On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  “Right. Sorry, old habits. We aren't putting up with your father any more boys. This is it. He doesn't get to nearly kill you and come back this time!” She said it like she meant it, but Don clearly didn't buy it, since he just shrugged, a slower movement than normal, but one that clearly showed that this was something he'd heard before.

  Chris looked up at her and held her gaze for a minute, “Mom... I don't really know what you're going to do, but I can't go back. He nearly killed me. I mean really killed, mom. He was trying to beat me to death and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I won't let him near me again. If I even see him I have to run. He'll kill me if he can now. I know it and I think you do too. If you don't...” The boy shrugged.

  The woman tried to rationalize everything she'd ever done, the fights and even drunken brawls over the years. She promised to do better now. She meant it as far as Kate could see, but Zack looked at her and sadly shook his head. He sent a single thought to her, focused on the end of a thick tendril of blue light.

  She already plans to take him back.

  Don turned and spoke to Zack, looking not sad, but disgusted.

  “I know. Fuck mom! He tried to kill Chris! You can't just take him back again and don't bother trying to deny that's what you're going to do!” He looked more angry than Kate had ever seen him, actually turning red in anger, a trick that Alede couldn't pull off biologically. Veins started popping out in his head as he glared at the older woman.

  Claire looked around casually, then without seeming to even move physically, suddenly appeared in front of Marcia. Her eyes went blood red, and a wave of sheer and immense anger came over her as she told the woman what she would be doing. For a second Kate thought she planned to kill the woman, her anger was so clear. It sent thousands of lines of red from the Vampire to the woman, something new to Kate, but it didn't feel like a good thing at all.

  “You're sending Chris away for his own safety. He's staying with friends of his brother's in Washington State until his father is apprehended. You'll sign any documents needed to make this happen and keep doing this until you know that Chris is safe. Do you understand?”

  The older looking woman said she did, then thanked them for taking Chris in.

  “I know I haven't been a very good mother... I just hope I can start now and keep you both safe. I'm sorry...” She cried and hugged the boys, who hugged her back, Kate saw, even if she was a pretty bad parent. The best one they had, apparently, which had to count for something, right?

  Hawk looked at the other boy and put his foot alongside his, then sat on the ground and took his shoes off, handing them over to the other boy.

  “We're walking outside, so here.”

  Chris asked what he'd do then, if Chris wore his shoes. The Vampire boy looked at him seriously and told him not to worry about it. He'd be fine and if he got too cold he'd just get one of the others to carry him.

  This made Chris laugh, a low, slightly shocky sounding chuckle, but Hawk just smiled back lazily, as if it took too much energy to interact with people past communicating basic information.

  Zack led them back to the rift he'd made earlier, rather than make a new one. Kate didn't get it at first, until she saw how closely Chris watched Hawk, who marched bare foot over snow and ice without comment. After a while, the Human boy started to look concerned, even a bit scared for the other boy. Zack pointed at the Vampire's feet.

  “His feet aren't hurt Chris, because he's a Vampire. He doesn't even feel the cold. In a bit, just up ahead there in that building, we're going to go through a hole in space. To Kate's school dorm room. From there we'll go to my house, which is, as you may have guessed from what Claire said earlier, in Washington State. This is a lot of new stuff, but go with it for now, all right? Even if we're all crazy, I promise it's the harmless kind.” He smiled and opened the door for them into the abandoned building, a three story mini office complex that had gone under when the economy took a down turn, it looked like.

  At the rift Hawk went through with Zack first, to set up a forward guard, then Claire, who could control Chris if he started to freak. Kate walked up to the boy and took his hand, then took Don's and had Zack lead them all through. To her perception they all “clicked” soundlessly through the hole in space, ending up in her room, she pulled the others out of the way and didn't let go of the boys hand while Zack got Hilda and took them all through to the mansion in the same order.

  “Chris,” Don started when they got there. “I know this all seems weird, but let me short hand it for you. Vampires, werewolves and all that kind of stuff is real. Plus about a million other things that we'll tell you about over the next few days. For right now though, be polite to everyone around here. They're all good people, but all of them can kill you. I mean all, the tiny women, other boys,” He gestured at Hawk with his head. “The hot girls and pretty boys too. Everyone can...sneeze and possibly take you out. Just stay calm, polite and do what Kate, Claire, Zack or I tell you, all right?”

  Even to Kate this sounded patronizing. Hawk apparently agreed, because he glared at the back of Don's head. Don looked around and saw all this and sighed.

  “Sorry Chris, I'm being a dick it seems. OK... sorry. Still, be nice to everyone, right? Everyone here deserves it.” He stopped, Claire having placed a hand on his arm, signaling that he should be quiet.

  Chris looked around, but didn't comment, then he looked at his feet. He sat down on a low bench and pulled Hawk's shoes off and handed them back.

  “Thanks, I owe you.” The boy said. Hawk just nodded and put his shoes back on. Claire stepped forward and looked at the Human boy, smiling.

  “What do you propose to trade for this service, then?” She asked, Don started to say something, but Zack shook his head and smiled.

  Chris looked at Claire, “I don't know. What does he need? I don't have anything to trade right now...”

  The cute Vampire smiled at him, a kind expression on her face, softer than Kate had ever noticed before.

  “Well, I had planned to have Eugene play footman at the reception tomorrow, but you could cut his work in half were you to do so as well. I think that is of near equal value. You'll work longer than you walked, but the party won't cause you to lose toes.” A wink followed this and she put her hand on the younger boys arm, not unkindly.

  He agreed, which made Hawk laugh and explain that he shouldn't just agree to things, if he isn't setting the terms himself, he needed to ask for specifics each time.

  “Otherwise who knows what people will have you doing? What if playing footman at a reception means something totally different to Claire than it does to you? You could show up, and be expected to suck cock for six hours for all you know. Some people you meet have really different ideas of what things mean, and some of them have nothing to do with what you've learned. Plus you've already agreed to it, so you'd be stuck. Luckily for you Claire's cool that way, but not all Vampires are. We're just getting people seated, serving drinks and running errands, by the way. If you suck anything, that's up to you.” He waved a hand, the gesture looked a little stiff, but worked well enough to convey his meaning.

  Chris half choked on a laugh, but he told them all he'd be more careful in the future. Claire looked at the Vampire boy and made a signal to him, a slow movement of the head at an angle that humans didn't move in, which Kate guessed meant they should talk later. The boy nodded without looking back at the other Vampire directly, a subtle move that everyone else in the room except Claire and Zack probably missed.

  Merri walked into the room and clung to Zack, kissing him for a while, then hugged Claire for nearly as long. Chris stared at the tiny woman, almost as if entranced. Turning to him, she cocked her head to the side and told him that she was an Alfric. His face went a little white.

  Don looked at them both as did Zack. To Kate it seemed clear that links were formed and information passed, but she also could tell she missed most of it.

  “So, Merri, what did Chris just say?” She asked,
casually, almost lazily.

  Merri smiled and tried to wink at her, doing a much better job this time.

  “Oh, he asked if I was an Elf. He didn't mean any harm or insult by it though, so I'll let that pass,” Narrowing her eyes at the boy, her face went serious in an instant. “This one time. Don't make that mistake again.” A tiny finger pointed at him, looking like a gypsy woman from a movie that intended to put a curse on someone.

  Chris took a step back and mumbled that he'd try not to. This got a smile from Merri who announced that would be enough. Then she took him by the hand and walked off to the kitchen with the boy, still wrapped in the hospital blanket and wearing the flimsy gown they'd given him there, bare foot and looking a bit lost.

  "The sun will rise soon." Claire told Hawk specifically. He walked out of the room instantly, presumably to go to the basement where most of the Vampires slept during the day. Then Claire pulled out a writing pad and started making notes. She asked Don what the boy would need. Clothing, shoes, toothbrush and so on. He added that a computer would be good too, or at least the use of one, if that would be all right with Zack, who asked Claire to see if Troy would arrange that for him.

  Troy was the go to man for anything technological after all. Also the one to see if you wanted someone killed for harming innocent people. Kids especially. For a brief moment she had to wonder how dead Don's dad was about to be. If one of the nicest people she knew was probably going to kill the man himself, what would the others actually do?

  Kate went to see what Merri had done with Chris, leaving the others to make plans, since they seemed to have that in hand, even though they didn't think about any of the important things. Such as friends and lovers for the boy. She realized, of course, that at fourteen he'd be considered too young for the latter, which seemed mean to her, since he was clearly interested in that kind of thing. Still it was the custom for his people, so they needed to try and hold to that, for now at least.

  He seemed to get on all right with Hawk, so far, and if a human boy his age didn't like the Alede women, she'd have to rethink what she knew about reality all together. The Alede would all like him of course, his looks were good, if slightly awkward and a little geeky, but that had its charms too, Kate knew. She'd introduce him to Blaine, and possibly Britney... The rest would come to her, she hoped. She didn't even know what he'd be interested in. Sex, of course. When he thought he'd died, he mentioned lamenting doing so as a virgin after all. Too bad Felicia wasn't around anymore, having gone back to school. A thirteen year old Alede girl would probably be just about right for him. Well, maybe they could have her visit over the summer?

  In the kitchen Merri had given the boy a muffin that seemed to be filled with strawberry jam and topped with something that smelled of cinnamon and sugar, the boy ate it, looking around the room as if considering something.

  He saw her and smiled, “Hey, um, I wanted to thank you, you know, for healing me and all? That really sucked. So, um, what do I owe you for that...” He asked, sounding nervous, like he expected her to ask for his soul or maybe more than that.

  “Can I have one of your muffins?” She pointed to the plate, so he wouldn't get the wrong idea and think she wanted his girlfriend or his behind. She didn't know that muffin would be slang for either of those things, but Humans had so many meanings for simple words that she always just assumed she didn't know some of them.

  Passing the plate over he watched her closely, like he expected her to do something very interesting.

  “I'm not a Vampire, I'm Alede, so we don't bargain and deal as much. Not like Claire and Hawk or the others. Plus, I'm one of the people in the Line-Walker government now, so it would be tacky of me to charge you directly, right?”

  In the kitchen, where Merri bustled from one task to another using a lot greater than human speed, a soft chuckle came. She said, before Kate could explain, that Alede were those that eat sexual energy and that normally they'd ask for a return in that way. Her grin looked devilish as she darted about. Kate watched Chris, who didn't react outwardly, but who sent a tendril of interest toward her then, and one only a little less strong toward Merri.

  Sticking her tongue out at Merri she turned to explain before the kid started getting naked.

  “That would normally be true for my kind, we need that kind of energy to survive. Right now though I get all the energy I need from Zack and your brother. So I don't need to have sex in order to keep going.”

  “Hmm, so you have sex with Zack and my brother? At the same time? Cause that sounds a little kinky.” He grinned at his teasing, probably thinking that his words would make her blush or feel a bit embarrassed, instead she just answered with the full truth, since the boy had to catch up fast, as the power structure of the world would be descending here inside fifteen hours.

  “Zack no, Don yes, and doing them both at the same time sounds fun to me. But they aren't feeding me using sex, they both have the ability to take energy from the area around them and pass it into other people. Alede and Vampires at least. This is important, since I think you may be able to do it too, eventually, and it's rare. If you can do that you might also be able to walk the void in a few hundred years. That sounds like a long time and it really is, but you'll do it in the void, so even though you have to practice and work for hundreds of years, maybe longer, it won't make a big difference in time here and you won't age. So people here will think you haven't even been gone a day, even though you'll be a lot older. It's hard and for a long time, but it should be easier on you, because you're younger than Don was when he did it.”

  He took this in giving it all some thought.

  “Is it scary?” He asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah. In some ways it's terrifying. You're sitting in this totally empty space, without even a body. No one to talk to or anything to see, focusing on a single thing for days, sometimes years at a time. The better you get at it though and the harder you try, the faster it all seems to go. On the good side, no one will be able to hold you easily once you learn to use the nodes, and you might be able to use the rifts, like what we went through earlier? I can hardly do it, but Don can, and there's no reason you shouldn't be as good or better than he is at this stuff. I won't lie to you, you can die trying it, or go insane if you don't hold your mind together or even dissipate into the void. I don't even know if Zack will take you in. He's the best at it, so you want him for that. You'll have to ask, if you want to give it a shot.” She didn't say any more.

  The boy finished eating his muffin and stood, started to thank Merri, who turned on him instantly, fire in her eyes. Kate slapped a hand over his mouth and explained the Alfric traditions as quickly as possible.

  Chris paused and swallowed, “I mean... I appreciate your feeding me. Those are the best muffins I've ever had.”

  The small woman, nearly a foot and a half shorter than the boy moved in and hugged him suddenly. He hugged her back, with a little more spirit than he meant to, and pulled away embarrassed. Kate turned him around so that he could find Zack and the others, back the direction he came from and gave him a push.

  Before she could finish two more muffins, one had an apple spice filling that made her mouth water dramatically while eating it, Zack and Chris came back in and walked straight to the back door.

  “I'll be back in a while to get everyone for work.” Zack called out, then they both took a few steps and disappeared.

  Don went to bed, not realizing that Chris had left the house, which, she figured, would be the best possible thing. For the boy to go from one deadly peril to another inside a single day seemed like a little too much, even to her, but it would probably give the kid the best protection possible, since anyone, even his own parents, trying to take a potential Line-Walker would probably find themselves blocked by nearly every government in the real world. Claire had the mother locked down, sure, but the father seemed like the kind that would try to kill the kid one day, then demand him back the next. If she had anything to say about it, that
wouldn't happen, ever.

  Just before nine Zack came back and took everyone through to work, asking Kate to cover the scheduled work, going off into the void before she could answer. That's when she realized that Chris had to have been left sitting there the whole time Zack had been gone, alone.

  Just before noon, Zack walked through the node into the back of Candles and More. Seconds later Chris followed him, on his own. Looking kind of strange, but more animated than she or Don had been at first.

  He looked at Kate and smiled sweetly, “That took a lot longer than a few hundred years!”

  Then he laughed, manically.

  Zack shrugged and smiled at the boy who looked at everything around him like he was seeing it for the first time.

  Taking the boy along with him, just by putting a hand briefly on his shoulder, they walked to the front of the store, as they walked past Jelly, Zack called back to her.

  “Kate... See you tonight! Could you do Lesser Shia too?” Then he walked out without pausing to see what she'd say.

  “Fine,” she said to no one in particular. “But I'm getting lunch first.”

  Chapter nine

  She came back from the Lesser Shia node tired, but almost caught up, having managed to hurry enough that she didn't feel too bad about leaving early. She explained to the blue garbed translator that stood in the room with her about the party and how she kind of had to be there, being a head of state now, technically. The translator passed the word along and asked her to wait briefly. Hathe came in quickly, nearly running it looked like and looked down at the ground, almost mincing as he closed with her, the translator doing the same.

  “Ah... Kaitlyn, if heads of state are to meet, would it be inappropriate for us at Lesser Shia to be there as well? It would be advantageous for us. If it is allowable.” Hathe asked, almost seeming as if he felt guilt about even daring to bring the idea up.

  Kate threw her hand to her mouth, realizing the oversight at once.