On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (26 page)

“Why don't we just say that, since the school here was closed
suddenly, all the embassies at Underwood opened up unpaid internship positions,
and that these two heard about it and jumped at the chance to fill those slots
for the Vampires there? Then we can take Jelly with us, if she wants to go.
That explains bringing Blaine and Britney, if your mom can use them, I mean.
Then all we have to do is come up with some reason why I'm not going home for
this. A job maybe? Even
my
dad can't complain about me being lazy if I'm
working every day through this thing, right? Well, OK
he
could complain,
but at least I won't have to be there for it.”

Everyone but the Vampires thought this was a little iffy, but
a single call to Claire had her, Patricia, Libby, Hilda, Zack and Lisa standing
in front of them in Kate's dorm room.

Claire sized up the two new Vampire men and gave them each a
hug.

“Such fine volunteers! Yes, I think this could work very
nicely Kaitlyn. I doubt that Mr. Penbroke will guess their identities. Lisa?
You know what he's liable to think better than any of us, do you think it can
work?”

The pretty thirty something woman looked at them carefully
before nodding. She had them turn around carefully first, looking at them from
all sides. After a while she started chuckling.

“
Yes
. George is nothing if not a homophobe. The idea
of hiding as another person might occur to him. Especially an illusion of
another person, that being a Mage talent. Actually
becoming
a different
person of the opposite gender? I don't think he'd even consider it, to tell the
truth. It's just outside of what he'd do, so he'll assume it's outside of what
anyone else would do either.”

Claire moved to Kate and gave her a hug, putting an arm
around her waist and leaving it there while they all talked. It took her a
minute to realize that the Vampire was laying claim to her like an Alede would,
which got a raised eyebrow from Patricia and open stares from Britney, though
Blaine didn't seem to notice overly, just standing next to Jelly protectively,
since the girl seemed worried for some reason.

Patricia walked over then and kissed both Britney and Blaine,
then did the same to Kate, adding a hug which included Claire, since she stood
right there. As an afterthought she hugged Don and Jelly too, though she tactfully
didn't kiss them the same way. Kate thought about it and realized that her
mother actually had some real diplomatic skills. She'd included the Mage and
the Human, but not in a way that would push their sensibilities too far.

Patricia looked back at the twins, “You're very cute! The
embassy can use you, as long as you're willing to work. The front of the
operation is a clothing store for plus sized women. Our clients are mainly women
that want extra attention. Not always
sex
, but as long as your friend Donald
is taking care of you that way, that shouldn't be too great a hardship, yes?
This way we'll be able to send people on vacation while you're there without a
large negative impact to operations. Norris, Val and Sarah haven't had a real
vacation in nearly two years. The work isn't hard, but we have to stay staffed
in case of emergencies at all times. At least during working hours.” She
dimpled at them.

Don didn't bother whispering to Kate, since he knew everyone
would hear him anyway, though he did walk closer to her.

“So, um, Patricia's your mom?” He asked, his voice holding a
little bit of both humor and awe.

Kate got his meaning instantly.

“Yeah, I know, she looks like she could be my sister, but
she's
actually
a lot younger than I am.” This got a smile from Zack and
Don, though it caused Patty to look at her for a second in shock, then the
stately Alede, who could have been a playboy centerfold after the air brushing,
stuck her tongue out at them and putting her thumbs in her ears wiggled her
fingers. This got a laugh from everyone, especially Libby, who literally
doubled over.

Lisa asked Jelly if she wanted to try the internship at the
Mage embassy, which made the girl cringe slightly.

“I do... But, um, you may not want
me
...” The girl
looked down at the floor not making eye contact with the older Mage. “My
family, we don't have a very good reputation in certain circles. Bad enough
that I doubt the council would let me have the position...”

Lisa smiled at her and shook her head, “I
know
who you
are, and even talked to your relatives about this. They all promised, even your
uncle Willet, to be good for the next two weeks. As for the council, Eloise put
your name forward for the position
herself
, she's pretty fond of Kaitlyn
you know and once she found out you were her friend she put the whole thing
through instantly. I didn't even
ask
her to do it. Even my dad didn't
say anything about it, except making a speech about how your taking this
position looks promising for your future. He does love making speeches...” She
put out a hand which the girl shook formally.

“Welcome aboard Jenifer. You'll be working with Kaitlyn, so
you won't be alone there, she knows the ropes...”

Kate was surprised a bit later when Zack mentioned that
they'd gotten Don a job at the apothecary with Wu-Li.

“Really? I thought that Libby had come to tell him he'd
gotten a job at Something Wonderful. Wow, a job with Wu-Li? That's... like a
real
job! Very cool!” She glanced over at Don, who seemed pleased enough. She knew
from past discussions that Don really admired the apothecary and his assistant,
both of whom had worked with him on learning to control his internal energy for
at least a few hours.

Libby moved over to Don and held his hand, “I hope you don't
mind, but everyone thought it would be a little tacky for me to be sleeping
with an employee...Like I don't sleep with the ones I have already...” A grin
covered her face when Lisa stared at her and said “Eeewww!”

“Not Maryl silly! Besides, she's not working for me anymore.
Bat Street is a full time gig now, which you
know
, thank you very much.”

The college required them to take all their belongings with
them every time they left for more than three days, so the rest of the day had
them all emptying their rooms. Zack made it simpler for them though, by setting
up direct rifts into each room, except for Britney's because her Human roommate
hadn't left yet and had to physically load up her personal vehicle. Everyone
helped Karen load her car, the girl's friends having already left except for
Britney, and carried all of Britney's things to her brother's room for
transfer. This was made easier thanks to Hilda and Claire, who carried the few
heavy items the Alede girl had. The big problem was Troy's bed again, which had
to be carried out of the living room into Kaitlyn's bedroom, since her bed had
gone to Troy, who actually needed it to sleep.

“Besides,” Dwayne, the large black man Nikki had become said.
“I doubt Troy would be as enthused about a man sleeping under his bed all day
as he was a girl. Go figure, but to each their own.”

It took about two hours to move everything into the mansion,
thanks to various super powers, making Kate feel a little sorry for the kids
that had to do all this by car.

When they got settled Blaine and Britney decided they should
call their mom and let her know what the situation was, since she followed the
news closely enough, the
Human
news, that she'd worry soon if she didn't
hear from them.

Kate listened in, just because she happened to be in the room
at the time. Don was too, but he only heard half of the conversation. Blaine
spoke first, with Britney sitting back and talking to the room, knowing that
her mom could hear her just fine and vice-versa.

“Hi mom! I don't know if you heard, but they're closing the
school down for a few weeks... Yeah,
another
murder.”

Kate eavesdropped as the women, whose name she hadn't been
told yet, sounded worried for her children. Blaine listened for a bit and
explained how they'd gotten internships at the Alede embassy at Underwood,
which took the woman by surprise. She asked who they were sleeping with to make
that
happen. Kate smiled, knowing that the woman really meant it.

“Well, we're sleeping with a
lot
of people, of course,
but really, we got the job because we're friends with the Ambassador's daughter
Kate. Say hi, Kate...”

“Hi, Kate!” Kaitlyn intoned, trying to sound happy. No need
to make the woman think this was some kind of dismal situation, especially
since it wasn't, if you could get past the fact that someone had been killing
innocent college students for some reason.

The next hurdle came when they tried to explain where they
were staying for the two weeks they'd be away from school. Blaine hesitated,
knowing it would sound strange, maybe insane, but Britney just blurted the answer
out.

“Mom, we get to stay at Hartley's house!”

The woman clearly thought her daughter lied to her
until
she asked if she was sleeping with the man. Britney answered that she hadn't
even gotten to give him a hug yet, even though he was young looking and cute
enough, which oddly seem to convince the woman that her daughter must be giving
her the facts. If she'd been telling tales the story would have included her
getting some off of the man, after all.

Blaine laughed and seconded all of his sister's information.

“He's actually pretty cool mom, but he has enough women
around here for sex and it seems like there's a bit of a waiting list. I doubt
that Brit's going to make the cut in the next two weeks.”

After talking for a while the woman seemed reassured. Kate
got on the phone and gave her the numbers for both Beautiful Plus and Candles
and More, since she knew those off the top of her head and told the woman she'd
take care of her children.

After Blaine hung up, he sighed loudly.

“Now all we have to do is get Don squared away. It's still
early enough... no reason to put it off Don...”

This
call didn't go as smoothly, since Don's father
seemed convinced his son was on drugs and turning to gay prostitution or
something, at least from what the angry sounding man
said.
Loudly enough
for the whole room to have heard, even if they'd been Humans. After a while Don
just started laughing and told him that he'd just gotten a job, working at a
Chinese apothecary, but he'd keep the drug and gay prostitution ideas in mind
in case that fell through. The man yelled at him some more for a while, then
put his mother on the phone, who sounded comparatively normal to Kate.

The woman seemed concerned about her son, but a little
relieved he wouldn't have to come home right away. “Things aren't going well
here right now. Your father might find himself sleeping on the sofa tonight if
he doesn't learn to treat his children a little better...”

This got a laugh from Don for some reason, though it wasn't a
happy sound. He hung up without talking to his dad again. No one in the room
mentioned the interplay on the phone at all.

They all just sat for a while, it being late for them with
the time difference, Don and Jelly would both need sleep, but they were both
used to keeping late hours and wouldn't need to find a bed for a bit.

Betty walked into the living room looking for Zack about
nine-fifteen.

“Kaitlyn!” She ran and gave the girl a hug, but pulled back
suddenly. “Sorry, Zack said he'd feed me, but then he's been gone all evening.
I'm starving, so getting too close isn't a good idea right now...” She looked
at Don with particular interest, a hint of fang showing.

“Hey, you're a Human, could I trade you something for some
blood? Just a bit, honest...”

Kate shook her head, but explained that Don could feed her
like Zack did, if she wanted.

“Seriously? Not a joke? Oohh, please?” She lifted her shirt,
but only enough to bare her stomach instead of up around her neck like Nikki
always did.

Hopping up, Don placed the flat of his right hand on the girl's
stomach and started breathing heavily like he always did when he collected
energy. Zack did exactly the same thing, taking deep, long, slow breaths that
seemed to fill the entire body each time. Betty stood there for about four
minutes and finally stepped back, looking at the man in shock.

“That's... I think that was faster than Zack does it.
Awesome! So, what do you want in return? I mean, I don't have a lot of money,
but I can get you drugs, or we could have sex if you want... Actually, you're
kind of cute, so we could have sex anyway, but if you want anal, at
least
get to know my name first... Sorry, but for some reason it seems like every guy
I get
blood
from lately wants to do me in the rear for it! It doesn't
hurt
,
but I just got the ability to enjoy sex back and now no one wants to do
anything
fun
with me.”

Don blushed, but didn't pass this off to Kate.

“Um, well, I
could
use the sex, if you want to? I kind
of need it every few hours or so now... I mean, I can survive without, of
course, it's just easier to do it... But, well, as long as
I
get to
come, I don't care
that
much what we do, so, I'd be happy to do things
you can have fun with too. Right now, I think Libby called dibs on me though,
but at around four? I'll probably have to get up and do something then. It's a
pain. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks.”

Betty smiled and told him she thought she'd like him, and
asked where his room was.

Then she took him by the hand so that she could take him off
to find Libby, making a point of squeezing his butt as they left the room.

Kate managed to find Val who didn't have anything else to do
either and had sex with her for about an hour. Since neither of them needed to
harvest any energy right now, they could afford to spend the time just having
fun and bonding. After they were finished they laid on Val's bed, lightly
stroking each other and hugging as they talked. It hadn't been that long since
they'd been together, about two months, so they still remembered what the other
liked in bed and what their major concerns were.