On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  He let her go then, asking her to be most careful with her new ability, at least until she learned how to control it. After all, if she cut off her own hand, she could heal it herself, but someone else's head would probably do them in all together. Kate noticed that he didn't mention her head, probably remembering what had happened with Zack a few months before, even though she doubted it would apply to her that way.

  Because he'd had her simply strip before, and she hadn't worked up a sweat she just changed there, in front of him. He smiled and bowed at her slightly, then left the room. She wondered if she'd embarrassed him? Probably not, all things considered. He was modest, but he'd been around for hundreds of years in this world, living his day to day life, working with sick people, at least some of whom had to be naked part of the time.

  After a few moments he came back with a stout looking package. It didn't smell very good, but he explained that part to her quickly enough.

  “Master Dan has opened a new apothecary in the Australian Central Nexus. One of the benefits of knowing all the Line-Walkers is, no doubt, that I can work a good deal in the price of deliveries, no?” He smiled as she took the package, since he'd known that she'd want to visit with Master Dan. She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the cheek.

  “Of course! I already owe both of you a lot for what you've taught me and besides, Dan's a cutie.” She winked at him and spun out of the store before he could admonish her for having kissed him.

  After having left the small shop it occurred to her that it had a node in the back, but having already left it would be a little embarrassing to go back inside, like she wasn't smart enough to remember that kind of thing. So she walked to Candles and More and let Lisa know where she was headed, not knowing how long the delivery would take her.

  "You can take anything you want for free, but remember that the going rate for this kind of delivery is about ten thousand gold per trip."

  The way she said it set Kate's teeth on edge, seeming more than a little bitchy for some reason. She looked closely at the Mage trying to figure it out, hoping it wasn't going to be a permanent thing. Instead of saying anything about it, she moved forward and gave Lisa a hug, holding tight until the other woman relaxed into it.

  “I know. Right now it gives me a chance to practice, which is a good thing, right? Plus Wu-Li and Dan are friends, and I owe them more than that already, just for the lessons they've given me.” This ended with a kiss, on the cheek, being they stood in their work place and most of their clients weren't as understanding about such displays as they could be.

  As she headed into the line, trying to remember where Australia was, even though Zack had shown them a few hours before while they practiced, she thought about the cost of these things. How many of them had to learn how to do this Line-Walking trick before the cost of each trip could come down to something reasonable? Sure, Zack kept busy at the current rates, but a lot of his business, even if he didn't realize it, tended to be with huge companies and governments, rather than individuals.

  All he knew about were the people that showed up to go places. He didn't realize how wealthy or connected most of them had to be just to get in to see him. Lisa turned down a hundred pleas from people a day, begging to go to one place or another at a reduced rate. A few got through, to keep Zack happy, but most, no matter how hard luck their case sounded, got shut down.

  That, she knew, was probably why Lisa let herself fall into addiction and dependency so easily in the first place. It was hard to tell people that clearly needed help no all the time. It wore on a person after a while. Kate knew this first hand, having done that part of the job more than once herself.

  On top of that, the woman held a lot of power in her own right. She'd dropped her and Jelly through the shield that the other girl had put up, just by pointing at her. Jelly had mentioned later how rare that kind of power was. Most Mages needed hours or days to get a spell set and ready and needed a focus for it, like the crystals they all seemed to carry. Lisa had just whipped an attack out and when it was blocked, changed what she was doing on the fly. Not a person you'd want to see get overly stressed out as a rule.

  In the Australian Central node she decided to walk from the Mage node, the one she'd been shown earlier, over to the apothecaries, since odds were about fifty-fifty that she'd go to the wrong place if she tried to get all fancy with it and show up in Master Dan's shop directly.

  Here, due to the remote location, there was a lot more variety of people. Reptiles and kinds of shape shifters she hadn't met at all yet moved in the open there. It would be cool just to covertly look at all the variety of individuals, she bet. As she walked from the back room the Mage at the desk looked up at her, alarmed for a second, grasping for something on a chain around his neck. She smiled and held up her hand, hoping this wouldn't turn into a fight or something, since the guy looked kind of cute. Yes, most people did to her, but that didn't mean this one wasn't.

  “Hi! I'm Kate, one of the new Line-Walkers that Hartley's been training?” She held out her hand, to shake, hoping it would be the right thing to do. She knew that a lot of beings in the Nexus opted to bow, but Mages tended to reflect the customs in the area they lived in, Lisa had told her once. Kate just hoped people in Australia shook hands.

  It seemed like an all right move, the man sticking his own hand out and giving his name as Tom. He didn't give his last name, but he did mention that he was the Ambassador for Australia Central. He had a ring on his finger, so she managed to keep herself from purring at him and coming on like a total slut. But she did like his accent.

  Trying to stay professional, she asked if he knew where the new apothecary might be, since she had a delivery for the Master. He told her, then got a slightly funny look on his face.

  “I was under the impression that that fellow, er, Dan? That he wasn't all that important. But if people are sending you lot to do simple deliveries...” He looked a bit impressed.

  Kaitlyn decided to play it up a bit, Dan being her friend and having taught her more about fighting in the last year than she'd picked up in the ten before, and that training had been solid. Better than most military personnel got, she knew. She let her eyes go wide, a serious look in them and nodded a little, trying to set the mood for her words.

  “He acts very humble at times, but he's very important! He's a personal friend of all the Line-Walkers and the teacher to two of us, so... definitely someone to invite to the local parties. If you can get him to come.”

  She headed out then, giving Tom a somber look that she followed up with a smile. Australia being so important, she'd be here again, she knew, so no reason to alienate the guy. Plus, even if married, maybe he still slept around? Most people did, with Alede at least. She wouldn't push it, but if he offered...

  It still took her a minute to find Dan's place, which had a different feel than Wu-Li's had, with everything being in glass jars rather than wooden drawers, the front counter being a flat slab of polished granite held up by brightly polished wooden supports. The floor had been done in some kind of red rock like tile that had to be a pain to sweep each day, but looked great, giving the room a warm and textured feel. She stood at the front counter, waiting, hearing Dan talking to a woman in the back. One with a strong local accent. From her tone she hadn't come just for herbal medicines.

  When they walked out the woman, a somewhat plain looking one by her standards, but still cute enough in that long faced kind of way that she'd seen on a lot of Australian and English women, kept touching Dan on the arm and chest. Thanking him profusely for all his help. The woman stopped, hesitating in mid-step when she saw Kate though, her eyes narrowing, as if suspicious of what she was there for.

  Not to ruin Dan's chances with her, just in case he turned out to be interested, she hefted the package and called out, “delivery!” allowing the woman to remember that she needed to finish the step she was taking or fall down seemed like the high road in this case.

  She kept a smile on her face
the whole time just in case the woman ended up being someone important. The fact that she was here at all meant something. That she wasn't a regular Human at least, even if Kate didn't know what she might turn out to be. She would have loved to ask, but didn't want to be rude or anything.

  After the woman left, Dan turned to her and smiled.

  “I didn't expect to see anyone familiar here for a while! Aren't you supposed to be in school?” He moved forward and gave her a small hug. The warmest he'd ever been with her physically. Oh, he'd touched her a lot. Mainly chokes and joint locks, some punches and kicks to demonstrate things to her, but a simple hug seemed out of place. He was probably lonely since he was new here still.

  She told him everything quickly, noticing that he seemed only mildly surprised when she told him that she could walk the lines on her own, murmuring “of course” under his breath. She cocked her head and asked him to explain why that would be, to her.

  “Oh, just something Wu-Li and I've been wondering for a while. It's been clear that Zack's been grooming you for something. He could have easily sent you back to school, your people's school, about a month after you came to him, but instead he subtly kept you around. Now that could have been due solely to your Alede nature. After all, that's a hard thing for a man to resist and your skills and control make you even more attractive to some. Most people probably, including Zack. But he's refused to take you on as one of his many... close female friends. Even calling you his daughter instead, if I have that information right?” He looked at her, not judging at all, just seeing if he had been told everything correctly. She just nodded and let him go on.

  “So he must have had some plan, even if he didn't know what it was consciously. Good. This way we can let the power base spread a little over time. Things have been a little too focused on Underwood for a while now.”

  Feeling daring she kissed him on the cheek as she passed him to use his node in the back and told him that the woman that had just been there liked him.

  “You can marry, right? She seems pretty nice to me. You should ask her out.” She didn't wait for a reply, and knowing that he wouldn't give her an external reaction anyway. She stepped into the node in the back and went home, back to Underwood.

  Since they were going to have dinner guests, Zack took Merri home early, so she could prepare everything to her satisfaction. She held a list of foods that Eloise liked particularly in her hand, carefully blocked out in English with Alfric writing underneath, so that she could find recipes if she needed them online. Kate grabbed Don and went with them, so that she could change Nicole and Rebeca back when they woke up. This way everyone could be fed first thing too, so that there wouldn't be a pack of hungry Vampires roaming around the house when the dignitaries got there.

  Kate winced at the idea, but smiled. She could just imagine David asking Eloise if she'd like to trade a good fucking for a few small sips of her blood. Now, if they wanted to do that, Kate had no problem with it, it would probably be healthy for both of them, but when you invite someone to dinner, the normal plan shouldn't be that the guests would be the main course. Still, she'd have to check with the older Mage leader and see if she wanted to have sex with anyone. After all, why have all those Alede around if they weren't going to earn their keep. At that she grinned wickedly, but didn't say anything about all this out loud.

  She just changed Nikki back, which was infinitely easier than turning her into Dwayne in the first place had been. When it came time for Rich to move back into being Rebeca, she put a hand on the small Asian man's shoulder and asked if she could try something new. It still amazed her that the man didn't flinch away from the contact. Hopefully Rebeca could learn from the experience and it would make her stronger. The mind could be funny that way, with new experiences and conditions helping remove old patterns.

  “I don't want to say what, because it may not work... But if it does work and you don't like it, we can change it back, no problem. So it's not risky or anything.”

  Rebeca in the shape of the small Asian man just told her that she should do it, whatever it was she needed to, and then steeled himself. As if for pain. Like Kate did things that didn't feel good to people? This change took longer, a lot longer than Nikki's had, with Don feeding her energy the whole time. After half an hour, Rebeca sat up and looked at them expectantly.

  Nikki ran to her, Human speed movements, so as to not spook her. Very slowly she put a hand up to the other Vampire's face and touched her gently. She'd moved slow enough that Rebeca didn't shy away from her.

  “Rebeca... the scars. At least the ones on your face, they're gone...” Rebeca moved so fast then that she knocked Don to the ground bodily trying to get to the mirror on the wall of the sitting room they were in. He made a little “woof” sound and sat up gingerly, half on the blue throw rug, half on the polished wood floor. He grinned at the Vampire's back and didn't say anything about it as he got up. He smiled though, happily.

  She touched her face, then pulled her shirt open, exposing her breasts to the room. Don looked for a second, then realized that kind of scrutiny may not be welcome later when the girl realized who all stood in the room with her, so he looked away. Kate didn't though, watching in fascination as the girl kept taking off more clothing, searching her flawless skin. A creamy white that didn't even have a mole left on it, for any hint of a scar or mark. She spun toward Kaitlyn so fast that it seemed like she might attack for a second.

  “They're gone? Everything?” She sounded... Happy.

  Nikki searched her body, even going so far as to have her bend over and spread her cheeks, to make sure no scarring got left hidden. Rebeca did this, nervously asking “anything?” over and over again. In the end, being told she was totally clear the Vampire jumped up and down, nearly hitting the ceiling in her excitement. Since the room had twenty foot high vaulted ceilings the moves seemed impressive to Kate, who knew that at her best she could jump about two feet straight up.

  It got loud enough that Merri came to see what had happened, which got Rebeca to calm down a lot, explaining about the scars that had covered her before and how Kate and Don had fixed them. Merri looked at her and had her spin in place, like a little girl playing dress up, scrutinizing her closely.

  The tiny red-head bowed to the Vampire.

  "You are without flaw, Rebeca. Not even a single hair out of place or line of age shows on your flesh. Those wounds from before have faded... No. That isn't right. To fade would mean there might be some mark left. These are truly without existence. As if they never were there. Not on you."

  Then, assured that no one would be murdered while she baked and cooked, she left to go back to her kitchen, smiling, but looking determined too, holding a wooden stirring spoon in her hand like a weapon.

  Don had turned away and actually covered his eyes during most of this, laughing, but asking Rebeca to please put some clothing on, so that he could look at the effects of what Kate had managed too, at least the public parts. The Vampire grinned and looked down at herself again, but did put her clothes back on. A pair of loose cotton pants and a button up the front shirt, that she'd had on for the transformation, so she wouldn't have to be nude for it. The clothes were loose enough to fit both her forms easily. Dwayne had just stripped, carrying a small pile of Nikki's clothes in with him for after.

  Rebeca then tackled Don and picked him up spinning him around for a turn. Setting him down carefully, she did the same with Kate.

  “Thank you both! You can't realize how big a burden those were, carrying the scars with me, knowing that those things that had hurt me had left me marked forever. I... I can't thank you enough...”

  They each got a hug then, including Nikki, who hugged the other Vampire back tightly, as if afraid the girl would bolt.

  Everyone had to change clothes for dinner quickly, as the whole thing had taken longer than Kate had planned. She went and put on a simple black dress, one that covered a lot of flesh, for her anyway, being strapless and body hugging, but opaq
ue and thick enough it would just barely show when her nipple got erect. It didn't look official, but she didn't intend to hide the fact that she was an Alede too. This fit the bill, she knew. Showing her pride in who she was as well as not directly offending anybody that might be coming to dinner.

  Eloise had her secretary call and let them know that they had gotten the number down to eight for dinner. Lisa heard this and snorted, turned to Jelly and rolled her eyes.

  “No one wants to run an embassy day to day, no that's too much like work, but give these people a chance to rub elbows with the rich and powerful and suddenly they all think they're indispensable.” Lisa wrinkled her nose comically and patted the girl on the shoulder, in a friendly manner, as if trying to set her at ease.

  Jelly hadn't brought any clothes fit for a state dinner and hadn't had a chance to go shopping, so Claire had given her some of Maria's to wear. Zack's girl self being nearly the same size as Jelly, except through the chest. Maria was bigger that way, but they found something, a nice dark red dress that worked well enough and while it showed some cleavage on the girl, it didn't look too slutty. At least Kate didn't think it did. Lisa kind of made a face, but she didn't say why. Which was good, because other than that, Jelly would be down to her work clothes for the event. Plus, the girl looked hot.

  Blinking, Kate realized that was what Lisa had responded to. Her new intern looked ready to get someone into bed, and being her boss and a halfway responsible person, that meant she could only attack her. Not sleep with her. The idea made Kate want to laugh, but it was a problem for Humans and Mages, as well as a dozen other races. They wanted sex, but had all those rules keeping them from having it.

  When Betty came in Kate didn't recognize her at first. The transformation wasn't just well done, but had happened in a way that she never would have imagined Betty going. Not on purpose. She wore a women's business suit that seemed drab and boring compared to anything that she'd ever seen the girl in before. Her shoes were sensible pumps and her legs had been covered in very boring tan pantyhose.