Keeley Thomson (Book 4): Demon Trap (21 page)

"Well, I had a plan in place. The woman would have died of cancer in a few months, if she'd lived that long, which wouldn't have added to the ever growing list of suddenly vanishing people around here." A soft looking hand came up, the nails perfect, like they almost always were. A soft pink, with white tips. The idea was to stop Keeley from interrupting.

For once Keeley didn't take the clue and spoke anyway.

"I understand. Since most of that list has to do with you directly, it makes sense. Well, it's too late to fix it now, not outside of what we've already done. I'm surprised the panic around here hasn't gotten larger already. We should go though, since Elis has been standing out here looking all Vampy for about ten minutes now. The neighbors have seen him too." Most would just think he was a funny looking person though, at a distance. People did that now. If they even bothered to think of it at all.

Really she needed to get some t-shirts made up for Elis and Rebekah that indicated they were part of a performance group or something. The All Vampire Band maybe? That would allow them to just walk around in most places, without anyone being concerned at all.

Her words had been a bit accusatory, but true enough. Darla had actually killed most of the missing people herself after all. The ones that had taken off on their own weren't her fault maybe, being that they'd been trapped by Edith the Gatherer and had run for it the second they were set free, but she
had
executed their captor, allowing it to happen in the first place.

Xenses had killed Keeley's father, Charles, but no one knew he was gone really. Barb had shown up as missing though, so there was that. Having her come back would help a bit. They could claim that she'd been pregnant and gotten an abortion or something. Fram would have to change the shape of her body a tiny bit to sell that, but it was doable and no one would think it was made up, if they presented it correctly.

Her sister wasn't thrilled by the fact that Keeley was laying it all at her feet it seemed, but didn't deny it at all. It was, like it or not, simply what had happened. Justifying what you did was a human trait, when you got down to it. They, Greater Demons, could do it of course, and Keeley still did at times because she was used to it, but Darla was better that way, not worrying about things like that at all anymore. She did what made sense to her at the time and tried to make certain it would work out for her. That was all. If that meant killing people, or torturing them, she wouldn't lose sleep over it later. Not that she slept, but the point was still a good one. Greater Demons didn't have to feel guilt, so most of them, possibly
all
of them, didn't bother with it.

Darla certainly didn't at least.

"Well, we should try to avoid too many more sudden disappearances in the area for a time. As it stands we'll see backlash from this as soon as it comes to the awareness of enough people. We should come up with a plausible story now, while we have a chance to set things in motion." The words came with a grin, which probably had to do with the
we
, rather than anything else. Darla was her mentor though, so of course Keeley would help out. That was probably just good training after all. Learning to cover her tracks and all that.

"Right. Well, for now we need to see to those weapons you owe me. I think something is wrong here though. The attacks on me don't feel...
right
." Keeley still couldn't explain it though, so shook her head a bit, in frustration. She was frowning too, but let that go after a bit, since acting upset wouldn't help anything at the moment.

Her sister just watched her for a few seconds.

"How so?"

"Well, if I were setting this up, I'd have to have a reason to attack. I mean, yes, I'm a baby, so fair game, and a lot of people might try to make use of that, now that they know. Honestly though, without an actual grudge, most beings should pretty much not want to bother now. That part is like you said. But other than Xenses, I haven't angered anyone enough to really come after me, and he wouldn't test me like this."

"Test?" That part got Darla to pay attention pretty quickly, her eyes suddenly serious. "You think this is someone trying to..." It was meant to lead her to a conclusion, but Keeley had to shake her head.

"That's what I don't know. If they want me dead that badly, then simply bringing in overwhelming force would be the way to do it. That always makes sense and other Greater Demons could do it easily.
I
could do it, if I had time to plan, even with someone older than me. So what's being done doesn't make sense. Not setting easily seen traps under my bed, or getting a group of Alede to try and shoot me. The Greater Demon that looked like Zack... I don't know, it's as if someone is just moving things up, one bit at a time, to see what I can do. But who'd bother?"

Her sister just seemed to be considering things, except that was the wrong thing to do. After all, if it had been Darla behind it, she would have acted shocked, or possibly supportive, but she wasn't doing
that
. If it was Xenses, there would be a willingness to help Keeley fight, but more of a push for her to protect herself. Going into hiding or what not.

"What do you know Darla? No fair holding out now."

"Probably nothing. I... We should get you those weapons. Can you stop by my place later tonight? About eight or so? We can do that and use some tricks I know to see if we can find the owner of that hand you collected. That was good thinking by the way. Remembering that before they thought to come back and get it. We probably won't get anything off of it, but just in case, it's worth trying."

It was too much deflection and not enough answer, but she let it go. Trying to pull information from Darla was beyond her pay grade at this point in life. Short of enslaving her and really, that would be a waste of time and effort at the moment. A nice fallback, but not something to use on a friend every time there was a problem.

"Eight then."

Darla left via the inroads and Keeley waited, then walked around the single wide and picking Elis up to carry him along with her. That he'd walked there in the first place was obvious, but making him do that to get home would just be petty on her part. He smelled good. Like dust and pheromones. Fear. There was that part of it too. The Vampire was terrified of her.

Which only made sense.

They were back to her second house a few moments later. Looking at the clock she realized it was only about four in the afternoon too, meaning she had hours to get some things done.

"Elis." She paused, since her initial orders would have been for the man to go sit in his room. She wasn't pleased with him overly, since he
should
have used his resources better in the first place and gotten the rest of them to help Eve kill her mom. Still, he'd followed her orders, helping Eve and doing what she told him to, hadn't he? Blaming him for not being a genius wasn't going to help him behave better later. "Why don't you go and watch some television for a while? Or do something useful, if that gets boring for you?"

Keeley didn't bother with television herself anymore. Not much at least. It was too predictable and filled with unrealistic solutions to made up problems. Elis wasn't her though.

"Yes, Mistress." He was actually pleased suddenly, and moved off to do what she'd said while Rebekah glared at him. She wasn't thrilled with the man at all and still carried a grudge there.
That
made sense at least.

She was sitting at a table that had been set up across the room, near the tree. It was pretty and had tasteful white lights on it and lots of garlands. The Hsreth had done most of the work, so it was meticulously balanced, all the ornaments in exactly the right place, precisely two inches from the tip of the branch they hung from. Keeley joined her, pulling out the other chair and settling in to look at the assorted papers. Most of them were for office space, though there were also orders for the needed blood gathering materials, and large industrial refrigeration units.

After a few seconds Keeley had it all in her head and nodded.

"We need a cost estimate on all of this for set up. Let me know and we'll see what we can do that way. Make sure to get one set up in Maine. Richard will need one. In Washington State too. We have friends there."

That got a smile from her employee. A big and very tooth filled horror that still managed to show how sweet the woman in front of her really was.

"We can start with one in ten locations. I have a map..."

It was well thought out and complete. Keeley nodded, then set to making corrections, so that they wouldn't make waves. It wouldn't hurt to have the Vampires on her side, after all.

Somebody
had to be.

Keeley grinned slightly and got back to work, because, as a Greater Demon, she knew that wasn't true at all. No one
had
to be her friend. That kind of thing had to be worked for, nurtured and grown constantly, or it would fade away.

Chapter eleven

The paperwork was remarkably easy, once she started in on it. Rebekah had things pretty well in hand and only needed to know where the funds would be coming from for it all. They worked out that they needed five more facilities nationwide for it to function well and be large enough to take off without too much extra work, but that would just take more funds, which Keeley had in the bank already. She wouldn't even be stressing her accounts all that much, dropping a million-five on each location.

Being the Mistress of Souls really paid well after all.

At just before eight Keeley stood up and patted her Vampire buddy on the arm, noticing that the woman didn't even shy away in fear this time. It was a massive improvement, though one that came about mainly due to the fact that she was too distracted to notice the contact consciously.

"I'm off then, to collect on a debt from Darla. I don't know how much time this will take, but I can't imagine it will be long." It wasn't like they'd been apart for months or something. The older Demon had no doubt hundreds of years worth of stories and tales for her, but the fact was, in things that mattered at that moment, there just wouldn't be all that much going on. Not that she'd be willing to share.

Rebekah just nodded and then smiled, which was a throwback to her human years, a thing that showed a lot of teeth and that most would have found subconsciously threatening, given the rows of fangs. Keeley locked that down inside of herself with only a tiny flare of magical force, and smiled back. After all, soon enough the Vampire woman wouldn't be her assistant anymore.

No, she'd be the head of a national corporation. It wouldn't hurt for them to be on good terms, given that. Vampires lived so long that there would, no doubt, be an eventual betrayal, but if they were close that could take decades to come about. Or longer.

That part was a little sad, knowing that, if given enough time, everyone would turn on you, but it was one of the most consistent memories in the store of information that the Greater Demon Tarsus had given her the first time they met. Sooner or later everyone did it. Only your slaves could be trusted that way, and at times, if they were powerful enough, they'd manage it too. Knowing that though, she had a choice. She could treat everyone as an enemy, a threat to her life and power, which would cause them to do it faster, or Keeley could nurture them and seek to protect her status in their minds. It would surprise a lot of people, but kindness was the better long term option, even if the end point would be the same.

It was the time it took to happen that altered the equation.

"So, what are you all planning to do on your day off?" She announced it to the room, and they all looked at her as if she was speaking in a foreign language. That was good. It meant that she'd taken them by surprise.

Fram actually got it first, smiling with Barb's face, a look that was far too charming and cute. He'd need to tone that down before he got off to Raintree or no one would believe his act.

"We get vacation time? Even the new slaves like me?"

Keeley nodded, after all, she wasn't a monster. Or, well, she
was
, but not the kind that would abuse her own people. That was just insane.

"Christmas is yours to spend as you will. Well, as long as you keep things reasonable and don't attack me or use it to plot, but travel, parties, whatever you want that way. Make sure you stop by here though, there will be presents under the tree."

No one seemed gleeful about that, and Elis actually looked downcast, even as he sat and watched the television. He didn't say anything though. It was just clear that he didn't think the plans included him. Two days before that would have even been true.

"Elis? What plans do you have?"

That got everyone to stare, except Fram, who clearly caught on to the idea. After all, he was a Greater Demon too. That meant, in the main, he understood things. It was their real power after all, seeing what was there. His blind spots were a problem, but they weren't huge things, he just needed a little help to move past them.

Her male Vampire sat straight though and then shook his head slightly, waiting for the trap.

"I..." He stopped, but Rebekah broke in, rescuing him.

"You can come with me. I have an invitation to visit with Richard Swerlin and his family on the day. It has a plus one attached, so that won't be a problem. I have to figure out how to get there and back inside a day, since it's in Maine, but as long as you don't mind it mainly being about business, it could be fun." The woman looked at the papers in front of her and then shuffled them a little bit, nervously.

Balthias laughed though.

"I can spare some few moments on such as that, Lady Rebekah, if it is permitted? You can trade sex for the trip, so it won't be a debt between us." The words were blunt, but not shocking to anyone there. They were all old and
alternatively moraled
anyway.

They hashed out the specifics using language that would have made swingers blush, but Keeley just nodded along. It was a good enough plan and would keep them all happy enough. A few minutes later she was walking out front, deciding to take her car, since the practice driving wouldn't hurt her. She was good enough, and careful, but there was no point in having a vehicle to carry things or as a bit of camouflage if you didn't use it at all. That meant using the inroads to get back to her house, where it was parked, but she showed up on Darla's doorstep on time. A minute early in fact.