime now. You'll be put away for a while. Years even. The claim doesn't even have to be true, just made and it would be enough. In this the court would side with the minor.” Keeley watched the man fume for a moment and then just shrugged.

  “Up to you though.”

  The man didn't say anything else at least. He just glared and clenched his fists at her.

  She loaded the other girls into the vehicle and they started over, this time with Roberto's family. That didn't go very well. Or rather it went alright, but not quickly. Gary wasn't there, but not a lot of Rob's friends had thought to come and comfort his mother and little sister, so the job kind of fell to them. It took hours and they didn't get out of there until nearly eight.

  Hally hugged Alicia, Rob's thirteen year old sister again on their way out and handed her a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

  “That's my cell. Call if you need anything, alright? Night or day.”

  Eve handled the mother, saying something very similar. Adults wouldn't lean on kids for support, but maybe it would help anyway. Keeley made the rounds too, but ended up standing awkwardly most of the time. She felt out of place. This just wasn't something she knew how to do, not like the others.

  The movie theater was a long shot, and killed even more time, because they had to wait for all the movies to end at least once to make sure they didn't just miss a theater. There were four in all. They paid for tickets and explained what they were doing, so no one hassled them, but he just wasn't there. That left a remote park, one of the only areas with trees in the whole state it felt like, or Darla's house. If he was there though, they all agreed, they were going to scream at him.

  So the park came first. It was a green space, watered so that the trees would grow, holes bored into the hard-pan layer about four foot down and looked highly planned, like a tree farm almost, rather than a simple park or realistic wild space. The greenery was all in rows that had to be off putting to more people than just her. They found the gravel parking lot and got out in the dark, using the simple expedient of simply yelling for Gary. No sounds came for a while, so they just waited, calling every few minutes.

  Keeley felt it first, rather than hearing anything. A familiar presence. Fear. It was a mild thing, a low thing that suddenly grew stronger, tightening her gut as she stood waiting.

  Yeah, she knew this feeling. It didn't take more than one exposure to get it. The lesser demon Balthias was here.

  Yay.

  That would have been a good thing, except that the jar to hold him wouldn't be ready for at least another twelve hours, if then. Goody. She was about to suggest running for their lives when she heard it. Yelling and pounding feet. Coming right for them. Not huge clomps, not hooves...

  Gary.

  “Oh, there he is!” She said brightly, making her fear vanish as she spoke. Life really was better without it.

  “Gary, over here!”

  “Drive, drive, drive... It's the devil, he's after me, I mean the real devil, Satan. I... drive! I know it sounds crazy, but we need to go or it's going to get us...”

  It was going to get them anyway, Keeley saw, since it appeared right in front of them without warning. Those in-road things? Handy, they seemed to let a being go places much faster than mere walking would allow. Keeley forced herself back to calm. It wasn't easy this time. Not at all.

  “Right,” she said, handing the keys to Eve.

  “Be careful. Take Freida and tell Darla that I asked her to meet me here, in twelve hours, thirteen I mean. She'll understand. Tell her to meet me right here on this spot. Go ahead now.”

  “Keeley!” Gary half screamed, his face beaten even more now than before. Probably from the fight with his dad earlier, given the size of the marks. If Balthias had done it the fist imprints would be larger.

  And deeper.

  “What are you doing? Get in here. We can ram it or outrun it in this...”

  They couldn't, of course. She had on running shoes at least. Well, tennis shoes. Closer than she might have had. She patted Gary on the arm.

  “Someone needs to draw it off,” this was a soft whisper just for him, but the lesser demon laughed anyway.

  “Oh, the mighty demon is going to deign to remove a little thing like me? This will be interesting, what are you going to do, trap me in a bottle like a genie? Oops, you seem to have forgotten yours. Got anything else?” The voice was deep and rumbling. The others were freaked out by it, either its looks or the pure terror boiling off, possibly both at once.

  Keeley desperately searched for a way to trap the thing, contain it, using all the memories that Tarsus had left her. In all the world there was only three things that could handle something like this. A Jar made by Darla, a blast of destructive energy that she couldn't manage and wouldn't be able to for decades or longer. And one other thing.

  A deal.

&
nbsp; Well, that cleared up what she was doing, only, of course, she had no clue how to make that work. Or to get Balthias to accept one. She decided to wing it and smiled, not even knowing what to say.

  “I do. You and I need to have a chat before you get in too deep, dim bulb. You three take off, remember what I said.” Keeley laughed. Sounding cheery and walked to the front of the van while the engine started and Eve jerkily tried to back up. The thing stalled twice but she finally managed to get out of there, after about two minutes.

  When it was safely gone Keeley made her move. She tossed down the silver talisman that Finias had given her at the things feet. It barely glinted in the half moon lit night.

  “Do you know what that is and what it means for you?” She said, working to sound confident, not frightened to death or moronic. It was harder to do either of those things while she lied.

  The lesser demon bent over, not touching it.

  “Demon magic? Or, wait, this is just one of those little toys you all use to try and scare the rest of us, isn't it? Well that doesn't work on me. Not anymore.” The thing bent over and picked it up, the large fingers clumsy looking, easily lifted the small coin shaped disk.

  Keeley chuckled and clapped her hands happily.

  “Not exactly, it's a lock. A soul lock. By picking that up you just became my property. If you try to break that link now, you'll simply stop being. More, you'll never have existed at all. Pretty neat, huh? I made it myself.”

  Keeley bluffed, waves of confidence being forced out of her as hard as she could, trying to counter the fear that wanted to bubble out. The thought of bubbles reminded her of Eve's desire to have some for the dance. That and balloons. And lollipops. Keeley smiled at that, and the lesser demon winced.

  “Then I guess I'll just have to break the curse by killing you, won't I?” It said, showing a bit of confidence all its own.

  She giggled again. A sharp and clear sound, like a bell tinkling.

  “I knew you were going to say that, they always try it at first, and look, here I am still. Think about why that is for a second.” That she hadn't known the words were coming even as she said them didn't matter, she was buying time, that was all.

  “The trick here is, if you do that, which I agree would be the first thing I'd try in your situation too, you end up living in the silver there, forever. No, if you want to do anything useful, you need to properly dispose of that and meet me back here in... Call it fourteen hours? Then, and only then, can you break the bond and survive it without being trapped.”

  The thing growled at her. Low and menacing.

  “I don't suppose you'd share how that's supposed to be done, would you?”

  “Not until you earn it. I demand three tasks from you, all to be done this night, before the sun is high overhead tomorrow at noon. If you cannot perform the tasks, I'll just keep you as a pet and you can run errands for me. Obey my every command without rancor or anger, that kind of thing, pretty much whatever I decide at the time. Standard arrangement, you understand? If on the other hand you do what I ask, in the time allotted, then you'll be free of the curse and can go your own way, without harm to anyone. Deal? Yes or no please, if we're going to have an issue here, I might as well get to working on those tasks myself. Things have got to get done after all. No time to dawdle.”

  For a moment, she really thought the thing was going to attack. It looked ready to move, but she just stood with a small smile on her face, arms crossed. Waiting.

  “Deal then. But if I perform the tasks three...” The thing didn't sound nearly as confident now.

  “Deal.” A funny feeling passed through her, a buzzing almost. She grinned again, probably looking manic.

  “If you perform the tasks in the time set, I break the link for you and you can go without harm to anyone, your soul un-trapped and unbound by me for all eternity. Well, at least as long as you don't force me to do it again. That's where the whole leaving without harm thing comes in, understand? I think you'll find I'm a being of my word.”

  Keeley chuckled softly, so glad that it was dark enough the sweat on her brow hadn't shown up yet.

  So far it was working, but the second she messed up, she'd probably be dead.

  Chapter thirteen

  “Name your first challenge demon. It's not fair to set tasks three and then refuse to give them timely!” The lesser demon glowered at her in the dark. The eyes glowed yellow. It wasn't a very pretty color, but it did fit the lesser demons overall look pretty well.

  She couldn't see it, not clearly, just the vague outline of the giant form, all evil and ugly looking. It glared though. She'd have been glaring too if she thought someone had stolen her soul and was holding it hostage. A deal was a deal though.

  “Right. First you must travel to Michigan, and find a man named Monroe, a specific one. He may not be there now, but that's not my concern. You must find him and work a confession from him for a specific murder. It mustn't seem forced. It totally can be, it just can't seem that way to the authorities. I'm not trying to make all this too hard here.” She filled in the rest of the information she had on the murder the Yorks were accused of, giving all the detail quickly.

  “Then you must return here and show me that you've finished the task before starting the next, which is to convince a man, Kenneth Turk, that it's alright that his son is homosexual. For those first two there can be no killing or overt harm to anyone and no covert harm without specific permission from me, understood?”

  “Understood demon. Hurry.”

  “OK, the final thing, there's a man, named Rick Morris. He sexually abused a girl, a child, you must find him and... kill him, in a way that cannot be traced back to anyone in the state of Arizona. Or to you. So be subtle.” She looked at him and just hoped she wasn't leaving a trail of vast mayhem in her wake.

  “It's alright if you make it hurt though. He really does deserve it. I won't make that part of the test. Use your own best discretion as to pain levels.”

  This was all about stalling after all. If the thing realized for a second that their deal was just words, things could get... messy. Keeley nearly lost it then, fear taking her, but she locked it down and pretended to confidence. For a moment she wondered how her new ability would play in drama club. That sounded way more interesting than cheer leading anyway. Not as good for becoming popular, but that worked at the moment. She could stay low profile. Do bit parts or help make scenery.

  “Go now, you have to finish all of this before the sun is directly above me here, at noon. I...” The creature was gone. It didn't run away, it was just not there anymore.

  It was a really cool trick.

  Keeley really expected the creature to be back nearly instantly, but time passed without so much as a hint coming at all. She sat, the temperature around her a little cool. After hours of hugging herself, goose bumps prickling her arms, she realized that she was sleepy again, so remembered to wake herself up.

  Then grinning, she remembered what it felt like to be warm. It was so simple she'd nearly missed it. The goose bumps went away in seconds and she felt comfortable as she sat on the ground cross legged, waiting. False dawn broke, which meant it was past six in the morning for that time of year, and then hours more passed. Nothing happened. A bit boring, but it gave her time to practice things, like not feeling pain or fear, making ready to run away when the lesser demon Balthias got back and realized that their deal was a trick. He really didn't seem to like being tricked.

  Then, who did?

  The sun was already well into morning when the large brown Satan looking thing appeared, throwing something at her feet. It was...

  A computer thumb drive.

  “First task done. That is a copy of the confession the man made of murder to the district attorney. Have I leave?”

  Keeley looked at the drive on the ground, a plain black, like the one she had at home for her school work. She couldn't check it, but that wasn't the point was it?

  “Done, as long as it hol
ds. If not it will breach the deal, but... Yes, for now, go to the second task.”

  “Time runs short...” The lesser demon growled, angry at her.

  This time though it didn't take hours and hours to finish. In fact it barely took four hours. The sun was close to straight up in the sky, but Balthias appeared, anxious and agitated.”

  “The second done demon! Your leave to...”

  “Go!” She said with a wave. No need to make it impossible to finish the task after all. If nothing else that bastard that hurt Eve would die for it.

  Keeley kind of wondered how late it was. It looked like the sun was straight up, but she'd also said noon several times, if Balthias got back now, well, she'd have to honor the word of the agreement.

  He didn't.

  It took nearly two hours more and when the creature looked up at the sky it screamed in horror.

 

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