On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  He turned to Kate, “Zack's friend, the Big Shadow? Totally razzed me about that for like, a hundred years. It really likes you though. Oh! I'm supposed to remind you to go and visit it soon. It asked for you specifically.”

  Britney hugged Don again hard and didn't let go for a while, then suddenly pushed him away and turned to Kate.

  “Wait! So, Zack is Hartley? The real one? Not just someone with the same name? And... and everyone else is like some big important person here then? Hilda is the Helga the Trolleinkein? Claire is Clara the Vampire Ambassador and Keeber is...” She tapered off, since Keeber had, to her knowledge never been mentioned in any of the Hartley stories she'd heard, not even the slash fic.

  Keeber chuckled, “I'm the guy that stands in the back and only comes out when needed.” He didn't sound upset about being in that place. Pleased in fact.

  Britney went on, “Then, the others we met, Merri, who I think I may be in love with by the way, since she's saving me from eating that dining hall food, is Merri the Elf?”

  Don broke in then, “Right, but don't call her an Elf. They like Alfric. Or in her case, maybe cutie as long as you weren't in public. She's pretty great, I agree.”

  “And that girl that was here, the one that you like Don, Libby, she's like, the Libby Paterson? Val is Valerie Renner?”

  They all laughed at her reaction to this, though Kate wondered for a moment about the state of Alede education that had a pretty minor Alede functionary, Val, and an infamous criminal, Libby, being well known to the girl, but the Vampire Ambassador and even Zack's first name left out of things totally. Sure, cultural bias and all, and the thing with Libby had been huge, so big that her family still had trouble finding work or getting people to sell them things like food or clothes. Even the bats that hadn't been involved in the betrayal of Zack at all were having some pretty tough times over it. Demons and Vampires had been behind that, with an evil Arch-Demon pulling the strings... Kate would bet money that tid-bit hadn't been covered in the Alede's schooling either.

  Britney glared at everyone, except Keeber, who she winked at when her gaze crossed his, kind of ruining the rest of the effect, and put her hands on her hips.

  “Now, why were you all lying to me and Blaine about this then?” She asked crossly.

  Biting his lips Don turned away suddenly, not really trying to hide his reaction, but trying not to laugh in the girl's face either. Britney looked ready to hit him, but jumped him instead, pushing him back onto Blaine's bed and sitting on his chest.

  “Tell me... Tell me now or I'll...” She looked around and couldn't come up with a good non-threatening thing to say which could still work as a threat.

  Kate shrugged and threw her an idea.

  “You'll change into a boy and kiss him? That could be off putting, since you look exactly like Blaine when you do that.” She turned to look at the Human, “I mean exactly, Don. It's kind of eerie.”

  Covering his head with his arms as if warding off blows, he squirmed under her a little bit, enough that she got a scared look on her face and started trying to form a denial, glaring at Kate while she did.

  “I can't...” She started, then noticed that her friend was laughing and not really trying to get away, just pretending to and working his hips up so that she was sitting on his stomach now, not his chest.

  “I'll talk, I'll talk!” He cried out, mock fear and trepidation in his voice.

  Giggling he explained how Blaine had actually figured out large portions of things about a week before, even before that perhaps, based on what Kate had told them. When Don had come back from the void, he'd realized something must have happened, being attentive that way. So Don explained, since Blaine had been afraid his subdued reactions had something to do with finding out about the Alede, not knowing that people could even survive in the void at all, other than maybe the Line Walker.

  Kate moved to the girl, scooting a little closer, to normal Alede conversational distance. Six inches away.

  “Look, don't blame Zack too much will you? You, well, we all love you Brit, but you are a bit of a Hartley fangirl spaz. Plus, half of what you think you know is totally wrong.” Kate took her hand and settled in next to her as she sat on top of Don, leaning her head against her back.

  “We weren't trying to make fun of you, just give Zack a little space while we could. Now, if you want to turn Zack into a friend all you have to do is treat him like anyone else. The more you think of him as just some guy you know, the better he'll like you... Which, well, that would be easier, because I think you and Blaine and I are going to have to step up now. In a really big way. Because if I get what this all means, a lot more people are going to be coming here to see Don, and if he reacts anything like Zack has, he's going to need sex about as often as you did yesterday. You and Blaine won't even need him to feed you except every couple of days, normally. But a lot of Alede are going to want him now, and if he can do Vampires too, like Zack can, then we'll need to protect him from more than chaffing. Maybe come up with a payment schedule or something, so that a lot of people are invested in his well being...”

  She shrugged again and kissed her friend on the cheek, then leaned over and kissed the boy beneath her as well. She ran her hand lightly down Britney's back and then her behind. She stroked down Don's stomach, making him jump a little and ended at his groin, which was, of course, hard. Kate couldn't tell if this was the first effects of him sharing all that energy with the Alede or just having two hot girls so close. Either way she stopped there, since it was making Keeber uneasy. Hilda just grinned and kept her attention to the outside, in case an attack came.

  “Anyway, that means that Zack is going to be around a lot, too. So you can't go all 'I heart Hartley' on him. Got it? He's just a guy with some cool abilities and nice friends, most of whom think you're pretty cool so far, too.” Kate knew she couldn't really get through to the girl over it, but she hoped she'd made a dent somewhere, because locking her out of the room when Zack came for the next three or four months would be a pain.

  Britney leaned back and caught her weight with her right hand gracefully, stretching back in a way that both felt good and displayed her chest to the man she sat on top of. As she sat up, her right hand pulled gently over Don's groin, a catlike grin coming over her face. She moved off of him then and let him sit up.

  “Hey, you didn't freak out when Kate mentioned the whole turning into a boy thing... You know that's not a joke, right?” She said this casually, ready to turn it into teasing or maybe distract him with sex if she needed to, her pupils dilating visibly as Kate watched. The color of blue that made up her irises fading, ready to hit the boy with a wall of sex if she had to in order to keep him.

  Nudging the other girl with her shoulder Kate, caught her eye and flashed her eyebrows forward in a signal that meant, 'watch this' in Alede body language. It was a move that no other race could mimic, her eyebrows literally moving forward about a half inch. Not scrunched, but forward. Super speed? Super strength? Nope, but she could do something the others couldn't none the less.

  “Oh, I don't think he has that big a problem with it. He watched me change into Kyle after all and didn't freak out...” She patted him on the leg then, causing him to jump, just a little. “Then he gave him a hand job. I think the fact that you basically turn into Blaine may give him grief for a bit, but the whole gender shifting thing? I think he's good with that.”

  Britney hugged him and squealed happily, but he turned beet red and ducked his head into his chest.

  “Guuuyyss! Man... Now Keeber's gonna think I'm gaaaay!” He laughed when he said it though, causing everyone else to chuckle.

  Keeber's voice rumbled across the room, “Bears are all pretty straight, but I lived with Libby for nearly two years. To a bat fidelity means sharing a bed with someone at least three nights a week. If they even consider that some people are male and others female when it comes to sex, it only has to do with what positions they pick. I'm not going to think less of y
ou if you do some guy, especially if he also can look like that. In our world though, things like that really just can't be that important to you, because too many people have ways that are different from what anyone else thinks is normal.” He waved in a general way toward all the women in the room, including Hilda.

  They chatted for a while, until about seven in the evening, when something strange happened. A thick, ropey blue line came into the room and settled in front of them. She knew it was Zack and that he wanted them to meet in her room if possible.

  Don jumped up and then froze. Kate stood and started getting her coat, mentioning casually that Zack wanted them to go to her room and that it didn't seem like an emergency.

  Don seconded this.

  “Yeah, he said that he wants to move Troy's bed into Kate's room? I don't know if I got that right. Something about Nikki being in trouble?” He shrugged, looking a lot like Zack then.

  Kate grinned, putting everything together, at least big parts of it.

  “Right, we should go then. You know Don, you got a lot more information out of that than I did. I mainly just got that he wants to meet us there.” Linking arms with him they walked a short ways, until Britney walked up and took his other arm. After a few seconds Hilda turned around and told them to stop that, since if an attack came, holding on to another person would be about the worst thing they could be doing, especially with all the ice and snow around outside.

  “If anything happens, be ready to run. I can't tell you where to run you have to guess on your own when things are happening, but run in different directions, so they don't get all of you as easily. Keeber and I will handle the fighting for now, if we go down, then Kate will protect you. After that, well, I don't know how well you fight, but I suggest Britney start having sex with everything in sight and Don try to get in touch with the others so that we can call in a kill team. Now, none of that will probably happen, but it's best to have a plan.” This came out sounding like cheery conversation, instead of dire prediction, but no one laughed or even chuckled. Keeber just grunted in agreement.

  They got to the room with no problems though Kate did slip on the ice once, barely staying upright. The paths were kept very clear by the staff on campus, but occasionally a little patch got missed. Given the miles of walkways that needed daily cleaning, most of it a gray-white concrete which matched the snow and ice beautifully she still thought they did a pretty good job at the school, all things considered. Don had grabbed her arm, letting her get her balance, but let go as soon as that occurred, which got him a happy nod from the large woman in front of them.

  If they were attacked, he'd be ready that way, after all.

  When they got to her room, they found Blaine sitting in a chair and Claire, Zack and Troy moving her bed out of the room. Hilda traded places with Troy quickly, so that he could meet the others, and everyone touching the bed slowly walked toward the rift and vanished suddenly. Britney gasped, but everyone else had seen the basic trick before and managed to act more blasé.

  Don just sat next to his injured friend and asked how he was doing. Because an injured friend was far more important and impactful than a disappearing bed. Obviously.

  “Fine, oh, those guys are out now, but they agreed that it was just Britney in a hoody once they thought about it and saw some pictures. They were very apologetic and even agreed to let me beat them up if we dropped the charges. I told them I'd let it go if they let me blow them instead, since, even though it hadn't been me in the bar, I still thought they were kind of cute. You should have seen the look on their faces when the lead detective told them that, while not something the police could mandate legally, it would sure beat them doing the blowing in prison... I let them know I was kidding pretty quick. I just wanted to see if they'd get all mad at me again for it. They were pretty cool once they realized it was a joke. Their bruises are almost as bad as mine, except that one guy that Jelly took care of. Remind me to thank her again and oh, I don't know, sleep with her, or pimp you guys out to her, whatever she wants... Though really, it's the guy she took down that should thank her, the other two looked like crap.”

  Tilting her head in thought, Kate finally nodded. They did need to do something nice for Jelly. Maybe sex. Maybe something else. A gift basket? She mentioned the idea to them and everyone thought it sounded nice. Maybe she could get with Lisa and find out if there was anything a young Mage away at college would like that they wouldn't think of. Crystals or something. Mages liked crystals, right? After that, well, she'd worked with and around them for over a year and still didn't have a clue how magic actually worked, though she'd seen some of them do some pretty cool things.

  A few minutes later Nikki and Rebeca came through with Zack, carrying the king sized bed that Troy used. Once the bed got put in place, Hilda got pulled back through into the room as well.

  Looking around the room for a moment, Zack seemed to be listening to things that no one else heard, staring at first one person, then another, then back again.

  “Just call into Something Wonderful and order it. I think we can cover that out of petty cash. I'll bring it through in the morning, or the day after if we need to find other things for it or get something from Lesser Shia.” His hand waving behind him he indicated the two women that were finishing arranging the bed and changing the sheets together.

  “This is Nikki, Nicole Bartlet, and Rebeca Smith. They'll be staying with you for a few days if all goes well, sorry to just dump them on you, but it's kind of an emergency. It may be longer than just that if things go poorly though. First, Don, if you'd feed them? I don't believe either has eaten today...”

  Don stepped forward and so did Nikki, who looked at the boy, surprised, but happy enough. She took him by the shoulders and bent forward to bite him on the neck, licking it gently first, leaving a slick patch which she started to bite. Don's eyes going wide when he realized what was about to happen. Zack stopped her and asked if she'd lift her shirt up instead, which really got her attention. She did it without saying anything, but looked suspicious as if expecting a joke.

  A few seconds later, her face going blank, it looked to Kate like she realized it hadn't been a joke after all. About four minutes later she stepped back.

  Then she apologized to Don.

  “I didn't realize... Um, Sir? Sorry for any insult there, I...” Don chuckled and gave her a hug, which surprised her again. She pressed against him and he didn't move back like Zack always did.

  Finally, when Rebeca cleared her throat, she did pull back and cede the position to the other Vampire, who opened her shirt demurely, just enough for Don to touch her stomach. After about the same amount of time she moved back as well.

  Zack had moved next to Kate, who found herself holding his hand when she looked down. She hadn't realized she taken it at all, which felt really strange to her, but she didn't let go.

  “Good. I wasn't sure if he could do it or not, since that ability could have been a side effect of my link with Claire. It seems that it's really just an energy thing. Good. That means that Wu-Li and Dan should be able to do it in a pinch, too. I don't think they will though, since they're both a bit different from us and pretty much stay celibate to try and keep their internal energy high. Passing it out daily might be too much for them. For now it's you and me, Donald.” He walked over and clapped the boy on the shoulder, signaling to Hilda and Keeber.

  “Kate, you're in charge. Claire's orders. There doesn't seem a need to saddle you with body guards yet. The attack today was just a stupid mistake, based on poor decisions made due to poor information... Nikki will explain why these two are here. Britney... Claire asked me to remind you that your mistake ended up costing the world economy somewhere around one hundred million gold today alone. Since I will come to your rescue if you do it again, she asks that you merely call her instead, before making rash moves.” He pulled out a card. “This has contact information for Lisa Penbroke. I suggest you actually call her if you feel the need. She's less likely to bite
your head off. Claire needs to remember that it's in my contract that I can take time off whenever I want. World economies? I think it's good for them to have small disruptions every now and again. Other people want to come visit, so I'll bring them by later, in a few days, but don't let us get in the way of your studies. You especially Kaitlyn. But you three as well. If I'm footing the bill for your educations I expect you all to work at least reasonably hard.” He shook his fist playfully at them, taking Kate aback a bit.

  In all the time she'd known him, Zack had made what, three jokes? Two of those were knock-knock and on one he messed up the punch line on so badly that she'd laughed at his delivery more than the joke. Orange indeed.

  With that he took Keeber and then Hilda through the rift, leaving the six of them alone, it freed up space in the room, which was only ten by twelve. Nikki and Rebeca kept standing, not knowing what to do. Kate looked at them and walked over slowly, taking Nikki in her arms and holding her for a while. The Vampire hugged her back, finally tucking her head on to the girl's shoulder and relaxing. Then Kate moved over to Rebeca and repeated the process, surprised when the Vampire, normally a little stand-offish, returned the embrace fully, even touching the length of her cool body to the other girls.

  Kate turned to the room, remembering that not everyone would know everything she did yet. She motioned for the two Vampire women to take a seat, Nikki taking the bed and Rebeca settling next to Blaine. She looked at his cracked lips, cut and bruised face and leaned in to him, sniffing slightly as she did so.

  “OK, this may sound a little funny, but... Do you... want me to lick your wounds for you?” She said this softly, almost as if embarrassed to be making the offer. Blaine tried to smile, then winced and started to shake his head, thinking it might be a Vampire in joke, or a way to get free blood... Not that Alede blood did anything for Vampires. Kate thought about it for a second and suggested he reconsider.