by P. S. Power
“Hmmm? Well then, Human friend Zack, you should come to my gym and lift weights with me. I can help you build strength and size. I will get you a good deal on membership fees. First moon free because you said I was good looking, and a discount after that if you work hard. Hey? Sounds good, yes? Maybe you can come after you work today?” She turned away from him a bit and smiled in a way that seemed entreating for some reason. Flirtatious almost.
“Well, not today, I don't think, because I might have to work until we close at nine. Tomorrow or the next day maybe? I'd like to do that. It sounds... interesting. I haven't lifted weights before really, so, you know, don't expect much from me.”
“We're used to beginners here. All you have to do is show up and try. We'll do the rest. There is this one fellow that comes, a Human man, and when he first started he couldn't... Oh... Them.” Hilda nodded her head toward the open side of the food court, away from the windows that ran the length of the outside wall.
Two women, who looked a tiny bit familiar to Zack for some reason, walked into the food court and headed toward the Italian place. The taller of the two had smoky good looks, and a catlike grace. Since she also had a large cat Shadow moving with her, that made sense to him. The other looked plainer. Red hair kept short and tidy. She was almost ugly, but in an affable sort of way that caught a person's attention. Trim and energetic looking, too. Her Shadow seemed...Odd.
An inky presence, smaller than her physical body rested inside her head. For a second it looked a little like a demon, but the shape reminded him of something...
“A cat and a bat?” He spoke out loud, possibly a little too loud as the red head spun toward him suddenly. She flashed him a grin, winked, and... nodded. Zack wanted to blush, since that sounded like something out of a children's book. A cat and A bat...
“Yes, that's Nessa, leader of the local Weres. She's the cat person. The other is her friend Libby, who is not nearly as stuck up as Nessa is.” Hilda had pitched her voice to carry, so Nessa turned to look and then glare at her.
They continued on to the Italian place.
“You don't get along with them?” Zack addressed this to Hilda in a subdued voice not quite a whisper.
“Oh, they're okay really. Nessa just refuses to carry clothing for people my size, so I have to get clothes from Beautiful Plus. The clothes are good there, but the workers are all of the Alede. You know, Succubi and Incubi? They get... touchy-feely... I believe the term is.... More than just a little bit. It's not comfortable to shop there unless you're into that kind of thing. Human women seem to like it. Maybe it's a Human thing? I guess Incubi are more attractive to Humans? To me they smell like sex all the time, which to a Trolleinkein means they're taken by another... To my people that means you should stay away, unless you want a fight. Only with them it's worse, more intense all the time.” Her shoulders hunched massively. “Nessa says that there's not enough call for women's clothes my size, even men that like to dress as women are not often as big. People here tend to be very small. Er, no offense take on that. There is nothing wrong with being small, it just makes it hard for me to get clothing that fits. I don't look like a Human man, do I? Nessa implied that I did.” Her eyes narrowed a little and she cast an angry look at the Cat woman's back.
That made Zack snort. Ridiculous!
“No, you definitely look like a woman. Larger than normal, but there's no doubt that you're a girl to anyone with eyes. She's probably jealous of your, er, endowments, really. She's a little flat in certain areas, if you know what I mean.” A quick glance toward Hilda's chest made her grin again.
“Ah! That makes sense then! But I thought all men here like women that look like little boys? It is on the television all the time and in the picture books in stores...” She looked over at the Italian place.
Both of the girls standing there had their backs to Zack and Hilda, but both of their Shadows had twisted around, to watch and listen. Libby's under-self shook with laughter. Even if her physical body tended toward the same hard, flat look that Nessa's did, if not flatter.
“You know, I always wondered if that has to do with the fact that many designers of clothes are homosexual, and they like that teenage boy look? So over the years they picked women that fit that model and that's all people saw. So it became the accepted standard of beauty? It's just a theory.” Zack glanced at the two girls. The bat one had turned around to stare at him, and waved a little when he looked up, so he waved back, smiling. Her friend glared at her when she noticed this interplay.
Hilda finished the food on her plate in a few deft bites and stood up.
“I must needs go back to my job now. I have enjoyed meeting you, new friend Zack. Maybe I will see you tomorrow at the gym, if not sooner here?” A big smile covered both of her faces, the surface and the deeper one.
“I look forward to it. I should get back to my own work now too. See you soon.” Zack got up and started to clear his tray. He couldn't find any place to put it. The glowing Shadow of the tall, thin, dark man from Fried Things waved for him to just leave it. Zack did, hoping he'd read that signal correctly. Leaving a mess left him feeling uneasy, but if that was the way things were done here, he'd have to adjust to it.
Walking past the men's clothing store, about five stores away from Claire's YoGurt place he saw the Beautiful Plus sign. So Succubi and Incubi? As he walked past he caught sight of a woman with shoulder length golden hair. She was dressed in fairly conservative clothing, flat shoes and little to no jewelry. She also reeked of sex. That was a thing he could feel, if not smell personally. It took an act of will for Zack to pry his eyes away from her, so strongly did her allure draw his attention.
Apparently that's what a Succubi did. Use sex to some end.
Probably best, he figured, to leave that alone until he learned what exactly the situation at this mall entailed, since he tried to avoid such situations when possible. Not that he didn't get urges and had even had a few girlfriends. Nothing serious, which made sense given who he was.
When it came to sex, the people in that store all seemed very serious. Scary about it, even.
He made a point to wave to Claire on the way into his own store.
She smiled and waved back.
Now there was a nice girl. Even with what she was hiding from him she was sweet. She'd given him a treat, and everything.
With that thought, Zack wandered into the store and got to work.
Chapter four
The next morning Zack passed through his shortcut just in time to open the store at nine exactly. He'd slept longer than he should have, nearly eleven hours all told. All those dreams with giant Shadowy figures didn't help when it came to actual rest, causing him to sleep longer than he'd wanted to when the real thing finally came. His back ached a little from all the lying down. Nothing too bad, just enough to feel unpleasant when he first got up.
He really needed to figure out a shortcut directly to the store from inside his house. That would save time coming and going he figured. It wouldn't do to get fired for being late, after all. There weren't any shortcuts inside his house that didn't just lead to another room, of course. A lot of buildings were like that, it was something to do with the electrical currents running through the wires, he guessed. Zack didn't know if that would really hold up to testing. Someday he'd have to try and figure it out for sure.
He did a quick sweep of the floor and decided that it didn't need to be mopped yet today, since almost no one had been in the store since he last did it. He'd made good inroads toward organizing all the shelves, taking the candles out of their boxes and arranging them, so that people could see what they were. Stacking them in little pyramids or making them into stacked circles at times. Where he couldn't, he just put them in tidy rows. It still looked better than brown shipping box after box, with the lids torn open at a corner.
No one came in all morning long, so there were several hours to get things done. It was nearly noon when he felt that chill again, the one that indic
ated the undead had come. Yeah, he got what it meant, but if the girl from across the way wanted to work at playing Human, Zack could let it go. He didn't want to be greedy, but he really hoped she had come bearing another gift, like last time. If she had, he'd definitely have to vote for her as one of his favorite people.
“Claire! Back here. Just finishing trying to get the product onto the shelves. How are you doing today?” He walked toward the front of the store quickly. There, in her hand, was another frosty treat with a spoon sticking out of it. It had two cherries on the top with the stems tied together and a dusting of finely crumbled cookie bits around them, all on a bed of whipped cream. He felt a wave of pleasure run through him at the thought of eating it, not even really knowing if she intended it for him yet. It made sense that it would be. Why else bring it into the store with her like this? He didn't want to presume, just in case it wasn't.
“Oh, my.... If that's for me, I think I may have to marry you. That looks fantastic.” Claire held it out to him seriously, as if it had great import.
“Now, now, I'm much too young to marry! Barely out of school, you know.” This came out with a playful lilt.
“Hmmm. This is soooo good! What is this Caramel? It's different than yesterday's.” Savoring the bite he let the spoon linger in his mouth for a few moments. When he took it out he let himself close his eyes for a moment, distracted by the bit of perfection in his hands. “You're what again? Three hundred and twenty-eight? That should be old enough in most places. Now me, I'm only twenty-two, but still, that's legal so I don't see a problem really. This is great, really. Thanks!” He realized he had openly stated something that hadn't been said out loud again and tried to cover it by taking a big bite of caramel and whipped topping.
Claire froze in a way that only things gone dead can truly ever master. She didn't breathe. Her weight didn't shift from foot to foot. There was nothing. She didn't blink even once. The girl just stood, watching him. Staring hard. Almost angrily.
Not knowing what else to do, Zack sent himself sideways, not moving at all. It felt like a step away from everything, but that was just him. A perception, nothing more.
Her Shadow self rose up and growled at him though. It took him by surprise enough that he actually took a physical step back.
“Whoa! Did I say something wrong? I was just joking about getting married and all. I guess it was a little too much? Sorry...” The cup of YoGurt rose in front of him protectively, as if warding her off with a cross in a movie.
She smiled at him grimly. “How old did you say I was, again?” She took a small step toward him.
“Uh, three hundred and twenty-eight? Oh! But you look really young! Younger than me even and people say I still look like a kid. I'm sorry... I didn't think you would be sensitive about your age like that. Are Vampires not supposed to tell people their ages? I don't know all the rules. You're the first one I've met to talk to.” Her step forward found a countering step away from him. He winced, realizing he'd had done it again. Let things he wasn't supposed to talk about just come out like that.
This place seemed to bring out the worst in him for some reason. Speaking about what actually existed like that instead of hiding it like he knew he should. Zack felt stupid and really wanted to flee, but didn't, knowing that running away now would make him look even sillier. Instead he plastered a worried looking smile on his face.
God, here he was alienating people already. Someone who had brought him gifts, not just once, but twice now. That was really friendly and kind of her and he was just a jerk. Zack shook his head a little and winced.
Her eyes flashed red. A blood red that turned flat after a moment, leaving her with no whites, just a red-black expanse. Her Shadow self grew out of her body, taking the form of a huge fanged beast.
So, yeah, pissed.
“Who told you what I am?” This came out softly, almost sweetly, as if a young girl spoke to her lover, not the new candle shop guy. The Shadow beast/Claire bellowed at him, “ ANSWER NOW!”
“Um, you did? Yesterday? I asked your age and you said nineteen, but your Shadow-self, um, your inner being? It said three hundred twenty-eight. Then your Shadow said you were a Vampire? Remember? Or really, you said you were long dead, but I got the general idea.” Moving a few steps back away from her at least let him look at her Shadow beast in full. On that level he made himself say a single word softly, “Remember?”
“I said no such thing!” Starting to take a step, her foot clunked to a stop as Shadow Claire suddenly returned to a more Human form and said, Oh... I do indeed remember that! Sorry. Yes, I told you.
Claire froze, her eyes going wide and returning to normal, a cute brown with normal looking whites. Much less spooky looking over all. The fangs that Zack had missed before, what with all the distraction from other Claire, shrank back into her mouth, until they just looked like regular Human teeth again.
“What happened? What did you do to me? How did you force my beast back like that?” She stepped back, giving ground before him as if he scared her suddenly. Her body language shifted too, as if shrinking into herself. It was fake and slightly overdone, but humble.
Probably the point?
“I just reminded you and your deep-self what you actually told me yesterday, and when you remembered you just relaxed. That's all. Just a small misunderstanding, and now it seems cleared up. Mainly at least. So we can be friends again without the implied ripping and rending. Which is good, because I don't think I get benefits here. Just an hourly wage, you know?”
Zack went back to eating the frozen yogurt. He couldn't help but make little noises as he ate it, as it managed to hit all the right spots on his tongue to signal yummy to his brain. He wondered if this was a part of some larger plan she had? Get him addicted right off the bat, then later, when he had money he'd be running over to her shop and buying these things daily? It could work he knew... They really were that good.
After a few bites he considered things and let his head waggle side to side a bit. It was fake, but he did it pretty well. It was a sign that he was thinking.
“If I'm not supposed to know about you being a Vampire or something, I can try to make myself forget. Though honestly, your Shadow will probably tell me again, if I do. The subconscious parts of us don't lie as a rule, and that's kind of a big thing. Being different like that. Sort of hard to hide, you know?”
Claire straightened and walked right up to him, stopping about a foot away. He hadn't noticed how short she must be until that moment, her head barely coming up to his shoulder. She leaned into him and sniffed. This made him very glad he had showered earlier, but acutely aware that he didn't have any deodorant yet.
“You smell... Human. Normal even, not like a Mage, or reality bender. So what are you? Really, I mean?” At least she seemed only baffled by him and not angry, a good thing to him at the moment what with her having that whole Vampire thing going on.
“I'm Human. Just a regular person. Though for some reason I seem to have to keep telling people that lately. What else would I be?”
She put her arms around him and held him closer as she breathed his scent in deeply. She did this for nearly a minute, before reluctantly letting go. When she did, her fangs were back out, but her eyes remained normal looking.
“Sorry. I can't smell anything else on you, but at a Nexus like this, anyone could be any of a hundred, maybe two hundred different races, or sub-types. That is kind of the point. Still, I guess there's no harm in you knowing who and what I am, after all, everyone else here does. I was just a little surprised that you knew already. I didn't hear Lisa tell you about... well about anything really, so I figured you to be clueless. It seems I was... mistaken about that.” Claire took another step back and her Shadow rose around her again, looking at him longingly. You smell so good. Can I have a little bit to drink, please?
He shifted focus on the deep level to her beast, grinned and held up a single finger. I'm not food. Remember that. He projected at her. Hard.
It was rude, but he really didn't want to be anyone's lunch, not if he could help it. Not that it was some big moral thing with him, it just sounded uncomfortable, didn't it? All the biting and bleeding...
Once again the fangs retreated rapidly and Claire's eyes widened in shock.
“How do you keep doing that?”
Zack just smiled and shrugged. “Just talking to you on a different level. I just said that I'm not food, that's all.”
“Oh. Well, as long as that's all....” Her voice held a bit of wonder, as if this seemed special to her or something.
“Since we're chatting, and you know what Lisa hasn't told me, could you fill me in on some of it? I mean, if you want to and all....” He punctuated this with another bite of the caramel cookie frozen yogurt she'd brought. The texture of the cookie off set the caramel nicely.
Shifting back and forth between her feet now, as if nervous and wanting to leave suddenly, or maybe just run to burn off energy. Claire spun and walked toward the door, locking it when she got there. Then she snagged his hand as she walked past, toward the back of the store. She stopped in the main room and pointed toward the area above the circle, actually pointing a little too far to the right, he noticed, if she meant to indicate the thing floating there.
The huge shortcut in the air. Really he'd been trying to ignore it. Something about it... Called to him. On a level that was so hard to ignore it left him feeling lost and alone. Like he wanted to be inside it.
Since the lights were off he could see the faint nimbus of glow that enveloped the space inside and above the circle under the rug he'd noticed the first day pretty clearly.
“This area, the whole mall, is riveted with... holes in space, all leading to pathways that can be traveled by some. They are all different. A few go from one point to another directly, others open up into different lands and worlds. I don't know if you can follow this... but, if you have enough power or the right contacts, you can open these ways and move from one point to another, covering incredible distances, or even going to places that can't be reached by normal means at all.