Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (19 page)

   Keeley didn't sleep that night, practicing instead. First making herself feel awake, then kind of hyper, moving from that into very relaxed, sleepy, angry, loving and even afraid. She remembered the terror of the lesser demon and then shut it down, even as her body shook and trembled. It was cool. She pulled the treadmill out back, behind the house and plugged it in to an extension cord. It was still dark out, about four in the morning when she started, turning the thing up on high and running, constantly going back to feeling like she was just starting.

   That didn't stop her from sweating, and her feet hurt a little...

   Then she tried undoing that, the swelling and pain there.

   It worked. It was slower than just feeling awake, or changing her mood, but after a minute there was no more pain as she moved, running the whole time. She nearly fell off when she looked over to see her mom standing in the door at the back of the house, the pale light coming from inside meaning that she hadn't even turned the light on. Laughing a bit she scrambled, making sure she didn't fly off the back.

   “Now this is a first. I thought you hated exercise?”

   Sherry was trim and loved to work out, but Keeley had always kind of avoided the whole process. She didn't like the feeling of sweat on her skin, but thinking about it for a moment she noticed she could make herself not mind that too. She smiled, a thrill of triumph sweeping through her. It may not be lifting a car, but it was a power.

   “Well, I figure that If I'm going to be hanging around with half the cheerleading squad I better make an effort or I'll start feeling like a cow. Don't worry, I'm not taking up marathon running as a hobby yet. I'll let you know if I do.

   “Say... mom...” Keeley nearly asked about “Carlos” but realized that it was a moot point.

   It had happened and she knew it for a fact. Pushing Sherry on it would be mean. It wasn't like it could be undone now.

   “Yes?”

   Keeley scrambled mentally for a second, “um, how many corsages do you think you can really do for the dance? We might have a lot coming in.”

   “Huh? That's real? I thought your friends were just talking.” Sherry looked thoughtful in the dim light as Keeley kept padding along.

   “If I can know ten days before hand, I can probably do more than a school the size of Raintree has need of.”

   “OK, I'll pass that along. It may all just be chatter, but you know, be ready just in case?”

   Sherry said she would be and actually had breakfast on the table when Darla knocked on the door, which created a small log jam as they tried to get everything done and not insult Sherry and Charles by skipping breakfast. Keeley found that it was easy to not feel hungry, which was nice, but Darla stared at her as they hurried to get her dressed.

   “Crud Keels!” She exclaimed, staring at her naked back, grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her front, including her breasts which were even smaller now than before.

   “Eat. What the heck have you been doing? Magic? You really shouldn't without me for a bit. I mean you have the information to do a few things, more than a few, but there are some tricks and...”

   “Oh, no, I... just what you said, practicing different things, like staying awake and that running thing you mentioned.”

   Her mentor gave her a look that didn't quite seem to say she was a nut.

   “Fine then. I'm proud of you for being so diligent, but if you don't eat I'll come and sit on you while force feeding you lard. You lost an extra size. I brought fours for you and now we have to hide the fact that you're as skinny as you are. Anymore and people will be thinking anorexia. Some already will be. Well, we'll stop for food on the way to school. I could eat a bit more myself.”

   Darla's last twenty-four hours seemed more interesting, or at least busy, than Keeley's, involving a chase that went all over town, following a trail of vandalism and stolen cars. Another of which had been dropped on her house.

   “I fixed that one and didn't call the police, but this is really getting annoying. People are starting to notice and the attacks are escalating. It started out with things so minor no one reported it, but two teenagers have been put in the hospital, attacked from behind. All I know is that the girls and Gary are alright. It could be anyone else though.”

   They had to eat quickly, going to a donut shop and buying two dozen donuts, since, Darla assured her, people would notice if two cheerleaders went to a fast food place and got that kind of food.

   “I'm not a cheerleader.” Keeley said firmly.

   Darla raised an eyebrow.

   “Do you really think anyone would call you on it if you put on a uniform? Riding with me, people will just assume you are. The point is, we have to keep to low profile things for a bit. So no magic in public and try to keep anything you do from being too flashy. Low key is good. Don't advertise you're the new demon in town.”

   Keeley could get behind that, not overly wanting to die, so she nodded as they stuffed their faces before pulling into the school parking lot. She'd made her way through the first box by herself, amazingly, before the small crowd descended on them.

   It was their “gang”, Gary, Hally and Eve, plus a few people that she just barely recognized. Gary ran up and grabbed Darla into a hug, crying. Hard.

   “They killed her...”

   Since their friends were all there and Maria Gonzales was visible across the parking lot, the only other person Keeley knew at all from school, clunky head gear on to hold her front teeth in place still, she was at a loss. She stopped eating though and killed her hunger, which was handy she decided. Then she tried to remember how bad she'd felt when her pet hamster, Fluffers, had died three years before. She needed to seem properly worried and upset or it would seem out of place.

   “Marissa. They, someone, killed her...”

   Keeley had no clue who that was, but Darla started crying, so she did the same. Fat tears flowing almost instantly as the shock of the situation hit her. No matter who Marissa was, it was obviously important to her friends. That made it important.

   “I... who?” Darla said, as if she didn't know the real answer.

   “We don't know. Probably some guys from Wilson. Who else would kill our mascot? They butchered her... It's...”
    Ah. Keeley got it. The mascot. A potbellied pig that was kept in the greenhouse out back. It was a funny idea, since their school was actually the cougars, but apparently no one thought having a large cat on campus was a good idea. So they got Marissa. She was cute. Or she had been. That someone would kill her really was a crime. Darla still cried and now Keeley cried for Marissa for real. It wasn't fair. Thank goodness Marissa hadn't been a human, but still...

   She took a deep breath.

   “Right. Well, we need to do something about this. First, we don't know it was Wilson high that did it, so let's not place blame yet, are the police coming?” No one knew, so Keeley led them all to the school office to check on that.

   It was important to keep busy and if they didn't want a murder in retaliation they needed to show it wasn't their homecoming rival.

   That could get messy after all.

   Darla took her by the hand to “pay their respects” to the mess that used to be the school mascot, a bloody and eviscerated corpse that was sliced to right down the middle, as if someone had planned on eating her. There were no obvious footprints, but no hoof prints either.

   And she'd been sliced open. With a knife. The edges were clean, which meant something sharp had been used and the entrails pulled out and left in place, the legs all cut off and the throat cut.

   “Not smashed flat?” Keeley whispered to Darla, knowing that the others might hear, but not wanting to wait.

   “No. I see your meaning, of course.” The blond demon whispered back.

   This wasn't the work of the lesser demon Balthias at all. Someone else had done this... horror. If it was the students of Wilson high, then the police needed to find them for real, because it would take a real sicko to pull this off. A budding psychopath at least. It was gruesome. More than once Keeley had to remind herself to feel steady and like she wasn't going to throw up.

   Hally had followed them in and didn't make it, having to run to the hall. Embarrassing, but if anyone was going to blame her for it they weren't worth considering as a person anymore. Keeley followed the red-head and held her hair out of the way as she tossed her cookies into a garbage can lined with a clear plastic bag.

   “It's alright, it's OK.” She murmured to the girl softly, patting her on the back gently.

   “Yeah Hally, this is bad, but...” The words didn't finish coming out of Quince's mouth. Instead he looked back at the greenhouse angrily.

   “But, yeah.” He patted the girl on the back too, his hand brushing Keeley's just slightly.

   Just enough to transfer a bit of information.

   Terrifying information.

   Quince, the school's football team captain, student at Raintree for three years, “D” student, and guy with a slightly goofy grin, wasn't what he seemed at all. Definitely not human and most certainly not nice and kind. He was a murderer, a killer.

   A real one, of people and other things, but most recently he'd killed Marissa. Using her entrails to divine the future. Ick.

   Keeley kept the shock of contact off her face and had to fight not to hit the guy. After all, he deserved it. The fact was though, that she was in hiding and really couldn't afford to get in a fight over a pig she hadn't personally known, in the middle of the school. Plus, whatever he was, the guy was old and much stronger than she was. A soldier? Something like that. That had come through. Blurry, muddled, but they hadn't held hands, it was just the lightest of contact.

   Instead she smiled, not feeling it at first, then trying to bring up a memory of real gratitude and projecting that.

   “Thanks... Quince is it? I'll take Hally to get cleaned up now.”

   That and see if Darla knew who, or what, her homecoming date was.

   For some reason Keeley hoped not.

   The whole school was buzzing about the mascocide by lunch and very little school work actually got done that day. Keeley made herself pay attention and focused on what she was doing until Darla called her over in the lunch room. She sat with the usual crew, plus several others, Quince and a couple of his buddies. Oh, goody.

   One of them, a good looking dark haired boy smiled at her happily.

   “You're Keeley? Gary said you were cute enough, but I didn't think you'd be quite this good looking.” He half rose putting his hand out to her.