Other Places 1: Shortcuts (10 page)

"In the back. I'll take you. The guild council is here, if that means anything to you. Some of them at least. Maddy Morse came and a few others. About Rebecca. No one has told me anything about that, but Maddy asked for my help. Can you get me up to speed on it?" Not that a store clerk really needed to know, but it was obvious that these people didn't have much of a clue as to what they needed to do, if people who knew
him
at all were asking for help.

Mirror Him seconded that one.

"Right in one kid. What the hell is the old bag thinking? She knows for a fact that you and reality rarely mix. Hello straw, your name must be Zack." In the shine from the counter the image made little grasping motions, as if he wouldn't get the reference.

It was the dark skinned woman that spoke, Ginny, her voice so rough it sounded a bit like she'd been screaming for hours.

"Erin's ex-husband, Rick, he took Rebecca five days ago. Took her out of state. We don't know where, but he... is not a good man. A Satanist and blood Mage. He and his group of wacko's are trying to summon a demon and have been for years. We think that he'd planning to sacrifice his daughter... It's worse than that. If we have it right..." She looked at Erin and a look passed between them. "Go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute."

The black woman in the deep blue long coat waited for her lover to hit the door before going on.

"If we have it right, he intends to have her raped by all the men in his group, then they plan to kill... and eat her. We're not certain that the order is right however." There was a dead quality to her voice when she said it.

Mirror Him responded first, real anger there for once, not just sarcasm or bluster.

"
That
is fucked up! How much time? There's always a time for this kind of thing. They can go and get her before then."

That was probably the plan.

"When will they do it?" He didn't ask if it would work, since doing that kind of thing would attract demons in droves, at least the lesser ones. Everyone knew it to be true on some level, even people that didn't believe in things like that.

The woman tensed her lips going white and eye bulging a little in her slightly round face. It wasn't a good look for her, not at all. She didn't answer for a long time, but her glance at the clock said enough.

"Tonight? When? Midnight?"

"No, we don't have that long. At true dark it will happen. Probably. We don't know for certain, but Rick can't afford to wait long. I should have killed that bastard when I had the chance. Rebecca, she's only seven."

There was a snort from Mirror Him, "as if
that's
too young to be gang raped and eaten? I've got news for you lady, it's
never
time for the
other
, other white meat." He relented a little, his harsh voice softening a bit. "Unless, you know, you're stuck in the mountains with no food. Then it's OK."

Ignoring the commentary he walked her back, surprised when she took his hand, realizing that she was using it to hold herself up, instead of just for emotional support. In the back he managed to find her a chair near where Lisa and Erin sat, holding hands. It was just to comfort the grieving mother that figured her child was as good as dead, but Mr. Weise glared, as if they were about to have sex right then and there. Not able to help himself Zack rolled his eyes.

It was late already, nearing dark and everyone could feel the time closing in. Not having anything to add himself, Zack went back to the front desk and sat on the hard wooden stool there. It had seen better days. That was what he was thinking about, the cracked leg on the thing he sat on, when the old Chinese man walked in.

It was almost like he was trying to seem like a caricature of himself, wearing clothing that would have looked about right when they were building the railroad in the eighteen eighties or so. Black peasant clothing with shoes that had a separation for his toes in one place. His hair was jet black, and he had what looked like a week's worth of beard growth that was nearly thick. The face was unlined and he moved like a jungle cat, not a human, but he was old, regardless of how he seemed. It poured off of him.

Like Edom or Lenore. Except he was clearly a very powerful Mage. They didn't even have to lower the lights for that to be seen. He glowed with a brilliant silver white light as he moved to stand in front of Zack. He looked calm, but upright. There was something impressive about him, even though he wasn't a large man. About five-five or so, and slight, but with a wiry strength.

He bowed slightly to Zack.

"Hello. I am Wu-Li. My presence was requested, so I came." He went still, which would have looked eerie and special if a bunch of Vampires hadn't been around in the last few days doing the same thing.

Mirror Him laughed, taking over their mouth.

"Elemental Chaos? What do you know, that's what
I
am too." It was a strange thing to say and the small man bowed again as Zack took control back.

"Sorry about that, he get's loose from time to time. I think that there are people that would like to see you. In the back? I can take you." Not that it was hard to find.

"Thank you."

It was Maddy that went to the man, her hand going out smoothly, a worried look on her face.

"We don't have enough power to force open the node. Not even with you here Wu-Li. I..." She looked over at Zack, then shook her head. "There's no way."

That got Erin to start crying, which started Ginny and Lisa too. The general consensus was that they didn't have a strike team ready, and if they
did
have one there just wasn't enough time to pry the node open wide enough, provided anyone could find the girl in the swirl of infinity, which was doubtful. That was a skill almost no one had, after all.

Wu-Li tilted his head deliberately and held it that way for some time.

"There is no way to reach her on the ground? Perhaps the police could stop this... abomination?"

Eric Weise made a face that held a look of real pain, meaning that he might actually be a person in there somewhere.

"Even if we had an address they wouldn't be able to get a warrant in time, if at all. Claims from a mother that the child's father is a Satanist that plans to do evil things don't carry much weight in the courts. I'd hoped for a better turn out, but even if a thousand of us lent our powers now, I don't think it would work."

Maddy kept looking at him, her gray eyes very sad. Finally he sighed and made a face at her.

"OK, let's see if I can do this. I can't promise anything." He spoke to the older woman directly, and she nodded back at him, her eyes somber and just a bit harder at the edges than he would have figured they would be.

No one else paid any attention to him, except the Chinese man, who looked politely interested. After a few seconds Zack asked for a picture of the girl, Rebecca, which the man got for him as everyone else started to watch them closely. The room went silent and glancing over Zack saw that Edom was gently holding Troy's arm.

His whisper carried across the room.

"Watch. Understand, if you can. This isn't a small thing you're about to see."

If it was anything. Zack tried to memorize the little face, the girl missing a single front tooth in the picture, which was at least a year old. That was good enough. It was the signature of her energy, the
feel
of her, that he really needed. It took a long time, several minutes, to find her, chained as she was to a large stone block. Several people in black and red robes stood around, chanting in Latin. That part was interesting, because he hadn't known he could hear anything through the rifts. It had to be a special node thing.

"Got her. Still alive, no one is raping her or anything, just chanting, she's in a white dress and chains. There seems to be a lot of people. More than I would have thought... Um... sixteen?" He leaned in a little, not sure on all the counts but he searched for weapons anyway, knowing it was hopeless.

"Three guns, maybe four. They
all
seem to have knives too, I can't tell if they're sharp or not. The points look... pointy, if that means anything?"

He moved back and shrugged, the movement getting caught halfway up, the pure tension of the moment grabbing his soul, leaving him shaking with fear. There were too many of them in that room, and he couldn't fight. All he could do, going there, was die.

"And like a dumb-ass you're going to do it anyway. Like I said before, a
moron
, but definitely not a wimp. Well, fuck it, let's go and kill some Satanic freaks, eh Zacko?" Mirror Him actually sounded happy about it. Like it was the right thing to do. Normally when that happened he stopped and gave whatever the situation was a good hard thinking on.

Now he just stood up straight. It was a good enough way to die, and a good enough reason. It would be better if they could get the girl out. Kind of wasted effort if he didn't manage that.

The first one to realize what it all meant was Edom, who walked around the table being used as a bar, smiling. He held out his right hand to Erin and nodded to her.

"Don't worry ma'am, Mr. Hartley and I will retrieve her. I'm sure it won't take too long. Shall we?"

Eric looked confused, "
what
?"

The dark Vampire smiled his teeth showing. Before that not everyone in the room seemed to have gotten what he was and a few recoiled.

"He can carry a person through the lines. I saw him do it myself and heard that he had twice within a few hours before that. He can take me in, and I'll free the girl. Then we can return. Even if it takes days for that portion, it will be worth it. Troy can see to my work for the next few days, correct?" He looked back, and Troy, not really getting it all, nodded.

"Right. No problem. Go and... Save that little girl." He really sounded baffled and like he didn't understand, but that wasn't going to stop him from helping a kid in need it seemed.

The problem there was the Edom was heavy. Too big for him to lift, he tried to explain it to everyone, but even as the Vampire's face fell they didn't really get it, feeling too excited by the idea to really pay attention to his words.

Wu-Li looked down at himself and smiled.

"I am not the equal in battle of a Vampire of this man's age and wisdom, but I have some passing acquaintance with the subject of combat. I think that I am not so rich in muscle as this one. Would it be possible to transport the two of us? We will almost certainly perish, given the odds, but..." He smiled and bowed. "Fortune sometimes truly does favor the bold."

Looking at the man he nodded. "I think that will work. I'll pick you up, from behind, so that after we step through and I drop you, you won't have to trip over me. Then..." What they did then, what they could do, he didn't know at all.

Wu-Li did.

"Then we pretend to be demons and convince them that it is a true mistake to summon such." There was a transcendent confidence to his voice then. "I will distract them and you can see to freeing young Rebecca. Then as soon as you may, remove her from the space we are in."

Zack nodded, understanding what he meant. The man was willing to trade his life for the child's. A girl he'd never even met. It was just what any good adult was supposed to do. What both of them had to try, even if it meant dying.

After glancing back into the room through the rift in space, finding it instantly, now that he knew where it was, Zack moved into place and got the other man to step in front of him.

"On three then. Whatever you're going to do, there are three directly to your right."

The older man nodded first, then went very still, his power flaring slightly in some manner that was hard to track. When Zack moved to pick him up, he wasn't that heavy at all, almost as if he were floating a little bit. In a single rush he counted, before he could lose his nerve.

"One, two, thr-"

Then Zack took a step and the room was silent as they vanished into nothingness.

"Ee."

They were in the room, which was a little dark, and dank enough that it was pretty clear it was a tomb. A very large one. The kind that you normally only found on Hollywood sound stages or in the back yards of fetishists that had a strange sexual attraction to the dead. Before all of this was processed Wu-Li had six of the closest people, men and women both, writhing in pain on the ground.

The robes made it look surreal, and for a brief period of time Zack couldn't recall what he was supposed to do.

"Get the girl, twerp. Do I have to remind you about everything? It isn't that hard. Just walk over and work those chains off. Be careful though, the shooting is about to start." There was a pause as Zack started walking toward the stone, which was only about twenty feet away, taking pains to move only to where the bullets, knives and blows weren't going to be. He flowed through the room, not letting anyone touch him.

Mirror Him laughed. "Damn! That Wu-Li guy is something. I swear he just knocked two guys down without touching them."

That got Zack to look as a flow of magic left the man's hand, moving out of his body and through several others, who all shook and then flew back, as if their own muscles were betraying them. Forcing them to fling themselves to the ground.

Before he could reach the small crying girl, a bearded man pointed a large revolver at her face... and
smiled
as he chanted in Latin. There was just no way for Zack to cover the distance in time. He'd never been fast, even for a regular person, and there was no way to cover the distance other than taking a straight line.

That wouldn't do it at all. M.H. took over then and did something unexpected. He pulled off their right shoe and threw the shiny bit of polished plastic at the man's head. It missed, the man ducking, but they moved toward him the whole time. Then, as Zack wondered how they were supposed to survive it all, Mirror Him threw himself on the man and started beating him wildly, fists swinging without art and lacking power. They still took the man down where they fought for control of the gun, the larger more powerful man starting to win. It wasn't even hard for him, Zack being so weak.

Until he moved in and tried to bite the man's face, distracting him from the gun for long enough that it could be turned, shooting the bearded fellow in the face. Zack felt ill, the death shaking him. The other part of him stood up and started firing into part of the crowd that was bunched together, trying to get away from the martial artist that had suddenly come to teach them not to be incredible assholes. When the five shot's left were gone he threw the weapon at the center of the group, which only had about five people left in it, and moved back to the girl.

Rebecca. The chains were tight, binding things that cut into her arms and legs enough to make her bleed a tiny bit in places. The key was cleverly hidden in the pants pocket of the guy that M.H. had killed. It took a few minutes to find it, and by the time he had Wu-Li stood next to him, barely breathing hard.

Zack worked at the lock, then removed the thick strand of iron chain, noticing as he did that there were barbs on them in places. It horrified him when he realized that he'd been yanking the things from the girl's soft flesh without noticing it. She was crying, but didn't get louder or gasp when it hurt more.

"Don't kill me. I'll be good, I won't tell anyone..." Her voice was high pitched, but barely a whisper, not whining, just pleading, saying the only things she thought might count for anything.

"Rebecca? I'm Zack and this is Mr. Wu-Li. Your mommy and her friend Ginny sent us to get you and take you home. Well, back to the candle shop. It's where they both are right now." He kept working the whole time, wincing for her when it had to hurt, even though she slowed down on the sobbing, not crying much at all anymore.

"Mommy? You're from the guild? Daddy said they couldn't stop him, that he was too powerful and the Lus'fer was helping him." The child sat up and started working on her own legs, trying to get free. There was hissing as she worked, and a feeling of panic, at first at least. Then she glanced to the side, where the bearded man lie bleeding from the center of his face. "He was wrong."

It took a few more minutes to get her free and without blinking, Wu-Li covertly went around the room and killed anyone that seemed to be trying to get up at all. It was pretty clear he was trying to not distress the child at the same time, making sure she wasn't watching overly as he did it. A few still lived, but wisely just lay there after the first three died.

Once the girl was up and free, Zack turned to look at the rift they'd come through. It wasn't closed, but it only seemed to link to a place outside, perhaps a few miles away, by a tree.

If he was going outside, he needed to find his other shoe, which he did, a few feet from the bearded corpse.

Zack figured that it would be hard to move them all along, walking nearly ten miles to cover the thousands, carrying each one of them through each rift he found. It was awkward and uncomfortable for him, touching them over and over again, but it had to be done. It took a little over four hours to do it, but the little girl didn't complain and managed to walk on her own for most of it, even as her feet developed blisters. Wu-Li had to carry her then, since he was much stronger than Zack was. It was kind of humbling, but the truth was that he was just too weak to do it himself for more than a few seconds.

Even the walking was hard, his shoes not meant for the task at all. It was cold too, and the girl didn't have a jacket even, or shoes. Wu-Li stopped and made her some, wrapping her feet in strips made from his heavy shirt. He had a thin t-shirt on under it, a plain white one with no sleeves.

"Won't you get cold?" The girl sounded concerned about it. Zack was chilly, and she shivered, but Wu-Li smiled and shook his head.

"I know how to warm myself with magic. Shall I teach you how as we walk? It's simple enough."

He described the flow of energy and how to visualize it as fire, moving in a circle inside the body, pumped by the breath.

"Into the tummy first, the flames growing hot, then let the air rise into the chest, letting it expand, then reverse it as you exhale." When he looked Zack saw it working in the man, and the little girl started to get it too. After a bit she stopped shivering at all. He tried it, but his energy was the same way it always was. Blocked and stagnant.

Then, that was why he wasn't a Mage, wasn't it? He lived, but was totally locked in place that way. He just shivered and made sure not to complain, trying to get them all back as soon as possible. When they finally got to Westfield they had to go in through his normal entrance. He didn't stop at his house, knowing that Rebecca would want to get to her family as soon as possible. It was his job to get her back home, or at least to the parents that loved her.

It meant that when they got into the store, which was teaming with people now, far more than had been around earlier, he was freezing. As in seriously close to going into hypothermia. He was shivering uncontrollably, even as a noise went up. It wasn't cheering, but sounded generally pleased. Erin and Ginny ran to the front, knocking over the same display that Baconni had the day before.

He winced, but decided not to care that day. He could try to fix it in the morning. Wu-Li was pulled off to the back, and it was after nine, so Zack decided to take off, since as far as he knew, he was opening in the morning. He had to finish decorating the store after all.

No one noticed that he left, and a few minutes later he was sitting in the bathtub he and Troy shared, warm water feeling like it was burning him as he splashed it over his frozen feet. Icy, but not that far gone. They turned red, but warmed up pretty well, and half an hour later he was able to get up and head to bed, feeling a little hungry, but not so much he could be bothered to search for food. There might have been some of the Taco Bell stuff left, but he needed sleep worse, he decided.

It was agony, getting up the next day. His feet and hands ached and his legs burned when he tried to move. He did it anyway, feeling crippled and old, hobbling slowly back to the store, moving through the morning routine, trying to loosen up a little. It didn't do much, but he managed to get the store mainly fixed and started cleaning up the back, the door propped open carefully, so that he could take out the trash that people had generated the night before.

Then, about ten he started setting up the window display. It took a while, but it was good, he thought. The ground was white silk with garlands of mixed white and silver, along with a white tree that he decorated, also in silver. The candles matched and so did the balls on the tree. The lights for it were faintly gold, and he wrapped a single tiny box in red shining paper, to accent the whole thing.

Then he had to figure out how to set up the train and get power to it without making a tripping hazard. What he really needed was a throw rug, but he didn't have one. That or one of those rubber mats that some offices used for things like that. The rug would look better. He just set it all up and left the cord hidden under the red silk. It still looked pretty good. Now all he needed was some music.

That finished he worked on the display case under the counter, building a nice candle display with a little menorah and a Star of David. It wasn't all the world's religions represented or anything, but it was a sign that maybe they weren't
totally
closed minded.

Just as he was wiping down the front glass again Lenore came in. This time she didn't have anything for him except a smile, which was good enough, though he decided to try the patience of Conrad and send for more food soon. Maybe some hamburgers? They almost had to have those. They'd done a great job the day before, really pulling out the stops. True, they were getting paid for it, but that didn't mean they hadn't really exceeded expectations.

Mirror Him came out, after having been gone since the day before, during the fight.

"Hello... Hot chic at twelve o'clock simpleton. If you aren't going to drool and try to mount her, you might at least say hi, like a normal person."

Zack agreed, at least with the last bit.

"Hello! How's your day going?"

"Very well, thank you." Her words were bright and cheery sounding. In her hand was an envelope, one that wasn't overly thick, which she held out for him. It was the plain white kind that letters came in. In this case however, it was about four hundred and fifty-six dollars and seventy-three cents, more or less. He didn't count it, but the change in the bottom was a dead giveaway.

"I've come to settle the bill for the damage done by Nikki." Her face looked serene as she said it, but quickly became a little more sly. "I do understand it wasn't her fault precisely, but we aren't close and there has been some sniping, back and forth, over the last decades. I suppose I should strive to be the better person."

Zack waited for her to add the reasons she wouldn't, but that didn't come.

"Cool, let me ring you up? Then you can take the damaged merchandise away. Use it to decorate the back room over there maybe? I noticed that you have a sofa and some easy chairs over there. Some candles might help round that out. I mean, if I'm going to be working over there too, and get to hang out with the cool kids." He didn't think that was the real point of him being there, but it got a look that didn't seem to be negative.

"Since you brought that up, do you think you might be able to join me tonight after you get off of work? We can go over what's needed to run the store in my absence. I get my nails done here, down at Princess Pretty Nail. They do good work. We don't have a hair salon however and the one I prefer closes daily at five, which is the earliest I can normally ask Edom to come in. It was
very
telling that he dropped everything to come and aid you yesterday. I heard he offered to go and help you retrieve the girl that was endangered?"

The way she said it made it pretty clear that she was angling for something, reminding him how wonderful she and her friends were. It probably wasn't just adding a few hours for her hair appointment either.

"Yeah, he volunteered right off. I just didn't think I could carry him. I certainly never would have made the trip back. I barely managed with Wu-Li and he weights about half what Edom does, I think. Plus, I think he used magic to make himself lighter than that. I know you probably won't remember what it's like, but I'm
so
sore. Or, do Vampires get sore muscles?" What did he know about it after all? Maybe that was a thing, if they picked up too heavy of a car and went jogging with it or something?

The woman smirked at him a little bit.

"Not really. At any rate, do we have a date? Nine o'clock tonight? For orientation?"

He'd be tired by then, which would suck, but he nodded anyway. It had to be done sometime, and the other option was probably to try and come in at four in the morning or something when she actually got in.

"I
hope
it's not a date. I mean I haven't done that in forever, I'm sure my skills are pretty rusty. Plus I can't afford a restaurant, and flowers are right out as well. I haven't gotten paid yet."

From behind him he heard Mirror Him blowing raspberries. "Way to drive her away. Now tell her you prefer Edom's chocolate yumminess why don't you? Maybe she'll feel the need to save you from your metrosexual tendencies?"