Slaying demons, p.13
Slaying Demons, page 13
part #2 of Damsel Series
“Hello?” The familiar voice was hesitant, for some reason, but just a bit tired sounding, not grumpy.
“Hey, Debbie? It’s your best pal, Hannah? I know, you were just thinking about me, but you’re okay with mind reading, aren’t you?”
She was trying for code, but Alistair shook his head.
“She isn’t getting it.” The words were spoken out loud, which got a small grunt from the phone. A manly sounding one.
“I’m missing something? I...” She was clever enough not to speak, at least.
Hannah couldn’t even play charades with her, so it was hard to work out how to get the point across. So she went into something wicked enough to seem normal for her, while not giving things away instantly to anyone listening. However that was being done.
“Say, you’re good with Al being all up inside you, right? I mean, in theory. He’s cute, don’t you think? So, if he were to, you know, be inside of, say your behind, or your head, you’d be cool with that? If you weren’t married, of course and he was older. But the concept doesn’t bother you?”
There was a pause.
“Hannah, are you back on drugs?”
She nearly growled then, but snorted and faked a laugh.
“Ahem. No. I’m just making sure that you’re good with invasive things being done to you. Now, answer the question, are you good with that idea?” She half wanted to prompt the woman by saying she should think about it, but there was a soft sound then.
A considering one.
“In theory? I mean, he’s a bit too young for me and Lash isn’t into open relationships, but... I could see that having him in my thoughts wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”
Just then, Alistair nodded. When he spoke next, Hannah heard it in her head, too. From his expression it seemed that Nate was getting that too. His face was impressed though, instead of shocked or whatever hers looked like. Pimpled, probably. She hadn’t bothered to put any makeup on, not planning to go out that day.
~Debbie? This is Alistair. I have a report and was told that you were the contact person for that. I need to confirm that you’re all right with me speaking inside of your head?~
The reply was firmer than Hannah was used to hearing from the woman. Also more manly. Almost military.
~Understood. You have my permission to contact me this way, at need. Report.~
What was given then was far more complete, including names, capabilities of the sick people, locations and even their numbers, including social security data. It was clear that Debbie was writing, after a bit, since she asked Al to slow down, so she could capture it all.
Then, at the end of it, there was a bit of information in return.
Debbie sounded thoughtful.
~Lash and the magic crew have been making a little progress, but it isn’t enough. We don’t have a good lead as to the source of this yet. Not even a point of original contagion. The current plan is to try and find a way to shut this down. That will take a super massive working. That... We probably can’t pull that off, alone. They’re talking about getting demons involved. No one loves that idea, we’re just grasping at straws here.~
Hannah focused, not certain if she could talk that way, if being helped by Alistair.
~Got it, Deb. I’ll get off the phone now.~
“Sorry! I left the line open. Hanging up now!”
She did that instantly, but Al kept chatting with Deb, for a bit. That ended like a phone call, with a promise to get back in touch, the next day, at about the same time. It made sense to Hannah, so she just nodded about it, then spoke, when Debbie was out of the loop.
“I need to do that, when I go back out to the shoot, in a few days. We have a way to communicate, which seems safe, so we should be using it better.” She grinned. “Not that you’re a telephone, Al. We need to get that set up with everyone.”
Which was, she knew, going to be best done by actually meeting with people, so they could talk freely. Which meant getting Wisp involved. Also, taking Alistair around with her. That was going to be hard to manage, in a few places. Sister Eustace lived in a convent, after all. John was off in London, or she figured that might be the case. Maybe not. The truth was she didn’t know any of that and probably wasn’t supposed to.
Still, she dialed up Wisp on her phone and waited. It didn’t go to voicemail, but wasn’t answered for a long time, either. At the fifteenth ring, it picked up, the voice deep, but different than what she was used to hearing.
“This is Bartolome.”
“Bart? You... Sound different.”
That got a strangled sound.
“Damsel? Yeah, I don’t have my voice modulator on, so I’m trying to fake this the natural way. I was in the bath.”
“Ah. That works. Anyway, do you want to come over for dinner? I want to cover some plans and you know, other stuff. Call it seven? I’ll get my brother to cook for it and the puppy I’m watching, Al, is going to be here. Is that all right?”
The words, which the others heard, got a nod from Nate, and a middle finger from Alistair, for calling him a dog. That was fair, so she grinned at him.
Wisp sounded tired, which Hannah totally understood at the moment.
“Sure? I’m a bit exhausted. Some things came up, over the last week.”
She didn’t comment on that, not directly.
“I hear that. Trust me on that one. Still, I only get three days and then it’s back to work. We need to set some things up. In person. We can do that tomorrow, if you need to sleep tonight?”
That got a groan, which sounded a little too much like Kate to be ignored, even though Hannah did it. After all, she hadn’t been let in on her friend’s secret for a reason. Truly, that she might still think that Hannah didn’t know was strange, but she really had made a point of not giving that away at all. The idea that people could hide who they were from their friends and families and be a superhero was just bizarre. A mask only worked when you didn’t know the person at all.
Then, that was a good thing. After all, everyone was wearing a mask, suddenly. Most of them. They were supposed to be doing that. She hadn’t been that great so far, doing that, even in public. She needed to be. After all, just because she knew that they didn’t work, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be problems over her not doing it, when everyone else was being told they worked. That was a good way to start problems, not going along with a trick that people felt they needed everyone to be in on, in order to survive.
Her friend, Wisp, sounding almost exactly like Kate Sinclair, let out a big breath of air. It hissed into the phone, tickling Hannah’s ear.
“I’ll be there. At six? Um, I’m a vegan...”
She looked at Nate and repeated that. Kate wasn’t one of those, but after the rather meat and bread heavy week, Hannah was good on that one, herself. Her brother just smiled.
“I can cook for that. Look forward to seeing you, Wisp!”
That was called out. Alistair rolled his eyes.
“Woof.”
Hannah nearly lost it then, but held on, not laughing until after her goodbyes.
“Okay, so... I have a lot of time between now and then and should use it practicing. Stretching, then VR.” That sounded weird, since it was her day off, but she went and did it anyway.
That part was odd, since, even if she was only going up against bots and hadn’t really done anything for days, she was suddenly able to get eight of them for every one time she died. She did several matches, in two different games and it wasn’t a perfect crossover, since the controls were a bit different, but her kill to death ratio really did stay about the same.
Then, since she was clearly boring now, she got the book on magic out, and literally just tried to memorize what was on every page, until it was time to change for dinner. She set the table for it, after putting on the tan slacks and loose blouse she was wearing for it. That and some makeup, since they had company coming.
At six, almost exactly, an all blue form, with a full-face mask, one that was completely featureless, appeared on her balcony. That was unlocked, so the guy let himself in, being expected. Hannah waved though, and then, being playful, moved in and gave him a hug. A friendly one, since they were, clearly, pals now.
Al moved in and extended a hand, which was taken as soon as Hannah moved back. Looking at the scene, she nodded.
“Oh, right... Are you good with Alistair here contacting you, telepathically? Before you freak out, thinking that will mean he knows all our secrets, you should know that he already does. He can’t help that part, from what I picked up. Plus...” She nearly didn’t say the words, but did, since lying, while useful, wasn’t a great way to treat your friends. “Plus, I know most of them, myself, already.”
Wisp went still.
His regular Bartolome voice was back.
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged.
“Well, you’re my best friend, so, I’ve picked things up, over the years. Before you get mad, Al didn’t rat you out. Not at all. I worked it out before I learned to find people, but it was pretty much a dead giveaway, when I tried to find Wisp the first time.” She didn’t let herself tense up, but when Kate took the face mask off, she looked both tired and annoyed.
“Well, crud. I was working that one pretty hard, too.” The voice didn’t change, and Al waved for her to put the mask back on.
“Nate doesn’t know. Not that he’d tell, but the fewer people...”
There was a scramble then, even if the blond man wasn’t walking into the room or anything.
“Right. I guess, as for getting in touch with me. Try not to distract me, if I’m doing something? Also, you know, if I’m...”
That got a simple nod.
“Understood. Okay, So, I can get in touch with you? The other way around, if you think about me, for a bit. You meditate, so doing that and focusing on me will pretty much force me to pay attention to you. Hannah is setting up a communications network. Which is pretty much me, so far. At least for this part of things. The magical bit here. We have an update, from Debbie.”
They were led to the other room, where the table was set and food had been placed on it. It was all veggies, and bread, with fruit for dessert, but it smelled good, and there was rice as well, since it was some kind of stir fry.
Nathaniel waved to the newcomer.
“Hello! We haven’t really met. I’m Nate de Peyser.”
There was no hand held out to shake, but Wisp nodded.
“I’m Wisp. You’re also Solar Storm?”
There was a bit of a nod then, a subdued one from her brother, but Hannah shook her head with more vigor.
“No, he isn’t. They just have almost the same powers. That Solar Storm guy is stronger though and Nate isn’t really in that world. Even if he does go flying around occasionally, putting on a show. A lot of people make that mistake, because our mother is Solaire, but Solar Storm is just some guy that had a procedure done. Nate was born like this.”
Everyone there got the lie, but Wisp nodded.
“Ah! I’ll pass the word on that, then. Good you cleared that up. Have you heard from your mother?”
Hannah shook her head.
“Not in months. I check on her, about once a week, so I know that she’s all right, but that’s all. Should we tell her about the Tri-D thing? I didn’t know if that would help anything, so haven’t bothered. Then again, if the Kahn Collective knows about it, they might be willing to share some information. They want to save the world, by taking it over, but if all the people are dead or enslaved magically, that’s going to be hard to pull off. They might work with us, given that.”
Wisp snorted under his mask.
“Unless they’re behind it?”
Hannah shrugged, but nodded.
“In that case we’ll know who to go after, won’t we? I’m not married to the idea, so don’t think that. It’s just, it seems like we’re at a dead end. The magical peeps are talking about going to demons to try and save people. I’m not some kind of mage or anything, but from the one book that I’ve read on the subject, that’s normally the last thing you ever want to do. In fact, the wording was kind of strong that way, suggesting that any fool who does such is worthy of the torment they shall suffer yon all eternity, everlasting. That seems to mean trying almost anything else is a better plan.”
Instead of fighting about it, Wisp simply made some of the food vanish from his plate, then chewed, not picking up a knife or fork at all. It was a neat trick, Hannah had to admit.
“Oh! Okay, this isn’t fair to ask you, but I need to pick up some provisions for myself and my friend, Kate. We have a wacky survival training thing for a television show and the boys here mentioned that I need to be eating more, if, you know, I want to not die. Could you help me pick things up? I’ll order it online, too, but I don’t know what I can get in three days.” She felt like a bitch, asking for that kind of thing, but Wisp just nodded.
“Sure. I get it, I’m the friend with the truck.”
Hannah missed that one, but Alistair laughed.
“Ah, right. Everyone’s buddy, when it’s moving day. On the good side, moneybags here is willing to pay us, if we need anything like that. I mean, she’s already offered to cover college for me. Full ride and everything. I was thinking Harvard. Maybe Yale?” There was a grin, as if that wasn’t going to be happening, but Hannah was pretty certain she could set that up, if he wanted.
His grades were good, but not top end, so it made more sense for him to go to a state school, but the money wasn’t really an issue at all.
So she nodded and pretended that Kate wasn’t Wisp, and that Wisp might need to be able to pay his rent.
“That’s a point. I can do some lifting that way, if it’s ever needed. Rent, bills, all that. I know that not everyone is keeping their jobs, with the lockdown. Which, that reminds me, I need to get with some people, both on the food bank idea and some kind of work program. The government certainly isn’t doing anything that way.” She felt bad, saying that, but it was true.
They’d ordered people to stay home, businesses shuttered, and then stopped giving them food stamps and money to pay rent, almost instantly. In half a year, people were going to be broke, homeless and hungry. Things she couldn’t fix, on her own.
With some of her friends, she might though, so she ate again, not really wanting to, and talked to Wisp, about how to set up visits and communications.
“We can make the rounds, tomorrow, and see what can be set up?”
No one seemed that thrilled with the idea, including her, but not doing it would just mean that it didn’t get done. Being able to talk to people safely wouldn’t save the world, but it probably wouldn’t hurt, either.
Chapter nine
“Hi, Mom. This is Hannah. Incoming to your location. Don’t speak. With three others. Five minutes. Teleportation.”
Then, looking up at Wisp, the world changed, almost instantly. The first thing she noticed was that her mother, no taller than herself, and nearly as thin, though still cute, even being nearly fifty years old, was glowing. That was a thing of white gold, and gave off enough heat to be slightly painful.
Hannah waved.
“Sorry about that, we have three more people coming. Um...” She was about to warn who they were, but Nate, her brother was already standing next to her. He glared a little but tried to soften, as the older woman let go of the bright light, becoming a normal persona again.
She had dark hair, but it wasn’t natural at all. For one thing it was curly, instead of mildly wavy, which it should have been, being past her shoulders in the back. It also wasn’t a golden blonde.
“Nathaniel? I...” She moved in then, hesitantly, as if expecting a rain of blows instead of a hug being returned. The man allowed it, and patted her on the shoulder, a bit perfunctorily.
Still, that was better than hitting, so everyone seemed to be fine with it. When Alistair popped into being, Wisp not leaving this time, Hannah waved at them.
“This is Alistair Marks. Possibly the world’s strongest telepath. Next to him is Wisp. He can teleport and do other things.” She glanced at the group, then her mom and sighed. “Meaning I’m the only one here without a power? Silly of me.”
Nate shrugged.
“I don’t know, Sis. You found this place, using your mind. That isn’t exactly normal, is it?”
She felt good about that, for a moment, then realized that taking nearly three hours to do that, and get her mom’s new phone number wasn’t really that big of a deal.
“Sure, sure, placate me.” She looked at the others and went wide eyed. “Come on, I said placate me...” That got a laugh, but no one with her actually did it.
Her mother smiled at the antics.
“Is everything well? I... Guess you brought your telepathic friend to see if I’m good to my word? I have things that I’d like to keep secret, but if you can prevent those from being known?” She looked at Al, taking in his young form, in a way that seemed a bit creepy, from the outside.
He shook his head.
“I don’t give up secrets, unless it’s truly needed for the greater good. Even then I normally keep it to myself. I can confirm that she’s thinking that she really is a revolutionary and not a crime Lord. Then, she’s also going over where those things have overlapped. It’s about what you figured, Hannah.”
She nodded, since it was good to know.
Even if not why she were there at the moment.
“Okay. We can work with that. Anyway, I’m not actually here for that. No, I’m here to drop truth bombs. Tri-D is magical in nature, not a virus. All electronic communications seem to be monitored. For the entire world. Using magic for communications is out as well. Psychic things seem to be safe, so far. Alistair is setting up a communications network. The reason we brought him here is so that he can get your permission to put words in your head. Only for communication.”
Nodding, Al shrugged.
“I can’t help but pick things up from people. I have rules though, so, if you don’t want to be in touch with me, it won’t happen. I also won’t pry into your head on purpose. If you think about me too much, it will get my attention, so... Yeah. That will be fun. We don’t have a lot of choice, right now.”
