Slaying demons, p.3
Slaying Demons, page 3
part #2 of Damsel Series
The Moore had wards up as well, but was simply at his own home. Relaxing and reading a book. It was a place she’d been before, even. Carl and Pleny weren’t hard, though that second one was different than she would have suspected, being that he was in a large cabin, literally off in the woods. It felt like it might have been in Montana.
She added Veronica, since the woman was dating her and was a fan of most of the people who were planning to show up, even if they didn’t know about that part of things yet. She was also a small-time hero in her own right, so it fit, at least as much as having Linear in did. They were also planning to pick up Tyler. Her tech friend.
Feeling a little wicked, she added a few more names.
The first one got a gasp, from Lash. The second one got another, similar sound, and then a slow, rather measured tone to the words Lashondra spoke into the microphone on her work table.
“We... Should consider both of them. After the primary meeting? I wouldn’t want to... It’s a risk. Both are criminals.”
That was probably a good point. One was a friend of hers, the other her mother, but they’d both done some pretty dark things, over the years. She let it go, for the moment, having already mapped out everywhere else Wisp needed to travel to. Areas with no cameras, as well as being fairly close to the correct individuals.
Nate tossed her a plain white towel, as soon as she got out, one having already been placed on the floor, to catch the spillage from her pale body. The cold made her nip out, but she didn’t worry about it. After all, it was honestly just a bit chilly there.
Her brother, politely looking away, didn’t speak about it, at least. If he’d noticed at all.
Lash however, had plans, that were different than what Hannah had been thinking about doing. In her mind, Wisp was supposed to go pop in, chat some people up and lure them back. Unless they didn’t want to go. In that case, he could leave a message.
To Lashondra, the correct idea seemed to be the same, only with Hannah doing the approach each time. As if that made even a small bit of sense at all.
The woman laughed, before Hannah could even protest the idea.
“We can put a surgical mask on you, to hide who you are. That’s going to be harder to do with Bartolome. No offense, but that costume is a detriment at the moment, if we must avoid open detection, Bart. Try to not be seen on camera? In certain locations, that might not be possible, hence Hannah. Going in.”
The words didn’t really make total sense. After all, Lash could have hidden that way just as well, as could Debbie, if the woman had wanted to. Having her do it, especially with the people she didn’t know, seemed to be a poor plan. One that she was about to share her doubts about, when Wisp simply took her by the arm and whisked her away, to the first place they needed to be.
Thankfully, it was The Moore’s, so they came in from down the street, with Wisk starting out behind a tree. Hannah nearly growled at the abrupt departure, then rolled her eyes.
“I don’t even have a mask. I didn’t get there being any cams here, when I looked, but...”
Wisp nodded.
“You go in first? I’m almost certain that Lash isn’t doing this because it’s actually needed. She’s training you... As her apprentice, you get stuck with the boring tasks. Just wait until she has you sweeping the floors, later. That cathedral was huge.” That seemed almost like a joke, except that the woman really was teaching her things.
Even by having her go and talk to everyone just then. Hannah was, in that moment, learning to be careful and keep dangers in mind, when it actually counted. It made a certain amount of sense. After all, there was a real mission, and at the same time, it was, more or less, fairly safe. If she was caught by the police, she’d be scolded for not having a mask on, and maybe given a ticket for being outside in a lockdown. No one would be trying to murder her or anything, though.
Not as long as the approach were done correctly, each time.
“Wish me luck, then?”
That got the man in blue to nod.
“All of it. Be careful, even if The Moore is on our side. That doesn’t mean he won’t get confused and rip your head off.”
That cheery thought in mind, Hannah walked down the street, her eyes open and mind was focused on finding any cameras she might have missed looking at the scene psychically. As much as she could, while not in a trance. Nothing jumped out at her.
Then, modern cams could be tiny and hard to pinpoint. At the front gate, she pressed the intercom button, which simply had the heavy iron thing sliding to the side. Making her way toward the house, which was still in New York, if a bit upstate from the city, she let her eyes relax and tried to search the environment, with her mind. That didn’t let her see anything odd, except a hazy curtain, just outside the walls of the mansion. Those were in red brick, with rough stone work, in places. It was nicely done, actually. It looked wealthy, but also as if it had been around for a while.
Instead of reaching through the pale green wall of energy, not knowing what it was, or could do, she called out. Not screaming the words, since she was building up to that kind of thing for the day.
“Moore? It’s Hannah de Peyser.” She got ready to call that out like a real goon, several different times, when the door, a thing about twice the size of a normal one, opened up. There was no one standing on the other side. Not even a ghost, or an energy being. That got her to grin, since it was a pretty good trick. Magical, but if so, done without any energy being used in a way that she could tell.
Not going in, she called out. About ten times, before the man himself, smiling, actually came to find her.
“Ah! Miss de Peyser, so nice to see you again. I opened the door for you...” He seemed a bit baffled at her not having come in but stepped out to greet her.
She grinned again, trying to make it seem charming.
“Oh, sure. That was a neat trick, too, but there’s this curtain of energy here and I don’t know what it does, so didn’t want to risk being disintegrated, or what have you. Turned into a cow? You know how you are with the magic and all.” She waved at it, which had the man bowing toward her, ever so slightly.
A thing done with a bit of hesitation, for some reason.
“A ward, to inform me of a person’s true nature, only. It is, perhaps strange for you to avoid it?” He seemed suspicious, even raising a single, decently elegant, brow. As if she was the one being weird. Which might be true, so she stuck her hand into the thing. It didn’t make her vanish or cripple her. No tail appeared on her behind either, which was good, since her outfit wouldn’t have worked with that kind of thing. The edges of the pale energy current, where it poured over her skin, almost like water that she couldn’t feel, glowed white.
The man went a bit deeper then.
“Human. I’d thought so, but there have been some issues, of late. Forgive my impertinence?”
She couldn’t see where he’d been doing anything like that, so smiled.
“Lash is setting up a meeting. Don’t use the phone right now, or communicate using magic. Apparently, everything is being watched. We can use pure psychic things. We think. I have Wisp hiding behind a tree, down the street. The idea is that we don’t want to be seen on camera, if we can help it.” She grinned then. “Which, yes, sounds fishy as all fudge, doesn’t it? It’s real. I think Lash sent me along so that no one feels too threatened. She didn’t say that, though.”
The man, who looked to be about a fit fifty, or possibly even younger than that, lacking lines on his face, even if he had some gray in his hair, simply pulled the door to his home shut.
“Shall we then? You have been practicing magic? You wouldn’t have noticed the ward, otherwise.” He still seemed a bit suspicious.
As if she simply wasn’t good enough for things like that.
“Reading up on the topic, and meditating, mainly. I didn’t really get that it was a ward, though, even given that. Just that it was there. I don’t know anything about electricity either, but I’m not going to grab a live wire, right? This way? You know Wisp, don’t you?”
They started moving, back the way that Hannah had come.
“Indeed. We are friends, even. This way, you say?”
She nodded, then thought about what she would have wanted, if someone were clearly attempting to lure her away from her home. Not much came to mind, other than a weapon and space.
Though, if anyone had offered either of those things, she would have figured the whole thing as being a trap. She’d walked into that kind of thing before, with a person that she’d trusted betraying her. She could hardly blame the fellow next to her, whom she’d met maybe four times so far, feeling uneasy on that score.
When they got into place, or nearly so, Hannah called out, her voice hushed.
“Wisp?”
A blue face mask popped from behind a large tree, a different one than Hannah had left him behind. On seeing The Moore, the man stepped out of hiding and waved.
“Moore. You’ve gotten up to date with Hannah?”
There was a head shake. A small thing, that seemed slightly bemused.
“Only that Lash is calling a meeting for some reason? Also not to use electronic or magical communications at this time. No indication as to why that is.”
It was probing, and the attempt to dig out information didn’t work at all.
Wisp simply nodded.
“In Lash’s basement? If you’re good with going?”
There a was a simple nod and before the head could do the move twice, the very old man, and Wisp, both vanished.
A half a minute later, Wisp was back, holding a blue surgical mask.
“I mentioned what you said to Lash, about not having a mask on you. Good thinking. Here you go!” The words were as playful and close to fun as Hannah had ever heard from Wisp.
Taking the thing, she put it on, or started too. Before that could happen, she was standing in a new location. One that she’d seen, in her head not long before, but had never been to. Wisp glanced down at his phone, which had the picture of the map on it, or so it seemed.
She couldn’t recall who lived there, but the area was different than she would have suspected. It was a rather seedy seeming alley. Complete with strange looking trash bins and a large orange and white cat who gave her the stink eye before moving along.
To be fair, it was mainly watching Wisp, not her.
The man in blue read the name off the screen.
“John Fawks. That means we’re in London, for this one, I think. There will be cameras all over the place, given that. It’s the most watched city on Earth. I’ll need to hide out here. No one seems to be watching physically, at least.”
She had to close her eyes, to recall what she’d seen before. It probably seemed strange, since Wisp took her arm. It was a tight grip, but seemed odd. As if she thought that Hannah was afraid. At least until she spoke.
“Fourth floor. Second door on the right. I have this, I think.”
She put her mask on this time, to cover her face, since being in London really did mean that she’d be seen on camera. Also that she might well be yelled at, for being outside. To that end she hugged the side of the building and walked with a purpose, to the front door, which was around to the left. Thankfully the place didn’t have a doorman on duty.
It also, she discovered on going in, didn’t have anything like an elevator. Or, apparently, anyone to sweep up the hallways on a regular basis. There was actual trash, burnt out lights and several animals, mainly cats, but also a single medium sized dog, just sitting inside. They didn’t all seem to have other homes. There were no collars and they didn’t seem well cared for, in particular, at least.
The gun, which was under her flowing shirt, rubbed a bit. Reminding her that it was incredibly illegal for her to have that kind of thing there. She was almost certain that her knife would be as well. London had super humans and magic, like everywhere else but the average citizen was expected to simply roll over and die, instead of try to protect themselves in any real way. It was a good enough reason for her to not live there, even if the place was charming in other ways.
After a bit of climbing, which wasn’t hard for her, thanks to all the recent exercise, she found the correct door. This time, when she relaxed her eyes, she noticed several rather obvious spells on the thing. There was an upside-down pentagram, what looked to be either an eye of Horus or Ra, which she couldn’t tell apart at the best of times, and a single line of handwritten text, with gently glowing letters that were about an inch high. That one told her to fuck off out of here.
She grinned at the words.
“Rude.”
Then, carefully, she knocked on a portion of door that wasn’t glowing at all. She had to do it six times, before the thing opened up.
“Haven’t you heard there’s a bloody death plague going on?” The man, who looked to be two days into growing a beard, half asleep and with a bulge in his boxers that spoke of having morning wood, even if it was about five in the evening there, made a grumpy face.
Then he tilted his head.
“All right, you got me... Are you selling something?”
She nodded.
“Only the word of our Lord. He told me to come by here and inquire as to the state of the immortal soul he left you? He did not sound pleased.” She shook her head, sadly, expecting a laugh, or a pleasantly colorful bit of cursing.
Instead, the man turned white and gasped.
“Sorry... You’re one of... You don’t look like an angel. No offense, but you don’t seem to have a giant stick up your ass. One of the lower sort?”
Hannah nearly played along, but the man seemed honestly freaked out, for some reason.
“No... Um, it’s me, Damsel? Here.” She bared her face then, smiling. “I was joking with you. There’s a meeting, at Lash’s, in the States. I have transport for you, out in the alley. Also, don’t use any form of communication that’s magical or electronic. I guess psychic stuff might be okay, for the time being?”
The man looked ready to swing on her, for a moment, then relaxed.
“Right. Damsel. Don’t scare a bloke like that! I thought the big guy upstairs was finally coming to be a pain in the ass. I had... Well, technically there’s a small dispute over the ownership of my soul, at the moment. You know how that goes.”
She didn’t, but nodded. All the cool people would be up on that kind of thing, she bet.
“Anyway, get cleaned up and meet me and Wisp out in the alley, to the right of the building? Don’t take too long, or...” She shrugged then. “Honestly, I have nothing past that. I just have a list nearly a page long of people to go get and for some reason Lash sent me to do it, instead of just having Wisp take care of it all. That or doing it herself.”
The man, his eyes bloodshot, clearly from the fun he’d been having the night before, made a low, rather annoyed sound.
“Fine. I’ll be ten minutes. That really means twenty, since I’m catching a shower and a wank first. Coffee, too, if I can find any. Probably not that. Unless you want to come with me? Then it will take about an hour and a half.” There was a grumpy charm to the words, as if he’d be more than willing to change up the plan if she actually said yes.
She nodded at the words, not taking offense.
“Don’t really masturbate? This is one of those things that might actually be honestly important. Even if they are sending me to get people. Maybe not, but... If that’s the case you can whip it out later? That will teach them not to interrupt your sleep, right?”
John sighed then.
“Got it. Fine. Still, let me clean up, if I’m going to be around real people, today.”
She didn’t dash down the stairs, but by the time she found Wisp again, and moved to hunch down behind a row of heavy plastic trash bins, the blonde man, wearing a slightly ratty green rain coat, walked over toward them.
Once again, the other person vanished first, as Hannah was left standing there, waiting.
The next four retrievals went about the same way, with less flirting, and a bit more speed in most cases. Until they hit the sixth one. It was a man again, but this one shocked her, more than a bit.
At least when she saw the house she was at.
The mansion.
The place was vast, had a huge, fifteen-foot stone wall around it and a very nicely manicured lawn. No cameras, either. The issue was, she was nearly certain, that the man she wanted would be below her and to her left, at present. In a cave or underground bunker. She’d picked that up inside the tank, earlier.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Wisp moved then, to look at the place, and shook his head. Not seeing an issue.
Even Kate probably wouldn’t have gotten the idea. After all, Hannah was a de Peyser. That meant she’d gone to a lot of parties at rich people’s homes, once she’d turned sixteen, or so. The famous playboy who lived at this particular place had... mainly ignored her, at those functions. She’d met the man, a dozen times at least, but the name she’d been told to look for was the one that the public, some of them, knew him as. Chiropter.
Not that she was calling him that. It was a really stupid name. Even Damsel and Zip were better, to be honest. She got that it meant bat, but only because Lashondra had mentioned it to her.
Instead of informing Wisp about the nature of the current issue, since it was mainly one for her, she just waved and marched forward. Figuring that this was probably going to get a bit awkward. For one thing, it was way too early in the day for a booty call.
Also, showing up, unannounced, was rude. It was, oddly, worse if you knew the people involved. At least for her.
Still, when she got to the front door, knocking politely, she was greeted by a distinguished, slightly thin, older man. He had a delightful British accent.
