On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (47 page)

Claire looked around and simply overruled Don after a few
more minutes of this.

“Donald, short of locking the boy up, I don't think we can
prevent him from having sex, even under threat of death to anyone caught doing
it. Which, all things considered, would be a bit harsh. Plus, given his
personal talents, I'm not certain we
could
keep him locked up for long
anyway. I think the prudent course of action is to simply condition our own
minds to the inevitable and not worry about the matter. Perhaps we should send
him to Patty first, for instruction?” Her voice held a finality that took Don
aback. He didn't give up easily though.

Zack raised a single hand and spoke to Don directly.

“I won't claim it isn't more...
adult
than I would
like for him at this stage in life myself, but sexual instruction isn't just
getting to have sex for the Alede. It's actual book learning. I think, if Patty
is willing, we should see about arranging it for him. Speaking of lessons, he
should also go to school, or at least have tutors or something...”

Chris looked up and smiled, “Hey, I always
liked
school. It was one of the only things I was good at. I know, you all think I'm
going to stomp my feet and claim that I already know everything, but I hardly
know about
anything
. I only vaguely know what most of your races are and
have no clue at all about the cultures, how the financial system works or
anything like that. So, what if I, I don't know, kind of apprenticed to Zack a
few days per week and had classes the rest of the time?”

Sitting down the table a bit, between Keane, Claire's second
in command and Betty, Merri leaned forward.

“I could... I could see that tutors were arranged for the
boy. As wife of the house, that's my responsibility, after all...” Her voice
seemed so little compared to everyone else's, Kate knew that speaking up in a
room with this many men was still hard for her, kind of like walking into a
cage of lions with meat strapped to her back in the amount of bravery it took.
That she felt strongly enough to speak meant a lot. What exactly, Kate didn't
know, but it seemed important to the Alfric woman.

“I second that. Merri knows enough to get the right kind of tutors
and isn't too shy to get other's input if needed. I say we leave it to her.”
Kate winked at the small woman who smiled and settled back in her chair, making
her nearly invisible between the two large Vampires.

Zack nodded and agreed, so did Claire and Hilda.

Libby popped forward, and told them that she had some ideas
as to what should be done too. Everyone chuckled, except for Zack who just
agreed that she should get with Merri on the topic. Don looked daggers at
everyone, but kept his mouth closed. He stared for a while at Kate, as if he
blamed
her
for the whole thing. She ignored him for the time being.

“The real reason I called everyone here is that, on the
campus where five of us are going to school there have been two murders. I'd
like input as to what, if anything, we can or
should
do about this.
Anyone?”

The first thing mentioned, by Hawk of all people, even though
Claire gave him a look that clearly said she was not amused about him taking
the floor, was protection for their people.

“I guess I'm saying that everyone there can protect
themselves, but Mr. Karver and Miss Stone both need to sleep at night and
having back-up never hurts. Since Vampires can be fed
there
, a couple
should be there to provide night security. Some extra daytime security wouldn't
hurt either, if anyone could pass as a college student.” He turned and looked
at each of the five going back to school.

“I'm not saying you're not all tough or anything. Far from
it, but it really is just one of those things where having someone else around
could really help. I mean, Britney told me about that attack on Blaine and how
he could have easily taken those guys, if he'd
seen
them coming. Sorry,
I'll be quiet now.”

Claire smiled at him, a look that didn't seem genuine, but
also didn't speak of months of punishment coming either. She looked around the
table and finally seemed to come to some conclusion.

“That is well reasoned Eugene. Fine. You will go and watch
them during the night hours. Nikki, as third in command I'd like you to oversee
this on site, so you'll have command of Eugene until the end of term. I'd send
Keane, but he wouldn't blend well there as a student and we have no time to
establish a more extensive cover. Something will have to be done to make Eugene
look older, but only a small bit I think. As to the day...”

Her gaze scraped along everyone there stopping finally on
Libby.

“Out of us all, only you have the needed appearance of youth
and the ability to be there without neglecting other duties too much. Charli is
more than capable of running Something Wonderful in your absence.”

Charli perked up at that, “I am? Cool. So, do I get to be the
Ambassador too? Something Wonderful is the new embassy, right?”

Libby snorted and stuck her tongue out at the girl, “
Assistant
Ambassador. Just because I'm gone for a while doesn't mean I get cut out of all
the good things.”

A quick vote, taking less than a minute on four issues,
established Libby as Ambassador, Charli her second, The gift basket shop and
embassy proper, and Rebeca the Vampire as the night embassy person, since they
needed to be open as much as possible. There was some debate, but Chris
insisted that she should be third in command there, getting a title and all, if
she was going to do the work.

“If we start cutting people out based on some small
difference, like being a Vampire or a Human, where does it stop? You have to be
a full Line-Walker to have bathroom privileges?” Chris got a laugh with the
line, but everyone nodded too, as if it made sense.

Then they voted to put Willet to work finding out who the
killers were and left it at that for the night. The nice thing about calling a
meeting at the house, Kate saw, was the ability to assign people tasks in their
absence. It would be his first real job as head of the intelligence branch, so
he should be able to deal with it.

On the way out Don tried to give her the silent treatment,
but she kept groping him until he had to ask her to either stop that or
do
something about the results. She opted for the latter, pushing him into the
computer room and locking the door. When they were finished he told her that he
wasn't at all happy about the situation with Chris.

“Look, I know he's not a little kid, but he didn't grow up in
your culture either. Normal Human kids don't start having sex with tens and
fourteens before they're adults. He hasn't even been around long enough to learn
to be grateful when someone wants to have sex with him. I don't want to see him
turn into some kind of little narcissus thinking that just because some of the
women around here are willing to do him, he's all that wonderful, you know? I
don't want him to turn into that Alede woman we met last night... Paris?”

Kate shuddered dramatically, “
London
. Point taken
though. I'll... I think we have to get with Merri on that and see what she
says. I guess it may be a valid point, but I don't see how the two things
relate myself. But, if you do, well, he is your brother. We'll make it work
somehow. Maybe we could just talk to him about it?”

They kissed for a while and held each other, finally Kate
stood back from him, turning a little sideways, her sneaker rubbing against the
dark shag carpet at her feet.

“Do you really feel grateful when I have sex with you?” She
asked, being a bit coy on purpose.

He shrugged and raised his eyebrows while tilting his head, a
very comedic action that made her laugh.

“Hell yeah! Heck I feel grateful when
Jelly
gives me a
hug
. I don't even really
believe
that you or Britney sleep with
me at all. I'm pretty sure the realistic images I have about that
must
be a sign of severe mental illness. Though... And I can't
prove
this for
certain, but I'm almost certain that Blaine pretended to be Britney last night
and switched clothes with her, so I'd have sex with her.”

They moved together and kissed in parting, Kate groping him
and him grabbing her behind back in turn, finally picking up on some Alede
culture, Kate hoped. Given everything he'd need to get up to speed as soon as
possible.

They parted there, Kate going to find Merri and Don to go
finish packing so they could leave first thing in the morning.

The next day had hours of early room moving, but Chris helped
her, so they were able to get everything moved pretty fast. Blaine had Don's
help, since they shared a room. Blaine had turned back during the night, so he
was a boy in the morning, which didn't stop him from grabbing Don's behind in
front of Chris who laughed at it uproariously.

Blaine raised an eyebrow and asked if he was a homophobe,
saying it with a small half smile but the boy just shook his head and recounted
what his dad had been saying about him before the whole beating incident.

“Right now, I'd totally make out with you in front of my dad
just to piss him off. It still bugs me that no one has found him yet. I mean,
how did he do that? He wouldn't even know
to
run from Vampires and
Trolleinkein, right? Hilda said she thought he must have gotten on a plane
immediately, flying being about the only way to get rid of his scent trail like
that. I don't know, it seems weird to me.”

They didn't have any way of doing more about it at the
moment, so Kate and Britney moved in and gave the kid a hug together. Britney
asked Chris to help her get her things to her room before her roommate Karen
got there.

“If we make it in time I'll... well, Don would get all mad at
me if I slept with you or even gave you a handjob, which is kind of
mean
of him, but... I've got to change and I'll let you watch if you want?” She said
this just as they stepped through the rift Zack had made for them into her dorm
room from her room in the house, making Don sputter.

Kate grinned, and told him that it was one of the good things
about dating an Alede. He didn't have to
worry
about Brit cheating on
him. Cause really, no need to dwell on something that was
going
to
happen anyway, right? It wasn't cheating if you knew about it. She took his arm
and led him away to finish his and Blaine's transfer of things.

A half hour later Chris came out of Britney's room, smiling
but looking a little frustrated too, so Kate guessed the show went well and
that they'd indeed beaten Karen coming back. She called the boy over and asked
if he'd help Jelly move her stuff the same way.

He said he would.

“She's a Mage, right? So no chance she'll put on a show for
me? Ah well. She still seams nice enough, so why not? It's not like it's hard
labor carrying bags and some furniture ten feet.”

Kate felt a little awkward suddenly, because the talk she
wanted to have with the boy wasn't one her own life experience or education
ever addressed at all. This seemed a Human kind of thing to her, but Merri had
been too embarrassed to bring it up with him herself, and Zack wouldn't have
known what to say any better than she did, so it made sense for her to step
forward here. At that moment she almost chickened out, so forced herself to
start speaking quickly, so she'd have to go on with it.

“Look, Chris... I've kind of been elected to have a talk with
you about girls and boys... Don't worry, this isn't the birds and the bees, you
either already know that or Humans are way more backwards about sex than I
thought. As the new Line-Walker a lot of people are going to start throwing
themselves at you and offering to have sex with you...” Looking at the boy she
noticed him flush a bit. Not blush, but a secondary sexual reaction, a flush of
color that reddened his face a bit.

“That's
fine
. I don't care if you have sex with
everyone you meet for the next ten years, personally. Zack told me that you
functionally can't get sick and probably won't age much now, leaving you a
little stuck at this age in body. We'll work on that, but we get a little time.
I think I can age you up a little in a couple of years though, so don't let
that bother you. You can get girls pregnant, so think about that before you do
anything. Alede and Vampires can't get pregnant and Trolleinkein aren't fertile
with Humans. Some Weres can and do get pregnant that way so watch out. You
could sleep with the Bats though and be fine, since they have a hard time
having kids.

“What I'm getting at is that you're going to be treated a bit
like an Alede, even
by
the Alede and a lot of people are going to want
things from you, transportation, feeding, maybe even money. That they want
these things, that doesn't mean that they all like
you
though, OK? They
may, or they may not, each case is different.”

She held her breath, finding out that people might like you
only for sex was primary education for her kind, and considered a good thing,
but for this Human boy...

He shrugged and grinned at her lopsidedly, “Yeah. I get that.
But how do I tell the difference and does it really matter? I mean, if you like
me because I can, I don't know, work a computer, does that mean that your affection
is that much different than a person that likes me for my good looks, or other
talents or even money?”

They talked about this as they walked, going quiet when they
got to Jelly's room. The girl sat in the middle of her stuff, looking forlorn.

“Oh!” She said, wiping away a bit of a tear from her right
eye. “I thought I'd been forgotten and everyone had left without me...” She
took a deep breath which shuddered half way through and looked down at the
floor, embarrassed about having thought that.