by P. S. Power
“You could have told me you were the Alede Line-Walker! I made a fool out of myself...” Spinning on her heel she tried to storm out.
“It doesn't take a lot of information to figure out that being polite to strangers is a good idea. You never know who they really are, no matter what they seem to be at the moment.” She waited for an outburst, but the haughty woman just kept walking instead.
Cerise started to apologize for any insult and got a hug instead, followed by a friendly parting kiss. She groped her enough to keep things friendly and got a bit of a grope back.
“Don't worry about it. She'll be fine, and I'm too old to bother holding grudges over words. I have been for, oh, months now...”
Cerise bowed then and told her she'd be in touch soon.
It took about an hour to get all the leaders back where they belonged, even with four of them working. When they got back Claire declared the whole night a huge success. Everyone thought she was kidding until she explained her reasoning.
“Everyone was nice and polite, until a lethal threat came, then we pulled together and repelled it. Even though it was clear that no other power in the room could, one of our people, killed all of the attackers. I admit, the man that aided us was an anomaly. A person we should find if we can. I'll look, but such things don't make us look bad, just very fortunate. Almost as strong a position as simply being that good. No one left here thinking we were weak or to be easily attacked. I can't think of a better outcome, can you?”
Kate could, most of them ending up involving drinking punch and eating pie, but some involved cookies. None of her top ten involved killing a bunch of unknown attackers. Probably an oversight on her part. If it had to be done, better to win with no casualties than to have dozens dead. Especially given the people that had been there. She brought that up.
“So, was this about starting a world war for some reason? If so why? Who does that serve?”
It took everyone but Claire and Hilda a second to see her line of reasoning, that killing all those leaders would make them all look guilty, but would also make everyone else look potentially guilty too. Anyone that disliked another group would use it as an excuse to go to war, or at least could, which was nearly as bad.
They had nothing to go on, just large, strange looking beings dead on their floor, so they cleaned up instead. For all the fighting, there was very little real damage, most of what there was involved cuts taken out of the floor and one wall. A single table had been broken apart, by Hilda looking for a weapon, but that could be replaced almost instantly.
All they had to do was an after party clean up like they expected they'd have to anyway.
The real fall out didn't come until the next day.
Every leader sent an emissary to talk to them. Some looking for business deals, most just hoping to solidify friendly relations. Several wished for them to broker meetings with Lesser Shia, since they had the easiest line of communication and transportation there and back, and most of them wanted to avoid dealing with Demons. Questions came in about who attacked, but no one had any information to offer and no one knew for certain who specifically was being targeted or if it had been meant as terrorism. Several groups requested contact information for the man in gray, but they had to beg off on that one, not having a clue themselves. Most of the people accepted that, but all seemed to think they were just hoarding him for themselves.
Kate didn't really get a chance to relax for the rest of the week, or even have sex with anyone, but she remembered that she wasn't really on vacation, there only because the school had been closed due to those murders. On the day before they were going to go back, she called an impromptu meeting with everyone. Jelly seemed surprised that she was asked to come too.
“I'm not really, you know, important or anything. Should I even be here at all?” She asked that in the first moments of the meeting. She'd been sat between Libby and Maryl for some reason, so found herself buried in Bat women and being smothered by kisses from Libby until she started to giggle, sounding a little desperate.
Chris looked at her and waved from across the table at her from where he sat by Don, with Hilda on the other side of him, since, as the large woman had announced to the room earlier, Chris didn't reek of sex like so many of the others in the room did. Kate saw how the boy looked then. Embarrassed and uncomfortable, so she added loudly that Hilda could probably have sat by her as well, which made Blaine and Britney look a little sad when they realized what that meant. Chris looked happier though. What with the shared misery and all, Kate thought. He pointed to her and them himself, raising his hand to his mouth and ear making a telephone out of it and whispered “call me?” which got a laugh from the rest of the room.
Both Val and Merri leaned forward and told him that they were free that night, which made Don sputter for about five minutes. Kate knew that Merri at least, didn't actually have sex in mind, but rather playing a copy of Enigma Eight which Troy had gotten for her in early release on the black market. From what she understood, it involved a shady vendor in Lesser Shia that didn't understand copyright laws... or that time was anything other than fluid. So the copy was a finished version, which wouldn't even be completed for about six months yet.
She didn't say anything, since Don would get mad at her for hooking Chris up with the older looking Alede. It was a muddy area in her mind, since the boy was, true, emotionally and physically just a boy, but he'd also lived longer, if in the void, than either Don or she had. So, what were the rules here? If he'd been Alede, Chris would have gotten laid by half the people in the room that night. If he was just a Human boy, well, honestly, he'd probably have sneaked out with at least one of the Alede or maybe a Vampire, by now.
She looked at the boy carefully, and noticed how perceptions were ruling their thoughts on this subject, and how cultures could clash easily here. Scanning the table, she considered what everyone would have thought about the idea of Chris having some close friends.
The Alede would all be for it and probably wondered why Don was being such a jerk, keeping his brother from something so fun and important. Hilda, being a Trolleinkein, would consider the boy fair game and probably have said yes if he'd asked her to have sex with him, including being willing to have sex in front of the rest of the room. The Vampires worked differently, the assumption being that you could do anything you liked unless someone else stopped you. If they couldn't stop you or didn't want to, then they didn't have a say in your life. Claire kept it hidden from Zack pretty well, but that included forcing other people to have sex, or even enslaving them for most groups of her kind.
Don as his brother, saw only his little brother. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that his younger brother was nearly a thousand years older than he was in a very real way, having lived through millennium in what seemed a single day to people in the outside world. Even though he'd done it himself, if not for as long, it just didn't mesh with his real world experience of the boy.
Troy wouldn't keep the guy from getting some, but he didn't feel invested in him either. The Mages? Well, oddly enough all the Mages she'd met had seemed a little more shy about sex than Humans did. They'd come out of their shell after a while, if you worked with them on it long enough, but until then they were almost prudish.
So where did that leave Chris? She worked things through in her head and finally nodded, having come up with something.
“Is Chris going to be feeding any Alede after Don and I go back to school?” She looked at Zack, who looked around the table, seeing everyone's inner reactions.
After a while he nodded.
“It hasn't been planned, but it's almost certainly going to come up, so I think we have to figure on yes. He won't let them go hungry and few of the Alede will be willing to hold back once they learn he can pass energy to them...”
Don flushed and started to sputter, “But he's only fourteen! I mean, sure all that time in the void, but that doesn't make him more mature out here, does it? He's still a kid!�
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Claire looked around and simply overruled Don after a few more minutes of this.
“Donald, short of locking the boy up, I don't think we can prevent him from having sex, even under threat of death to anyone caught doing it. Which, all things considered, would be a bit harsh. Plus, given his personal talents, I'm not certain we could keep him locked up for long anyway. I think the prudent course of action is to simply condition our own minds to the inevitable and not worry about the matter. Perhaps we should send him to Patty first, for instruction?” Her voice held a finality that took Don aback. He didn't give up easily though.
Zack raised a single hand and spoke to Don directly.
“I won't claim it isn't more... adult than I would like for him at this stage in life myself, but sexual instruction isn't just getting to have sex for the Alede. It's actual book learning. I think, if Patty is willing, we should see about arranging it for him. Speaking of lessons, he should also go to school, or at least have tutors or something...”
Chris looked up and smiled, “Hey, I always liked school. It was one of the only things I was good at. I know, you all think I'm going to stomp my feet and claim that I already know everything, but I hardly know about anything. I only vaguely know what most of your races are and have no clue at all about the cultures, how the financial system works or anything like that. So, what if I, I don't know, kind of apprenticed to Zack a few days per week and had classes the rest of the time?”
Sitting down the table a bit, between Keane, Claire's second in command and Betty, Merri leaned forward.
“I could... I could see that tutors were arranged for the boy. As wife of the house, that's my responsibility, after all...” Her voice seemed so little compared to everyone else's, Kate knew that speaking up in a room with this many men was still hard for her, kind of like walking into a cage of lions with meat strapped to her back in the amount of bravery it took. That she felt strongly enough to speak meant a lot. What exactly, Kate didn't know, but it seemed important to the Alfric woman.
“I second that. Merri knows enough to get the right kind of tutors and isn't too shy to get other's input if needed. I say we leave it to her.” Kate winked at the small woman who smiled and settled back in her chair, making her nearly invisible between the two large Vampires.
Zack nodded and agreed, so did Claire and Hilda.
Libby popped forward, and told them that she had some ideas as to what should be done too. Everyone chuckled, except for Zack who just agreed that she should get with Merri on the topic. Don looked daggers at everyone, but kept his mouth closed. He stared for a while at Kate, as if he blamed her for the whole thing. She ignored him for the time being.
“The real reason I called everyone here is that, on the campus where five of us are going to school there have been two murders. I'd like input as to what, if anything, we can or should do about this. Anyone?”
The first thing mentioned, by Hawk of all people, even though Claire gave him a look that clearly said she was not amused about him taking the floor, was protection for their people.
“I guess I'm saying that everyone there can protect themselves, but Mr. Karver and Miss Stone both need to sleep at night and having back-up never hurts. Since Vampires can be fed there, a couple should be there to provide night security. Some extra daytime security wouldn't hurt either, if anyone could pass as a college student.” He turned and looked at each of the five going back to school.
“I'm not saying you're not all tough or anything. Far from it, but it really is just one of those things where having someone else around could really help. I mean, Britney told me about that attack on Blaine and how he could have easily taken those guys, if he'd seen them coming. Sorry, I'll be quiet now.”
Claire smiled at him, a look that didn't seem genuine, but also didn't speak of months of punishment coming either. She looked around the table and finally seemed to come to some conclusion.
“That is well reasoned Eugene. Fine. You will go and watch them during the night hours. Nikki, as third in command I'd like you to oversee this on site, so you'll have command of Eugene until the end of term. I'd send Keane, but he wouldn't blend well there as a student and we have no time to establish a more extensive cover. Something will have to be done to make Eugene look older, but only a small bit I think. As to the day...”
Her gaze scraped along everyone there stopping finally on Libby.
“Out of us all, only you have the needed appearance of youth and the ability to be there without neglecting other duties too much. Charli is more than capable of running Something Wonderful in your absence.”
Charli perked up at that, “I am? Cool. So, do I get to be the Ambassador too? Something Wonderful is the new embassy, right?”
Libby snorted and stuck her tongue out at the girl, “Assistant Ambassador. Just because I'm gone for a while doesn't mean I get cut out of all the good things.”
A quick vote, taking less than a minute on four issues, established Libby as Ambassador, Charli her second, The gift basket shop and embassy proper, and Rebeca the Vampire as the night embassy person, since they needed to be open as much as possible. There was some debate, but Chris insisted that she should be third in command there, getting a title and all, if she was going to do the work.
“If we start cutting people out based on some small difference, like being a Vampire or a Human, where does it stop? You have to be a full Line-Walker to have bathroom privileges?” Chris got a laugh with the line, but everyone nodded too, as if it made sense.
Then they voted to put Willet to work finding out who the killers were and left it at that for the night. The nice thing about calling a meeting at the house, Kate saw, was the ability to assign people tasks in their absence. It would be his first real job as head of the intelligence branch, so he should be able to deal with it.
On the way out Don tried to give her the silent treatment, but she kept groping him until he had to ask her to either stop that or do something about the results. She opted for the latter, pushing him into the computer room and locking the door. When they were finished he told her that he wasn't at all happy about the situation with Chris.
“Look, I know he's not a little kid, but he didn't grow up in your culture either. Normal Human kids don't start having sex with tens and fourteens before they're adults. He hasn't even been around long enough to learn to be grateful when someone wants to have sex with him. I don't want to see him turn into some kind of little narcissus thinking that just because some of the women around here are willing to do him, he's all that wonderful, you know? I don't want him to turn into that Alede woman we met last night... Paris?”
Kate shuddered dramatically, “London. Point taken though. I'll... I think we have to get with Merri on that and see what she says. I guess it may be a valid point, but I don't see how the two things relate myself. But, if you do, well, he is your brother. We'll make it work somehow. Maybe we could just talk to him about it?”
They kissed for a while and held each other, finally Kate stood back from him, turning a little sideways, her sneaker rubbing against the dark shag carpet at her feet.
“Do you really feel grateful when I have sex with you?” She asked, being a bit coy on purpose.
He shrugged and raised his eyebrows while tilting his head, a very comedic action that made her laugh.
“Hell yeah! Heck I feel grateful when Jelly gives me a hug. I don't even really believe that you or Britney sleep with me at all. I'm pretty sure the realistic images I have about that must be a sign of severe mental illness. Though... And I can't prove this for certain, but I'm almost certain that Blaine pretended to be Britney last night and switched clothes with her, so I'd have sex with her.”
They moved together and kissed in parting, Kate groping him and him grabbing her behind back in turn, finally picking up on some Alede culture, Kate hoped. Given everything he'd need to get up to speed as soon as possible.
They parted there, Kate going to find Merri and Don to
go finish packing so they could leave first thing in the morning.
The next day had hours of early room moving, but Chris helped her, so they were able to get everything moved pretty fast. Blaine had Don's help, since they shared a room. Blaine had turned back during the night, so he was a boy in the morning, which didn't stop him from grabbing Don's behind in front of Chris who laughed at it uproariously.
Blaine raised an eyebrow and asked if he was a homophobe, saying it with a small half smile but the boy just shook his head and recounted what his dad had been saying about him before the whole beating incident.
“Right now, I'd totally make out with you in front of my dad just to piss him off. It still bugs me that no one has found him yet. I mean, how did he do that? He wouldn't even know to run from Vampires and Trolleinkein, right? Hilda said she thought he must have gotten on a plane immediately, flying being about the only way to get rid of his scent trail like that. I don't know, it seems weird to me.”
They didn't have any way of doing more about it at the moment, so Kate and Britney moved in and gave the kid a hug together. Britney asked Chris to help her get her things to her room before her roommate Karen got there.
“If we make it in time I'll... well, Don would get all mad at me if I slept with you or even gave you a handjob, which is kind of mean of him, but... I've got to change and I'll let you watch if you want?” She said this just as they stepped through the rift Zack had made for them into her dorm room from her room in the house, making Don sputter.
Kate grinned, and told him that it was one of the good things about dating an Alede. He didn't have to worry about Brit cheating on him. Cause really, no need to dwell on something that was going to happen anyway, right? It wasn't cheating if you knew about it. She took his arm and led him away to finish his and Blaine's transfer of things.
