Keeley Thomson (Book 4): Demon Trap by P.S. Power

thousands of little things that were both very nice, and had the correct size to go into a stocking for instance. Hally looked at a darling silver pill box with jade inlay. When she turned it over to look at the price she gasped and started to put it down.
    "It's nice, but out of my price range." Hally seemed a bit disappointed by that, which got some attention from the being watching them.
    The clerk behind the counter was a Djin, and a very old and powerful one too, since he was able to hold a solid and very human like form. He didn't speak, but moved around the counter and pointed at the box, not bothering to speak. A lot of very old things just didn't bother with that.
    It took a while, but it was clear he was willing to let the box go for half the listed price, since Hally wanted it so much. It was about ten times what the girl had on her.
    "I can front you the money, Hally. You'll owe me a favor though, later. One that will be worth what I pay here, no more than that. Keep that in mind when dealing with Demons. Make sure that the amount of a bargain is known in advance." She got the funds out and passed it to the girl, as the Djin, who was a Lesser Demon after all, stared at her, and then bowed, finally getting at least what she was, if not who.
    She winked back.
    After all, now that she was known to be young, she didn't have to act ancient all the time anymore. Just old enough that no one would think she was easy prey.

Chapter six
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    "How am I supposed to pay you back for all of this?" Hally sounded concerned, since she was about six hundred dollars in debt by the time they got near the candle shop on the bottom level. People were going in and out pretty regularly. That was, she knew, an improvement, since the place used to be dead all the time. Zack had done it, organizing the space and improving it with simple hard work.
    She shrugged.
    "Favors, like I said. You don't have a lot of skills yet, but something will come up. I know, you can help me tomorrow with the city council. I have a lunch meeting with four of the six, plus the Mayor, just to chat. Really the plan is to get them to realize the importance of good fire hydrants. I'm just taking them to Fritters, because I'm not supposed to have that much by way of money, but you could help me coordinate everything." It wasn't really needed, but it would be something for the girl to do that didn't involve servicing a bunch of men to pay things off. Or women. It was almost tempting to set that up, just to help her learn about the importance of being careful in what she agreed to, but it was worth more to Keeley to have her good will.
    Besides, she kind of liked her.
    "We need to set a building on fire. You can do that. Bal will get you in. You'll have to be careful, since we want it to look like it wasn't set. He knows what to do though." She grinned and waited for the response, which came only as wide eyes and a subtle hesitation in her step.
    Then her little friend nodded.
    "OK. I guess. I've never done that before. I... Balthias won't let me get caught, will he?"
    "Nope. Not at all. I'll make sure of it." She pointed at the shop across from their destination, since it would make a good vantage point to watch Zack, which was what Hally actually wanted, rather than an introduction. It also had food, being a frozen yogurt place. Yoghurt World. "Let's set up there."
    The girl behind the counter wasn't one really, being a decently old Vampire, capable of day time activity. That was a dead giveaway, but something that Keeley had known anyway. She smiled at the woman who went very still.
    "Mistress of Souls. To what do we owe the pleasure?" There was no hint of anger at her presence and only a bit of fear, which was hidden well enough that Hally didn't get it, but it was there, none the less.
    "Just visiting really. Doing some last minute shopping, plus Hally came to spy on Zack and make certain he wasn't going to steal me from her. She's a bit of