Evil is... (Once a Demon Book 2) Read online

  Once a Demon: Book Two

  Evil Is…

  P.S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2018

  Chapter one

  The knock at the door was sudden. A rapping that held power and size, coming up high on the solid wood. There was a faint ringing that spoke of the metal reinforcement that lay within the armored thing. Not that someone being there was totally unexpected, even if it was too early in the day for a normal woman her age to be having visitors. At least unplanned ones.

  Technically, if she’d been a bit more connected to the Human world, she could have been receiving a male guest about that time. Certainly, the idea left her tingling in certain places. A situation that Keeley Thomson found interesting. Running as she was without any real controls on her emotional state was leaving her feeling more than a little aroused over things that she hadn’t really noticed previously in her life.

  There was a soft hint of brilliant, golden, sunlight coming through the white curtains in the nicely decorated living room. A single ray of early light cast a splendid beam into the otherwise darkened space. Keeley had been reading in the dark, her eyes being altered to allow it, instead of sitting with the lights on. It had mainly been an exercise in changing shape, rather than an extreme need to save electricity. The rates in the area for that kind of thing weren’t bad, actually. Not that cash was a current concern of hers. Besides, she managed to run most of her daily power needs off of solar energy. Even before she’d stopped being a Greater Demon that had been the case.

  Not because she cared about the world all that much. No, for Keeley it had always been about making certain she had power on demand, without being controlled by a single provider. If you had the resources, it only made sense to spread things like that out. Given her location, she planned to put in a windmill soon as well. One whose job was going to be all about pumping water into the raised tank out back.

  Standing up, she cast her mind forward toward the door. Reading and sensing the space there intimately. Learning its secrets on a level that few beings were capable and that even fewer would bother with. More to the point, to the person or people behind it. She’d heard them drive up, which meant they were either from a Human related group, needing physical transportation to get to most places, or were faking that kind of thing really hard.

  The vehicle hadn’t been large and from the sound of it needed to get into the shop soon. It hadn’t been horrible, rattling and squealing only a small amount, but her better than average ears had picked up a few things that most would miss. Working on cars was, more or less, one of her hobbies.

  She had several things like that now. Activities she used to fill the time. Woodworking, auto repair and even plumbing. Art as well, though she kind of preferred working on things that had real world utility and weren’t just to entertain the mind or eye of the viewer. Aesthetics were, for her, a way to decorate things that you were going to have around anyway. Not the end point in and of itself.

  Outside her door was a single form. A decently large one that held a certain leanness under his clothing. The energy coming off of the man was… Annoyed. Agitated and verging on angry.

  Familiar as well.

  Her new boss from the Coalition of Nations, Will Dern. The Human ex-military man. A person who, less than a year before, had been leading a SEAL team in a war zone. That or someone pretending to be him skillfully, in order to get her to let down her guard for a few moments while they launched an attack on her.

  It really was early and while the man had been to her house before, while working a mission, they weren’t exactly hooking up. Mainly because he was trying to be a good leader, instead of him not thinking her new form was too ugly for him to hit that. She’d backed off how good looking she was, making herself seem a bit older and a little plainer through the face and body. She was still cute enough that the man would have probably been hard pressed to tell her no, if she stripped down and met him at the door naked.

  A bit nervously, at least in seeming if not internal feeling, Keeley ran her right hand down her body, smoothing her slacks out a bit. Getting ready to meet a stranger at her door. Those, the pants, were white, and fit her new shape perfectly. Rome originals, hand made by the designer herself. A gift from her friend, Avery, just because the woman was sweet that way. Not that they were that close, yet.

  It was, she realized, her fault that they weren’t. Also, a mistake on her part. After all, Avery Rome had personally made an entire set of daily wear for her. For free. Just because Keels had decided that looking a bit older and less like a runway model was a good plan, given her new job. More to the point, Will had suggested to her that looking like the woman that top models dreamed they could be was a bit distracting to him and that others might feel the same way.

  She still had to fake being nervous, though the truth was that she hadn’t picked up why Will Dern was at her door that early in the day. Or at all. If it was a booty call… Well, then the man wouldn’t have been annoyed and agitated. He would have been either drunk or mildly nervous. Possibly both. His personal rules for things like that were just different than hers were. Plus, if it had been that alone, he would have called her first to make certain she was available for such things.

  Which she was. That realization got her to smile a bit. Even if it wasn’t a good thing, for a Human woman to be thinking. Good, as in, not evil. That was a thing she knew about herself though, even if she was trying to be better than a Greater Demon would have been that way. If almost anyone, man or woman, had turned up at her door with intent to have some sexy time fun with her, Keeley would have probably been good to go on the idea. Her processing of such things was simply not Human, after all.

  It wasn’t just about her early training, either. A thing that, once again, shocked her a little to realize. She’d held herself so tightly, controlling every emotion with magic on a level that actually had left her very different than reality and biology were pushing her to.

  Shrugging, she opened the door and smiled up at the man. He was large, being about six-six and lean with a good edge into being muscular enough that even in a suit jacket and tie, people were going to notice. The truth was that if the man had come just to knock boots with her, she’d have probably been happy to comply, even if she had been a regular woman. She wasn’t a Greater Demon anymore, so there were functionally no rules as to what could be done that way, for her. Not even the old ones that her society had forced upon her.

  Technically they were only working with Human guidelines at all because that was what her boss was familiar with. If he decided that having sex on the desk at work was the new plan, the Coalition of Nations would back him up in it without blinking. They simply worked with too many different types of beings to try and enforce one narrow set of rules on them all.

  Besides that, Tyler Gartner, the head of the Coalition, had been raised by a former Greater Demon himself. To him the only real rules when it came to sex was that everyone more or less had some kind of consent going on. Even those rules could be bent a bit, she was willing to bet. Even if Ty didn't know that was the case. Ann, his mother, had simply taught him not to be judgmental that way. A thing that didn't totally mesh with the society they lived in.

  After the door opened, Will Dern, still looking like the ex-special forces soldier he used to be, grimaced. His face hard and nearly upset seeming. Troubled, instead of showing the near anger that he carried inside.

  “Thomson. Sorry for the early visit. We have… A problem.” He glanced around, taking in her fairly humble, but well decorated, seeming home. It wasn’t a palace, though the yellow single-story building was clean and well cared for.

  Really, it w
as probably a bit too nice for someone just starting the job she had with the CoN. That was, roughly, as an investigator for Division Six. Their very own paranormal unit. Really, if she had to describe it to anyone she would have said that it was the X-Files, if the FBI hadn’t been a bunch of ridiculous buffoons that had tied the main characters hands constantly.

  Carefully she reached out and took Will’s hand. The way she did it was a bit flirty, considering they didn't have that kind of relationship. Yet. Anyone watching would think that she was just holding hands with him, because the situation was sort of obvious. A single man going to the home of a single woman, outside of normal work hours, on her day off…

  Pulling a bit, right there in the open doorway, she moved in and hugged him close. Enjoying the contact as she sold the impression to anyone watching them. At the same time, she took in his entire life to that point in time. Every thought, feeling and fantasy about her on all fours, taking him up the behind. That or servicing him with her mouth, in more than one form. In short, a very normal set of memories coming from a normal Human man. Added to that a lot more fighting and war than was common at all. The man had killed seventeen people over the last decade of his life, all in the line of duty. Which she already had a copy of, so only the last week of his life updated.

  A thing that showed the man in front of her was truly dedicated to his current job, and that he needed to get laid pretty quick, if that kind of thing wasn’t going to become a problem for him. It was one thing for him to think about doing her in various holes a few times a week. Human men did things like that, if you were a half attractive female, after all. Her poor boss was in danger of becoming obsessed, however. A thing that would impact his work life, if he wasn’t careful.

  As she drank in his life story from the contact of flesh on flesh at their hands, she shuffled the whole update into the external library that was held around her constantly. Instead of keeping the information inside of herself. There was no real reason to do it that way, except that, in a pinch, she could potentially make a copy of the information outside of her and pass it to a different person.

  That was how she’d gotten her own copy of the Greater Demon library. A gift from her grandfather. A thing that the Greater Demon known as Tarsus had given to almost anyone who was willing to take it. For free, most of the time, without concern for who, or what, that being was. All they had to do was ask. Given how interested the being was in haggling for almost everything in the world, that had always seemed a bit off to her. Almost like he’d been doing it simply to be nice. Even if he hid that portion of things well enough, in the main. Normally with threats of death.

  Most people simply couldn’t use that kind of thing very well. Greater Demons could, in theory. Some few members of other groups had the mental ability or focus to make it worth having. It would be interesting to see if she could change a Human being enough to use that kind of thing, without driving them insane. Perhaps by having them trained up as a line walker, first. Not that she was planning to do that kind of thing that day. Really, it was technically her day off.

  More to the point, Will had ordered her to leave their base after she’d put in six days in a row, sixteen hours per day, working on getting the training ready for everyone else. She didn't need to sleep and boredom was, always, an optional thing. Even a normal person could get around that kind of thing by simply focusing enough. If you occupied your mind well enough, there was no room for signals to do anything other than what you were.

  The data she needed, about why Will was really there, flowed across her mind easily. It was, at the moment, the primary focus of his existence. That would fade in a few hours, naturally. The man had simply found bugs in their office space. The technological listening devices, instead of insects, which wouldn’t have bothered him much at all. That had, naturally, gotten him to search what he could of the Sparks Embassy Complex. Most of the Ambassadorial spaces were off limits, of course. To him, since he was law abiding and worked for the CoN, instead of for the owner of the property itself. Listening devices had been found in the hallways, cafeteria and public restrooms. They were there in at least seventeen locations.

  In a space as large as the Complex, that probably meant there were hundreds of the things. Mainly tucked away in different Ambassadorial spaces. That none of them had complained about it yet probably meant they either didn’t understand what was going on, or that they figured that it was just a good job being done by someone.

  Not everyone from all races and groups felt the same way about eavesdropping, after all. A few groups would even feel like the devices were a signal that they were being taken seriously.

  Smiling, she went up on tiptoe, and kissed him. Enough effort was put into the whole thing that he responded, even if he felt shocked at the move. She was kissed back and he stiffened in the front of his pants, just enough that she noticed it and a Human wouldn’t have. That part was a bit mean of her, even if she could sell the whole thing easily enough, later. The trick there was that she didn't have any reason in the whole world to play with the man. They were on the same side and while he might just be a Human, the man was her boss and not a prick. Doing things his way, instead of using her rather different sexual morals on him was kind of part of her new job.

  In short she needed to be a bit more careful with him and his rules than she was currently being. That she’d picked her current path with him, holding his hand and kissing him like that was all about her being lonely. Even being horny almost constantly wouldn’t really cause her to do that kind of thing. Not on its own.

  Almost all of her old friends were gone. A thing that had happened after the veil over the minds of Humanity had dropped, about six months before. Her slaves were gone as well. Most of them. So, she was using the events of the moment as an excuse to gain contact with Will. A person who, for the time being, she was nearly as close to as anyone else in the world. They’d worked together almost every day for weeks, after all. He even knew that she used to be a Greater Demon and didn’t mind. Which was all about the fact that he didn't really know what that meant. To him she was just a top end agent.

  In a group that hadn’t even defined what that really meant yet.

  Moving back, she smiled at him sweetly. Then spoke just loudly enough that any listening devices would be able to pick up what she was saying, if they were trained on her. They weren’t, of course. The NSA was good, but her house was too exposed with there being no place to hide in the surrounding area being no other houses, bushes or trees for cover and magically warded in a way that would prevent anyone from walking up with listening devices.

  Trying would have them driven back in pain, their own intent to do her that much harm targeting them for attack. The only way for them to get around that would have been for whoever they sent in to truly have her best interests at heart while they did it. A Greater Demon could pull that off, if they knew to do it. There were even a few Human beings who could have. Mainly monks, who focused on compassion and love constantly. The NSA simply didn't have the needed resources for that kind of thing. It meant they weren’t listening at the moment.

  She got packages delivered to a box out front, but actually swept them for things like magic and listening devices before letting them inside. Every single time. Will wouldn’t know that though and while not likely, there was a small chance that someone had worked out a way around her current protections that way. Say by placing a bug on him, so that he could walk one up to her door without being aware of it. Keeley could think of half a dozen other ways, so it was possible that men and women, Humans, could have worked many of them out as well. If they knew to do anything like that at all.

  It wasn’t likely, so she smiled a bit more, letting her eyes go soft.

  “Will, honey! You managed to get away from work? We can go on that picnic we have planned. I have the perfect spot in mind for it.” They’d never mentioned anything of the sort. For a moment she wondered if the man was going to drop the ball conversationa
lly. He’d been a soldier, not a spy, after all. Even their current job was more like special news correspondent than secret agent.

  Instead he grinned, acting well enough to sell anyone watching on the idea they were presenting to the world.

  “Things are calming down a bit at the Embassy, for the time being. Ruffo is working the desk today, so we have coverage on phones, in case anything comes in. Everyone else is off at the training facility, so we have the time.”

  Everything he spoke of was real enough. Meaning that any listeners would be able to confirm the validity of it all. Ruffo was a Barta, meaning he looked a bit like an armor plated armadillo-Human hybrid. At least if there was gray stone involved in that kind of a mix.

  He was also the nephew of the ambassador from his people, which for them meant putting the decently large, gunmetal gray boy into some kind of service, in order to earn his own way. Really, anything would have been allowable. Digging ditches or even prostituting him out to all comers had been suggested. The trick there was that Tyler Gartner hadn’t really wanted to start any new building projects or become a pimp. Ruffo’s uncle didn’t want to bother with anything like that either, so had asked the Coalition of Nations to find him an acceptable place near the embassy complex. Tyler had just dumped the boy on them. Meaning Will didn’t set him to sucking all comers either.

  Even if they could have worked that last part out legally. At least by working in a different county, even one over. They were in Nevada after all. Prostitution was legal there, if they did it correctly. Even if they didn't want to bother with all the laws and rules, they could have gotten away with it.

  The kid was a bit young for that, being only seventeen. He was also bullet-proof and could lift four times his not inconsiderable body weight. Hence being on phone duty. He wasn’t a genius, but his people were really good about being conscientious when it came to their duty of the moment. Even if it was a thing they hadn’t chosen for themselves. Honestly, it was close to being their special power set. A combination of being hard to hurt and willing to do whatever it took to get the job done was a powerful thing that a lot of other groups couldn’t beat, when it came to either a fight or out producing them in a business environment.