by P. S. Power
When he went to bed, Hilda followed him. She said that he did smell a bit like he'd been having sex with Libby, which made this all seem a little dirty to her. Sex with others watching? Fine by her. Normal even, why hide it? Sex with someone who'd had sex with someone else within a few days? Deviant. She explained that with regular people, like her, it seemed wrong, probably a bit like having sex with someone of the same gender seemed to Zack. Not evil really, but not what felt right to them. The Alede were a special case, their innate nature setting off something inside her that reacted violently.
She grinned and held him anyway.
“But for you I'll be dirty.” Her voice seemed normal, even cheerful. Then she asked him to do what he had done with Libby. Once he figured out that Hilda needed about four times as much pressure as the other woman had, she enjoyed herself immensely. Several times in a row.
She held him for a few minutes after that, and suggested he wash up, because Val also got a turn.
The lovely blonde didn't ask for the same thing at all when she came in. Instead she asked him to lay back and relax. Then mimicked what he'd done with the others on him. She mentioned that, since she could harvest energy from it, she benefited more from him having fun than if she let him focus on her.
It made sense. It also let her test him, to see if his memories were truly taken care of he realized. Mainly because her Shadow told him this directly. Once she started working, he could honestly say that he didn't think about anything else except, oddly, Claire.
Valerie asked about it when she'd finished and lay next to him, where his mind had gone. He told her honestly, because she knew for a fact he'd thought about someone else. The energy flow changed in a familiar pattern to her and he also knew her ego wouldn't be threatened by it.
“I don't know why, but that's what happened. I like her, but I like all of you, so... you got me on that one. It wasn't like I thought about sex, she just popped into my head while you, you know...” She knew.
“It's probably because you love her. That's pretty obvious... When you sit on the sofa, for instance, Merri sits next to you. I avoid sitting next to you, in case my abilities leak out a bit, which will stop now, by the way. After tonight you'll just have to deal with me as I am. Hilda plops down next to you if there's room, or next to Merri if there's not. But more often than not you sit next to Claire, not the other way around. Claire obviously has strong feelings for you, too. That's been clear the whole time. Betty avoids you like the plague, have you noticed? Even though I know for a fact she thinks you're sweet and would gladly have sex with you in a different situation. I can tell things like that. It's part of the whole Alede deal, we all can tell who wants to have sex with whom. Also how to get in on the threesomes. It's one of our traits.” She stroked his chest softly while saying this.
Zack listened and didn't speak. Did he love Claire? If so, didn't he love all of them? He honestly couldn't tell. He expressed this to Val, who nodded.
“The very old ones have that problem, most of the time. Claire and you seem to be about the same age, experientially, if I have everything right. You may even be older than her. The only real difference there is that your time was spent in a different world all together, without much Human interaction, and she mainly spent her time here. It's probably why she knows this – that she loves you – and you haven't realized that you love her yet. Which doesn't mean you can't or don't love the rest of us. Just that your current pattern is kind of, attuned, to her right now. It isn't a bad thing. Given time the pattern will swing around, and you'll be mine for a while. After Merri and Libby, naturally. ”
Funnily, he told her, even though he remembered everything, he didn't really ever think of himself as old. He didn't feel anything much about his age, not as far as he could pin down.
“You know, I think you should talk to some of the older people you know. Get a feeling for what's normal and what's unique to you. It can't hurt, well, it probably won't hurt.” This last bit had a grin accompanying it.
Then she held him for a while until he drifted off.
He woke up later to find Claire in bed with him. She'd taken his hand and held it, the coolness against his palm being what woke him. Her head rested on his chest and listened to the beating of his heart for a few minutes.
“After you get off work, meet me at Frozen YoGurt? I think we should take a walk again...” Her Shadow spelled out her intent clearly. She had a plan in the works, which she wanted to tell him about, in private. There would be some risk involved, but the potential for gain, for both of them, would make it worthwhile though, she hoped.
As she slipped out of bed, framed in the light from the window, she spoke softly enough that he didn't know if she meant him to hear.
“I heard what Val said. I do, you know, love you.” Without looking at him she started to walk out.
“I love you, too...” He didn't know it for certain a second before, but when she said it, it sprang into his mind clearly. He did love her. He had almost since he'd met her. It was interesting that he'd missed that. Probably distracted by the frozen yogurt, as funny as it sounded. Claire did make some really good treats.
Turing back to him suddenly, instantly, she was on him, kissing him with her cool lips and holding him tight. Then, nearly as abruptly she ran from the room.
After a moment, touching his lips, he wondered who else he loved and didn't know about?
He had some ideas. Maybe.
Chapter twenty-nine
The next day he went shopping for fabric, to decorate the store front. That, big silver snowflakes, wire, and some hooks that would work on the false ceiling inside the Mall. Between Jo-Ann's Fabric and Michael's craft store, he found everything he needed on his lunch break, including a tiny fake tree, making it back to the store just in time to do his daily transfers.
The afternoon was spent in Lesser Shia, where he still hadn't gotten to go out and see things, because of security worries. They were afraid that people might try to blow him up if they could for some reason, and did it to protect him, not everyone else. Instead he worked in a steel reinforced room lined with stone, something unique that looked a little like white marble. It had two antechambers used for security. There were always at least four guards on duty. Armed with sticks. So far there'd been no more problems, though security watched everyone like a hawk. It always felt safe, if a little confined, there.
It occurred to him that all a demon had to do to kill him would be to drop a hand grenade through the Nexus from the other side. If they timed it right, he wouldn't even see it. If security had thought of that they didn't mention it. Since, other than shutting down, their best move would probably be cutting ties with him, to prevent such things. He decided not to point it out either. No need to put the idea out there if no one else had thought of it first.
At dinner he sat in the back room of the YoGurt place, re-reading the chapters Patty had recommended. Since there apparently could be tests now, he decided to really try and stay ready. Mainly he didn't want Patty to think he didn't take her instruction seriously. The topic still embarrassed him a little at times, more than a little, but given the people he'd started hanging out with, it seemed like a good time to try and move past that, even if it felt really hard to him.
When Keane came to relieve Claire she walked silently to the back. The shifting and restless beast inside of her asked if the tasty Human might be the source of that wonderful scent. Zack knew he would be, since she couldn't have fed yet, the scent being the no doubt yummy warm blood inside of the thrumming veins. Pulsing. Advertising that the food had wandered by, no doubt. They needed to make this fast, or he'd end up being lunch.
Zack gently took her hand and went straight into the line, carrying her with him. When they walked out, seemingly instantly, in physical world time at least, they emerged in a desolate desert at night. This area had held a full Nexus market once. About three thousand years before. Then the Demons did something no one remembered, which angered the
people there, who declared war on them over it. In retaliation the Demons abandoned the place all together, letting everything dry up.
The inhabitants, whose name he'd never fully caught, almost as if he couldn't hear large parts of it, looked mainly Human with a few reptilian features. Their skin had fine, soft scales, that always looked wet. Their colors varied greatly. Brown, red, blue and black. Once he'd seen a very old one that looked all white. They were all between five and seven feet in height, the average being maybe five-five, with the taller ones being slightly rarer. About like Humans.
They'd told him, apparently honestly, that they only had enough resources right now to focus on one good nexus hub. They'd picked the other one of their two, being closer to civilization and not as run down. This one remained free of all other creatures, sitting in the open desert as it did.
Claire spoke quickly, urgently needing to feed.
“After Christmas, in mid-January, I have an invitation to a huge event in Nevada. In general you don't get invited to these things unless you're among the most powerful in the Vampire community... You'll take me there, to the opening ceremonies the first night. Then we'll both stay for the whole time, even though you'll only be allowed to go to the opening party. The rest will be devoted to secret Vampire matters, which only sounds interesting. Mainly business meetings and making contacts, I hear. You can sneak away then without being noticed. Will this work for you, do you think?”
Their eyes locked. Her hair pulled back like it was exposed the curve of her neck, white as marble. He had a sudden urge to kiss it, but didn't want to push her tolerance, being so hungry and waving what amounted to a banquet in her face.
“Yeah, that should work. I'll just sneak away and be back when I learn what I need to know. Four days, that should be, something like... I wish I was better at math.... Uh, about fourteen years in the void, more or less. A minute roughly equals a day as close as I can tell. I tested this recently. I counted out what should have been an hour our time, while sitting in the void between jumps. No one even noticed I was gone longer than usual. About two seconds by the stop watch.”
Shaking her head she stopped and did a little mental math of her own. “So biologically, you're, what, under twenty-one at least, because you didn't age in the void, did you? Wu-Li told me that you've functionally stopped aging, since you started doing his energy exercises. Mentally you'd be that plus... Let's see. No... That can't be right... I probably need to eat. We can figure it out later.”
He took her by the hand and they walked back into the shop. Out front Keane cleaned the counter, which looked immaculate already.
“Heading out then? Will I be seeing you later at the house?” He asked the stately, but cute, Vampire who stood beside Zack.
She shook her head no, probably for his benefit, even though her Shadow explained everything to him even as she answered. She wanted to keep Zack separate from her other life, as not all the Vampires were well behaved and gentle and she sometimes had to use force to keep them reigned in. Keane had been doing most of that lately. It seemed like he'd shaped up to be a good second, over the years.
Once Keane developed immunity to the sun, or at least enough that heavy clothes and sunblock would protect him for the most part, he could be moved to another location, taking over as the leader of his own group of younger Vampires. Claire's inner self expressed how proud she felt of the man, being one of only a handful of younger Vampires she'd seen approach that milestone in all her own years.
“I'm going now, but will be over at the other house if anyone needs me for anything till late. Tomorrow night I'm sleeping over, but will want the tub ready at five-thirty, and if Nigel and Gary could attend to me, that would be very nice.”
Nigel and Gary, her beast self told him, were two of the many people that they drank from. They didn't need a lot of blood each day, but got cranky if they didn't get it. Most of the Humans that fed them were lured with the promise of sex, money or certain drugs that didn't bother the Vampires if they drank from people with them in their system. She didn't want to have to answer questions about this to Zack, because she felt it would taint his perception of her.
He stood, not reacting. He knew they drank blood and even that it had to come from a person. He'd never thought of Claire having sex with the people she got the blood from though. It made sense and really seemed a lot nicer than say, snatching people and locking them in a basement. He'd just never thought about it. He knew it would be silly to be jealous, so he locked that part of himself down, he could remove that response later, when he had time to think about what it meant.
“Well, you need to go eat and I really should get to Wu-Li's, I'm almost late as it is. I'll be a little late tonight. Lisa and I are going for coffee after I get everyone else home from work. She really needs a day off. You probably do, too. I feel a bit like I'm letting everyone down sometimes. Maybe I can cover for you again soon? Well, no use stewing about it, I'll do what I can and the rest will just have to be what it is, for now.”
Her hunger caused her to rush out of the store, through the back without responding to him first.
When she'd clearly gone, using great speed, but not so much that anyone would notice particularly, he asked Keane if he knew of anything she wanted, in regards to Christmas.
“What? I hadn't thought about it really. We don't do Christmas as a group. We focus on Halloween instead. It's a joke of sorts. We all volunteer at haunted houses and pass out candy for the kids, that kind of thing. This last one I went as Zorro.” He tapped his lips with his right forefinger, a practiced gesture that his Shadow self didn't bother to mimic.
“She really likes books. Old books especially. Collectors' items. I don't think she reads them all, so anything old enough, that's rare enough, should do the trick, even if she already has a copy. She likes them to be in good condition though. I can't think of anything else right now. She has pretty much anything she wants, when she wants it. Plus, you know, she's pretty much past the point where things make a big difference to her. I mean, give her jewelry and she just locks it away, or gives it to someone else as a gift later. Cars? She drives a Sixty-eight Beetle with primer spots, even though she owns a half dozen other cars. The engine's like new though and the seats and interior are in great condition. She's been talking about changing that though, since people are starting to notice it when she passes then. It's too distinctive. Too old to go unnoticed.”
Keane put both hands on the counter and shook his head. Then cleverly signaled he didn't have anything else to say by not talking. Something Zack had noticed in some of the other older people as well. They'd just stop talking, or even walk away without saying anything, when they felt a conversation had ended. Claire didn't though, but with her that had a lot to do with how politically she viewed the world. Her ability to stay engaged on that level being part of why she had the job of Ambassador, no doubt.
Zack thanked him and asked the Vampire to let him know if he thought of something, since he'd known her a lot longer. Keane let it be known he'd try to keep the idea in mind.
Wu-Li didn't mention him being late, that being about two minutes. The Master just began the exercises they always went over, looking for flaws. This time, to Zack's amazement, he just nodded and said “Good.”
Zack hadn't earned a 'good' before. It had always been a correction of some kind, if a minor one. Today after they warmed up, instead of Dan teaching him martial arts moves, Wu-Li stepped forward and set up a small wooden table, with a large concrete block on it.
“Do you remember when we went to find young Jennifer and you struck out at her father? Today I want to work on half of what you did, adding the rest of the movement so that it won't weaken you while you fight. Keep your energy circulating, then extend a line through the object and immediately pull it straight back and re-add it to your own qi. This is important, else that portion will be lost and have to be rebuilt. The whole thing should look thusly.”
He slowly turned toward t
he brick, extended his fist and his qi, his energy, with it in a tight, smoky gray line. It extended through the brick fast, then came back slowly, taking most of three seconds to make the trip back to him.
The brick shook and the table wobbled.
He did it a second time, with the exact same results.
“Now, I'm certain you can make the brick explode dramatically, or fly into the wall. What I'm looking for here is a demonstration of control, not force. Also, I'd like to not have to repair the wall, so with that in mind... If you're ready?”
Zack focused, keeping his energy flowing as it should, and just as the Master had done, he extended a smoky gray line of energy, the same color as Wu-Li's, more or less, through the brick, then contracted it, though a little faster than Wu-Li did. The brick shook, but he grimaced.
“A bit fast on the retraction of energy. Gah. Can I try again?”
The old man, who still looked about thirty, gestured gracefully that it would be fine.
This time he got a lot closer.
“Very good! Now, this is always percussive away from you, the slow retrieval of energy is simply to prevent you from stripping the life force from a Human or other vulnerable being. Too great a blow will kill, yes, but so will taking energy back too fast. Their own energy will try to follow yours. It's good for Vampires though. You won't kill them either way, but take enough energy from them fast enough and they go dormant for a bit. It's harder though, and generally only works if they're touching you, or if you can ambush them, because otherwise their great speed makes targeting too difficult. You can see the down side there, at least if you want them to go to sleep. This technique is too slow to just try and shoot in the dark hoping to hit something that moves like they do.”
The old man had Zack work on it for the rest of the hour, watching him closely for fatigue. He cautioned him to maintain his qi balance and keep up with his energy work. Then Wu-Li sent him on his way.
