Between (Alternate Places Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  Val looked at her and nodded.

  “Are you going to work as Maria then?” Her tone seemed interested in what would happen next.

  She licked her lips, which were free of makeup, since she had been told numerous times that she didn't need it, unless she wanted to hide who she was or create a specific impression.

  “Yeah. I can't afford to take time off of work each time a little set back comes. Well, afford it, isn't the problem. I don't think others can afford it though. I know I can work this way. At least I can use the Nodes just as well. I have no clue how people are going to react. I guess I'm just going to tell people the truth? Though not about how I got this way, since that's kind of a secret, right?” Her voice sounded more pleading than she'd have been as Zack. She didn't like that.

  The Alede all nodded. The general consensus was that if people knew they could, and did, change genders, that some people might freak.

  Val explained to the others. "We can change genders at will."

  Troy looked at them, having had sex with all three of them in the room, though it had been a while.

  “You can? I mean I guess I knew that, I just didn't think about you three doing that.” He sounded slightly worried, though Zack didn't get it. They were still the same people he knew, just like Maria was still his best friend.

  Sarah smiled at him gently though. “That's right. Remember 'Robert' from Beautiful Plus? I think we met once or twice then. I got into some trouble and had to hide for a while, some guys jumped me, got their butts kicked for it, then ran to the police claiming I attacked them with a gun. So here I am...” She pulled her arms across her chest, hugging herself. “Luckily, I had people to stay with. Anyway, when we're men, we're men, fully and completely, and the same when we're women. It tends to be best for mental health that way. That's why Maria always has to be Maria and not Zack. She's both the same person and not him at all. That is, if you gave her a DNA test, she's a girl down to the smallest level. Still, while she needs to be treated as a woman and think of herself as one, she's also your friend. The same person you've known for the last years. I don't know if I can explain it any better. If it helps Troy, all Alede are born female. So really we're girls that are sometimes men, not the other way around.”

  Maria nodded. It didn't seem clear, but she couldn't see any way to make it clearer right now. Troy would adapt though, she had faith in him. He'd adapted to everything else after all.

  Merri came and hugged her, whispering that she didn't care what form he had, she still loved him. Or her. She ducked her head shyly after kissing the other woman on the cheek.

  Hilda had no problem with the change at all. Simply accepting what she saw and scented then went on as if everything were normal. Troy gave her a wide berth though, finally, as she walked him through the shortcut, so he could work a half day at Frozen YoGurt, she asked if something bothered him about the situation.

  He stood back from her, looking down, into her eyes for a moment.

  “Oh yeah something's wrong with this! I spend half the time thinking of you as my buddy Zack and the other half wondering if I can score with you! So, not easy to deal with. I'm not worried about seeming gay, people can do what they want, but this... Well, I'm just saying that if I suddenly grab your ass later, try not to knock any of my teeth out when you hit me... Dude, this is messed up.” He walked away shaking his head.

  Maria stepped back through the shortcut and got everyone else, mentioning what Troy had said to Claire and Libby.

  “I hope this doesn't break him. It's weird for me, but I can control what I think about. He suddenly sees his best friend as a hot chick and his body isn't being nice about it. It probably doesn't help that everything I own to wear was picked out by a succubus to maximize sex appeal.” She looked down at what she wore and admired that it fit so well, hugging each curve perfectly, showing everything off to best effect. It was a nice green jacket, with a tight, and very short, black skirt. She also had black hose on, the tops of which were held up with garters, because her shopper was just like that.

  Libby kissed her, and Claire, not wanting to be left out, did the same.

  “Don't worry love,” Claire whispered. “These things have a way of working themselves out. We can always have Troy turned into a girl as well, which should make things easier for him.”

  She had to dig into the little bag that Patty had gotten her a while back, a small purse called a clutch, if she remembered it correctly, for the key to the front door. Kaitlyn had walked over to the donut shop a few blocks from the mall to get their daily two dozen.

  As Maria, she didn't have to eat as much as Zack did. Though it just meant getting full a little sooner, not eating fewer times per day, her energy needs being mainly non-physical. So a little less body mass and muscle didn't affect things that much. Her stomach growled as she waited, cleaning the floors and straightening the shelves and thinking of a new window display to try and pass the time. Felicia saw her through the window as she walked from Beautiful Plus and ran inside.

  “Maria!” The flying tackle hit her in the chest, which didn't hurt like she thought it would. She returned the hug.

  “What are you doing here? Are you staying for a while?” For a second she wondered if the girl had forgotten that Maria and Zack were one being, then realized that she just followed Alede social rules here. If Maria just showed up, you reacted to Maria as if she hadn't been there, because she hadn't. Given what had happened with Robert, that made sense. It meant that you wouldn't give anything away in an emergency.

  She answered the girl as completely as possible.

  “For a while, at least. It's not going to be a secret who I am, but it is a secret how I got this way. I got in a fight last night, with an Arch-Demon and my left leg got messed up really bad. Kaitlyn has it mainly fixed, but it's going to need some rehab, it looks like. So until further notice, I'm this me. Still Maria though, but also the line-walker. If anyone asks, just tell them I lost a bet. People will buy that. I'm guessing most people won't ask though. People generally don't notice things right in front of them.”

  The girl, a woman in a girl's body really, since she must be near twenty-five or thirty, wrapped her arms around her again.

  “You know, if it's okay, I'd like to go back to being a boy again soon, if you think I can handle it? I've always been most comfortable that way, plus, for me, my male form is the good looking one.” She stood away from Maria for a minute, looking serious.

  “Sure. It's your body. As long as boy you is cool. If you ever get a chance to hang out with Kyle, Kaitlyn's other form, now there's a cool guy. Always prompt with the donuts and coffee, and a major bad ass in a fight. Just in case though, what's your guy name?”

  “Jeremy. I'd need new clothes first though... Something to think about at least!”

  Kaitlyn finally came with the donuts, which Maria tried to eat carefully, daintily even, though somehow it didn't seem to work very well. She'd have to take lessons from Hilda. The powerful woman always managed to control her food perfectly, seldom even dropping a single crumb.

  When Lisa got there she looked surprised, but came and gave her a hug and a warm kiss anyway. Since, after all, they were at least friends with benefits, if not dating.

  Maria explained the whole thing, again, and the cover story of having lost a bet, just in case anyone asked. People began coming in at about Nine-thirty... and no one so much as batted an eyelash. Three men managed to rub up against her breast as she took their arms, hard enough that it clearly hadn't been an accident, and a woman actually grabbed her behind, getting a yelp and a jump for her trouble. She smiled, but thought it was more than a little odd.

  Though she knew it was wrong, all this attention really turned her on. At lunch, when Zack would have gotten an awkward, but heartfelt, hand job from Lisa, she went into her office, locked the door and started kissing her boss, hard.

  After a few moments of this, she took off her underwear, hopped up on the edge of the desk a
nd spread her legs. Lisa began licking her immediately, gently nibbling and tickling every now and then, showing a lot more skill at this than she ever had with Zack.

  After a few minutes, she came, and then came again about three minutes later. She asked Lisa the same question that Zack always did, only this time Lisa said yes without hesitation. Switching places with her on the edge of the desk.

  Focusing a sense of pleasure into the tip of her tongue, she licked the other woman, causing her to almost push away at first, until she started to orgasm over and over again, a sudden flash of pleasure being delivered between each muscle contraction, delivered with a gentle flick.

  When she thought Lisa neared being done for now, she leaned in a little and sucked her clitoris into her mouth, swirling her tongue around it without stopping, imparting a slightly stronger sense of pleasure than she had before.

  The attractive Mage began to shake, pulsing in time to Maria's heart beat, unable to muster the force or the will to push her away. Finally, when her Shadow cried out that she couldn't take any more, Maria relented. Withdrawing the sense of pleasure and simply kissing her lower lips gently for a moment, then standing and kissing her on the mouth.

  Lisa kissed her back and didn't let go for a long time.

  “What... That was... Amazing. Can you always do that?” This came out as a husky whisper, throaty and relaxed.

  "As Zack, you mean? Sure. It isn't hard or anything. It just hasn't come up, because every time he asks if he can do anything for you, you say no. We can do this every day, if you want." She shrugged, making her jacket, which was unbuttoned, pull across the back.

  "Uh..." Lisa said, taking a shaking breath. "I think I might be reconsidering the whole guy thing, if this is what we can do." The look she gave her was sweet though, not all that sexy.

  Maria ate lunch quickly after rearranging her clothing. She needed a simpler hair style she realized, maybe she could wear it up, a pony tail might do, if she could pull off the look.

  At Lesser Shia, Hathe came and spoke to her briefly. She assured him that, though the name changed, she still had the same abilities, being the same person. To his credit, he simply accepted this as being normal and didn't ask any questions. Apparently complete changes of form were one of the things you could simply purchase in Lesser Shia. If Zack wanted to look like a woman, or a reptoid for that matter, no one here would think twice about it. Zack made a point of filing this information away, in case it ever came up.

  Work went well, without interruption and with only one being, an elderly reptiod woman, touching her breasts. That though, she realized, had to do with simply never having seen such things before and being curious. She let the woman feel them for a bit, smiling, then took her through the line.

  She got home before dark, so managed to be there to feed the Vampires, some of whom hadn't seen her before. They all stared for a bit, not understanding the situation.

  Nikki had seen her before though, and just smiled at her.

  If anything she lifted her shirt a little higher this time, or it seemed that way, possibly because Maria lacked Zack's height.

  When he got to Rebeca, she pulled her shirt open, flashing a lot more skin that she had before, her bra exposed to the room almost fully as she fed.

  Blake noticed and commented on it.

  “Rebeca! Look, Maria here is hot and all, but be a little less obvious...” He chuckled at her.

  Maria pierced him with a gaze and told him to shut up.

  “She isn't saying she wants me moron! She's saying that men intimidate her, in this form I'm more neutral to her and not a threat. Not that I am in my other shape though, not really, since she could take me in a fist fight ten times out of ten.” Her tone held more steel than Zack would have used, a lot more.

  Blake actually backed away, "Forgive me, ma'am. Rebeca. I didn't mean to offend."

  David didn't say anything, about that, but did flirt with her outrageously. Still, he always flirted, so it didn't seem that different really.

  About an hour later Patty and Kaitlyn came to help her change back to Zack. Then Hilda came to run him through some exercises, pushing him for about forty minutes then telling him he did a good job. He still felt weak though. She hugged him tightly for a while, then let the other women change him back to Maria.

  That night, without warning, for the first night in over nine months, for the first time ever for Maria, she realized, sleep hit her hard. The dreams were intense, full of death and catastrophe. Of an army coming for them all, an army of Arch-Demons, which weren't Demons at all, but old gods and the servants of even older gods, long forgotten, long locked beyond the void, seeking to get free, seeking help to break out.

  Zack, dream Zack, looked into the face of the abyss, into the face of such gods and realized he knew. He understood what this was all about.

  The attacks, the attempts to break his spirit.

  Everything, even who his friends were now.

  Because he recognized one of the old gods from his vision.

  It was time, he realized, to go and pay a visit.

  Chapter twenty-one

  Maria had woken while the sky remained dark. Running, without shoes or socks, to the shortcut out back. Merri looked at her, startled, as she ran through the kitchen. The black haired girl didn't speak, didn't slow, running as fast as she could, into the mall, and from there into the void.

  In the void he remained Zack.

  He could be no other. Not in this place. His thoughts were too ingrained into the pattern, from the thousands of years he'd spent reflecting on his own being, coming to control each thought perfectly. To be only what he chose. He felt no anger here, that being a habit of the body, which fades well over time. Without the hormones and chemicals of anger, it simply didn't exist. Only thought existed here.

  He called out for the Big Shadow. He screamed for it, he yearned for it, for that touch of thought he knew must always be here.

  What are you! What am I? Do we even exist, or are we just dreams?

  Behind reality, he found it, removed from the void itself, the big Shadow waited, always looking at him, trying to help when allowed, trying to give the Little Shadow a chance.

  They talked then, for hours, for days. The Big Shadow, who had no name and never did, except the one given to him by Zack, his child, told him then, some of what had happened around them over time. Told him about how he, Zack, had come to be and why.

  Little Shadow... There are no gods, there are only things you have not met yet. Some are powerful, some are not. All are precious and have value beyond the ability of any to truly measure.

  Once, long ago, long before the time of Zack, before the time of man even, there had been others. Different, angry, spiteful things that brought destruction to all that stood before them. Through the use of a clever trick, a ruse and a lie, they were all trapped in a place that cannot exist, but does.

  Because they existed in a place that had no existence, they could not find themselves to get out. So their minions, their followers, hatched a plan. Convoluted, twisting through time and space, culminating in the one being that could give shape to the place that didn't exist.

  But they forgot. There is a gate keeper standing guard.

  In their evil, they sought to break the mind of a Human, driven past all reason or hope, so that they could drive that mind back, into the darkness that has no shape, so that it could realize where the others had been trapped.

  Once that happened, they would flood out, through the mind of that one, that broken champion.

  But when they drove the half mad child into the void, it didn't find it empty. No, it found a friend waiting for it instead.

  I wrapped you in myself, my being, whispering to your mind for so long. I feared that you would never come out of yourself, eventually though, you did.

  Instead, the voice told him, of becoming their bridge, he became something more. Something no other Human has ever been.

  Now it has become clea
r. You are a threat to their plan. They must seek to start over, breaking a child at the hands of the darkest, the most foul things in existence. So far, you have foiled them, stopping their plans.

  You must hold on, while others take the battle to them. That's not your part in this. You're not yet able to fight such things easily and will not have to, if all goes well. There are rules still in place, that none dare break, lest reality itself cease to be.

  This went on for a while, until finally his friend, the big Shadow, noticed his wounds.

  Here, I'll heal that for you, pay attention, so that you may do this yourself from this point on.

  Healed, they spoke for days, going over what was, and what might soon be.

  Then, knowing more than he ever had about himself, he walked out of the void.

  He strode into the kitchen, his clothes barely fitting, since as Zack he stood nearly eight or nine inches taller than Maria did. The healing in the void had worked perfectly, he noticed. Where earlier he'd felt weak, barely able to get through the exercises Hilda had set him. Now he felt strong on the left side, back to normal, at least.

  Merri stood looking at him, concern plain on her face. Her Shadow self, glowing and bright like a star, or the sunrise itself, stared at him, wondering if this then, would be the time. The time she'd been ordered by the king to tell him the truth. She hoped not, because that truth would probably end their lives together, her inner glow informed him. Some things were so big that once known, they changed the very world around them. But...

  She hadn't provided the service for him that he would need. So it couldn't be time yet, could it?

  Leaning down, he hugged her.

  “Not yet, I don't think... I found some things, but I don't think it's time yet, for what you have to tell me.” This came out muted and soft, for her ears only. A single nod, almost a bow came from her then, understanding, or at least accepting that her strange husband had made a suggestion, one that put her mind at ease for now.