Slaying demons, p.4
Slaying Demons, page 4
part #2 of Damsel Series
Nicer than John’s, at least.
“May I help you, miss?” She had her face covering back on, since that seemed to be the polite thing to do, given everything.
“Hannah de Peyser. We met, about a year ago? Less than that... Seven months? You had a party here? Not that I expect to be remembered. I... This is awkward, but I need to speak to your boss. It’s...” She shook her head, but figured that this man would have to get that his employer wasn’t just a playboy billionaire. “This is... about his side project? I can’t really say more.” She could have, if he had a normal name for that kind of thing. Something silly even would have been fine, like the wombat, or Dark-man. It wasn’t either of those, of course. Chiropter was just nerdy.
The butler stiffened, then gave her a rather cool look.
“I believe I understand. Would you like to repair to the sitting room? I could, perhaps, see to some refreshment?”
Hannah smiled, and shook her head.
“No? We might have to leave, on, um, official business. Or not.”
That got a curt nod and a turn that seemed military in some fashion. Not that she was up on that kind of thing at all. Still, she was left to wait there. After fifteen minutes, she kind of wondered if the plan was to just leave her there until she got bored and left on her own. A thing that might have worked, eventually.
She had other names on the list, after all. Taking six hours for one of them wasn’t the best use of her time.
When the man came in, he looked about the same as she remembered him being. Six-three or four. Muscular and lean. Hard, for a man who supposedly spent all of his time drunk and banging women. About thirty-five, give or take a few years. Probably to the high side. Being in that kind of shape had to make a person seem younger than they actually were.
The man grinned in her direction.
“Hannah! What a pleasant surprise. Did we... have a date?” He pretended that was her real reason for being there, even if it was clear that he knew better, at the same time.
“Yes. You just didn’t know about it. Lash... From The Requiem?” She waited, but the man just tilted his head as if he didn’t know who that was. “Anyway, she’s calling a meeting, at her place. We have a way to get you there that won’t be tracked or traced. We think. Don’t communicate anything electronically, or using magic, right now. Psychically might be safe, so we’re using that. Um... I was put to getting data on your alter ego and found you here. I can find people. It’s a very low-level thing. You know, meditation and all that, not a real power. Wisp, the superhero, is standing out front, by the wall. I don’t think he realizes where this is and I didn’t mention it to him.”
She was fixed with a glare that promised violence. For about half a minute. She got ready to fight, even if it was a stupid thing to do. If it started to happen, the man in front of her was going to be shot. There was no other way for her to live through it. He was huge, compared to her.
“I don’t suppose I could bribe you into forgetting what you found?”
She blinked, then shook her head.
“I didn’t find anything, so no need for that. You know a guy, who knows a man with the right psychic ability to get your friend to the right place? That probably won’t really fool Wisp, but we can try, if you want?”
The man went still, and sighed.
“Let’s try it? The fewer people who know who I am, the better. Now, how are you doing? I heard there was a problem, about a month back? The Red Trio tried to kill you? I see they failed, which I also heard something about, at the time.”
Hannah nodded and stood up.
“It was a misunderstanding, if you can believe that? I called their boss up and talked it out. Eventually, at least. I should give them a call soon, to make sure they’re okay. This lockdown... Well, it’s changed a lot, pretty fast.”
That got a nod, which seemed sincere enough.
“I’ll have him meet you both outside the wall. In about fifteen minutes?”
She nodded, even if it felt like she was taking far too long to get people that day. Calling really would have been easier.
“Straight out front, twenty paces to the right? My paces, so adjust for that.”
Then, she stood and got herself to the door. Not seeing the butler again. No other servants, either. She got that though. Even if they had that sort of thing, and they probably did, it would be better to have them stay home, for the time being. At least as long as you could afford to pay for them to do that. Brian Warthin simply could, of course.
At the front of the place, she waved for Wisp.
“I had to arrange for contact to be made. That... It wasn’t a phone call or using the net. Hopefully it works?”
Wisp looked up, but didn’t seem to see anything of note.
Hannah went on.
“We’ll meet on the other side of the wall here. It could take a while. That...”
They teleported over and walked to the correct place, Hannah taking big steps, counting them inside her head. A few moments later, without having made any noise at all, there was a man in a ridiculous costume, with pointed ears, a large black leather cape and what seemed to be a designer tool belt on. He looked like a flying fox. She had to hide her smile at the get up, but Wisp simply waved.
His voice was calm.
“Thanks for coming, Chiropter. This... There were more connections needed here than I would have thought Damsel was capable of making.” That was followed by a look at Hannah, as if she’d messed up, somehow. Instead of being nearly perfect like she was. For half a moment she nearly bitched about it, then shrugged.
“Look, Wisp... The man who lives here and our friend are... Close. Not out, though. Chiropter was here, but they kind of don’t want the word to get out. Not that there’s any shame in it. They have their reasons though and I kind of promised that we’d keep their secret.”
The man, his lower face exposed, simply smiled then.
“Thank you, both.” His voice was deeper. Like gravel had been poured in a bowl and force fed to him. It wasn’t strictly human, either. As if a voice changer was in use. There was a bemused smile toward Hannah, but he didn’t claim that he wasn’t secretly dating himself.
Wisp took him away, with a single nod and a touch on the arm.
After that, even with the people she’d never met, the rest of the day went a lot more smoothly. The last person on the current list, Veronica, was even happy to see her and Wisp on her doorstep.
“Damsel!” She got a hug, as did Wisp, a few seconds later. “I’ve been bored out of my mind, the last few weeks. Did you come to visit?”
She smiled, which was a very pretty thing. Enough so that Hannah kind of wished she had, at the moment. The woman was pretty much a genetically engineered nympho, but she was also really good in bed. Nice, too, if a bit strange on occasion.
Hannah grinned, then sobered, recalling what was going on.
“There’s an emergency. A real one. We’re headed toward a meeting at Lash’s. Just be warned, don’t use the phone right now, or any magic to communicate. Do you want to come?”
The woman nodded, and shut her front door, not bothering to lock it. Hannah would have, if it had been her place. Then, she lived in the city. Veronica was far enough into the suburbs that, while there were other houses around, the crime rate was probably a lot lower.
This time, instead of Hannah getting the next location to go to on a hand drawn map, shown on a tiny screen, she was taken back to Lashondra’s basement. It still looked like a giant cathedral, even if that was only partially real.
Almost everyone was sitting, though several people were talking to each other, in small clusters. Hannah figured that her job for the day was finished, when Lash moved to the front of the giant church like space and started to speak.
“The Tri-D contagion isn’t viral or bacterial. It’s magical in nature. My sources are one hundred percent certain on this score. We have a prophylactic, after a fashion, ready to go. That will protect us, those in this room, from it. At least it should. The energy behind this seems to be specifically demonic in nature, although we can’t tell who is behind it or even what demons they are working with. Which is why all of you have been asked to attend this meeting. All means of communication, except for in protected zones, warded spaces, are being observed. That isn’t simply magical. Phones, computers, radios... It’s not a small or local thing, either. As far as I can tell, there have to be millions of people and other things, in on it.”
She paused, which had John, who was sitting to the side, chatting with a pretty woman in a rather dapper top hat, to curse.
“Fuck it all to hell.”
Lash simply nodded.
“You see something here?”
“Not specifically, love. It’s just that there are no magical organizations that can bring in a million people like that. No one on this planet could. Even government agencies would be hard pressed to make that happen using regular people. So that means someone is co-opting minds, to get this done. I totally missed it happening, too. That’s a kick in the bollocks, isn’t it?”
Hannah certainly hadn’t noticed anything along those lines, but a few of the others there seemed to be thinking it seemed likely.
Zip, bouncing around a bit, standing to the side, started nodding, rather rapidly.
“One of the signs of Tri-D is a complex set of mental difficulties. Like dementia, except that people are going out, and performing odd tasks... Sometimes attacking others. Could that be...”
Lash tilted her head and a discussion broke out then. It was interesting and clearly, almost everyone else there knew more about that kind of thing than she did. After a bit, she nodded, which had Lash looking at her and everyone else going quiet, even if she was simply sitting back and listening.
The Moore fixed her with a calm gaze. He was good at the kind of thing, making it seem almost scholarly, instead of flirtatious or like an attack was coming.
“You have a thought, Damsel?”
She sat up, a bit straighter.
“You mentioned a way to prevent this? We should do that for us here, and then see if we can get some infected people to examine. It might not be anything, but we can talk in circles all day. If it’s a magical contagion... Well, the rules on that are going to be pretty much like a virus, except that masks won’t stop it at all. We could come up with a shield, or... That won’t work for everyone, the power requirements would be too great. Still, we might be able to at least see if this is actually mind control or not and figure out what these people are doing, before they get too sick to work?”
The man in the absurd bat costume, his voice deep, spoke then.
“I agree. We should protect ourselves first, then see if we can test this thing. We need a way to fight it, if at all possible. At the same time, we need to find out who’s behind this, and stop them. Anyone willing to kill millions of people is probably up to something major. I’m not that big on magic, myself. Who here can do that?”
He looked around, but didn’t focus on anyone, in particular. Except for John, The Moore and Lash. Then the hot woman in fishnet stockings. A few of the others were waved at, since, as it turned out, most of the people there, in The Requiem, did that kind of thing.
She didn’t raise her hand, but John, helpfully, waved in her direction.
“Don’t count Damsel out on that side of things. I had my front door warded six ways to Sunday and she danced around all of them like they weren’t even there.”
She was about to explain her clever trick, knocking on an unaffected portion of the thing, when The Moore nodded.
“At my home as well. An occupation she is new to, but seems to be showing some skill in learning. Very well. We should as suggested, see to the needed spells, for protection. Then we must find those who are infected and observe them, in a safe fashion. How do we do that?”
Hannah blanched a bit when she realized that most of the people in the room were thinking that kidnapping sick people would be the best way to get that done. Thankfully, Tyler, looking a bit pudgy and out of shape, even if he was doing better that way than she’d ever seen him, had a different idea on that score.
One that nearly left Hannah baffled when she heard it.
Chapter three
“If we want to watch people and how they’re thinking, we need to have a telepath on the job. Especially if that’s the only way not to be noticed right now.” Tyler sounded grumpy, and a bit like he planned to hit someone in the nuts, if they didn’t start listening to him.
Fast.
That literally no one in the room was intimidated by slightly heavyset computer nerds was obvious. Not even Sister Eustace, the woman who Hannah and Wisp had gotten from the convent in Scotland. The wizened older lady didn’t act offended however, simply looking at the Asian man in his old t-shirt and oversized jeans, tilting her head a bit.
“That isn’t a horrible idea. I don’t know such a person, however. Do you?” Her voice was so reasonable that Tyler, probably getting how he seemed at the moment, snorted.
“Nope. I’m just the computer guy. It’s kind of obvious, but that doesn’t mean I have all the parts, or correct labor, to make the needed things happen. We’ll have to order out.”
There was a soft chuckle, from a few of the people there. The woman in the top hat and stockings grinned, then shook her head a bit.
“I know a few people, but no one I can get in touch with, without using a phone. Anyone else?”
That part was interesting. There was a quick glance, from Lashondra, toward her, but the woman didn’t ask if Hannah had someone like that on tap. Which was fair. She knew a man who was an incredible telepath... A boy, really. That didn’t mean she had a right to ask him to get involved. He was a superhero though, so he might do it. She simply wasn’t certain if he thought of himself that way, yet. Even if it was true.
She tightened up and stood, taking a shuddering breath.
“I’ll... I have someone I can ask. He might tell me to get lost. Let me see what he says?”
Veronica went wide eyed, but smiled.
“Ah! Right. I forgot about that one. You should do that.”
Wisp stood there, silently, but shook his head, a bit, and Tyler grunted.
“Right. I was there, but didn’t exactly get a show, at the time. Good thinking, Hannah.”
She rolled her eyes, and got ready to go into a trance. It would probably take some asking, and possibly putting some underage sex on offer. Not that the man she wanted was a pervert. He was just sixteen. Cash might also work, in getting his attention.
The truth was that she had a lot of both to go around and could, for a good cause, probably offer up a lot of the women in the room with her for that, if it was needed. She started to think about the boy, getting ready to focus on him in a trance, repeating his name for hours, trying to draw him in. To touch him in some ineffable fashion that would allow him to find her, out of all the minds in the world. It sounded hopeless. Still, she had to try.
~Hannah? How are you doing?~
Alistair Marks sounded like himself, inside her head. She still jumped a bit, when he spoke into her mind.
~Alistair! I’m doing all right. Not kidnapped or anything. I need some telepathic joy to be spread on a situation. There’s a massive plot going on. We think. Tri-D? It’s not a disease, it’s a magic thing. We need some of the victims of it monitored, to see if they’re being mind controlled. Oh! Don’t use a phone or computer to communicate right now! Magic either, if that’s an option for you. Keep it to psychic stuff or do it in person.~
She waited for a moment, ready to explain again, if she wasn’t clear enough. After a moment, the rather ethical and probably too decent, boy, answered.
~I’m in. Can I get hooked up with that magical protection thing? For myself, and my parents?~
She nodded, then spoke out loud, not knowing if that was an option at all.
“Um, he’s in on it with us. He wants to know if he can get in on that spell, or whatever it is, to protect him and his parents from the contagion?” She scanned the room, but landed on Lashondra, who seemed troubled for a moment. Then she nodded.
“If we can have him brought here, for the ceremony? You mentioned that his parents don’t know of his abilities? We can’t hide this from them. They would have to come here for it...” That had several people in the room staring at her, but she simply nodded.
“Right. Let me...”
~Alistair? We have the hook up on that spell for you. You’ll all need to come here. That will mean letting the parents know that you’re secretly gay, of course. So just get in there, tell them you like man flesh and we’ll send Wisp in to collect you all when it’s time.~
There was an actual snort, inside her head then.
~Yeah. That would be easier, wouldn’t it? Well, I take your point. If I get kicked out over this, I can come live with you?~
She nearly said that it wouldn’t be an issue, but it occurred to her that the guy hadn’t told his parents for a real reason. Even as a child, he’d kept his power a secret, so it might be a problem. After all, he had to have a pretty good idea of what their honest reactions would be to the whole thing.
~This is, possibly, too important not to have you in on. Do it. If the fallout is that big of a deal... well, I won’t let my pals live on the street. They seemed like good people to me, when we met?~
That got a sigh. The feeling of one, to hit her.
Then the boy’s voice tickled the inside of her head again.
~Sure. They’re also devote Catholics, and the Church has been more than a little bit into claiming anyone with powers is a demon. Possessed by them, anyway.~
Which got her to look over at Sister Eustace.
Then she formed a plan. One that probably wouldn’t work at all.
~Incoming, then. Give us ten minutes?~
She turned to Lash, since the woman was the boss there as far as Hannah was concerned, and shrugged.
“We need to go get them. That... He’s pretty certain his parents are going to disown him, for being a demon, as soon as he tells them about his gifts. They’re Catholic.”
