On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  “Hathe! God! I totally forgot... It's all my fault... Lesser Shia is perhaps the most important of our friends and I forgot to ask you... Please come. I'm so sorry... All I can do is beg forgiveness and claim being new as a reason. I'll take you myself... Please? Bring a friend or date or whoever you'd like. Well, remember that I am new so taking too many people would be hard, but a couple is what everyone else will be bringing, so that should be doable.”

  She didn't have to fake her mortification, since some sixty percent of their business went to Lesser Shia, not including the half days spent there doing business. And the translators. They should be represented too.

  She didn't know how to ask, so she just did and hoped that no one would be offended. Hathe, being half businessman, half diplomat himself, merely smiled and bowed to her, telling her that they would be ready within the hour, if that would serve? She impulsively hugged the man, hoping that wouldn't be too big of a breach of protocol for his people. He just smiled and bowed again.

  She got back to the candle shop, to find it empty. The rest of the Mall nearly deserted as well. Something Wonderful had left the door open, but no one worked inside. Instead of fighting with the rift, she called home to see if Zack could come get her and got hold of Troy, who answered the phone sounding incredibly professional.

  “Line-Walker National, how may I help you this evening?” He spoke smoothly, as if he'd been practicing the line. Which, considering Claire had probably got him to man the phones, he probably had. The woman held great store in practicing things like that.

  “Troy, I'm in Something Wonderful and need a pick up now to the house and to come back inside an hour. A bit of a snag...”

  He calmly asked for a moment and a young voice answered. After about thirty seconds a breathless Chris popped into being through the rift next to the node.

  “Hi! I think we're almost opposites Kate. I almost died getting out of the void earlier, but these short-cuts might as well be open doors to me!” He put out his hand carefully, to take hers and walked her through into the house. Where he turned and grinned up at her.

  “I should be able to do that feeding thing though, which Zack said might be pretty important too. He thinks I can do the line stuff too. That doing it once shows that I can do it, so I get to be a government big wig too! Tonight though, I have to play footman, because I promised Hawk. Eugene... I'd go by Hawk too.”

  His response to the centuries in the void seemed odd. Different from hers and Don's at least. He came out with a constant stream of chatter instead of being nearly silent. It made him seem more Human, rather than less, a good thing over all in her estimation. Tastier, for one thing. Who wanted a boring meal?

  Changing clothes quickly, a dark red dress that Claire assured her looked both stately and cute enough to get her laid, she headed back to the rift in the living room, so that she could go to Lesser Shia and pick up Hathe and whomever he chose to bring.

  She waved to Claire and explained that she'd need Chris. Claire snapped at her and said no rather firmly, they both froze, and then burst out laughing.

  “Claire, I need him to help me get Hathe and the representatives from Lesser Shia... We kind of forgot to invite them...”

  The Vampire gasped, her hand going to her mouth.

  “Right, take Chris if he'll go then. We need to fix this. I'll get with Merri and Britney, we'll make special arrangements for them.” She ran off, blurring as she left the room.

  She grabbed Chris, who stood talking to Don. Who... lectured him about disappearing for hours like that. The boy just agreed and asked forgiveness. It seems that Don hadn't been updated yet.

  “Sorry to end your fun Don, but I need to steal Chris here, he's going with me to Lesser Shia, we forgot to invite them! I can't believe we all forgot them, can you?” She took the boy by the hand and walked off with him. There, she hadn't given away too many clues, so the boy could keep having his fun for a while when they got back.

  Hathe looked shocked when another new line walker appeared behind her to pick them up. There were three of them. Hathe and two translators. Kate was ready to take them all back with her, one at a time, but Chris volunteered to take one. She went over how to do it quickly, holding her breath until he walked out of the node with the translator right behind her and Hathe. She had the other Translator within moments, then the boy offered his arm to each in turn and escorted them through the rift, acting very proper as if this was simply normal here. She realized he looked cute in his little footman's outfit, even if it did look like something that you'd see in an Italian renaissance painting. Complete with hose, half pants and a velvet jacket done in black with a bright red belt around his middle and little slippers instead of shoes.

  Hawk didn't say anything to him, but Chris apologized for being late, explaining he had to go on a special escort duty, since Claire had told him to. Kate kept her smile inside, since the Vampire boy seemed mollified by this answer and showed the other boy where he needed to stand and the procedures that Claire had told him to use.

  Kate wandered off then, figuring the boy's would either get it right or not, and her being there wouldn't help anything. In the large room she found about fifty people standing with drinks in hand. All of them were either important leaders or standing next to one. Looking around she found her own mother, standing next to Cerise the Alede leader.

  She made her way over, hoping that wouldn't be a breach of some sort. It was, at least in small part, her party, and Patty was her mother, which should give her a reason to walk over. Plus, she'd met Cerise before. True, she'd kind of had to tell the leader off at the time, but hopefully that would be forgotten by now.

  As she reached the group, her mother turned and gave her a hug and a kiss quickly, then stood with her arm around her, showing possession, or ownership.

  “This is my daughter, Kaitlyn.” She told the small group proudly.

  Cerise gave her a sweet smile and a small bow, without any sign of recognition. They made small talk for a minute or two when a pretty Alede standing near them spoke, her tone haughty and dismissive.

  “Mother... I didn't come to listen to you prattle at some diplomat's brat. If we can't talk to someone important can we at least find someone more interesting than this?” The beautiful, but suddenly unlikable black haired woman really had the whole derisive thing down well. That was hard for one of their kind, to tell the truth. It was almost admirable, in a strange way. It was clear that the girl had worked for a long time to make that happen.

  Kate couldn't tell how old the Alede was. She knew Cerise to be at least over a thousand, and she'd been in office for nearly the last fifty years, so the girl would be older than that at least. So, old enough to know better. At least in theory. The man with Cerise looked embarrassed and slowly moved away from the girl as if trying to distance himself. Her date stood with her, looking bored himself and as if he hadn't noticed what the woman next to him had just said.

  For her part Cerise froze in place looking like someone had just done something very unpleasant to her at an orgy, without permission. She held this in well though, behaving a lot better this time than the last time they'd met, when she'd tried to kidnap Zack using her feminine wiles. Not that Kate could blame her. Finding an individual that could feed you to full inside a few minutes was huge. It wouldn't shock her if the woman made another try for Zack tonight, now that she thought about it. Then again, that's probably half of the reason why Patty was sticking to her, to run interference if need be.

  She looked around in the awkward silence and saw two people that could potentially help them out. Reaching out she tapped the man on the shoulder gently and caught Eloise's eye over his shoulder. Each stood with a drink in hand, scoping out the room covertly. Kate only noticed it because they seemed a little like Alede as they did it, looking for people to have sex with. These two, she realized with a sudden grin, probably had less sexual ideas in mind with their searching. It was a bit of a shame, since there were so many good
choices there that night, if they wanted to get a little frisky.

  “I don't know if you'll remember me...” She began, Clyde, lit up and put his right hand out toward her.

  “Miss Swanson! Of course I remember you! And your lovely mother as well. Ambassador, so good to see you again.” He turned to address them both, using a hand to draw Eloise into the group smoothly and introduced her as well.

  Cerise gave Kaitlyn an approving glance and looked at her own daughter with a little frown. She turned her attention to Clyde then and made a point of including the Mage leader as well, even if she didn't seem as likely a bed partner.

  Patty took her by the arm and wheeled her away. They both spoke at once, softly enough that no one three feet away would be able to hear them, unless one of the Bats stood listening within ten feet.

  “That was well handled Kaitlyn...” Patty gave her a small squeeze.

  “Clyde knows who I am! Squee!”

  They both laughed a bit and moved back to the group. Don had been cornered by the Demon representative, but seemed to be being aided by Beatrice, who stood next to him as if half lover, half bodyguard. Zack was shaking Hathe's hand and apologizing again for the oversight, repeating what she'd said about how important they viewed Lesser Shia as friends several times in a row.

  The girl, woman, whatever she was seemed to be growing bored again and asked when the Line-Walkers would get there. Trying to be helpful Kate pointed out where Zack and Don stood, not too far away. The other woman took her date by the hand and made a bee line for Don, since he was the better looking of the two men. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed two blonde Alede, both looking like Britney, headed in the same direction.

  Good. Don would have back up.

  Cerise took a deep breath, causing her bosom to stick out nicely. Her nipples hardened under her sheer gown, her lips turned a slightly brighter red and her pupils dilated, all showing sexual interest in the people she spoke to. This response was Alede biology's way of saying, “Don't hit me!” pretty much placating people by offering sex.

  “I'm so sorry about my daughter. I shouldn't have brought her, but she swore she just wanted to come and meet everyone. As a race we can't afford to cause any problems with anyone, which by her age she should know... I'm almost afraid to let her go off by herself here. She'll start a war with the Line-Walkers or something...”

  Kate waived this off.

  “Don't worry, I'll run guard for her. What's her name though? I don't remember it being mentioned in school...” She held a smile frozen on her face, hoping the older Alede wouldn't take offense at her not knowing her family line back to the n'th generation. Some of the old ones could be strange at times.

  Cerise just thanked her and told her the woman's name.

  “London. Thank you dear... After her rudeness to you earlier, it's very kind of you to help like this.” Reaching out the Alede leader took her arm gently, making a point of rubbing it in a slightly suggestive fashion. The Succubus version of a clap on the back.

  Being careful not to sigh, Kate made her way over to the small group, where the Demons' representative stood looking like he really wanted to move on to something else now and Beatrice looked ready to pull a weapon. Her body language actually made Kate wonder if the Demoness had one on her. That was silly though. She was a Demon. Of course she did.

  Don stood bracketed by Britney and Blaine, who both used very obvious Alede signals of ownership, London stood in front of them, hip cocked and left hand out, palm down at waist level. This being roughly the equivalent of flipping the other two off and telling them that she outranked them. Kate watched the women for a second before doing anything, just in case she'd misunderstood the situation.

  “I can't imagine how you were trapped by these... people, but I'm sure that I can be far more entertaining than they can. I had the best schooling and I'm important. These Alede aren't worthy of you, you need someone with class and something approaching style.”

  Blaine stood, a lovely smile on her face, wearing a sequined silver dress that actually managed not to look tacky, at least on her, though Kate had no illusion that she could pull the look off herself. For that matter, she wasn't totally certain Britney, standing in a nice black dress, almost sheer in the right light, could have managed it either, for all that she looked like the same person. Blaine just had a different way of carrying herself that seamed stately and had ever since she'd gotten back from the void.

  For instance, Brit looked about ready to hit the girl at the moment, her weight shifting into position slowly, centering her weight, right hand moving back into position carefully. It looked almost like a natural set of movements, so smooth that Kate almost didn't notice it herself and she'd suspected that this would be happening.

  London kept talking while the girl across from her got ready to break her nose. Kate half felt like she should let her. Sighing, she stepped forward and looked at Cerise's daughter from close range, leaning over she whispered in her ear.

  “Your mother asked me to stop you from starting a war with the Line-Walkers, so I'll tell you that the Succubi you're insulting right now are the sixth and eighth highest ranking people in the new government structure. And the one in black is about ready to hit you, which you probably deserve, but would force your mother to sever ties with them, which would be bad all around. I suggest you apologize, or at least head back toward your mother and try to stay calm.”

  Stiffening London snorted, glared at Kate and walked away, calling her a bitch under her breath. Smiling Kate gave Britney a hug and told her not to deck Cerise's daughter if she could help it. Just for good measure she grabbed the other girl's ass as she backed up. Knowing it would reassure her. Dreading it she nodded to Don took a deep breath and headed back to her own mother, who stood next to Clyde and Eloise still.

  “Then that little bitch came over and claimed that those two are some kind of government officials for the walkers! Can you believe that? I should have her executed for being so stupid! It would have served her right if I'd slapped her right then and there. Threatening me as if I were some regular person or something.”

  Clyde smiled at her and Eloise raised her eyebrows, worried. Palms up she just shrugged and winked at the older Mage woman, mouthing “sorry” to her, hoping that she could read lips. Clyde saw it and shook his head slightly.

  Zack came over with Hathe and one of the translators in tow, the other actually mingling, probably meaning that that one was the actual ambassador for their people or the equivalent at least for the night. Patty saw them coming and motioned for Cerise to turn her attention to him, Kaitlyn gestured with her head to Clyde and Eloise a little less subtly, but still with a decent amount of decorum. London kept railing about how abused she had been.

  Patty put a hand out to Zack, hugged him and kissed him on the lips, showing ownership for this group, but didn't claim true ownership. She bowed carefully to Hathe and the Translator in turn, not certain who they were. Kate knew since her mom used the hand gesture for it asking assistance with them, so she didn't misstep if anyone else knew.

  “Cerise this is Mr. Zachary Hartley, the first Line-Walker. His friends...” She paused, hoping someone would step in here, no one else did, so Kate continued for her smoothly, gesturing with her whole palm.

  “This gentleman is Hathe, Administrator of Lesser Shia whose true title is so complex and different that we can't actually understand it in English. Next to him is one of the legendary translators of Lesser Shia.” She bowed to both in turn, a low bow to show respect. Everyone in the group picked up on this, except for London. Though luckily her date did, and took a step forward in front of her, bowing so low and with a flowery motion that Hathe missed the fact that London had failed to bow at all. She doubted Hathe would have cared even if he had. The man was nice, but driven by a keen business sense as well. He'd never let a mere personal slight, real or perceived, get in the way of work.

  Hathe spoke through the translator, but so smoothly and
kindly that the whole group quickly warmed to him. He looked down as he told them about how his own unimportant position had almost kept him from the night's event, but thanks to the Alede Line-Walker he was able to come.

  Zack broke in there, “Not your unimportance at all. My own oversight. I forgot to notice one of the most important people, because you were always there. You're virtually like family to us Hathe.”

  Patty nodded, telling the man how highly Zack had spoken of him in the past.

  Looking around at Patty, Cerise signaled her with a covert gesture, so subtle it would have looked like nothing more than a twitch of two fingers to anyone that didn't know the meaning. Given the context it meant that Cerise wanted to meet with the Alede Line-Walker, if possible. The same move could also be construed as wanting to have sex with her, or possibly Hathe, but probably not.

  Hathe bowed to Zack, then Kate, “You're both so self-effacing and generous, seeking to put a humble servant like me at ease, when you could simply have left me at home this night, missing this opportunity! And to think, you didn't just send one, but two of the new walkers to get us!”

  Zack turned the talks to trade then, which Clyde and Hathe picked up instantly, catching the thread without blinking. Eloise and Cerise added their own voices soon. Claire caught her eye and covertly waved her over, so she made an excuse and left the group, feeling a sense of relief, since London had stopped talking for a bit, seeming actually interested in what the leaders were saying.

  Catching her arm with a smile, Claire swung her around gently and walked her out of the room.

  “Luthor would like to meet you, but asked me to request this of you. He doesn't want to seem pushy, I believe. It would look best if you went over with Troy. Is that all right with you?” It seemed like a strange question, but Kate shrugged and told her she'd find Troy and do it right away. Claire kissed her, a warmer kiss than normal, both in duration and skin temperature. The Vampire dimpled at her and said, “Hot Tub”.