Other Places 1: Shortcuts

by P. S. Power

  Lisa suddenly seemed unhappy about it all, her right hand taking her left elbow and holding it. It made her seem either cold, or very young and scared. She walked with them anyway, Zack locking the door as they left. If nothing else he could give the man the herbs and stuff that Master Yang had provided. The door to the herb shop was still unlocked, and both Wu-Li and the other man were standing behind the counter, not seeming to do anything at all, just waiting. It was freaky.

  "Ah! You have the root already? Most amazing." Holding out his right hand he waited for the brown sack to be handed to him and then took out all the packages inside it, then made a very happy sound that didn't really fit with the man. He normally had more of a calm air about him.

  "Yang has come through for us! He added two of the ingredients we will need to aid your friend against her condition, Lisa. They are very rare. I added in some things just in case he had access to them. This will decrease the amount of travel needed greatly. Very well. Dan here has agreed to stay with Lisa for her ordeal. I will, of course, also be looking in on her. This may take some time. I.. cannot recommend you visiting her, Mr. Hartley. Not for some days. When this is done she will need rest for a while as well. Can that be arranged? I am most anxious to see to the other cure, since timing is crucial in that case. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to make work. It may already be too late, but dithering will only add to the problem."

  Zack smiled, not knowing how to make everything happen at all, but then he shrugged.

  "Yes. I can see to all that other stuff, no problem." At first he wondered if he'd grown the ability to lie, but it wasn't that. He just had to ask some people for help, that was all. Scary, needing others, but it would work out. Or not, in that case he'd just go a few days without sleep or something.

  The Master made little hand motions to get him and Barb to leave, and she headed to the right, when they got out of the herb shop.

  Barb carried the large box easily by the rope handle on the top. She gestured with the other hand.

  "Down this way. Last place on the right."

  It turned out to be a power lifting gym. Because all malls had to have one of those. A decently busy one as well, almost as if the place were trying to give the lie to his somewhat snarky thoughts about it. The girl that he'd seen before was working at the front desk, eating something that seemed like noodles with sauce. She looked embarrassed when she finally looked up, and wiped her mouth delicately with a paper napkin. It was completely out of place to his mind, but it felt right for her.

  "Sorry, I missed dinner. How may I help you?" She spoke better English than he did, Zack decided, even if it did seem not to fit perfectly. Barb had warned him that they were smart though. She probably spoke a dozen languages or something too.

  "Delivery for Hildegard? From her Great Aunt Sigrid?" Pointing to the box he pretty quickly figured out that this young lady was the one in question. That or she was stealing Hildegard's present, snatching the large box a little abruptly and calling something out in a strange language that sounded like German, but wasn't.

  It got them surrounded by half a dozen very large men and three giant women almost instantly. One of them ran back to the man he was spotting for though and picked the weight up for him easily, then slapped the man on the shoulder with a deep chuckle and moved back to see what was in the box.

  It was some nice stuff, but they made sounds that seemed to indicate it was very special indeed.

  One of the big women, who had enough muscle to put an ox to shame and easily intimidate a lowland gorilla, explained it all to him, seeing his expression. That or she just liked to explain things.

  "Sigrid is... A great one, for our people. It is an honor that she has remembered Hildegard at all. For her to go to such great lengths to deliver these is... there is no word for it in your language. The closest I can come is a special honor. The things are handmade as well. It is very good. It means she is, possibly, marking Hildegard as a great one as well." She started watching the unpacking far more closely then, making appreciative sounds.

  Barb smiled a little and took his hand, leading him out carefully so as to not disturb the event.

  "So, plans for the night?" She hadn't let go of his hand, her own cool one in his.

  "Not really. I need to get to bed soon, if I can. In the morning I have to find some way to keep the store open and also get out with Wu-Li to find a cure for cancer. It doesn't sound like it's going to be easy. Hopefully someone will volunteer from the guild. That or I can draft someone. I think. I'm not actually a guild official, but I kind of have the right job to allow things like that. Maybe someone will step up though, if I explain it all well enough?"

  "Cool. I just needed to know if I was going to be yanked out of what I'm doing again. I actually have to get to TTLA and tend bar tonight. We're back open and I'm up. First real night back for me, but Edom agreed to let me have a shot after the Kevin thing, since I'm working with you now too. No one is admitting it openly, but this is kind of a big deal. You choosing me to be your assistant. The Bey was so happy when he heard that he hugged me. I think he was a little worried that you might actually take some of us as slaves. He'd have to comply, but Lenore told him she didn't think that was the way you did things." There was a wistful tone to her voice then, that didn't make sense. "He told her that I was very promising and that he hoped you and I would get along well. I know that he just doesn't want to have to pay for everything in a way that will be too much work or cause suffering, but it can't hurt, having him think I'm a good Vampire. I might be able to use this to go places a lot faster than I would have otherwise. Lenore is happy for me. The others are all really jealous though. Don't be surprised if some of them come around soon, trying to steal my job."

  They kept talking as they went outside. It was snowing, a gentle curtain of white falling like lace from the night sky. It was being shown mainly through the lights around the edge of the parking lot. Barb looked at it and smiled, then kissed his cheek gently, her cool lips warm compared to the frosty air.

  "Oh, now, isn't this just the sweetest thing? The little girl is kissing her food before she eats it. I should get a picture for my album." The joke wasn't funny and the man that said it didn't mean it that way, his face rough looking, with a single long scar on the right hand side, running from eyebrow to chin. It glinted a little in the dark.

  As if to prove he wasn't there to ask about candle sales, he moved through the falling white that had barely frosted the ground and slapped Barb so hard she flew through the air to the left. Then he moved toward Zack, his mouth open.

  He paused, holding Zack up by the throat, which hurt a bit, but made his head fill with an incredible amount of pressure suddenly. It was so fast he hadn't even been able to see the man move, he was just caught, feet off the ground.

  "Tell your lord that I'm not that easily intimidated, girl."

  Carrying Zack like he was nothing, holding him at arm's length, the Vampire, who was only a little taller than he was, walked over to the woman and kicked her in the side a few times, barley letting Zack move in the air as he blacked out.

  "Tell him that this is the way of things now. If he steals something from me, I will take from him in return. I'll just start with his human plaything here."

  "No..." Barb sounded nearly as out of it as Zack felt, struggling to get up from the pavement, not able to do it yet.

  Then, faster than Zack could track, he was hit, his head whipping side to side in a way he wasn't certain he could survive. Then, thankfully, he lost consciousness.

  Chapter fourteen

  It didn't last though, and as ridiculous as it seemed, he came-to fighting. Poorly, slapping and gauging at the Vampire's eyes, not even making the creature move back a step or drop him. Not until he managed a flopping kick to the chest, pushing himself backward, landing hard on the snowy asphalt. There was no way to escape. No rift for him to merge with this time. The being moved too fast for him to do that. Zack couldn't even run.r />
  Mirror Him... laughed.

  It was a gravely sound, deep, like a beasts growl.

  "Fine, you want to die this way... Bring it bitch." Then he threw himself at the Vampire, who slapped him to the ground with a move that Zack couldn't track at all. He stood back up though, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his right hand. "That all you got?"

  It wasn't.

  The pattern played out over and again. M.H. standing, a bit more injured and shaky each time, saying something witty and then attacking, hardly even touching the man at all. The bastard was hitting so fast his nice leather gloves weren't even being stained with Zack's blood. It was like a kitten going up against a lion, and they both knew it. The only thing that changed at all was that Barb got up and ran away, screaming something. He couldn't tell what it was at all, since his body was flying toward the Vampire again. This time he managed to actually land a single clawed hand on the things face. It didn't leave a visible mark, but was still kind of satisfying anyway.

  That would show him, wouldn't it?

  It was pretty clear that the Vampire meant to kill him and didn't really care if he suffered first or not. There was nothing in particular Zack was going to do about it either.

  "Fuck that kid. This is my job. This fuck-nut is going down."

  The words came out of his mouth, as he angled to move back in, his entire being feeling hurt and like he was fully insane now. He nearly didn't notice what happened next, which was Cormack the night guy from the Yoghurt shop swinging a sword at the attacker. Barb was back with what seemed like a mace or war hammer, trying to smash him from behind. It was impressive even as they both were thrown back several times. They kept coming back for more, just like he was doing.

  Except they occasionally landed a blow or two that seemed effective and looked way cooler doing it. The fight ended suddenly, about two or three minutes in, when the Middle Eastern man that delivered tables and chairs walked out and waved his hand, causing a wall of fire to spring up between them and the jerk that tried to kill him. The flame circled the man, causing him to shoot straight up into the air, then vanish into the white and snowing night, running away incredibly fast.

  The nicely dressed man, who was wearing a suit, even as late as night as it was, bowed. He didn't speak. Zack, back in control of the pain filled wreck that was his body tried to bow back, but he just fell over instead. That kind of hurt, so he decided not to keep doing that standing thing and just lie on the nice cool, slightly damp ground for a while. Unfortunately the Vampires thought that meant they should pick him up and take him inside. That hurt a lot more than lying peacefully. He didn't whine about it, since it wouldn't help anything.

  For the second or possibly third time in a few minutes, he blacked out and came to in the back of Yoghurt World, laying on their rather nice sofa. Figuring this was probably safe enough, he let himself relax. Not sleeping, since reality hurt too much for that. It was an old trick, a thing that he'd forgotten he knew somehow. If you didn't move, things were less painful. Slightly.

  After a while there was a rustling and he opened his eyes, his head aching a lot more than he could remember it ever doing before. Wu-Li entered, staring at him carefully, a bundle of materials under his arm.

  "I see. Very well. We will need to set the broken arm and splint it. The ribs and concussion will take time. More than with most, since his system is stagnant... If we cannot fix that... we have some time. It will take balance and care to repair such a thing."

  Sitting up too, since he wasn't going to be allowed to sleep it seemed. It sucked horribly, but he made himself do what he was told, barely able to breathe as a bandage was wrapped around his chest, sharp pain rising from his left side. He passed out again when his arm was set, but came to for the splinting. Then the man asked a rather battered looking Barb for a cup of hot water and dumped a packet of something inside it.

  "Blue star flower. It has pain fighting properties, but also prevents sleep. No sleep for a full day from now. If you had a healthy chi flow, I would recommend that, but given your delicate condition, it would probably kill you. Someone will have to stay with you. I need to be back to your friend. Is there someone we can call for you?"

  Who did he have? Troy was working and for that matter, if she could manage it, Barb needed to get off to work too.

  "I'll be fine. Go to Lisa. These are just a few little bruises. It's nothing." Mirror Him answered, sounding strong and sure of himself.

  Because he realized, that was who he had, wasn't it? Mirror Him was always there to protect him, no matter how bad things got. It made him feel better for some reason, even if he was a bit of a jerk most of the time. That got an internal chuckle, but no words.

  Wu-Li still insisted that he call someone, since Barb had her duty and Cormack, while willing to try and watch him, didn't exactly have a lot of time for it. The thing was, even as the Master healer insisted, Zack knew that he didn't have anyone that could help him. His grandparents would come, but that would take days, since they lived in Wisconsin. He pretended to look through his wallet as if he had numbers there that he could just call, and found the card that the Demon had given him. It said her name was Keeley, and had a cell phone number.

  For some reason, even as Mirror Him gibbered in terror, he got Wu-Li to dial the number. If nothing else it would at least look like there was at least one person in the whole world that he could call on. It wasn't even really a lie, since he had the number.

  The old man who looked young and fit spoke calmly, not getting who he was speaking too at all.

  "Mr. Hartley is very injured. He needs someone to watch him for a full day, so that he does not sleep. This is most important...We are currently at the Westfield shopping mall... Yes... That's right, one of those embassy collections. I will tell him to expect you shortly then."

  He hung up the phone and smiled happily.

  "Your friend said to let you know that she is on her way. She has only to explain the situation to her sister and mother. It's nice that you have someone willing to come for you, this time of day. Not everyone does." Then, acting as if it were perfectly normal and well in hand, the man left, heading back toward his shop.

  On the good side, no matter what was happening, Zack couldn't hear Lisa screaming, or moaning, whatever she was doing. Hopefully it wouldn't be that big of a deal for her. Barb didn't want to leave at all, even though she was already late for her job and they needed her there. Or they might at least. With the snow, chances were that no one would be out at all. It was Vancouver Washington. It didn't often snow, meaning that when it did people always acted like it was the worst blizzard ever. In a way it was kind of funny, since almost everything shut down instantly, even with just a few inches of snow on the ground.

  When the Demon got there she was walking quickly and carrying a large bag with her. A book bag, like what school kids carried. At least what they had on television. She didn't wait, walking straight to the back, stepping around Barbara carefully and glancing at Cormack with an expression that seemed relived, rather than put out.

  "Hey, can I get an extra-large... Banana-chocolate swirl, please?" She smiled, her very pretty face and big brown eyes enough to make the Vampire girl next to her look suspicious.

  "Excuse me, but I don't think I know you. I'm not leaving you alone with my boys here." It sounded highly suspicious, and more than a little territorial.

  The Demon smiled at the words, and then looking concerned when she saw Zack. Then she ignored Barb nearly completely, touching her arm lightly to get her to move aside. Slowly, a lot more gracefully than most people would, she knelt down next to the sofa near Zack's knee's, staring up at his face, looking concerned. It seemed almost real even.

  "I'm Keeley. We should get some ice for him to put on his face. Barbara... Do you mind if I call you that instead of Barb? I had some bad experiences with a 'Barb', not too long ago. She turned out to be my older brother pretending to be a cheerleader, so he could try to kill my sis
ter. That did not end well. You look a bit like him too. Same hair. He was prettier, but that didn't help him in the end." She smiled and waited as Barb glared a little, clearly miffed at whoever this interloper was.

  Cormack, saint of Vampire's, didn't just bring a treat for the new girl, he had a large cup filled with ice, a lid on it to prevent spilling. That got set in Zack's left hand, the right being a little sore for that kind of thing yet.

  "OK, Keeley... I don't think that you really know what's going on here. Zack wasn't in an accident, he was attacked-"

  "By Lazar, who fancies himself a Master Vampire, and was taking out his anger at having his forces slowly stolen away by Bey Transmorguir?" The girl looked around, then rather brutally ripped the back cushions off of the nice easy chairs and set them up so that he could lean back. Cormack winced when she did it. The pretty girl nodded at him, seeing the look.

  "I'll fix it before I leave. Don't worry."

  Barb didn't seem to like the idea at all, but looked at Cormack and then Keeley, as if not trusting her at all. "Fine, I'll go, but you three stay in here. If you have to, lock the place down and call for help. Don't take any chances. I doubt that this twerp Lazar is really a moron, for all that he's being one right now. The second The Bey came to town the smart money started laying low. That just makes him more dangerous though, not less. Anyone crazy enough to go after Zack, just to make a point, could do anything. We can't rule out stupidity as a danger."

  The Demon girl nodded and arranged herself on the floor, taking out school work from her bag. That seemed to baffle the others, but Zack understood instantly. It was probably due the next day. The public schools weren't on Christmas break yet, were they?