by P. S. Power
Not that people wouldn’t be able to follow her from the school, if they tried. No one had bothered with that, however. Jogging a bit, she got to the rift she needed. The Shortcut in space that would take her to a decently large tree, on a busy street. From there she could step through into the parking lot of Westfield directly. That saved her a lot of walking, since the whole trip would have been about five times greater. So instead of fifteen miles, she’d done far less, just because she could tell where the natural weak points in space were.
Better, she could feel them at a distance, and kind of understood where they’d let out, in the end. When she got to the Yoghurt World, she found that driving with Alan from the school apparently took nearly the same time as walking did for her. At least the others were all at a table, just settling in as she got there, through the front door. Vince was watching the new sign outside the window. Closely, with tendrils of silver magic coming from him as he did it.
Terra saw her first, and waved, getting Eve, who was behind the counter to smile hugely. It very nearly felt real.
“Avery! So, decided to hang with the goth kids? That’s cool, I guess. If you like all the brooding and moping around. Or is that last part just the emos?” She spoke firmly, but without seeming upset, though Terra sank down in her seat a little bit. Alan just laughed.
“Goth, not Emo. For instance, when I cry about how unfair it is that I have to live in this cruel, cruel world, I get drunk first and make darned sure I don’t put it up on the web. It’s a subtle, but real difference.” Then he stared at the woman behind the counter for a bit, noticing how attractive she was, Avery would think. Eve was lovely, after all. People noticed it.
At the moment, the other woman just chuckled deeply. It was a tiny bit sinister, then turned to something more playful.
“Cool. I’m a Vampire myself. You can tell that, by the nifty apron.” It was a very serviceable thing, Avery thought. There was a frayed end on the string for it, which needed to be repaired. She could do that of course. Either by hand or with a machine. That kind of thing had been hard to make work, on the road, but even the leaders of The Gray realized that it was worth it. It allowed a single woman with good skills to do the work of five that were masters of the sewing arts.
With a machine the work that Eve and the Vampire shop needed could be done in minutes. Not that she had that kind of thing. Except that she was nearly certain that it would be more than possible to get one, if she tried. She had money, and everyone had assured her that more would be flowing in from the line transfer work.
Eve waved for her to sit down with her friends from school, then looked at each of them.
“I’m Eve. Avery’s mother. Adopted, so you don’t get confused and think that I’m really that old. Which means that you can all score some delectable edibles here, if you play your cards right. Anyone want anything?”
Terra looked down, seeming a bit scared, but then nodded.
“Does… Do you have, blood here?”
Instead of telling the girl that it would be kind of wasted on her, the Vampire just nodded.
“We sure do. We have cow and Human. You don’t get the second one for free though. It’s still a hundred dollars a bottle. Anyone else?” She spoke as if she meant it, which Avery didn’t understand really. At least she wasn’t going to drink blood if she could help it. Yes, cow was fair game, but outside of her other forms, she kind of preferred regular food.
Alan held his hand halfway up, his face flat and not expressive at all.
“When in Rome?” His eyes danced to her, as if that meant something, which was silly. He wasn’t inside of her at all.
Avery sighed, since she was having a caramel swirl, if possible. It was her favorite. That, and some water. Though she had to admit that drinking blood, while freaky, wasn’t childish at all. Soda was.
When she asked for that, Vince smiled.
“Thank you for the offer, Snowflake. Would a cup of water be allowed?”
The pale Vampire woman screwed her face up cutely enough that Vince blushed a bit.
“Sure. So, you’re from one of the other groups? Uh… Mage?”
Instead of acting cagey about it, the boy nodded, his floppy blond hair moving a bit as he did so.
“A Mage Guild Member in good standing. In fact, you were the one that got my paperwork for me, when my parents brought me in when I turned ten. Normally people wait until they’re sixteen, but my mom and dad were getting a divorce and he wanted to make certain that the guild would know where I was, if my mom ran off with me. Instead she ran off without me.”
That got a nod as Eve moved efficiently back around the counter.
“I remember that! The little kid that came in. Lisa and I had to search for hours to make certain it was allowed. It turned out there was no rule saying that you had to be a given age to join, just a tradition. Neat.” She shrugged at Alan and Terra then, her face a little blank for the moment, even as a pink tendril of magic flowed from her. Life energy, Avery thought. There was silver inside of it as well, but also a thousand different shades of red and green.
It wasn’t strong though, and simply asked for them to remain calm. At least that’s what it tasted like to Avery. Even if strange things were happening. Terra relaxed, as Alan turned his head to look at her directly. Almost as if he’d noticed something happening. What he said then was different, however.
“I didn’t know that regular muggles were allowed to work here. It was one of the reasons that I caught on to Vince and his fake claim of coming to get Avery to set him up with a job.”
There was no response, as Eve moved around the counter, to get the kids the blood that they were probably going to waste. The very idea was just gross. Not that she was going to tell anyone there that. Vampires had to have it to live. It was simply different than what she needed, personally.
Just as the water, frozen treat, blood and napkins all in nice containers came, instead of the paper that everyone else had to deal with, at least for yogurt, there was a noise from the back. It wasn’t loud, really, but she got it first, since two bodies had entered the space. Through the node.
It narrowed the range of who could be coming in, but interestingly, it was Kaitlyn from the book store and another Alede. A woman, though they weren’t locked into being one thing or the other like most were. They all could be men as well, if they wanted.
Kait had nice dark hair, just a few shades lighter than Avery’s, in fact. It was curly, but in a way that always worked for her. Avery had to fight with hers constantly, meaning that most days she considered just shaving her head before doing anything active. There were two main differences between them that day. The first was that Kaitlyn was wearing thick, black rimmed glasses, with glass that didn’t distort her face at all, and the other woman was incredible to look at.
A fact that wasn’t lost on Vince, Alan, Terra and interestingly, Eve. She lit up on seeing the ladies at least.
“Kaitlyn! Valerie!” She set the food down and then ran to give them both big hugs. Kait got a much longer and closer one however, as Vince almost half stood up, entranced by the scene. No one mentioned it, until Kait and Eve finally pulled away from each other. Then she turned to wave at Avery.
“Hey! This is my mother. Valerie Swanson. Val, this is Avery Rome, the Shifter line walker. A Dragon. These others are… New friends?”
The brown eyes looked directly at Avery, a line of interest, which was a nice blue shade, carried to her, but skipped off her skin, which got the other woman to seem puzzled for a bit. Then, instead of being thwarted, she simply asked.
“So, introductions?”
Avery got it then, feeling a little bit slow. Kaitlyn was a line walker, but an Alede first, which meant she ate spent life energy. The kind that was produced when you had sex, if no child were to come of it. That had been explained to her, by Zack, about a week before. Except that Kait wasn’t going to need that kind of thing really. She got her energy from Eve, who could collect it f
rom the universe directly, being a Human being, or close enough for that trick to be learned. That was also why she didn’t need to have blood any longer. She powered herself far more directly than that, most of the time.
“Ah! I get you now. This is Terra, the Human. Vince the Mage and Alan the…” She stopped and looked at him, hard. “Honestly, I don’t really know what you are, Alan. Human, mainly, but you’re also different. I…”
The boy just snorted a little under his breath.
“Freaking hell. Here I thought I was doing so much better than Vince as far as keeping things hidden. I’m Edtha.” He faked a pose, hands on his hips, seated on the vinyl bench, the bright colors of it making the whole thing look fake, suddenly. Playful however.
The name meant nothing to Avery, and Eve seemed confused over it, but Valerie started to nod.
“One of the Rubber Men? That’s interesting. I haven’t seen any of those in… Oh, fifty years.”
Alan nodded then, followed by a sigh.
“Mainly because we have to hide. We’re basically Human, more or less. Like the Mages, except that we’re just really flexible. I mean, yes, I can fit through a six-inch hole and put both feet behind my shoulders, but it isn’t all that helpful in a fight or anything. We don’t lift heavy weights, since our bones bend under the force of it, things like that.” He seemed embarrassed, for all that he’d been sitting and looking off into the distance, like the hero at the end of a tale.
That got Terra to shake her head, take a sip of warmed cow’s blood, then do it again, before speaking.
“So, I’m the boring one again? That sucks.” She seemed to mean it, but also rolled her eyes shortly after the words came out. “Here I was hoping the awesome clothes and dyed hair would help me be special. Now all the kids from art class all have special powers and what do I have?”
Valerie moved in and stroked her arm, gently.
“F-cups? Very symmetrical as well, which could look wonderful in the right outfit. Also, you have friends. That’s very close to the strongest power of my own kind. Having those who care about what happens to you.” She stopped then, looking at her daughter. “We should take them down to the store and see what we can get them to try on. I bet they’d all look darling in the new purple lace that came in.”
Eve giggled a bit.
“I bet that’s true. Avery needs to take Vince here over to the candle shop first. They have an internship coming up, and I need to stack the people in the running for it with my pals. Otherwise Zack is going to do it again, for the second year in a row. We can’t have that. After that, Avery can go and play with you all? It sounds fun, actually.”
Avery didn't understand what was being spoken of, except the part where she was, it seemed, expected to get her new friends positions, if possible.
“I’ll go and see about that now. Thanks Eve. What about Terra and Alan?”
The Vampire just shrugged.
“Not my job, man. You’ve got the clout to set them up. I have the upmost faith in you, Dragon Girl. Oh, also… Jahn Samson was wondering if you’d be free this weekend? The President, the Human one, needs to get to a few places in secret. His protection detail decided they were more comfortable with you than anyone else that can do the work right now. I think it’s the thing where you look like one of his daughters. That will take up most of the day. On the nice side, they’re offering to pay in gold. Going rates.” The words sounded a bit bored, and came along with a faked yawn. Then she looked at the others in the room. “The last time Avery was at the White House it came under attack by government forces. That was covered up in the press, which should freak all of us out. Someone is planning a hostile takeover, for certain. I’m not sure that I’d go, to be honest. Or, well, I would, but I’m kind of unbalanced that way.”
It was kind of her job to do that sort of thing, but it felt strange to her that anyone would want her there in particular. After all, a lot of the government had to think of her as a killer. Not because of The Gray members that died, either. She’d been at the scene of an illegal attack on several high ranking people that had come to work with the FBI. It was a real attack as well. A planned assassination.
The target had been Bey, of the Vampire council. So Avery had set up on the roof behind the fighting line and killed about a dozen people, before the rest lost well enough for it to be over. For a week or so, the U.S. government was trying to demand that anyone that had fought in the battle be given over to them. Interestingly enough, they’d all declined. After the President was attacked at a meeting with the Vampires, his palace being bombed and hit with missiles, that had stopped pretty fast.
Why, she didn’t understand. Probably due to the fact that everyone was too busy trying to find out who was coming for them. Since then no one had mentioned her at all. Even at that, actually. They’d demanded the others be brought to Human justice for surviving, but not her, by name.
Part of her wanted to please President Samson, of course. Another wanted the other important people to like her and be pleased with her efforts. The thing there was that some deep section of her mind was trying to signal her that it was dangerous. It wasn’t anything overt, powerful or clear as to what was going on there however. Just a flavor that seemed bitter, inside her head. Unpleasant and not what she should be walking into.
“I… No. I’m not doing that. No one from our side should. It’s a trap. I’m not even really certain that the Human President should go. I don’t have a reason, but…”
Interestingly, Kaitlyn smiled then, a low chuckle in her throat. It wasn’t sexy at all, which was so different that Valerie and Eve both stared at her.
“No doubt. We should pass the word on that. Avery, you know President Samson personally, right? Possibly well enough to visit him and tell him about this? If it’s too hard for you, we can all go.”
That sounded like a great plan, but Avery knew that wasn’t going to work. Not because her people wouldn’t go with her, but due to the fact that, if they did that kind of thing for her all the time, then she’d never learn to stand on her own.
“No, I’ll do it. I… I can go after I introduce Vince to the people at his embassy. Then I can go and… I don’t know what that part is, honestly. Purple lace?”
Valerie beamed at her, as if she weren’t being an idiot at the moment.
“We have some other new materials as well. Some things made up already to try on. Most of them for women, but it will be fun for everyone. I don’t suppose any of you can sew, can you? That would open things up a lot. We need some tailoring done and don’t have anyone right now. Robert normally does that for us, but he’ll be gone for a few weeks, off and on.” She was looking at Terra, but changed her focus when Avery nodded.
“I can. I was just thinking about buying a machine for that earlier. When I noticed the frayed end on Eve’s apron string.”
Alan nodded then, seeming strange again, if only a little.
“All right. You get rid of Vince and I’ll go make sure that you two get dressed up in the lingerie correctly. Great plan, by the way, shall we go?”
They did then, laughing about something. Probably due to the nature of the outfits they were to be wearing soon. Eve was making funny faces at her as well, but it was familiar to her. The woman seemed to know that other things were really going to be happening. Like her going and talking to the President of her people, instead of whatever Valerie had in mind.
It took a minute to get Vince to Lisa Weise, the Mage Ambassador at Westfield. The woman was looking more youthful than the last time they’d met. She seemed much better rested as well. In many ways, she seemed prettier for some reason. The silver inside and around her was touched with pink and red however, which hadn’t been there before. Green as well. A lot of that, now that Avery noticed it.
“Ambassador Weise? This is Vince. He’s one of your people. A Mage. Eve suggested that you might like him as an intern? I only met him today, at school, but so far he’s been all right. He was working in
class and everything.” That was pretty close to what she knew about him, but Lisa nodded.
“Ms. Rome. So nice to see you again. Vince… Riddenhour, wasn’t it? Are you looking to get into politics? If so that would make one young person from the area. Not that I’m going to turn you down. If you want the position, I’ll sign off on it. That still has to go up to the Mage in charge, but since the recent vote, that’s my father, Eric Weise. Knowing me might not help that much, but he likes Avery. She saved his life once. Not long ago, either.”
The guy closed his eyes then.
“I heard about that. After what happened to Maddy Morse… That was…”
Avery must have looked lost then, since she knew nothing about that at all.
“Maddy Morse? I know that she’s your leader, but what happened? I haven’t heard anything.”
Vince grimaced, his face going sad. It was a bit overdone, but well meant, she thought.
“Bomb. She, her driver and two aids of hers died in the explosion. Four days ago. The vote was online. I voted for Weise. I hate to say it, but we need to have a strong face right now. Everyone knows that he doesn’t take a lot from people that come after Mages.”
Lisa nodded.
“That’s mainly true. He already got a meeting with the Human President in a few days. That’s hard to do.”
Pushing her hair out of the way, brushing the smooth skin of her forehead as she did it, Avery made a face.
“On Saturday? Eve said that Jahn Samson wanted me to take the man around. I’m not doing it. It… Something is wrong there. Bad. I’m going to tell President Samson not to go or have anything to do with it. Mr. Weise… I should call him, too? I… everyone is going to be angry with me, aren’t they?” She meant it, even as the fear of being shunned seemed ridiculous to her.
Rather than let her off the hook, the Ambassador shook her head.
“Maybe. If you feel that’s right, then stand by it. We can always reschedule, but if people die, or are attacked, that would be harder to undo.”