by P. S. Power
Together it made them look very smooth and professional. Except for the fact that no one that claimed that title would have let them get away with such a crass meal. Canned pasta... It was good enough however, and had fat, carbs and protein, so what wasn't to love?
Without waiting for Hally to speak again, Zack turned and winked at her.
"Most of the staff is going to be made up of, um, let's call them different people? About half the campers are Human. The Shifters love the idea however, since it will let their kids practice passing in regular society. The mages... Well, they can generally do that already, so it shouldn't be that big of an issue. The biggest problem really is that they're all children. Kids can talk without thinking. A lot. We should come up with something to help them all get around that. Some kind of role playing game, or something? Then if anyone gets confused, it will seem like they're just talking about the game. I'll let you handle that one though, Hally." Zack went back to watching his product in the oven again, and stood very still for a moment. "Lyn is running this for us, and she's good. My grandmother? You'll like her, too. She's, um, you know, like I am? Keeley too?"
That information was news to Keeley and she turned to stare, as the man nodded at her, his face looking younger now, if not that much better looking than it had before. Different however. It was a slow thing, since he clearly hadn't mastered shape changing yet, but it was real enough. He looked a bit like a GQ model now. Not superhumanly good, but as she'd been thinking earlier, that was probably a mistake in the long run. Appearance mattered, but going too far beyond cute started to work against you, didn't it? He also looked a little more Japanese than he had before.
Without waiting for her to comment on the news, he pulled the bread out, and started to get things around as far as plate settings. Without asking he set Hally up too, which was probably not going to happen, Keeley knew. The girl just didn't eat that much, fearing fat too much for her own good. It was part of the social conditioning that all modern girls got, but it wasn't healthy, either physically or mentally.
Zack didn't look at either of them as he spoke.
"Um, I didn't know, until a few months back. About Lyn. Your Aunt Magda." This was said to Keels, she knew, since Hally couldn't fit that bill at all.
"Ah? Interesting? I bet your Grandfather was thrilled to find that out? Or did he know?" That seemed unlikely, since the man wasn't a slave, but Lyn had fooled her totally when they'd met, hadn't she? The lady had seemed like a mage. A healing one at that. It was such a good act that even checking her out had seemed not worth the effort at the time.
"Yeah, he did not like that one. He found out when I was confirming that I was one, too. I need to get around and visit with him again soon, before he has a chance to flip out and start thinking that I'm all evil. Anyway, if you live through the Second Crucible, you should meet her. Darla and her are friends, so you two should get along, too."
Hally looked away, responding to the idea that her friend might well die, but Zack didn't take it back, even though it was clear he noticed it. He also didn't seem to be taking pleasure in his own words. It was just the truth, and his new pet needed to be ready for whatever came.
It was hard to think about the situation that way, but since it was either pet, slave, or girlfriend, she could live with it.
The meal had small talk, and Zack ate most of the food, giving her a nice check for it, which rounded up the cost, but didn't pay for more than that by too much. Unlike her, he probably did his own grocery shopping, so knew what things were worth that way. Not that she had an excuse as far as that went, herself. That kind of information was in her head, if she bothered to look.
After they were done, he stood up and held out a hand for Hally, explaining things as they walked to the front door.
"It's considered rude to go onto the lines in front of someone. The real truth is that it distorts space, and making people walk through the ripples left over can make them sort of seasick. I don't have that problem, but a lot of people can't take it, so it's considered best to set up rifts and nodes outside of a person's home." Then chattering the whole time, they moved to the door at the front of the house. Hally turned and kissed her suddenly, her lips warm and slightly strawberry flavored. It was her lip gloss.
She didn't have bags, having already set up in Washington. Her parents knew what was happening, and that part was taken care of. All that was left was leaving Keeley behind, to face whatever would come. Alone.
That was fair however. Hally couldn't survive what she could, and really, it might not work for Zack either, if he got too close just then. It was a big enough risk for him to take people in like he was. If the wrong Demons went for him, they could all wind up dead. The only good thing there was that Finias and Darla had both suggested that just getting them out of town, under Zack's protection, would be enough. The point was, that as long as she didn't have assets, they couldn't be taken away, by the rules. If those counted in her case. It was, clearly, a set up. She would have wondered who was doing it too, if the man hadn't volunteered the information himself, through several other people.
Tarsus. The Librarian. Pretty much the leader of all the Greater Demons everywhere. Not that it was an impressive number, being that only about five hundred and twenty of them existed. Still, there was no way that she was ready for whatever it was the being had planned. Along with a threat to kill her if she failed, that pretty much guaranteed that she wouldn't be around much longer. True, the man could have been bluffing, or simply playing a prank on her, but that wasn't too likely, was it?
If that was the case, it would have already come to a head, and she'd know the punch line. It did occur to her that Tarsus had to have something other than her simply dying in mind. If he wanted her dead, it would be easiest to kill her himself. So it wasn't that. Not by any normal meaning of the concept. So what did that leave? She thought about it, not for the first time, and ended up back at the same possibilities that she always did.
It was either that he wanted her dead, without angering anyone else too much, like Finias, her father, or Darla, or there was a trick involved. Probably not one meant for her, either. Of course, that could leave an awful lot, if she wanted to be creative about what she considered. The most likely one was that the man wanted her there as a distraction. Possibly bait, in a trap. At the moment she couldn't see one closing around her, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Did the bait ever really see the bite coming from above?
Really, it probably had to be that second one, or some variation of the same. Finias was an old and powerful Demon in his own right, but no match for Tarsus, head to head. Oh, he might win a fight, but odds were he'd lose, as often as not. Darla, The Technician, was a formidable person, but still young, compared to a being that had to count the passing of centuries by using decimal places. The base unit there being thousand year groups, she was willing to bet.
Tarsus certainly didn't care for her, which included the fact that she wasn't feared either. So that pretty much left either being bait, or something that she couldn't even think of. If it wasn't both at once.
That was one of the bad parts about being a Greater Demon, she realized, as Hally and Zack moved into the node that he'd created. She had the ability to really see reality for what it was, but not all of it at once. She could generally work out what people were doing, if she were able to find all the data she needed, but there was no way to have it all. Not even most of it. That meant, much like a regular person, she was left in the dark, a lot of the time. You had to have facts, to make good choices.
The other side of that was pretty much where her power came from though. When she did get evidence, she could see what it was all about and make it fit, the vast majority of the time. Okay, unless it was a lie or tainted somehow, but other than that, she could see it for what it really was. It gave her a measure of protection against most of life's little mistakes, while still leaving plenty of room for the big ones.
She was just standing there,
the door to her home left wide open, looking out into the street, with no one in sight. It was a residential neighborhood, but a quiet one, as far as that went. Families lived there, but they kept to themselves for the most part, and while the older woman across the street did tend to spy on her a lot, that was just curiosity, not anything too judgmental. The woman was bored, not a creep. She had caught Keeley making out with a few people, including Hally, but she wasn't torn up about it, just finding that the new family across the way was more interesting than not.
Before the woman could realize she was there, doing nothing at all, except for missing people, Keels forced herself to remember what it felt like to be alert and peaceful at the same time, and moved back into the place. It wouldn't take too much longer for the lady to realize that she was there alone now, for some reason. Even the flower delivery van hadn't been sitting out front for weeks. Except for her, no one was home. That probably wouldn't work for much longer.
Not because of child protective services, either. It was just that, no matter what happened, Keeley had to leave the area soon. She was living in Darla's territory, and while that was fine for a little kid, the council had named her a full adult already. She'd passed the test for it and everything. Adults didn't live full time in anyone else's area. On the good side, she probably wouldn't have to fight anyone to take theirs, since there really was enough to go around. Some of her people held large expanses of course, but most were content to have their own city.
She needed to work out where in the world she wanted to set up shop, and get on that, no doubt. Really, she needed to get on that one pretty quickly, and buy some land for it, before she dumped the rest of her funds on someone. Her mother seemed the most likely person to do that with, but if she tried that, it would probably make it seem like Zack was just faking being her new owner. So that left people that she either didn't care about, or didn't know. The best situation would be finding someone so trustworthy that they would give it all back when she wanted it later, but short of being her slave, that probably wasn't going to happen. That meant getting the land first, and going from there.
She didn't have to go too far, having a lot of funds for the project already. That, and the internet let her purchase a nice place in Elko County, just outside of Sparks, which was big enough to be worth setting up in, and small enough that no one would want to take it from her. Someone else almost certainly had a claim on both Reno and Las Vegas, but from the set up of the town of Sparks, it was free and clear that way. Still, she decided to check it out, if after she started the transactions on EBay.
That, she did the easy way, by calling up Gregor, The Cleric. He was in charge of North America after all, which meant that he would want to stop problems, if he could. In the main.
She had to wait for four rings, but a kindly voice finally answered. It was long distance, since, in charge of North America or not, his personal territory was in Switzerland. All of the country, if she had that right. He also held Rome, but that place was pretty small and didn't leave him with a lot of resources, she was willing to bet.
"Hello? How may I be of aid to you this fine day?" It was pleasant, but then the Demon generally was. Not that he couldn't be a problem, if she didn't play her cards right.
"Cleric. This is Keeley Thomson." She waited, since the man had to call her by her own title, or at least one of them, or it would be an insult. Then... Well, it would be foolish of her to fight, but it would mark them as enemies. For half a second she wondered about that, but the man spoke without hesitation of note.
"Mistress of Souls. Did you call to set up that date that the Line Walker suggested for us?"
That was the man being either pretty creepy, since he looked like a sixty year old priest most of the time, or it was him actually trying to be friendly. Zack hadn't suggested they date after all, but that the older Demon and her have sex. It was a bit blatant for her, but then, for one of her kind, she was a prude and knew it. That had been Zack's point, though she also knew that Darla had put him up to it. To help her, most likely. She was too young and fragile to be out on her own, and everyone knew it. Oh, she'd passed her test for it, but she kept wondering how that had happened. She should have ended up dead. There was really no other way for that to have gone, but Tarsus had proclaimed himself satisfied with her performance. It was another sign that the Greater Demon hadn't wanted to simply get rid of her. For some reason.
She killed off most of her emotions, except for a slight tingly feeling of lust and appreciation for the being she was talking to. That took an application of magic, but, she noticed, not all that much. Gregor was old and looked it, but he wasn't disgusting about it. The Demon was clean and polite and had really pretty eyes, she suddenly noticed, thinking about them. A nice blue with clear whites, even in his slightly wrinkled face.
"That sounds fun, but wasn't why I called today. We should do that though? Maybe after the Second Crucible, if I live? I hear tell that a certain Librarian is planning to kill me if I fail. Not that I'm complaining, but since that clearly isn't the real situation, I think that I might find a way around the death part. Or not." She couldn't be certain, given that if killing her was needed for the whole thing to work, she'd be dead before her body, or what remained of it, hit the ground.
"Ah? Well, if you've worked that out, not that I'm saying it's correct, perhaps you should see about talking to Tarsus directly? He's in charge of this action, so would be a valuable resource for you to study, or court. As to the other thing, I do think I can spare some time, say in three months?"
"Sounds wonderful. I'll pencil that in, just in case. Now, I was wondering if I could buy the life of the Greater Demon that has the territory around Sparks Nevada from you? I plan to kill them and take it for my own, but you understand, I don't want there to be problems between you and I."
There was a dry sounding chuckle then.
"Very cute! At least you tried to get the information for free, which is darling of you. Let me see here... Sparks... Well, that area stands empty. Do you wish to certify that with me for you right now? There is a small fee, but it's nothing. A few million. Ten, since you tried to trick me. Normally that would be free, but I must keep up appearances."
She nearly winced, then just rolled her eyes. It had been a bit much, trying to do it that way.
"Four million." There was no loss for her, trying to negotiate. It either worked, or it didn't.
"Seven, and one medium sized favor, to be named later. You can reject it, if it's too much for you."
"Five and one medium favor. Same rules."
"Done then, since I don't normally charge anything for the service. Transfer the funds and I'll log that for you."
She stuck out her tongue. Not in a naughty little girl way, but just to stretch it out. It was a bit odd, but the bottom of it had tried to cramp on her, for some reason. Probably nerves, dealing with a being as powerful as the Cleric. He'd invented Christianity, and kept it going for two thousand years, which was impressive. True, he'd also let it become a major pain in the rear for their kind of people, and created a lot of the Lesser Demons in the world, out of the fear of his followers, but problems aside, it was the kind of thing that very few could have done half as well. It was his special ability, she thought. Like hers to make bargains with others.
It took a few minutes for him to get things verified, but they didn't live in the nineteenth century, so half an hour later she officially was in the book as being the owner of Sparks Nevada. Not that she wouldn't have to take it over still. Just having her name on a page in a book, even if it was the book, didn't do that for her. The quickest thing to do would be making the police chief and the city council into her slaves. Only if she could ensure they'd survive, however. Otherwise it would be a waste of time and effort.
"Say, I don't suppose you have a number for Tarsus, do you?"
There was another laugh then, this one a bit louder than before.
"I can do better than that. I have the coordinates
to his home, where I believe he is still, for the day, unless his plans changed? Let me give you those. It's in Greece."
She wanted to sigh, but didn't. It would be easier, perhaps, to deal with the being from a distance, but being an adult, even if it was a set up, meant handling things herself and in person, at least part of the time.
"Thanks. I'll get on that one now. So, after all this is over? And you know, if you can look about thirty years younger, that would be good." She smiled about adding that, but the man cleared his throat.
"And here I was just thinking that you'd make a delightful fifty year old."
"All right, I can do that too. See you then? Maybe I mean?" It was less than certain, but she wasn't totally sure that she'd live out the rest of the day.
"Delightful! Yes, I will certainly see you then, Mistress of Souls."
"Cleric." There was a soft click as the line went dead.
She hung up her cell, and then put it away, making sure she had all her weapons with her. Sure, she might not need them, but as certain as she didn't have them, something would come up. She could feel it in her very core.
As soon as she'd checked it all six times, she looked up, and then created a node with a lot of concentration and more than a little magic. Stepping onto the line, she tried to keep the destination in mind and started walking. It was going to take a while, she knew.
A good long while.
Chapter three
The compound was, as Gregor had suggested, both grand and easily identified. It was a walled thing, real stones laid in with a fine mortar between each one to hold the whole thing in place. For all that Greece was noted for its fine white work in that material, this was mainly gray. Subtle shadings of things that showed wear, meaning that the thing had been repaired a lot to keep it looking as good as it did. That, or magic was used.