Between (Alternate Places Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  Reaching out more firmly, focused on nothing else, he compelled the great beast to return to its other form. Finally, after what seemed a long time, the dragon started to slowly shrink, melting casually, returning to its more familiar Human shape. Before the change ended, he walked forward, feeling like he moved through thick molasses, pushing himself as hard as he carefully could, up to the man who'd not yet finished his change. Then punched him, at an angle, using his right fist to drive the partly reptilian jaw up and back, rendering the other man unconscious.

  He looked around then for Demons, but found none. They seemed to have left while he'd been busy with the Dragon. Given the time he knew that had taken, only a few seconds, though it had seemed longer to him, perhaps more like eight minutes or so, they must have fled instantly upon seeing him. He realized then that he'd dropped his invisibility to Demons when he'd called the sword, even though he'd done it before without doing so. Perhaps it had to do with the intensity of his focus? Could it be allowing him to only truly do one thing at a time right now?

  That felt right.

  He turned to a man and asked where this place happened to be. No answer came, not from the man he'd asked. Another walked over, blood running from his face slowly, already starting to heal, a Vampire of some kind then? Different in some way from the ones he knew. His beast looked more like the man's external form, though it still stood large, about two foot taller.

  “This is Greece, Line-Walker. There's only one Nexus here.”

  "Thanks. I'll go guard against further attacks, here or elsewhere. Please let people know that?"

  It took very little time to find the Node and get back into the void. He watched again. Waiting.

  No other attacks came, so he practiced, focusing until he almost stopped existing, over and over again. Remembering only briefly why he did it. Time slowed again, the Demons barely moving as he sat and watched them pass.

  He remembered that they used to move more quickly.

  Eventually he went back to his store. The clock said that it had just turned midnight, meaning he'd been in the line only for a few hours, in the time of this world. To him it had been longer. Much longer.

  Zack walked over to the Frozen YoGurt, Nikki, his friend he remembered, worked behind the counter. She greeted him in a kind manner, her inner self telling him of her day, of how she slept well, resting and hiding from the disruption of the Sun. He tried to remember how to speak in words. It had been some time since he'd done so, many centuries at least, possibly more.

  “Nikki. There's been an attack on the Nexus in Greece. Can you call and get a situation report? See if they require aid or anything of that nature. I'll stand by. I don't know who to call however.” He waited for her to react. It seemed to take a long time.

  Finally she ran to the back room, seeming to move at regular speed, about like what a Human would be able to manage. Well, he figured, perhaps she realized her supernatural speed wouldn't change this situation at all, so opted to save her energy in case she needed it later?

  The Vampire came out with a notebook, it had a blue cover. He remembered that Claire kept the mall numbers in the green covered binder. After looking in this book for a while, she dialed a number and asked to speak to Vaun.

  “Look, we have a report of another attack on the Nexus in Greece. Who said? Mr. Hartley did. Right, he's standing right here, so please patch me through to Vaun. Thank you.” She didn't sound irritated, though her inner self seethed. He reached out to her on that level and soothed her. She spoke so slowly on the phone though he noticed, each word stretching for a long time it seemed to him.

  She calmed suddenly and looked at him, a small smile on her face.

  “Every petty official thinks that we should all go through them, which is normally fine, but slows things down in emergencies.” Hearing something on the phone she paused.

  Speaking to Vaun, she reported what Zack had said. Vaun got off the line telling them to stand by.

  A long time later, hours it seemed, he called back.

  Vaun reported that the attack seemed smaller than the previous ones, though they'd brought in a dragon, which had begun to lay waste to them until the Line Walker came. They seemed to have everything under control now.

  Zack only made one correction.

  “This attack was large, over twice as many Demons attacked. They didn't make it in to the building. This shows escalation. We should note that.” Then he simply stood, waiting.

  Eventually, after a long time talking on the phone, Nikki hung up and called Claire. Several people showed up a half hour later, Vampires first, as they were all running in. Zack watched them enter, moving quickly, but at speeds he could easily follow with his eyes.

  Claire moved in front of him, so he smiled. He remembered her. He loved her. Probably more than anyone he'd ever known. He could see the lines now, the connections between them all. He could see the traps in his life, how his own reactions could serve to keep him from fulfilling his purpose if he didn't fix things soon. He saw things he'd never understood. That his friend Troy belonged with Hilda, his other good friend, even though they were different. He saw that Lisa would end up alone, unless he intervened on her behalf and made sure she found love soon.

  He understood that there were spies in his life, that he hadn't considered. Fire and air for instance, as well as the sound that air carried.

  Claire waited for something, he waited too, smiling at her.

  “I love you.” He said, hoping that she would understand that he meant it in a deeper way than he'd ever used those words before.

  Claire looked at him oddly and turned to Nikki.

  “What happened?” Her voice sounded strange, deeper than he remembered it. But nice still, he reflected.

  The younger Vampire who still let her beast control her at times, though she tried to hide it, spoke calmly, because he'd asked her inner self to not worry or be stressed, he recalled. Good of her to remember that, he thought, praising her on that level for her good work.

  “He came in about twenty minutes ago, moving fast, like our kind of fast. He asked me to call someone to check on the Greek Nexus. There's been an attack. Apparently he'd been there. Vaun told me that reports describe him as dodging a dragon at incredible speeds for a Human, then looking at it for a second and hitting it with his fist, killing it instantly. I noticed his hand, but wanted to wait for you, just in case I don't understand the situation clearly.” Here words matched her inner words, meaning she told the truth as she knew it.

  Interesting. Did he move faster than normal right now? He relaxed and returned time to normal. His mind suddenly coming back to its regular speed, he noticed that he felt very, very hungry.

  “Nikki, could I have something to eat please? I think I used a little more energy than I meant to there.” He turned to Claire and gave her a hug, aware that his right hand throbbed suddenly, he looked at the thing at the end of his arm. At least Zack thought that's what it was called. It seemed swollen and distorted, probably broken in several place from where he hit the Dragon-man's jaw. He turned off his ability to feel pain again. There was no blood showing, but it didn't look like the ends of everyone else's appendages.

  “The attack was way bigger than the one on Underwood. I killed most of them before they got there, and then fourteen of them, fourteen of the Demons, as they left. Three waited until I was distracted. I saw the one in my father's body again, but he ran off. Is Kaitlyn or Patty coming? I could use some healing. Kaitlyn by preference, if possible. Sorry... I'm still functioning differently mentally. I know it's making me seem a little odd right now.”

  Claire smiled. "You had been moving so quickly that it was hard to understand you. Perhaps you should sit?"

  Nikki hurried over with a large container of vanilla frozen yogurt, he ate, without really tasting it. Before he finished it, she had something more complicated in front of him. She'd used heavy whipping cream with a peanut butter dish, which he saw Claire had noticed. For some re
ason the names of his limbs were hard to find, but he knew that you used light whipping cream for dishes with peanut butter. At least if you were serving them in the store. It was in the notebook behind the counter. He looked at his Vampire and shrugged, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of love for her. She was very good when it came to frozen treats. Perhaps the best in the world.

  Not that he knew everyone. That would be silly. They were all over the place after all.

  People talked as he ate, using his left hand, the right one being rather hard to move, even though it didn't hurt. The phone rang and Claire spoke into it rapidly, after a few seconds she told them that there had been a complaint lodged against the Demon cooperative in regards to this latest attack on yet another Nexus. The Demons hadn't responded yet.

  A while later Kaitlyn came in with Lisa and Patty. She took his hand gently, and described what she did to her mother. She transformed just the hand, making it smaller and darker, then moved it back through to his normal form, totally healed.

  The girl held his hand and asked him what he'd done to it.

  “Oh, there was a little trouble, and I had to hit someone. I did it a little harder than intended, I'm afraid.” Nikki shook her head, not letting the explanation rest there.

  “He fought a dragon. With his bare hands, and killed it with a single blow. There were some fifty eye witnesses. Apparently he also killed like, fifty Demons and probably nearly that many of whatever they carried in to the attack. He basically fought a small battle by himself tonight.” There seemed to be something in her voice, but he couldn't identify it right now. He felt odd, still detached, too focused to interact with people cleanly or clearly, he realized.

  He told them what he'd been doing, trying to prevent his body from forcing him into sex constantly. He admitted to them that he hadn't found a way around it yet.

  “I know it has to do with the bond Claire and I have, and how it has interacted with everything, not just Val and Patty. I know that my close ties to Kaitlyn are linked to it as well, possibly more strongly than any other factor. I can see it's still a trap, though I can't see any way out that isn't potentially more damaging than dealing with it directly. There seems a chance that I can learn to control this on the physical level, controlling my body more completely, though I may not be able to get rid of it all together.” He looked at first Claire, then the others.

  “It wouldn't be a big deal, except that I keep feeling like I'm cheating on you.” This he directed at Claire who looked surprised.

  “I don't mind though. You have a biological need that gets in the way if you don't do something about it. So we deal with it. Just consider it another ability you got through the link and try to put a positive spin on it while you learn to control it. Remember, it's only cheating if I don't know about it before hand. So, go and do what you need to in order to stay clear and capable of the real tasks at hand.” Her smile looked oddly confident for some reason he didn't understand.

  “Oh. I guess I should tell you, so you all understand, when I was in the void tonight, working on this thing? I reached a point near totality many times. Total focus on a single point. It seemed to cause my perception of time to slow a bit. A lot actually. To me, it seems both like everything here is fresh in mind still, but I've been gone for a very long time. It may cause me to seem a little strange for a few days.” He reached out and took Claire's hand in his now healed right.

  They all looked at him with different expressions. Lisa looked a little worried. Kaitlyn serene and focused, though he noticed many places within her that still danced with anxiety or anticipation. Claire felt loved and worried at the same time.

  Nikki however was the one that asked the question first.

  “How long did it seem like you were there this time?” Her voice was still relaxed and calm.

  He shook his head and looked at her, truly seeing her for the first time he realized, how she often forgot to breathe and this affected her speech, causing her to sound a little breathless. How she had to hold her speed in check, or else lose control of her body, becoming unbalanced by her own rapid motions and the inertial forces imparted to them. He could also see how she hesitated before answering questions, a part of her locking down her inner responses before she was even aware of them.

  He figured it out, looking back in his memories, how she'd changed, subtly, one night about two months before. Zack had barely known her then. Still it seemed very clear to him now. Her mind had been compelled to do something, probably spy on them, since the only people he knew that could compel her this totally would be Claire or Vaun, both of whom wouldn't need to. They could just ask her to spy on him and she would.

  So someone has done this to her that we don't know. Interesting, he thought to himself, in a detached way. He stood, smiled and walked over to her.

  He would have to do this carefully, powerfully, suddenly.

  “Nikki,” He spoke to her softly, then waited a heart beat while she looked at him, then two. As the third heart beat thumped in his chest he asked her in a whisper how long it had been that she spied on them. In that moment he let his Shadow rise up, another rose around hers, growing large and larger, he made himself out-pace it, until it hovered over her like a giant cloud. He made himself bigger and screamed at her on the Shadow level.

  ANSWER ME! ANSWER NOW! DO IT. YOU WILL ANSWER ME NOW AND DO WHAT I SAY. BREAK THE OTHER COMPULSION NOW AND LISTEN ONLY TO ME. DO IT!

  He kept this up for thirty seconds, then a minute, and kept going until he felt her will come under his control, and the other compulsion drift away from her completely.

  She spoke, answering him finally, in a normal sounding voice.

  “It's been months, almost since you showed up.”

  Claire's stare dug into him, a rage like he had never seen building within.

  “Do you recall what you were asked to remember?” He probed, seeking, trying to get at the truth.

  “Oh yes. He wanted to know everything about you. What you did, who you talked to, who you slept with. Everything.” Her gaze remained fixed and internally she stayed calm.

  “Nikki, just one more thing, then you can come back to your normal self, all right?” She agreed without hesitation, of course if he asked her to chop her own head off right now she would have agreed to that too, Zack knew.

  “All right then, who asked you to spy on us?” Her eyes fixed she answered with a ponderous slowness.

  “Oh... It was George Penbroke” She said.

  Lisa Muttered a few choice words and then growled out.

  “My father?”

  Chapter seven

  His Candle store boss seemed a bit upset at the moment.

  At least she seemed to be growling.

  “Well. First I think we should find out what this is all about, then kill him. Or at least report him to Eloise.” Lisa had hit the table several times, just a minute ago, calling for his death. This appeared to be an improvement as far as he could tell. At this rate, father and daughter might even be on speaking terms by the following Christmas. Of course the words Lisa would be using then were still in doubt.

  Zack sat for a while, waiting for Lisa to cool down. When she reached a point where he no longer feared for George's life, at least not if the man could come up with something close to a valid explanation, he asked if she had his phone number handy. She whipped out her phone and dialed it angrily, Zack smiled and held out his hand, feeling surprised when she simply gave it over instead of yelling into the phone for a while first.

  It picked up, George Penbroke spoke smoothly, asking who this was. If he'd been asleep he certainly hid it well.

  “Hi George, this is Zack Hartley. I work with your daughter? I believe we've met a few times now?” He knew full well that George would recognize the name, maybe even the voice. Zack just wanted to give him a chance to orient himself before pouncing on him. Even over the phone Zack could see his Shadow and it talked to him, right now grumbling about wanting to get some sleep.<
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  “I don't want to keep you too long, but Nikki, the Vampire you compelled or whatever you call it as a Mage, influenced, I think you may say? Well anyway, we just snapped her out of it. Lisa's a little angry at you right now, feeling a bit put out by the spying, so you get to talk to me for now, though she's right here. Anyway, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about this tomorrow, if you have the time?” George went silent for a while. So Zack kept talking and gathering information from his Shadow as they spoke.

  “You see, what I really want to know is who you were spying for, if they mean us harm, if you're part of the group that keeps attacking Nexus points... have you heard about Greece yet? You may want to check on that when you get off the phone then. So, if you're not part of the group attacking the Nexus points, what motivated you to attack poor Nikki like that? You know, that kind of thing... Getting a feel for your agenda and whether or not we have to take action to stop you. You may also want to bring a list of anyone else you've 'influenced' if you decide to act in good faith. Thanks. So, we'll see you here at about nine-thirty tomorrow?”

  The man on the other end grumbled a little then said "fine", sullenly.

  “Hey, thanks again George, I'm sure we'll have this worked out in no time, so we can all get on with what needs to be done.” His voice held a dreamy quality, feeling almost too smooth, the words flowing out of him without even the roughness of monotone, the inflection in the right places, but so well rounded that it felt hard to hold on to, even to his own ears. Then Zachary pushed three different buttons on the phone before he figured out which one shut it off and handed it back to Lisa carefully.

  He smiled at them, having collected huge amounts of information while George thought he'd been silent. Vast tracks of data, many things that the man probably didn't even consciously know about himself. He decided to keep most of that quiet for now, in front of his daughter, who really didn't need to know most of it. Not that the information was all that bad, just that the man deserved to have a private life, too.