Between (Alternate Places Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  The leather turned out to be real, so Zack kept his distance, allowing Claire to sit in it, choosing to sit next to Nikki instead, on a small, cloth covered, love seat.

  Claire hike her skirt up, and spread her legs to the room.

  "Betty, would you be a love, and go down on me?"

  Zack noticed that Betty didn't blink, she just walked over and complied. After about four minutes, Claire started moaning, panting a little, and a few minutes later pushed the girl's head against herself hard, holding her there while she orgasmed.

  When she finished, she let the girl go, thanking her as if she had brought in the morning paper rather than performing a sex act. There was no cuddling even.

  “Well, that worked. So far there seems no lessening of the effects you set up Zack.” She came around the desk and kissed him for a few minutes, the others looking on, waiting to find out what they were wanted for, ready for anything.

  She spoke gently, looking directly into his eyes.

  "You could try it on one of these others, if you feel like it?"

  Her Shadow hoped he'd do it, since this could be huge if it worked on any other Vampire. A reward they could give out for good behavior, or for services that gold couldn't cover. Perhaps even a bribe to some of the older ones, that they couldn't get elsewhere.

  Zack considered it for a moment. Then, without saying anything, explained to their beasts what he wanted, reminding them, more easily than Claire had been that way, being younger and still clearly remembering what pleasure should be like and how to orgasm. Or at least make it feel like they had, when the stimuli had been provided correctly. After several minutes he explained what he'd done or tried to do and said they should experiment, without ever speaking out loud.

  Finally, as they began to fidget, he realized that to everyone else in the room it had seemed like he was just sitting there, thinking about doing it. Holding out on them. Perhaps waiting for some kind of offer of payment.

  He looked at the younger ones and winked, trying to be playful about it.

  "It should work now. Give it a try?" It was important to use your words, he'd heard.

  They all looked excited, but no one moved at first.

  It took longer for them to work out who could do what to whom than it had for him to set the instructions up, because of the complexities of Vampire social politics. A smile tried to creep onto Claire's face, but she fought it, looking at him and winking when the others were deep in conversation. It was a muttered thing, and fast. He could sort of track it on the deep level, but most of the words just seemed like a buzz to him.

  Normally David would have simply been allowed to have his way with Betty, being higher up in the structure. Her prior association with Zack though, who'd provided the service, meant that Betty might outrank him in this situation, or at least match him. Nikki held back, though she could have ordered either of the other two to perform sex acts with her, or on her, since Claire had asked her to.

  Claire already knew it worked on her, so that wouldn't be a good test.

  Zack should be held back, Claire suggested internally, smiling a bit at him with a knowing look, since in a public setting like this, he wouldn't be allowed to provide pleasure for the others directly and them doing things to him, while nice, didn't really prove much, given the current experimentation needed.

  Finally Betty just got on her knees in front of David.

  "Don't let this go to your head. Next time I expect flowers first, at the very least." She was kidding, except, Zack noticed, that she really did want to be treated as special.

  Claire made a mental note of this, her inner being telling Zack that most new Vampires weren't so willing to compromise, and that this possibly promised great things for the girl if she could keep it up. Half of surviving in Vampire culture involved learning to work with others, after all.

  They established that it worked, and worked well, on the other Vampires. They claimed it felt comparable to what they'd had as Humans.

  Nikki grew restless, shifting a little as she sat next to him.

  “I think I'd like to give this a try now, if that's permitted?” Nikki addressed Claire directly, though her Shadow self looked at him while she said this.

  Claire gave him a sly look.

  "Zackary, dear, would you be willing to increase the power level for her? I'd love to see if it's possible, at a remove." She seemed almost hesitant, for her, to be asking that, but it didn't take long. Only about fifteen or twenty seconds of chatting with Nikki's beast. It really wanted to do it after all.

  Without being asked, David moved over in front of her on his knees. Claire looked slightly shocked for a moment, then smiled, and nodded to the man.

  “Indeed. Very well, if you'll proceed then?” Claire watched avidly.

  Nikki freed herself of clothing and nearly screamed when his tongue, wet with artificial lubricant, touched her. She grabbed his head and started grinding into his mouth within seconds. Finally after three minutes or so, she pushed him away, unable to take any more.

  “God! That's...” The dark haired Vampire girl didn't speak after that. She looked lovingly at David though, having been the apparent source of pleasure, then glanced at Zack with a similar look.

  “This...This could be very important. Maybe dangerous. A lot of people, Vampires, are going to want this, even if it only lasts a few days. I doubt we can keep it a secret for long either.” Her eyes went round suddenly.

  “This could be as big as the whole Nexus thing for us.” She grew silent. Thinking about how to protect him from what might be coming.

  Claire nodded and looked at Zack, smiling a little bit.

  “Exactly. We need to make sure that this is handled well, to prevent problems. I don't think Zack wants another full time job just now, so this will have to be controlled somehow. For the time being, you three are with him all night. Keep him safe, no matter what. We'll have to figure out what to do during the day, since Yasmine seems to be busy right now...”

  Zack nodded. He'd been Shadowed by Trolleinkein, and to his surprise, a well armed Beatrice and Scott a couple of times instead lately. Ghurian told him that Yasmine had another project to attend to. She was trying to find her brother, who'd disappeared during Zack's fight with Forrest the Vampire, but, apparently hadn't been killed, just moved somewhere, very, very far away.

  The next three days went normally, except that he had body guards that followed him everywhere except the bathroom and then they stayed right outside the door the whole time. He didn't know that they'd be much help if an Arch-Demon attacked him, but at least he'd be safe from lawyers... and accountants.

  Saturday came, which was a day off for Zack. Since he didn't need to sleep he decided to make use of the time, learning to swim. Troy, who had actual life guard certification, gave him lessons in the pool in the back yard. A large plastic structure, looking much like a greenhouse to him, had been put up over it to keep the heat in.

  He learned how to kick, tread water and float on his back, which Troy assured him was pretty good for the first lesson.

  They showered after the swim, in their bathing suits in a small building that had been built for that reason. So that people could dry and change before coming into the house, something Merri had insisted on after the first person had left damp footprints in her kitchen.

  Troy turned to him as they were leaving, and asked him a serious question.

  “You've killed people, right? I mean, a lot of them, over the last year.”

  Zack could see where this would go already, so he simply nodded.

  “How do you handle it? I mean, I've killed people, several now, and I know they deserved it each time, but it keeps coming back to me. I dream about it at night, at work I see someone that looks a little like one of them and everything comes back. How do you cope with it?” Zack noticed that his friend had a haunted look to him, something he'd seen before, but ignored, knowing that the time hadn't come to do anything about it yet. Now, it seemed,
it had.

  “I don't think about it, Troy. I spend most of my time ignoring things. Seriously. Not just that kind of thing, but all the thoughts and hopes of everyone around me, my emotions get shut down about half the time...” Taking a deep breath he went on. “Everyone has to do things their own way, that's mine. After five thousand years in the void, I learned to simply choose my thoughts. It doesn't matter what they are, if they exist in my head, I own them. It may not be healthy, but so far it's worked out well enough for me. Of course I go back and remove emotional memories I don't need, I don't just hide them from myself. Or strip the emotions from the memories, that works too, if I think I may need the content of a memory some day. Both work.” Zack didn't shrug, or move at all. He just looked at Troy.

  “For you... I think you'll have to find your own path. Mine won't work for you. It takes too long to learn for one thing...”

  Troy's face held a skeptical look.

  “Five thousand years, I thought it was, like three thousand or something...”

  Zack nodded.

  “I learned how to alter time in the void, slowing it through increased focus. I've spent a vast amount of time learning to do things over the last year. I'm surprised no one's really noticed how odd I seem now, at least no one's mentioned it to me. I notice it, all the time. Of course they probably think that all the attacks are having an effect on me, when that's only a tiny bit of what's changed.”

  They talked for a while longer, about how Zack had killed a dragon with a single blow, which he explained had happened, though not in the way everyone thought, being largely an accident. They also talked about Hilda.

  “I think I love her.” Troy said simply. “Everything's so easy with her. She doesn't blame me for the people I've killed, for one thing. She thinks it's heroic and brave. When I wake up at night, she comes and holds me, but I don't think it makes me seem weak or less to her. I don't know. What should I do? I think the relationship we have is about what she can have. She's married to you for goodness sakes. I can't ask her for any more. I feel like I'm supposed to though.” He let his shoulders drop then. “I can't even introduce her to my parents, because I don't know what she'd make of it, or what she might tell them. They might not get it if she suddenly agreed to sleep with my little brother, and he'd ask her too. The little perv."

  Clapping him on the shoulder, "I'd say you should talk to Hilda about it and see what she says? If that doesn't work... Ask Claire? She's better at this kind of thing than I am."

  As they entered the house, Maryl the Bat woman stopped Zack to talk, while Troy continued on to find Hilda, who also had the day off.

  “Zack, I was wondering, I know I have no right to ask, but... could I borrow some money?” He noticed that she didn't say what the money would be for or how much. Though her Shadow self let him know without hesitation.

  “Okay. I'll have Lisa open an account for you. I probably should have done that already, and for Brin. Have you seen her lately, by the way?”

  Laughing she told him that Brin had moved out almost three months before, having gotten a job with Clyde up in Canada. Not a great job, nothing like the powerful position she once held, Maryl told him, but something high enough up that it would make it clear that their family wasn't totally out of favor though. Some of their relatives were still having problems, even a year later.

  “That's what I want to borrow the money for. Some of my family are really having a tough time. We're pretty distinctive looking, us Bats, and even some that aren't direct relatives have felt the pinch. Some have good jobs still, but can't buy things very easily, people won't sell to us, because of, you know... I want to open up a store, so that at least the basics can be shipped to them.” She looked hesitant. “It could cost a bit. I know you don't care about money much, but you might not get this back...”

  Waving his hand in the air a little, Zack smiled.

  “What's the point of having a lot of money if you can't help people? I'll give Lisa a call...No, better, I'll go talk to her now. Want to come?” She looked worried about it, but nodded.

  He dressed for going into public, having a reputation of sorts to uphold, and took Maryl by the hand, leading her out to the shortcut and through it. It occurred to him that he didn't actually need to hold her hand to get her through the kitchen, though he did feel a little thrill when she let him. It felt nice to simply be accepted like that.

  Something Wonderful had smelled really good lately, some kind of fruit scented air freshener he thought. Libby and Charli worked the front, actually waiting on customers, he noticed. Humans mainly, since the Nexus wasn't active today, not without him being there. Part of that, Libby's inner bat told him, was due to the fact that, unlike the other stores there, they'd actually bothered to advertise, so people had come in just to shop with them.

  He blew Libby a kiss and seeing Charli smile at him, did the same toward her. Maryl took his hand again, nervously as they walked out.

  "Do you think Lisa won't give us the money or something? She will. It's a good idea. Even just for regular Humans and other types of people, it could be useful. We'll need an online presence. Like Amazon, except that we can get goods from Lesser Shia, and won't charge for it." He thought all of that was right. He didn't think a lot of things from there would be up on Amazon yet. E-bay probably had some. In fact, he was nearly certain that Ghurian had mentioned that.

  “No, It's, uhg... I kind of have a crush on her. I didn't want to say anything, because I know that you and her have something going, but, I feel what I feel, I guess.” Her accent thickened, and she blushed, having said more than she intended.

  In response he let go of her hand and put his arm around her instead.

  “If you want her, you should go for it. I don't think it will affect our relationship, as long as you don't mind, you know? Even if it does, if you two can be happy together, then I wouldn't stand in the way. Does she seem to like you, do you know?” He hadn't kept track of such things for a long time, he realized.

  Maryl shook her head.

  “I don't know, probably not. I'm not that great looking, I know that, but not everything in the world is about looks, right? Maybe I should try? I don't know...” They made it to the door of Candles and More then, so she stopped talking.

  Lisa heard them come in, the bell ringing caused her to poke her head out of her office, her face lit up when she saw them.

  “Zack, Maryl! I didn't expect anyone to come in except some people buying holiday center pieces. We need to get with Martha again soon, we're selling out pretty fast and it's not even Halloween yet. So, what's up?” Her smile lingered on Zack for a moment, but kept going as she looked at Maryl.

  Looking at her Shadow self, Zack saw that Maryl did intrigue her, being closer, way closer, to her type than he could be, he understood, his being male and taken already.

  He asked Maryl to explain her idea and then asked if they could afford a loan for her.

  “Afford? You can afford to buy small countries. Possibly all of them. A business is a great idea. I invest a lot of the money, but then it keeps making more, so we have to keep putting it out there. How much do you want to give her?” She took them into her office.

  It didn't take long for Zack to realize that Maryl didn't have a clue how much she needed. He suggested she take ten million to start with, since having too much money almost never hurt. Lisa just started making a record of it.

  "After all, if you don't need it, you can always give it back. Or find some other project. We need more stores here, for one thing. One of those places that just sells cookies might be good, for instance." He was, he realized, a tad hungry.

  The bat woman stood slack jawed for a while, then smiled.

  Remembering that Jan and pretty much everyone else would be coming over that night, including Lisa and Maryl, he asked them if they could think of anything that might be needed? They couldn't think of anything either.

  Maryl took a half breath and held it.

 
"Um... so, Lisa? Do you have a date for tonight? If not, would you like to go with me?"

  Lisa gave her a huge smile on that wasn't filtered first at all, "I'd love too!"

  Zack saw them both blush a bit, and smiled himself.

  Chapter twenty-six

  At dinner, Lisa sat next to Maryl since they'd come together. Zack sat between Claire and Libby, with Val to Libby's left and Keane next to Kaitlyn, who flirted with him shamelessly. Norris and Jan sat on the other side of Claire. The order made only rough sense to him, but Patty told him it was probably correct, in a non-traditional manner.

  Norris stood, his Shadow looking frightened, mainly glancing at Patty, who'd turned to talk to Charli next to her about work, so didn't notice that Norris had raised a hand slightly to get everyone's attention.

  “Thank you all for coming, and for those of you that are having us.” He looked at Zack and bowed a little. "Janet... I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!" Holding his hand back out, looking a bit frightened, but not blasting lust all over the room in response to it, the man went on. "I... Already told her about the Alede and what that means. She understands, and is fine with it."

  Patty looked about ready to bite his head off, when Hilda spoke instead.

  “Just the Alede? Did you tell her the rest of it, or is that a secret?” Troy put his hand on her arm, seeing how easily that question could go wrong. Hilda just grinned at him though, knowing, Zack could tell, exactly what she'd just said.

  Norris looked at her openly though and told her that he'd mentioned that other things existed, though he hadn't given specifics yet.

  “I figured I'd leave that to everyone else, so that I don't give anything away that they want to keep to themselves.” This came out slowly as if he had given the idea a lot of thought.