Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (24 page)

Later, nearly two hours after
she'd gotten there, she left, just standing, and smiling at Gregor.

"Do I forget all of this on
the way out? The way you spoke earlier, it sounded like I might retain
it?"

"You will. What you make of
it, how you manage to rationalize and reshape it to fit what you want, that's
the danger. I think however that we may have finally met the sane Greater Demon
that can understand us. If you live long enough, that might help, in the end.
Or not. Things are going more or less to plan. So who knows what improvements
can be had? You came here for a reason today, Keeley. I have faith that it will
be of aid to all, but how that will happen is not for one such as I to guess
at. Not as more than idle speculation. He will let us know what should be, when
the time comes."

It was cryptic, but she
understood the basic idea, even if it was a joke, or trick. He was saying that
God, who was real and
not
just an imaginary friend of his, had things
worked out. It was, naturally, a stupid and delusional idea. There was simply
no
proof
. If there
was
such a being, then she'd see the signs of
it, wouldn't she?

"Hey, Gregor... If you see
your boss, God, tell him to drop by and visit sometime? We should talk."
Not that it would happen, which from the playful smile on the Greater Demon's
lips, The Cleric knew as well.

"If it comes up, I'll
mention it. Don't hold your breath, as they say. Talk about a busy
person..."

That... well, it made sense that
God would never show up, and it probably didn't matter anyway. That Keels still
had a problem and all of this, which
could
be a game meant to break her
mind or spirit, only made it worse.

Her mission with Tarsus couldn't
be cancelled due to Angels, unfortunately, and while simply killing those other
Demons might work out all right, she didn't think that she could do that.
Except that, once she stepped out of the protected area inside the stone house,
the door shutting gently behind her, she thought that perhaps she
could
.
That she thought that even for a moment probably meant she was high on
something, like her magical powers flooding back, but there was a real glimmer
of an idea forming inside her twisty little mind.

The trick was, well,
her
ability. Making deals, and bargains.

She
couldn't
survive if
she simply walked up to any of those beings and fought for control. Or, that
seemed most likely. The Rage would kill her as fast as Zack had and not be
polite about bringing her back. The others would probably take her as she
approached, in their own ways. Helmsman turning her into an instant friend and
The Chaotic just causing her to mess up so badly she died by her own efforts.
There had to be a way however. A trick that would allow her to act faster than
they could, and from far enough away.

 What if she built a packet of
information, holding it in her mind, then shot that, like a bullet, into the
minds of the people she took over? It would take a lot of very high level rules
layering, like a massive computer program, and she needed to be aware of how
close she could get to those Greater Demons before they could be influenced,
but if she could do it from far enough away, fast enough, then she could send
them wherever she wanted to. Another reality that was accessed through a book,
or even just back home, with orders to play nice from then on.

Leaving them safe and alive
wasn't the best plan perhaps, and it would take even more care to make certain
that they never had a chance to get around her rules, but that was about as
good as she could hope for.

On the good side, it would work
no matter what she did with them, after they were her slaves. That part was the
basic key to removing them from a place they could harm her. Unless their
powers were such that they could influence
her
through the link she
built with them? The problem there was that no one in existence knew if that
was the case or not. It seemed to her that The Rage, who was essentially just a
giant and violent person with anger issues, wouldn't do much to her, unless he
was in the same general area.

Even intense and overwhelming
rage, if that's what came down the link, should be manageable. She'd just have
to assume that it would be many, possibly thousands, of times more intense than
she was ready for. That was all. That a killer
Demon
was the least of
what she might face didn't leave her feeling particularly comfy, or relaxed,
however.

The Helmsman was, if she had the
idea right, a lot like her, in many ways. Influential. Keeley took slaves,
which gave her absolute power over particular individuals, but not others. The
Helmsman did things in a way that might be resisted by some, like her, but also
might not, if they weren't ready to protect against such things before hand.
Most beings around her just sort of
fell
into being a slave, even
without a real link set up. They could break free, or be sent away, which
allowed release, but it was too close to her own abilities to play games with.

The Chaotic might just ruin
everything the instant Keeley connected to him with her mind. Things just went
wrong around that Greater Demon, and even a mental line between them might be
too close for comfort.

Of course, that had always been
the case. There was a chance, perhaps, for her to survive sending them away,
and if she were clever, she
might
take them all, one at a time, and then
have them kill themselves without knowing that she was involved, to keep her
away from the retribution that would come if they ever suspected they weren't
free.

It wouldn't have been so bad,
except that Tarsus couldn't just be
told
that she was seeing Angels all
over the place. Or... Could she do that? It was clearly either her being
insane,
or
someone tricking her. Unless it was correct, which there was
no way for her to prove, was there? Things had seemed real, as she spoke to
Gregor about them, but what if it had all been her losing her mind? That hadn't
happened before that anyone knew of. You were either born a crazy Greater
Demon, or not. Except for
Zack
, but he'd been driven mad before he
actually woke up as a Demon. So, she didn't know for certain that she wasn't
just losing her control.

Her first impulse was to simply
run and hide, but the facts spoke against that. She needed to make sure Tarsus
wasn't right first. That part was hard, since both sides seemed to think that
their way wasn't just the best, but the
only
way.

That left her where? Lost and
alone, unable to even talk to anyone about her troubles. Well, she could go to
a few people, but who would understand? Darla? She'd
freak
, especially
if Keeley was right, and not delusional. She
really
hated Christians
after all. Enough so that finding out that anything related, Angels or God, was
real might just cause her to spiral into denial. That wasn't a natural state
for her, sane and rational, kind of Greater Demon.

Which was a real point. Even the
insane
of her kind knew, without a doubt, that God didn't exist.
Gods
, if you
counted the various Demons playing make believe, and those that came before
who'd done the same, but
not
the big bearded sky daddy. If someone was
clever, and could introduce the idea well enough to them all, might that change
things? Say, drive part of the sane Greater Demons over the edge?

No, that could only happen if God
honestly existed. Then, if they went into some kind of spin trying to deny it,
there could be trouble. They weren't supposed to deny reality. It was a
cornerstone of their very beings. If that could be shown to them, that even the
sane were doing that, then... Yes, it might just warp a few into having
breakdowns. Then the worst portions of evil would have much greater sway over
the world.

She walked away, traveling on
foot through the quaint little village, the sky being truly dark now. It wasn't
that late, but there was no one out and about anymore. The whole place was
pitch black, not having streetlights. What looked cute, and old timey, during
the day seemed sinister and like a great place for an ambush now.

Given that thought, Keeley used
some magic, and forced her way onto the inroads, trying to not be a bully about
it starting half way through. Zack did it so smoothly that you hardly noticed
it happening at times. She managed not to spray the whole world with power, but
it was never as well done as all that. She did think it was a skill that could
be learned however.

Half of her mind was alert to
threats, and she nearly pulled a sword on the Demon that approached her on the
lines, not recognizing him, but whoever it was, the silver form just waved to
her and sidestepped, letting her pass without harm. It wasn't impossible to encounter
another being on the lines, but she hadn't before when it wasn't an attack.
Spying at the very least. Then, how much time had she spent on the lines? Less
than a day, all told, so far. It could be simply a factor of her own
inexperience with the subject matter, rather than anything else. Regardless the
other being had treated her politely enough and not attacked when she passed,
so it was a good sign that things like that could simply take place, from time
to time.

So, she walked home, across the ocean,
the ground always flat and firm under her. It was the way of the inroads. The
water was around her, being several feet over her head, making it seem like she
traveled most of the way in a tunnel. When she got home some ten minutes later,
Keeley just waited in the line, and watched through the portals that gave her a
glimpse into the more normal reality outside the silver lands. That was a
better name for the place than the
inroads
, but she was too young to
change it quickly. It would have to be used for a long time before it caught
on. Even if it
was
better.

She stopped at home, when she was
certain that no one was waiting to kill her, and ate until there was no hunger
left, then showered and cleaned up, changing into something casual, but dressy,
for visiting. She wore makeup, but didn't over do the whole thing. Her
mother
wasn't going to be impressed if she looked hot, Keels didn't think. No, she'd
care about well fed, and in one piece. It was the point of the trip, to
reassure her of that fact, wasn't it? That, or it might just be that Keels
wanted to be comforted. This mess of confused ideas was hard to deal with,
wasn't it? She felt half mad already and kind of wanted to be told it would be
all right. Knowing that about herself, she took a moment to change her mind,
holding the Angel data in place, and stripping her feelings about it away.

After all, when the Baby Demon
feels something they didn't like... They changed it. That was a saying that
she'd heard more than once, and a thing it paid to remember. Having an ability
and forgetting to use it was the same as not having that particular talent at
all.

Then, without calling first, she
went to find everyone else. Her mother first, just to say hi, and then Zack.
Darla might still be busy, so a call would be in order, if it could be done.
Really, even if it would be difficult, she needed to talk to her sister about
things. God, mainly. Angels too. It was an idea that she dreaded, but was only
fair. If it was real, her people needed to know. If it wasn't then... Well,
what they needed to understand was that she'd lost her mind.

There was
also
that part
of things where she needed to ask if the current BS was the actual Second
Crucible, even if her sister wasn't allowed to talk about it. That seemed far
more like a real test than some silly dispute over maps, didn't it? Sighing she
went, and made a point of spending about half an hour with her mother. It
wasn't like they hadn't been together in the last two weeks, so there was no
massive greeting, just a hug. It was a girlish thing, since, she noticed, her
mother was younger without her around. Not that she was an ancient hag the rest
of the time, but she seemed happier now. Relaxed and holding a genuine smile on
her face the whole time.

It hadn't been hard to find her,
since she was at Zack's house in Vancouver Washington. Cleaning, when Keeley
knocked on the door, but again, her mom was doing it happily. Not
perfectly
either, which was amazing. That, she took from her mother's stream of memories,
was all about Zack, who'd really helped her with her OCD. Using magic, and a
few psychological tricks.

Sex too.
Lots
of that.
Enough that Keeley had to block it out, since... Mom sex. That wasn't
supposed
to bug her, given what she was, but she still felt like a little
girl, catching her parents "naked hugging" when she opened the door
to their bedroom at night. Horrible, disturbing hugging...

Smiling, because that's what
people did when they magically shut down disturbing thoughts, at least in her
experience, Keeley let it fade from her mind. It was, she realized, part of
growing up.

Understanding that at some point,
everyone else was just a person too. From her own parents to her third grade
teacher. It took most people longer to work that kind of thing out for
themselves, and a lot never really made the leap, thinking of most people as
more than they were on some level, or
less
, but she didn't have a lot of
time to fix reality, did she? Not if she were going to be shaken up like she
had been in the last few days.

Angels... That shouldn't be
able
to exist. Oh, it wasn't like she knew everything about reality, but there were
certain things she'd figured not to be true that... Unless she was losing it,
might be.