Free Demon Bait (Keeley Thomson) by P.S. Power Page B

her anyway. She really didn't enjoy Quince that much. The
first thing she was going to do, she decided, was make him change his name.
Kevin was fine, but Quince ? Yes, she knew it meant Acadian Apple, which
was a thing for him, being the name of his old mercenary unit, but it wasn't
nearly clever enough not to stand out.
    There was a soft clearing of
throat as Darla grinned at her.
    "Twenty, and one medium favor.
I know that this isn't that hard for you. It isn't exactly like you can't have
fun with him..." It was a subtle dig, working on the idea that Keeley
would be embarrassed, and not bargain as hard, if sex were mentioned. Except
that she was ready for that and took those feelings out of play all together.
    "Forty, and two large
favors, but I'll let you reject them if you want, when the time comes. If you
do, then I get a hundred million for each, however." That got the other
girl to scowl. Then she took a double wrapped crunch thing from a bag and added
a lot of hot sauce to it before answering.
    Around a bite she mumble
something that was a bit rude. Then finished her food.
    "Who are you? Keeley
wouldn't ask for that much. Not for this. She'd just blush and tell me it was
fine, since she secretly has a crush on Quince anyway, and wants to take him as
a man slave." Her hand moved toward the stick shift, casually, which meant
that there was, most likely, a weapon there.
    Laughing, Keeley took her hand,
to stop whatever horrible pain was coming.
    "I'm an adult now, right? I
can't let anyone walk all over me. Plus... I really don't like him that
much. I was thinking that I could set him up somewhere and let him... I don't
know, guard something? Maybe Gary. Or Becky. She's going to be famous, right?
He can play bodyguard for her." The girl was technically the slave of
Darla, but she was currently on loan to Zack. It was confusing and meant to
keep her safe, but that was a good enough reason to send her with protection.
"We can claim that he came into some money so that Becky won't have to
prostitute herself out while waiting for roles to come in. Not too much cash
though. We don't want her to just marry him or something stupid like that."
It could work, if they wanted to do it.
    As long as she didn't have to
have the idiot under foot all the time, it would be fine.
    Darla snorted at her, and
squeezed her hand, hard enough that she needed to heal it. Something cracked
inside, which was a test, no doubt. Keeley wasn't as tough as a lot of the
other Demons that way. Good with magic though.
    "Thirty million, two favors,
each worth fifty if I bail on them."
    "Good enough. I'll... Go and
take care of Quince now. I don't suppose you have his phone number?"
Keeley could get it, and probably had it in her own head somewhere, if she
worked it all out. Hally or Eve probably had it, and she'd collected both of
their lives already. That just meant searching... It took a few seconds and
Darla didn't speak, understanding that she'd already handled it.
    That portion of things at least.
    "So, it will be done by
morning? Transfer the funds tonight?"
    Darla tilted her head.
    " After it's
done." Then she started to drive back toward town, which wasn't far.
"You know, Keels... I think I liked you better when you were kind of
clueless."
    That got a nod back, "I
know. Much easier to manipulate that way. Well, everyone grows up sometime,
right?"
    Darla shook her head then, but
smiled. It was a dark and knowing thing, not friendly or kind.
    "No, not really. Most of our
kind just die before that happens. Be careful. Things are... Well, normal for us. So not what they seem. Keep that in mind, or you won't last long, adult
or not."
    It was good advice, but Keeley
didn't know if she was going to live long enough to apply it. Probably not,
given everything.
     
    Chapter five
     
    It took a bit to shake off Darla,
since her wonderful sister seemed to still not be certain about who Keels
really was. That... It was a problem in their world. Honestly, there