Hell, In a Troy (Lopez Time Book 2)

by Phillip S. Power

  “We have Officer Lopez setting up classes for us as to how to handle different groups, if it comes up. We can get some pamphlets on that? It never hurts for the civilians to understand what we’re thinking. We can get some feedback and all that. Plus, put out some feelers for job recruitment.”

  Troy hadn’t even really started on that part of things yet. He’d, oddly enough, been a little busy.

  “I’ll have some things for that. I’m going to be needed for the speaking and travel portions. Can we get… Miller or Rogers for the booth? Both, by preference. Good guys.”

  Interestingly, Darla nodded.

  “How about Manchester? He’s familiar, having been on television a lot in the last ten years or so. He does the public face things for us. I’m grooming him for Roy’s job, when he doesn’t want to bother with it anymore.”

  Instead of being insulted, the Chief smiled. It actually looked real, which was different than Troy would have expected.

  “I bet we can ask him. The others, too. If they can’t make it… Well, someone will volunteer. It isn’t a hard duty or anything.”

  There was that.

  About half an hour later, with several pages of hand written notes, most of them being things that others were supposed to handle but that he needed to stay on top of if he didn’t want to invite disaster, Troy stood and started to shake hands. With pretty much everyone in the room.

  Tor was near the front, standing with Eve. It was clear that they knew each other, which made sense. To him, she was probably one of the most important people in their reality. One of the few who could go to his world at will. It meant that Avery was waved over and bowed to by the man as well.

  “This is most exciting. Thank you all for allowing me, and my people, to be part of it. It is through such things that we will form the bonds that bring us together, I hope.” He went low, bowing again.

  Troy didn't know how to do that kind of thing but realized that Eve was doing it and so was Avery. It might be a girl thing but he was willing to risk it, so he copied them, bending a bit more than halfway over. Vince the mage boy did it as well, and a few others managed it. Darla, Detective Tran and the IPB people. That and the heavyset human kid from the school.

  Jim. Jim the human, as far as Troy knew, having never gotten his last name. It had to be in his notes somewhere. The boy flushed a bit over it but matched the rest of them. As Tor stood, his eyes cast around, seeing who had managed the unfamiliar custom. Also, most likely, who hadn’t. He didn’t act as if that was rude or anything. Not even unexpected.

  “Ah, so these are the ones in charge here? I’d wondered a bit, I have to admit. I understood that Troy Lopez would be. I should get all of your names?”

  That got Eve to move forward then, using a single hand, fingers together, to point at everyone.

  “You know Mark and Warren, of course. This is Detective Denise Tran… She’s basically equivalent to a constabulary Captain from your home. She has a keen mind and a mouth like a sailor. A wonderful person for you to know, if you get a chance.”

  Then she moved to the blond mage kid. Her eyes narrowing a bit.

  “Vincent Riddenhour. He’s the main attaché at the Westfield mage embassy. It’s very rare for someone his age to rise to that kind of position. That makes him someone to watch.”

  Then, not even missing a beat, the vampire turned to the large human boy.

  “This is James Bollings. One of Troy’s main local assistants.”

  He nearly spoke up, then didn’t. It was, in a way, literally true. He was paying the kid to work, for a single day. He’d also nailed the whole bowing thing, which suddenly made him important. More to the point, it was painfully clear that the whole bowing event was actually about the boy at that moment. The universe needed him to come to the attention of these people. All of them.

  So, Troy nodded, making his face seem happy.

  “That’s right. Feel free to get with him if you need anything while you’re here. He can explain any of our odd customs or tell you about things that seem strange. His position here means that he’s able to do that kind of thing, without taking any offense. It’s a very important place in our society.”

  For the life of him, he didn't know why he’d said all of that. He couldn’t even claim it was a joke, since it wasn’t funny at all.

  Tor bowed again, which got everyone to do it all over again, just in case it was needed.

  Jim, interestingly, spoke then. There was a line of intent from Darla directly to the kid but it worked well enough.

  “That’s right. I’m… Pretty much no one, here. That means that you can ask me all the awkward questions you might come up with and other than my blushing and stammering, I can just tell you the answer. If you ask one of the important people, then it could go differently. You know, with them making up nice sounding things, instead of saying what the truth is? Then you end up using the wrong restroom, and an inter-dimensional war starts. No one wants that.” He seemed very schooled and polite in his words.

  Tor nodded then. He really seemed interested in the idea, from the look on his face and the feeling coming off of him.

  “I can introduce you to the others coming as well? I… It comes up, more than you’d think, between worlds. Having someone who isn’t allowed to take offense at our strange ways… We should arrange for that as well on our side of things. I fear that everyone walks most carefully, when we meet others. We won’t risk war, if we can help it.”

  The words got Eve to move in, touching Jim on the back. Cozily, like they were old friends.

  “Agreed. That will be Jim for here, then.” She turned to the boy then. “If you need travel to other worlds, get with Troy or myself and we’ll arrange that. You work for us, so that won’t work for vacations but I bet we can work something out that way.”

  The kid, instead of seeming baffled by the turn of events, held very still. That wasn’t about Tor either, at a bet. No, he didn’t want to cause Eve to move her hand from his back, at a bet.

  Troy recalled that kind of thing, being that age, himself, once. A very, very long time before. In a different land. There was a vision of ice, that tried to intrude for some reason, as if that made any sense. He’d grown up in Vancouver, Washington. They could go years there with no real snow at all.

  “Good plan then. You’ll need to stay for a bit here Jim. Tor, Mark and Warren will need your contact information, for while they’re here. If you run into anything you don’t understand, run it past James. If he doesn’t know, he’ll come to me and ask and we can take it from there. That way if anyone has to die for it, we can just kill Jim and stop any pesky inter-reality wars from taking place. Like he said.”

  The kid didn’t even look scared. Even if the line from The Technician was gone already. What influence she’d been applying seemed to have vanished as well.

  The boy, who was a man, if a younger one, actually understood what was happening. More than Troy would have guessed at him getting on the fly, to be honest.

  “That… It’s like first contact, isn’t it? Someone has to stand in front of the aliens, hoping that they don’t say hello by setting people on fire. If anyone has to, it’s best to send in someone expendable first. Just… Remember that I’m not expendable to me?”

  That got a chuckle from all the other world people.

  Mark seemed pleased to have someone there for that kind of thing, as well. So it wasn’t just Tor.

  “Great. I have questions then? Mainly about food preparation. I noticed that a few things seem to be different here. I can ask you? What do you know about beef production here?”

  Getting ready to step in, Troy was shocked, when the kid just nodded.

  “A bit. I worked on a cattle ranch, and my grandpa insisted that I help with the slaughter and preparation last year, so that I’d know how it’s done. I can go over the basics?”

  That had the boy taken to the side, to talk to the IPB men. Tor looked at Troy, directly.

  “T
hank you, for your consideration of our needs, sir. I should get home, if that isn’t rude? Our time differences are a bit sharp. An hour here is eight at home.”

  Eve nodded, her face blank.

  Darla however, moved in and hugged Tor, who did it back as if that kind of thing was totally normal.

  “Go then. We won’t make our friends lose too much of their lives. We should get together and go over magical systems, if you ever get the time? There are some interesting technical differences. I’ve done a few similar things however. Perhaps Troy could sit in on that?”

  The giant man seemed awfully happy to hear those words.

  “Perfect! We should make an appointment for that. After the event here, in two of your weeks?”

  They worked that part out between them, Darla touching Tor more than was needed just to get at his information. He was good looking but that wasn’t actually going to turn the demon’s head, at a guess.

  After almost everyone had left, with only Eve, Chief Benson, Denise and Darla left, Troy turned to her. He made his lips curl up, tilted his head in what he hoped was a cute fashion, then locked eyes with The Technician.

  “Now… Ann is my mentor? I hadn’t heard about that one. Could you explain? Or is it one of those greater demon things that I’m not allowed to know about until I’m waist deep in muck, as you all laugh about how stupid I am?”

  The Technician just shrugged at him.

  “Well, technically we’re working it, your training, as a team effort. I’m not allowed to have two trainees at once, so Ann volunteered to help out with it. It isn’t for anything big. We just want to see if you can learn to match Eve. That’s all.”

  “Oh? That’s all? She’s kind of impressive, if you haven’t noticed.” That was a simple truth.

  She was incredible, in a lot of ways.

  Eve smiled at the words.

  “True, I am kind of awesome. The thing there Troy, is that you are, too. I would have figured you to work that one out already.”

  Chapter fourteen

  The troubling news that greater demons were actually taking an interest in his boring and rather simple current life wasn’t a great thing. Not for Troy. He could normally go all day without having to even imagine that kind of thing. When he left the station, since it wasn’t a work day, even if he was there, doing exactly that for his job, Eve put an arm over his shoulder.

  “So, we sort of need to pick up Mark and Warren, and get them back home. We have that function in a bit. It should be fun.” She gave him a slow grin then. “By which I mean that you’ll get to tend bar and not make any tips, most likely. On the good side, I arranged for some clothing for you, so we don’t have to do the shopping here. You like dressing like a monkey, right? It’s the tradition there.”

  He was tugged along, a bit more forcefully than he liked, most days. Honestly, it wasn’t that Eve was pulling him around by force or anything like that. Just taking his hand and leading him felt a bit off. Like she was claiming to own him. That kind of thing tended to piss vampires off. He didn’t have time for that, so worked on feeling both pain free and calm. Then, once he had the concept firmly enough, the idea starting to make him feel a bit better, he added just a touch of magic to the whole thing. It was part of a pretty complicated set of information.

  As he breathed, he circulated energy and sipped at it, using a tiny fraction of the power to increase the flow. Carefully. He didn't really need to slam into the ground or anything, if he had a choice about it. Though it reminded him to try doing that backwards soon. Flying, or even jumping extra high, could come in handy. So could landing softly, from really high places.

  Mark and Warren were very well disciplined when it came to not wandering off in strange alternate dimensions. Troy got that one. After all, if you didn’t have the power to get back home on your own, it was going to be a one-way trip, for most people.

  There were probably millions of realities that had line walkers of note. Many of which would only have one, or two. The odds of finding that kind of person in their own world would be nearly impossible. If you weren’t in the know. For him it would take about twenty minutes to find one of his friends to get things going for him. They’d do it for free, as well.

  If he’d been just regular Troy Lopez though, the club bartender, then he wouldn’t have had a single clue about how to even start getting that kind of thing going. It was, he guessed, possible. If he could get online, he might work out where he’d need to go in order to find Zack. Better, he’d find Avery or Phillip. The human kid and the shifter girl. The ones that might help out a stranded and helpless Troy, just because.

  Zack would probably want something for his time.

  Setting that up in a different reality would be nearly impossible. He was thinking about that when Tran came out, patted him on the back, then waved at Mark and Warren. Eve was over by them, about seven feet away from them.

  “See you on Monday, partner. You kids make sure you don’t party too hard, you hear?” There was a softness to the words, under the slightly edgy surface.

  The slightly more youthful looking fellow, Mark waved back to her.

  “We’ll try to be good. I promise. We should see you in a few weeks, if not sooner?”

  The lady smiled at him, winking.

  “That’s right. Now, I’m off to save the rest of my weekend. I think I’ll go to a spa, tomorrow. Get a back rub.” She grinned, then walked away, getting in her car, while Troy started to open a hole in space. Eve watched him doing it, then nodded.

  “Sweet. That will take a bit. So, um, Mark. Warren… Do you have spas in your world?”

  Warren, who was thin and a bit awkward looking, nodded, seeming sage as he did it.

  “Sure. Where you go to get things like backrubs. Pedicures… Oh, and of course, to cannibalize your political rivals. That’s the best part. Eating a conservative’s liver on a cracker while having your feet rubbed.” The man deadpanned the whole thing.

  Troy laughed a bit.

  “You’re joking, right?” He said it very seriously, trying to keep working without messing up the soft node point he was attempting to make. “You don’t really allow foot rubs, do you? Those are so illegal here.”

  It was Eve who made a face, off to the side.

  “We shouldn’t play that way. We’ll end up glossing over something that’s really illegal and people will make mistakes.”

  That got the other cook, Mark, to nod. Peacefully. The focus coming off of him wasn’t even close to what Troy was doing but it was enough for him to actually feel. Probably due to some kind of meditation.

  “There’s a good point in there. Especially since we’re going to be taking these people into a meeting with a good mix of politicians tonight. If one of them gets hungry and starts to eat someone, it’s all on you, Warren.”

  Troy missed the next bit, the other man speaking, as someone walked past. Then Eve went, sounding chipper and cheerful. It wasn’t real but she was getting good at it.

  “Don’t worry, we should be all right for the next day or two. Troy?”

  He nodded, not answering. After that, he missed the conversation, until the fold in space was firm enough that Eve took Mark by the hand and walked him through. Then, a minute later she came back and did Warren.

  “One sec, Troy-boy.”

  It took her longer than that but four minutes later or so, with him standing there, staring at nothing. A couple of people noticed but no one in the police station parking lot walked over to bother him about it. When the female vampire got back, she rolled her eyes.

  “Marcia Turner wanted to make sure I vetted you first. You’re not coming to do anything bad, are you?”

  “Only if I can’t remember how to make drinks. Or if their versions are different there? I need to chat to someone on that part. Just in case.”

  She started to speak, then stopped.

  “I was going to say that it wouldn’t be an issue but you know… I have no clue. Not even a small one
on that score. They drink water and things like that. Soda and have booze but mixed drinks could be totally different. Or the same and be called different things. That happens. I was in a world last week that was nearly identical to ours… Except that they called blue jeans dimplies. I asked about that, thinking that it would be about the man who invented them having that name… You know, instead of Levi? But no, it was all about the butt dimples. I kid you not. Otherwise? Exactly like this place. The Yoghurt World was even changing their products at the same time.”

  She was making conversation, rather than warning him about the dangers of dimplies, Troy thought. It was a cute enough story, if a bit boring. Some worlds had magic, flying cars or talking horses. That one just had a cool name for blue jeans. If not cool, it was at least no worse than what they used for the same thing.

  Eve took his arm, her face looking pleasant.

  “You’ve been to the IPB world, right?” Her face was bland but her grip on his arm gentle, really.

  No more than a touch, as they moved into the void, Eve wrapping the essence of her being around him. For his part, automatically, he pulled himself in, to keep from dissipating in the void. It was nothing, after all. While intent was enough to keep a person alive, nearly forever, it took constant effort.

  When they shifted out, into a real world that had stuff in it, they weren’t on the normal military style base that Troy had been at before. Only a few times, mainly taking some messages around for Bey and the others on the Council. That had been about making certain the people there knew how powerful the vampires were.

  Not that it was really needed. The people there didn’t care that much at all. They were nice, more or less but if they were impressed with line walking, it was in an abstract way. A lot of people there had powers after all. Even being a vampire was just thought of as kind of normal for them. Super strength, speed and mental powers were kind of what people had going on there. At least in the IPB itself. Outside of it, at least from the feeling of the hotel they’d come out in, was less impressive.