Other Places 3: Detours (40 page)

Darla
explained what he did, with node travel, and that meant Zack was left alone for
a while. The strange thing there was that Elis floated over, his face a bit
grim.

"So,
can I go back to my old troop, or not?" The clear idea in his relatively
unshielded mind was that he wasn't allowed, but Zack didn't want him,
personally, so it seemed like a great idea to him.

"Yes.
I'll take you..." He looked around and then at the clock on the wall. It
was only about five in the afternoon, since where they'd been time had elapsed,
but not evenly, compared to other places. He guessed that here they'd been gone
closer to three days, rather than a little over one. "Now, if you want? I
should let people make plans. Darla, can I give you some cards to hand out? I
have some with me..." It had the store number on it as well as his home
phone.

Sheri,
Hally and Rebekah each got one from him, personally, which should have told
them all something, though only Balthias seemed to get what it really meant. It
was cute, but the giant, white horned beast, with his red leathery skin and
large tusk like fangs, waved him over just before he was going to open the node
back to his store for himself and Elis.

"A
word, if you will, Line Walker." There was no anger in the voice or
attempt to cast out too much fear, as far as Zack could tell. He was still
locking that down pretty hard, so it might have been happening, but no one else
was fleeing for their lives, which meant it was probably pretty well under
control.

"Sure,
over here?" That took them by the front door, which meant that Eve walked
with them, her face neutral enough. She didn't back off, even when Balthias
made little motions at her.

After
a bit he gave up, her refusal to act enough to hold him at bay.

"I
am not a being such as you, Line Walker, nor would I make threats that I cannot
back. These people are my friends however, and as dear to me as any ever have
been. Even The Mistress of Souls. I would not see them harmed." He didn't
glower, which given his heavy brow ridge and how far down he needed to look in
order to see the rest of them, had to be taking effort.

"I
agree. If needed, for their protection, may I call on you? It shouldn't be
needed, but it never hurts to have a back-up plan in place."

The
thing who had been trying to threaten Zack, without actually dying or being
locked away, managed to smile then. As if he'd been taken off guard. What did
he think Zack was going to do, whisk them all off to be tortured for the rest
of their lives?

"Acceptable.
I will also, potentially, be available as a guard for those children at your
enslavement camp? If you should choose to consider hiring me for that
purpose."

Eve
pushed at the Lesser Demon, as if she didn't get that he was free now, and
might just kill her for it, if he got annoyed. Not that Zack would let that
happen, but Balthias wasn't forbidden from trying. Not like he had been even a
few days prior.

"Come
on Bal, he didn't mean
that
kind of camp. Just like, you know, toasting
stuff over a fire and little kids singing annoying songs. If there was guarding
needed it would be the other way around, to make certain that no one got in, to
hurt them. Or, you know, rape them or anything, like at regular summer
camps." She glanced at Zack, as if looking for back-up on that one,
clearly not really knowing that his camp wouldn't have that kind of thing.

"Good
points. You two can help me work on that side of things? I've never done this
before, after all. Definitely no rape. Or killing, in general. That's why the
camp was shut down last time. One of the kids held another under water until he
died for some reason. No one ever knew why. Having someone around to prevent
that kind of thing would be a good idea." It might not be a giant and evil
looking Lesser Demon, but then again, if he worked cheaply enough...

The
being bowed a bit and went over to Keeley, carefully not staring at Darla's
back. Zack didn't know the story there, but while the Lesser Demon
might
want to take Keels to bed, Darla was going to die, if she wasn't careful,
around the creature. At least if his facial expression meant anything. Still,
if that was the case, he was smart enough to bide his time.

That
left him standing with Elis and Eve at the door, and she, clearly, was still
hanging with him. Instead of telling her to go away, he looked into her brown
eyes, and nodded.

"When
do you need to be home by? Should you call or something? It's what,
Thursday?" He tried to count it up, but she shook her head.

"
Friday
.
Good plan though, let me call my dad. One sec." She had a cell, which
meant it made sense to use it there, where she wouldn't have roaming charges.
If that was a thing. He remembered it from commercials, but even that had been
a while.

"Hey,
It's Eve. So... I was kind of sold to a Greater Demon and won't be home. Um...
The Line Walker? Uh... Okay?" She held the phone out, for him to take.
"My dad wants to talk to you?"

Zack
sighed, but then did it, since it was going to happen, one way or the other.

"Hello?"

"Line
Walker? This is Chief Roy Benson. I hear that you've taken my daughter? I'm a
good friend of The Technician, so you may want to think twice about that."
He actually sounded threatening, which Zack decided to think of as mildly cute.

"Don't
worry, it's with her blessing and really just about social climbing for Eve and
some of her friends. I'll have her back to you by Monday, for school. Though
she's moving in with me for the summer. It's a pretty safe place for her to be.
Here, in town, less so. If you're the Police Chief and not fire captain or what
have you, then you might want to get with Darla on that. Soon, really."
She was walking over right then, so he moved his head, in a way he hoped meant
that she should talk to the guy on the phone, before he came at Zack with a side
arm.

That
could get awkward, pretty fast.

Darla
took the cell from his ear and smiled, her face looking fresh and happy again.

"Roy!
So good to hear from you. Yes, we should talk, soon. Eve is the property of the
Line Walker now. That means he'll protect her, with his life, if need be.
There's a situation, and we need to get your personnel ready as soon as
possible too, just in case. Right now I believe that Eve is going to do some
forward scouting and make certain that Zack has cleaned up his man cave enough
for females to stay in." She stopped talking and listened for a bit, then
slowly let out about half of a breath. "Honestly, Roy? If it comes down to
it and anything ever happens to me, or Keeley, you should go to Zack. He's
perhaps the kindest of our people. That alone is why I'm letting Eve go to him,
instead of taking you all, and fleeing my own territory. That or forcing Keeley
to move on and find her own, which would probably be for the best."

They
spoke for a bit, and then Eve got the phone back and had to chat for a while.
Darla looked at him and then held his arm, as if trying to keep him from going.

"I
really should push her out. Her mother will be seen to, and she's an adult
now."

That
made sense, but he tried to pull up what tiny bit of information he could about
the Second Crucible. It was remarkably scant. That meant The Librarian was
hiding things from him, he was willing to bet.

"Except
that, and I can't prove this, but I think you're getting the Second Crucible
too, at the same time. That was probably decided when you screwed up and helped
me and Gregor go and find those terrorists the other day. The Cleric warned me
that if I kept doing things like that people would eventually try to put me in
charge, too. It was just a matter of time though, right? Keeley they pretty
much have to prove out, given that she could end up with an army of Greater and
Lesser Demons, if given enough time, but you've actually
done
stuff.
Been useful and helpful. Foolish of you, no doubt."

It
would have been nice if she would have at least acted surprised by what he'd
said, but she just nodded, as if she'd already worked that out, which clearly,
she had, hence her basically giving away her people to him. It was a lot of
work for him, so he should get something for his time and effort. That would be
the people, no doubt?

He
formed a node for them all, and waited for Eve to get off the phone, then made
the thing glow a nice purple color. It was on the front stoop, so he waved at
it.

"You
two just walk through. It will take you to the node room in my shop. We should
hurry, before the neighbors notice. I'll talk to you later, Darla?" They
were supposed to meet up for that mediocre sex, after all.

"Probably
in a few days. Things are going to be a bit out of sorts here for a while.
Remember to get Eve back in time. You should have everyone up, soon. You
weren't wrong in what you were thinking about this." She hadn't read his
mind, just listened to him, which was nice.

People
hadn't always paid that much attention to what he'd said, in his life.

"I
know. Be safe and get ready. I can't really help, but that doesn't get you out
of being my mentor. I'm almost certain of that. Maybe you could farm that out?
Like tutoring? Get someone else in to do all the hard work for you?" He
was teasing, but she shook her head, making her hair move a bit.

"Nope.
The rules are clear on that. The mentor has to stick with their brat." She
smiled. "Vice-versa, too. Technically you can help, not being an adult.
I'll find something useful for you to do, if it comes up. It could all still be
a trick too. But, go, I think the neighbors are coming home, and the amorphous
glow there is kind of showy."

The
others walked through and he guided them, placing a sense of intent inside of
each. Eve, at least, needed to learn to do that on her own. Elis was going
away, so he wouldn't need anything like that.

It
was faster this way, rather than boosting people through, and not all that
hard, for him at least. Elis needed to go to a specific house in Toronto, which
was well away from the Nexus there, but easy enough to find from his memories,
so Zack set it up before the being could turn his white and chalky form around.
Rebekah had the same teeth, the same fresh blood red eyes that held no other
color to them and the same pale white hair.

Only
on her it worked, making her seem exotic and merely intimidating, but in a sexy
way. On Elis it just looked wrong. It wasn't a great reason to dislike someone,
but it was enough of one for the moment. That meant he could point to the node,
which was glowing and smile at the man though.

"There
you go. Home sweet home." It really was too, though the Vampire seemed
skeptical, as if it might be a one way trip into a volcano, instead of what was
promised.

True,
that was a thing he could have done, but even The Mistress of Souls had felt
he'd been punished enough for his crime. That had been using his Vampire powers
to take over the mind of the girl next to him, and having sex with her. To
Keeley that was rape. Elis thought of it as an advanced seduction technique.
They were clearly of two different mindsets on the matter, but the Vampire had
still been punished for it.

He
hesitated, so Zack moved in and pushed him, hard, then closed the connection,
not needing it himself. Then he clapped his hands, once.

"There!
Or, I didn't ask, but he was being punished by Keeley for hurting you. Are you
good with how it all turned out, or... I mean, we can kill him, I guess? To me
it seems like he hasn't changed, if that's important to you?"

She
waved it away as if that just didn't matter at all. Then she spun a bit,
looking around.

"Not
a bad place here. This is in Washington State? That was... I could get used to
traveling like that. We could go off to Hawaii tomorrow, and work on our
tans." She looked at him as if she were serious about that.

Like
they'd have that kind of time?

He
didn't explain that just walking out the owl door into the store proper and
waving at things.

"Cafe
in the back. You eat for free there. Don't get fat, even if Palma tries to push
food on you. If you're a few years from being a Vampire it's going to be worth
it to stay trim. In the long run. This front section is where you'll be
working. With Kaitlyn, who's up front here for once, with Hiram. They're
co-managers, so make sure you bring them treats and all that." He
mentioned that as they got to the front desk, where they both stood, watching
them approach. Then, after a few seconds, Kaitlyn squealed and came around the
desk, hugging him.

"You're
alive! Good, we have a bunch of stuff lined up for tomorrow. We didn't know
when you'd be back. What were you doing?"

"Mainly
killing and resurrecting The Mistress of Souls until she listened to reason.
We're good now, so it won't be a problem. This is one of my new people. Eve.
Technically you are too, but you probably guessed that one already." Kait
had a deal with Keeley, but it was only to have sex on demand, mainly with
other people. That was practically a gift, every time the other girl called.