Between (Alternate Places Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  Eloise had shown up, but sat in the audience, next to Val and Hilda. Zack stood in the back, next to Troy and David the Vampire. They all looked grim.

  The Mages, the three women that had been hired for the job, one of whom was, surprisingly, Beth, picked one of the men at random to go first. They chanted in unison, in a language that was so old Zack had never heard of it. Then there was a flare of power, as the man was pointed at by all of them. Lines of white energy came out, and then sat inside his head.

  Beth spoke, her collar length hair was down, and the white robe she wore lent gravitas to her words.

  "Tell us, fully and truthfully, what you did to Courtney Moore."

  For a half second it seemed like the man was going to resist the compulsion, but then he relaxed, his face looking... wicked.

  "Whatever we felt like, as is our right." That wasn't going to be enough and the man kept going without being prompted. "Each of us took turns. First we all fucked her, however we wanted, and when we couldn't anymore, we started having some real fun. I bit off her left nipple first. The right was already gone by then. I ate it. It was salty, but sweet at the same time. Filled with fear, and pain. Then, slowly, one small nibble at a time, we ripped the flesh from her body. When she was nearly dead, she suddenly changed. Into a man. Whole and healthy. What we did to him was even more fun."

  It was enough that Zack, no matter how old he was inside, nearly got sick just from hearing it. Courtney had managed to turn back and forth ending up being herself, six times. What they did kept getting worse as they went. Getting more creative and brutal.

  At one point Val screamed. It was in response to what they had been doing to her mother when she died, which was... Insane.

  The women went next, describing their parts, and how they enjoyed the thrill of it. One of the men detailed his fear, and how he knew the others would have killed him if he didn't participate. He didn't want to do it, but felt too weak to not do what the others told him.

  The last man, the one believed to be the leader, not only told them everything, but added things he did while the others were gone or distracted. Most of them petty things by comparison to the main crimes. Zack still had to fight down a sense of nausea, a few people, some of them having killed people in front of him with no problem, failed in fighting their discomfort and had to flee the room.

  The leader confirmed that the man in black had coached and coaxed them into it, but also confirmed that they'd wanted to do it, even before he'd shown up. The man in black had just helped them pick a target, and arranged for them to do it and get away.

  Troy turned pale and started shaking. Seeing his roommates Shadow, Zack knew that he'd moved into a rage, a pure state of anger that had almost precluded thought altogether.

  When they were finished, the panel discussed what should be done. With Mrs. Walsh leading the argument for torture before death, and oddly enough Devon arguing that death itself would end the problem well enough. He didn't fight very hard for it though.

  The vote had come in by one, but the majority ruled in this case. No one abstained or voted no.

  Mrs. Walsh stood up, holding a piece of paper in her hand.

  "We all voted. They are guilty and have confessed. They will be tortured, and then killed. They will not be allowed proper burial or any religious rights or prayers. No comfort shall be given them, before they die." Then she practically fell back into her chair, her slightly wrinkled face fierce.

  Zack walked to the front, making certain that everyone saw him, then seized the mind of the first man. "You will replay all that was done, exactly, in your mind, as if it happened to you. You will feel all of the pain. All of the fear and torment. You will not stop."

  Then, one by one, he did this to all the others as well.

  They each started screaming and didn't stop. Which meant they were all smart enough to follow directions. Not that they had a choice. Val came forward to see it done and didn't look away as they all writhed and suffered. After two hours of this, Whelm the sword maker, Hilda, Val and Troy came with Zack to a place far away from the laws of men. Where they could simply leave the bodies for the beasts that live there, after they killed them.

  Val didn't kill anyone, she couldn't do it, not even in a rage. The idea being just too far from what she was. She watched though.

  Troy surprised Zack by borrowing a blade from Whelm without saying a word, and walking up behind the man that had led them, quickly slitting his throat with a single deep, angry movement. He went deep and hit arteries on the sides. The man died after several minutes of bleeding. Mewling wetly the whole time.

  Then he did the same, one by one, to each of the other men. When he reached the women, he stopped.

  "I... Can't do this part. They're women..." He glanced at Val, clearly feeling weak and small then. Like he was letting her down.

  Hilda walked to him, wrapped him in a tight hug, then took the blade and slit the throat of each woman, knowing that Troy would have problems killing them, even though their guilt had been clear.

  As their souls left their bodies, Zack called out to them. One by one they turned to him.

  Go now, and always remember what you did and suffer, for you've proved that you do not yet deserve even this life of the dead. Go and pray that I never die, for if I do, you'll never rest again.

  Then he took them home, leaving the bodies where they fell.

  Troy looked at him grimly when they got to the back of the candle shop.

  "I didn't leave any for you. I should have. Sorry."

  “Don't worry, Troy. There's one left, and that one is all mine.”

  Chapter fourteen

  Zack started intensive training the next day. Fighting, running, and Demon culture. Taught to him by Beatrice, who was doing it just because he'd asked for help. Zack started by showing the pale brunette his trick of mimicking a Demon.

  “Not bad. That would get you within ten feet of most Demons before they realized something wasn't right. Try making your scent more smoky...” She led him, through trial and error to an impersonation that she told him even she couldn't crack.

  "And I just watched you assemble it. Of course, looking like a duck won't fool the others in the pond forever, if you don't quack right."

  Then she taught him enough of their language to get through a basic greeting, and an offer of aid to a stranger. If he'd uttered that phrase as a real Demon, he'd be bound to render aid without hesitation to whoever it was spoken to. As a Human though, it would be just words. It could be enough to trick a Demon, if he timed it right, focusing hard he memorized the phrases as well as he could. That custom, or bit of magic, surprised him however. With their own kind, making an offer of aid was considered normal and polite. Zack had really thought they were all just in it for themselves the whole time.

  He took a few hours off each day, doing nothing except spending time with Libby, Claire, Merri and Val. Val hadn't bounced back yet, not really, though she'd managed to get back to work. She still burst into tears randomly, often without visible warning that it was about to happen.

  Courtney's death had made the national news, the police having no leads. From a nearby location a House of Representatives member, and several local business people from the Los Angeles area had disappeared. Some people thought it might be related.

  Working hard, he tried to drive the memory out, spending large amounts of time in the void, watching for Demon activity that didn't belong. Nothing happened. It was almost like nothing had happened at all there.

  They all went to the funeral, helping Val plan it and making sure it went smoothly. While he didn't recognize any of them, Troy said that many famous people attended. Over a thousand people showed up. It was held in L.A. since she'd loved that city so much.

  After that, Zack threw himself into work, or training. He checked with Devon daily, to see if there had been any hint of Cruxias. Each day he told him nothing yet, asking for patience.

  “We've come closer to catching h
im in the last weeks than has been managed in over a hundred years. We will get him.” The Demon swore, sounding like he meant it.

  He worked, sometimes all night long.

  On occasion Patty would come and sit with him for hours at a time in the back of Something Wonderful, when everyone else went home.

  During those times, a beautiful girl, a Demon by all accounts, would be seen at Nexus locations around the world.

  Maria pretended to be trying to make deals, setting up a freelance operation as Beatrice had taught Zack how to do. She had mentioned it to him once at any rate, giving him the idea.

  “A Demon looks for the long term deal. For individuals that may serve them later, or whose family lines will provide long term income or entertainment. It's best to have a permanent location set up, so that people can find you easily, but some, especially younger people, or those that have recently changed forms, work where ever they can.”

  So Maria, on those nights when Zack snuck away, set herself up in business. Trying to make a name for herself that Cruxias would notice, or at least do enough to gain acceptance as a Demon in her own right.

  It turned out to be incredibly easy to find people willing to make a deal. Even when she pushed the price up to ridiculous levels. Sometimes it made sense. A loved one seeking money to buy a cure for an illness that could only be found in the farthest locations, unreachable by normal means, or a criminal trying to start over, wishing passage to places so far away that no one would ever find them.

  A lot of the time though she found herself approached by people simply looking for riches, or sex. She put off those looking for sex, not knowing how to get it for them, except by doing it herself, and since these were mainly men and women that had horrible flaws, normally in personality, not looks, that, she told them, would have to wait until she'd established herself more.

  The riches were easy. She just used gold she got from Lisa to make a few huge payments, and suddenly people came out of the woodwork to sell themselves, and their families to her.

  This went on for months. Maria had to log the transactions, which were held in permanent record at a location she never got close to. All she had to do, she found, involved walking in to the local Embassy and submitting the paperwork that both she and the person, or being, had signed. The Demons would take it away. Somehow though, every location she went to had a record of it from that point on, without error. She checked a few times to see how extensive the records were.

  During the day, Zack lived normally, or tried to.

  In April, Sarah and Val came to him with good news.

  “We found a house! It's perfect for us.” Sarah seemed excited. “It has twenty four bedrooms, each with a private bath, as well as four additional ones. There's a swimming pool in the back and nothing else around for miles! It's about twenty miles from Underwood, so driving commutes will be a pain, but if you can find a good shortcut it shouldn't be so bad.”

  Even Val seemed enthused, which made him feel happier himself. Since her mom had been killed Val hadn't seemed to take pleasure in anything. Patty confided in him that she thought that Val would have faded away and died, if he hadn't come and fed her energy daily. Even with that they'd all worried about her in the first few months after.

  They agreed to go and look at the house the next day with the real estate agent, a nice woman named Sandy, who seemed convinced they were just looking for the entertainment value and had no intent to buy. Her Shadow told Zack that she didn't really mind though, figuring that they may spread the word about the place, which could eventually lead to a sale. It had been on the market for years, standing empty, after the death of the owner, who'd had no family left to give it to.

  Claire came with them, as did Merri, which caused Sandy to reassess the situation a bit, to Zack's amusement. She wondered if maybe Zack had money after all, given his looks, which were average, and the group of attractive women that came with him.

  The place didn't just have twenty-four bedrooms, he saw, but a huge living room, four office spaces and a giant kitchen that made Merri's eyes widen in delight.

  “This is bigger than all the kitchens at Underwood put together!” She enthused, starting to bounce up and down a little as she looked around.

  “I could have people in the kitchen with me and not have to drive them out due to lack of space.” The tiny woman didn't ask that they get the place though, instead she just looked at the room wistfully.

  The pool intimidated him a little, he realized, since he still didn't know how to swim and the last time he had gone in water deeper than a bathtub he'd nearly drowned. With a pool right there he wouldn't have a reason to put off learning though.

  Claire asked to see the basement.

  “We may need to have a few of my people here, since the commute will make it hard to go to the house each night and some of them need to be watched at times. None of them are bad kids, just a little wild...” Given that her definition of wild ranged from using coarse ground nuts on a caramel sundae, to not burying the bodies deep enough, Zack would want to go over this with her in greater depth later, he decided.

  Even the attic space seemed huge to him. In all the building had more interior space than the malldid. The price tag for the whole thing only came to fifty million, so they could afford it without difficulty. That price tag did cause him to remember a time, not so long ago, at least in the outer world, when he didn't have money for even a pack of ramen. Now he could get houses, no, mansions, with less worry.

  Buying it would prove slightly tricky, Claire pointed out, though she could do it, using dummy companies and some tricks she'd learned over the years. People noticed when women that looked twenty or so suddenly spent millions of dollars, she pointed out to them.

  “So, Zack, what do you think? Can you find a shortcut to work from here?” She asked him right in front of Sandy, knowing that the woman wouldn't understand what they really meant.

  He looked around for a while, walking the grounds and finally came back to her.

  “I'll have to make one. No problem though. I can have it finished the first day.”

  After the full tour, they all turned to look at him, waiting, he finally realized, for his decision.

  “Oh! Leaving it up to me then?” Smiling at them he looked around the outside again. It would need to be painted and cared for he realized, time having worn the edges a little, letting the paint wear in places. The gardens and hedges had gotten shaggy too.

  “All right. We'll take it.” He told them.

  Sandy didn't believe it for a while, wondering if this would turn out to be a trick or a joke. Claire started making some calls, arranging funds through legitimate seeming sources.

  It took several more weeks for everything to be put into place, then another two weeks for it to be furnished, computer and cable lines run to the place and the pool to be cleaned, repaired and filled.

  Zack went back to work, putting the new house out of his mind completely. The only important thing, he knew, right now, would be to find and destroy Cruxias. He wouldn't let himself become distracted. Not for long at least.

  In mid-June Devon hurried into the back room of Candles and More and motioned him over when he had a break between transfers.

  “We found him! He eluded our tracers, but now we're on the scent. He won't get away. Now he has to run.” Devon seemed pleased with this, outlining what had been going on, how they had found the Demon in Africa, when he lodged a bargain there, and followed him through several jumps.

  He assured Zack that trapping him would only be a matter of time.

  This happened three more times over the next weeks. On the fourth sighting, Zack knew that he'd have to act, if he wanted this finished. Though it risked his disguise, he felt that time had come to put 'Maria' into play.

  Knowing that Cruxias worked out of the Mid-west Nexus, in the U.S. Most of the time, Zack got Patty in to change him in the back of Something Wonderful, even though everyone else stood there watchin
g. Libby, Maryl and Charli.

  Clearing his throat, Zack spoke somberly.

  "I'll have to ask you not to mention seeing what's about to happen. Not until all of this is over. It's really important. In fact, try not to even think about me, if you can."

  Libby spoke for them, baffled, but trusting him totally though. “Got it, whatever this is, no talking about it, at all.” The others nodded.

  Charli still gasped, the transformation clearly wigging her out a bit, though Libby and Maryl just stared, knowing not to make any noise. They were used to people changing shape though, so it was easier for them. Charli almost said something, only to have Maryl jump on her and cover her mouth with a hand.

  After changing, Maria stepped into the line, not planning to come back until this was over.

  Patty would get word to Lisa, who would tell everyone that he'd taken a trip and wouldn't be back for a few weeks. At the same time, they subtly put the idea out that he had gone to hunt Cruxias, with the others that hounded him.

  Then the Demoness Maria waited.

  Four days later, late at night, Cruxias limped through the Mid-West Nexus complex, clearly being followed.

  Maria saw him before being noticed herself, a thrill of shock running down her spine, almost causing her to freeze. Shaking this off she called out to him.

  “Looks like you're having some problems. I could make you a wonderful deal...” Her smile looked mischievous she knew, having practiced it for weeks in a mirror. Patty judging her efforts harshly the whole time.

  The Demon that wore Zack's father's face growled at her instead, a single phrase in the language of the Demons that Beatrice had him memorize. Part of an ancient ritual that demanded all Demons help their fellows in times of need.

  Maria laughed.

  “Oh, you spoilsport! Very well. Elth'stet.” This being the last part of the ritual, pledging aid, regardless of cost.

  They ran, with her in the lead, to a Node in an unused office she'd scoped out earlier. Going to such an unsanctioned Node marked her as freelance and one that would most likely play fast and loose with the rules, on occasion at least. This set the Demon slightly at ease, being that she was, clearly, his kind of people.