Other Places 1: Shortcuts

by P. S. Power

  "Fine." The word had a drifty feel to them, like they'd lost the man again. It had happened several times already after all, with Bey bringing him back to the topic at hand very gently each time. "This one can walk the in-roads? He is not a Demon though? If so, then perhaps we can do business. I will allow you to kill those of my brood that have troubled you, without retaliation, if you would have your Walker deliver a package for me."

  Bey stiffened and gave the other man a hard look that didn't seem like him at all.

  "I think not Janus. This is the Line Walker. I already owe him more than I can easily repay. To incur more debt simply to avoid a war with you isn't worth it. Ask for something else."

  That started a rather heated debate, one that ended with Bey relenting, but looking very unhappy about it all.

  "Very well, but if I need anything else from you in the next few hundred years I expect this to count toward that as well, no matter what it is..."

  Janus nodded, but didn't come up with what needed to be delivered, that, he informed them, had to be picked up. He had an address for it, and it wasn't far away, but they had to get a ride. It was about thirty miles and as much as Bey hated cars, Zack hated blisters. The compromise was for Zack to be driven by one of Janus's people and for Bey to jog along with them, not letting himself be seen. It was daylight, but it didn't seem like a real problem. Once they started moving Bey vanished and simply wasn't seen.

  The car was tiny, and the driver was an asshole, smoking unfiltered cigarettes the whole time and saying long strings of words in Italian followed by "fuck America!" Then he'd laugh, as if it were funny. The man was a Vampire and old enough to be up during the day without apparent hardship, so Zack didn't say anything about it. He tried to memorize the face though, so that if he was ever asked to take the guy somewhere he could remember to leave him in the Arctic instead.

  When they got to the mansion they needed Bey walked up and opened the door for him, then waved the driver away with a few words of his own, in Italian. They didn't sound overly pleasant.

  "Forgive him. Janus does not always bring over the most pleasant or intelligent of individuals. Hence the problem we have at the moment. I do have to say, the discussion with him went better than I thought it might. Half the time one speaks with the three faced one, a war starts. Now, shall we see to this package, whatever it is?"

  At the door they were met by a rather attractive dark haired human woman who smiled and ran away, coming back a few minutes later with a large wooden box. At first Zack wondered if it was going to weigh a lot, but it wasn't heavy at all. Maybe ten pounds.

  "Now we just need to know where it goes." Zack muttered, since without that they were rather stuck. The woman gave a name, but it didn't mean anything to Bey or him, so she ran and came back with an even prettier woman, as if upgrading or something.

  The woman was so good looking that Zack wasn't even attracted to her. Mirror Him growled, from the perfection of her flawless eyes.

  "She's a fucking Demon Zack. A Greater Demon. Run..." He didn't take over the body though, so Zack held his ground, watching her closely. It was funny, but what he was thinking about wasn't fear of the woman at all, but how M.H. would know what she was. To the best of his knowledge they'd never met one before. Except...

  There were rifts in space all around her. It reminded him of the man that they'd met in the store that one time. The older one that had warned him that he needed to charge people for his services. Only Mirror Him hadn't admitted to knowing anything about it at the time. He was about to question that little factoid when the being in front of him smiled and started speaking in slightly accented English, looking at him directly.

  "Ah!" Her hands clasped in front of her primly then, which fit with the rest of her perfectly. "This is the human that walks the lines? Such a treat to meet you. I am called The Pristine. I need this gift taken to The Mistress of Souls."

  Without waiting she stepped forward and touched his arm lightly, then smiled and stepped back. "I have a picture of her, here, wait but a moment."

  The woman didn't seem to hurry at all, but ten seconds later after drifting to the right, marginally out of sight, she was back, holding a magazine and pointing to a young woman sitting in the front row of what seemed a fashion show. She was pretty. Not perfectly so, but easily good enough looking to have been on the catwalk herself.

  It was hard to keep her image in mind at first, but he thought he had it after a few minutes of looking. Then all he had to do was find a rift in space that led to the node and they could be on their way. As he turned to walk away with Bey, who had gone very silent and wasn't smiling at all, The Pristine moved toward him again and clapped his shoulder lightly.

  "We will meet again, I think, young one. Let us be friends? I cannot do much for you, but perhaps things will change in the future?" She leaned in close and let her lips touch his left ear gently. "You need to charge more, or these others will start to take advantage of you. I will start, here is some information you might not find elsewhere easily. You need to seek the Greater Demon Finias. He holds information you might find useful." She pulled back, smiled and turned away.

  Zack didn't say anything for some time, just walking toward the closest useful rift. It was, he thought, three steps to the Italian node complex. The walk wasn't a bad one, all things considered and Bey moved silently the whole time, his eyes more than a little angry for some reason. Zack didn't ask, figuring that it wasn't at him in particular. If it was, hopefully the man would have let him know, so that whatever mistake he'd made could be corrected.

  The trip took them first to New Mexico, which had a shopping mall style set up too, like the Washington state node. Theirs was a bit busier, and had real shoppers as well as a lot of unique looking little shops. All the spaces were being used too. It took a bit of searching to find the Yoghurt World, and when they did Bey just walked into the back, even as the man working the front ran after them, sounding panicked.

  "Is something wrong? I... is there an investigation?" The guy seemed really frightened and Bey relented in his silent anger enough to wave at the man, using a barely lifted finger.

  "No problem. This is Mr. Hartley, if you or your people see him, ever, offer him what aid you can, no matter what it costs you. Is that understood?"

  Then, without waiting Zack found the closest rift outlet to the girl they were looking for, ending up about six blocks from a small single level ranch style house. It meant walking, but as long as he kept thinking about her, he could feel where she was in space. It wasn't hot out, but he was sweating just a little from the exertion by the time they got to the right door. He knocked, wondering if something very bad was about to happen, since Bey was looking very angry again. The little Vampire held the box carefully, a total stillness coming over him.

  It didn't take long for someone to come to the door, a cute woman that looked to be in her late thirties, with short dark hair and friendly brown eyes. She was wearing blue jeans and a light blue button up shirt that had just enough of a gap between two buttons for Zack to get that her bra was a light cream color. He tried not to stare, since she was making an effort to smile at them, clearly paying more attention to Bey than him.

  "Hello? May I help you with something?"

  Zack pointed at the box, "delivery for... The Mistress of Souls? That sounds really funny to say out loud doesn't it? Kind of pretentious or something."

  Bey stiffened as the girl Zack had seen in the picture came around the corner. Before he could stammer out an apology she nodded and took the box from the smaller man, giving him a smile and turning to Zack.

  "No doubt. I was given that name by my sister. All the Greater Demons are called something like that and yes, it's totally pretentious. Kind of our thing, as a race. So, this is what Bente sent me? Let's look at it, shall we?" Setting the box down on a coffee table in front of a single easy chair, she opened the top, causing the whole thing to make an alarming popping sound. Rolling her eyes obviously she pul
led out a very nice copper and silver colored dress. It shimmered, but wasn't the kind of thing that looked like shiny fabric, rather more like flexible metal.

  "Not bad, do you like it?" She held the thing up to her and Bey gave a single nod, trying not to speak at all, it was clear. The woman that had opened the door gushed a little, but the girl stared at Zack as if it had been his judgment she was really concerned about. Since that was exactly who she had to impress. No doubt about it. He rolled his own eyes and made eye contact. She seemed to get the idea, from the way she smiled at him.

  Still, he had to tell the truth, having been asked.

  "Um, it's really nice. You'd probably look good in anything, but this is really special. The seams are all rifts, bending in on space itself. I guess you know that, since you'll have to move through them to get it on." Frowning a little he continued. "You should put it on. In front of us. Possible with a little nudity involved. I've never seen a Demon naked before. Not that I know of at least... I suppose it could have happened at some time though. I mean, how would I know, unless you have a tail or something? That could be cool."

  There was a mortified howl from Mirror Him as the girl reached out and patted his arm. It was a thing of fear, not pain and after a second she stepped back, not looking angry at all. Smiling happily in fact.

  "Nope, no tail or free peep show. Not this time at least. What I will do for you is send a message to Finias and see if he can visit with you again soon. There's a story for him to share with you, I think. Anyway, here, let me get something for you..." She ran off, taking the dress with her, after a minute she was back, the gown gone, holding a business card.

  It turned out to be two of them, one for Bey, the other being handed to Zack with a small smile.

  She looked into his eyes deeply and didn't break eye contact for several seconds.

  "We should hang out some time. Maybe catch a movie?"

  It got him to blink and then shrug, "sounds fun. Well, we need to be getting back. Bit of a walk to get to the rift we..." Before he could finish saying anything a hole warped into being beside them, the girl pointing just a tiny bit with one finger. Zack blinked. "Or... not. That's a handy trick, isn't it?"

  The Greater Demon didn't say anything at first, just giving him a hug, which was surprising to him. Enough that he nearly squeaked. Bey moved between them, clearly trying to protect him from the girl who... hugged the little Vampire too.

  "OK you two, don't be strangers. I expect a call soon Zack. No fair leaving me hanging."

  "Um, alright." He didn't know what to say, but it was pretty clear that dating a Demon wasn't a great idea. It even sounded like a bad plan, without anyone warning him about it at all. It was kind of what "Demon" really meant, wasn't it?

  The rift that she'd opened took them directly back to their node in Washington. Actually, he realized, it wasn't just a rift at all, the Demon had created a node for them. A one way, temporary one, but he could have used it to go anywhere. She hadn't mentioned payment for it either. It was just a thing that she could do without thinking about it. That or she was trying to impress him. If that was the case, it worked.

  Mirror Him was impressed too, gibbering in fear in every surface that had even a hint of reflection at all.

  The whole thing had taken hours. So long in fact that it was time for him to go and open the store across the way, Lenore already working in her own shop.

  "Zack! Bey... Is all well?" She seemed desperately concerned for her, letting her eyes actually open a little wider than normal and everything.

  The little, generally happy, Vampire shook his head. It seemed sad and almost crestfallen.

  "I fear not. Janus is allowing the destruction of those his line had created in this case, but he tricked us into dealing with Greater Demons. It has compounded the price of our debt to the Line Walker to a level that I doubt we can ever get out from under. I'm thinking of gifting you and Nicole to him. It won't pay for everything by any stretch of the imagination, but it will be a start."

  Zack shook his head and then yawned. He was both hungry and tired, but it was time to get to work. Lisa wasn't there yet at any rate, probably having had a hard night herself.

  "Hey, Lenore? Could I get one of those things with the honey buns? I'll have to get some cash from the store, but I think that will be alright. I mean, as long as I write up what I'm getting and pay it back. I just don't have any cash with me." He headed over to do that, opening the whole place up just before nine, then headed back over with the four dollars he needed to pay for the thing.

  She waved the cash away and shook her head.

  "I'm almost certain that you can have this for free Zackary." Her voice seemed a little subdued for some reason, but he didn't really get it.

  Oh, it had to do with that crack that Bey had made about giving her to him, he knew that, but if she thought that was real then she hadn't been keeping up with the whole emancipation thing that had happened back during the civil war. It was the U.S. and that meant he couldn't keep slaves, even if it was a convenient way for Bey to pay back his debts. They'd just have to work out something else.

  Unlimited treats or something.

  He contemplated that while he munched the one he had, sitting behind the counter, resting on a single elbow. He was wearing the same clothing as the day before, having not slept yet, which Lisa noticed when she walked in. At ten-forty.

  "Ah... I overslept a bit." She didn't sound all that happy yet, and he couldn't blame her at all. Break-ups sucked.

  He waved the apology away, having been sweeping the place up, since her phone rang about then anyway. Just because she hadn't been in the store didn't mean she wasn't working after all. She walked off to the back, her black and purple dress looking decently professional, if a little loose on her. She was nearly as thin as he was after all. They probably looked like they were both on drugs, he realized. Soon people would be coming by to try and score from them if they weren't careful.

  A few minutes later she came back, her face looking worried about something. Before he could ask what the problem was she told him. It was, it turned out, two things.

  "We have one of our people, a Mage I mean, that's been arrested. Hiram Stone called it in, because he's pretty certain he committed the theft that the other man is being blamed for. I need to arrange bail for him. Normally you have to fend for yourself, but it's a thing in the by-laws that we have to support anyone falsely accused due to the wrong-doing of a guild member. If we know about it. It could be a set-up though. Regardless, we have to try."

  "Third codex... I want to say... seventh section? Remember, you get to charge Stone for it, if it turns out that he's faking this. Or if he framed the man himself. It isn't really a get out of jail free card. More of a 'borrow the money when you need it at zero interest' card."

  That got Lisa to blink and then nod.

  "Right. I mean, it sounds correct. I'll have to look all that up. I've never actually read the codex. Any of them. I just look that kind of thing up on the computer, like almost everyone else these days." She grinned, or tried to at least, it wasn't very convincing. "Show off."

  "Homeschooled, so what can I say? It was in the curriculum."

  The second problem was closer to home however, and to Lisa's mind just as important.

  "Now, what are you doing here? I mean, thanks for opening for me, but you should be sleeping in or doing whatever it is that young men with days off do."

  Shrugging he tilted his head toward the Yoghurt Shop, as if that explained things.

  "I was helping Bey with some things all night. Great guy. Anyway, I just happened to be across the way when it was time to open, and noticed that you weren't here. No problem. I'll leave now. Just remember to pay me for this. Because, you know, I need the money."

  Then he left, with a little help since he was very nearly pushed out the door by a slightly exasperated Lisa.

  When he got home he found Troy, sitting on the sofa with a girl that looked vaguely
familiar. More than just a little bit, since she was kind of distinctive looking. They were nicely intertwined, but her bristly hair and thick glasses kind of gave her away.

  She looked up as the door opened, her eyes popping open wide when she realized who was standing there, watching her. The Bat girl hopped up, straightening her clothing, like he was her father or something.

  "Um, hi? Calley isn't it?" He spoke softly, his voice a little harsh from lack of sleep. Giving a tired half wave he went on into the kitchen. No one followed him, so he made a bowl of cereal, using up the last of the milk in doing so. That would mean they needed another shopping trip soon. Later, after he had some sleep. He ate at the table, not wanting to interrupt, after all, they'd seemed to be getting kind of friendly. True, Calley was kind of unique looking, but that could be thought of as exotic too and looked at in that light... Well, why not? She seemed nice enough, on the surface.

  After he washed his bowl and spoon, setting them aside to dry, he went back, kind of expecting them to have moved off into Troy's room. Instead they were sitting a very proper distance apart, Troy looking amused for some reason. The bat girl looked very nervous, and suspicious.

  "I didn't know that Troy was a friend of yours. I swear. I was just going by the TTLA to see what kind of damage was done and we met and started talking. One thing led to another and we ended up here, since I have today off. I can go." She seemed so serious it was nearly funny.

  To him at least, Troy looked frustrated.

  "Cockblocker." Mirror Him chortled after he said it, clearly getting that this one wasn't his fault at all.

  "Don't leave on my account. Troy's great. I'm about to hit the hay myself. I was up all night." After that he nearly stopped, then realized that Calley would be able to process what he said and Troy was at least trying now. "Um, I was off with Bey. Fetch quest."

  That got attention from the girl who seemed slightly agitated.

  "Bey? As in The Bey? The killer of the Vampire Council? What did you have to find? The severed head of someone's enemy?" She gave him a hard look that seemed to be checking for holes or wounds. It had a professional air to it. Almost military.