Other Places 3: Detours (5 page)

Even
sending her flowers, or a note, would have been a threat, to her rather worked
up mind, just then. The best he could do was keep eating and look away, as if
he weren't noticing her. Which, naturally, would seem like he was trying to spy
on her, as far as she was concerned. That extreme paranoia was part of why he
hadn't tried very hard to get in touch with her and smooth things over yet. She
might not ever let it go either, but him trying to force her to do it wouldn't
work at all. If anything happened it would have to be on her schedule, not his.

There
was a bit of desperate scrabbling at the door, and the second she was inside
her wards, she spun and started to chant, as if making the shields on the place
even stronger was going to help anything? He could have simply gone in through
the node, or even just forced through the shield, if he wanted. Not that he
did. What he really wanted was for her not to hate him.

That...
was going to take work.

So,
he just sat, and ate, not bothering to make himself feel better about the
situation at hand. The two with him actually glanced at the scene and then
looked away, as if to not notice his pain. That was an old fashioned and polite
thing to do, he guessed. It didn't help anything, but it was better than them
trying to give him suggestions. Especially since theirs would probably involve
Lisa being brainwashed, beaten or killed. Or, possibly, used as a juice box.

'Everyone
loves them some Capri Sun, now in new bloody Lisa flavor.' Mirror Him quipped,
lamely.

Zack
rallied anyway, magic or not and managed a smile for the women with him.

"So,
in a few hours I need to get off to pick up Maddy Morse, so that she can meet
up with Jennifer, and then I'll get all of you where you need to go? Any ideas
where that is yet, Marissa?"

There
was a pause, and she looked at Lenore.

"It
may take some time to figure that out. If I may use your telephone, dear? I
might be stuck here for some time, I fear, since I don't know who I can trust
at the moment. It's a bit of a bother. I don't suppose either of you know of a
good hotel in the area?"

Lenore
did, but then said something very strange.

"Perhaps
you could stay at Zack's? He has a guest room for Bey, which has amusements and
comfortable chairs. I can package up some blood for you? If you need to stay in
town for a while."

She
didn't make eye contact with Zack at all, but he shrugged. He really did have
the room, and it
was
just sitting empty.

"That's
a decent plan. Just make certain you don't drink from Troy, since he needs his
energy for work. He bartends at the Tarran 2 LA, which is a dance club here in
town. You guys own it."

That
got a single, rather happy clap.

"Oh,
I
love
dancing. We should all go."

Lenore
smiled, as if it had been her idea all along.

When
he managed to get back to his own store, about ten minutes later, since he
really wasn't needed, in the middle of a growing Vampire spat, Zack didn't
think, he noticed two things. The first was that there were actually several
people on the main floor of the bookshop, and two sitting in the cafe. The
other was that none of his sales people were available at all. The back sitting
area was tightly closed off too, which meant that, in the short time that he'd
been gone, both girls had managed to grab someone for sex.

It
was a little hard not to be jealous.

Thinking
about it, as he walked to stand behind the sales desk, just in case anyone
needed him for anything, he realized how insane that was, and stopped it. After
all, both women would, without comment, have sex with him. For that matter,
he'd
just
left two women that would have. Given that he was a skinny,
somewhat average looking guy, that wasn't too shabby, was it?

The
people in the store were varied, for all that they all kept looking at the door
to the sitting room. There were two men, a young one that seemed to be about
eighteen or so, and looked about like Zack did, in a lot of ways. Young,
average and with dark hair. Though, to be fair, the geek with his stack of
books had about forty pounds of extra muscle and really only needed a better
haircut and some good clothes to change a lot of things in his life.

Zack
would look better if he did that too, but Darla had suggested he simply eat
more for a while and not burn too much magic, which is what that kind of shape
changing would take. Even building muscle the hard way still required that for
his kind. Otherwise he'd tend to kind of stay the same, only changing slowly,
over time, to meet his own expectations. That did remind him to change that
though, and realize that his features were becoming more symmetrical. After
all, no one really hated you for being slightly better looking than Joe
Sixpack, did they?

The
other man was older. Actually,
old
came to mind. Clearly human, like the
younger one, and also clearly hoping for his own turn in the room with one of
the women. He had solid gray hair, that was, given the way the space around it
rippled a little, not part of him, and teeth that were too even and white for
his age. That meant either really good dental care, of false teeth. Otherwise
he seemed pretty normal, including the slightly sagging middle that came from
too many rich meals, and not enough time in the gym.

That
left the single woman in the place, who had rust red hair, thick black framed
glasses and a twitchy demeanor that would have normally meant she was on drugs.
Especially with her very thin frame. She had her arms covered, wearing a pull
over shirt that was a rich purple, and while clearly a Bat shifter, not one of
the two he'd ever met. She was the oldest one that he'd seen though, and looked
to be in her early thirties, at a guess.

She
glanced at the sitting area suddenly, shook a bit, since she was clearly
getting a bit turned on by what she was hearing, and then pretended to be more
interested in him for a bit. She even walked toward him, smiling. That became a
bit more legitimate, if nervous, when she got closer to the desk.

"Hi!
I heard that you might be hiring here?" She held out her hand, which was
callused and hard, even though she was tiny, over all. Barely five foot and
nearly as thin as he was. Her short hair looked military, but then, most
shifters had to serve in their version of the armed forces, since it was how
they made money, as a people. That she was willing to work with him...

Well,
when he touched her palm with his own, much softer, hand, and the palms
connected, several things became clear. The first was that she was actually
under orders from their brass to try and get a job there. To spy on him.

She
also didn't really realize that he was
him
at all, since she mentally
expected a much more imposing figure, one that possibly had horns, or at least
a tail. The woman, who was named Madeline Hale, was also Calley Hale's
Aunt
.
Which wasn't that big of a stretch, since about half of all Bats were directly
related to that family.

The
last piece of information that Zack picked up was that she kind of wanted to
have sex with him. Or one of the other men in the store. She would have settled
for one of the Alede though, if need be, even if they were clearly women at the
moment. Bats, as a rule, weren't picky that way.

So
he smiled.

"We
pay ten dollars an hour, under the table. You get two weeks off per year, and
the chance to win wonderful prizes regularly, like node travel, if you have the
highest sales each month. You can report back to your superiors, but if you
have something really juicy, I expect you to let me know what it is first. Is that
agreeable?" He smiled, and let her have her hand back, which was nearly
yanked from his, though she hesitated a second later. It was just a response to
his statement about her bosses, he thought.

Not
even her being a massive anti-Demon bigot. Which, of course, she was. They all
were. Even the people that
liked
him. It was a thing he'd been starting
to pick up on, trying to read everyone like he had been. It took a lot of work,
but did give him more information than he would have had otherwise.

She
tilted her head cutely. Or at least it would have been that, if she could have
held the move for about two seconds longer. Instead she managed to turn it into
a nearly spastic twitch. It looked more drugged than anything else. That wasn't
true thankfully. The woman in front of him didn't even drink coffee.

"Um."
She looked at him as if that would be enough of a statement to get a job.

"I'll
let you off the hook this time. I'm Zack Hartley, the Line Walker. Yes, I know
that you were sent in to spy. I don't
care
, since everything I'm doing
is above board right now. So, you're in!" He tried to seem happy about it,
since, really, he kind of was. She was
exotic
, after all, and wasn't
another Alede. It would help cut the unrealistically good looks of his staff by
a good bit, which would be nice, he thought.

Though
he did wait, wandering what the woman would manage to bring to the
conversation. Hopefully it would be something, since otherwise this was about
to get awkward.

She
blushed, and then stammered at him a bit. It really wasn't the best
interviewing technique, but he'd already told her she had the job, hadn't he?

"You're
the Line Walker?"

"Why
don't you try that without sounding doubtful?" He grinned at her and shook
his head a bit. "But yes, that's me. I'm
also
a friend of your
niece, Calley? Can you be back in today at four, for orientation? We have a
team coming in. You'll have to work with a lot of different people though, so
be ready for that. Mages, Alede, maybe even Humans. Is that all right? I notice
that you're a bit scared of Greater Demons, but don't let that part worry you.
Not with me." He made a face, and then sighed, which took some acting.
"Now if you meet any
others
of my kind here, I suggest trying to
stay away from them as much as possible. It can happen, since I know a few, and
they might drop by. If a fight breaks out..." He shrugged.

Then
he left a long pause, since the younger man was actually coming up to the
front, with a stack of books. It wasn't a huge stack, but he had four of them,
and it would be the first sale, as far as Zack knew.

"Well,
if that happens, then run, obviously. You just work here."

"May
I help you with that?" Zack smiled professionally, and rang the man up. He
was clearly a bit disappointed to have missed either of the really good looking
women that had been there when he walked in. It was plain from the way that he
kept staring at the door to the sitting room.

Zack
waved at it, after taking his money.

"They'll
be out in a bit. You should wait. Maybe get a drink or something to eat at the
cafe? It will be worth your time." He didn't say why, but the kid wouldn't
have believed him anyway.

"I...
guess." It sounded nearly defeated, but Zack could relate to that. There
had been a long time when he hadn't been able to get with a woman at all,
himself.

Mirror
Him sighed loudly, his reflections showing in the polished marble of the
counter top as Zack put the books into a nice, very heavy, paper bag with
handles made of twine. The shop's name was printed on the side.

'Damn,
you could at least screw them first, you know? Well, at least you have the
Bat-girl here. That's good thinking. As far as I can tell, her kind doesn't say
no. I bet you could nail her in the back room, if you wanted. I mean, right
now. Probably in the ass. I bet she's freaky in bed. Or on the floor. Or the
desk top... Or, you know, has a nice male relative for you, given how you swing
both ways now. I was kidding, before, you know. Are you really going to make us
do that Vampire? I mean, I get it, but I'm not much for the man parts, you
know?'

He
smiled and nodded. After all, it was MH that had kept calling him gay for
years. Anytime he couldn't get a woman in fact. It would serve him right,
having to service Marissa, just for being so homophobic.

'That's
not fair, Zack. I just didn't want you to become some kind of little girl,
that's all. Why don't you score with that nice Lenore again? Or, I don't know,
go and make nice with Lisa? I bet you can wear her down and get some trim
there, if you want a challenge. Maybe along with your new Bat friend here?'

Zack
didn't answer, just watching the back of the young man who was headed toward
the cafe. There were still people back there, two of them, but they seemed to
be actually drinking coffee and looking at books. Madeline swallowed nervously
and twitched at him, but then turned to look at the door where Kait was coming
out, along with a man that looked like he could be her dad. At least the man
seemed a bit ashamed of himself. She wasn't underage, but he was pushing fifty,
at least, and looked it.

He
also had a wedding ring on. He could have put that in a pocket, Zack thought,
if nothing else.

Waving
got them to both come over, the man looking like he expected to be arrested at
any moment. Normally Zack would have been too embarrassed, given the fact that
his friend had just been having sex with the man, but since she sort of
needed
to do that kind of thing, and he could kill off all feelings that didn't serve
him at the moment, he did.

Then
he looked at the man and gave a single slow nod.

"You
might want to look at our bestsellers section. If you plan to be a regular
here, I mean." They weren't selling sex, after all, but seriously, the man
would be back. It had to be far too tempting for him not to be. "Kaitlyn,
this is Madeline, she's going to be working with you. Later though. Right now,
I think that young man in the back was trying to get your attention?" Or
at least some female company. How Kait handled that was her business.

The
man she'd been with blushed again, but she patted him on the back and rushed
off to see to the new man, as if it were perfectly normal. Madeline just stood
for a few seconds, waiting for something. Reviewing, Zack wondered if he'd
missed anything, and realized that he sort of had. He hadn't gotten the woman
to write down any of her contact information. Not that he didn't know it
already. He was about to scramble for a job application form, when she turned
and left, looking back at him strangely.

She'd
be around at four, so he didn't worry. It was part of her job. Both of them,
now. Really, she was probably going to go and report to Catherine Peterson, at
her people's embassy. It was right next door, so they could listen in anyway.
At least the Bat shifters could.

Claudia
came back out, and her friend turned out to be a woman, surprisingly enough. A
slightly overweight one, who seemed a bit flushed and moist. They got waved
over and extorted too, with a suggestion that the Alede succubus see to the
older man that was waiting for attention from the helpful staff. The woman
looked at it happening, and shook her head a little.

"She's
so lovely. Maybe next time we could all do something?" That was said with
a bit of a downcast look, and without confidence at all. In fact it was so shy
seeming that it was pretty clear the woman in front of him would have had sex
with almost anyone that was willing to give her attention, he was willing to
bet.

Zack
smiled.

"Well,
I can't promise anything, since she works for me here and that might be
inappropriate, but
we
could go out?" It was a total change in what
was on the table, but the woman, who was heavyset, busty and a bit heavy of
feature through the face, which meant not that good looking, actually beamed at
him, as if he'd said the right thing for once.

"That
would be nice. Claudia said I should ask people here, if, you know, they wanted
to do things. I thought she just meant for..." There was a much brighter
bit of flushing then and not all of it was due to embarrassment.