Other Places 2: Road Blocks (8 page)

"A pressure cooker most likely. Does the Elth blood on your mouth mean that you cleaned the wounds with your tongue?" It was an academic sounding question, one that suggested it might have merit, rather than calling him on his cannibalistic tendencies.

He shook his head anyway, answering.

"I had to pull two of the pieces out with my teeth. I doubt that's very clean at all. It was on Conrad, and he's healed now, but not awake."

The giant thing stared at him for a long time then moved forward his hand reaching for him, which had Zack moving back suddenly.

"Sorry, I'm afraid of you." He said it blankly, with his normal honesty, but the being smiled, and bowed.

"I see. No insult is taken. They don't call me the Fear Demon for nothing. I need to return to my domicile soon, lest I be missed. The lady Hally as well. She is brave and of good heart, but no price for this has been established. While I doubt The Mistress of Souls would punish her for this theft, Elis may be punished for leaving without permission."

Zack nodded. He got the tone, which said that the giant was haggling with him.

"Right. What's the going rate for services like this? You got them here, and that's pricey, then the rest of it?"

Then the room suddenly had even more people just standing around. All women. A hot blonde that looked too young for him, a hot brunette that he
knew
was too young for him and a Manthori woman that had copper hair and chalk colored skin, with red eyes. She wasn't
as
great looking, but was so exotic that didn't really matter. Rebekah looked ready to beat him senseless for blood theft too. That was going to hurt.

"Oh, hello!" He didn't try to explain what they were doing, and Keeley just moved to him, giving him a gentle hug, that wasn't half as violent as all that.

"We were just worried, this isn't a hit team or anything. Elis is going to stay and help here. We can trade for that, since I need a similar favor from you soon. A double date. I'll need Kyle for that too, as per our prior agreement. Balthias doesn't need to be paid, since he's just trying to get Hally into bed, but you should think about paying
her
something for her efforts. She showed good use of resources today, don't you think?" There was her normal calm and confidence to the words. She brushed her hair out of the way, but was actually looking at Merry, not him, as she spoke.

"You know Zack... You should pass her some energy. She's very weak right now. Just like what you do for your breathing exercises, just run it to her, instead of into the Earth when you finish. It's in her nature to take that energy and use it to heal."

"Um.." He said proving that he was half useless when too many pretty girls came into a room. "I'll do that. Thanks. I think we can agree to those terms, at least to the way I understand them."

The blonde, who he knew was actually Keeley's sister, laughed.

"Not too badly stated. Elis should take that basket over to your friends. They're going to frenzy if they have to wait too long and it wasn't packed in ice, so a fridge would be a good idea."

Keeley waved at the pale Vampire to do it, and he practically
ran
. Carefully enough that there was no clanking of glass however.

He couldn't think clearly for a second but shook himself. There was supposed to be something for Hally, that was right. Hopefully she wanted cash, because unlimited Node travel... He smiled. That was doable too, as long as it wasn't every day.

Turning to her, Zack tried to think of what to say, exactly when Mirror Him took over.

"Hey toots. How does twenty thousand sound? We can get the cash to you directly." It sounded a bit odd, like he was faking being Zack, rather than himself, but his nerves made a botch of it, sounding more like a nineteen-twenties era gangster. Or at least the movie version.

The girl blushed a brilliant crimson.

"I... I couldn't. I didn't do that much."

Zack shrugged, figuring that MH had a reason for giving away that much money. It was probably his terror of Greater Demons, but he wasn't going back on it now.

"Maybe, but I might need you again, so consider this a down payment... A retainer?" He looked at The Technician, the blonde one, if he recalled her title correctly.

She nodded back, which was helpful of her.

"That's the term. I can arrange for that to be delivered, if you like? That way you won't have to worry about it. You won't even owe me a favor for it, deal?" She nodded, trying to get him to simply agree, which he did of course.

"Sure, that would actually be pretty helpful. Of course it means you already have access to my accounts, but hey, I guess that means you won't rip me off. After all, you could have already." No one else spoke for a time and there was a strange tickling over his body, but it went away after a few seconds.

Keeley turned to her sister, and
growled
.

"That's a dangerous game to play with him, Darla." She didn't call names or anything, but the big Demon, Balthias, chuckled, which was dark and menacing.

"That also explains
much
."

Keeley looked annoyed for some reason and shook her head.

"Elis is coming back and we should leave, before the Mages get in. We'd scare them without needing to. Bal, be a dear and get Hally back to my house? We need to have a chat. For the moment I need to find my pet Succubus."

They changed positions and he was left alone with the Vampire man, who didn't just tend the sick patients, he literally focused his entire being on them, so he wouldn't miss a single thing they might require.

The phone rang, which was Lenore, sounding much more relaxed.

"Are you all right? Elis said that you had two Greater Demons with you? I saw them leave... I... How much did this blood cost you?" There was worry in her tone, a real thing that seemed more human than what she regularly showed the world.

"Twenty-thousand. Cash. I also have to go on a date with Kaitlyn, as Kyle, and one of Keeley's friends. She said double date, but I think I'm supposed to go with her, not the friend. I didn't get the rest of it, but it sounded pretty innocent. You know, for a Demon. That was to get someone to watch Merry and Conrad though. Elis, the one you met?"

"I think I understand. That's a dangerous game for so low a prize, isn't it? Even an evening with the full regard of a Greater Demon is a high payment."

Zack shrugged. It wasn't the only option, but it should work. He hoped.

"I know. I can only do my best. Thanks for calling. See you later?"

"I... don't know, unless you can come here when you get free from work? We have some things to discuss."

"I should be able to. See you then."

There was a lot of information in those words, he understood. She wasn't leaving work that day, and simply knew it. It was only about noon too, which put things a good ways off. The phone wasn't ringing now however, and no one tried to come in, so he took a chance to do what Keeley said and tried to pass energy through himself and give it to the tiny woman in front of him. He did it the same way Wu-Li did, touching her arm however, instead of head.

The breathing was rhythmic and flowed more naturally now, but the visualization was what caused the movement of energy, pulling it from above himself, sending it down, and instead of into the Earth below, into his injured friend. Or, well they hardly knew each other, so that was probably wrong. His... acquaintance? He kept going regardless, sending as much energy as he could.

It didn't seem like much of anything was happening, but after nearly an hour of it, she opened her eyes and blearily looked at him.

"I live? My brother?" The words where almost inaudible, they were so very soft and weak.

"In the other bed. Or, well, collection of cushions. Do you need anything? You burned yourself really well, but I got the metal out of you. I've been trying to pass some energy into you. I don't know if it's helping or not." He felt embarrassed about it, since it sounded so intimate suddenly, but didn't let himself flinch away from it.

"You have? I didn't know that was a skill of yours. Please continue." It wasn't an order, but she closed her eyes as if waiting for him to deliver it to her.

So he tried. Imperfectly, with wavering attention and distractions from the phone, every now and again. At about three she opened her eyes again.

"That is enough, for now. Has Conrad woken?" She looked over at him, her face pained, but no complaints came about that at all.

"No, should I do something for him? Some herbs or medicines? Or this energy stuff?"

He actually felt decent still, even after the rather boring time spent doing what he had. That got a strange reaction from Merry, which was a strained smile.

"I think not. It's a healing sleep. Waking would be the bad sign. That I woke like this means I was near the true death, and I think only your aid has kept me here. If I live the next days, I should be fine. I'm... not certain that without you, or at least another feeding me thusly, that I'd make it."

"Oh. Well, I'll do it. I feel good still, so..."

She smiled weakly and looked away, her eyes bitterly sad, but she didn't say why. It could be the pain, or something else. Zack just couldn't tell.

After a while she asked for some water, which had Elis at her side with a plastic cup instantly, carefully letting her sip from it, because they couldn't raise her head much without putting stress on her middle, which was so painful that Zack nearly cried just watching her try.
She
didn't. Her reaction was one of pain and gasping, but she worked to do what was needed even so, her tiny form struggling to sit up when asked, without question. Elis had to actually
order
her to stop it, so she wouldn't hurt herself.

It was moving along in time, and close to when he thought the others would be around to take over for the evening when the phone started ringing again. A lot of the calls were various officials from different groups, including the Shifters, whose leader himself called. Zack had spoken to him on the phone before, a few months before, so recognized the voice. He sounded really worried, but it was about something different than a possible war.

"Mr. Hartley? Jahn Samson here. So glad I got in touch with you. A group of our people went into the situation the other day? In New Mexico? I was... wondering about your fee for that?"

It was this thing again, then. The idea that they wanted him to personally do things for him, but couldn't pay for it at all. Then it occurred to Zack that it wasn't true. The Shifters had already been there when he got in. That at least made it easier.

"I think that's a miscommunication. They were already there, so..."

There was a pause and then a light chuckle. "Ah, yes, they are indeed local to that area, but you got them
out
so they wouldn't be found at the scene. I was asking about that."

Oh. Darn. This part was so hard to manage.

"Um, I have a girl that manages that for me now? Let me give you her number. Please tell her that I ask for you to get a discount?" Then he located Keeley's info and passed it along, hoping that it wouldn't be too big of a deal. Or a
deal
at all.

Then he finally got what the Blonde Demon had been doing. Why Keeley had gotten so upset. She'd tried to make a
deal
with him, to steal his will, and make him a slave. He'd walked right into it too. He felt fine, but couldn't figure out why it hadn't taken, since he certainly couldn't resist something like that.

Jahn, thankfully hung up without talking for too much longer, so he could try and think it through, and MH explained it to him, sounding a bit scared.

'Zack... I think that other Demon chic, Keeley, I think she must have stopped it. You need to be more careful from now on and not hang around with the wrong type. I mean,
think
about it, these are the
good
Greater Demons, and one already tried to take you over. If it was your girlfriend Keeley doing it, you'd be like Elis here right now, unable to do anything she didn't tell you to.'

He had more to say too, about the whole thing, including the fact that if Balthias could and would take people around through the Node like he clearly had, then why would Rebekah want to hire a costly Zack to do the same thing for her? Sure, there could be some reason for it, but they hadn't glared at each other when they were in the same room, had they? No hugging either, but it was a real point.

'No, this is messed up, and they want something from us. I think we should run. Just take off and go to some other land where it will be harder to find us.' He seemed pretty adamant about it too, which normally meant he wasn't kidding.

Zack shrugged and thought his own answer, not wanting to be the strange guy that talked to himself in public, if he could help it. His answer was basically that the last time he'd tried to make it without doing what he was, line walking, he'd nearly starved to death. As it was he felt like he was
still
doing that, hunger ripping at him suddenly.

He needed to get something to eat as soon as he could, he decided, feeling a little ill from it already.

Mirror Him sighed and sounded like he thought Zack was a moron again, so about normal.