Mr. Hartley (Alternate Places Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  Lisa came back with his pay packet and a twenty. Yesterday had been Friday? He thought that might be right.

  “All right, come with me then! Lisa will want her coffee quick, but we can do a tour first.” He headed out the door and pointed to where Claire stood behind her counter, talking to someone, who apparently wanted a frozen yogurt. “That's the Frozen YoGurt. I don't know why the sign has the spelling that way. The Vampires run that shop... You do know that each place here is basically a hidden embassy, right? Everyone has to pass as Human, so the number of shops is kind of small right now. Some are trying to expand though.”

  They walked on.

  “The pretty Vampire in the widow is Claire by the way. She can be up and around in the daytime and go out in sunlight. So she gets the day shift. The yogurt is really good there, I recommend trying it. The knife and sword shop is next. I don't know them yet. I should go in and introduce myself soon. It never hurts to make friends, right? Down that little hallway that looks like it should hold a pet store in any reasonable mall? Fine menswear. Run by Demons. Avoid them if you can. Over here is the Apothecary, Taoist masters Wu-Li and Dan. Great guys – and people you can go to if you need help with anything. Even control issues if I'm not around. I'm not claiming they won't knock you out, or drug you, but it will hurt a lot less than if Hilda does it for you. We'll try to avoid that though. If it comes up, I expect you to do it though. Go and have them K.O. you, I mean. I probably can't sell everyone on the idea that this is working otherwise.”

  The young looking girl just nodded and looked at the apothecary for a while, remembering its location, Zack saw.

  As they neared the food court he pointed to the Fun Zone across the way. “You may be able to pick up an extra shift or two there. It's run by tricksters, so don't count on being paid in money, but they're good people. In general though, just go along with whatever onerous task they ask of you and life will be a lot easier for you than if you resist. They seem to try and spread things out, so they probably won't pester you every day. They will test you though, if you don't step up and do everything you can to earn that control you need. I think it's part of their nature, so don't give them a reason to.”

  They walked past the food court, since they'd get the coffee there on the way back, he told her. Only to be stopped by Merri and called over.

  “And this beauty is Merri, who you met last night. Kind of. You remember Kaitlyn of course?” Moving in a bit he kissed her gently on the cheek.

  “Yes, of course. Good to see you. Do you think you could take a boxed lunch to Birk at the Gym. He called over, but we've no delivery person available...” She looked directly at Kaitlyn for this request.

  “Uhm, sure? I can probably find it.”

  “Indeed you can, since it's the next stop on our tour anyway. We'll be right back, oh, here! Payday was yesterday I think. I don't know what day it is...” Zack handed Merri the envelope. Kaitlyn looked at this in surprise, having seen that it contained a lot of cash earlier. Lisa insisting that Zack count it out to check her work.

  Birk thanked them.

  Without pause Zack turned to the girl, not even letting her respond.

  "That reminds me. Don't thank any of the Alfric for anything. They hate it to the point of violence."

  Hilda ran up and grabbed him like she hadn't seen him in a month, which got her a big hug back. Then she grabbed Kaitlyn the same way. The girl melted in her arms and asked her if she wanted to have sex.

  He knew that Trolleinkein age rules were different than Human, centering on about the age thirteen or so. Alede weren't fully Human, or under Human law, and their rules were based on ability to control yourself, more than anything, past an age that Zack still couldn't separate from child abuse. Different beings though, with much different needs. Shaking his head a little, he tried to avoid that topic.

  “Wait a few days and ask again. Hilda's people have a keen sense of smell, and different relationship rules. You had sex last night, so give it a few.”

  Hilda nodded and put the girl down.

  Kaitlyn smiled warmly.

  “Really? That's more hope and attention than that prison gave me in the six months I was there. You people are so cool.”

  Princess Pretty Nail was next, which got a full explanation. It also caused Kate to look at her nails and sigh dramatically.

  On the way back they got coffee from the Italian place and he waved to Merri again. It was important to let her know she was loved too.

  Then he pointed out the import store, run by Djinn, and Beautiful Plus run by her own people.

  “Who is Candles and More run by then?”

  “Oh, Mages, which is why the guy with the gun came in there instead of someplace else. He didn't feel he got a good deal from the council, since he's a regular Human, not a Mage like his wife – his ex-wife I mean.”

  Finally putting two and two together she got excited. “Wait, the Mage place here at Underwood? That's where they have all the new Nexus travel stuff! And Hartley! Even locked up I heard about him. There were stories about how he's like this rock star, with all these women, and can do things even demons can't in the lines! Will we see him, or is he like, all reclusive and secret? Is he really hot? Or you know, all old and stuff? Where's the nexus point anyway, I didn't see it...”

  He explained how the nexus nodes were in the back of the stores here, but how it differed by location, places that didn't have Humans coming and going being more open, but sometimes more boring at the same time. The shops added color to the places that had them, he told her.

  “What about Hartley, what's he like, is he cool or scary, or just normal?” He didn't want to spoil it for her, she seemed so excited to meet this 'Hartley' guy, but he didn't want to make a fool of her either.

  “Well, did anyone ever mention him having a first name?” He hinted broadly.

  She nodded, thinking for a while, frowned then said “Nick?”

  Zack screwed his face up, pretending to be hurt.

  “Sigh, oh giant, sigh...”

  Her head snapped up suddenly, “Zack! Zack Hartley, Oh wait, that can't be right, you're Zack.”

  Libby walked out of her store and yelled loudly, “He's Hartley, Kaitlyn. Zack, stop teasing her!”

  He put an arm around her and kept walking when she froze, pulling her along.

  That's when he noticed the white wrapped bundle laying on the floor, looking vaguely body shaped. As he neared it, he caught a whiff of death rising from the white linen sheet.

  "Hey, Kate? You might want to stand back a bit. I need to look at this. It will probably smell."

  Opening the fabric a little bit, he found a body that he recognized. The woman, once a man, he'd last seen in his basement weeks before.

  Speaking in a normal tone, he tried to remain calm.

  “Claire, can you hear me? It seems we have a body on the floor out here, the old friend we met at the club with Charli that one time? If you could help me, I think we may want to move her, as soon as possible.”

  Claire arrived before he finished the word possible.

  Kaitlyn looked at him, “You're Hartley?” She asked, her voice awestruck.

  “Kaitlyn, focus...” He snapped his fingers in the air a little as if trying to get her attention. “Dead body. It's our job to move it before it becomes a nuisance. Claire, do you need help?” She shook her head, looked around and disappeared with the body.

  Following the path of her Shadow, something he would have missed two weeks ago, he tracked her to her own shop, the body in the back. His Vampire already had shovels out.

  It tells you something that they keep shovels on hand like this, he considered for a moment. Then just went with it. After all, they needed them right now, so it obviously could come up around here.

  “I think I have just the place. Kaitlyn, are you up for some travel to distant lands?” He asked the busty girl, who, succubus or not, happened to be dressed better for burying a body than either of the people standing
with her were at the moment.

  They moved fast, to a remote Nexus in a place, that as far as he could tell, had no inhabitants. It had looked to him like the Pinchot National Forest at first, with thick old growth pine mainly and sparse underbrush. He'd thought he might have found another Nexus in his own area, until he'd noticed the small, golden yellow, second moon in the sky.

  At any rate, it certainly wasn't the same police district or jurisdiction, and the soft loamy ground made for easy digging. He and Kate dug the first half of the hole, about four feet deep, and Claire finished it off in about a tenth of the time, jumping easily down into the bottom and sending dirt flying for about twenty minutes.

  While they waited, he told the younger woman about how this body had come to be, just so she wouldn't worry that this kind of thing happened often around them.

  “Wow. So, anybody messes with your team and you guys really back your own, huh?” Instead of being scared, she seemed amazed and a bit envious.

  Claire, hearing her perfectly called out “That should be; if anyone messes with our team, we back our own. Don't you think? After all, once you start helping to bury the bodies, you're pretty much a part of the group in most societies.”

  When she finished a few minutes later, the Vampire hopped out of the pit and smoothed her skirt. As she dumped the body into the hole, she spoke to them calmly.

  “In the Human world, people are buried six feet deep. This causes almost everyone, including the police and law enforcement, to fixate on that depth. If you can bury a body deeper than that, odds are it will never be found, except by excavation for building foundations. It's worth the extra work, as some... underlings of mine are going to learn later today.”

  They all helped push the dirt in, which didn't take that long, considering the amount that they had taken out of the grave. Claire bowed her head for a moment, in silent prayer. What she prayed for, he didn't know or ask. That kind of thing should remain private, so he carefully didn't listen in.

  They scattered leaves over the mound and went back home, to the back of Claire's shop, which she'd left empty for a while.

  They all hugged quickly and went back to their normal routine. Claire telling him not to wait up for her that night, as some young Vampires were going to be getting an unpleasant surprise with their evening meal.

  “What we just did...” The young lady said when they got back to the shop. “I... don't know...”

  He put an arm around her, knowing that it would comfort her, even though he didn't put any feeling or emotion behind it.

  “So, if lesson one required you to focus intently on what you're doing at the moment, lesson two is about letting go of things you're not doing right now, at will.” He thought about the best way to handle this and decided that he'd try the easy way first for once.

  He compelled her to not think about anything but what she happened to be doing at the moment, leaving enough leeway to move from task to task and follow lists, even self-generated ones. Then he also had her focus on how she kept from thinking about things, commanding her to memorize it so that she could easily use the technique at will later. Zack also told her to smile a lot. It just made her seem friendlier.

  It took a little refinement, as she kept wanting to start doing things that wouldn't be allowable in a public place, but after a few minutes they managed to work out a system where she wouldn't think about sex for a while, unless told to.

  “How do you feel right now?” he inquired, trying to check his work.

  “Hungry. Dirty... as in covered with dirt. That's about all, really...”

  Zack took her to Lisa's office and quickly explained the situation and what he wanted to do. Being that he didn't even have to be here, she reminded him, and given bodies showing up like that, it sounded like a good plan to her.

  It turned out to be easier than he thought. He took Kaitlyn to her mom, for feeding and care. Patty had her take a shower, then everyone, including Val, came in and touched her stomach briefly, passing waves of energy into her. The girl sat quietly while this happened, focused intently on the energy flow pattern and how it felt, but didn't respond like Alede did when being fed, normally.

  Patty remarked on it, concerned.

  Zack explained. “She's practicing staying focused on the moment, on each thing that she's doing. Hopefully, in this way, she'll be able to learn to control... pretty much everything about her mind, eventually. I'm trying to speed the process up, so fingers crossed!” Patty smiled when he actually crossed his fingers, finding the whole thing cute apparently.

  Norris however seemed impressed with the control the girl showed.

  “If she can do this on her own, we'll be able to justify our decision later. Right now we're on borrowed time though. The only reason that she hasn't been taken in is that Patty is very well liked in certain circles, and you got involved. No one wants you to cut them off is what it really comes down to. We told them what you said about taking the girl, and leaving if they tried to kill her. That got their attention.” He clapped Zack on the shoulder.

  Libby came over with some clothes, for both of them it turned out, from The Chasm. Patty took him to the shower, working hard not to join him, being that feeding someone else took a lot of personal energy, then went to order some food from the food court for them all. Zack left the girl with her mother, telling her he'd be back in a while.

  After eating quickly, he ran, almost literally, to several stores, picking up the supplies for the window display. Making three trips to the Candle shop by the end because the fake Christmas tree, pre-flocked, which he learned meant it had white stuff on it, came in a box that while light, turned out to be a little awkward to handle while trying to carry the bags as well.

  As usual, even though he basically appeared and disappeared into thin air, no one so much as raised an eyebrow at him, except when he almost walked into an older lady who jumped suddenly. Zack apologized to her, saying he should have been paying more attention to where he walked. She just patted his arm and said, “That's okay, these things happen,” and went on her way.

  From her Shadow presence he could tell she was just happy someone had talked to her, which it seemed didn't happen often in her life.

  When he made the final trip into the store, he noticed that Claire too had changed, apparently into some clothing that Nikki had around. The mini-skirt, thigh-high white stockings, and white blouse with black vest over it looked a little bit more 'naughty schoolgirl' than her usual style. Still, it worked for her. It was probably her rail-thin model looks that did it.

  Speaking in a hushed tone he told her she looked hot, from across the walkway. She dimpled and shushed him, placing a finger in front of her mouth, not looking at him.

  A small mountain of supplies at hand, he picked up his new charge from her mother, who kissed him a little more sexually than needed, and returned to work. The whole thing was hard to coordinate, trying to keep Kaitlyn in mind all the time, but so far he was managing.

  The display went up fast with two people, and in about an hour and a half each part had come together to make a very nice, high quality display.

  “Good job, Kaitlyn. You seem to really have an eye for this kind of thing. We'll make use of that with the interior displays tomorrow.” Pausing for a beat, he looked at her, trying not to seem mean or scary. "How do you feel? I want a real assessment, if you can."

  The girl took a deep breath, and arched her back a bit, but didn't move toward him. Not even after showing interest in her.

  "I'm a little hungry. Just for food. Other than that, fine. I'm... Not really doing the whole mental mastery thing too well though. I am trying, I promise." That admission caused her to seem frightened.

  "Good. You can't fix it if you don't know it's a problem."

  Then he took her over to Claire's for a treat.

  As the Vampire worked, Kaitlyn watched her closely, but without lust, just interest. That and some hunger. It seemed that even though he didn't see them eat a
lot, most of the people that were different consumed a lot of food due to the energy drains of their natures. When he thought about it, it seemed that something similar might be happening with him too, explaining why he ate so much without gaining weight.

  They ate the yogurts at a table, the girl focusing very intently on each bite. On how it tasted and felt, then how she placed the spoon for the next mouthful. The creamy white of the whipped cream and vanilla frozen yogurt disappeared fast. Claire brought her another.

  While Kaitlyn ate, Zack walked over to the counter to talk to... His wife. It was still hard to think of her that way, but he loved her and there was a paper that claimed that somewhere, wasn't there?

  “I take it that almost everyone knows what happened today? About the guest we had?” He tried to make it sound casual, just in case someone didn't know or something and wasn't supposed to. Too many people around here had super hearing, in Zack's opinion.

  “Yes, we can speak freely, I think. They know and everyone's worried. It's clear that we're being harassed now. All of us, not just some. What no one can figure out is, why? Yes, you're here, but you could work anywhere. Killing you might serve the Demons, but they swear that you haven't harmed their business at all and in fact may have increased it.” She held up a hand at his questioning look.

  “It's what they keep saying. Even if it's them, killing you makes sense, but just making life harder for us here doesn't, the most that would do is cause this Mall to close while we figured out how to save the Nexus for use. Brainstorming session tomorrow night, in the food court at midnight. We're closing the Mall down until morning. Everyone's coming. It's mandatory in fact. The only people that don't have to come are the ones from Princess Pretty Nail. We need to protect them from all of this, if we can.”

  She looked over his shoulder at Kaitlyn, who had stood up, bussed the table, and appeared to be waiting for him to go. He kissed Claire on the cheek and said goodbye. It would be really nice if they could get some time alone some day. Even if it was just to chat about things. Other than death and destruction or the emergency of the week.