Other Places 3: Detours

by P. S. Power

  They all seemed to actually like Zack, for some reason. It was a trick, or a temporary thing, no doubt, but as hard as it was making his life, at the moment, that part was helpful.

  He grinned, tired of the game they were playing and not even wanting sex at all. That had been locked down for nearly a day already, since too many of his new memories were involved that way.

  "All right, ten million, a favor that's comparable to the task at hand, and you have to have sex with at least ten people in the next month. None of them have to be me, but at least one Greater Demon." He waited, and, shockingly, Darla nodded.

  "That sounds more than fair Keeley. You should take it."

  He was willing to let the sex stuff go, himself, but they talked for a while longer, with Darla pushing both the cash portion and the sex part up, as Keeley argued them down, ending up with eleven million, and only having to have sex with five different people. One of them being a Greater Demon.

  Given everything, since he figured that Keeley might want to annoy him, he had to figure that Troy was about to get lucky. That was fine. She was underage for him, but could change shape to an appearance that he wouldn't know about at all. Or, Zack knew, he might be wrong. She did not seem happy though, even if it was clear to him that Darla was trying to help out, not be mean. It just seemed like that, if you filtered things through Human morality.

  They weren't Human, which was the point. Not at all.

  When she left the Demon girl practically stormed out the front door, acting a good bit more immature than she had any right to, since she was supposed to be both an adult and sane. After they left, with Rebekah being jerked through the node roughly, outside the closed front door, Darla moved in and gave him a big hug. It was different, since she normally hadn't been doing things like that.

  "That was so good, Zack! You didn't even bargain like a hippie. At this rate you might even be a productive member of the community some day. Still, we can't just leave it there, can we? Let me grow a cock, and we can have sex. You have some oil for that?" She grinned, but as far as he could tell she was pushing him for the same reason that she'd been after Keeley. He had issues there too, didn't he?

  It was probably why Mirror Him had always teased him about being gay, so he'd shy away from those memories. It wasn't a bad plan, come to think of it. Neither was what Darla suggested, though he still wasn't really into the idea. It was like the raspberry filled chocolate cake, he guessed. A thing that he could force himself to do, but wouldn't like. Not without magic being used to change his mind.

  "Nope. We can use vegetable oil, I suppose. Keep the penis modest though, will you? I don't want to get all stretched out. Plus, if you do me, I want to do you, too. Going second, so if you get too rough, you know you'll be getting the same in return." He managed not to sound scared at least. Even if the idea did freak him out a bit.

  She giggled. It wasn't real, but it came with a pat on the back.

  "Good. That would take a few hours, but it's completely fair to negotiate for things like that. Instead, you should probably scout out this delivery that Tarsus asked for. It's strange that he didn't come to you directly for it. Or that he isn't just doing it himself. It could be a trap, since Gregor won't be as wary about substitutions as the rest of us are at the moment. Not that he's easy to fool. We should eat something first."

  "Cake. I already have some, after all. Then I need to check people at work and see what my schedule is for the day. Where's Lisa?" He found her with his mind, lying down on his bed, but not sleeping. She was still too wired by the Wistra for that.

  They ate in silence for a while, and at four Zack just stood, his face relaxed. After all, he was either about to be jumped by a bunch of super powerful and insane beings, or he wasn't. If that happened and they wanted him dead, odds are he would be. If, on the other hand, Darla was correct, then Xenses and friends would probably want him alive and well. It made sense to him not to get involved in other people's messes at least, which meant, as long as no one pushed him to do anything too hard, he could be taken off the playing field.

  Of course, some of them, like Tarsus, would probably figure that out and decide that a dead Zack could open up a spot for a nice, new and totally sane version of him to come into the world. In that case the good guys, as they liked to think of themselves, would probably be the ones killing him.

  The sad part there was that poor Darla was stuck in the middle, either way. Sure, she'd only taken the job as a way to use him as bait, so that she and Keeley could kill Xenses, but other than that she'd done a decent enough job, hadn't she? He knew all those useful fighting tricks because of her, and had cooking skills now.

  Why, as soon as they moved on to dressmaking, he'd be set.

  "I need to go and visit with Bente soon." He spoke without warning, but Darla was too old to be taken off guard.

  "Well, she is pretty, so that would be a good person to have sex with. Or did you mean for a new wardrobe?"

  Zack shrugged.

  "I was thinking I'd start a modeling agency. Just as a lark. She probably has connections in that world and I have some that might help." He waited for her to either praise him or suggest that he was a moron and it wouldn't work, but she just nodded.

  "It's a plan. Do you want to go now?"

  That got a head shake.

  "Nope. I need you to stay here with Lisa, since she's practically your new girlfriend, while I go and set up... Things. I know, the bad guys are after me, and so are the good ones, but the fact is, if they're going to kill me, they will. I appreciate you holding my hand all night, but right now I need to stand on my own feet, or no one will respect me. Not that they will anyway, but you understand the psychology of that kind of thing, right? I can act tough, or weak, but neither thing changes the situation. I'll be..." He wanted to say that he'd be all right, but the truth was he had no way to know that at all. The best he could do was give a rough time schedule for his day, so he didn't bother. "Let's plan for lunch at noon? Here?"

  She looked at him, but with something approaching respect, rather than anything else.

  "Fine then. Stay ready, and if it comes to a fight, stick to your real talents, and run. Doing anything else for the time being is foolish."

  They were both silent for a while, and he went to change clothes, just doing it in the slightly dark room, as Lisa looked on. It wasn't as if he weren't wearing cute underwear, and he was, he knew, the wrong gender for the woman to really be interested in. Even if she still had a crush on him. That was less physical and more mental anyway. It would make it harder for her when they had sex, but...

  He smiled and kept changing clothing, putting on rather standard looking black socks, slacks and shiny shoes that were comfortable and had textured soles to them, in case he needed to be on his feet a lot.

  From his bed, which was a king sized thing that Lenore had gotten him, and had a nice gold and red bedspread on it that shone, even in the near dark, Lisa spoke, her voice trembling a little.

  "What am I going to do, Zack? Everything is ruined and I have nothing, do I?"

  It was clear she was crying, but he kept putting his shirt on. It was blue, and he had a tie to go with it, which was a real one. That was just black, so he could look the part of working in a book store as a manager, rather than seem like he was ready for television. Then, after he arranged himself, he moved to the bed and laid down next to Lisa, working his arm under her neck. That wouldn't be comfortable for long. After about ten minutes he patted her head a bit, and kissed her, first on the cheek, but then the lips. She did it back, more out of reflex than desire. He could tell that without even getting her mildly panicked thoughts.

  "Now, I need to get off to work, unless you want to have sex? If you remember, the last time you came and cried like this I did mention that it was a time honored guy tradition." It was a distraction, and she winced, turning away a little, as if having said that meant she were about to be raped by a Demon or something.

  "I... Al
l right." She didn't mean it, but said the words anyway. Because, clearly, she owed him and if he wanted to use her that way, he should be allowed to. She didn't have any value at all, otherwise. Not inside her own head. Not at the moment.

  Worse, the idea made him go hard, even blocking out his emotions at the moment.

  "Good. That's the spirit. We'll do that later? Probably after you get back from your retreat. I don't want you blaming the drugs for wanting my sweet, sweet body." He chuckled then, since, at best, he looked like a too skinny scarecrow, rather than a sex symbol.

  "Okay. I... Thanks, Zack. I know you don't have to do any of this. I..."

  She didn't finish the thought, but it was pretty clear anyway. She just didn't know what to do.

  Luckily he did, and got up, ignoring the tightness at the front of his pants. He really did have things to do, after all.

  "Off I go then. I'll be back in a few hours, if the Mage Guild doesn't send someone for you. If so, have Darla check them out first? Make sure they really have your best interests at heart and all that?"

  "Right. Oh, Zack, the summit. Do you have people working on that? Maybe I should go and check..."

  "Nope. I'll handle that. For now, just try to rest for a while." Then he left, since he was oddly annoyed by the whole situation suddenly.

  After all, she was messing things up, and not even putting out for him. Okay, she'd offered but, for some reason, he suddenly wanted sex a lot more than he used to.

  Which was part of what Mirror Him had always been. That left him sad for a moment. Not because he didn't like sex, but because, in a strange and probably codependent way, he missed the voice in his head a bit.

  He walked to work, but had to go in the back door, since the mall was in lock-down. No one had called about anything, so it was strange. Roland came when he pounded on the door, and the front of the place had the steel gate drawn tight already. Looking through it, he noticed that almost everyplace along the way did.

  Zack looked at the man, and his Vampire lady friend and sighed.

  "Crap. Someone managed to start a war?"

  Rowan looked freaked, but at least had on nicer clothing than before. It all fit, for instance, and while it was pretty casual, it was unstained and new. So did Roland, though Zack didn't care as much about that.

  "There was an attack, Zack. On New York. No one knows who did it. Bombs and things like that? It's on the mainstream press. The Ettarian Ambassador told us all. So we locked up. Is that right? People might have attacked us, here, since, you know, we're Vampires and the last thing like that was sort of our people? It could be terrorists too, but..." She was scared. It didn't show a lot outwardly, but inside it sort of did. Zack needed to find out more about it. To that end he opened a node to his house and pushed both of the Vamps through, with instructions to guard Darla and Lisa. At least until they fell asleep for the day.

  Then he very nearly moved off to the City, since a late night attack wouldn't have a lot of news in particular, yet. Instead he went to the node room and used it as a looking glass, to see what he could find out. That... Wasn't great. The events were small, but in four locations, and three of them seemed strange to him, since space warped in the area, just a tiny bit.

  Zack didn't understand it at first, but finally worked out that the bombs that had gone off, mainly on the rooftops of high rise buildings, had nuclear material involved, which was spreading over the whole area. It wasn't a horrible plan, if messing with the economy was the purpose. New York was central to that, after all. Nine-Eleven had shown that one, to any group that was willing to pay attention.

  That meant it almost certainly wasn't Vampires doing it. They actually cared about things like the population, since they wanted a large and healthy food source. Sick people didn't get fed on, and radiation made Humans sick, if they didn't just die outright. They might execute some of them, or torture them, to make a point, but just poisoning the well? No, that didn't seem correct, did it?

  The problem, for him, was that there was a node in the city. A Nexus complex. One of the largest in the Human world, at least as to how many groups were there. He sighed, and looked again, noting that the blasts weren't that close, but that some of the radioactive dust was headed that way.

  He wondered what to do for a moment, until the phone rang. At first he figured that it would be someone he knew, but it was actually the Vampire Ambassador... from there. Speak of the devil, Zack thought.

  "We... Request aid. I cannot reach our embassy there, but if the Line Walker is available, I will pay to have my people removed from this location." There was a tension to the words, but also something like defeat. "I have children among them. My own. I do not know what kind of attack we are under, but if it grows, I'd not have them perish."

  Zack was silent for a moment, and then shrugged.

  "Fine, half of what you own. You can pick which half, but don't cheat me. That will work for getting everyone in the complex out however, if you can spread the word and get things ready there? I'll be in... Half an hour from now. There's a cloud of radioactive particles heading your way. Dirty nukes."

  "Fuck. Are you certain?" The man sounded angry at least, instead of just defeated. It was probably better that way. Anger led to action, after all. He just had to manage that part.

  "Pretty much. I can get people to their embassies, if they have a place to go. We need to avoid major cities..." Because that only made sense. If it was a terrorist action and he were in charge, they wouldn't try for only one place, would they? No, he'd hit at least three, and try for more, if he had the supplies.

  Really, he needed a television, he decided. For once the cable news channels might actually be useful. Normally they just distorted reality too much to be useful, even to him.

  "I will have all that wish to come ready, in half an hour. For half of all I own." If that was too much, the man didn't complain. It probably meant he was poor, or something. Zack was actually fine with that. Half of ten dollars was still half of the whole, and he could sell that as being a good enough sacrifice for his services, right? Really, it was probably too much, but he was supposed to gouge a bit during emergencies. It was what people did.

  Just as he set the phone down, he got another call. This one from Los Angeles.

  "We've been hit here too!" There was no attempt at saying hello, just that. "This is Erin Probest, I was with one of my lovers and saw it happening! What do we do? I... Help!"

  "All right, Erin. Where are you? Are you near a node?"

  "What? No... Wait, who is this?" Since she'd called him that seemed a bit odd, but he got the idea, she'd slammed some buttons down, and didn't know who she'd connected with. From the tone of voice, even when panicked, she was probably an Alede. She sounded sexy at least.

  "Zack Hartley. Get to your embassy and... Get all your people there, if you can. I'll set up retrieval from here. You can do modeling, right?"

  "Um, sure... I used too, but... bombs?"

  "Exactly. Let me check, but assume that there will be more attacks and radiation. That's what hit New York. I'm evacuating there first. Can you set that up? Getting people ready to leave? Everyone too, not just your people." Zack meant all the non-Human's, but there was no time to say that, since she just gasped.

  "You're that Greater Demon, aren't you? The Line Walker?"

  "Right. So, have everyone ready in an hour and please have them know where they're going? We don't have room for everyone here."

  She made a sound that was even more freaked out then and slammed the phone down. Whatever that meant. Zack set the black hand piece down on his desk, only to have the thing ring again. He was worried that it was Chicago being hit too, but the voice on the other end didn't sound all that worked up.

  "Hello? Zack?" It was oddly familiar, but no one he recognized off the top of his head. Except that, after a moment, he worked it out.

  It was his own voice. Since, by some odd turn of fate or coincidence he looked like Xenses used to, that probably
told him who was on the phone. Dear old, monstrous, dad.

  "Xenses?"

  "Exactly! I wasn't sure you'd take my call, but I saw the news and wanted to make certain you were all right? We do have an agreement in place still, don't we? I wasn't sure if it would hold, after I woke your memories like I did earlier."

  Which explained that part of things, if nothing else. It also meant he hadn't done his father from behind, just some other Greater Demon. That was, he decided, good enough.

  "For now. I'm not happy about it all, and I might still change my mind, but I'm holding things together. Say, you don't know anything about these attacks do you?"

  There was a brief silence, but after a few breaths, a soft chuckle.

  "Not at all. I could see about finding out? If you have anything to trade for it?"

  Zack wanted to be scared himself now, but he laughed instead. After all, what else did he have?

  "Information for information? If you can find out who's behind this, I'll try to find out what Keeley and Darla are up to, in regards to killing you. They'll probably figure it out and then change their plans, mind, but some news is better than nothing." It didn't sound like a great bargain to him, but the voice on the phone made a considering sound.

  "Agreed. Information for information. Try to be timely with it?"

  "Agreed. I'll call and ask right now. Then I need to be off to get people out of the attack zones. This is pretty messed up, you know that?"

  The man on the other end of the line chuckled, sounding very happy.

  "I know! Isn't it great? Here I thought today was going to be all boring, too. Well, it's always something. Tootles. I'll get back to you as soon as I know something."

  Zack hung up, not waiting for him to say anything else. After all, the less he had to deal with the Demon, the more likely it was that he'd survive, in the end.

  Then he got to work, since people needed his help.