On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  So most Alede were taught to not do it. To not commit to a long term relationship at all, except in some very rare situations where two Alede got together. They being the only other people that would really understand why they did what they did. For Britney things would be even harder, in this situation at least, because if the relationship failed, she couldn't fix it by switching schools or something like that, since Blaine would still be there, unless he left, too.

  If Don knew about everything, he might be able to handle casual sex with Britney, which would be about the best that they could really do, other than being friends. But they couldn't just tell him. For one thing, he probably wouldn't just accept the information, it would be a pretty hard sell to anyone raised in the normal world. Plus, that kind of information had to be hidden from regular people.

  The reasons for hiding the truth were clear and solid, they'd all learned them in school, between maths and French kissing. The Humans, the regular Humans that all the other races mocked slightly when they weren't around, had to be kept in the dark about what actually existed in the world. Because every time they learned otherwise, horrible things had happened. Five times in the history of the greater world, everything, every person, every being, every land, had nearly been destroyed. Not just wars or famines or natural events, but total and absolute, nothing left at all, destruction.

  In each case, Humans were behind it.

  Humanity held incredible powers within them, magics and physical strengths certainly, but those were all things that a lot of other races could match or even beat, some of them hands down. No the greatest power of Humanity was their creativity. Their ability to make things up and recombine things into new patterns. Over and over again. They rapidly figured out how to take small bits of power, or even other beings' work, effort or abilities and magnify it, turning things that should have been safe into deadly forces that could and had, shaken the firmament of reality itself.

  A lot of races had fine arts and skills, powers that boggled her mind to think about at times, even, but Humans... The other races had gone as far as trying to destroy them all once, over ten thousand years before. That ended when everyone realized that the Humans were planning to take everyone with them when they went. So now, a much as possible, they couldn't know what was really around them.

  As nice and sweet as some of them were, they were also dangerous.

  So all the other groups worked to keep the Humans in the dark as much as possible. In her life Kate had only known a small handful of regular people that were told anything at all about the greater world around them. Charli, who worked at one of the most important embassies anywhere, pretty much by chance, she knew about things. Troy knew and actually did things in the world that she didn't think most of their family would be aware of. For one thing, he kept going places with the Demon Beatrice, though the woman swore to her that Troy hadn't made any deals with her at all and was in fact working with her at her behest, so if anything would be owed, it would come from the Demon. Kate had told her that it had better stay that way. Not that she could personally back up a threat like that against a Demon, but she promised that she'd find out how to do it if Beatrice forced her hand by harming her friend in any way.

  Beatrice had simply promised her that she wouldn't cause or allow Troy to come to harm if she could stop it by any means. Kate didn't understand it, but the Demon had actually seemed a bit scared when she said that. Maybe because she thought that Kate would sic Zack on her? He was one of a small handful of beings that could really destroy a Demon for good. Most of the time, if you killed one, you just destroyed their host body and they'd just go and get another one.

  Barbara, who was a friend of her old boss Lisa, ran a bakery with her girlfriend Beth, who was a Mage, she knew some things.

  That was really about it. Well and Zack who both lived in the greater world and was Human, but he kind of showed why the rules were in place, right? Sure, he'd turned out to be one of the greatest forces for good in the world, but what were the odds of that happening twice? The amount of power within him, even bits of his power, in the wrong hands, could turn the world on its ear.

  So, this left poor Britney kind of stuck for now. She loved Don, but couldn't be with him, because that would almost certainly end poorly and possibly damage him in the process. If she were a worse person, she could have had sex with him anyway, possibly hoping that Don would be one of the rare people that could handle that kind of situation. A person without ego that simply didn't take anything personally. Kate didn't know him that well yet, but he didn't seem to be that kind of person at all. Not a bad guy by any means, and obviously worthy of kindness and love, but without ego? If that were the case he wouldn't have felt bad about Britney not sleeping with him, too.

  Really the whole thing seemed just a tiny bit tragic. Luckily they were young and would probably get over the whole matter in a few decades. Unless they stayed friends, then who knew how long the whole mess might last?

  “Don't worry, I won't steal him forever. Just long enough for you two to figure something out, whatever that is, all right?” Kate hugged the other girl again, only vaguely noticing that Blaine had been calling out to them.

  “Good job! Good match both of you. Decent aggression out of you for once Brit, way to go. Let's keep that up now and by having you kick my butt, right?” They started almost instantly, Britney rushing her brother and performing a slightly weak, but technically correct double leg take down, that caused both of them to end up laying on the floor in a tangle of limbs, struggling for position. The whole thing looked pretty dirty when two hot people of the opposite sex practiced ground grappling. Actually, it looked pretty dirty no matter who did it, which Kate suspected was part of why it worked. Most people in a fight wanted to avoid as much bodily contact as possible. Someone laying on top of them doing things that could be misconstrued as highly sexual probably disturbed a lot of people that wanted to think of themselves as manly.

  She went to stand next to Don and noticed that yoga girl was at it again, this time clearly oriented toward them, flexing and stretching, even looking at them for a bit, when she sat up between movements. Kaitlyn softly asked him if he knew their watcher at all, since she seemed pretty interested in him.

  “Ah, no. I mean I've seen her here, but I always just figured she was here to watch Blaine or Britney, or, you know, actually work out. That happens right? This is a gym and she looks to be pretty dedicated and all.” He stared at her for a minute. “I mean, doing that kind of stuff, she certainly has no problems getting a date."

  Kate agreed, "Here, step away from me, to the left, like you want to see the match between Blaine and Britney better."

  The woman's eyes and orientation followed Don as he moved then held her position as she kept working through poses. It could have been something else, some other kind of interest, but she clearly checked out his behind, which, Kaitlyn agreed, did seem pretty nice.

  Interesting, but not something she intended to do anything about. If they were meant to be together, then one of them or the other would eventually have to make a move. She wasn't going to listen to Brit confess her love for the man and turn around to coach him in hooking up with someone else in the same ten minute time span. Especially since she hadn't gotten any sex for herself out of the situation yet. Now if the whole thing lingered on too long, she may just do that, getting those two together, but she hoped not. After all, that would be Britney's job if all went well.

  Blaine walked her back to her room, not because she wouldn't be safe on her own, just because men were almost always safer from being attacked than women. At least in random attacks. Guys got attacked a lot more when the situation was planned she knew, having been a guy herself more than once. Really good looking guys attracted attention from other men that felt insecure about their own sexuality, which often led to hostility. He hugged her at the door, but didn't suggest he come in. Seeing what lay in the center of her room, she called him back almost instantly thou
gh, before the door had even finished closing, he pushed it back open, looking ready to fight.

  “Presents! I mentioned to my friends how much you loved the juice the other day and they sent some for you and Britney. Don too, it looks like. Also some food, not just drinks, since Merri knows how hungry we all probably are, having to make do on school food.”

  Blaine smiled and pulled out his cell phone, telling Kate that this was so nice of them, tears actually coming into his eyes at the kindness. Plus, he didn't think he could easily carry it all the way across campus without dropping anything. He'd call so the others could come carry things too.

  “Britney said she'll be over in a bit, but I can't reach Don. Probably nothing, since he doesn't turn his phone on hardly at all. His parents are a little strapped for cash, so he tries to keep his expenses down, which means the phone doesn't come out until his plan's free hours. He explained it to me, but I really don't understand it all, except that he's trying to save money, which I can get behind, myself.” He looked worried then as if he'd told some dark secret of his friend, but she just shrugged. College kids were supposed to be cash poor. Kind of a rule. That she wasn't stood out more than anything else about her so far, even her looks got less attention, at least as long as she dressed down a lot and used make-up to slightly mess up her skin tone.

  Hugging her again and asking her to thank Merri for all the stuff, he took his package, carefully marked with his name in both English and Alfric, though he didn't comment on that last part, and headed out, leaving her to work on her paper again. She almost had it done by the time Britney came by a few hours later.

  “Ohhh! Things! Some of that expensive juice and food. You're so cool! Are we actually trading Don for this stuff?” She joked, using it as an excuse to bring the boy up, being alone now.

  “Nope, didn't even mention that as a possibility. Merri's Alfric, so you know, don't thank her for this stuff, even if you meet her in person. Just tell her how you appreciated the thought, or enjoyed using the things. It can be hard to do, but you'd insult her less if you told her to eat shit and fuck herself with a broom handle, and no, I don't know why. The Alfric won't talk about it. We need to make sure that Blaine knows that too, I don't know if it got covered in your school? It didn't at mine...”

  As the girl often did, she went wide eyed at this information.

  “You know real Alfric, like, personally? No wonder you know so much about Hartley, knowing Vampires and Alfric and stuff. I've never met anyone except Humans and the Alede at school. Not that I know of at least, I mean, I probably wouldn't know a Were unless I saw them change or they told me and Mages basically look Human, right? So I could have seen some and just not known it. But you've actually seen some of these kinds of things and even know some? Awesome.”

  Kaitlyn shrugged and tried not to wince at the others girl's use of the word things to describe her friends. “Well, you know, they're just people once you get past the surface stuff, like everyone else. Except for the Trolleinkein, but not for the reasons you'd think. They smell fine, and are all fastidiously clean, by the way. They have to be, because their sense of smell is incredible. But, well, they think we, the Alede, kind of stink. We smell like sex to them, all the time. Probably the pheromones that come off of us all, but anyway, in their culture someone that smells like sex gets left pretty much alone by everyone else for a few days, because messing with them could start a fight. I mean they work with them and things like that, but they don't get cuddly with them when they smell like that. Which would be fine, except that we don't just smell like we've been having sex, we apparently reek of it. So to them, we always seem hyper aggressive and like we're directly challenging them to a fight if we do so much as offer to shake hands with them.

  “And trust me, you do not want to fight with one. I saw one once literally pull a Were's head off and crush the skull like a beer can after. Now, it was an evil Were that really deserved it, but still, not a group to mess with, best to be as polite to them as possible, keep your energy locked up as tight as you can around them and stand downwind.”

  The other girl sat down then, "Really, who else have you met? I mean, what kind of people?" She settled on the bed, but actually seemed interested in the topic.

  “Well, I know a lot of Weres, a few Demons, some Djinn, a couple Tricksters, some Alfric, bunches of Mages, a lot of Trolleinkein who are all really nice considering everything by the way and at least one Kovalding. I've seen and talked to more kinds of people than that, but those are the ones I'd call friends. Lots of Alede and Humans too of course, but I didn't think you meant them.”

  Britney looked at her suspiciously then, as if wondering if the other girl lied to her just to impress her, but then looked around the room and rethought that, giving her a considering look instead.

  “How did you meet all those people?”

  Kaitlyn explained that her mother worked at one of the Nexus locations and had gotten her a job as a part time clerk at one of the storefront locations. It wasn't really embassy work for the most part, though she did allow that from time to time she'd fielded calls from some important people and things like that. Mainly sitting there and being yelled at by them until she could transfer the call to her boss.

  “It sounds cool and all until you understand that about three quarters of people that think they're important really want you to believe it and instead of letting their name carry weight with you, they try to make you notice them as important. On the good side it means that you really notice the polite ones that much more.”

  Britney bounced in place happily, asking question after question, since Kate suddenly seemed a lot more interesting than she had before, at least that was Kate's guess as to her sudden interest.

  “Who's the nicest famous person you ever met?”

  “Well, outside of personal friends and family members that have to be nice to me you mean?” The other girl nodded as if that only made sense. “Well, I think that's probably a tie between Clyde, the North American leader for the Weres, and Eloise Penbroke the world Leader for the Mages. Eloise always remembers my name and insists that I just call her Eloise. Which is really nice of her considering I'm really just a store clerk, or was at the time. Clyde's nice, and also kind of hot. Before you ask, no I haven't slept with him. It's always been an emergency when we've crossed paths. I doubt he knows who I am personally, but still, always really soft spoken and polite, even when everyone else around him is melting down.”

  Britney dug into her box of bottled juices and pulled one out, unscrewing the cap she took a sip and shuddered in pleasure a tiny bit when it hit her tongue. Then she took another sip, repeating the reaction.

  “This stuff is so good Kate. Your friend Merri should make this professionally. Sell it for three bucks a bottle and people would still buy it faster than she could make it, I bet.” Another sip.

  “OK, who's the most famous person you've slept with? Is it Hartley? Tell me it is and I'll fuck you right here, just to touch something that touched him!”

  Kate laughed and pushed the other girl away, as she playfully tried to climb into her lap. After a minute of this, Britney started to chant “Tell me” under her breath.

  “Seriously? OK, but you can't tell anyone, all right? Not even Blaine. If you don't promise, I won't tell you. There's an actual reason for this, or there might be at least, so...” She looked at the girl, knowing that from what she already said that she could put everything together and hoping that the girl would prove trustworthy.

  “I promise! If I tell a soul, without your direct permission or dire need, life and death need, you can take my eyes out every day for a month. I know you can do it and you know I'll heal from it, but still... Ow, right?” She looked at her friend, big cornflower blue eyes locked on her own deeper blue.

  “OK... The most famous person I've ever had sex with is... Libby Paterson.” She looked at the other girl, watching things come together in her head.

  “Wait, I know that name... Is
n't that the bat girl that betrayed Hartley? Seriously? You really did her? Cool! Before or after that whole thing?”

  “Both, but mainly after, only once before, but don't tell Zack. I technically wasn't supposed to be having sex with anyone back then. It was kind of a thing at the time. I was having energy control problems... She's a bit of a nympho though, thankfully, and lured me into it. I guess all bats are kind of like that? A bit like us in regards to sex, I mean. Which given what we are, you have to know wasn't all that hard to do. I should invite her over here for a visit soon. Maybe the weekend after next? I'd say this weekend, but I've got that date with Don, unless, I mean, do you want me to break it? I know how much he means to you, but I'm actually looking forward to the movies and having sex with him after. I haven't gotten any in weeks...”

  This led to a discussion about Zack coming to deliver energy to her every few days, which led to the next inevitable question.

  “Who's Zack?”

  “Zack Hartley. Remember last night when I kicked you all out because Hartley was coming? Surprise... He actually was. That's when I told him about how you all loved the things Merri had made for me before, he told her and she had him deliver the things for all of you today. So if you really want to have sex with something Hartley touched, everything in that box probably counts. More, he even touched it knowing it was for you...”

  It seemed clear that the girl thought she was lying to her now. But she played along for a time anyway, finally she broke, laughing out loud.

  “Nah... Good try though! You had me right up to the point where Hartley's your personal errand boy. Too bad, I would have happily done myself with this bottle later, thinking Hartley had touched it and had a full hour of bliss over the idea. Still, it's a good line and your delivery is really flawless. You should consider writing some time, you know there really is a whole bunch of Hartley fan fiction out there. You can find it online. You should be especially interested in the “slash” fiction. My favorite is the one some guy wrote putting himself in as a Vampire character. Look up Hartley/David on Google. Talk about steamy! I'd almost be willing to do this David guy just for writing it.”