Slaying demons, p.6
Slaying Demons, page 6
part #2 of Damsel Series
Lash looked at her, then smiled.
“That will work. Now, some of us will be working here. These good people should return home, first thing.” That happened fast, before they could realize that Hannah the socialite club girl was going to have their son all alone at her place.
Or not so alone, really. Wisp was good at doing that sort of thing.
Making it impossible for people to change their minds or ask hard questions by teleporting them away. Then, one by one, everyone was put where they needed to go. Hannah was the last one again, in a way that seemed nearly pointed. Not as an insult, either. Almost as if she was supposed to be on guard, for the rest of them. That seemed insane, due to the fact that she didn’t have any real powers. Her one, fairly narrow, psychic trick and a tiny bit of book learning, but not enough to be useful as anything other than a pawn.
Then, she smiled at that thought. After all, Kate wouldn’t be thinking of her that way. That reminded her, as soon as she got back in, to text her friend. She hadn’t all afternoon. It was already dark outside her window, when she looked out onto her balcony.
Given the time of year, that meant she was going to have to go to bed soon. On her current schedule, the summer would be worse. She’d have to go to bed when it was light out for part of it. Like she was a hundred and eighty years old or something. That or six.
Everyone just stood there for a moment, then Nate nodded.
“I’ll make some food? I don’t really know the rest of the plan.”
Alistair raised his hand a bit then.
“I’ll locate the people I’m going to be watching, and try to monitor them through the night. I can do that in my sleep, if I set it up beforehand. Hannah and Wisp both need to get to bed. They have work in the morning.”
That was at the same place, even, but Wisp didn’t react to the words. Not directly.
“Get in touch with me if you need transport, Al? Also... no fair sharing.”
That got a nod from the boy.
“I won’t. Not about that. I’ll be in touch, if anything is needed. I’ll try to stay open to the others who were there. This...” He grimaced then and shook his head. “You know, my parents aren’t going to actually be good with this. Having a nun there helped a lot, and all that, but when it hits them how strange it all is, I’m probably going to be kicked out.”
That surprised Hannah a bit. They’d actually seemed fairly cool about the whole thing, and as if they were buying the whole bit with the Church wanting Al to help them out. That they might not be that stupid hadn’t occurred to her, even if they hadn’t done anything that spoke of foolishness as of yet. It was, she realized, that she was looking down on them for having real jobs.
Which was her being the idiot.
Still, she didn’t comment on that part. There was no need to advertise her class bigotry, after all.
“Then you live here, if that happens. That or we set you up someplace else. I bet we can get you into college early, if we need to. Not that I want things to come between your parents and you. They seem like decent people.”
Nate patted the boy on the shoulder, standing well away from him when he did it.
“They did seem nice. Regardless, we kind of have to try and save the world, even if it screws you over. On the good side, we can throw enough cash at anything that comes up that you won’t end up turning tricks on the street for rent money.”
Veronica nodded at those words. Rather seriously.
“True. Plus, you can simply use your powers for that, if you need. Right now, you should do that work, however. Then... We can all have sex?” She was being blunt and the offer was enough to get most people to seem shocked.
Not a single person in the room was, that night.
Nate tilted his head a bit, then nodded.
“Right. Genetically engineered to be interested in that kind of thing on an abnormal level. I met Doctor Pond, a few times. He’s a loon, you know that, right?”
Instead of taking that as an insult, even if the man was her father, the same one who had turned her into a child sex slave, for his own pleasure, she simply nodded.
“Yeah. If we’re going to be nice about it. That’s the wrong thing to do? Have sex with you all?”
Alistair laughed a bit then, and didn’t even blush.
“Right. I’m too young here, even though I want to do it. Nate is your girlfriend’s brother, so he has to hold off that way, too. You can get with Hannah, but she really does have to be up early in the morning. So, in all, that idea won’t work too well.”
Veronica simply nodded, understanding, and took Hannah’s hand.
“We should hurry then, while the food is cooking?”
Then, a bit forcefully, she was tugged away, to her bedroom.
Chapter four
Not just anyone got to be out on the streets, during a lockdown. The one type of vehicle that wasn’t being stopped at all by the police, were emergency transports and essential service providers. Firetrucks, police cars, power line workers and garbage trucks, for instance. To that end, the studio, being tricky and probably not very good people, had hired an ambulance, or at least a driver of a van decorated to look like one of those, to come pick up a masked and disguised Hannah at nine in the morning. Which meant that she’d been up since five, to make sure that her exercise and practice were done for the day.
Her left arm stung, where she’d been magically burned the day before, but she’d learned a new trick, after a few hours of intense practice. By focusing enough, with no distractions, she could ignore the pain of it, almost totally. That, oddly, had nothing to do with not feeling it. She got that part pretty clearly, feeling a warping between noticing it and not, at times. It was all about becoming unaware of the discomfort, on a conscious level.
Which left her feeling clear and centered when the van pulled up in front of her building, looking ready to whisk her off to the local hospital. Inside, instead of being empty, or decked out with normal bench seats, like a school bus, it was... Wild. There were literal colored lights strung around, like it was hippie Christmas, a half-stocked minibar and what seemed to be a French press for coffee. Not that she knew how to use that sort of thing. She’d had coffee made that way, hundreds of times, but making it was what baristas were for.
The thought actually had her making a face, as she looked up to see that there was a camera there, watching her every move. She giggled then, since the point of the show was to catch her, and mainly Kate, acting entitled and spoiled, to show how annoying and different they were from real people. Anything she did there would be a mistake, of course. At least if the goal was to look good. Which, for her, it wasn’t.
So she called out, to the driver, up front.
“Um, hey, do you know how a French press works?”
The man, who had a mask on, in a nice surgical style, like she did at the moment, but in a better color, since hers was a plain sky blue and his was black with a gold stripe, grunted.
“I can pull over and get you something?”
She chuckled then.
“It’s not really needed. I just figured I’d try it out myself, make a mess of it and then we can both drink bitter black coffee? You know, to prove that I’m useless and probably too boring for a television show?”
She managed to keep her voice light, and the man, who was driving at the moment, actually chuckled.
“Got it. Oh, I’m Burt... I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk to the talent or not. I could get the camo-van together in time, so they hired me. I normally don’t do this kind of work. I do auto repair, but no one is driving right now, so their cars aren’t breaking.”
Instead of telling him how to do his job, she simply spoke, looking at the weird glass and metal contraption in her hand.
“I’m Hannah. I guess I’m sort of a third-tier sidekick on this thing, so, of course we use each other’s names. It would be weird to do anything else. Now, I... Okay, I have the top off. That or I broke it. The press?”
The man didn’t look back, keeping his eyes on the road. Probably taking her off to a hole where she could be buried. That it hadn’t occurred to her until that moment caused her to make a face. A thing covered by the bit of useless cloth that day. Still, she had a gun on her, under her loose shirt, and a knife, as well as fresh practice. None of it had covered fighting in the back of a rape van though. An oversight, since that kind of thing had come up in her life three times. Sure, once it was a limo, but not learning that skill wasn’t a great idea.
Helpfully, Burt, if that was his real name, called out instructions.
“There’s a pack of coffee. It’s just Folger’s, since no one told me what to get or if anyone would even want that kind of thing. Tear that open and dump about a quarter of a cup in the bottom of the press.”
It took a moment and some fumbling, as well as pulling a knife to slice the top of the red foil open, but she had that done a minute later. She would also look nicely psycho, carrying a knife like that. Or as if she planned to live on a farm. Still, it had worked.
“Got it. I’m totally guessing what a quarter cup is. A small handful?”
The man still didn’t take his eyes off the road, even if it was empty.
“About that, really. Better to make it too strong than too weak. We can always add water, if we need to. There’s an electric kettle hooked up, with water in it. Just push the plastic bit at the back down. It will click off when it’s hot. Then it will be boiling, so don’t spill it on yourself. My insurance won’t cover that.”
She was careful, and waited peacefully enough, for that to happen. Then, she got the adventure of actually letting the coffee steep, and pouring it off into not one, but three different travel mugs. She took the bottom portion, since that was going to be the dark, bitter part of it. There was about a real cup of coffee for each of them, the blue plastic lidded mugs being able to hold a lot more than was in it at the moment.
When they got to Kate’s, across the city, having made two wrong turns that had nearly had the man shot in the back of the head, since she wasn’t certain if it was the start of a kidnapping, she smiled. There, on the street, dressed like a hobo, her hair under a broad brimmed hat, with a gold, sparkly, mask on, stood Kate. She had a camera crew with her, already watching what was going on. As if that wasn’t going to alert the cops, if they were seen.
Hannah rolled her eyes.
“Stay ready to go, Burt? I’ll get the side door. This is a bit too obvious. We aren’t supposed to be out traveling right now. Morons. They bothered to hire you and this fake ambulance, but then stand out there with full sized cameras? We just need a sign, saying where we’re going.”
That got a laugh, from the front seat.
“No shit, right? I’ll hold here.”
Popping the side door, Hannah moved to the side. Mainly so that it would be hard to see her from the seat.
“Get in, hurry. Ambulances don’t have doors on the side...”
Burt laughed.
“Sure. But this one is a private ambulance. Notice the decals on the side and back? It looks like an official vehicle at a glance, but if anyone notices that it isn’t and stops us, we have a second line of defense. It’s illegal to pretend to be an emergency service in the city. There are a couple of private companies though, for the rich, so we’re going with that, if anyone asks. If we do get pulled over...”
Hannah glanced at Kate, who was actually scrambling in, trying not to get caught. Her filthy jacket was actually threadbare in places and looked old, but wasn’t that dirty, once she closed in. That was an off rose-colored thing, with pumpkin highlights. Created out of a sturdy but ugly fabric that had doomed it for a life on the streets from the start.
The other two, the camera and sound guys, were just in average crew wear. T-shirts, jeans and in one case, the sound tech, a light windbreaker jacket. He looked halfway cute in it, but she grinned and pushed the sliding door shut, as soon as she could.
“Hey, everyone... Where do you need us... Lewis.” The black man on cam smiled at the use of his name. They’d only met once, so she was kind of pleased to have picked that up. He was about thirty, lean and wiry, which worked for them, since they needed to arrange a good shot, in order to pick up Kate.
The man was a pro, so looked at the set up, and nodded.
“I can jam in over by the front right, behind the seats there? Sound guy, you can get all the way into the back, and lay down, so you aren’t in my shot? Once you get everyone hooked up. Then we get some footage of you two arguing about the plan for the first week of shooting?”
That didn’t sound good, but Hannah figured that they’d be doing something kind of harsh. Everything was shut down, so having them go shopping was right out. Given the outfit Kate had on, they were probably going to be living on the streets for a week. A thing that Hannah, at least, wasn’t prepared to do at all. She’d never even gone camping before, which suddenly seemed like an oversight on her part. Like a thing that she needed to actually learn, if she ever had a chance to.
She flashed back then, to Pleny leaning in toward her over Debbie and Lashondra’s kitchen table, his gaze fierce and frightening. Commanding her, from that point on to learn how to do everything, for herself. It shook her for a moment, but she’d had flashbacks before, so simply sat up and covered with a bland expression.
She moved then, sliding easily, since the seats didn’t have belts at all, as everyone else got into place. Kate needed to be closest to the camera, and the sound man needed to play with her chest for a bit, before he could physically hide.
The young man was halfway professional about it, but still accidently grazed her nipples a few times. A thing he hadn’t done with Kate at all, so she grinned. After all, her friend was cuter than she was, so it was nice to be the one getting the special attention. As long as he was being fairly covert about it.
“So, Doug, how are things going?”
“Not great. My girlfriend just broke up with me. Last night. I... Well, she found someone else, so...” He looked down then, angry about it.
Hannah gave him a hug, and held it, even if that would be caught on camera.
“That’s screwed up! Are you okay? We can... Honestly, the only thing I know to do for a bad breakup involves ice cream and watching bad movies until the pain is gone. That or revenge sex. We can get that hooked up for you?”
Kate snorted, and managed not to sound catty when she spoke. They were going to have to clip a lot of things together to make her seem sort of like a bitch, in post-production. They had in the first season, at least. The woman was way nicer than that, most of the time.
“You’re going to sleep with the sound guy? Kinky. You have a girlfriend though, if... That’s still a thing?”
Hannah nodded. She got that this was supposed to be her big thing for the season, almost certainly. That she was sleeping with Veronica. A woman. Which was a dime a dozen and would play as being fake, on the show. At least to the audience.
“That’s more of a booty call with benefits situation. And, I actually meant the part about the ice cream and movies. Still, Doug, if you need more than that, we will get you hooked up. Not with Kate, since her new boyfriend might not like that.”
The camera guy, who was clearly pretending to be the producer or director that day, spoke, his voice smooth, but a little coy.
“Oh, you have someone, too, Miss Sinclair?”
Hannah half expected her to beg off, or even simply let them know that she didn’t, but instead she nodded, smiling rather happily.
“Tyler. He’s pretty awesome.”
Hannah had to nod at that, since he really was. True, in a slightly autistic and grumpy way, but he honestly had some good traits, at the same time.
“He totally is. A friend of mine, too, in case you see him coming out of my room late at night? Not that it won’t be completely wholesome, but... You know how it is.” She had a reputation after all.
One that wasn’t totally undeserved.
Kate hit her. On the arm, without any force behind it at all.
“Hands off my man, girl.”
Hannah giggled, and passed her one of the travel mugs of dark, bitter, coffee. Burt already had his.
“Oh, do you guys need something? Coffee, that is. I think I see some tea bags here? We have more water. Still.” That was hot, and in the kettle. Not that she was pouring anything until they stopped. Pouring boiling water all over the camera guy wasn’t how she wanted to start whatever they had planned for them.
She didn’t ask about it, but could feel that it was coming, anyway.
Doug half groped her chest some more, trying to be casual about it. Her nipples stood up, but couldn’t be easily seen under her loose shirt. He’d done sound for her before, and hadn’t been like that, so, when he was done, got another hug. To reassure him that he still had value, even if his ex was too silly to see it.
Then he hid in the back, not asking for coffee or tea at all.
Lewis however, wanted some.
The next bit was a study in her being incredibly careful, as well as having to ask where everything was, so she could dump the old, still hot grounds, wash the press out and then dumped the half cup of hot water she’d used, and redo the whole coffee making experience. It was a bit fumbling on her part, and slow, but Hannah was also being incredibly careful, so as to not burn anyone.
There just wasn’t that much room, so she ended up sitting on Kate’s lap, as she laughed, for half of the process.
Then, when Lew had his own plastic adult sippy cup of dark poison, which he wanted milk and sweetener in, she was able to slide to her own side of the shared bench. Kate, smiling as if she were about to admit to having stolen Hannah’s favorite sweater, spoke then.
“So, um... We had to change plans for the show. We’re down to a Tri-D safe crew of ten people, and... Well, showing my normal life right now would be boring. So, instead... The whole thing is going to be shot off in the woods.”
Hannah nodded then, feeling more than a bit psychic.
“I see. So, the plan is to feed me to bears, directly? Or just to let me get lost, and accidently find them?”
