Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (3 page)

"He's
not
a demon. A
human
line walker. A real one. Anyway, his Kaitlyn is a line walker too, so he's
going to teach ours to do it, if she can learn. I was hoping that you'd go with
her? It's in a different reality, but it doesn't sound too bad really. I mean,
no
me
, but I think we can get you back and forth. Maybe you could do the
void training thing, too? It can't be any worse than being locked in a glass
coffin for six months."

Zack knew he wasn't getting
everything, but the girl moved instantly, making him a peanut butter chocolate
swirl dish. The quality was pretty high on it, he noticed. Everything was
fresh, just like it was back home, too. It was slid across the counter, so he
pulled his wallet. His card wasn't going to work, and his cash was all essentially
counterfeit, even if it might get past the girl. Patting his pocket he found a
few gold coins, so pulled one, hoping that it had some kind of value in this
new place.

Looking at it, Eve smiled and
snorted.

"I
can't
make change
for that. It's worth about twelve hundred dollars here. Unless you want to open
a tab?" She winked at him, which was cute, and then looked at her Zack,
who shrugged at her. It looked really familiar, actually.

"That's a great idea. I need
to talk to Ed. Probably Bey as well, if I want to risk sending you to a
different reality. It isn't totally safe, but... This Zack, Hartley here...
He's a
good
person. I mean, the rare and special kind. Not like we are. We
can actually
trust
him."

Then as if it made sense to
everyone, he headed toward Claire's office. Only it wasn't hers. Not here. It
wasn't even Lenore's. In this place it probably belonged to Ed, whoever that
was.

Twenty minutes later he came back
out, a good looking black vampire man with him. In a really nice suit. Armani,
at a guess. Zack could afford things like that now, but hadn't really bothered,
working for a living like he did. He finished his large treat, and had another,
paying for them both out of the deposit he'd made with the place, and got one
for new Kaitlyn, too.

Looking at her he sighed and
shook his head.

"
That's
going to be
confusing. We have an identical you there. Well, we'll come up with something.
I don't suppose you have a boy name that's different?"

She smiled, as if trying to be
encouraging.

"Kyle?"

He laughed, and shook his head.

"Identical then. Well, on
the good side that's probably promising as for learning the new things. If she
can do it, so can you. We'll have to figure something out. Other you is off at
college, but she visits every few days."

The girl nodded.

"I graduated two years ago.
I have a Political Science degree." She seemed a bit proud of that fact,
which she should be, since she'd actually earned the thing by studying and not
just sleeping her way into it.

Looking around he could see the
difference. Everything was just a tiny bit off, time wise. It was a thing to
keep in mind.

Edom, the Ambassador, shook his
hand, and seemed wary, even as other Zack kept going over how wonderful, and
not into kidnapping, this new him was. It was almost too much, and sounded fake
because of it, but after about ten phone calls and two hours, they were able to
go over to the Candles and More, so that they could use their node. There was
no real reason for that, it was just what he was used too, so it seemed right
to him. Automatic.

From there, they could go home.
With only a brief stop first.

In the void.

Zack felt a bit of relief being
back in the ultimate darkness again. It had been exciting and interesting to
see that other Earth, but there had also been a strange pressure to it for him.
A feeling that he was in the wrong place. It wasn't too bad, and he knew that
after a while he'd have gotten used to it, but in a lot of ways the whole thing
was too similar to what he knew to be easy that way. Even as it was different.
That other him was similar to him, but also wasn't really. Not even just Zack
from a different world, but a version with enough variation that they were both
the same person, and not, at the same time.

Which was good, since if he ever
met one of him that was too close to being the same, they'd probably collapse
instantly into a single being. That would get their entire worlds to do the
same thing, so he decided to avoid that one, if he could. Just in case it made
a difference.

Sooner or later he'd have made
mistakes if he'd stayed however, ones that would have been really embarrassing.

For instance the Lisa at the
other Candles and More had been more than a little baffled when he'd kissed
her. She hadn't said anything, though Eve had hidden a chuckle, barely, when it
happened. Zack had too many women in his life now
not
to end up
responding the wrong way in this world, he could tell.

So he'd prepared his new friends,
or had tried too, and taken them
inside
. To the space between worlds.
Into a nothing so profound that most broke instantly, once they were there.

It was why he was cheating, and
tried to condition their minds first.

Kaitlyn had been compelled easily
enough. He'd simply ordered her to focus and never drop it, then to keep coming
back to that, if she ever got distracted. The girl accepted it, and while she
shook a little, scared of him over what he'd just done, it worked about as well
as it did on anyone he'd ever tried it on.

Eve simply shrugged it off like
she was a waxed duck and his words were a fine mist. Rather than argue about
it, he decided to simply let her try it. They could all leave the line if she
couldn't handle it and he could take her back when it was time, after her
friend finished learning.

Instead, the vampire girl barely
had an issue at all. There
were
a few rocky points, when she became a
tiny bit distracted, but it was no worse than her friend was doing. He
monitored them both closely, staying with them for a very, very long time.
Longer than he'd figured, but neither of them were giving up, so Zack didn't
either. They were earning their new focus and power however. The hard way, over
so long a time that it should have boggled even his mind. That it
didn't
,
just went to show how jaded he was starting to get.

After a while, a few hundred
years or longer, he passed thoughts to them, and once they both heard him,
which took decades, he gave the needed instructions.

Pull yourself inward. Constantly.
Otherwise you'll vanish into the void forever. Don't lose yourself now! You're
doing it! You're winning!

Then, gently, and slowly, making
sure they both had the right idea, he let them go. To die on their own if they
failed. It was close a few times, but after no more than two hundred years,
they were both chatting away, holding themselves in place very well indeed.

It was about that time that he
noticed the demon activity. It always went on, the black sense of movement that
he could recognize inside himself, and outside at the same instant, but most of
the time they didn't go to a single node like they were. The last time that had
happened it had been an attack. The demon kind carrying in fighters to kill and
destroy innocent people. This
felt
the same, but there was a treaty in
place.

Since they didn't enjoy dying
forever any more than anyone else, it seemed a bit strange at the moment that
they were trying again. Enough so that he hesitated, speaking to the girls
instead.

Kait, Eve? That might be an
attack. I don't want to leave you alone yet, but I need to go and check that
out.

It was a bit strange, since Eve
floated forward, without moving. He hadn't taught them how to do that yet, but
after a moment Kaitlyn Two tried as well, and failed to do the same thing. Her
friend started calling out to her, about how it was done, but had to come back
to be heard. Not that movement was real in the void. Still, perception counted
more than not.

In contact, more or less, the
vampire sent out a pulse that could only be described as loving to her friend.

There is no space here. It isn't
moving. Just change your attention. That way. That's all I was doing anyway.

Then, after no more than a few
weeks, they were heading toward the correct node, as a group. Rather than start
killing and destroying, he simply moved in, walking through the same node that
the demons were using. He left the girls there, planning to be right back, but
the instant he was in place he was passed a box. It was done without looking at
him, and instantly.

The man that gave it to him
wasn't a demon, but was, instead, his roommate and best friend. Troy.

"
Zack
! Thank god.
There's a massive storm in Southland. Beatrice got her people to help out, for
free, but we couldn't find you. Can you help us..." Then he stopped as Eve
and Kaitlyn followed, one at a time, opening the node for themselves.

Troy smiled, and hugged Kait,
then looked at Eve, and bowed.

She
smiled at him, and gave him a
hug too.

"I didn't know that we got a
Troy, too. You aren't a vampire here yet?" She kept moving, walking out of
the way, since others were coming in, to get packages to take away with them
away.

They were, Zack thought, at the
Dallas, Texas, node complex. This was the demon node, specifically but Troy
turned, ignoring the strange new girl.

At least it seemed that way.

"We can get a large shipment
from Lesser Shia. They're afraid to work with the demons on it yet, after the
big attack there. You and Kaitlyn can do it? No one is paying for anything. The
demons... They signed a
treaty
, so this is
really
important to
them." What he was trying to project was that they'd all be incredibly
insulted if anyone were to suggest they were too surprised by that idea. They
kept their bargains after all.

They just, as a people, didn't
expect anyone else too, so tended to be bastards about the whole thing.

A little dreamily, the new
Kaitlyn nodded.

"I think I can do that, if
you show me where to go, and how to take things with me? We should try to get
your Kaitlyn, too. I'll need a different name here. Zack said that, once."

Smiling, Eve looked at Troy and
shook her head.

"Quick update, so this
kind
of makes sense. I'm Eve Benson. This is Kaitlyn Swanson. Were both from a
different reality. This Zack Hartley, yours, took us into the void, so we could
learn how to do this nifty line walking thing. Which works, by the way. So this
isn't the girl you know. Still, we can help, if those people will let us? How
long were we in there?" She looked at Zack then, her face controlled and
normal enough for her.

"Over all? Probably about a
thousand years? It would explain why the movement here by the demons all seemed
so slow. I hadn't planned on that. Still, you two did great. We can go to
Lesser Shia, I bet. You're in charge here, Troy?" He'd passed out the
boxes to the others, but Beatrice walked in from the other room, looked at the
scene and shook her head.

"I am for this, as your liaison.
That's my title now, after you refused to be married to a demon, due to your
misplaced bigotry. It's a bit insulting, but I'll live. I can expect those
weekly payments to start soon? Everyone else is being paid regularly. It's only
fair." The woman had curly black hair and pale white skin, as well as
professional looking clothing. A skirt and blazer that were in matching red.

Zack waved at her.

"Keep this kind of thing up,
and you'll get a regular share. I won't say how much that is, but..." He
waved his new people, and Troy, back toward the node. It would be a hassle if
anyone came in at the same time, but that wasn't too likely. If it happened,
they could just get out of the way. He went first however, with Troy. Then,
after a bit, the other two joined him, showing that they could get onto the
lines. Even if they
were
painfully slow and clumsy about it. It was
awkward and kind of adorable, really.

Then, everyone was new at some
point.

Guiding them carefully he headed
to the point that would take them into Lesser Shia. The market that everyone
wanted to go to someday. He did, too. Zack worked there all the time, but was
kept, for his own safety and protection, in a secured facility for all the
transport work.

That meant he'd never gotten to
actually go shopping there, even if it was supposed to be the best place for it
anywhere
. Zack would have felt bitter about that, but he didn't really
need much. He'd seen the place, sort of, as he'd run around trying to fight to
protect it, a few months before.

That wasn't the same, what with
the blood, the screaming and all the tears.

They'd been rebuilding, which
had, oddly enough, meant even more work for him, rather than less. Now however,
when he stepped out of the line, the main room was filled with goods for the
disaster area.
Southland
. It wasn't a place he was familiar with, but
that didn't matter. There were four guards on the door, all in black now,
carrying energy weapons. Armored forms, ready to give their lives to protect
the innocent.

Not long before they'd carried
short sticks in case a fight broke out, and normally gave advice and help to
people, rather than being prepared to die. Now the men and women there seemed
dark and uneasy. It was distressing to see. They were too good, as a people, to
have to change like that.

A single translator, wearing the
traditional ninja-like outfit and veil, moved forward. The man, or woman, and
it was impossible to tell, spoke in perfect English.

"Hartley. We have goods to
go out. You've brought... New people? I recognize Troy Lopez, the hero... These
others..."

It was pretty clear that the
translator, who wouldn't be giving a name, since that kind never did, was
baffled greatly by Kaitlyn.

Zack waved at them. "New
line walkers, from another reality. Eve is the first vampire line walker. The
other is Kaitlyn, but we need to give her a different name. To avoid confusion."

Troy looked at them both then,
the new women, and smiled, then shook his head.

"I get it now. Um, why not
call this one Lyn? Or is that stupid?" He looked at her, and blinked as a
hug came at him from the girl.

"That's good. Lyn. I can
work with that."

Then, with that out of the way,
the translator bowed, and they all got to work.

Southland wasn't very interesting
at the moment, unless fear inducing levels of wind and rain counted for that.
The whole world was trying to rip itself apart. They made the deliveries
anyway, and were joined, after about an hour of work, by the
other
line
walkers he knew. Kate, Don and Chris. The others were all still new, and since
things were staggered a bit, no one else caught on that there were two Kaitlyns
for a long while. In fact they were almost done, Zack coming back with an
interesting levitating cargo carrier that was now empty, when they were all in
the same place at once.

Rather than explain it all, he
just waved at the now tired new girls. Well,
Eve
didn't seem that way,
but Lyn looked ready to fall down.

"New team members. Eve and
Lyn. They'll be working out of the Westfield embassy complex. In an alternate
world? Chris accidently failed to make a delivery there earlier. Not that I
wouldn't have done the same thing. I mean, who knew that was even an
option?"

The boy, who was thin, had dark
hair and looked to be about fourteen actually hunched over and cringed.

"
Fudge
. The big guy?
I thought I was just helping out some stranded traveler." It was kind of
clear that he felt
bad
about it all, on a level that went nearly all the
way down.

Zack got that one. After all,
he'd potentially stranded the man in a different world. That was pretty big as
far as screw-ups went.

Lyn moved forward and patted the
boy on the shoulder.

"Yavvel lived, so no
problem. I'm... Um, Lyn, I guess. Kaitlyn Swanson. Pleased to meet you?"
She hugged the younger boy, who did it back, used to that kind of treatment
from people now.

Don cleared his throat, which got
an eye role from Kate.

"Seriously Donald, leave
them be." There was something spoken under her breath, but he didn't get
it.

Eve did, snorting a bit.

"
Cockblocker
? Ouch.
Don't worry, Lyn here hardly ever molests the unwilling. Not that... Sorry, I
didn't get the names?"