Hell, In a Troy (Lopez Time Book 2)

by Phillip S. Power

  Morgan seemed so nervous that the twitchy kid was about to sweat through his shirt.

  “Um… Well, first… It was me. I wrote that thing on the wall here last week. I, um, apologize. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m really sorry.” He wiped at his forehead. “As part of my punishment I have to come out. You all know I like both sexes. If you didn’t know that, well, you know now. If you’re interested, get with me after this? The other thing is… I’m a shifter. A bat. Which before you ask, yes, it is the best kind of shifter and yes, flying is cool. I’ll be changing shape after school, if anyone wants to see that? I’ll need a towel, you know so it’s not too adult for the officials here? That…” He stopped.

  Then after a long awkward silence, no one making any noise at all, he finally, very nervously, went on.

  “That’s about it. I’m sorry about the graffiti. Also, I’m incredibly awesome and want to be your friend. The ball is in your court now.”

  Then he moved back.

  The little heathens in the audience clapped politely, like they were bored. Because everyone they knew was a special snowflake, probably.

  Troy walked up then.

  “Let’s have big hand for Morgan. That’s pretty brave. Don’t fall for the shifting thing after school… he’s totally planning to flash you all. Now, on the fourteenth of June the police are holding a community picnic. We have music… Have you ever heard of Living Proof? Cortechs Rocks? Also, we have some people coming in… Avery Rome, Krista Hall, I think we might have some other people from some television shows. You can meet them, if you show up. Especially if you work. If you want to do that, get with Morgan here. He’ll get your names and contact info.”

  That got a louder bit of applause for some reason.

  Picnics seemed to be making a comeback.

  Chapter three

  It was Santos that snorted at him this time. Troy had just mentioned how enthused the kids seemed about signing up for the community get together. It was a lot more enthusiastic than he would have been as a kid.

  “You’re being a moron on purpose, right? You just said that there will be famous people there. Part of the cast of Red Rain. Blood Storm as well. Becky… Um, Krista? She’s from here, so I get that part but you have a lot of others as well. Ty Gartner and his band. That’s huge. They’re signing up in order to see the rich and famous.”

  “Oh. I guess. To me… Well, I kind of knew them all from other things. I’ve heard Living Proof. Live once. I haven’t really been in the loop on things like that. Avery is… I don’t know. Kind of like a kid sister? She’s sweet, and a line walker but…” He stopped then, not knowing if the officer was up on things like that.

  “Yeah. Becky told me about that the other day. She… She was pretty much my best friend in high school. Before you ask, no, I wasn’t trying to make time with her back then. Now Eve…” There was a grin and a shrug. The woman was tiny but kind of built, as far as muscle went. “She was more my speed. One of the cheerleaders I was talking about. Becky and I were kind of on the fringe of that group for a while. Then we all did the school thing and fell away from each other. I went off to college. Becky became an actress and the rest… I don’t really know, to be honest. I’ve seen Darla Gibson here in town. Everyone else kind of vanished.”

  They were walking outside, since Morgan was going to actually strip down and change. The principal didn’t seem to think it was a great idea but about fifty of the kids had bothered to come, in case it was a freak show. Possibly, in at least a few cases, to show support for a friend. No one was being hostile about it or anything.

  Troy snapped his fingers to get the bat kid’s attention.

  “Remember that towel. No underaged nudity on school premises.”

  “Yeah. That would go over well with the PTO, I bet.” It was the redheaded boy who answered him, though he really did have a towel. That and a few buddies willing to hold things for him, while he got the clothing and things around. It took a bit but he was changing shape five minutes later. It was interesting to watch but Troy had seen similar things before.

  From Eve, though she didn’t do nearly as much that way. It was mainly her shifting into a different shape. A different kind of vampire, or making herself look like a different woman. That kind of thing. Her greater demon mentor had insisted that she learn how. That it was a thing that she could just study up on was amazing. Not for the first time he had to wonder if that was a thing he could do, too.

  It seemed really unlikely, looking at Morgan’s body stretch and warp like it was.

  That got him thinking about what he knew.

  “Oh… Um… Darla Gibson is a greater demon. She runs this area, actually. It’s about what it sounds like. She always was one of those, so… Yeah. The Technician. Memorize that in case you meet her again. Her sister… Keeley Thomson? She runs Sparks, Nevada now. A lot of the big embassy there is her doing. I don’t know what you know about that? She’s really about your age, though. Darla is several hundred years old at least.” He was busily watching the red headed boy turn into a red furred but giant, bat. It was impressive.

  Maria gave him a skeptical look then, as if that was just a line he was using, or a story he was telling to be a jerk.

  “Demons?”

  Tran laughed.

  “It’s a thing. I know, I didn’t get it at first, either. I’ve met the one from here. Gibson. Intimidating, to say the least.”

  Troy smiled, not meaning it.

  “Hally York… She’s with The Mistress of Souls. That’s Keeley. Nice girl. She can pretty much make anyone into her slave, just by wanting it. That’s about the worst thing that can happen to a person, being the slave of a greater demon. Her special gift though, however that works. Zack…” He stopped, not certain how to explain that part.

  The uniformed officer made a face then.

  “The one that dated Becky?”

  “Most likely. I think I heard that at the time. We used to be roommates, which was how I got into all of this. Darla and Keely are his aunts. So, he’s a greater demon as well. The Line Walker. Not to be confused with the other line walkers, who don’t have the in front of their names.”

  Santo made a face then and shook her head.

  “Oh. So, Hally works with Keeley?”

  He nodded, then grinned.

  “That kind of together and the other. Dating. For years. Hally’s brother is Steve York, from Living Proof? So, he’s from here as well.”

  There was a bit of a chuckle. It sounded sinister and when he turned, it was about the bat in the field behind the gym. He was wobbling around a little bit, since bat forms seemed to have stubby little legs. Then he stretched his wings out wide. That was kind of impressive. He wasn’t very tall, being about three and a half feet that way. The wings were over twenty feet long.

  Before Troy could focus on the wicked sounding Tran, Morgan started to run, arms in. It looked awkward but after a few seconds he stretched his long wings and took to the air. There was that bobble that all bats had when they flew but he was up in the air, circling over them, about a hundred feet up in pretty short order.

  Looking at it, Troy felt a tiny bit envious.

  “That looks fun. Anyway, why are you cackling like an evil magician again, Denise?”

  She smirked at Maria.

  “Isn’t Eve the one that stopped by the other day? Hot. I can see it. The Chief’s daughter?”

  That got Maria to make a face.

  “Yeah. Eve Benson. I met her dad back in the day. He was the one that got me into all of this. Law enforcement. I hadn’t even thought about it before that. I heard that she became a vampire?”

  The question wasn’t aimed at him, so Troy kept his mouth shut. He’d met a few people since his change that he’d known in his living life. Some didn’t seem to care. Most were a bit put off by the whole thing. Even the ones that were cool with dead people walking around in the main. It was different when it was someone you once knew.

  No doubt wor
se when it was someone that you loved. Even if they couldn’t love you back. That the woman was married now, happily as far as Troy could tell, didn’t mean that kind of thing had gone away totally for her in regards to a person from her own life.

  Instead of seeming upset, she sighed.

  Detective Tran answered.

  “It’s worse than that. She isn’t just some regular vamp girl now. No, she has a special name and everything. Troy mentioned that to me. If they get a nickname, they’re pretty much bad asses. She’s The Snowflake. Kind of like vampire law enforcement, I think?” She checked with him on that, looking up into his face.

  Seeming like she was being polite, instead of dumping a world of strangeness on their coworker.

  “Yeah. The Bey is her mentor. For us. Anyway, she does most of the training for the new vamps, and all of the special daylight training. Most vampires can’t master going into the light like this until they’re a few hundred years old. I’ve only been dead two years and a bit. I guess it’s pushing three, soon. Anyway, that was thanks to her.” He shrugged. “We used to live together, when we were alive. She worked with Zack for a while.”

  Even if it was an old issue, Santos seemed a little annoyed.

  “They were dating?”

  That one was easy, so he decided to leave it there.

  “Not really. It was just a place for her to stay for a bit, while she learned some tricks. Nothing that serious at all.”

  Of course, he’d dated Eve off and on, for years. Long enough that it had pretty much slipped from being fuck buddies to something more, just before she took off to die and become more than she had been. If it hadn’t been for that…

  Well, things might have been different. They weren’t. The same was true for Maria. She at least, had someone in her life. Jainy was a bit different, having a lot of piercings and wild colored hair but seemed nice. Not as good looking as Eve but Troy was willing to bet that she didn't go around killing people on a regular basis, either. In that contest, depending how you counted things, the human woman had to win hands down.

  The answer seemed to end the conversation, and his partner didn’t seem to want to make Maria feel too bad, which was good of her. There was also the distraction that Morgan represented. After all, he wasn’t going to just change and drive home, or even walk. It could take hours for shifters to be ready to change again. A thing that no one had mentioned that day.

  Troy waved at the crowd of kids.

  “We need a food run. I’ll pay. Who’s going to handle that for us?”

  A heavy-set kid that seemed like he wanted in on the chance of getting free fries, waved a bit.

  “I can get that done. I have my truck here. Is… King’s all right?”

  He didn’t know having never eaten there but Morgan seemed happy with that, so Troy pulled a few bills. They were hundreds, which should be more than enough. He just didn't want to be that old guy who thought that a quarter was a nice treat for the youngsters, thinking it would get them five handfuls of penny candies. It had only been a few years since he’d eaten food but it couldn’t have gotten that expensive. Not without him having heard about it on the news.

  “Get some for everyone that’s staying? Someone else should go with you, to help carry. Get a list of who wants what.”

  That made sense to him but oddly had about half the people walking away. Smiling and waving, at least. The rest of the kids didn’t all jump on the free stuff either, he noticed. Most of them begged off in fact. Only about five people were having anything and one of them, a slender girl who looked almost elfish, started to do the writing for the big guy.

  “I’ll go with you, Jim. If that’s okay? I don’t want to be pushy.” A flash of silver came off of her then. It wasn’t directed toward Jim, the large boy, at all. It led to another girl, who was standing back in the crowd. She was taller. So much so that he wondered for a moment if she might have been a boy in girl clothing. That wasn’t the case. At least the scent was female, when he picked it out of the crowd. From the answering flash, she was just a mage though, like the elf looking one.

  The truck kid, Jim, seemed happy enough with that. Even if he clearly wasn’t thinking that the elf wanted to date him. It played over his face, as well as through the thoughts coming off of him. Troy was taken slightly aback by that. So far, he’d never really thought about reading minds. It wasn’t clear or anything but he could tell what was being thought.

  Not very well but it really was there.

  He was planning to just stand there, under the sun, using magic himself to keep the worst of the pain off of him. There wasn’t a lot else to do but he wasn’t planning to leave a shifted bat at the school alone for hours. Not even with the curious kids. Some might have been his friends but that didn’t mean they were going to be all that responsible.

  The idea of some of them tying a rope to Morgan’s feet and flying him like a stunt kite came to mind for some reason. Not that anyone there would be doing that. It wasn’t windy enough by half.

  The tall mage girl moved over, clearly understanding that he wasn’t actually alive. It hadn’t been hidden but not announced either. She poked at him though, magically, trying to see how he’d respond. That got him to fake a smile for her.

  “Hello. Can I help you with something?” She wasn’t actually cute. Her face was too long and she managed to have a really big nose. It was acceptable for a human being though, or, he imagined, a mage. Really, if she was one of that last sort, then not looking differently kind of showed she just didn’t care that much about it. She wore makeup but only enough to cover the fact that she had a few zits. It wasn’t an attempt to dazzle the world or anything.

  Troy could appreciate that, actually. Cute had its powers but none of those were working too well on him. Being hard working and not vain were better. At least for him, for the time being.

  “I was wondering… Are there going to be any other people there? Vampires and shifters but…”

  He nodded then.

  “Lisa Weise is still putting up a table for it. We’re going to try and have all the local mages come out as well, if they can. You should get with her and see about setting that up. Maybe with the two that went to get food? Jim and that girl? She seemed like a hard-working type. You can do worse than that. Jim volunteered right off, too. That makes him worth asking about it at least. Plus, he has a truck. Those can really come in handy for things like this.”

  She turned red. It wasn’t in anger or anything at all, so he didn’t get it. Lisa was nice enough, or had been when they’d met. Denise smiled at her then.

  “Oooh. You like one of them? Which?”

  That got him to actually snort at her, this time. It was normally her deal, doing that.

  “None of our business. Besides, it could be that she was just being put forward to work on her summer break. It’s just a suggestion, though. If you don’t do it, then who will? Let me get you that number.” It was just for the embassy but he dialed it as soon as the girl, Bonnie, had it written down.

  “Candles and More, Vince speaking, how may I help you today.”

  The name meant nothing to him but the tone was professional and polite.

  “Hi, Vince. Troy Lopez. I was calling to see if Lisa is still planning to come to Lincoln for the community picnic? That’s on the fourteenth of June.” Why he was telling some kid that worked at the candle store that, he didn't know. It was probably a throwback to when he’d worked across the way from that shop himself. Most of the time, he was told as little as possible.

  Instead of sounding lost, the boy took a sudden breath.

  “Ah! Okay, so we have a date for that now. Excellent. I’m up to work that. I managed to wrangle line travel in for it, for Lisa and myself. I just had to beg two of my friends to help with the food. Leslie and Mark. Great. We’re going to a different world on vacation after that. Will’s world.” He stopped and sighed. “Which you probably don’t need to know about. Sorry. I’m all excited, since I missed
the last one. Let me get Lisa? She’ll want to firm this up.”

  That took walking and waiting, while Morgan stood in the slightly scrubby grass, with his wings folded. Otherwise his bat junk was going to be hanging out. The girls that had stayed were being pretty good about not staring at it but Denise was proving she was a bit of a pervert, looking that way far too often. Not that the kid would care.

  It just looked bad. To stop that he covertly elbowed the woman in the shoulder. She turned to him smoothly at least, not taking it as a personal attack.

  Just then, the phone was handed off, after a bit of poorly muffled murmuring.

  “Officer Lopez?”

  “Troy, please. It isn’t like we’ve never met. Okay, your assistant there wanted me to confirm the date and time for you.” He did that part quickly, listening to her writing on the other side. Then he went on. “We also have some workers for you, here on this side. School kids. I told them that you’d pay well and that the beatings would be minimal. Though, I think I might have actually suggested that it would go the other way around?” He laughed a bit, getting a polite sound from the lady.

  “Seriously though? I can pay a bit. Call it two hundred dollars each, for up to four people? We won’t need much but this is an official event, so I can’t be too cheap. Is that enough, do you think?”

  “I’ll ask? Here. The woman in charge is standing by. Bonnie. One of your people, though not out here on the ground, so be careful about that.” He turned away and whispered that last bit, so that no one would understand that he’d said it.

  “Really? That’s fantastic. Would it be all right to speak with her, do you think?”

  “Sure. One second… Bonnie! Lisa Weise on the phone for you. Before you beg off, she’s the daughter of the mage’s president. You’re representing all of humanity in this right now, so I expect you to step up. Don’t make me look bad.” He had to pretend to be fighting a smile but the girl didn’t seem that worried.

  So, turning red before really had been over one of the others. Which was none of his business, even if he was still going to work out which, if he could.