Other Places 3: Detours (25 page)

Rebekah
came out, along with her band, and was set upon almost instantly by people
wanting autographs, even as they all tried to get to the council members.
While
not trying to simply bat their fans out of the way. It was a bit funny, if you
realized what was going on. Keeley squeezed his arm, drunkenly, and then stood
up.

"Here
I go! Back to the trenches. We should get together later? I'll bring
Rebekah..." It wasn't slurred, but still didn't sound like the girl he
knew. Not much at least.

That
probably meant she wanted to talk, but that could have been done without the
attempted cloak and dagger thing, simply by calling, or even just showing up.
Which meant...

She
was selling her act for other people. He glanced around, and saw a nicely
dressed, but out of place, man and his entourage moving toward the band, who
Keels joined instantly, her drunken form bobbing just slightly in the sea of
people.

Next
to him, Darla smiled.

"She
wants something from you. The only problem there is that she doesn't have
anything you want. I wonder what she'll pull out of her sleeve to get your
help?"

He
didn't know, and frankly, didn't really care.

Zack
sort of wanted to get home, take care of the cakes he'd made and then go and
see to his workers at the store. They were all new, after all, and who knew
what work might have come in for him? It wasn't that he didn't want to be
helpful, especially if it would smooth things over between them, but most of
what needed fixing was inside himself, not her at all.

Being
a jerk wasn't going to work, so Zack smiled and tried to mean it.

After
all, he could always say no.

Or
try to, at least.

There
was no getting out of decorating the cakes he'd made, because he had a Greater
Demon attached to his hip, and she clearly had a hankering for some chocolate
goodness. With raspberry filling. Zack could eat that, with about the same
gusto that he'd have consumed Brussels sprouts. They were food, after a
fashion, and on the mentally approved list in his head, not being made of Human
flesh or anything sentient at all, but that was about all it had to recommend
itself. Still, he had more than one kind made up, and the others all had
different flavors, so at least there was that.

That
meant, when three o'clock came around and he was safely neglecting his real
work, being stuck on baby demon cooking class time at home, that Keeley,
Rebekah and Darla were all in his living room chatting away merrily, just as he
finished up. It was a bit annoying, since, fair or not, he wasn't up to having
guests at the moment. Or, rather, he
was
, but the people that presented
themselves weren't who he really needed to see.

Not
at all.

That
wasn't their fault at all, but to his mind, true or not, he was sort of dating,
or at least sleeping with, Rebekah, and Keeley was likely to try and make a
grab for his freedom at any moment. It was probably what whoever had done that
had originally intended. Still, it meant that he had to stay ready to strike
out at Keels, just in case this wasn't really her.

Without
waiting, suppressing how he really felt, and all the memories and thoughts of
Mirror Him front and center in his mind, he walked out and grinned.

"Hey,
Keeley. If I give you some cake, do I get anal off of you finally?" He
winced and shook his head. "I'm sorry. We haven't even done anything yet.
I meant
oral
. Anything else would be pushing things to fast, wouldn't
it?"

That
was the kind of thing that Mirror Him would have said, but apparently, when he
got annoyed, that part came on just a bit stronger than was strictly needed.
The reactions from the women didn't help a lot at all. Two were old and worldly
enough not to be shocked by some mildly creepy speech and Keeley was able to
lock her emotions down enough that she didn't blush or seem upset, at any rate.
Still, he could tell, somehow, that she wasn't all that pleased for him to be
saying that.

Maybe
she didn't like cake? Or had heard about the raspberry filled chocolate monster
that Darla had wanted? He looked at her directly, which would have made anyone
normal uneasy, but she just
sighed
.

"So,
what they did to you has turned you into a sleazy asshole? I was afraid that
might happen." She actually seemed sad as she shook her head. Rebekah just
covered a smile with her left hand.

Zack
snorted himself.

"Probably.
Mirror Him was never all that PC, so that's working into my system now, too.
Still..." He was planning to add something nice then, about how he'd only
been kidding, but even though true, he stopped himself and changed the topic. "I
do
have cake. You two can pay for it. Then, after you say what you want,
you can go. I can't really trust you right now. I'm barely able to believe that
Darla is actually herself and that this isn't just another trick, so...
yeah."

That
got a fake wince from Keeley. It looked real, but he wasn't all that fooled.

"I
don't want to make your life harder Zack, but I was hoping that we could trade
some work? The Cleric was asked by The Librarian to arrange for a rather
massive transport of goods from the Hireesie lands to Greece. Since we're known
to be close, and going through Darla would have been an insult to you, Gregor
asked me to arrange it? It's probably just grunt work, but could be important.
It's so hard to know with Tarsus. I can't say that he's my favorite person of
all time." She left it at that, and smiled, her face looking slightly...
prim.

Zack
clapped once, copying what Bey always did when he was most pleased.

"Ah!
Good. Excellent. So we can trade that anal sex for the work?" Again, he
was kidding, but Darla gave him a very dark look then and shook her head.

"
No
.
The level of effort required sounds high. You should ask for more than that.
Years
of sexual service at least. Keeley is decent at shape changing, so she should
be entertaining that way, if nothing else." There was a deathly
seriousness to the tone, and the teen girl looked at him as if he were a
monster. Since she was still pretty innocent, at least in that way. As hard as
it was to believe, given the world they lived in.

She
let her eyes narrow a bit, instead.

"I
don't think so. Now stop teasing me and pick something real. Remember, I'm just
brokering this for other people..."

Darla
took over then, which was good, as far as joking went.

"He
set a fair payment plan for it Keels. Not everyone is going to let you off that
easily you know. He doesn't
need
cash, and you don't have much that will
help him right now. You asked for his help and he offered you terms that don't
even cost you anything. Not really. You have an unlimited supply of sex after
all, so it's simply a bit of work time being spent. You should consider
it."

That
was down to Darla trying to get Keeley used to not being shocked by things like
that. Even if she wasn't strictly speaking, her mentor anymore. Zack slowly
nodded. He was supposed to be nice and all that too, wasn't he? That meant
being helpful, and what Keeley needed was to let go of her hang ups. Fast.
Before they got her into too much trouble. That got Keeley to wince at least,
her face going hard.

She
wasn't really trapped of course, but she probably didn't really have anything
he needed, did she?

Not
at the moment. Zack shrugged.

"Fine,
one favor, of the same scope, to be addressed later. Only if you help with the
project though. You can refuse what I ask of you when the time comes, but if
you
do
you have to act as a sex slave for ten years, doing whatever I
want without question. With
whoever
I want." Then he grinned,
knowing that she wouldn't like what he was going to add next. It wasn't kind of
him, but that bit that used to be MH almost glowed inside. "On top of
that, regardless, I get a fair chance to nail your mom. Only if she agrees, but
as often as she wants to do it."

The
last time that issue had come up, Keeley had offered to rip his balls off.
She'd meant it and Zack got the idea, since he was, clearly, a bit of a perv.
Who hit on their own Aunt like that? It nearly made him feel all gross inside,
but he fought that down. In the Greater Demon world, you couldn't afford to let
anyone
see you as weak.

She
actually growled at him, which given her lovely face, and the fact that she
didn't want to push him into a physical confrontation came out seeming both
menacing and cute at the same time.

"Five
million cash, three rather nice magical implements out of my collection, and I'll
help you with this task, if you need it." She glared, but it was at Darla,
not him.

The
blonde girl just shrugged and laughed at her, but didn't add anything at all.

The
reality was though, that he didn't care. About anything. His emotions were too
tied up and while he did feel mild amusement, his inner self actually wanted to
let her off the hook, more or less. It was only what Darla had said earlier,
about her being left open in that area that got him to persist. Not that it was
his job to fix things for her, but she had way too big of a gap in her Demon
skills. If he could work that out, as insane as he clearly still was, then
Xenses would.

The
Defiler would probably take her off guard and rape her over and again, given
that, before she had defenses to handle that sort of thing at all. At least if
he could work out a way around her ability to take slaves at will. Things were
far too dangerous for her to be broken, even for a few decades.

"Ten
million, a favor, and I get anal on alternating Tuesdays. Giving, not
receiving. Though we can try that too, if you're feeling kinky?" He tried
not to smile, teasing her or not, and Darla interjected again.

"
Every
Tuesday. Set a time frame though Keels, or you'll end up getting busy and
forget, which will put you in breech. Then you'll have to fight him, or end up
in an even more onerous position to make up for it. It's important to pay off
your debts after all." There was a lesson in it for him, he knew, since
she wasn't really Keeley's mentor. Not anymore.

Keeley
glared, angrily this time.

"Stop
it Darla, I know what you're doing. I don't have to make a deal like that. You
aren't going to trick me into it either."

That
got her sister to stop at least, and stare for a bit.

"I'm
not trying to, Keels." She sounded almost sincere and everything. It
wasn't that funny though. "You aren't really ready to be an adult, and I
don't have the right to keep teaching you. This is something you need to fix.
If you seem reluctant to do something simple like this, then every single
payment you're asked for, for years, will be in this general area. You
know
it's true. It's a lot better for you to spend your first times with someone
nice like Zack, rather than ending up stuck with one of the others. Do you
think that Finias will be kinder to you that way? He... Might, but given
everything that would be even harder for you."

Zack
got that one, because yuck, her
dad
. Except that they were Greater
Demons and even for the good ones, if you could call them that at all, things
like family didn't matter in the same way as it did for Humans. Still, he'd
grown up with the same rules that she had, and got the idea. They just couldn't
afford to let that kind of thing influence them. Not with half the Greater
Demon world gunning for them. Or at least her.

They
all seemed to actually like Zack, for some reason. It was a trick, or a
temporary thing, no doubt, but as hard as it was making his life, at the
moment, that part was helpful.

He
grinned, tired of the game they were playing and not even wanting sex at all.
That had been locked down for nearly a day already, since too many of his new
memories were involved that way.

"All
right, ten million, a favor that's comparable to the task at hand, and you have
to have sex with at least ten people in the next month. None of them have to be
me, but at least one Greater Demon." He waited, and, shockingly, Darla
nodded.

"That
sounds more than fair Keeley. You should take it."

He
was willing to let the sex stuff go, himself, but they talked for a while longer,
with Darla pushing both the cash portion and the sex part up, as Keeley argued
them down, ending up with eleven million, and only having to have sex with five
different people. One of them being a Greater Demon.

Given
everything, since he figured that Keeley might want to annoy him, he had to
figure that Troy was about to get lucky. That was fine. She was underage for
him, but could change shape to an appearance that he wouldn't know about at
all. Or, Zack knew, he might be wrong. She did not seem happy though, even if
it was clear to him that Darla was trying to help out, not be mean. It just
seemed like that, if you filtered things through Human morality.

They
weren't Human, which was the point. Not at all.

When
she left the Demon girl practically stormed out the front door, acting a good
bit more immature than she had any right to, since she was supposed to be both
an adult
and
sane. After they left, with Rebekah being jerked through
the node roughly, outside the closed front door, Darla moved in and gave him a
big hug. It was different, since she normally hadn't been doing things like
that.

"That
was so good, Zack! You didn't even bargain like a hippie. At this rate you
might even be a productive member of the community some day. Still, we can't
just leave it there, can we? Let me grow a cock, and we can have sex. You have
some oil for that?" She grinned, but as far as he could tell she was
pushing him for the same reason that she'd been after Keeley. He had issues
there too, didn't he?

It
was probably why Mirror Him had always teased him about being gay, so he'd shy
away from those memories. It wasn't a bad plan, come to think of it. Neither
was what Darla suggested, though he still wasn't really into the idea. It was
like the raspberry filled chocolate cake, he guessed. A thing that he could
force himself to do, but wouldn't like. Not without magic being used to change
his mind.

"Nope.
We can use vegetable oil, I suppose. Keep the penis modest though, will you? I
don't want to get all stretched out. Plus, if you do me, I want to do you, too.
Going second, so if you get too rough, you know you'll be getting the same in
return." He managed not to sound scared at least. Even if the idea did
freak him out a bit.

She
giggled. It wasn't real, but it came with a pat on the back.