Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (12 page)

    It was why she slept with so many guys now, no doubt. In part it was looking for love, but she also struggled to prove that sex just didn't mean that much. On some level she thought that if it didn't mean anything now, then it wouldn't have to mean anything back then.

   The whole thing was heart rending. Keeley decided right then, that if the chance ever came up, those men weren't going to survive if they still lived. She'd make it happen, somehow.

   “Hey, see you in a few days? At school maybe?” Keeley tried to sound chipper and managed a credible job of it.

   Eve smiled at her and nodded.

   “Yeah, we should totally get together for the posters and stuff. Since you and Darla are basically going to be the planning team. I'll help, but if my bubble idea isn't going to be used I'm kind of out of thoughts for it...”

   The demon smiled slowly and took a step forward, stopping a good three feet away from the other girl.

   “No worries. Just think about farms and barns and things will come to you. Maybe the Amish. That would fit with what the school would like to see. Those people never have any fun at all, so it should be perfect, don't you agree?”

   That taken care of Keeley loaded back into the car, wondering if she'd ever make it home. She reviewed what little she knew about demons and found that most of it really made that seem a bit unlikely. In the bible they were mainly brutish and stupid or were basically angels that had gone against god. Not mentioned hardly at all for all that people talked about them, not in the book itself. There was a lot of wiggle room as to what they actually were too.

   The one next to her didn't talk on the drive.

   Not at all. It was eerie and portentous. No one that didn't want to scream at you stayed quiet for that long as a rule. Keeley couldn't think of any reason for the girl to be mad at her though. Knowing her “secret”? Well she was the one that told them all, wasn't she? Kind of rich for her to be blaming anyone else for that. She could have just as easily hit with ergot first. Not that it would have flown in Keeley-land, but she wouldn't have thought demon. Probably witch, if she'd been guessing. Or maybe something she'd just never heard of. So yeah, she better not blame her for just believing what she said. Plus she left all those obvious clues all over the place.

   Keeley reflected and realized she didn't feel bad about the demon girl either though. Darla hadn't done anything except be a good host the whole time. Friendly and polite. OK, there was an attack by some strange ghost things, or creatures, but that really didn't seem like it had been planned at all. So she supposed that, if she wasn't going to be sacrificed for some unknown reason, she actually kind of liked the blond.

   Which was freaky, her being a cheerleader and all.

   They pulled into the driveway of the blond girl's house calmly, moving slowly so that the garage door would have time to open, the white expanse of it folding upward on the twin tracks as the electrical machine did the work for them. As she watched it work, worried about what was going to happen, wondering if the other girl would try to lie to her or hurt her, Darla watched with a sudden focus, all of it on Keeley.

   “Um, Keeley?” She said, voice hesitant.

   That had to be fake. Why would a demon have any worry at all? Especially about her? Darla continued her voice calm and smooth. Velvety.

   “Would you...” She took a deep breath and then rushed into the rest.

   “Help me fix my floor? I know we just met, but as your new semi-official-best-friend and vice-versa, it kind of comes with the territory. Plus... It will give me something to do while you grill me over... everything.”

   “Help with the floor?” It was unexpected, which was probably the point, a mundane task to set her mind at ease. Maybe to get her to let her guard down? If so, why?

   No, that didn't make sense.

   If it was a trick she'd just use her powers or whatever. This was something else, like... Maybe she really meant what she said? Didn't demons lie all the time?

   She'd have to ask. Though really what would she do if the girl said they did?

   “I guess so. Not exactly in my skill set, but I can try. Do you know how to do it? Woodworking or whatever I mean?”

   “Oh, sure. It's good to have hobbies, I figured we'd just reset it though, manipulate time to a point before the damage took place? I have a device for it. Kind of cool. Shouldn't take maybe half an hour, less probably. Here, I'll show you.” Darla hopped out of the car once she pulled in and seemed suddenly a lot more energetic, less subdued.

   “Come on, it's actually kind of neat, messing with the structure of the universe and all.”

   She moved into the house as the garage door closed, waving for Keeley to follow.

   “OK, but if it takes a blood sacrifice we're using yours. Just saying...” Keeley held her hands up and shook her head wryly as she spoke.

   Darla laughed.

Chapter six

   “Grab the carpets and the boards I put down, will you? I'll grab the... well, its proper name is a little complex in English, but time manipulator will work well enough for now. I'll teach you the proper name for it later, if that's alright? I mean if you want to know.” She didn't wait for an answer, charging up the stairs as if wanting to get back before Keeley could bolt.

   That wouldn't work of course.

   Darla knew where she lived.

   On the good side she could walk home in a pinch. Or even if it wasn't a pinch. It was less than three blocks away and an almost straight shot at that. Sighing she pushed a strand of dark hair out from in front of her glasses and got to work. It was easy enough, the three carpets weren't huge, about four by five, and they rolled up easily. The boards were funny looking, made of wood chips pressed together, the pattern alternating, to make it stronger? She flexed one against the floor, her foot in the middle. It seemed to be the case at least. Darla walked in to see her doing it, which made Keeley feel like a moron for a moment.

   “Oriented strand board. Kind of a modern marvel. It's a good use of materials too. Pieces that size would have just gone to waste as little as thirty years ago. Not even a demon invention an actual human one. A lot of thing aren't, not originally.” The girl grinned as if proud of the fact.

   Her hands were full, a trunk in them a drab olive green, with tarnished metal on the outside and a sturdy looking handle on each side. Very thick metal handles that looked to be hooked to the iron bands that ran all around the thing. It wasn't huge, but looked to be awkward. Setting her board down Keeley moved to help, but Darla just winked at her with a smile.

   “I... don't think you could lift even half of it Keels. It weighs about eight hundred pounds. Maybe later? Lift some weights first, that kind of thing?” She set the box down off to the side of the room and gestured to it.

   “Give it a try? Might as well test it out for yourself. Besides that way I can get a sense of how strong you are.”

   “Hmmm... not right now? I don't think I want to give away how strong I am until I know what the situation is.” Keeley knew that she wasn't strong enough to lift the box, or at least she got the idea when the lid opened to show eight disks about fourteen inches across and eight inches thick each. They were made of metal. It looked like gold, at least on the outside. If so they must have weighed more each than she could pick up, let alone the box.

   Darla just started setting them up, using all of them to roughly circle the area.

   “Now, I don't know what you've heard about demons, be we do not, normally, use pentagrams for anything in particular. That's all human magic, and eighty percent of that doesn't work at all. So, help me with this? I'll let you run it if you want. It's not hard, just line the directional indicators up, the little spiny bits with the bars on them? Like this...”

   It took a minute to understand there were actually two gold bars on the top of each one and they had to line up fairly precisely as if making a rectangle with an imaginary line. There were delicate engraved patterns on each one, though it didn't sparkle or anything when they were put in place. A bit of a letdown. Magic should glow, right? Maybe Darla didn't like Disney movies and hadn't learned that yet.

   A shame.

   “OK, just do the last one there and it will work, make sure you don't take your hand off until the floor's fixed. It will take energy from you, but you get it back with food, it may make you a little tired though, until you eat again.”

   “Oh? Not stealing my soul or damning me to hell or anything, is it? Not that I'm all that religious, but...” But there was a self-professed demon in the room. It was a valid question.

   Darla took it seriously.

   “No, where to start... Let's do the floor first, so I can put off explaining for a bit? That sounds like a plan to me.”

   “Right. OK. Just turn it to point at that one?” She gestured by looking at the next gold round piece over.

   It got a big nod.

   When she turned the bar to line it up, nothing seemed to happen for a second. Then a wave of exhaustion flowed over Keeley. As if her energy was just draining out. It didn't make anything happen though, no lights or strange sounds, just a sense of really wanting to sleep suddenly, as if her eyes were too heavy to keep open. She nearly let go, but just as she started to, the floor suddenly smoothed and went back to normal. It was like a blink, not some slow morphing. It was just right again. Perfect. Keeley stared for a second.

   Well, that's what the device was supposed to do, wasn't it? Incredible, but she really couldn't get all enthused at the moment, as exhausted as she felt.

   “That should do it Keels. Good job. Go ahead and let go now, or I'll have to carry you to the kitchen to feed you.”