Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (10 page)

   It stepped back again, as if... pushed.

   The fear was intense, horrible. Crippling, except that she wasn't paralyzed by it. She just knew she should be. That was a different thing altogether, wasn't it? On the seventh step, just outside its arms reach the thing turned and ran.

   “You haven't seen the last of me!” It shouted back over its shoulder in slightly lisping and harsh sounding English.

   The little black thing shrugged at them. It had stayed out of the little fight after all and didn't seem intent on bullying anyone at all. It also didn't spray fear around the room, making it seem far more friendly to Keeley, all things considered.

   “Freedom?” It said softly, almost unheard in the room.

   Darla nodded.

   “If you do not trouble my lands, or my people, any of them, vassal, friend or family, you may go. Deal?”

   “A bargain true.” The sound sank through the room and then it did its own vanishing act.

   The floor was still thrashed as they got Hally around and onto the sofa, so it had actually happened, and Darla got Eve a brown paper bag from the kitchen so that she wouldn't pass out from breathing too much.

   The first words out of Hally's mouth were interesting, given the level of fear that Keeley still felt, and how much her own hands and legs shook at the moment.

   “Was... were those demons? Did we do that, with the board? I knew we shouldn't use that thing. Are they going to attack us again?” Her voice was scared, freaked out. Darla shook her head.

   “No, those weren't demons at all and they won't be back. That was just a bit of a botch up on my part. Not good, but things like that happen. Nothing to worry about at all.”

   Darla smiled gently and waved her hand as if to dismiss the idea. Keeley would have expected the same reaction if someone had accidentally broken a plate at dinner. Just a good hostess making sure everyone felt at ease.

   Eve took the bag she puffed into away from her face, the constant sound of crinkling suddenly gone from the room.

   “How do you know?” She husked, going back to her breathing into the bag.

   “Know what? That they won't be back or that they aren't demons?” The blond asked calmly, sounding pretty close to normal all things considered.

   The black haired girl nodded. Keeley had to admit she was pretty curious too so watched the whole thing closely.

   “Oh, well...” Darla took a deep breath and smiled.

   “They were trapped in a jar in my room, the big mean looking one for over a hundred years... a hundred and seventeen if I remember right and the others really just wanted to be gone, don't you think?”

   Keeley nodded.

   “That seems about right. And the big one really only seemed interested in you. A personal thing?”

   “Exactly. It was a nuisance at the time and I tricked it into the container you saw earlier. The holding limit must have been breached though. It shouldn't have been yet, but materials do wear out over time. As to how I know they aren't demons... well that's easy.” She winked at the other girls playfully and walked to sit by Hally, holding her hand gently.

   “I know they aren't demons, because I am one.

Chapter five

   “Hah!” Keeley said as the others looked on, a bit shocked at the pronouncement.

   “I knew you Jedi mind tricked my mom.” She crossed her arms and tried to glare at the girl.

   Everyone laughed.

   Hally hugged Darla and laughed weakly for a bit, the scene was surreal now, as if it hadn't really happened at all. Eve went and joined them, but Keeley didn't. She just shook her head instead.

   “And who, exactly, makes their own sodas? Definitely a sign of the devil. Yep. Should have known.”

   The odd thing was, even as she played the whole thing off, Keeley realized something strange. It made sense.

   Darla hadn't lied to them at all. Those things weren't demons and she knew that as a simple fact. Because she was one. The other girls just took it as a bad joke which earned her a playful slap to the side of the arm from Hally.

   “That's not funny. I know you're just trying to make us feel better, but what were those things and are we really alright?”

   Keeley looked at Darla who shrugged and looked back at her then smiled and nodded brightly.

   “Well, you know, ergot mold. It must have gotten into the flour. It's like... LSD. We'd been doing the whole Ouija thing earlier and if that got into the tortillas, well, there have been shared delusions and hallucinations reported when it comes into play...”

   That of course, Keeley knew was a lie. Ergot lived on rye and they'd eaten wheat flour. The rest was right, but the others glommed onto the idea as if it was a life preserver and they were drowning on the ocean. Darla didn't even have to do more than nod emphatically a few times.

   “So...” Eve said, sounding worried, but a lot less so now.

   “What do we do?”

   Keeley tilted her head, obviously, if they were worried about mold in the flour there was only one thing to do.

   “We throw out all the flour and scrub the kitchen down with bleach.” She said as if it were real. It really would have worked after all, bleach killed just about everything. Nothing lent credibility to a situation like acting in a realistic fashion.

   Darla nodded, a serious look on her face.

   “Right. We should do that now. Sorry, I know it's not as much fun as playing with ghosts, but it needs to be done. It shouldn't be dangerous at all, but I don't want to be making cookies in two weeks and then have to spend the evening babysitting Santa's elves.”

   That got a tilt of the head from Keeley.

   Because really that sounded like a lot more fun. Little elves capering and making merry? Though two weeks away would be a little early. Push that back to five weeks and it would be about right.

   They worked frantically, going over the whole kitchen space several times, even though it started out cleaner than any space like it had a right to be. Keeley decided that whoever Darla had in to clean normally must be very well paid. That or mind controlled. They even moved all the appliances and cleaned behind and under them carefully, just to make sure there couldn't be anything hiding in some dingy nook or cranny. They didn't find anything, because there was nothing to find, but everyone else seemed to feel better by the end of it. It had given them something to do that sounded like a plan, which left them feeling better.

   “So, that fixes it, right?” Hally said, not sounding half as scared after the nearly three hours of work. A little tired maybe. Slightly bored finally.

   “Should just about do it. I really doubt anything unwanted survived that.” Keeley answered, trying to play along with the idea like she had been.

   After all, she believed what Darla had said, which meant that the girl was a demon, or at least something strange, and given everything she didn't really want to challenge her if that was the case. She could just play along and get back home the next day. Hopefully without her soul being sold to Satan or whatever real demons did with their spare time when they weren't leading cheers.

   Darla nodded hugely.

   “Right, but I'll have a hazmat cleaning unit in tomorrow just in case. I doubt anything survived us, but just in case I'll have it checked out. I can get one in from my grandmother's company I think. Better safe than sorry.”

   Then, almost as if nothing had happened Darla waved to Keeley calling her over. She leaned in to and whispered to her.

   “Keep them here for a minute?”

   “Um, sure?”

   Darla chuckled and left the room in a relaxed manner, claiming she just had to run to the bathroom. That was so obviously not the plan that Keeley wondered if running out the garage door would be prudent. Instead, based on the fact that the head cheerleader, no matter who or what she was, hadn't really seemed to be trying to hurt anyone yet if nothing else, she got the others to help her move the giant refrigerator again, for one last cleaning, since that was, of course, the most likely place for them to have missed something. They hadn't, it was perfectly clean, but the ten minutes of additional scrubbing meant that the demon girl walked back in before they were done. She winked at Keeley.

   “No mold has survived us at all. I think we should all go to bed now and see about making it an early morning. We should be fine upstairs. Ergot doesn't go airborne easily, you have to eat it. I'll take everyone out to breakfast in the morning, so that won't be a problem.”

   Then as if it were just something normal and nothing had happened at all, the others all went off to their rooms meekly. Quietly. Keeley stared at Darla's back but didn't say anything, still wondering if making a run for it would be worthwhile. Then again, if she did, the demon would know how to find her. Crud. She'd been to her house.

   She'd been watching her. 

   Well, Keeley decided. The blond couldn't have her soul. Keeley didn't even know if that existed, but just in case it was a good idea to have a plan. In the living room she saw instantly what the girl had done. Nice cream colored throw rugs had been put down to cover the massive hoof print damage, some kind of board put under them so that you could just feel the uncertainty of the floor under that. A slight bump, a warping of the wood under foot. At least Keeley could feel it. Eve and Hally didn't even look at the new addition to the room, as if it had always been there. It really did match the room nicely. Blending with the carpet further into the space.