Between (Alternate Places Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  For his part, Zack thought, he knew what he needed to do first. Get in touch with this Clyde person, and see if they could work this out reasonably.

  If they couldn't, then things might just get a little worse than they'd bargained for.

  Chapter three

  Zach closed his eyes and focused for a few minutes, trying to work through the situation clearly. He realized where he'd made some pretty big mistakes already, by failing to act earlier, due to his own confusion, and when he stopped to think about it, emotions about having been betrayed. It would have to be rectified as soon as possible. If he could at this point. Hopefully it wasn't too late for some sensible action.

  “Claire, you know this political stuff, is there a rapid way that I could make, a, I don't know, an open statement or say something that I think people need to hear? So that everyone in all of the normal communities will know about it at least?” He looked at her, waiting for her answer, as it would influence how things went, over the next days and weeks.

  Instead of answering immediately, she worked it through. Zack caught ideas from her Shadow self, noting them carefully, in case some of them weren't mentioned later. She finally outlined what she thought would work.

  “If you, Zachary Hartley, the Line Walker, were to go to each of the major Node locations and pass a specific message, and hand out information packets to anyone traveling with you for the next week or two, that should get the job done. It won't be total information saturation, but then that never happens, even the modern media only reaches about half the people in the Human lands over the course of a week, and that only if the story is huge.” It was pretty obvious that the Vampire girl wanted to know what the plan was.

  So did everyone else, by their expressions.

  “Okay. First I need to talk to this Clyde that was mentioned and see if he might let go of his current plan, if we can present a more favorable one to him. Then I think we should tell everyone that will listen that there should be no retaliation against Libby or her family, since they were under extreme duress, and punishing them is tantamount to punishing the victims of a crime for not finding a satisfactory way out of a bad situation. Even though almost no one else could have either. It will need to be more eloquent than that, of course,” Shaking his head to clear it he went on. “I want people to understand that if they take negative action against these people, I personally, won't do business with them again. Ever. I also won't do business with anyone that does business with them. I know it's not much of a threat, but I will boycott anyone caught doing something like that. Of course we need to make it sound like I'm not just being bossy and telling people how to live, even if that's exactly what I'm doing...”

  Merri came in with several trays of food, good solid silver trays, each etched with fine lines that made patterns of some kind. Most of them seemed to be birds or flowers. She served Libby first, knowing that Zack would insist on it anyway. He saw her inner Shadow turn to him, glowing solidly, asking him if this was really all right with him, her being kind to Libby. Taking a moment he projected his approval to everyone in the room, so that they'd all know how he really felt about things, even if they wouldn't know he'd done it consciously. Except for Merri that is, though he didn't know how much she understood of what he said and did on that level of things. She clearly seemed to get more of it than most of the people around him.

  Claire, never one to wait on a task, made a phone call using the tiny black and purple cell phone she always carried with her.

  “Hello, this is Claire Hawthorn... Indeed, I need to speak with Vanessa Whit, please. I understand, could you contact her, this is rather urgent. I'll take care of any fallout from this...” Claire smiled at everyone in the room, used to being stalled and given the run around on the phone, it being a major part of Vampire culture, her Shadow told him.

  “May I?” Libby put a hand out for the phone, smiling a bit as she did it. Zack could tell she looked nervous. Claire handed it to her with a small nod.

  “Keeber? It's me, Libby. No! No. The Vampires don't have me. Someone, Weres, tried to kill me tonight, they beat me for a while and then set me on fire. Zack and Claire saved me. The Weres said that Clyde put the word out on me? Yeah? We, us here, would like to get a message to Clyde as quickly as possible. Thanks. Yeah, I know. You too. Thanks, I appreciate it.” Hanging up the phone she gave a summary of her talk with the Bear on the other end of the line. About half of them had heard the full conversation, but Hilda and Charli hadn't.

  “Keeber's going to contact Nessa, even though she'll tear him a new one for waking her up at this time of night. She sleeps a lot. It's a cat thing, they all do. He told me that Clyde did put a hit out on me, twenty thousand gold to anyone with proof of my death. He didn't know why they did it though, not really. So far there's been no retaliation against the Weres as a group for what I did. No one from our, your, mall has even complained to anyone particularly about the trial. And... Zack stood up for me and my family there, so I don't know...” She just looked sad now.

  Merri sat next to her and urged her to eat while Claire sat on the other side of her, stroking her short red hair, lightly. The Bat girl sat in her old clothes, shaking a little.

  Troy, who had been in his room all night, doing something, probably playing computer games or downloading music, came out then, saw Libby and looked around the room.

  “Are we all cool with Libby then? I mean, I know she didn't have much of a choice or anything, so I'm cool enough about it I guess, I just didn't know we'd all be hanging out again so soon.” He looked around, his Shadow saying that he actually wanted to know the score.

  Kaitlyn nodded, and told him that everything seemed good on the Libby front, except that hit men might be coming for her at any moment. She also mentioned that someone had seriously set her on fire earlier. He walked over and asked if she'd been hurt, she explained quickly about transformations and healing, how Zack had forced her to transform somehow, so he leaned over and hugged her. Then he casually went and sat by Hilda, pretending it had to do with the tall blonde being food adjacent.

  Something that had been kicking around his mind for a while surfaced then, when he realized they should be getting Libby to bed soon.

  “Beds. Val, could you and Sarah look into getting us a new house? Something as big as possible in the local area? We keep running out of room here, and I'd like everyone to have their own space. In fact, I think we need to plan on regular visitors. Too many things keep happening at once for us to not be prepared. Make sure that you include Lisa in the 'everyone' too. And room for at least a few of the Vampires if need be. So, get something big.” He knew he repeated himself, but wanted to stress how important room would be. This place used to seem huge to him. When there was almost no furniture, with just Troy and him there most of the time, but now you could hardly turn around without bumping into someone.

  Val nodded and Sarah looked hopeful. He realized after a second why.

  “You mean, that I get a room too? I'm not getting kicked out during the move, since, you know, you're asking me to help find it?” She licked her lips, an incredibly sexy move that reminded Zack that he hadn't gotten that blowjob earlier. For some reason, ever since he'd bonded with Claire, his sex drive had gone up incredibly. It could be feeding all those Alede energy every few days, he realized. He hadn't thought about it before, not exactly, but it seemed possible that energy could be flowing both ways, or that some links could be being formed between them all.

  “Everyone means everyone. I want some place isolated enough that we can have actual defenses too, walls around the property, and whatever. Attack Chihuahuas maybe. Let me know how much it will cost first though, I don't want to break the bank. I bet those tiny dogs eat a lot.” This made everyone but Hilda, Troy and Charli chuckle though Libby didn't sound happy about it really, actually she seemed like her energy had about run out.

  Zack got up and led her to the bedroom. Laying her on the bed, he held her for a while, until she fell a
sleep. He'd missed her, he realized. A lot more than he'd thought now that the mental walls had come down around the subject it became clear just how much.

  When he went back into the living room, Val and Sarah had disappeared along with Troy. He looked around for them, finally hearing their voices in Troy's room. Since Betty, who'd once slept with Troy and then found him having sex with Val one day while thinking they were an item, didn't respond to this, he looked around and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  Charli answered his question.

  “Online real estate ads. They're looking to see if they can find any listings for something local that will work. How much do you think you can budget for something like that though? A big house can cost a lot.” The Korean girl pushed her hair back over her ear and looked directly at Zack.

  Merri piped up with, “Well, that will come out of the household account, so we have a little over a million and a half to spend for the purchase. I don't know rates and prices here, but that should be enough to get something decent, I hope.”

  Charli looked at her, eyes bulging.

  “Your household account has a million and a half dollars in it? Wow, I need to get a job at the Candle store or working with food! I get flat minimum wage at work, and mom only does that so she won't have to listen to me begging for lunch money every day.” She suddenly did a wickedly accurate impression of her mother. “You eat too much, you get fat! Look pretty girl here, they no fat, you get fat, they take your man, you left only with job and I no get rid of you!” There was finger shaking to go along with it too.

  Everyone that knew Mrs. Walsh laughed. Zack didn't but he smiled at the girl. At least her mother seemed like a decent person, being truly concerned about her, if in a slightly rough way.

  Hilda had been sitting quietly, trying not to scare Troy away earlier, but since he'd left, she spoke readily enough now.

  “I think that the household account is in gold, ounces of gold. So that would be something like a billion dollars. Though about half of that is actually in goods and services, so we can't use it to buy a house directly, though we can have carpentry done by some of the best, and furniture made and things like that with it. Zack will have to bring the workers in from some pretty far off places, but that shouldn't be a huge problem.” She looked at Merri, who confirmed that that was her understanding, too.

  Charli's mouth did a fish impersonation. She didn't even bother saying anything for a long while.

  “So... you guys have a billion dollars?” She asked, her voice quiet.

  Claire waved her hand and said, “More than that, really, that's just the household budget. Past a certain point though, money loses its value. Also, Merri, I think that Lisa's been investing part of the household budget for you, as well as Zack's share. I think you'll find you actually own several businesses now in many diverse areas. That's why the household budget is so small, compared to what the rest of us have been getting each week. Though that would be more than enough to buy anything in this area, many times over, so don't worry that you don't have enough.”

  Merri looked at Zack who nodded, at her, hoping she wouldn't feel slighted. Instead she slid onto his lap, settling a little with her tiny frame, managing to give him an erection almost instantly. She noticed and so did Claire. Charli didn't, she just thought that everyone cozying up to Zack looked like fun, even if he wasn't the world's best looking guy. He also wasn't ugly. Kind of cute even, her Shadow told him. Plus, apparently rich. If they weren't just making fun of her for some reason. But then Claire was a real Vampire and if she said Zack had a lot of money, who knew? It could be true.

  Being playful Merri gently rocked away on his lap, being subtle enough that the Human girl hadn't noticed it. Though Kaitlyn had started watching them intently, wetting her lips, her breathing becoming slightly heavy. Claire's phone rang, her Shadow told him that Nessa had called before picking up. They spoke for some moments, his Vampire letting the Cat girl know in no uncertain terms that setting up a meeting with Clyde held upmost importance.

  When she found out that Libby had been burned and almost killed Nessa let out an audible cry loud enough for everyone, even those with normal hearing, to pick up on. Only the fact that Libby had fallen asleep kept her from demanding to talk to her at the moment. They promised to have her over to visit as soon as possible, so that she could check on Libby's well being for herself. Shunned from the Were world or not, Nessa was Libby's friend. Even now.

  From the other room a phone rang, and he heard Val's voice answer, but then couldn't understand what she said, though it didn't sound heated. A few minutes later she came out and looked at Zack in a strange way. After a few moments he saw that she looked a little embarrassed.

  “Um, my mom... She got left behind on a location shoot and kind of wondered if you could go get her? She said she's about forty miles from the prime New Zealand Nexus, but doesn't know right from left out there, much less north from south. She said everyone else would be headed home for the final shoot. If you could get her here, she promised to make it worth your while. She didn't specify how though. I told her I'd ask you. She wouldn't get herself lost like that on purpose, not even to get close to you. Show up unannounced? Oh, yeah. But not something like this...”

  Merri climbed from his lap automatically, he stood up and looked at the clock, which read only a little before one. He noticed that Charli stared at his groin now, finally getting the effect that Merri had been having on him.

  “All right. Tell her I'll be there as soon as possible. I should be able to find her at least. I'll hurry right back.” As he headed to the door, Claire called out to him.

  "Use the Node in the back of my store. It will be open, even at this hour."

  Nodding, Zack kept moving, but called out in return.

  "Good idea. I love you. All of you." It was faster than listing individual names, and if Charli felt extra welcome, then he'd deal with it.

  At the Mall, he found Blake behind the counter at Frozen YoGurt. Wiping the front counter, which was already clean. That was part of the job. The rest of it involved handling actual embassy duties, so it was actually an important one.

  "Hey Blake. I need to use the Node. I should be back in a while. With a guest. Um, Val's mom? So an Alede. It shouldn't be a problem. Claire told me to use the Node here." Getting all of that out required stopping, but the man behind the yogurt bar got the idea that he was in a hurry.

  "You're always welcome, I'm certain. Do you need me to arrange anything for your return?"

  Zack stood for a second, his eyes defocusing. A frosty treat or two sounded nice, but not having a time table he wouldn't know when to make them.

  "We should be good for now. Thanks for asking though."

  Then he headed out walking through the shining blackness in the back of the shop, hoping he could be back before all the yogurts melted. Yes, they were in machines and freezers to keep them cold, but Zack had no clue how long this would really take, did he?

  He'd been to New Zealand a couple of times, though never outside of the Nexus proper. The facility looked new, yet didn't have shops, just offices. About eighty percent of the places were like that he'd found, though it varied a lot from place to place. One place he'd gone to actually had been turned into a school, the idea being that any travelers would share a bit of their culture with the students as they passed through. He'd stayed for a half hour, answering some pretty insightful questions from the kids, who looked Human, except for the fact that they didn't have hair and were covered with fine feathers instead.

  Once outside, he found that the landscape seemed Swiss cheesed with shortcuts. All he needed to do to find Val's mom was to focus on her face and remember what her presence had felt like when they'd met at Christmas. Then walk toward her.

  It took him about ten minutes to get there. She sat outside, on a suitcase with wheels, in the middle of nowhere. A light mist had covered everything leaving the world around them damp and glistening. Pretty and green in the
pale sunlight, he almost wished he'd brought a camera with him so he could show the others. Honestly, given the things that came up, having a good camera for things like that wasn't a bad idea at all.

  “Hi Courtney!” He tried to sound cheery, even though he felt a little odd going to New Zealand to get her like this. Zack really couldn't just leave her there though. She was his mother in law, after a fashion. Hoping she'd be ready to travel soon, he grinned at her. Being a grumpy jerk wad wouldn't make her like him better, would it? Normally people just came to a Node though, so he didn't really know what it would take to get her moving in a situation like this.

  He didn't have to wait, she jumped right up and rushed over to him, dragging her bag behind her. Dropping the handle she hugged him and didn't let go for a minute.

  “Oh god, I got so scared! Not that I though anything bad would happen, not out here. I just don't like being left behind. I think Sue, the production assistant, did it on purpose. She's mad that I slept with her boyfriend. I didn't even know they were dating though, and I mean, I checked and no one knew. Really unprofessional of her anyway. I mean it's one thing to screw me over like this, but what if this affects the shooting schedule? Seriously bad karma.”

  The whole time she talked she kept hugging him. Close. He didn't mind he told her shadow, though if they could walk while they talked, it would go faster. She grinned at him, and held his hand while they walked. Flipping her hair, which was just past shoulder length and light blonde, back over her shoulder, using it to try and catch his attention. The Human eye, she told him on the deeper level, was attracted to movement. By moving every few seconds she could normally keep a person's full attention trained on herself, as long as the moves were big enough, and sudden, of course.