Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (11 page)

   Perfectly.

   Almost as if it was planned.

   The first guest rooms had been given to Hally and Eve, though Darla walked past her room and followed Keeley to the brown and gold colored door of the room she had after getting the other girls settled. The demon girl put her hand out gently, a big smile on her face.

   “You did great, Keels. Way better than I thought you would in fact. Um, look, I know you probably have some questions about all this, but would you be willing to wait until tomorrow afternoon?” The demoness shrugged.

   “Hally's bound to come to sleep in my room and she'll wonder if I'm not there. I won't keep you in the dark, but... look, it's complicated. Is that alright?”

   “Are you going to drink my soul in my sleep? Or whatever it is that demons do?” Keeley was blunt. It worked as often as not after all.

   Darla shook her head seriously.

   “We don't do that. That's all just more propaganda and lies from the religions. I'll explain that too. I promise...”

   Just then Hally's door opened and the girl popped her head out.

   “Darla... Can I sleep in your room?”

   The overly good looking blond girl nodded gently and turned to her.

   “Of course, go on in, I'll be right there.”

   Turning she gave Keeley a hopeful look, almost imploring. Keeley shrugged and waited for Hally to get into the bedroom before whispering her answer.

   “Fine. But I swear, if you try to drink my soul I'm telling everyone at school that you have VD and tried to French kiss me in my sleep.”

   It wasn't much of a threat, but it got a laugh from the demon.

   “Deal.” She said, sounding suddenly a lot more serious.

   “Deal.” Keeley responded, feeling as if something important had happened with the word. As if it meant something that they'd both agreed to the bargain.

   Then, looking over her shoulder winningly, the other girl escaped back into her bedroom to comfort the red-head that had every reason to be scared. For a bit Keeley wondered if she should be worried about the girl, Hally, being alone with Darla, but then decided that the facts didn't line up to the demon being harmful at all. Not yet at least. The other girls seemed fine so far and they'd been around her for over a month already.

   If she wanted to do something to them, she probably would have already.

   Instead she got herself into the comfortable bed, with the lights off and waited, finally drifting off to sleep after another hour or two. If something was coming for her, it would, but that didn't seem likely. If she'd been trapped in a jar for a hundred years she would have run away as fast as possible once out. There was no reason for those other creatures to do any less. If nothing else they'd get some help and come back to attack later. Darla had already kicked their booties once. It would just be sensible to make sure you won the rematch.

   Nothing happened while she slept, not even weird dreams, which should have taken place, given how odd the whole thing was. Or, she supposed, if her soul was being sucked out or whatever. Then Keeley didn't really dream much, not that she remembered. She got up as soon as noise started coming from the other rooms, the sound of showers and water moving, doors opening and closing. It took Keeley about fifteen minutes to go from asleep to showered, dressed in fresh clothing and ready for the day. As ready as she could be having to face what might either be a real demon or clinical insanity. Of course one didn't preclude the other exactly, did it?

   At least she was ready, if she didn't need a squirt gun filled with holy water or something. If that was the case she was just screwed, because she didn't even have a cross with her. Not that those would actually do anything. Darla definitely didn't seem worried about the one the fake monk-ghost had the night before. In the light the events of the day before seemed remote, strange and like they were a dream or story. Only they weren't. She knew that. Reality was what it was after all. No matter how strange. Again, with the simple exception of being nuts. Only she didn't think that was the case, not really.

   Keeley met the others in the living room about twenty minutes later, all of them having done decent make up jobs and enough primping and spiffing to pick up just about any guy at school. Keeley hadn't bothered. She rarely did. It wasn't that she didn't want to fit in, but wearing makeup was an invitation for people to approach you. Since she generally tried to avoid that, not wanting to touch anyone overly, that meant dressing down instead of up most of the time. Darla noticed all of this with a raised eyebrow. It was clear she didn't think much of the lack on her.

   “Ready then?” She asked archly.

   “Yep.” Keeley said, not caring what the demon thought overly.

   That was probably insane, mentally gone bonkers crazy, since she really didn't want to get in a fight, not even an argument, with some otherworldly menace, but there it was. Keeley didn't dress up often and didn't carry make-up around with her at all. Why would she if she wasn't going to use it?

   Everyone seemed much happier as they left for the restaurant, a little place that Darla knew which serves cinnamon rolls on the weekend the size of dinner plates. It was called “Fritters” which was a friendly enough sounding name. Keeley would have balked if they were being taken to “The Black Crucifix” or something like that. Then, even demons didn't name restaurants or diners things like that. She knew for a fact, because no place was called that.

   Not that was open to the public.

   They got two rolls and split them four ways, still leaving too much food for them to eat. The place wasn't nice, a little small, run down looking and as if it could use a few coats of paint. Clean though, for all that, and done in old faded blue Formica tabletops and brown vinyl booths that had cracks in them. The waitress was an older woman that smiled at them, but didn't say much at all. Efficient though. The rolls came about five minutes after they ordered warmed and ready to eat, the rich icing melting just enough to be gooey without being gross.

   “I love this place.” Darla confided to Keeley, having sat right next to her in the booth, her arm bumping into hers occasionally, even as Keeley tried to move away slightly. It was just habit, moving away from the touchy feeling person that didn't understand why she did it. A joke here, since apparently the one person she didn't have to do that with was Darla.

   “It reminds me of diners in the fifties.”

   The way she said it was obvious, to her it was a direct comparison, but the others just nodded along as if the girl wasn't talking about how she'd been there. Keeley forced a smile.

   “The rolls are good.” It was a simple statement and true. They were excellent. Not that Keeley was focused on the food overly, or the chatter coming from the other girls or the low buzz coming from the other patrons.

   There weren't a lot of people in the place yet, still being early, but a steady stream walked in, the place filling up pretty quickly. Darla made nearly idle chatter about the coming dance, the barn dance theme warring with the USO idea.

   The war time theme was the better one, actually having weight and historical presence, but the barn dance easier to put together, which eventually won the day.

   “Plus, you know, people will understand it. I didn't even know the UFO existed until you told me about it last night.” Hally said it innocently enough that Keeley nearly bought it as a mistake for a second, then she chuckled, understanding that the girl was actually making a joke.

   “Point taken. Most of the kids won't really have a clue there. So barn dance? What all do we need for it?” Darla spoke quickly, before Eve could correct the red-head being the last one to realize it had been said for a laugh.

   That was kind of her, since fearing she was stupid was one of Hally's big things. It seemed that the demon got that too.

   And cared enough to try and make the girl feel alright about herself.

   They talked for about an hour, eating the rolls slowly, savoring them instead of wolfing them down. Darla made up for having monopolized a table during the morning rush by leaving a fifty dollar tip though, and leaving before the waitress could even notice it wasn't just a few ones sitting on the table. They looked like high school kids, so the woman would have no reason to think that they were anything else. She'd given good service anyway.

   For that matter, most of them weren't anything other than that.

   The rest of the morning involved a shopping spree for Hally and Eve, Darla buying generously. Lavishly really. They both noticed that Keeley wasn't getting anything, but Darla just shook her head when Hally whispered something about it to the girl and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear when she replied.

   “Don't let that worry you, I need to send you both home later, so you get your treats now. Keels is going to stay with me and help with the hazmat team stuff, so we'll be doing some other things. Sorry to cut the weekend short, but...” The shrug looked genuine.

   It wasn't the real plan, but then Keeley was starting to wonder if anything happening here was real. It didn't seem that likely any more. Smiling a little and trying to look positive Keeley wondered for just a second if the other girls would miss her at school on Monday when she didn't show? They seemed nice, but they also trusted Darla way too much for their own good. If she told them that Keeley was kidnapped or had moved, they might just buy it.

   At just before noon, on the way back to the house, the other girls got delivered home, Hally to her rather nice split level ranch, rented, she assured them, and Eve to the trailer she shared with her mother. It wasn't as nice, sure, but Keeley didn't care about things like that. It had a roof and four walls after all. More than that was pleasant, but not important.

   Eve seemed embarrassed though. She didn't say anything, but got tense and kept looking at Keeley as if she'd say something. Or judge her over it. When she finally got that Keeley wouldn't be doing that she walked over and gave everyone hugs. That was the first time they'd actually touched and the information flooded in.

   It was...

   Dismal.

   Horrible.

   Keeley actually felt rage rise inside her over the other girl's life and had to fight it down so that she didn't hunt down a few men and kill them. She didn't know how to kill, not firsthand, but she could learn. The sick feeling was so strong she almost couldn't stand it and had to fight for control of her face. She really wanted to murder those people now.

   And would if the opportunity ever came up.

   The girl had grown up being molested by not just one, but several men her mother had brought in, her “boyfriends” most of whom were just after the pretty little girl, passing her from one freak to another, using drugs to distract the mother. It had gone on until she hit puberty and stuck a gun in the face of the last one when he tried to rape her anally. Again. He wasn't a fan of using lubricant apparently, which was the last straw for her. That it took that much to be the last straw... Keeley had to force a smile and only just managed to keep the tears from showing.