Other Places 3: Detours (32 page)

The
Librarian let his chin drop, like he was indicating yes, without confirming it.

"A
bunch of liars, all." Then the Greater Demon started walking, heading
between two of the statues, the one that looked like a chubby Asian man hunched
down, and the African one. They were about thirty meters away from one another
now. It left plenty of room. "So, dating several women, are you? No men?
Not even Troy Lopez? It's pretty clear that you love him, so you should
consider it. At least get The Rotted to look like him and try the idea out.
You're too young not to experiment. He's going to be a Vampire, I think I
recall?"

Zack
ignored the first part, but nodded, letting the ancient being think whatever he
wanted, as if that was going to work? The man knew more about him than he did.

"That
seems to be the eventual plan. I can't say that I blame him, like he said, a
liquid protein diet isn't a lot to ask for, in exchange for eternal life, youth
and power. I'd probably do that, if I wasn't, you know, already set that way.
That or become a healing Mage. They live nearly as long. Look at my
Grandmother. She barely looks thirty."

Tarsus
nodded.

"Of
course, you know that she isn't truly related to you, by blood. Her son was not
your father. You should visit her soon. Today. I will warn you of something
first, so that you do not attack in the wrong place." There was an
annoying pause then, as the man waited for him to do something more interesting
than stand and wait himself.

Zack
didn't.

Tarsus
finally grunted, seeming almost amused.

"I'm
your Great Grandfather. Finias is my son, but I have a daughter as well. She
goes by Lyn, now. She is of good heart, but her true nature is not known by
those around her. When you go to her, you might now recognize what she truly
is. You two have much to speak of, I believe."

Zack
snorted.

"Um,
excuse me, but that would mean we
are
related by blood? You just said we
weren't. You also just told me that our kind is a bunch of liars."

That
got the man to agree, immediately.

"Yes.
All true. I promise you however, Zachary, I do not play that kind of game with
you. I won't, with those left insane. The others are, of course, fair game. So,
send my love? We don't talk, since she rather blames me for what happened to
you as a child."

Tarsus
put his hand on Zack's shoulder, gently.

"Which
is
correct
. I should have prevented that misbegotten fool from ever
having access to you. This plan, well, you'll figure it out, I'm certain. I
don't want to take
all
the fun from your life. Anyway, visit your grandparents.
All of them. Don't forget to warn Keeley however. Several months, but that's
all. As an adult, Darla is not allowed to do more than make suggestions in
this. Finias either."

"But
I can?" He wasn't an adult, by their standards.

Tarsus
made a sound that was a bit choked sounding.

"Well,
yes, you
can
... if she's going to listen to a crazy child that can't
even be bothered to check out what he's making deals for first. I mean, that
isn't who
I'd
pick for a helper, but I'm sure you could manage it, if
you wanted. Really, you shouldn't
have
to. It's enough that you're
learning and trying new things, isn't it? Why, hardly anyone is even trying to
kill you. You practically have a charmed life, for one of us. So far."

Then
the man just stood there, waiting. Not moving or anything, and not suggesting
that he leave, but also not looking at him with a horribly sour expression or
anything.

"Right,
so, I'll be going? Unless you need a piano moved, too?"

That
got a clap. It was familiar.

"Ah!
I don't need help with that, but I bet that Bente would love a visit too soon.
Lovely girl. Well, goodbye, Line Walker."

"Librarian."

Taking
off as fast as he could wasn't meant to impress the man with his skill.
Especially since Tarsus had already worked out how to not freak out when he was
pretending to be Grettle when Zack moved him earlier. The rest of the Demons
had, except for The Cleric, after he coached him. It was probably related to
that, then. Not the man already knowing how to do it.

Except
that there was no way of knowing that.

Taking
a deep breath, Zack decided that what his day needed, was a lot more food, some
honest and normal work, like cashiering, and just possibly some time to sit and
sift through the thoughts in his head, trying to find a way not to mentally
fall apart.

What
he was going to do though...

Actually
it was
that
. He could make some calls, and set up meetings, like a real
person. It was still early in the day, back home, and he didn't have to sleep,
so... Yeah, that worked, didn't it? For one thing he needed some time to
process things. Tarsus was lying to him, right? Lyn, his Grandmother, the woman
that had taught him Mage law and how to eat with chopsticks properly, wasn't a
Demon. She was a healer. A member in good standing of the Mage Guild.

Not
that it would be impossible to hide things like that from people. Even a
spouse, but... She
couldn't
be. Which meant...

Zack
had no clue. Even what he was supposed to tell Keeley might be a game of some
kind. Even if the being really was his great grandfather, which was possible,
since all Greater Demons sort of had to be related. There were five hundred and
twenty of them at the moment, and only the men could have children, and that
only with Human women, he thought. Possibly Mage women, or some of the other
groups, since they were practically the same thing. It made their family trees
a lot different than most peoples, but it meant that such a relationship was
probably more common than not. Everyone would be someone's cousin or uncle, or
whatever.

He
went to the cafe and sat out in the open, since there were people there, but
not that many. If he looked like a pig, well, he'd tell everyone that he was
training for eating competitions. Some of those people stayed skinny, mainly by
training to stretch their stomachs with large amounts of water, but he was
willing to bet that out of a thousand people, only about twenty would know that
off the top of their heads.

So,
he sat there eating some really nice sandwiches and seasoned fries, when
Kaitlyn came back and sat next to him, taking one of them and munching it
without asking. Because, to her way of thinking, he was one of her people.

"Hey."
Her voice was less than bright and cheery, but not exhausted sounding either.
"So, am I modeling with your new agency too? You didn't invite me."

Zack
shook his head.

"Nope.
It's off to college for you, and that would be too much exposure. No porn
either, except for fun, naturally. Get a degree in something real, so that you
can be ready to take over your people's governing body. You have the brain for
it, so that isn't a problem. They're already scared of you, too, being the
crazy wench that hangs with all the Greater Demons. We need to revamp that
school system and stop them from slaughtering children. Unless they need it, I
mean." Eating then, taking a big bite of lettuce and bread, with just
enough cheese and meat for it to work perfectly, he stared at her.

Her
nipples perked right on up, visibly, through her shirt. She was an Alede. It
was what they did when they got happy. Or sad. Or even angry, he thought. Zack
had never checked, but it made a certain kind of sense.

Kait
looked away though, her fake glasses drooping a bit.

"You'll
help me do that? I mean for real? I was thinking about it... I mean, it will
take a lifetime, but maybe, if I have help? I could work here and make contacts,
and, you know, friends. Then, after college, maybe I can get a job in the
government, and work my way up? I don't have a great idea of how that's done
yet. I mean,
yes
, sleep with the right people, but everyone knows
that." She wasn't kidding, so didn't seem like it.

He
thought for a bit and ate, without looking at her directly.

"It's
a good enough starter plan. Yes, I'll help. They were going to kill you at that
school, and did kill some of your friends. We won't let that stand. Not if we
can help it." Zack waited a beat, then pretended to be shocked. "Oh,
wait, we
can
do something about it! I nearly forgot, Greater Demon
here... Gee, I'd hate to be them, wouldn't you? Then again, if they were smart,
they'd be afraid of you, too. Anyone not seeing that is a fool."

After
a bit she looked around and made a face, her foot moving out under the table,
finding his leg. She just made contact, and didn't rub it with her foot or
anything. It was low key, really, since a handjob was basically the Alede way
of patting a person on the arm. She knew that too,
and
that he did, so
this was just her trying to be his friend, in a way that he'd be able to
handle.

"Hey,
did you see that thing on television? Those evil funeral crashers were behind
the bombings. I should have known it. They also told the world that they're all
cannibals too, and set off a bomb, killing them all. Hopefully the government
here won't insist on going to war with...Who would they attack for insane
Christians attacking like that? Rome?"

Zack
shook his head, "that's too powerful a target. My guess is that they'd go
after Canada. Possibly Switzerland. That would be a mistake though, since any
of those targets would put them against The Cleric, I think. Maybe not. Human
wars are pretty common, after all."

"Yeah."
She shrugged, and stretched, her breasts showing nicely as she arched backward.
"Well, I can't fix that, not today and probably not ever. What I can do is
go and make sure all our customers are being serviced. Oh, right, Judy Swan called.
Grandma, so she asked me to make sure you were really willing to pick her up.
Australia Nexus at seven tonight, our time?"

"Got
it."

That
left nearly eight hours, which meant he could straighten all the shelves and
sweep... Except that when he looked it was clear that had already been done,
and pretty well. Which meant he had very little to do unless he was going to
offer to have sex with the bald undercover police detective that walked in. He
wasn't subtle at all, swaggering around as if he owned the place. He was decent
sized, but a little soft around the edges. From the folds in his ear lobes he
was a bit too far gone into heart disease to last much longer, which was a
shame, since he was a young man really. Forty-one, Zack knew, picking it up
from him casually.

He
waved, gesturing for the man to come over, which he pretended to ignore.

"Detective!
Detective McKenzie! Over here!" The man winced, but didn't walk out,
looking pissed, as he stomped over. He literally did it too, like a little kid
with too much stubborn, and not enough spankings in his history.

Zack
blinked at the colorful thought, and realized that it was Mirror Him thinking
that, after a fashion. He was still there after all. Half of the whole picture
now.

Not
waiting for speech he waved at the man again.

"Good
to see you! Are you looking for a book? Some of the best sellers don't look to
bad, and we have some older ones too... you can read, right?" He rolled
his eyes, and then crossed his eyes a bit. "Sorry, old habit, not thinking
like that. Of course you can, or you wouldn't be able to fake your reports. Now,
what's going on? You didn't come to get my phone number." Zack made
himself blush and pretended to bat his eyes then, "did you? I have a
girlfriend, but as long as you brush your teeth and put on some fresh clothing,
I guess I could give that a try. I get to be the man though. You definitely
seem like the kind that would want to be on the bottom anyway, right?"

"Fuck
you, queer." The detective squared his shoulders and pushed at Zack's
chest with a finger. The game was a simple one. Normally, the police did things
like that trying to hurt a person enough so that they'd move away, which was
fleeing arrest, in the paperwork. Or they'd bat at the offending hand, which
was written up as assault.

The
problem here was that Detective McKenzie was playing outside of his weight
category by far too much and simply didn't know it. Another finger jab came in,
as they stood at the front of the store. It was noticed, by two people. One of
them was Kait, who looked worried, the other was a man walking down the central
hallway. The physical plant manager. He turned and stared at the back of the
Detective's head, which meant Zack looked at him and smiled, shaking his head a
bit. That worked, thankfully. Otherwise there would have been a flaming
Detective torch in his store. The Djin gave a single nod back and moved away,
calmly.

"What,
you think this is funny? I hear you're running girls out of this place.
Prostitution is illegal, I could take you in right now."

Except
of course, he couldn't. For one thing, there was no prostitution going on.
Giving
sex away to willing people wasn't illegal, or even wrong. The other thing was
that Zack was getting just about everything the man had been thinking, which
pretty much meant that he was desperate to find out why his friend Detective
Baconni was after them all hard and heavy one day and had just given up the
next. Literally not caring about it at all, suddenly.