Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (10 page)

That wasn't the problem, and
Chris stretched, his thin, slightly gangly, body arching back.

"That Cavendish guy?"
He looked right at Zack, and made a face.

Thankfully his shadow came out,
and seemed relaxed about the man himself. Not even as scared as Zack felt
around him.

"Yeah?"

"He hasn't really had a job
in a few months, and is about to lose his house." The words dropped on the
room, and everyone looked down, like fixing it was some kind of big issue, or
hard to do.

Instead of just an oversight as
to his pay packet reaching him.

Zack grinned then. Really, for
once he felt good about things. It was a sudden thing too, and got Eve to look
at him hopefully. It was clear that she liked the man more than the rest of
them even could, after all. It had to be really hard for him to keep a job,
scaring the entire world like he did in his passing.

"
Not
a problem. I'll
run his pay over in the morning. He's one of us, so the Nation of Line Walkers
will make sure that he isn't put out or anything. I really should have thought
of that before. Good call though, Chris. The whole day, I mean. All of it. Now..."
He didn't have a watch, but there was a clock on the wall, behind him, so he
stood and looked at it. "It's five in the morning. Gah. I'll get in to
work in an hour or so, and see about doing the early part of the day. Eve, Lyn,
you're with me for that? Chris, you have school still, so... That means no
sleep for you."

He was going to the local high
school. Or, more to the point, he was going to the one most local to the mall.
There were good shortcuts from there, so he walked each day. Merry
had
been planning tutors for him, but in a decision that wowed Zack, she'd picked
to have him socialize with other humans each day. Being one of those himself,
it was deemed important that he learn their secret ways. Not that he got out of
having other classes too, in the evenings and on the weekends. Sword work, and
unarmed fighting, as well as playing the guitar.

Later, Merry assured them, in the
summer, they'd do other things, like learning to do wood work and how to speak,
and write, in Elth. Like a real man of proper standing should.

The boy didn't even groan at the
idea, even though he was clearly exhausted already.

"See, I shouldn't have been
so wicked all my life. Well, it's Friday, so I can sleep-in tomorrow. Now I
just need some coffee, and an I.V. drip of amphetamines, and I'll be
fine." It seemed like he was joking, but almost on top of the words Merry
came in, holding a tray with large red mugs, and a vacuum container in silver
that
had
coffee in it. Smiling at Chris she poured a cup of the stuff
herself, and handed it to him, carefully. She was a bit protective of the
furnishings, which, Zack had to figure, was fair, since she took it upon
herself to keep them clean, so if people spilled, it would end up being her
trying to repair the damage.

The boy looked into the dark cup,
stilled himself inside, and drank it all in one go. Like medicine. That got him
a second one, with Merry standing by to do more, if she had too.

Lyn looked at him, and shook her
head.

"See,
I
would have
said that any night I have to go into battle should get me out of going to
school the next day. You're probably one of those kids that gets straight A's
and never misses a day, aren't you?" She looked at him closely, as a
second cup of coffee vanished.

Then the young looking, but still
ancient, boy smiled at her.

"I am at that.
Now
would be a great time to tell me how that turns you on, so I can stay motivated
in my life." He looked back at her with an expression that was a bit
blank. Like he really thought she was going to accuse him of being a geek.

Instead there was a smile and
slightly widened eyes.

"Of course it does! Then,
I'm an Alede, so you
kind
of had me at hello, you know? What about you
Eve? Do
you
think smart guys are sexy?" It was putting the vampire
on the spot, which could turn out to be a poor plan that day, given all the
stress.

"Eh... Not so much. At least
you're good looking enough. That helps in life. I
do
have to say that
the work ethic is a bit of a turn on though. Then, my life
is
work, more
or less, and if you can't be bothered to try your best, I don't have time for
you."

Chris finished his cup, and
stood, smiling.

"On that note,
I
need
to go and get ready. I have two tests today. Thankfully I already studied.
We're doing the exams early in those classes, so we don't have to worry about
it next week. Just the rest of them." He didn't mention that Kate and Don
had been let go early so they could sleep and study for their tests, but his
inner shadow looked at Zack closely, as if thinking that he might have missed
that part of things.

That, his inner self, was older
though. The look was the same, but there was a sense of age that everyone in
the room except Merry had. Even Claire felt young, by comparison. Troy too,
come to that. Standing, Zack smiled, and looked around.

"Okay, I need to shower and
change for the day. We all should, if just to wash the fighting off of us. I
have no clue what the rest of the day will bring, as to fall out from things
last night."

Merry scrambled up, and headed
for the kitchen, since her people would need a good hot meal before going out
for the day. She just called out to them as she hit the door, letting them
know.

"I'll have a pot of oats
ready, with eggs, and toast?" It was a light meal for her, but she hadn't
known that anyone would be coming back. Not that day.

Her shadow turned and looked at
him, sadness filling her. It was a gloriously shining thing, that held hints of
gold and rose colored light, like the dawn.

Soon, it will be done. I must
render the service for my king. I'm sorry, love.

Then she scampered from the room,
before he could question her on the idea. He'd caught her thinking things like
that before, and given how different her kind was, she
had
to know he
knew that. It was really clear that she was under orders to do or say
something, and it seemed really important to her. Bad, too. It mainly came up
like this when there was an attack, which was
starting
to show a
pattern.

A big event would take place... And
then she'd wonder if it was the
time
. If the signs lined up. If the
moment was right for him to
ask
. What that service was, Zack didn't know.
Just that she didn't get much choice in it, and that her inner self had
proclaimed that it would be the end of everything for them, when she did it.

Since sleeping with Troy, or even
Chris
, wasn't going to do that, he didn't really know what the whole
thing was about.

He walked quickly to his room,
which was just the space that he normally used for sex, and getting dressed in
the morning. Zack hurried, but didn't even really think about his guests, who
wouldn't have anything to wear there at the large house. They could buy things
at the mall however, so that wouldn't be a huge issue.

As it turned out, Chris had seen
to that part of things, by simply leading both of the new women to Kate's room,
and raiding her closet. The clothing fit Lyn perfectly, and Eve was a little
smaller, being lean and trim, meaning that they found something for her too. It
was all decently casual, since that was how Kate got by in life. Jeans,
sweaters, and t-shirts that were supposed to look nerdy, but just came across
as ridiculously hot on an Alede.

Everything did. A burlap sack
would be high fashion on one of them.

That meant that there was time
for Zack to eat, and Lyn to get some as well, with Chris actually being the one
that had to hurry, since he wanted to review before school. He did that in the
front room, eating toast so he could hold his book open with his other hand.
There was a slow and relaxed kind of hectic feeling to the whole thing.
Hurrying, without moving around very fast. After he left, at six-thirty,
needing only about thirty seconds to move the ten miles to his classes, the
rest of them got off to the mall for the day.

Not Troy, who was off sleeping,
like a good human should, but the rest of them. It was early, and no one would
be in yet at Candles and More, he didn't think.

So it was a bit of a shock to
find the place alive and filled with about twenty people. There was a phone
bank set up in the back, set up on several tables, and both Gregory and Lisa
were answering handsets.

Zack just stood there, and
listened to what was going on, as Agnes, an older woman that had come to help
them in an emergency before, picked up a ringing phone.

"Mage embassy, what can I do
for you today?" She had old lady voice, and nicely wrinkled skin. There
was a brief moment when Zack understood something then. She was old for the
room, in
looks
, but a lot of them were ancient, compared to her. Not
just a few years older either.

After a moment of listening, the
woman went into a prepared sounding speech.

"We don't know what the
fallout from this will be. The reports from Bangladesh seem to be saying that
these beings were the same ones that attacked Lesser Shia, but that's all we
know. Well, that, and the fact that we clearly won, again. Somehow. No one
really has information on that."

The conversation ended shortly
after that. It was a thing, in their world. Mages, and some of the other
groups, would actually call their government for information when things went
wrong. The real news didn't play on television after all.

More, even though it wasn't all
that helpful, the mage government actually tried to answer them. Getting a
break, about five minutes later, Gregory looked up at them all, and smiled. His
thin face held stress lines too, and looked tired, but he didn't complain at
them.

"Mr. Hartley! Miss Swanson.
I'm afraid I don't recognize your friend. Is she an Alede?" He looked at
Eve, doing so closely, his eyes searching her face, which was flawless, and
attractive enough.

She didn't pump out raw lust, but
Lyn wasn't either, so it could be that she was one of those. Zack could
understand the mistake, but Eve just pushed her hair back, which was loose and
about midway down her back, and smiled at the man.

"Afraid not. I'm Eve Benson.
Your friendly line walking vampire girl. From a different reality, even. That
isn't
a joke, Greg.
This
Kaitlyn is, too. Yours is off at school right now.
Anyway, where do you need me? I can answer phones, or we can do line walking
stuff? Or I can get you a good deal on frozen yogurt I bet. I already know the
job, so I
bet
I can get a part time position here. Then we'll be hitting
that employee discount in no time."

The man smiled at her, like she
was insane, and looked back at Zack.

"Anything would help. We
have the phones taken care of here. Amazingly, news of an alien attack seems to
have gotten a lot of people out, and willing to help. What can you tell us,
news wise?" The man didn't seem to think they'd know anything really, but
was kind of hoping that they'd have contacts that would.

Taking a few minutes he ran down
the whole story, as Lisa, looking a bit sleepy, came out of the office and
nodded at him. When he got to the part about Cavendish needing to be paid she
scurried off, but came back with a nice fat envelope with the man's name on the
outside. She had a small bag to go with it, that clanked gently as she handed
it over.

"Good call. I should have
thought of that. This should get him caught up. If he needs more... Well, then
we can take it out of your pay, right?" She was playing, but that sounded
fair to him. He had the funds, after all. If one of his people needed them,
then that was a good place for them to go.

"I'll
get this taken care of. A bit later though. If he's sane, then the man will be
fast asleep right now. I was planning on taking Lesser Shia today. We can split
that between here and there. Eve, why don't you and I do that first. Lyn, you
start here, and I'll be back in a few hours with Eve, so you can trade off. They'll
need an update there. Call it ten or so?"
 He looked at Lisa, who just seemed baffled, but nodded. The idea of Kate being
a line walker wasn't that new after all, and it was clear that she was conflating
Lyn with being the other girl.
Eve
was throwing her off, but only a bit.
That part was mainly down to the idea that the girl was a vampire. She really
didn't seem like one, being awake during the day and seeming so calm all the
time.

"Um, sure? Do you... Need
anything?" Lisa's eyes looked down at the front of his slacks, which were
tight. He hadn't been having even a fraction of the sex that he needed over the
last day or two. There was no real time for it just then either, so he shook
his head, closed his eyes and focused. Until the erection went away. It took
work, but no one mentioned it again. This time it was easier to get done, for
some reason, than it had been before.