Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) (6 page)

They walked, watching each other
as if ready for the inevitable betrayal. The one that had to come at any
moment. Two powerful beings, each knowing that their only possible chance of
survival was to strike before the other had a chance to answer in kind. Neither
of them took that path however, and Keeley let herself be led to a small room
inside the warm and polished looking mansion. The floor was covered with rugs,
all matching, and all made with care, holding intricate patterns that flared
with power when she stepped on them. Not trapping her, but releasing the scent
of a fresh meadow, on an almost subliminal level. A thing that wasn't meant to
impress her, but simply to make the being next to her a little more pleased
with his long existence.

For his part, he stared at her so
closely she wondered where the trick would be. In his words, or a sudden
snaring with magic? A simple punch to the head might do it as well. There was,
she knew, little enough that she had that would prevent that, so she used just
a tiny bit of magic to make it so that, in that moment, there was no concern
with the idea. If he killed her, then she, Keeley Thomson, The Mistress of
Souls, would simply be gone from the world. That didn't even ripple off of her,
at the moment.

It meant that the only nervous
seeming one was Tarsus, who was the most powerful of the sane Greater Demons.
Or was, at any rate, the one in charge. It wasn't a thing that she'd considered
much before, but a stream of information hit her, coming from outside her mind,
where the mass of data she held about pretty much everything, rested. The tale
there was one that was very different than she might have thought. Tarsus was
indeed strong, and very wise, able to beat most of the other Greater Demons, if
he had time to prepare for them.

That didn't mean he was the most
powerful
.
In fact, all of the strongest were insane. It was, he believed, part of why
they could use such abilities. Even as the plain door to the small dark room
opened, he spoke, his voice far more bland than his body language spoke of.

"Exactly, Keeley. I'm much
as you are. Those that cannot see reality clearly... Many of them have the
ability to warp and stretch the world around them in ways that are truly
frightening. Here, let me..." He closed the door behind them, the space
inside pitch black for a while, except that light came through a window as soon
as the lock clicked into place, showing a very humble hut from the inside.

The bare floor looked to be clean
and well swept, but it was made of packed dirt. The furnishings were all made
of wood, and if there was metal used in the construction at any point, she was
missing it. The light didn't pass through a sheet of glass, or even oiled
paper, but was just a hole in the wall. The walls were made of mud, with bits
of straw and other things packed into place. It was actually cozy, for all
that. Small, but still about a hundred square feet. There was a fireplace that
looked to be made of mud too, but was decently modern in construction. Not made
of brick, but there were stones in place, and a clever lip that allowed
protection from the flame, while letting the heat escape into the rest of the
tiny ancient dwelling.

That was what she stood in, she
realized. After a moment, examining the place, she could feel the differences
in the world around them too. The air was smoky, but still cleaner than what
she was used to, for instance. That was a subtle thing, but there. The light
through the window was golden in color, and not white. After a moment, she
turned to Tarsus, not addressing the fact that she was, clearly, a few thousand
years back in time. Probably about ten thousand.

"So, your plan?"

She was met by a skeptical look
and silence, with the man's plain but wholesome Greek looking face suddenly
seeming a bit less self assured as he glanced around as well. It was clear that
he was looking for things that might be out of place. This might be his secret
spot, or protected zone, but The Librarian wasn't a fool or mentally lazy. He
examined the small room, comparing it, no doubt, to some internal record.
Looking for anything that might have shifted since his last appearance there.
It was pretty clear that nothing had in particular, since he relaxed, after a
fashion. His right hand still clasped to his leg.

Keeley looked at that, and then
shrugged.

"It isn't my plan to try and
take you over, but you seem to think that I might, once you tell me about this?
Or at least want me to believe that's the case for some reason. Why don't we
just skip past all of that, and go with the truth? Give me the facts and I
promise, I'll try not to be a giant bitch about it all."

He still just looked at her, well
past any level that might be considered normal, or even flirtatious. It was
into full on psycho staring before he even blinked. Then he let his hand come
away from his side. Slowly. Tentatively. It probably meant that he had some
other way to stop her from taking him over. Tarsus was too well prepared not
to. Too smart to let her not have a chance to prove herself a friend also, it
seemed.

Finally he gave her a single nod
that had the feeling of a bow, without being one.

"There are four of our kind
that are seldom spoken about in polite company. At all, if one is wise. The
Rage, The Chaotic, Helmsman and The Void. Each is insane in their own
fashion." Stopping he actually reached out for her arm slowly, and held it
in his palm. "That makes it sound like a small thing, but know this,
Mistress of Souls, they are perhaps the most evil things to have ever existed
on this world. Half of all Human and other race problems, murder, rapes, wars,
and famines, come from those four, somewhere along the chain of causality.
Perhaps more than that. Their personal habits are, as you might guess,
nonsensical to beings such as you and I. Which does not mean bad, but not sane
by any means. Helmsman is even pleasant to be around. Her powers however will,
if left unchecked, eventually lead the world to ruin. The Rage, he wishes to
destroy all of reality, and The Chaotic... Well, you get the base idea. You
have more information on that in your mental stores, if you wish to look at it,
which I suggest you do, when we're done."

She was supposed to work out what
that meant, she knew, but lacked more than raw facts and a couple of guesses.
Tarsus wouldn't have mentioned these beings if they didn't apply to her, would
he? Except, they were all very powerful, and insane. It linked them as a group,
after a fashion, as one way to categorize such things.

"
And
? Do you think
that I'm like that? That I'll enslave the world to my will? Or that, if I did,
which isn't going to happen by the way, that it would be a worse place than it
is already?" It wasn't a new thought. Zack had mentioned the idea to her
before, talking about forming a Greater and Lesser Demon Army to do her will,
and how that might frighten one such as The Librarian.

Because really,
it was a great idea, if not what she had planned exactly.

The being in
front of her laughed, however. It seemed to be genuine and almost happy, too.
Not that it was hard to fake that kind of thing. She did it nearly daily,
herself.

"Not that.
Oh, yes, you might be a problem in time, as powerful as your area of gifts
makes you, but I agree, you aren't one to hold the world against its will. Even
those you took before benefited from being your slave, which is rare. A fine
thing too, since I truly
was
planning to kill you, before you stood
before me and chose to fight to the death, rather than allow me to kill Lenore
Hawthorn in your stead. That marked you as brave and good, you know. That
single act. Of course, it was
foolish
, but I realized that some other
plans I had might be served to have you as a compatriot. I..." There was a
fake sigh that he meant to seem that way, and a smile that was nearly a boyish
smirk. It was annoying she realized, since it was clear he was trying to charm
her. "I think that it's been too long since I've dealt with a being such
as you, Keeley. If I may call you that?"

He waited,
since it was within her rights to insist he call her by her title. Even if she
was way down the list of important Greater Demons so far, and he was right near
the top. Still, he wasn't trying to kill her, and that had to count for
something.

"Sure.
Keels will work too, if we're going to be friends. I can call you Tarsus?"
That was a bit of rope for him to hang himself with. If he were going to be a
jerk about it, he could request she call him The Librarian or some other title.
To her surprise he actually went with that one, after a fashion. It was a
strange one however. "Well, that, or you could call me grandpa?"

There was no
blinking for a moment and she didn't ask what he meant by that. It was, after
all, a simple enough thing. Greater Demons didn't count the Humans in their
lineage, not having any other kind of child than their own. Only the men could
produce kids and only with Human women. That meant, since her father was
Finias, that Tarsus was claiming to be his dad. Given the small numbers of
their population, it was probably even true. If he wasn't that, he'd have been
her second cousin or great uncle twice removed, no doubt. They were all related,
and
had
to be.

Which was why
they didn't go in for family names too much.

"That
works. I'll probably stick with Tarsus however, since I don't want all the
other Demons to make fun of me. So, my good spirit and easily manipulated ways
made you think you could use me for some other project?" She was being a
bit grumpy seeming about it, so smiled, knowing that it was probably a lot
closer to what he was really thinking than not.

"About
that sort of thing. Not nearly as negative however. The good, they do not often
live long, among our kind. Indeed, I doubt that you will make it much past a
thousand years, unless you endeavor to change greatly. That... Isn't the only
mark of worth, however." He winked at her, but it was playful and a little
teasing, not smarmy. She would have figured him as botching that kind of thing,
but there it was, clean and direct. "This is where I manipulate you... Or
would
have. Instead, I'll do what you asked and just give you the truth."

Then he took a
breath and looked around the very old place they stood in.

"This used
to be my home. About seven thousand years ago. It was just about the time that
I introduced writing to Mesopotamia. I hadn't really thought humanity would be
capable of learning it, you know. They can be surprising, at times."

It was clear
that he wanted to stall, for some reason, which meant, given everything, that
she didn't really want that to happen, since there weren't a lot of reasons for
that kind of thing and the fact of the matter was, a being as far above her as
this one doing that probably meant something rather bad for her was in the
works. He didn't shift or move, and no magic seemed to be activated either, but
there were other ways to influence, or
harm
, a person.

He spoke again,
just as she was about to mention all that.

"Really,
we're back in time, in this frozen sliver of the world, at this moment. It was
a more... Gentle time, I think, than the modern world, in many ways. Less so as
well. In this time, where we stand, you and I, Keeley, we are not Greater
Demons, but
gods
. It might seem a minor distinction, especially to the
people around us outside that window, but trust me, it's one that went to the
head of many, even if we should have all known better. If it ever comes up,
remember that. Our kind, even the sane, can become drawn into the idea of our
own powers and abilities. It never works well for us to be considered that way."

She nodded.
"I'll try to remember that, if it comes up. Not to be a pain, but you were
just about to tell me your horrible idea, in which you pretend to need my help,
but it turns out to be a trap or trick that will probably get me killed?"

The other
Grater Demon just smiled at her.

"That does
cut out most of the middle ground, if you put it that way. So, yes. The point
is that I'm very old and over the last several thousand years, I've worked out
a way to hold those four, The Rage, The Void, Helmsman and The Chaotic, in a
space that I do not think even they will be able to escape from. No one could.
The difficulty there is that, if I try to introduce them to this space myself,
they may kill me, suspecting something.
You
however, may be able to grab
each of them and enslave them, forcing them into place by their own hands. As
you recently learned, you are not perfect at doing that and need to refine your
skills. However, working together, I think we can manage this. If you do not do
this... Well, I'll find some other way. Perhaps one less certain of success.
Safer for you, however. If something isn't done however, given the current
state of this world, and the rapid technological alterations made by the
Humans, I do not think any of us will survive much longer. Perhaps a few
hundred years? We need to remove these four from reality, if we're going to
save it."

She thought
about that for a while, and just stood there, accessing the data she had about
it all. They did seem to be legitimate threats, so this wasn't just Tarsus
trying to use her to get at personal enemies or anything like that. Or, it
really
could
be, since he was the one that had put those memories in
place, but if so, it had been the plan the whole time. Which was, given who she
was dealing with, possible.

"You have
a device or magic that will work for this?"

The man smiled
and looked around, trying not to give too much away, it seemed.

"There are
four books. Portals to a different scheme of things. One in which magic does
not work. It simply doesn't function in the spot of the greater world. If they
go there, they will be locked in place, made nearly Human, unable to come back,
no matter how clever they are about it. They need to read the works, but the
sense of power around them and my own handiwork, is too clearly marked on each
page for any of them to be fooled that way. Trust me, if I could have just sent
the things parcel post, it would already be done. So, will you aid me in this?
I won't lie, you really
will
likely die. On the good side, knowing all
of this you stand some small chance that you probably wouldn't have if you
didn't. For instance, you don't have to nearly kill yourself failing at the
Second Crucible."