Darla pulled out a small box, one with silver and gold designs, like flowing lines of water, all over the outside, from a bag she wore on her shoulder, a large thing that crinkled softly. There was a hole on the top of the box and she pulled a large metal key, an old skeleton style one that was black, made of iron and put it in, turning it with a gentle click. That set off a whirring and after about half a minute went silent.
“Ah, there we go. No one will hear us now.” Darla gave her a hug quickly, then dumped the bag of snacks on the bed, sitting on it and pulling Keeley down.
“Provisions. Eat. I have news. Not much yet, but it's only been ten hours, so what can be expected?”
It wasn't hard to eat, one of the goodies following the next, even though the sugar and fat was nearly too much for her at first. She removed that sense of things and let herself feel her real hunger, which nearly made her double over in pain. She dialed that back and started eating faster, as Darla nodded.
“I did warn you about using magic, didn't I? True, catching Balthias was... incredible. Masterful. Don't let that go to your head, but it's great. Still, a binding takes energy to maintain and you haven't learned how to use outside energy at all yet, so everything comes from you. Get too weak and the bond will break. So for now, I'll bring you food daily. Or someone will. If worse comes to worse you can just leave and get something to eat of course, but seriously... Being grounded is perfect for you right now.” Darla snagged one of the honey buns, which seemed to be her personal favorite and ate quickly.
Her words made Keeley frown though.
“How is that perfect? I can't help find who killed Rob and the others may be in danger. I don't know what to do... but sitting here is far from perfect.”
“OK, little sister, if you want to look at it that way and forget the real threat, then yes, you have a point. But Rob, while one of my people and a dear boy, is not your personal concern. I've been around a while and can handle that situation without help.” She raised her right hand, which looked a little imperious.
“Not that I'm cutting you out of the situation either. That would just lead to silliness and you trying to go all action hero on me, which might end with your death. Probably not though. I think I've located the likely killers already and I'm waiting only for proof.” That statement got a shrug.
“But I'm calling in some favors to check the situation out. In the meantime I'll leave the protection of Hally, Eve and Gary to you. I'd focus on Gary first. He is, by the way, back home and reconciling with his father. Ken Turks had a rather sudden and complete change of heart it seems, as far as his son's sexuality is concerned. Fear based, but so far it seems to be sticking. I wonder what your Balthias did to him? Well, we can cover that later. For now they're scared and not talking much about what they saw, except Hally, which could be a problem if she speaks in the wrong place. You might look after her for a few days?”
Keeley didn't know. She was glad to hear the thing with Gary's dad worked though. Hally was harder. Or easier. Depending on how little she paid attention to what her parents said right now.
“How should I protect them though? I can't... Oh, right, pet lesser demon. Will he be able to stand up to whoever you think the killer is?”
“Yes. I think that Eve's first thought might be simple truth. That homophobes from Wilson high ambushed them and beat Roberto to death. If so... I don't want to shock you later, so I'll just tell you my plan now. They won't survive if that's the case, you understand?”
That got a nod.
She really did understand. If she caught them they wouldn't survive either. Oh, she might have to get someone else to do the actual killing, but it would happen. She said as much, which earned her a tight squeeze.
“You know Keeley, you're the best sister ever. I really do hope you survive. Now eat. I'll bring more to school. Should I pick you up in the morning or...”
“Nope. Walking or getting a ride from dad most likely. Remember you're my slutty friend who I may be sleeping with. At least in my parents' minds. It's just creepy. They have no reason to think anything like that, but there you go...”
Darla laughed, “It's more common than you'd imagine, to think such things. Especially here, in the U.S. Everyone is so hung up on sex. I blame the Christians. Yet another way they've helped to make the world a more miserable place.”
“You really aren't a fan of them are you, Christians?”
“Not so much. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll come around to that way of thinking in a few decades too. They really are a screwed up bunch of people. Some are useful but for the most part they just manage to delude themselves, making a mess of the world in their wake. It would be amazing if they weren't all so narrow minded about the idea. Then if they weren't, they'd have to admit to being wrong and fix themselves, so, you see, it's a circle.”
With that she started packing up her black bag, stuffing now empty wrappers inside. Finally after putting a finger to her lips, she turned the key in the box and walked toward the door as the sound wound down.
“Later.” The whisper came as she opened the door, then closed it tightly behind her.
Now that she was paying attention Keeley could feel the sudden jump the other girl made. Leaving using the in-roads? It seemed like a cool trick and while not instant, moved at far greater speeds than anything Keeley knew how to do. Before it had seemed like a jet plane, but now it seemed a little faster than that. Had the other demons gone slow to announce their presence?
If so she needed to learn all she could fast, because even a fraction of those speeds would kill her right now. She couldn't even dodge out of the way if something like that came for her, could she? Not unless she had a long head start. So what did that mean? For now she just had to pay attention. That and make sure the others had a guard on them.
“Balthias, come to me please, quietly and avoid being noticed by anyone but me.” She didn't know how to make that stick, but the lesser demon appeared anyway, instantly.
He was, apparently, a very good pet demon. Lesser demon.
“Master.”
“I have a job for you, something simple... Maybe even fun.” Depending on how you defined fun of course. If he liked to watch young firm bodies in the shower this job could have its perks. Creepy? Yeah, but Balthias was a lesser demon, so the creep factor didn't get much higher that she knew of. For that matter he was being set the task by a greater one, so between the two of them they probably trumped all rational morality anyway.
She'd had a man killed after all.
More, when she got a moment to breathe, she planned to finish the job and have all the men that hurt Eve put down. It wasn't a “good” thing, maybe, but it didn't strike her as evil either. Did that mean she was bad? It was kind of a hard thing to consider. She was a demon, and by the Christian mindset, that meant she was, no matter what else she did.
Then, Darla kept saying that those people were just wrong and at least hinting there was no god at all. But...
The memories that Tarsus had dumped on her, those didn't preclude a god.
She'd think about it later though. There were too many things to get done for the moment to spend a lot of time thinking about theology.
She set the task as if she had a right to, and wonder of wonders the lesser demon just nodded along. All he had to do was protect three people and while at times it meant moving from one to the other quickly, they would probably spend a lot of time together, making it pretty easy a lot of the time.
“Don't freak anyone out if you can help it, covert and silent. If anyone tries to harm them physically, stop them. Try for non-lethal, but protecting them is the key.”
“Master... what if they attack each other?”
“Um, that shouldn't happen, but... in that case, well, separate them and don't let them do it. They aren't really aware of things like us yet, so keep that low key. We already have fallout from them seeing you, and I don't know how bad that's going to be. Really, it's not your fault, but we get to deal with it anyway, understand?”
“I do.” He left without waiting for more instruction, which Keeley got. If he waited she could add... anything, making the task harder to perform. He didn't have anything sinister in mind, the lesser demon would have to tell her if he did, but that didn't mean he liked being bossed around like that. She'd have to figure out some way to reward him, so that he didn't feel too bad about everything. Sooner or later he'd get free and she really didn't want a giant fight on her hands when that happened.
What did lesser demons like, she wondered?
Italian cream cake? Maybe little ones? Cupcakes?
That sounded good. Her stomach, amazingly, grumbled at her again.
She didn't sleep, or let herself get bored, but that meant she had a lot of time to get ready for school. She did it all slowly, making sure she had everything ready for the day. Twice.
To her surprise it was her mother that drove her to school, not her father, most of the trip going silently, her mom being a nervous driver most of the time. As they got closer to the school, Sherry looked at her slightly, then back to the road just in time to swear and not hit an older gentleman stepping into traffic from between two parked cars. She just kept driving without comment.
“It's... not fair. You being grounded like that. Your father... I can't make excuses for this can I? He's... got some problems. He thinks that you're going to go out and sleep with every guy in town and half the women. It isn't rational, but there's nothing we can do about it. I spoke to him and he agreed that you don't have to be grounded, but...”
She stopped talking for a long time, the silence drawing out. Keeley didn't say anything, since that “but” had an ominous sound to it. After nearly a minute, the conversation restarted. Painfully.
“But we need you to stop hanging around with your new friends. He thinks... they're a bad influence. I tried to talk him out of that, but... He won't budge honey. I'm... sorry. I know that making friends hasn't always been easy for you and that my... problems haven't helped with that. I'll keep working on him, but for now, if you could just not see them?”
Keeley felt a flash of anger, rage really. It wasn't fair.
But then her mother had already admitted that. She forced herself to calm, or tried to, and didn't make it, but at least she didn't scream at the woman. Instead she looked out the window, not speaking at all.
“Keeley, I... it's just for now, I'm sure in a few weeks he'll come around, it...”
Keeley shook her head slightly, a tight smile on her lips. It didn't look like a happy thing.
“No problem. I mean, you understand that I'm just totally going to ignore that, right? That I have commitments, to help Hally with math and the dance committee, that kind of thing? All normal, wholesome school stuff that you should both be supporting even. If dad wants me to pretend we aren't hanging around that's fine. I'd rather not lie about everything I'm doing, but if that's what he needs to feel comfortable, then we can do that.” She made herself smile, and kept her mouth closed so it wasn't even a half snarl.