Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (28 page)

He just stood there in his silly
red and yellow clown costume, watching the world for changes. So, that one was
answered. She wasn't going to simply grab Michael up and
make
him talk,
was she? Not that she could find him. Keels knew that, having tried several
times. It was simply like he didn't exist. Which
was
possible, she
guessed. All of that kept her busy for longer than she'd figured it would, and
she was just starting to feel silly when she returned to her own home to find a
strange man, one that looked like a farmer, on her front porch. Waiting for
her.

He smiled pleasantly.

"You won't remember
me."

"Archangel Michael."
That got a proud look to cross his friendly features. It wasn't haughty or
patronizing, either. He really seemed to think that her remembering him was
special.

"That's really good! I just
wanted to come and tell you how pleased we all are. You handled those removals
as well as could be expected, and better. There was no torture or aggression to
it, which we didn't know would be the case. Thank you, for listening to me. It
is hard to find one with both ears, and the will to hear."

It
should
have seemed like
he was being a dick, she decided, but it was really clear that he was actually
just saying what he meant. Which, if he couldn't, or perhaps simply didn't lie,
might be handy. Walking a few steps toward him, she left her hands empty.
Chances were that she could slice him up with a blade, if she tried hard
enough, especially if she imbued it with magic before it landed. That portion
of their beings, magic, or celestial energy, was very clean and pure, but while
that made it harder to disrupt, it also left them open to Demonic attacks on
that level too, she bet. Her magic was a bit messy around the edges, she
realized. Zack's line travel wasn't, but
everything
these beings did
that way was pure. Ordered on a fundamental level.

Not that Zack didn't make up for
doing that in a lot of other chaotic ways.

She cleared her throat a little.

"Care to answer some
questions? I only have a few."

"Ah... I will answer, but
you won't remember this. If, knowing that, you're willing to hear me anyway,
I'll give you the information you wish, if it is in my possession." He
moved in the wind, swaying with it, as if ephemeral. He didn't have wings,
which would have been a nice touch, but probably wouldn't have gone with the
blue button up farm shirt and jeans look. Or the boots. They were filth
covered, and brown. It nearly seemed like this being actually grew things for a
living. Which
could
be the case. What did she know about what he and his
kind did?

"Great. Well, first, I was
taken over the other day, while talking to The Vile. Was that you?" She
was ready to whip out her sword from its extra dimensional holding area, if he
answered incorrectly.

"Take over? No. I merely
whispered in your ear. It didn't force you to action, you chose to say what I
suggested. My kind cannot do that by force. I was watching and simply didn't
wish that nice being to suffer too great a fear, given that you were there to
protect him. I had already seen the outcome of that meeting. It worked to my
benefit, and that of Himself, but the whole situation was one that was forced
upon you, Keeley. By your Tarsus?" He waited for a while, looking up at
the sky above them as he appeared to think. Or listen. "It is that he
feared those he set you after, more than was needed. He might not be pleased by
what you did, but I do not think he will seek to harm you, or even ridicule you
for it."

Keeley had to agree that it
sounded likely to her, if nothing else.

"What part did you play in
setting it up?"

"
I
? Nothing. I cannot
act on one such as Tarsus The Librarian, and while Humans can at times hear me,
they are most often as you are. If their minds are open they can be touched,
but not impressed. I am a messenger, and simply sent a message to you, Keeley
Thomson. That you should not trap the others of your kind. Kill them if you
need to, but never trap them away from reality."

She shook her head a bit, and
then closed her eyes, wondering if the vision in front of her would fade when
she did. He was still there when they opened however, looking serene and not like
he was messing with her.

"Why not? It seems the more
sensible option, doesn't it? If we kill, or destroy them, they come back, or at
least another Greater Demon does. If they aren't sane then we get another
crazy, and normally the other way around. I've wondered for a while now if
Zack, The Line Walker, wasn't driven insane just to try and upset that balance.
But if someone kills him then we should get a
sane
Baby Demon from the
deal. Or we should."

That earned a look that seemed to
let her know that she was five and
oh
, by the way, a
moron
.

"Think of what you know,
Keeley Thomson. Those of your kind that are less than sane have been working
together for a long time now. Holding to skills that they normally cannot
discipline themselves to, being careful when recklessness is the main operating
methodology that they are forced to subscribe to. Why is that, do you
think?"

"Um... Well... Helmsman's
power could have done that. There's no particular reason for it however.
Unless..." Mikey looked expectant then.

Enough so that she was nearly
derailed by him being there.
Again
. It was a massive problem watching
him there,
knowing
what he was. Good and pure, and totally counter to
her own being. Just being around him, the frisson between their magics, was
screwing with her ability to think. Annoyingly, it didn't seem to do anything
to
him
that way. So he was clear and sharp, while she fought to remember
complex things like her name.

"Okay, so, Tarsus wanted her
removed, feeling that she was unbalancing reality. That sounds like it was
happening, and if he knew what was going on..."

"Yes. Your leader was
informed, by a brother of mine, that this was taking place. He is not clear
about what is being said however, so we needed to ensure that the wrong path
was not taken. Your kind is part of what is needed to keep reality in place and
to the plan. As are mine own. You cannot have light without darkness, or up
without down. In this case it is that there is evil in the world and by
concentrating it in a few, the damage to the many is lowered greatly. Yes, some
die, and bad things happen to them, but it would be a million times worse, if
those such as you weren't on hand to focus it and limit the scope of what can
be done."

She actually thought she could
follow that one, after a fashion.

"And you, your kind...
Angels, you focus good, so that... Um, I don't get that part, wouldn't a lot of
little goods being done help reality work more smoothly?"

That got a grin that seemed more
like it belonged on a small child than a grown farmer.

"No, good taken too far
always becomes evil, too.
Always
. You are correct however, we are the
limit on one side. The line that cannot easily be crossed. We exist, both good
and evil, to hold the rest of the beings inside reality. So that they do not
destroy it all. In keeping those others trapped, like you and The Technician
have been doing, you weaken that, and allow others to become more negative. So
far it has had only minor effects, but they will grow, if that power is not
freed. I would ask that you do that. Now, please."

She looked away from her house,
talking to the thing that might not be there and wouldn't have been, when it
left. To that end she decided to write herself another mental note and this
time a physical one too. Without asking what he wanted, she jogged to do that,
and took notes for hours, writing it all down. Making certain that the
explanation was right this time. No one would believe it, except maybe Zack,
but
she
needed to know these things were possible, didn't she?

"So, you want me to free
those Greater Demons, even if they'll all try to destroy me if I do? They're going
to be pretty pissed about being controlled, even if just for a while. No one
wants to be imprisoned like that, and none of them are well balanced. I don't
particularly wish to die, myself." She meant it, but that wasn't news to
her, in particular.

"I understand. That, as I
mentioned is the weakness of pure good. This is a thing that needs to be done,
and to me
any
sacrifice is worth it happening. The death of millions, to
save even more. The death of one evil little girl hardly even weighs on me in
this, until I stop to think of you as a person, at which point things flip to
the other side and I would call it all off, to give you even a few more seconds
of life, if need be. We are boundaries, Keeley. For others. Not rules. Not
Guides to follow. We are the lines on the road, and the signs that indicate
what is right and wrong. Nothing more. In the end, you must do what
you
will about those others. It will be put to balance.
I
still believe you
should do it, but that's mainly because you're actually trying to listen to
me." He made certain that she wrote that all down and put it securely in
her head, locked in to trigger when she saw the note pad it was all being taken
down on. There were pages of material, all in black ink. Like what she used for
school.

All of the words describing
insane ramblings. Ones that, she knew, were real.

"I will take my leave now,
Keeley Thomson. Mistress of Souls, and leave you to what evil you must do in
order to influence things as must happen. I... well, my nature is to wish
people well, and happy. Blessed, even. I do not know if that would be of aid to
you. We will meet again, however, as we have before. You will not remember
me."

Of course she wouldn't. She never
did. None of her kind did. Almost no one
could
, regardless of who they
were. Keeley watched him leave, walking away, toward the street in front of her
house. The world was a bit too tan in the area for her taste. Going into
massive droughts too, over the next years. That reminded her of another thing
she could do in order to make some extra funds. Shipping water in. That, or
getting some kind of set up to make it? Take it from the ocean and use solar
desalination perhaps? For her own gain, of course. Even if the result would be
good for others in the end.

That part at least made sense.
She, and the others, all of them, were
boundaries
for the real people.
Not actual controls, for the most part, but ways to steer them toward the right
goal.

"Hey, do I ever get to meet
this God of yours? He could at least drop in for cookies or some tea, don't you
think?" It sounded flip and unbelieving, but that was the way she felt, so
it worked for her, she thought.

It was designed to get a laugh,
but the Angel turned, from about twenty feet away and went still, listening to
something that Keeley simply couldn't hear. Then he waved at the world around
her.

"He is
here
, Keeley.
All around you,
always
. Not as a metaphor, as a part of things. Look
through my eyes, if you can, and see what is there to behold."

There was a moment of
disorientation, since it was pretty clear that his offer to lend her his
perspective was real. When he looked over at her, she saw herself as he did.
She was...
Hot
. Young and fragile seeming, too. Also possessed of a
strength that flowed from her, into the world and beyond. It was black, which
was the color of evil, but also golden in places. Nearly divine at times. Mainly
just bad, but that wasn't the
only
thing she was.

There were streamers of light as
well. Faint things that moved to a golden expanse that was all around her. It
was within everything, and when she noticed it, Keeley felt awe. A touch of
something came back to her, a thing so unexpected that she nearly cried, for a
moment.

It was love. That sounded corny
enough to bring her out of that contact a little, but not totally. There was a
sense of a word. Not the actual sound, but a knowledge of what was, as this
huge thing as big as she could understand, and larger than that by far,
communicated with her.

"You are loved, my daughter."
That was the general idea.

Nothing else came, no
instructions or hints about how to live or what to do. Just a sense that this
wasn't special or new. This was, in the end, what existed around her
all
the time. She lived within the light and love, and had simply never noticed it
before. It wasn't part of what she was able to see. No one was allowed that.
Not her kind, not the Humans or their cousin races. If they
had
been
able to get it, they wouldn't have
needed
guidelines. Then, they also
all would have been Angels, more or less. Perfect, and not able to do the wrong
things that were needed for the end point to be reached. That was a big part of
the plan. It was why there were things that were broken and backwards. So that,
in the end, a thing could be born that encompassed
everything
.

The connection broke, and her
mind reeled, hurting deep inside from the dissonance. It was bad enough that
she had to force herself to heal more quickly than normal, using magic. If not,
she probably would have died from brain hemorrhages. Several of them.

Mikey made an odd gesture, and
vanished, not speaking to her again. Either he thought that was dramatic and
well timed, which it was, or he knew that she wasn't going to be ready to talk
to him for a while. That one was right too, she decided. The thing was, after
touching God like that... She remembered him. It wasn't perfect recall, but it
was all there. She could sense the presence around her too. God. Right there,
watching her, all the time.