On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (19 page)

“Nothing here unexpected. No magic or Demons as far as I can
tell. Hilda, you getting anything?” He addressed this to the back of the
powerful looking blonde that still stood before the door, ready to fight if
need be.

Hilda shook her head without turning, “Not from here. Sorry,
but I'm not much good directly around Alede...And these two don't have very
good control right now. I'd ask to wait in the hall, but I might scare the
school kids that live here if I keep the gun out.” She turned briefly, and
winked at Kate. “And if I don't, I'd probably get hit on... That's what Libby
said at least.”

Claire bowed to Britney and Blaine, then gave the titles
again, just so there'd be no confusion about who they were later. Then she
asked questions, as to the nature of the attack, specifics as to what was said,
reasons as to what may have caused the attack if it wasn't random and a dozen
other things. Blaine tried to explain that it was probably a simple mix up,
though a painful one for him. After a moment he sighed, which made him react in
pain.

"Not that I can do much about it at this point. Those guys
saw what they did, so as far as they're concerned I tricked them into gay sex.
Like
I
have to trick people?"

Claire had an answer to this, “First we'll see to your
safety. This means all of you, Kate. You'll all need to stay together as much
as possible. Guards will be provided. You'll have to share, since we don't have
enough volunteers to cover you easily at all times individually. Still, I think
vigilance is in order until the investigation team has a chance to look into
this. If we can handle this quickly you should be inconvenienced only shortly.
It may take longer. If so I apologize for any disruption in advance.”

Britney, obviously feeling a bit awkward, tried to explain
about the situation at “McC's” that she thought sparked the attack. She didn't
blush, since that reaction, while possible for an Alede, didn't come from shame
or embarrassment, only sexual arousal. Kate knew that she'd be a deep scarlet
if she were Human right about now. Not because she serviced so many guys in
that short of a time, that, for an Alede, would be a matter of pride. No she
felt embarrassed because she'd inadvertently caused problems for her brother.
Her mistake, one that she
should
have known better than to make, had
caused pain to a complete innocent in the situation. She chewed her lip at the
end of her story, looking a lot like a lost little girl,
if
a seventeen
year old, very hot one.

Holding in any sign of mirth perfectly, Claire nodded once,
“That... sounds like a likely scenario. However, given the people you've been
around lately, you're potentially open to attack if only to harm or confuse
others. If we'd had this much warning with Courtney Moore, she'd probably be
alive right now. None of us want to see a repeat of that incident.”

At the door Hilda tensed at the mention of the actress's
name. Blaine tried to tilt his head, but winced in pain and had to bite down on
a soft moan, which made him wince again. After a few deep breaths he managed to
speak.

"What would Courtney Moore have to do with this? I'd
heard she was murdered, but..."

Claire answered, “Probably nothing. I don't know how much you
know about her death, but it was perhaps one of the most horrific I've ever
heard of, and I've been around some awful things in my time. The Arch-Demon
Cruxias had it done using Human agents. Simply to disrupt us, our communities,
it seems. While things have calmed down now, in regards to the forces that did
that, we all want to be careful for a while about such attacks. Since your
deaths could potentially disrupt large scale economies, it's merely prudent to
intervene early.” Her head bowed, tilting to one side slightly as she moved, as
if deferring to their importance. It got a strange look from Blaine, but he
focused on his sister instead of speaking.

Britney kept crying softly, and didn't look up, muttering
softly about how it was all her fault. Blaine put a single hand on her shoulder
to comfort her, though he moved to her stiffly. Kate saw him look at Claire,
and could tell that he meant it to be questioning, but it didn't carry through
the current mask of swelling and bruises very well.

So she took a breath and tried to explain.

“Blaine, it's like this, I think... If you or Britney were
killed, Hartley would come to investigate
himself
and that would probably
bring half the power structures in the world down here as well, scrambling to
keep him satisfied that everything possible was being done to make sure justice
took place. I know that after what happened to Courtney, well, he almost ripped
the economies of the world apart searching for Cruxias. The lines stopped moving
all together for a few weeks, since even the
Demons
were afraid that
he'd kill them if he found them in the lines...” She moved to Britney and gave
her a hug with one arm, so that she'd know that not everyone in the room blamed
her for
everything
that had taken place, just her screw up that started
the whole thing.

Keeber walked over and patted the blonde girl a little
awkwardly for a second too, then moved back by Claire, that feeling like a safer
position to the man. Turning into a bear at will gave him decent senses and the
ability to do a lot of damage at need in a fight, but it didn't prepare him for
working in large groups. That being anything over
three
, he'd told Kate
once, very well at all.

“Um, yeah. I remember when they caught the Humans that
murdered Miss Moore and how he didn't even
speak
at the trial. I know
everyone else thought he was just being politic, letting the process take its
course, but I saw him and Troy standing in the back. I thought they were going
to rush the front and kill the prisoners themselves. I don't think I've ever
seen him get that mad at anything. He just
stood
there, but I could
smell
the rage coming off of him.”

Blaine's mouth formed an “o” and he looked at Claire again,
asking some practical questions finally, to Kate's relief.

“So, I need to transform soon, because this pain thing sucks.
Then I'll need to harvest a lot of energy. I guess I could shift to female for
a day or two, though I don't want to miss too many classes if I can help it. So
far my attendance is pretty good...”

Kate answered this one, wincing a little herself in empathy,
relief not being easily in sight for him. He needed to stay in his current
state for a while, though she could heal the breaks and the lost tooth, for
him. She moved over and asked him to open his mouth, then slowly put her right
index finger in it. He jumped when she touched the empty hole on the back left,
where the tooth had been.

She looked him in the eye, “Now, this may feel funny, so try
not to bite me, OK?”

He just gave her a look with his one open eye.

She dropped into a clear, empty, state of mind first,
blocking out everything in the room, then, using her finger as a conduit for
power, she triggered a change of flesh, from male to female, causing the tooth
to come back into being almost instantly, as if reforming out of thin air. She
had to pull her finger out of the way, because it tried to generate inside the
pad of it, appearing out of nothing for all intents and purposes. The physics
of it were spotty by Human standards, but since it worked, that just meant that
their way of thinking about things was wrong this time. Then she reversed the
process, returning the flesh to male for him, though he'd have matched things
together himself with his next transformation, she thought.

He rubbed at his cheek for a second, then, after her finger
was out of the way, put his own in to see what had happened. He made a small
sound something like “gurk!” and tried to grin at her, then stopped when his
lip split open.

Before he could ask questions, she did the same thing to his
ribs that were obviously cracked or broken too, so that he could breathe more
easily. Claire told her to leave all the external damage for the police though
and suggested getting some pictures of the wounds, both now and over the next
few days as the colors should bloom nicely, just in case they needed them for
Human court proceedings. Looking around she saw a small camera on a shelf and
asked if they could use it for that purpose.

Britney saw it and shook her head, “That's Don's. We should
ask him first. I mean, I think he'll let us use it, but he may hate me now...”
Her head bowed.

Kate hugged her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Then
told Claire to use the small silver camera, but to make sure it had a memory
card in it first and try not to erase anything on it if possible. Don, she told
them, would
want
them to get the pictures when they needed them.

“Why would he
hate
you though, Brit?” Kaitlyn asked,
really not seeing a reason at all. Sure, she'd gotten her brother beaten up,
but she hadn't
meant
to. Blaine probably would have taken those three if
he'd noticed the first one about to tackle him anyway. This sucked, but wasn't
that
big of a deal for him. After all, his side had won in the end, which meant
he
won.

Tears formed in the ' eyes again, causing Kate to reflect
that, for someone with essentially the same genetics that she had, the girl's
tear ducts could sure produce a lot more than hers could. A training effect
maybe? Stay weepy enough long enough and you could build up to it? The idea made
Kate want to try it, but that would have to happen later. Everyone waited for
an answer.

Hiccupping slightly as she spoke, Britney told them, “He
knows that I sleep with a lot of people for fun, but that's different than
sucking off half the football team in the back of a seedy bar! Human men don't
deal with things like that very well. Not from women that are around them. I
know some act like it for a while, but it wears on the ego too much. Plus, you
know, I've really hurt him a lot already, since I wouldn't sleep with him
before. How would that make him feel now?
He's
not good enough for me,
but anonymous cocks coming at me through a hole in the wall are fine?” Big sobs
wracked her frame then, but Hilda chuckled at her from across the room, causing
Britney to glare at her briefly, looking like she wanted to do the woman real
damage. It would be a bit like a Chihuahua trying to take on a dire wolf, but
that didn't stop the blonde from tensing up.

“Sorry! I don't laugh at your worry...” The big woman spoke
clearly, only the barest hint of accent in her voice anymore, that being a hard
edge to parts of each word, almost sounding like she grew up speaking German.
She turned quickly to look at the crying Alede and spoke next in a tone that
Kate recognized as the traditional story telling voice of the Trolleinkein.

“I have heard the tales of Donald, in part, from those who
were there. How out of his great love for the Alede Britney and his friend the
Alede Blaine he sat in the void for hundreds of years, seeking the skills he'd
need to feed them the stuff of life itself... Even as we speak he sits in the
void, where centuries can pass in the blink of an eye, facing total
dissolution. Doing a thing only two have done before. One of them the Line Walker
himself, the only other Human to have survived in the void on his own that we know
of. I do not think you have to worry overly that the Human Donald
hates
you. If he survives this day, this will make an epic tale for my own people. He
is very brave! I went into the void myself once, and nearly died and lost my
mind, in mere moments there, and that with Zack guarding my thoughts the whole
time. That he does this for you now...” Hilda's head came up, as if proud of
Don, even though she'd only seen him for a few moments in passing.

Britney didn't say anything, but she stopped crying and
finally looked around the room, noticing the people that stood there, as if for
the first time.

“I don't... understand what's happening here. Where's Don?”
She stood up, pulling Kate with her. “Is he safe? I have to go to him. Where is
he?” Her voice went a little frantic then, panic starting to form behind her
eyes. Hilda, holding her breath moved in and held the girl. Claire spoke
quickly.

“Your friend, Donald, has gone into the void with Mr.
Hartley, where he seeks to learn the things he needs to help you through this.
He's been in the void before, so his mind should be proofed against it. What
he's doing right now, well... it
is
dangerous, but he has the Line Walker
looking after him personally, and I can assure you that Zack would die himself
before letting your friend come to harm. As to what the void itself is like, I
think you should ask Kaitlyn here, since she's been there longer than anyone
but Zack, and please, Britney, calm down. Hilda will need to breathe soon and
she can't do that easily while holding you.”

Claire pulled out her cell phone then and started making
calls, possibly trying to show Britney that action made more sense than worry
right now. The first sounded like a call to a local lawyer, from what was said.
Arrangements were made to find out what information the police had so far.
While this happened, Keeber lumbered over and offered to take the half panicked
Succubus from Hilda, so she could breathe again. He looked embarrassed as he
did it, his body having a clearly sexual response to the situation, because
worried Succubi tended to pour lust out in all directions as a basic defense
mechanism. Which caused Britney to cuddle closer to him and start grinding
against him lightly. He made a move like he'd let go, but Kate stopped him.

“Keeber, I know it's off putting to you right now, with all
these people around, but she's calming down a lot... If you can hang on for a
while, till Don gets back, I think it would be a good idea. Either that or
knock her out. Because otherwise, I think she's going to freak out on us...”
Looking around the room, she noticed that the only one that would care about
this display in public would be Keeber himself.