Other Places 3: Detours (3 page)

"Wonderful!
I'll pick you up at about three-thirty?"

The
woman on the phone seemed pleased enough by that idea, but did clarify that he
meant Pacific Time, which he did. After all, that's what he ran on, and while
he could do the calculations, he didn't think about things that way, yet.

It
would have to change, since before, only two weeks ago, Lisa had done all that
for him. Now he was going to have to work things out for himself. It was part
of growing up, he guessed. Even for Baby Demons.

Sooner
or later, you had to stand on your own.

No
one had their number yet, or shouldn't have, except Maddy, and whatever secretaries
she'd given it to. Well, there was
Lenore
, which once he thought about
it, meant that a lot of people would have gotten it by the time they opened the
front doors. She'd tell the higher ups in the Vampire organization, after all,
which meant that...

When
the phone rang, a few seconds after he put it down, the voice was familiar.

"Hartley
and Co. Books and Cafe, this is Zack, how may I help you today?" The call
had come into the front desk, but that didn't mean a lot. Everyone that worked
there would know to get him if it was about node travel or an emergency, so it
was the actual number given out. That meant even in his office, when it rang,
he had to be ready for book questions too. It was part of the job, after all.
True, the part that he'd made up, but that still counted.

"Mr.
Hartley? I don't know if you'd remember me. Marissa? We met a few months ago,
when you'd injured your arm?" The voice was a bit manly for a woman, or
girlish for a boy, but the case was simpler than that. It was a male that was
also a female. Maybe a cross dresser, possibly a hermaphrodite.

He
didn't know, but it also wasn't his business.

"Marissa!
So good to hear from you. Is everything well?" Okay, so that was a little
formal, while being too familiar, considering they'd only met the one time, for
about fifteen minutes. Less than that. Still, she started it, after a fashion.

"Ah,
well, I find myself in a bit of a bind. It seems that I rather managed to get
myself locked up... In a dungeon. It can't hold me forever, as you might know,
but I'm having some trouble with the bars on the window here. I was hoping to
get in touch with someone that might send aid? It's a bit of a bother, I know,
and not dire, though I'm afraid a few people will have to die for this. I think
that Gene set this up." There was a sound that seemed like someone trying
to shatter stone with her fist, and not exactly succeeding. "So it might
be best not to ask his help? I hear that you and Bey are quite close? A
marvelous man. Perhaps he would be willing to render assistance?"

Zack
blinked, and then shrugged.

"Um,
hold on just a second?" He tried to sound pleasant at least, which
carried, it seemed.

"Certainly.
I think I still have some charge left in this thing. Modern technology is so
exciting. If it were even twenty years ago, I'd just be stuck here, trying to
rip free of this cage of stone and steel. Now I can actually try to summon
someone better suited to such things. It's an improvement. I know that
I
feel
better about things, being able to let someone know there might be an issue."

He
set the phone down and jogged to the node. He didn't strictly need to use one
now, since it wasn't that hard to make his own, but it would increase the
amount he needed to eat, because doing magic burned energy, which could be a
pain. It was part of why he had the cafe put in. So he could eat all the time.

At
the rent in space that could, with only a bit of mental effort, lead to
anywhere, at least for him, he located the lady, seeing her in the nearly black
space. It was tricky, but he managed to step in right beside her. There was no
way out, of course, but after he finished blocking the three, rather fast,
slapping gestures directed toward his head, Zack managed to build his own way
back.

"Hello!
Let me know when you're ready and we'll leave."

To
her credit, the Vampire managed to stop trying to kill him in an impeccably
girly fashion, and hugged him instead.

"Mr.
Hartley! You scared me. I didn't think that you'd come yourself. I was just
hoping that you'd tell someone. I... don't think we can absorb more debt to
you." She grinned, which was a thing he could feel, but not see.
"Unless you wish to take up my offer to be a body slave to you? That might
be interesting."

Also
complex.

"Hop
on three, like before?"

He
could have simply picked her up, even as skinny as she still was. Eating more
food, which was his new mandatory hobby, meant his real strength was showing
now. Before, even a few weeks prior, he'd struggled to lift even his own
weight. He hadn't tested it recently, but Marissa was probably well under what
he could do now. He wasn't certain, but he was willing to bet that small cars
might be doable, if he balanced them properly. He
felt
good at least.

Zack
didn't wait, since, like it or not, the woman was in a prison and he was
helping her escape. For all he knew it was totally legal by Vampire law too.

Though,
when she let her delicate and pale fingers touch his own, Zack picked up a
lot
of what the situation was really about. That plus nearly a thousand years of her
personal history, and the fact that she was a real hermaphrodite, not just a
man in a skirt.

Mirror
Him chortled.

'There
you go Zackie, a way for you to finally get your man love out into the open
without it being too scary. If she has lady parts too, that means you aren't
really
playing for the other team, right?'

The
guy was normally a pain in the rear, so Zack ignored him. He was a Greater
Demon, so if he wanted to do guys, he just could. More, he'd probably have to,
just to get things done properly. Eventually.

"One,
two... Three"

He'd
had to focus on making a link to the node he wanted, but that was easier than
doing it in a free hanging fashion. Yes, he could do
that
too, but this
was faster. He stepped out into the back of his new place, and the Vampire next
to him landed with a click on the stone floor.

"Oh!
This is refined. I'd heard from our Ambassador here, Lenore Hawthorn, that you
were putting something together, but I'd thought it might be a bit simpler than
this. After all, people pay for the service, not the trappings." Then, making
sure to hide her fangs, she turned to face him. "So, do you want me from
behind, or..."

It
was oddly tempting. After all, Mirror Him was sort of right in a way. Not that
he was really into men, but Greater Demons weren't noted for caring about
things like that at all. He could make any squeamishness go away with a few
thoughts, if he wanted. How often did you get to even meet a hermaphrodite,
though? Much less have one offer themselves to you.

"Can
we do that some other time? I mean, not as your payment, since I have something
else in mind for that, but just for fun?"

The
woman blinked, which was fake, of course, but looked right anyway.

"We
might be able to arrange that. Here I'd figured that you'd be a bit set back by
my nature." She smiled cutely, but it was enough that he managed to search
through the thoughts that she'd dumped into his head, which explained a lot.
More than he would have figured, to tell the truth.

She
not only didn't know that he was a Greater Demon, but hadn't been told that he
and Lenore were dating either. She sort of thought that he and
Bey
were
doing something, to tell the truth, even though she'd never really thought of
the tiny Vampire killer as being into gentlemen particularly. The Human Line
Walker was a prize however, so if Zack
was
, binding him to their cause
that way might well be worth some mild emotional discomfort.

It
took more magic to clamp down on his feelings for a bit, since the
embarrassment was suddenly all his.

"Oh...
Well,
this
could be awkward. Um, I'm seeing Lenore, so, you get
that
one, Vampire political arrangements. It's why I can't take you home with me.
Plus, I won't keep slaves. It
is
a bit different if you're offering
yourself, but it still wouldn't be slavery, you know? I mean, even if I took
you up on it, it would be as friends."

"It
would?" She seemed curious, but not doubting at least. "So, you've
entangled our Ambassador here? She's a woman of
most
promise. That
doesn't truly mean I can't be with you too, however, even without bumping her
from her position, as your first. I simply need to clear things with her. I'm
certain it won't be a problem. Thank you for informing me before I mis-stepped,
however. I don't need to make an enemy there. Especially since I hear she's
close to the Human Line Walker?"

Zack
nodded, but then forced himself to sigh and look a bit embarrassed. It wasn't
hard.

"That's
the other part of things that you might not have heard of? It turns out that
I'm actually a Greater Demon. I didn't know about it, until a few weeks ago.
Long after we last met to talk. I take it you've been out of touch?"

It
couldn't have been all that long, if she had the store number, could it? In
fact, he knew the answer, he realized, but didn't take the question back.
People, even Vampires, were more comfortable when they were allowed to tell
their own story.

"Those...
Crumbs
! They had to have hidden things from me on purpose. Probably so
that I'd make a mistake, much like this. Now, here I am, in mortal debt to a
Demon! Can you believe they'd do that to me? I mean,
me
? Not only
shouldn't they dare to impose, but I'm the very picture of sweetness and
serenity! I'll kill them!"

She
did smile then, at least, as if she got exactly what she'd said, and done it on
purpose.

Zack
tilted his head side to side, thinking.

"Well,
you've been speaking out against the new set of rules as to feeding that
Richard Swerlin is trying to get put in place, and some of them are rather for
it. I'm behind it, myself." Zack made a face, then brushed at his button
up the front all black sweater. "Well, I mean, I'm
for
it. Not
orchestrating it from behind the scenes. You should change your vote
though."

That
got a downcast look, rather than defiance, or even glaring.

"Is
that part of your price for my rescue then? I have to comply, but I truly think
that this is a poor plan. Most can't afford to have harvested blood, no matter
how tasty, and telling an entire people that has lived since before the time of
man itself that they must now eat only from animals, is
insulting
. This
might well lead to, if not a war, then conflict that lasts a very long
time." She said it to the floor, as if examining the pattern in the stone.

It
looked almost as if she were shy. Then, she didn't scream or run away from him,
so it was better than some reactions had been, wasn't it?

"Those
are real points too, and not ones I haven't thought about. That isn't what I
want though. I simply want you to meet a girl, later today. She's going to be
an intern with the Mage Guild this summer. A friend of mine, and a possible
contact for you,
if
you play your cards right. That won't be until four,
so..." He didn't really know what she should do, to be honest.

Luckily,
she did. It was probably why she got to be a council head, and he was just a
store clerk and fancy fast transit point. Not that it wasn't working for him,
but still, it lacked a certain refinement.

"I
could, perhaps, wait at my own embassy?" She didn't ask for permission at
least, which was good. He didn't want her to get confused and think she was
owned, or something. The woman had high maintenance written all over her, after
all.

"It
would be a good place to make whatever calls you need from, I think. Yes. We
should also get you together with Rebekah. She's a Manthori. The one doing all
the new blood for people? She also has a band that's really good and is trying
to get a recording contract, if you need someone to play events or anything
like that. Even if you won't be swayed on the new rules, she's a good person to
get to know. There's a big difference between insisting that a new service be
made mandatory and being willing to admit it might be useful, from time to
time."

That
actually earned him a look that seemed pleased. Finally.

"Would
that be possible? Perhaps you could walk me to the embassy, in order to protect
me from attackers?" She didn't seem all that nervous, but took his arm,
her tan skirt and jacket smudged lightly in places. She was also lacking in
make-up, which probably meant that she'd want to see to that soon. Maybe not
until after calling in her hit squad or anything, but then again, she might not
do that at all. True, she'd been caught out and locked up, and there had been
no food, but that was
almost
an accepted way of rigging a vote for the
council she was on. Marissa certainly didn't
know
Gene was behind
anything. It could have been anyone.

So
having a little back-up wasn't a horrible plan, even for a short walk. He used,
for the first time, the single wooden door that led to the mall proper. From
the outside it looked like a utility closet should be behind it, which had been
his choice. He didn't want people using that to get into his space by accident,
after all. It might be a little hard to explain if the wrong people saw it.