by Power, P. S.
Feeling hunger eating at him, his stomach growling, he really didn't want to be kept from lunch for too long. Instead of dancing around things, Zack decided to be more direct and simply approach the dark haired woman.
Popping his head out of the door he called to her.
“Jan! Hey, I'm about to head to lunch, just down to the food court. Want to come with?”
She froze for a second, then recovered smoothly, her inner self seemed tentative, now that her information gathering could be real and not just some plan she could abort at any second.
“Um, well, that sounds great! We haven't really had a chance to talk about anything yet. Norris mentions you a lot, but I think we should, I don't know, bond or something?” Nervous swallowing followed this, along with a tremor to the voice, betraying her intent slightly.
“Great, I'm starved. Let's go!” He took her hand briefly, to pull her along. Her impulse seemed to be pulling away, so he dropped her hand after she started moving. The move had been habit on Zack's part, though he understood that to her mind it seemed a little aggressive somehow. A claim of ownership.
"Sorry, it's actually habit. The people around me tend to like a lot of contact. If it gets too bad, feel free to hit me. I won't be offended...
“Though if you're worried about Norris, I don't think he's the jealous type. He knows the difference between styles of social interactions, and someone trying to steal his girl.” He shared it all openly, knowing that this kind of thing is what she'd come for.
She grinned at him and offered her arm. Her hair looked a little rough around the edges, compared to the women around here, which probably wasn't a fair comparison. A dark brown, it hung a little past her shoulders in the back, having just a hint of wave to it. Her eyes were a deep chocolate color. Pretty, he thought, though really, everyone had pretty eyes unless something had really gone wrong. Even the Vampire's all red looked good, when they vamped out, if you could notice the fact past the desire to run for your life when it happened.
Her looks were fine, thin enough now since it was clear she'd been trying to lose weight in order to keep Norris. About average in build, with a small, compact bust line that fit her frame. She seemed nice, even if she did think that Zack might be a little slow... or at least goofy. He led her toward the food court, making small talk as they went, trying to ease her into the conversation she wanted to have with him.
“So, you probably came to get all the 'secret' information I have on Norris?” He asked, knowing that this wouldn't be subtle at all, after the words came out. He suppressed a wince, hoping that she wouldn't notice. Maybe he was a little slow? It wasn't true of course. His brain worked as well as anyone's could. He just didn't live in the same world that Jan did, and it was his part of things to translate that, meaning he seemed odd a lot.
“Eh...” Her mind raced, wondering what to say to this, finally she relaxed and decided to just go with the implied offer of data. “Yes? I'm not trying to spy, but he's so secretive sometimes. I don't know why. I get that he has other women. A man like him, well, why wouldn't he? I try not to get jealous though. I don't want him to feel like he has to sneak around. We're both adults and our relationship is what it is... So,” Shaking her head suddenly, she laughed.
“Okay! I guess gathering information about someone behind their back is the definition of spying. I just want, I don't know, to know about him? Maybe if I know enough, I can be what he needs... make the relationship a little more real? Maybe not. I've had enough trouble with dating in my life that I know not to get my hopes up any more, but, it would be nice...”
Looking up as they rounded the corner, Zack saw Merri who smiled and came over to them, a tray of food, loaded almost to over flowing in her hands.
“Husband! Sit. I have your lunch here. You have a friend today? What would you like?” She asked this almost in one breath, a happy energy coming off of her.
Since Janet needed a second to absorb everything, he bought her some time with an introduction.
“Hey sweet. This is Janet, she's a friend of Norris's, come to try and get information about him, figuring me for the weak link around here as far as over sharing goes, I think. Which... is pretty much my job that way, isn't it?” Jan turned red and ducked her head, since this had been exactly what she'd been thinking. Her impression of his intelligence raising suddenly, her eyes having widened slightly in shock. Zack noticed it, since her inner self had a nice monolog going about almost everything.
“Jan, this is Merri.” The small woman hugged him and then offered her hand to Jan, shaking it briefly.
“Oh, Norris is a fine man! We should have Jan over to dinner with everyone soon!” The tiny woman threw out easily, then stopped speaking suddenly, a look of panic on her face, not knowing if she should be the one to extend invitations, or not.
Looking up, Zack saw Norris sweeping the front of his store, obviously listening to the whole discussion. Being so far away, Jan wouldn't know that he did though, if she noticed him at all. As far as he could tell, the woman had no clue that Norris had any abilities of note outside the bedroom, except being very romantic. All the Alede had a real talent for that it seemed. Kaitlyn had told him that there were actual classes in it at the schools they all went to.
“I...” Zack began, talking directly to Norris on the deeper level, finding out what he wanted to do, scrambling and trying not to mess things up. Catching on to what the other man had planned, it became clear that he could make good on Merri's words.
“I think that would be great. Let's work out when she's free and have them both over. I think everyone will want to come. I get Saturday off this week, does that sound like it will work for you, Jan?”
They hashed out plans together. Norris looking bemused, as he re-swept the same spot for the sixth time, though he nodded his head in agreement.
When the meal had finished, they walked, arm in arm again, Jan leaning into him playfully, feeling like they were old friends now, even though they had only shared the one meal, when something hit Zack from behind. Hard.
He saw a leg, black, he thought, with shoes, so a person, not some kind of beast. Whoever it was started hitting him in the back of the head, shouting something that he really couldn't catch. He fought blacking out, trying to turn, or run away, get some space. The only real thing he managed to get done was pushing Jan to the side.
The blows continued, hammering home. He'd been hit harder, he knew, but what this person lacked in strength, they tried to make up for in sheer ferocity. He started to see stars with each impact on the back of his head as he tried to roll to one side, throwing the being off of him.
Jan screamed something, though it sounded like a name, not his, then she yelled something Zack could actually make out.
“Stop! Lester, stop it!”
Suddenly the punching stopped as the being toppled over him, a small foot catching Zack in the back as someone tackled the being, a man he thought now, off of him.
He focused, shutting off all pain and emotion, readying himself to fight finally. He got to his feet blearily, seeing that his rescuer had been Charli, who had tackled the man, pushing him off. Zack didn't recognize the man, putting his hand out, he readied a blow, trying to dial back the amount of force, knowing that he may need to get information from the attacker, which meant keeping him alive.
Charli jumped off the man before he could grab her, running past him without elegance. Zack knew from discussions that she had no training as a fighter at all. Even less than Zack, who had nearly a year's worth now, he realized. Still, she'd done pretty well with this guy, getting Zack some time to recover and getting away without being grabbed or hit herself.
People had started to run out of their stores, Claire was there, Troy coming a while later. In a moment the man, just now getting to his feet, found himself surrounded.
Norris came out, and comforted Jan. The man started yelling something at them.
“Excuse me. Sir! Excuse me!” Zack yelled at the ma
n, trying to distract him, staying ready to use force if he had to, blocking out his failure to protect himself so far. It would be embarrassing later, having been ambushed like that, he knew. Still, what had happened had happened. All he could do now was try to keep things from getting worse.
The man finally stopped yelling, looking at Zack with anger in his eyes.
“Why did you attack me?” He asked the man simply, a slightly plaintive tone to his voice. As far as he could remember, he'd never even seen this man before.
Lester, the man's name it turned out, had mistaken Zack for Jan's new boyfriend, who he blamed for stealing her away from him. He seemed to have been stalking her, following her to the mall for a few weeks, this being the first time he dared go in. He'd just lost it, he told them on the Shadow level, when he saw her with Zack.
Zack sized him up. The man looked a little pudgy. Not horribly so, with short blond hair, his clothing looked nice, a business suit. Not the kind of thing you expect to see on someone that goes around attacking strangers.
Norris stepped forward, between Zack, and Lester, who still glared at him.
The man huffed a bit, and spoke out loud.
"You stole Janet from me. You asshole."
The Incubus nodded, getting the whole thing finally.
“Zack isn't her boyfriend, I am.” He stated it definitively, without hedging, Zack noticed.
The other man wheeled back angry again, ready to attack.
Claire moved in front of the businessman, and used her full compulsion to make him stop.
“Lester, you don't need violence in this situation. It hurts that your old girlfriend is with someone else, but... You realize that it's time to move on, don't you? Move on and find someone new, whom you'll treat well and care for. Indeed, it probably seems like Janet is just an old memory to you now. You feel a little silly about all this, I'm sure, but not so much that you can't deal with it rationally, right?” Her tone was very smooth, the kind of voice someone might use to talk to a child or someone that seemed mentally ill.
On the Shadow level, Zack saw her beast rise up. Huge, bigger than he had ever seen it, ordering the man to comply instantly.
It looked as if he had frozen in place, staring at her, suddenly relaxing.
“Um, yeah. Hey,” He said directly to Zack. “Sorry about hitting you like that. I don't know what I was thinking. That's not like me at all...”
It took about half an hour to get everything cleared up. Lester sent home with a warning from Claire, that he probably shouldn't be seen around here again for a long while, since it would be a shame to have to get the police involved in a minor misunderstanding like this.
Jan wanted to have him arrested, even though she didn't think he'd hurt her.
“He's jealous, which is why I left him. Before I met Norris, by the way. But this is the first time I've seen him do something like this. Still as the County Prosecutor, I can't let this kind of thing just go, even if I did love him once...”
Inside, she warred with herself, both worried for Lester, and Zack saw, for and about him, knowing that getting the police involved would make the situation worse, not better. Once in the system, even for something like this, Lester would be hounded and the effects would spiral, ever greater, in his life. He'd lose his job at the law firm at least, since they wouldn't want the bad publicity.
Zack saw the dilemma, and shrugged at her.
“We could probably not bother with it. Claire talked to him, and he seems to really feel bad about hitting me. Besides... I mean, I'm glad that Charli helped me out,” turning to the small girl he smiled and gave her a hug. Whispering a thanks into her ear. “But being beaten down in public by a slightly overweight lawyer doesn't exactly make me look good. Not that I have some kind of tough guy reputation to keep up, but still... I'd rather just drop it, if that's okay? I have better things to do with my time than to keep rehashing this. Besides, he did apologize and seemed to mean it...” He gave her a hopeful look, knowing that this would be closer to what she wanted to do about the situation anyway.
Norris walked her away into the clothing shop with the other Alede and everyone broke up, going back to work. The funny thing was, Zack realized, even after all of that, he really wasn't hurt. Oh, there would be a few small bruises, and a little soreness, but nothing that even distracted him at all.
Still, there was a valuable lesson for him there. He'd been paying attention to Jan to the exclusion of the possible threats around him. If Lester had been armed, he might be dead. If he'd been a Vampire, or something like that, he would be. So spreading his attention around needed to become part of his daily routine now.
Lesser Shia provided enough distraction for the afternoon, blissfully free of him being beaten, a definite plus, Zack thought. He got home pretty early, about six. Almost everyone else had to work until later, though going to get them took just seconds now, and they'd all wait for him in the back of Something Wonderful, making getting them all really convenient.
As darkness fell, the Vampires sought him out for their daily dose of life energy. Today there were only three, Nikki, David and to his surprise, Betty.
“Betty! I haven't seen you in forever. I can guess why now, the whole Vampire thing...” He waved his hands at her, smiling. “How's it going? Do you like it so far?”
Her laugh sparkled to his perception.
“It's wonderful! The strength and speed for instance? Just as cool as you'd think. My senses are all really heightened, except touch. We talked about that before, right? And so far everyone's been really nice to me. I guess that's not always the case though. Claire is kind of special that way.” She grinned, her fangs protruding just a little. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oops! That's the down side. I'm really sensitive to people when I'm hungry. Being the newest, I have to eat last too, they say it helps build character.” Betty looked at him hungrily her eyes on his neck.
He fed the others quickly, Nikki making a point of not only lifting her silky top higher than needed, but leaning in when they were done, giving him a kiss on the cheek, a chaste thing, except where she pressed her naked breast against his arm.
David just took the energy, not being flirtatious at all today. He just thanked Zack and stepped back.
Betty lunged forward, almost causing Nikki and David to grab her. She stopped herself though and apologized for being over eager.
Since her top was a button up the front, she undid it, showing that she wore a black lace bra underneath.
“Claire mentioned that we'd be doing this. I know how shy you can be sometimes, so I dressed for the occasion...” Nikki, standing beside her, stuck out her tongue playfully.
After about five minutes, Betty had all the energy she could hold for the day. She buttoned back up slowly, her eyes lingering on him in a way they never had before.
“Okay, I see part of why everyone likes you so much now. I liked you before, you're nice and all, even cute enough, but this?” She stretched her arms above her head, leaning back, looking sinuous, like a cat rather than a Human. “Even if you didn't do that travel stuff, you could make a living doing this instead, you know? A lot of Vampires would pay well for this. For one thing you don't insist we sleep with you each time. It seems like every third guy I drink from thinks that it means he gets to have anal sex with me for some reason. Which it generally does, but it's annoying. They could at least take me to a movie or something sometime first, you know?” Her voice both joking and serious as she said it.
“If that rumor I heard about what you did to Claire last night's true, I think you're going to find your dance card suddenly filling a lot more now though. As far as I know what you did with her is really rare. Everyone's going to want to try it.” She giggled, looking at him with interest, but Nikki batted at her.
“Don't scare him off! He may be the only person in the world that can get us off. If you ruin this for me I'll never forgive you.” Her gaze turned menacing, she directed it the other two V
ampires intently.
David sighed, an affectation Zack knew, since he didn't need air to do anything except talk.
“Great for you two. Me, I'm stuck. He doesn't do guys as far as I've seen.”
Nodding, Zack stepped back, holding his hands up in a slightly defensive fashion.
“First, go through Claire about all this, not me. There's probably rules governing something like this. So, don't try to get me in trouble.” He glanced at David. “Second, I don't know for certain, but I don't think I have to touch you to set this in motion. We still need to check with Claire and see how it's holding out for her though, I don't know how long it will last...”
This excited all of them a lot. It took a few moments for him to find out why.
Betty looked at him happily, smiling and moving in to give him a hug.
“It might last? Like, we could have sex with other people too, not just you? Nothing against you, but that waiting list is a little long and hard to get in on for that. Even this feeding thing is given out as a treat. I only made the cut because Claire knows that we're friends...”
He noticed that they followed him after that, making conversation, instead of going off to do whatever they normally did. He told them he didn't mind, but asked about it anyway.
Nikki, being senior in this group, answered for them.
“Oh... Well, Claire asked us to make sure you weren't beaten up by any chubby lawyers, since Charli won't be back to guard you until later. I didn't know what she meant, but if she wants you guarded, we've got your back.”
No one laughed at him, though David had to work really hard not to, he saw.
He just nodded.
“Good. That's been happening too often lately.” Darned chubby lawyers.
Chapter twenty-five
After everyone came back from work, Claire gathered Zack and the younger Vampires in the study that sat behind the large staircase. Zack had only been in here a few times since they'd moved in. It seemed like a good office space to him, being large and roomy. Toward the back of the room, away from the door, a large wooden desk, a rich mahogany, stood. Behind it a large black leather chair sat.
