by P. S. Power
The day faded into Christmas Eve, though just the early hours. She kept working. One little bit at a time, wondering why Darla hadn't gotten her some kind of helpful machine or device there already. After all that was her thing, right?
No joy there though, so she just worked and didn't let up, even as she weakened, the radiation poisoning making her just as sick and uncomfortable as anyone else would have been, before they died. Darla did one thing though, leaving and coming back with a pair of very heavy looking gloves and a lead box. It gave them somewhere to put the things that she was getting out of her body at least.
Keeley didn't want to seem whiny, but it was too close really. Even as she got the last of the several hundred slivers of material out of her body, she nearly folded, her system just giving out under the stress of it all. It was better after that though, since, by continuing to eat and heal, she was able to really start getting better then.
More food came, and fast enough her stomach actually got over full, since she wasn't able to digest things for energy fast enough. She started to pull from the world around her, like she'd been practicing, but still had to have food. There were pounds of flesh to replace, after all. Once that was finally done and she had lips again, if a bit pink and raw feeling, she took a deep breath and tried to find the information she needed. Some was in her internal library. For instance, the Lesser Demon Malphius. The Greed Demon. He was easy to bribe into almost any kind of work, but not a huge threat to her. Not alone.
The Greater Demon though, that wasn't anyone that she recognized at all.
Describing the whole thing out loud, she looked at first Darla, then Fram.
"Sound like anyone you know? Military style gear, using a handgun, old enough to fake being Zack, but not careful enough to get all the energy signatures exactly right. Like the initial observation had happened at a distance. Or something. From the Inroads, probably. It's what I would do, if I were watching the human line walker." Except of course, that she wouldn't do it that way at all, since just shaking his hand would tell her almost everything she'd need to know. Not that he was a baby Demon too, but the rest of it was all right there. Either they hadn't thought they'd need that much attention to detail, or they thought she wasn't going to be able to tell.
There were more possibilities though, which meant that the situation was too complicated yet, to actually know what was most likely. They could have been forbidden to do that, or the whole thing might have been nothing more than a distraction at all. Why that would be, Keeley couldn't tell yet.
Her sister brushed an errant blonde lock from her eyes, the gentle curl making it spring back almost instantly.
"No one that sounds familiar in particular. Meaning that it could be any of two dozen of the younger Demons. None of the old ones would have tried it that way. If they were working for themselves, or for someone else, is a cipher for the moment as well. They'll be missing a hand for a bit yet, but I know that I'd seek food and shelter, if I were injured like that. That explosive was excellent though. Only a few would think of something like that and actually try to carry it out. In most situations it would backfire and hit the user too. I don't know, but I can put a word in with some people and check to see who's most likely. I don't think we can count on any real help here from higher up. Whoever it was, they're clearly a Greater Demon and one that has you in their sights. I'd guess a friend of Xenses, but being a trainee, you and I will have to handle this ourselves." She grinned and looked at the Barb seeming on her old boyfriend. "Well, you too Fram, since Keels has you by the short and curlies. I've never heard of that being done before, but I'm almost certain that if you're her slave, that would just be considered part of her powers." She didn't pat her little sister on the shoulder, but she did wink.
It was friendly, but meant to be playful. She really didn't seem all that worried though, for some reason.
After a few seconds, Keeley took a breath and asked why that was.
"Are you joking? A Greater Demon and a Lesser Demon ambushed you with no warning, and you handed them their asses. Yes, you nearly died, but close doesn't count. In a similar attack a good half of the full grown Demons would have died in the first seconds, but you took their element of surprise and gave it back to them with interest. Between this and Fram, I think that you can pretty much rest assured that no one sane will be coming for you again."
"Which just leaves the insane ones?" Keeley smiled, already knowing the answer.
Fram crossed his thin cheerleader arms and shook his head.
"Or those that have no choice. Just because you've passed the tests so far, that doesn't mean the event is over. Get lazy and die."
The funny thing there was that Fram didn't seem to be requesting she do that, even if it had to seem fair from his perspective, but was instead suggesting she actively resist that state. Since her dying would leave him free again, she had to wonder at it, didn't she?
Chapter ten
There was something in the words that Fram had used that worked into her brain on a level that almost never happened anymore. It was a thing from the deepest part of herself, a niggling sense that she was missing something. That was, of course, possible. Only a fool, or insane Greater Demon, would think they were infallible. In fact that was one of the major kinds of crazy that her kind could have. They either didn't see reality for what it was, totally, or they thought that they couldn't be wrong, if they had all the information.
Except that never happened. No one had all the data. Not ever.
Keeley couldn't place her finger on what was bothering her though, which started to drive her to distraction, which would be a very bad plan. Instead she set the whole thing aside, and kept healing. Passed test or not, she needed to be at a hundred percent.
It was also true that she needed to live her life at the same time. So far, all of her attackers had been remarkably kind, in that they weren't lashing out at anyone else in her life. That was remarkably focused too. Yes, it could have been that she was just that good and they didn't ever have a chance, or, and this was far more likely, someone had told them to expect a standard baby Demon and they hadn't all been concerned about using tricks or distractions against her.
That was something though, wasn't it?
Even Xenses had tried to do that, when they'd fought the one time. He'd killed her human father, and tossed the head to her, right before attacking. This time no one had done anything even remotely like that. Instead it was like they were just pushing her, using head on attacks, each one getting more dangerous and powerful than the last. If so, it was kind of a stupid way to do things.
Just overwhelming her once would do it after all.
It was like they really were testing her. Seeing what she could take, maybe?
The idea still wasn't coming to her cleanly, so she healed and ate more, drew power from the world around her and stored that, just so that if another attack came she'd have a small shot. It was getting to be clear that she needed a lot more than she had on her. The sword was good, but if her enemies were bringing in nuclear dirty bombs and Lesser Demons, she was going to have to take steps.
The problem there, was that she didn't have anything ready at all.
As soon as Clara brought her what had to be the last bit of food in the old, but much improved and very nicely decorated house, she made up her mind. She was going to have to make some calls. After all, who did she know that had guns, or might know where to get them?
Only one name came to mind. Well, two, but Darla would have to be dealt with for more expensive weapons. What Keeley needed to do was diversify and that had to include some good old regular firearms. Even the last attacker had brought them to the game. It would have worked better if the attack had come from further off, but she'd caught on early enough that the fake Zack didn't have a chance to set anything up. Malphius had hit her with a mailbox, which came from a neighbor's house. That meant something, didn't it?
That the Lesser Demon hadn't come in armed himsel
f, but had just grabbed something on the fly?
She called Roy first, at home. The call didn't take long, since he wasn't there, but she left a message with his wife. They were decently close now, after all.
That done, she looked around her second living space, which seemed very festive, and realized something. She was short a slave. Fram was there, sitting right by her in fact, looking like Barb would have, if she were getting ready for a casual party. There was a cute fuzzy sweater and a black skirt with pale white hose on underneath. They ended just at the edge of the skirt though, which was being slightly more slutty seeming than the girl had really been, when she was Xenses.
Bal was watching Rebekah as she did some paperwork, trying to live up to her new job with the blood bank. That left Elis. He was... Focusing she tried to find him, expecting that he'd be in his room, but the line stretched further away, across the town in a direction that was a bit different than she would have expected. It led to Eve's place. The trailer park where she lived with her mother.
"Right. Balthias, come with me please. Try not to let yourself be seen. Don't act on anything unless I ask you to." She stood, noticing that he didn't hesitate, or look away at all. He either wanted this to happen, which was possible, or he didn't have any more clue what Eve was getting up to than she did. If it was using Elis as a slave herself, or torturing him, that would be fine, but what were the odds of that? The girl was too nice for that kind of thing really. No, Keeley had to guess this would be both major and something more personal than that.
"Follow along." She raised a single finger, which had the Lesser Demon moving toward her, even as she used a tiny bit of stored energy, smoothing the flow into magical potential and tearing a tiny rip in reality itself, so that she could move onto the inroads. Then she walked carefully, the Lesser Demon looking, not like himself, a great horned beast man, but like a silver wisp of energy. It was an interesting thing to behold, but made sense. After all, he didn't really exist.
She wanted to simply look in, just in case Eve was having sex with the Manthori, but the scene wasn't that at all, but rather the pale man scrubbing the stained floor of the tiny trailer's kitchenette. He was working hard, and only the barest hint of red foam told her that there was blood involved in the picture.
Right. Well, that made some sense.
"Bal, go and get Darla please. Tell her that it involves Eve, and her mother. Be polite. If she doesn't want to come back with you, that's fine. No need to push the issue." Those two didn't always get along, having some hard feelings between them in the past. Keeley had to be careful or Bal would use her orders as an excuse to be rude or try and push Darla around, which wouldn't work for long. Probably about the span of time it took for her sister to work out how much she'd have to pay Keeley to make destroying him right.
He was useful though, and not a bad guy, once you got to know him a bit.
It didn't take long at all though, since Darla walked toward her, a device in her right hand, approaching on the line. She spoke, but of course, they weren't really talking. It was more along the lines of telepathy.
"Keels, are you under attack again already? Is Eve-" Her gaze, looking silver and robotic at the moment, followed the silent finger of her sister to look at the picture in front of them.
Elis scrubbed and then put down bleach, while Eve stood in the corner, near the crumpled body of her mother. The form wasn't huge at all, but the fact that she'd been stabbed, a lot, was pretty clear. Keeley had never met her personally, but the woman wasn't old, being only about forty or so, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, instead of real mom clothes.
She hadn't been much of a mother though, so it sort of made sense. The big problem, Keeley decided, was that they'd never get rid of the blood that was seeping into the carpet as they watched. Elis really should have made sure they wrapped the body up instantly to stop that. He might not have been allowed though.
Keeley shook her head a bit.
"OK, I'll get rid of the body and get this place properly taken care of. You can see to Eve?" Something occurred to her, even as Darla tilted her head. "I need some weapons. Magical ones and firearms. I'll trade the work here for that. They need to be heavy duty though, and work well, since I might actually have to use them in a fight." She needed to be more specific, but there wasn't time. Darla stopped for a few seconds and then sighed. It wasn't a real thing, since there was no air, or the need for it on the inroads, but it still looked about right.
"I can do that. Try not to leave any traces, and don't just burn this place down. That will look suspicious."
She was right, of course.
They didn't bother hiding what they did next, all of them moving into the tiny space, which made Eve jump and cry out.
"Hell! Crap, guys, I... killed her. My mom. What do I do? I mean, I meant to do it, but I didn't think I would, really. I just got so angry and..." There was a lack of coherent words for a few seconds as Darla moved in and hugged her friend.
"Don't worry, Keeley will fix this. You'll have to go and live with Roy and Karen, but that should be fine. I hear you've both been getting along well? We can say that your mother decided to run off. I'll write a note. You have a sample of her handwriting?" They had to dig for a bit to find that, the woman not having been overly prone to putting her thoughts on paper at all, being more interested in drugs.
The letter itself was scribbled on the back of an envelope perfectly, fitting what the woman herself would have really done, including the scrape marks that indicated she'd had to scribble to get the pen to work. It was a good skill to have, Keeley decided, forgery, since she just might need to do something similar to that herself some day.
"Balthias, we need to get rid of the body. Can you toss it into an active volcano?" She knew he could, but she didn't have to make it an order. After all, he liked Eve. They were practically dating and everything.
That just left helping Elis scrub and removing the carpet, then getting a replacement from another state, stealing a used bit of very similar and equally stained, if not with blood, short pile carpet from an abandoned trailer of the same make. The layout inside was the same too, so they didn't have to re-cut the thing. It reeked, but that wasn't a horrible thing, it just meant that it wouldn't be examined as carefully if anyone ever bothered to look. The floor under it was wood though, so she had to treat that first. Bleach was used, but it might not be enough.
If they were on CSI, instead of in a real city, that was. In real life no one checked that closely for blood the vast majority of time. Not when the person missing was a washed up drug addict that had left a note saying that Eve was old enough to take care of herself now. Odds were that no one would even question it at all, or even try to look for her.
That, it proved out, was the simple truth. Darla got in touch with the Chief at work and he showed up not fifteen minutes later, to help his daughter get her bags and whatever else she wanted from the place. He didn't comment on the squalor his kid had been living in, even as he wrinkled his nose a bit. Keeley understood that at least. It was his neglect that had allowed it all to happen after all. He got Eve's mom pregnant and then left them alone for years, barely checking on his girl at all. The whole time she was being raped over and over too.
It might not be his fault, but he knew enough not to call attention to himself at the moment either.
The man spoke, his words a bit dry, and less than pleased.
"I should have expected this from her. The amazing thing is that it hasn't happened sooner." It was true enough, but he watched Elis carefully for a few moments and after blinking suddenly put it all together.
He was savvy enough to know a Vampire when he saw one that was as obvious as the man in front of him, with his blood red eyes, ultra white skin and multiple rows of fanglike teeth that made his mouth protrude in slightly aggressive fashion. Or, at any rate, he knew that the guy wasn't just a passer-by.
Roy also knew not to mention it, and tried to ignore the fact that an
yone odd was there at all. It was a bit obvious to Keeley, but the rest of them seemed to think nothing much of it at all. That probably wasn't true in Darla's case. The fact was though that the Police Chief wasn't a fool, and the idea that there was a Vampire there had to be triggering alarm bells inside his mind.
There wasn't a lot to find though and even if he knew to look, he wouldn't do it. If his men tried, that would be stopped. The only way for anyone to really dig into the idea that Eve's mother had been murdered would be if someone set it up from outside the local situation. That was remotely possible, given all of the recent attacks, but, as she'd noticed earlier, so far those had all been pointed directly at her.
The idea might be to actually strike at Darla or Finias though, of course. Or, in the last case, maybe to free Fram? Killing her would certainly do that, if it was the goal.
The words used after that were mainly small talk. A bunch of phrases used to keep them all in synch, more or less, while Eve went to get her clothing and what things she wanted to take with her. It wasn't that she couldn't come back, at least for a while, but the feeling was that she didn't want to bother with it. After a time the place would be taken over by someone else, once the lot rent stopped coming in. Any of them could have afforded that kind of thing, except Eve and possibly Elis, though he could certainly have gotten the place protected, if he wanted to. The girl didn't ask for that though. Probably because the place was a hellhole of bad memories as far as she was concerned.
It was a relief when they all got to walk outside, the crisp air smelling clean and fresh after the faint sent of urine and drugs inside the tiny place. That was mainly the new carpet, but it hadn't been all that tidy before they did that. No one said anything for a while, so finally Keeley did, smiling.
"We'll see you at church for midnight mass?" It was a good way to remind Roy what socially acceptable little girls they all were, as well as make certain that Eve remembered that she had friends that would be there. They all attended the same place after all.