by Power, P. S.
“Does this mean Libby can come back now? They came and took all her stuff, as her punishment and told me I couldn't let her stay with me, because it might make you mad. We didn't know what to do. It made me sad...”
Zack realized he had never heard the big man say so many words at one time. When he put him down, after about ten more seconds, the hug had taken his feet all the way off the ground, he stopped and thought for a bit.
“I don't know if Libby can come and work here anymore. I have no problem with it, but that has to go through your power structure here. I'd guess Nessa has to deal with that. As for living arrangements, Libby's staying with me. I'm getting a bigger place, so there'll be room, don't worry about that.”
Thinking about the rest of the situation he realized a few things and mentioned them to Nessa and the bear standing beside them both.
“Brin Paterson, I don't think she can get her position back after this. We should find her and make sure she's all right, and that cousin or aunt of Libby's... I don't remember her name. The other one that had everything stripped from her. Do you, do either of you think you could find them?”
Nessa just nodded and promised him that she'd take care of it.
He hurried back to work, waving to Ang as he left. The dragon bowed to him deeply for some reason, so he bowed back. It never hurt to try and be polite, he figured as he walked away.
The rest of the day he worked hard, trying to get caught up, so that everyone would get where they needed to go. He ended up getting to Lesser Shia late, because he'd stopped to eat first. He didn't feel tired when he finished, he didn't often feel tired at all anymore. Just hungry all the time.
At seven he went to see Patty in her office and explained the whole day.
He also explained the side effects of feeding the Alede, if that's what was causing it and the problems this had started to create for him.
“I'm walking around a half step from hard all the time lately! Sometimes not even that half step. You have to understand, this is after I'm locking down everything mentally, lust and all. Even through that, and I'm good at doing that, remember when Kaitlyn had her problems at the club? I barely felt that, even when everyone else did. So this is, something... strong. It seems to be getting more so too. I don't know what to do about it.”
Patty nodded and looked thoughtful for a few moments.
Then her inner self suggested that they deal with this in the Alede fashion until he worked out some other solution, since she really wanted him to keep doing what he had been for her and her people.
“So, just pop in a couple of times a day and we'll make certain you aren't too distracted the rest of the time. We're all used to that kind of thing, and I doubt the others will mind. For that matter there are others around that would probably like a turn too, if you're up to it.” Her smile looked mischievous. "More than a few of our clients here have asked after you. True, a few of them were a bit plump, but all of them are very nice people. If this is part of how you're going to be now, you might consider some of them as an outlet too."
Zack seemed a little surprised that she had figured out that nice held more weight with him than pretty or trim. Then again, maybe that wasn't all that uncommon?
He decided he'd talk to everyone about it later, once they got home. Until then he could control himself, no matter how he felt. Zack knew with a certainty that he controlled his own actions. It may be annoying and embarrassing to walk around with an erection all the time, but that didn't control what he did.
She laughed at that a little.
“You, Zach Hartley, are a very unique man, do you know that?” Walking over to where he sat on her leather fainting couch, she knelt down in front of him, looking up at him, in what he now knew to be a practiced move, used to increase his excitement.
Without saying anything, she went to work.
When Zack left her large and nicely decorated office twenty minutes later, Val and Sarah stood with Norris and a lady that seemed to be a regular costumer of Norris's at the store. She spoke to them heatedly.
“Did I do something wrong? Am I being dumped? What's going on here Norris, you never spend any time with me anymore. I don't want to be clingy, but I thought we had an... agreement worked out....” Norris tried to explain that he'd just been busy, at which the woman simply snorted, eying Val and Sarah.
The woman, who seemed more than a little angry, narrowed her eyes.
"I'll bet you have."
Her Shadow seemed a little hurt really, but didn't blame him for choosing them over her. They were simply too hot to compete with. This honesty made Zack take a bit of a liking to the woman, who, while a little plain, with brown hair and brown eyes, did seem to dress nicely and try to take care of herself. For that matter, she probably wouldn't even look plain if she wasn't standing next to this crowd.
Norris, for his part, knew that he couldn't explain that he had spent the last two weeks starving a sixteen year old girl and running her through the wringer, because his friend, Janet, though she preferred to be called Jan, didn't know about what he was. Plus, he said, his inner Shadow turning to Zack, no matter who you are, starving a girl for that long seemed mean. Even if needed at the time.
Zack decided to try something, knowing that the other man didn't want to hurt Jan's feelings or even stop sleeping with her. He actually liked her for more than sex, something that seemed rare for the Alede as far as he could tell. He'd have to be careful though and hope Norris and the others would go along with him.
“Hi, everyone!” Zack said cheerily, as if he hadn't noticed anything going on at all.
“Hey, Norris... Is this your friend Janet you were telling me about? Jan I mean? You mentioned that she liked to be called that.”
The other man blinked, knowing full well that he hadn't mentioned Janet, but decided to go with what Zack said, since the younger looking man didn't do things like that often.
"This is her." The words were bright, regardless of the conversation he'd just been having with her. It hadn't been a screaming match after all, just a bit tense. Norris wouldn't want to embarrass her.
“Oh great! Did he tell you yet? I know he wanted to do a big unveiling thing, but, you know, everything moves more slowly than planned.” Acting as if he'd just stepped out of line, he let his face go blank suddenly.
“Crud...He hasn't told you has he? About the new business we're trying to put together? He mentioned that he hadn't got to see you much lately and that he missed your time together, so I thought, since you were here, maybe he had...” He looked at Norris, trying to seem chagrined. Apparently well enough.
“Sorry man. I blew it. I know you wanted this to be special. I should just shut up now... Argh!” He threw his hands up in the air and then put his hand on his forehead, looking down at the floor. “Stupid...” He muttered, hoping this wasn't going over the top, not too far any way.
Janet looked at him, then Norris and back again at the other women standing there, wondering what had been going on. She finally asked the young man, who seemed to be the only one willing to talk. "Oh? What business is that?"
He looked at her and smiled.
“Oh, gift baskets! I know, it sounds funny at first, but people have to get them from somewhere, right? So we've been trying to figure out what it would take to put a shop together, at least part of the year, around holidays and such, when demand is higher. We're all in on the idea. Kaitlyn, she works with me down at the Candles and More,” He added this for Jan as an aside. “She's putting a few together today, when she gets a chance. The candle and incense basket idea first, since we can use supplies from around the shop. We're going to go pick up other supplies for it later so everyone can get a good visualization of the idea.”
Jan furrowed her brow at Norris cutely.
"Why wouldn't you just tell me about that?"
Zack answered again, cutting Norris off, playing up his 'runs away at the mouth' persona for the woman.
“He told me that he wante
d you to see it when it unfolded, which I guess I ruined now, so that you'd know that he's not just some guy that's going to be working as an assistant manager in a woman's clothing store his entire life.” Zack blurted, hoping it sounded genuine. Sarah and Val took him by the arm and drug him away, laughing softly as they did it.
Val kissed him when they were out of Human ear shot.
“That was brilliant! I know that Norris really doesn't want to lose her, he's just been so busy lately, with the whole Kaitlyn thing and what with the attack last month that he just didn't have time for her the last few weeks, even though he really wanted to spend time with her.” She hugged him with one arm.
“Now all we have to do is find a way for this to 'fall through' without making him look bad and he's set!” Sarah moved into, taking his hand. All of the Succubi and Incubi were like that he had learned. They touched people constantly if they could. Even when it had nothing to do with sex or energy.
Zack shook his head.
"Nope. We'll set it up. It's a good idea, and will make getting presents for people I don't know easier. Now... I need to find out who to see about getting some floor space here..."
They both just smiled at him.
Like they thought he was kidding.
Chapter five
No one knew who to ask about opening a new store. So Zack decided to head over to see Ghurian, who'd mentioned expanding or even opening a new store himself a few times. Being a Djin, he probably knew, as they seemed to know everything most of the time somehow.
Ghurian surprised him by just pulling some forms out of his desk and asking which space he'd be interested in. Suggesting that the smaller of the two spaces between the Candle store and The Chasm would probably work well for their intended purpose of selling unique gift baskets. He had Zack sign the paperwork right then and gave him a key.
“Now, the rent is ten thousand per month, cash, not gold, since you're not setting up an embassy of your own yet. If that changes, the rent will automatically be waived of course. It has a Node in the back, which given who you are, I figured you'd like. The one next to it doesn't, though the space is larger in the front. Let me know when you intend to open and we'll provide signs for the grand opening. It's good to see you taking a greater interest in things, I must say! Now if we can just engage some of the others...”
The Djin smiled and shook Zack's hand. Then reminded him that he'd also be available to help procure goods for their baskets, at reasonable rates. Given that the man had contacts in Lesser Shia and brought in loads of goods almost every day, this seemed like a good idea to Zack. The front counter of the Import store still held the book that the paperwork was in, and it hadn't been that hard to get the space. Feeling distracted by ideas, he glanced around and noticed that the place was still very nice, but the colors had become more varied. There were nice carpets in different colors on the floor, and more low tables with thing set on them so that people could look at them. Some from Lesser Shia, but nothing that seemed like it would make a random shopper think that. The place smelled a bit of incense, one that reminded him of fireplace smoke.
For a second he thought back to when he was a kid. His grandparents had a giant woodstove, and one of his jobs was getting the wood for it. With a wave he took off, know that Ghurian would understand that he had things to do, and not be insulted by it.
He went to the food court first, where Merri, her small frame looking almost unbalanced by the amount of food she carried, came out to feed him. Even to him and how much he'd been eating it looked like a lot.
He remembered something, looking at all the food.
“Oh, yeah, do you want to go to Lesser Shia tomorrow and pick up gifts for your parents? I don't know what they might like. Hilda would probably be willing to go too, I think.” He'd go and ask her after eating.
Merri clapped her hands.
“You remembered? I thought that maybe, with your Libby just back we'd have to postpone... That's all right, if we have to, I mean. I'm just so happy that you didn't forget me in the crush of things!” Her smile looked happy about not being forgotten.
He hugged her for a while, and told her that of course he hadn't forgotten her. Besides, he looked forward to meeting her parents. She seemed a little nervous about the idea herself, him meeting her parents, but her unique glowing Shadow told him nothing about why. Perhaps she felt he wouldn't measure up to their expectations? He could only do his best though, he realized. Zack had never met a girl's parents before, except Val's mom and that almost didn't count, given their different cultures.
Still, she seemed happy about the trip over all, and the other Alfric had already come around in ones and twos making plans to visit there themselves over the last weeks. They seemed so happy about it he wondered if he should extend similar invitations to everyone that worked at the Mall? As far as he was concerned they could just walk in at any time and he'd take them where they wanted to go, but there hadn't been an announcement or anything yet.
At ten-thirty, everyone had shown up, including, to his surprise, Charli. She sat on the sofa next to Courtney who'd seemed to take an interest in the girl. Kaitlyn had a few baskets ready for people to look at, and had done a lovely job, he thought. The arrangements looked good, with colored Mylar used and something see through of equal thickness in some, others used lace instead, looking very refined to his eye. They were laid out on the coffee table, which was either new or had been brought in from another room, because it hadn't been there before. It looked nice, having a glass top and metal legs in black.
Zack nodded at them, then looked around.
"I rented the store next to Candles and More. Ghurian will bring in the cash register, so it will match the ones we all already know how to use."
Libby, who'd not only been told that the sanctions had been lifted against her, but who had received an apology, via the phone, from Clyde himself, seemed much happier, if not her normal, chipper, self yet. She mentioned some ideas for baskets and arrangements that Zack wouldn't have thought of.
Charli started chiming in as well, and even helped put together a few plans, pointing out that people liked unique baskets on a theme. If they were willing to put them together for individuals, they could probably sell a lot more. She called it 'build a basket'. Zack got a pad and wrote all this down.
They went on with this for a few hours. Courtney just sat, fascinated by all this for some reason, especially the ideas that Zack and Charli came up with once they got started. It all came together easily as far as Zack could tell. They had the money to do whatever they wanted, so this would mainly be about making the mall seem a little more lively, to his mind.
He looked at Libby carefully, trying to judge how she'd feel about his next idea.
“Libby, I know they want you back at the Chasm, they asked after you today even, but do you think we could bribe you into managing this new store instead? It will be a lot of work, but you get to make up your own rules, which always makes that kind of thing easier. You can also hire who you want. Since this isn't an embassy they don't have to come from any given group, though they should know about, you know, everything going on there.” He continued in this vein for a while, everyone looked at the Bat girl, to see what she thought.
She jumped into his lap and started kissing him happily.
“I don't know if I'm the best one for the job right now, but yes! To think, just a week ago I was picking food out of garbage cans wondering if I should just kill myself.” She hugged him again and wouldn't hear of it when he tried to apologize for the hardships she'd endured.
“It wasn't you. I probably could have done better for myself if I hadn't been so depressed.” She moved off of his lap and looked around the room.
“Charli... How much do you get paid to work at Princess Pretty Nail?”
"Minimum wage, with no paid overtime, and lots of guilt, why?"
Zack leaned toward her, and got her to look directly into his eyes.
"Well, we'll pay t
hree times that, give you double time if you work over forty hours a week, and you can have any extra emotions that you want, free of charge. How does that sound?"
The girl giggled at him.
“Mom will hate it, but it's not like I'm leaving the state. Not even the building. Plus, it's not like she doesn't have enough people without me. She'll deal. Especially if I get paid more. Five times as much though. I'm worth it.” The girl said this glibly, as if it weren't all real.
"All right, but that means you have to be on call too, in case of emergencies. Assistant manager things too, whatever those are."
He asked Claire if any of her Vampires might like to pick up an evening shift or two and she said she's ask Rebeca, the others being too unreliable yet for long term work or being already assigned to the yogurt shop.
She made the call right then and put the young Vampire on the phone with Libby.
He took Claire by the arm and pulled her aside, speaking softly to not bother everyone else, since he knew a third of them would be able to hear them anyway.
“About the help we got from your people yesterday, what would be fair for that kind of work?” He asked, knowing that normally they wouldn't have gotten anything for it. “I already told Clyde I hired them to do the work and he's accepted that. By making good on it, they'll be protected from any fallout. Hopefully.”
That got a thoughtful nod from his Vampire, and she wrinkled her slightly long and straight nose attractively.
"I doubt they were expecting to be paid, to be honest. For work like that we'd normally charge about twenty thousand. Most of that is about making certain nothing is ever found of the remains, however. Could you set that up and present it to them tomorrow night? I know that they'd love to see you again, anyway."
"That sounds good. Let's do that."
Charli and Libby needed sleep, and crawled into his old bed. Libby's now he guessed, which reminded him to ask about getting a new house.