Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (3 page)

Eve wouldn't really be herself,
after she became a Vampire. The stated plan was for her to wait a few years, so
that she wouldn't look eighteen forever, but Keeley doubted that would happen.
Not if she was going to be around supernaturals at an embassy all summer long
like the plan had her doing. At a guess that would last about two months,
before someone got so close to killing her that one of the Vamps brought her
over to make certain that didn't happen. After all, letting Eve die would anger
not just her, but also Darla and Zack. It was too big a risk to take. Eve was
the kind to rush into trouble too, rather than away from it, so it
would
happen.

Hally however had been told, by
Eve herself, about how little Vampires were raised into somewhat rational
adults.

"I... Eve said that they
were going to beat and rape her. A lot, probably. Maybe even before she becomes
a Vampire. That... Is that right? Can't we, I know that she doesn't want to be
weak forever, but... There has to be a better way."

That earned the girl a smile,
since it was pretty cute of her to be worried about
that
part. Zack was
too, but he was too far gone to really get that almost no one raised their
young that way anymore. You
could
beat and rape the baby Vamps into
submission, of course, and that was the big threat, if they wouldn't mind and follow
orders, but the reality of the matter was a lot different, at least with the
good ones, like Edom and Lenore. The Vampires that were slated to lead one day,
even if they didn't really get that yet.

They
would
slap an angry
young Vampire down, hard, and make threats, but the worst of that would never
come, unless the baby just couldn't handle themselves. If the rage and
aggression were too much for them to handle, they
wouldn't
rape them, or
even abuse them too much.

That little one would simply die.

"Eve won't have a big
problem that way. Her life has taught her a lot about controlling her anger
already, but she won't really be
her
anymore. She'll have to relearn how
to be a person, after the change. That normally takes about fifty years for
Vampires to really master. Until then... Well, she probably won't really be our
friend for a long while. Not the one we've come to know."

That got Hally to make a face,
but she didn't say anything until they pulled into the driveway at Keeley's
house.

Then she just seemed sad for a
while and leaned over, putting her left arm over her friend's shoulder.

"Everything is going to
change now, isn't it?" There was a darkness to her words, but Keels
grinned, and moved into her enough it was obvious. Even to the neighbor lady
watching through her blinds from across the street.

"Yes. It always does though.
The trick is to make certain we come out on top, as much as possible."

It might not be, since Tarsus had
flat out claimed that she was going to die if she didn't pass the Second
Crucible. The fact was however, from her research, that almost no one
did
make it through. Not their first time. That was why her little friends had to
go away.

So that, when she died, it didn't
take them out too.

Carefully not mentioning that,
she led Hally inside.

They didn't have much time left
together, so it made sense to make the most of it.

Just inside the door, two things
happened, almost at the same time. She leaned in to kiss Hally as the thing
shut, and felt someone moving in behind her on the inroads. That was a thing of
magic, which was one of her areas of particular skill. It felt like Zack, which
it almost certainly really was, since he was there instantly. They called him
the Line Walker, but the truth was that he avoided the lines almost perfectly,
compared to most.

It was true teleportation, being
instant, not at all like the way she did it. She waited for the knock to come,
feeling the man standing there, moving Hally behind her gently and standing to
the side herself. People had faked being others around her before, even if that
wasn't the real case this time. She
could
be fooled however, and
pretending she couldn't was
asking
for something very bad to happen.

Still, when the soft thumping
came and she opened the plain wooden door, it really did seem to be Zack
Hartley standing there, looking slightly bemused and happy about life. That was
nice to see, really. At least one of them should get some pleasure from living,
right?

"And here he is now."
She looked at him closely, trying to pick out if he was really the right being,
which he understood instantly. Nodding, he held up his right hand, causing
eight full nodes to form right behind him, in a semi-circle. Since no one
other
than the Line Walker could manage that, she bowed a tiny bit.

"Pretty good. Last time you
showed me that you only did six. Of course I can't prove who I am, since
someone
killed me, and took all my slaves away." She
could
try for him, of
course, but if she were going to do that, she wanted to ambush him, and be far
enough away that he didn't know where to find her while she got it locked into
place. The last several times she'd tried that had
not
gone well. For
her. It was clear that she needed to learn a few new tricks, if she wanted to
survive much longer.

He winked at her, trying to act
like he wasn't wondering the same thing about her, or even suspecting that she
was about to make a grab for him. If he wasn't then he was too insane to live.
She
knew
he was crazy, having been broken as a child by Xenses, but she
really doubted he was that far gone. Smiling at her he bowed back, making it
seem formal.

"I've come to get my Hally?
Not that we have to leave instantly, but if not, I need to get a snack. I'll
pay you for it." This was said to Keeley directly, and she realized it was
a good idea. For one thing it would mean that Hally wasn't gone yet.

That kind of sentimental crud was
the real reason that she had to leave. If the girl were hurt in front of her,
it would disrupt Keels's mind. That could lead to mistakes, or even death for
them all. Knowing that, Zack was helping her out, letting her trade all her
people for information. He hadn't even insisted on immediate delivery, taking
them all as they got ready. Rebekah first, and then Sherry and Eve. Gary and
Becky were heading off on a road trip together, which should have them gone for
ten days, along with some other friends of theirs. Darla had planned to go
along too, but that wasn't going to work too well, what with the Second
Crucible going on.

Quince however was planning to
go, which should keep them all pretty safe. No muggers or serial killers were
going to get them too easily at least. That being the case, she decided not to
worry about them for the time being. It would either work out, or she'd be
dead, and it wouldn't matter anyway.

"Food it is then. Canned
ravioli okay? That and some garlic bread?" She meant it, since that was
what she had a lot of, needing to go shopping that evening. It had been nearly
a week and she was, without her mom there to do that for her, running out of
things to eat.

Rather than suggest she do better
than that, Zack just nodded.

"My favorite." The look
he gave her seemed to indicate that it really was, and the fact that he still
couldn't lie well without using magic, she didn't think, meant that he was
actually not just being polite. It really was something he enjoyed, at the very
least. That was good.

As she opened the eight large
family sized cans she had left, he started melting butter with diced garlic in
it, adding just a bit of rosemary and thyme to the mix. Dried herbs, not fresh,
but unlike Darla, he didn't complain about the lack, just using what was there.

Hally just sat at the kitchen
table, watching them both, seeming nervous. Finally, just as the bread, or at
least three of the split loaves, went into the oven under the broiler, she
nervously cleared her throat.

"Um, so... Zack." She
seemed to have something in mind, which was painfully clear, but what that was,
Keeley realized she didn't know, exactly. It was hard for her to miss anything
like that, normally, but the whole Second Crucible thing was distracting. That
was probably a horrible plan, since she had no clue what was coming at all.

"Yes, Hally?" The tone
was very polite and even friendly, with no hint or sexual anything in it. Since
the poor guy had been dealing with an increased sex drive for the last four
months or so, that was something kind of impressive. It meant he was dampening
that response for the girl, or at least not doing that kind of thing in front
of Keeley. It was polite, but not strictly needed.

He owned Hally now. By their
rules he could have had her bend over the table and have sex right there and
Keeley couldn't have done more than leave the room. That, luckily, wasn't his
way. He was almost too gentle for one of them, refusing to rape, or enslave
anyone and killing only when pushed to it. Not that she went around forcing
people that way either, but it was good to know that he was willing to be that
careful with her friend, even if it wasn't really about her.

Hally screwed her mouth to the
side, making her seem determined and young at the same time.

"What's the plan for the
next week? Until the Camp starts? Am I supposed to go and get that ready? I
don't know how, but I can try."

He watched the bread under the
oven light, not glancing away even for a moment.

"That's a good idea. Hilda
is already there, setting up. You'll love her. She's really smart, like you
are." He did dart a look at her then and shrugged. "Or, well, about
fifty percent
smarter
than that, being a Trolleinkein. Sweet though, so
you should be friends. She's going to help out at the camp, in the admin
section." He stopped, giving the Human girl a chance to ask the needed
questions, which she did, at exactly the right time.

"Trolleinkein?
That's..." She looked at Keeley and then narrowed her eyes a tiny bit, to
show she was thinking. "Pretty much Bigfoot, right? Except that the ones
you know are all ambassadors, so shave all the time, to help pass as
Human?" The words got Zack to actually turn and look at Hally hard for a
moment, smiling as he did.

"Okay, fine then, not
nearly
fifty percent smarter than you are. That's exactly right. Good deduction too.
Still, she looks a bit different, being big and strong. If anyone asks about
that, tell them that she's a power lifter. She's that too, so you get the idea,
it will work. Most won't pay that much attention to what's really going on
anyway." He stared into the oven, the clear glass shining more than a
little. It had been scrubbed every time it was used since Keeley and her mother
had moved in, which kept it looking pretty nice.

After a few seconds he took the
bread out, which was evenly golden on the top, and switched it with the other
loaves, as the ravioli got stirred gently in the giant pot. The two Demons had
to dance around each other to make that happen smoothly, but it worked, since
both of them were paying attention, if to different things. Keeley knew that
she tended to read magical energies, and Zack looked at the distortions in
space that preceded movement.

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.