It was nearly as if she was trying to explain it to him. To save his feelings from being hurt by her neglect.
“I do get that one! There’s always stuff coming up, isn’t there? Take care of yourself. I’d offer to help, but if I could do that, you’d probably let me know.” He kind of meant it, since the woman, even if she was scary at times, was his friend. Which was probably the feeling she’d been going for by showing up at all, in the first place. Getting him around to thinking that. He could have ignored that but she really was putting in the work, for her part of things. It was only fair that he do his as well.
She patted his upper arm as she moved past.
“That’s so true. Now, keep in touch. You not calling for a year doesn’t work for me. At least once every few months, all right? Us ancient powers of old live on different time scales, but politeness is still a thing.”
“Sure. I’ll try to keep up with everyone. It won’t happen but I’ll put you near the top of the list of people I forget to call on each day. Bey gets to be at the top.”
“Duh. Of course, he does. I’ll just have to suffer down at number three or so.”
Troy was baffled then.
“Um, three? Not to butter your toast for you but I was putting you at number two…”
That got a grin and a laugh. It seemed like the teen girl meant it. She touched him again, then leaned in. Whispering.
“The Technician, Troy. If you don’t court her right now, when she’s taking an interest like she is, you’d be insane. Which you are, clearly, but not that far from reality. Do you think I helped you with magic lessons for sex? For real? No, Alison bargained with me for that. It took her letting me in on things that I still don’t know if I honestly believe… Just to help you get up to speed. So, you need to get with her occasionally and also, really practice. Energy inflow all the time, now. At least six hours a day on it, or you won’t make her program. Then she’ll get all cranky and probably whine at me over lunch. I hate that, so, get to work. Remember, Troy, you aren’t human. In many ways, you never were. The rules for you have to be different, if you want everything to work out.”
Before he could think things through enough to understand the idea, she left. Walking out the front door, then ten seconds later, moving onto the lines. Moving away as a blob of an idea, at speeds that were kind of like what Eve did when she ran. Also, different.
Given the time, he showered, got into clean, but very casual clothing and then settled on the sofa. Instead of video games, he decided to try some of that magic that he needed to do.
That effort turned out to be kind of interesting, since in just shy of four hours, he discovered several important things. The first was that he had to learn to do things away from his body. It was simple enough to make fire happen over his hand, but above the stove in the kitchen was a different story.
It took more focus, instead of a lot of energy. That was an option, but would be silly to even think of, for a vampire like he was. Power was the limited portion of things for him. He wasn’t a mage after all. They produced vast amounts of silver energy all the time. Most of it was wasted, flowing off into the world around them. He was, compared to that, managing a slow trickle. Nearly a drip of collected power. Almost constantly but it took work to pull off. Even as he pushed for more.
So, after a few hours he managed to form a tight fireball over his white oven. It was about the size of a basketball. Then, slowly and with extreme care, since he didn't want to set off the fire alarm, he moved it around the room. It floated where he wanted easily enough. That part was simple, really. He just had to change the information that told it where it was located. That was the heart of line walking, too.
Then he changed what he was forming to a solid ball of air, about the same size. It sounded like it wasn’t needed at all. A useless thing. Except that the ball of air made a loud thunk when it hit anything. That got him to smile.
Working not to botch the whole thing, he reached out to touch it. For about ten seconds it held, feeling solid under his hand. A thing that he couldn’t push away, as hard as he tried. Until his mind slipped and he stopped providing power. Or collecting it as strongly. Then his hand moved through the space in front of him, hard enough that he rocked forward.
“Okay… That might be useful. Um… What’s next?”
Instead of turning all the dust in the house into a solid lump, he tried to hold a simple idea. It was based on what had happened with the mage’s car during the escape. It was still there, but to him, and possibly anyone else watching, it had vanished. His mind had turned from it so hard that he couldn’t find it at all.
Not having a car in the room with him, he tried to create a field like that around himself. It was impossible to tell if it was working and had to be held and fed energy constantly, but it still probably counted as practice.
Ann had mentioned he needed to be able to beat that kind of thing, for a test. That probably meant things like telepathy as well. How he was supposed to do that without having a clue how it worked in the first place… Well, the answer to that wasn’t hard to work out at all. The Technician wouldn’t care how he did it. Only that he did. The trick would be in figuring out how that sort of thing was done. Mages had to have something like that. Zack might know as well. Asking about it couldn’t hurt. It would be a starting point, if nothing else.
Getting up, stretching, since he needed to look like a person when going into public, he got the pack with his guns and shooting equipment in it and loaded up the car. After all, they couldn’t walk to the range easily. He could, but asking the others to do it would be a bit much.
You didn’t invite people to come to an event and then request they hoof it ten miles out to the outdoor range. At least he didn’t. It would be all sorts of rude. When he pulled into the station parking lot, he was a bit early. In fact, it was about eleven-fifty when he got there. Santos and her wife pulled in about two minutes after that, driving a large van. He got out, waving and smiling.
When he walked over, Santos glanced around.
“Are we the first here, or the only ones going?”
“First in, I think. You never know with people. Tran should be here at least. Rome as well. She’s a friend of mine. She claimed that she was bringing friends…Okay, here we go. Over there, in front of the building.”
Avery moved out of nothing, a line of intent moving behind her, holding a node point open into the void between worlds. She saw him and waved, then stepped back and after about half a minute brought Judy Swan through. Kaitlyn came next, holding on to a man’s hand.
He wasn’t anyone that Troy knew, but seemed to be affable, from the smile on his face. Avery moved back through the tear in space, which was more of a smooth ripple and came back after a moment with Zack’s friend Becky. That was different, so he jogged over and gave her a hug. They weren’t close, but he’d met her several times before. Enough times that the cute woman was in the hug on meeting category for him.
Kait got one as well, which had Judy holding her arms out. He didn’t leave her hanging, because to him, they were pretty close, even if it wasn’t actually true. It had been a trick at the time. One that he’d fallen for. Except that, now when he thought about it, he hadn’t. Troy had used that event to his own end, at the time… Part of him wanted to consider what that meant for a while, but it was pushed away, since he had things to do at the moment.
“Everyone! We just need Denise. My partner. She better not skate on us.” He was about to make an excuse for her when she drove up. Sipping on something in a silver travel mug. Probably coffee. The woman did seem to love her dark and bitter beverages.
When she got out, she looked at everyone, made a slightly tired seeming face and then nodded.
“Okay. So, this is normal. Who’s riding with me? I know the way, so can lead. Santos. Jainy…” She stopped, looking at the others. “Spires, Coltain and Messer. I don’t have a name for you yet, miss?”
That was for Kaitlyn, who smi
led happily at the woman.
“Kait. Swanson. These people are Avery Rome, L.J. Marks and Judy Swan. My grandmother. I hope it’s all right that we added people like this?”
Troy looked at the others. Tran seemed too bland and Santos was covertly checking out the ladies, but Jainy was red in the face and looked like someone was trying to stuff things into a sensitive place. Not upset. Just looking nervous. Flustered. She was starting to sweat a bit as well.
He didn’t get it.
“Well… Marks and Rome can ride with me. I need to sweet talk Avery into doing some work for me. You can act as her chaperone?” That might have been a mistake but L.J. was the new person, as far as Troy went. If he was dangerous, or unstable, then it was his responsibility to watch. Avery had brought him, so that made sense as well.
Troy rolled his eyes then.
“Oh… Duh, right. This is my partner, Detective Denise Tran. Officer Maria Santos and her wife, Jainy Santos. The range is a bit away, and I’m standing in a blast furnace, so let’s go?”
No one laughed, but Avery stepped away, coming back with a very large green bag, filled with things that clanked a bit. From the scent, there was a lot of gun oil involved in the situation. She moved toward Troy, then was led to his little beater of a car. L.J. followed along, looking around like a military man might.
Judy and Kaitlyn went with Tran, for some reason. That made limited sense, given that the other vehicle had more people to get into bed, if the Alede could pull that off.
After a bit, they were driving out of the city. Avery looking around as if there might be an issue.
“You wanted me to pass a message to Tor, in Will Baker’s world?”
He didn’t look over, since Marks was next to him, Avery being in the back seat. He could feel her moving. It was slow and controlled the whole time, nearly like a vampire. She was a dragon shifter, but also a line walker. It made a difference in how she handled the world. The man was twitchy by comparison.
An actual human being.
“I think that’s the right one. Um, Dareg’s dad?”
There was a smile in her voice.
“Same one, then. I can do that. Where do you want to meet?”
That was interesting, since he did want that, given Zack had kind of suggested he do it that way. It was a pain but him physically running to Vancouver was probably better than forcing Dare to find him in a strange part of a world that wasn’t his own.
“Yoghurt World, in Vancouver? I just need to know about when to be there. Night is better than day, for that. I can’t be too picky though. It will take me a few hours to make the run.”
“I’ll try to set that up. Is tomorrow all right? They run much faster than we do, time wise so tend to be ready way before it seems reasonable to the rest of us.”
“Sure. That’s good, in fact. Thanks, Avery. I know that I could do it myself, or even go to him, but…”
She just nodded and spoke to L.J.
“Troy is a police officer here. In order to do that properly, since he’s openly a vampire as well, he’s not using his line walking skills. It was an order from his council. I think the idea is to keep the line walkers out of the press. Not everyone really knows about us yet. The vampires are the best represented group that way so far. As a shifter, you need to know that. Also, to not let it slip to the public. We can’t afford to anger the vampires, since we have an uneasy truce with them right now, officially speaking.”
It was a strange way to say it. Especially since Troy was still pretty certain that the man was a human. He smelled off, for a shifter.
Avery didn’t leave him hanging.
“L.J. plays a wolf shifter on Red Rain. The show that I’m on? I don’t know if you’ve been watching that…”
He smiled then.
“Nope. Sorry. I should, if I know people in it. I am up to date on Rick and Morty.”
That got strange responses.
L.J. nodded.
“Good show. Complex, for a cartoon.”
Avery, speaking at the same time, was a bit darker.
“They’re nice. A bit strange.”
Troy decided not to ask why she phrased it that way. Everything existed in all of the realities. That she might have run into someone from a cartoon was… Likely, actually. Then, he was happy enough to think she was just talking about seeing the voice actors or producers. She was in that business, after all.
“Anyway, we’ve been having some trouble with blood mages lately, locally. Part of a cult, I guess? That isn’t confirmed yet. They’ve been using kami to kill people. The jerks sent one after me and another after Eve. Also, The Technician. This is her territory. I don’t know if that part was covered for L.J.”
The girl, her skin a light brown, showing mixed parentage, her hair well-kept but curly, making natural ringlets, answered instantly.
“He’s met her. As my school friend, Alison? I explained it at the time, but he can’t really keep it in mind.”
That was pretty much the human problem. They could see the strange and some had worked out that vampires were real, after being told enough times but some things, like greater demons, were harder for them. They could be shown that sort of thing a thousand times and it still tended to fade into a dreamlike thing after a while. It really had with him, back when he’d been a regular person.
He’d been living with one at the time, who kept telling him all about it, as well. That had been really hard, so he couldn’t blame L.J. for messing it up.
The man shook his head, as if fighting to clear it.
“I can’t put that together. Sorry. I know not to be rude to anyone or act like my job means that I’m special? Hopefully that will be enough. I… this is all so weird. I went off to the shifter training camp for six weeks last year. I’ve seen hundreds of changes, so can get that. Vampires and demons are harder. Mages… That one almost just makes sense. If some people can shape shift, why not cast spells?”
That kind of made sense to him, so Troy nodded as he drove. The highway was filled with cars, but the sky above was a lovely light blue. There were two clouds off in the distance, looking wispy, instead of fluffy. The ground on either side of them was tan and slightly red in places. There was vegetation, though it was spare and tough looking.
Changing the subject, Troy focused on L.J. for a moment.
“You went through shifter training camp? That’s tough, I hear. So, you can shoot already?”
“Oh, sure. I was shown how to shoot about ten different kinds of automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Rocket launchers, the whole deal. I can use rifles and handguns. I’m not perfect but I qualified. Barely, in some cases.”
There was a laugh from the back seat.
“True. Then, shifter standards are higher than the human military ones that way. We all learn to use them from thirteen on. It makes a difference.”
That would do it. Troy wasn’t bad but he only knew how to use a few kinds of handguns, rifles and shotguns. They chatted about the actor’s experience at the camp and how his role was that of a mercenary, so it had helped with his real job.
“Judy is going to be learning to shoot in the next season, since no one would buy a succubus being that great hand to hand. Avery and Krista figured that getting some lessons first made sense. I can see it. It worked for me.”
He pulled off to the right, following the car with Tran and the Alede in it. Becky, who was clearly called Krista as well, was behind them, with Santos driving her. She was cute. Not as much as Kait or even Judy, but kind of high end anyway. Avery was in that range, more or less. Except that lately it had been better than that, since her clothing and makeup were perfect all the time. It didn't fit with being a line walker, but made sense for an actress.
The road to the firing range was gravel and marked with a sign off to the left of it. If you didn’t know where to go, you’d miss it. Even GPS didn’t mark it clearly. That was on purpose, so that only law enforcement would be there, most of the time. That
and their friends and families. It was actually a private facility. A private donor had arranged for the local cops to have use of it.
He hadn’t considered it before but Troy was willing to bet that her name was Darlene Gibson. Industrialist and incredibly well-connected lady in the area. It wasn’t boring, once you got in. There was an indoor section, with complex shooting equipment and an outdoor handgun target area. There was a long rifle range as well, that allowed shots of up to a kilometer. No one used that part of things, since they didn’t have snipers of that caliber on the force. It was the kind of thing that he needed to work on. Not because it would ever come up for work, just because he thought that not having a heartbeat or needing to breathe would help him be good at that kind of thing.
That day, he’d been thinking that they’d focus on close-in handgun work. Three, five, seven, ten and fifteen meters. Possibly with twenty and twenty-five in there to push things a bit. He often shot at fifty and seventy-five as well, for the practice of it. The testing for qualification stopped at fifteen though. They had new people as well, who didn’t know how to shoot.
That meant going over a class on how not to shoot yourself in the foot was in order.
Interestingly, instead of him doing that part, or Santos, it was L.J. who was waved forward for it. He did it well, to be honest.
He let Troy and Avery set out weapons for them to use, then went over the basics, looking mainly at Judy and Becky. Krista. Everyone else was calling her that, so he needed to as well.
In a slightly raspy, very tough sounding voice, the man started speaking. He looked like he had a cigarette in his hands as he spoke, though he didn’t have anything at all.
“Every gun is loaded. All the time. Your main job here is to know that. Live it, breathe it and dream it, if you can. The end of the gun is yours to control. Point it in a safe direction. When in doubt, it’s better to not touch the thing than to point it in the wrong place.” He gave them all a hard look then. “Never point it at anything you aren’t planning to destroy. When you hold a weapon, you’re responsible for what it does. Guns don’t go off on their own. Guns don’t kill people. Idiots do.”
Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Page 21
