Other Places 3: Detours (35 page)

When
he came back into the kitchen, after getting ready, Darla stood up, then moved
in and gave him a hug. It was a lot friendlier than she'd bothered with before,
really.

"You're
doing pretty well, Zack. Keep going. I know that things have been tough, the
last bit, but that only gets worse, over time, so don't puss out now."
Then she slapped him on the arm. Hard enough that he stumbled sideways a
little. "Now, go and have fun. You take things too seriously. I blame
myself for that, but it's my job. You're the one that's supposed to see to that
part for yourself. Get to it." There was a tiny laugh with the words, but
her eyes were made to look slightly questioning, as if she knew something that
he didn't. Since that was just real, he decided to try and pay attention to
what she was saying.

"Fun.
Right. I'll get to that then." He turned, and ended up making a full
circle, facing her again immediately. "Right, I have a question. Finias'
sister, what's her name again?"

He
was crazy, so could forget things, if he wanted. He thought that was part of
the package at least. There was a chance that the Greater Demon just didn't
exist at all, he knew.

Darla
tilted her head, honestly baffled, it seemed.

"Magda?
I haven't even heard of her in years, why?"

Zack
waved and then set up a node, linked directly to Australia, seeing a familiar
and very cute blond through it. "It's just something Tarsus said, that's
all. I need to look into some things."

Then
he stepped through, getting a gasp from the room he suddenly entered.

"Oh.
My. God. You actually
came
? The Line Walker?" The attractive, and
decently famous actress in front of him bowed. It was very out of place,
considering she was in casual tan slacks and hiking boots, with three bags, all
of them being green ruck sacks. No back packs.

Then
she dropped to her knees.

He'd
seen that one before, since it was a response that some Alede had, when they
felt scared enough of a person. It was the fastest way to offer themselves.
Basically getting ready to service the person without even stripping their
clothing off. Zack got it, he was the Greater Demon and she was... Just her, at
least in her own mind.

"Hi,
Judy. Would you like to go now? I..." Offering his right hand, he helped
her get up, which she did lightly. Then, not having anything else, he did what
he always had, and fell back on the truth. "That's really tempting, but I
have a pretty tight schedule tonight. Plus, I think I'm
sort
of dating
your granddaughter. We aren't having sex, yet, but it's enough that if I did
something with you right now, it would create problems for her. Plus some other
things, but you don't really need to know about those. So be good, or Kaitlyn
will yell at us." After all, getting the idea, he made himself relive a
host of things that had involved being made to suck a lot of people off. The
choking sensations nearly made him gag, even years later.

It
took a lot to move around that one.

"Really?
Why aren't you having sex? Kaitlyn is very good looking. Or shouldn't I
ask?"

Zack
shrugged and took two of the heavy bags from her, leaving her with one. She was
in pretty good shape, he was willing to bet. Alede worked out, if they were
smart, since a toned body made the sex more fun.

"Timing,
mainly. I went from having no luck with women at all for years, to suddenly
having more offers than I can actually manage. I don't have your people's
needs, or coping skills, so that, along with being busy... You know, with the
bombings?"

She
went wide eyed then.

"Yeah,
those. I nearly didn't come today. I hear that there won't be any more? Those
horrible Christians that did it killed themselves. I knew they were bad people,
because of what they did, but that..." She shuddered. "All those
people dead. It makes no sense."

It
did
though. They were deluded into thinking they were special. The
elect. Better than other people, based on who they were and what they believed.
It went against what their own holy works said, but people had a never ending
supply of rationalizations that way, it seemed to him. In that way it was kind
of clear that Gregor's plan was a bust. He should have scrapped it, a long time
before, but it was most likely just too late for that. Now it was just going to
have to run its course.

Zack
made the node point glow, using just a touch of personal energy, and then
focused his own intent, inside her body. Gesturing he waited for her to walk
through. She seemed a little nervous, but it wasn't as if it felt like
anything. Following along, he kept going when they got into the room, and then
walked her out into his store.

"This
is my place here. Feel free to browse, Kaitlyn is..." He half expected her
to be off having sex, but she really only needed that twice a day or so to be
really well fed on sexual energy. She'd taken care of that, and more, by the
time she'd been there for two hours. As it was, even with people worried about
attacks, they'd had plenty of customers in looking for something other than
fresh pastries or magazines.

That
meant the girl with her thick rimmed windowpaned glasses ran up and hugged the
woman almost instantly.

"Judy!
Judy Fargo, how wonderful to see you! Valerie and I have set it up for you to
stay with us." Because the seventeen year old with her dark curly hair,
running up on the twenty-something looking woman yelling
grandma
, wasn't
going to
really
work in public, was it?

He
had a bit of the same problem, with his grandparents, which reminded him.
Moving in, he gave Kaitlyn a hug first, then Judy, since he was familiar with
her, after all, if not the other way around. She did it back, but Kait took his
hand and didn't let go, rather possessively. Alede marked out their territory
pretty firmly that way.

Judy
smiled.

"He
mentioned that you two were dating? Really seeing each other? That's a catch.
We should talk about that?" There was no worried tone to her voice, but
Zack understood.

"Yeah,
she's a lot more experienced than I am... Plus it isn't like you people do
monogamous, right?" Then he winked, borrowing a thing that Keeley did all
the time, that made her seem a bit like a joke. "Oh,
you mean
the
Greater Demon thing?" That got whispered, but he chuckled and let go of
her hand. "That's probably a point. One you should consider carefully,
before doing anything, Kaitlyn. I need to get going, since I'm supposed to get
take out."

Then,
leaving the two women alone, he took off, leaving from his node room. The idea
that he had one was... Kind of neat. New still though. Sighing, he stepped
lightly, and waved at Detective McKenzie.

"Next
stop, Ettarian lands. Don't talk to anyone, unless spoken to. They're nice
people, but there's a Summit on to stop a war. Try not to mess that up."
Then he left him there, not mentioning ever coming back. The place looked very
different, since it was far more futuristic, and like a spaceport, rather than
a strange forest. That was the point, as far as Zack was concerned. The man
tried to mutter something, but if it was about food or water, well, the
Ettarians would help him out there. They were really great that way, helping
anyone that came along, really.

Then
he used cash to get a lot of Thai food, from the place his grandfather
suggested, and just walked in the cold Wisconsin air, the snow on the ground
making his feet slip a little. He knew where he was going, and it really wasn't
far, only being about six blocks. So, a mile, give or take, if he wasn't going
to use any shortcuts. It was tempting, since the very first time he ever even
tried that was only about half a mile from where he was at the moment. Of
course, if he did that, he'd be at his grandparent's home in a few moments and
he still wasn't due in for ten minutes. If he walked quickly, avoiding being
seen, that was just about the right amount of time.

Okay,
so a walking ten minute mile normally would have attracted attention, but it
was night time and very cold out. Bitterly so, he noticed. Most people wouldn't
be out looking at anyone else, given that. So he puffed away, leaving a trial
of white water vapor in the air behind him, headed through areas that were
nearly the same as the last time he'd been there, years before. It was mainly residential,
and a decently nice area, really. About half of the houses had gates on them,
and a few full walls, which was why he'd never thought it was all that big of a
deal that his family's place did too.

Now
it seemed odd, since only six of the large houses had that, and most of the
area looked a bit smaller than it used to. Still, wall or not, the one he
wanted was open at the front, letting him walk right in, without having to buzz
the house. Unlocked at least. That meant he was able to ring the bell, just
about perfectly on time. Not that he had a watch, but he was nervous enough
about everything to have kept track.

When
the door opened, it was his grandmother, who seemed just like she always had to
him. Like a Mage, as far as energy went, with the normal and perfectly healthy
circulation of a Human, not the constant drawing inward of a Demon. That could
be faked though, he knew. Even he'd managed it, so an older Demon certainly
could have.

There
was no way to tell, really. Not that it was all that important. It hit him,
pretty solidly, that it was just the truth. If Lyn was like him, then he'd
deal, but she was still the person he'd always known and loved. If Tarsus was
lying to him, in order to cast doubt, or even just keep him on his toes, well,
that was what the guy liked to do, wasn't it? That and collect data. It might
even be linked, in a way that Zack hadn't put together yet.

The
small dark haired Japanese woman gave him a hug, then moved, so that he could
take his shoes off. She'd always insisted on that bit of her own cultural
heritage. There were little slippers for him to borrow too, since that was the
polite way of doing things. He used his old spot, the nice dress shoes sliding
into place, out of long term habit.

"Zack...
I've heard some troubling things. Are you..." She stopped, and simply
looked at him closely.

He
nodded.

"Yeah,
a Greater Demon. You?" It was said in a way that could have been him
asking if she was well, or that might have gotten a small laugh, as if he were
making a joke. She just made a hard face, flashing her disapproval at him. It
was a very Japanese thing to do, he knew.

"Finias?"

He
shook his head, and started into the house then, with her walking along beside
him.

"Tarsus
mentioned it. He sends his love." He locked down everything then, and
stopped even bothering to hold any memories at all, since it took a lot of work
to bury the shock he felt. Still, he'd been right, the few moments before,
hadn't he? She was still herself, even if he knew more about her now.

She
sighed, "I see. Well, all good things must come to an end. Your
grandfather, well, I never mentioned that part of things to him. At first...
well, he's an open minded man, but there are limits. After we adopted your
father, Darren, it seemed a little late. In truth, I never planned to tell him
at all. He has more than enough reason to hate our kind now. After what Xenses
did to you... I nearly killed him. Xen." She gave him a hard look, which
looked like the same one she used when he'd once said he didn't really want to
study math, while she was teaching him. "He got away. So I guarded you, as
best I could, without letting the secret out." She didn't bother lowering
her voice at all, so Brad, who'd been setting the table for them heard.

"Secrets?
Do you mean the one for your Christmas cake, because that's pretty much just
sponge cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries in layers. I don't know
if that really counts as a grand mystery. Though, if you don't want me to share
that..."

She
started to speak, "I'm-"

Zack
cut her off, laughing.

"Right,
right, not going to share. Anyway, I don't want to dump things on you both, but
here, food. We should sit, since, well, I do have news and not all of it is
exactly good. For instance, that new Thai place doesn't have peanut chicken.
Can you imagine that? I was sort of sad." He smiled and passed the white
paper bags over, so that the food could be shifted into serving dishes. They
might eat restaurant food at home, on rare occasion, but it had never, not even
once in his life, been served directly from a carton to a plate. Not in the
house he was in at the moment.

His
grandmother did that, carefully not looking at him, since it was pretty clear
he wasn't going to out her. That she'd figured he
would
was a bit
disturbing, actually. It wasn't like he'd suddenly turned into a jerk, after
all. Okay, a bit of a perv, that one was true, but even Mirror Him had always
been kind to Lyn. Or
Magda
, as it turned out. Though it was pretty
certain to him that she'd been locked into solid hiding the entire time, so no
part of him had even suspected her secret at all.

They
didn't say grace or anything, which was nice, since going directly from that to
the subject at hand would be far too much to ask.

They
all just ate, with his grandfather's young looking face looking at him
expectantly, but not demanding answers. Yet.

He
finally sighed.

"So,
it turns out that a Greater Demon named Xenses managed to get mom pregnant.
It's how they breed new little Demons, so, you know,
me
. They're still
alive, my parents. Um... It's hard to explain, but the basic idea is that they
were enslaved to Xenses,
after
they gave me over to him though. Not that
they could have stopped him, but that was the order of things. I was made a
slave too, back then, and forced to... That time I couldn't remember? That
created Mirror Him? Well, I did things... Which aren't appropriate to talk
about at the table, and things were done to me. It was bad enough that... Yeah,
bad." They were eating and he couldn't name
anything
without making
that hard to continue doing. As it was, they'd both slowed way down.

That
could
have been the shocking Greater Demon admission, at least for his
grandfather.

"So,
anyway, I have an agreement in place with him, Xenses, so that my people, friends
and family, won't be hurt. That goes away if you attack him, but otherwise it should
hold." He pointed at a nice china serving dish. "Could you pass that
one too, please?"

His
grandmother did, so that was normal. She was sitting across from him, with Brad
to the right. He just sat quietly, his face having fallen a good bit, as things
were worked out.