On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (28 page)

Riley grabbed a burger and a container of fries and plopped
down right next to her, physically scooting Don aside a bit, using some form of
magic that didn't make sense, since Don didn't seem to move at all.

“Kaitlyn girl! I haven't seen you in a coon's age, love. I
look away and you come back with a new girlfriend
and
a new boyfriend?
I'm hurt, I truly am....” The Trickster looked like a dark skinned black man
and sounded like he was from the deepest south, about fifty years ago.

Putting her arms around him from the side, she gave him a
tight squeeze and then kissed him on the cheek. Linking arms with him she
pressed her breast into his arm firmly enough for him to notice.

“Why Riley! I didn't know you were
interested
in me!
You know all you had to do was ask... Or even just stand in place long enough.
No need to be hurt at all. This is Don, who you moved out of the way, and this
lovely lady is my friend Jelly. You know everyone else. Now, to what do we owe
the pleasure of your company, and yes it's all right if you just want to ask me
on a date. Or any of the others. Though Don may be a little shy about that,
still
asking
can't hurt...”

Riley laughed long and hard at that.

“Oh, nothing so innocent! Your friends have come to the
attention of my people, and I wanted to give you all a heads up. You know the
drill, keep the balance of the universe and basically do what we want, even if
it sounds hard or silly? The less you fight it, the easier it will be. Got that
Don? Because my aunt is particularly interested in
you
. So when some
woman you hardly know comes up to you and asks you to do something strange, that
you probably won't want to, give it a real shot. I
did
ask her not to
try and trick you all. I don't know if she believed me or not or, if she
thought it was just
me
trying to pull something on her.” He got up to
leave then, but managed to feel up Kate's chest pretty well as he extracted his
arm from hers. He grinned at her, so that she'd know he did it on purpose, then
left.

Yasmine stood as well and stared at Jelly as she did it. Her
gaze was piercing and so intense that Kate could literally feel heat coming off
of it. Literally possible with the Djinn, being creatures of fire and energy
like they were. The look on her face didn't seem happy, but having seen her
truly pissed once, Kate didn't think Jelly was in danger. Not yet at least.

“I have a message for you, Jenifer Stone. If you persist in
your current plan you will reap only ruin. If you wish to survive this, you
will need to cease and
trust
in those you do not know.”

She left then, either moving incredibly fast or going
invisible.

Jelly shook, literally trembling a little.

Kate asked her what that meant, but Jelly just shook her head
and started crying.

Everyone stared at her for a bit, not knowing what to do,
then they all moved in to pat and hug her, to reassure the Mage.

Except Troy, who watched her carefully and didn't say
anything. Kate looked at him and finally realized that he used an Alede hand
sign, one that simply meant “Later”.

If Jelly knew exactly what the Djinn had meant, she wasn't
telling any of them at lunch. Troy kept looking at the girl, concerned it
seemed to Kate, but not angry or suspicious. Given the timing of events, the
Alede hand sign coming less than a minute after the warning from Yasmine, it
seemed likely that the two were related, but the lines coming off of Troy
didn't seem to be indicating the Mage at all and instead seemed focused almost
exclusively off into the distance, splitting between three or four different
factors.

Don watched her closely for a second, not picking up on
exactly what she was thinking, it seemed, but instead watching how the energy
flowed around the room and between the people seated, picking at and in a few
places readily consuming, their food. Not having anything in particular to go
on at the moment, the Human decided to hold back and wait for Kate to make a
move. She knew this because he sent a line of focused thought at her, making
this clear. The tendril that reached out to her had a purple hue, and felt
friendly, if a little devoid of emotion.

Jelly managed to get her tears under control and told
everyone that she had just been taken by surprise and that the warning probably
had to do with her family issues, rather than anything more immediate. Though
she certainly had enough new people around to learn to trust in, if that became
an issue. She looked at Troy and held his gaze for a few seconds, telling him
specifically that she'd be all right.

Kate noticed that this made Troy blink.
That
, at least
made sense, given that the girl and he hadn't really met before, except in
passing once or twice and today had been the longest they'd spent together. On
top of that, the girl had seemed disinterested in him not ten minutes before,
but now she seemed to be acting like they were old friends.

The twin Alede decided to try and turn the conversation to
more fun topics and suggested that they all get together soon and have a party.
Kate smiled herself when the idea was presented. As a rule, Alede loved
parties. People did things at them they ordinarily wouldn't dream of, often in
ways that were good for harvesting energy. When everyone said this sounded like
fun, Kate got elected by a show of hands as the person that got to find a place
for them to hold it. No one seemed surprised when she suggested the living
room, since everyone was already staying in the same house, unless they managed
to invite some new people.

Everyone that people thought should be invited already lived
at the house or worked at the Mall at least. For instance, Chi the Bat or Birk
the Trolleinkein, if they could dampen the scent of Alede enough. Don voted for
Maryl, because she was cute, he told them winking at Kate when he said it, and
of course Libby.
Zack
may have a problem scoring with Libby's aunt while
dating her niece, Kate thought, but that wasn't a hang up that Don seemed to
have. At least he didn't seem to be insisting they both sleep with him at once,
since Bats had really different sexual rules than Humans. They might just do
it, which would probably weird Don out a lot more than he'd think at first.

That Maryl would be interested in
Don
seemed obvious
to Kate, but cutely enough, Don didn't think it would work out that way. Still,
she gave good hugs, he told her when she asked him about it, which made having
her at the party worthwhile all on its own. Britney looked at him, clearly a
little jealous, even though she'd gladly do both women too, at the same time
even, if she could manage it.

Don also thought they should invite Patty and Val, which Troy
thought sounded like a good plan. They could also invite Merle, the
Trolleinkein ambassador, and of course Hilda. His mention of Hilda just got
Britney to wave her hands at him, as if slightly frustrated.

“Well of course Hilda! That goes without needing to be said,
silly! If I thought I could go the half week without sex, I would
so
do
her before we left...” Blonde hair falling to one side, she pushed it over her
shoulder and stared at Troy. “You
too
, of course.” The blond girl licked
her lips and made significant eye contact with him.

Kate saw something trying to come together, but couldn't exactly
put her finger on it. After a while she wondered out loud if they should just
invite
everyone
. All their friends and extended family?

“Right, so all the ambassadors and pretty much everyone from
here? Anyone else that would be nice to have around? Eloise lives kind of
locally, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if we invited Clyde...”

Everything went silent for a few moments while people
thought. Troy, biting his lip looked at Kate hard and eventually spoke.

“Well... I don't know if it's a
good
idea, politically
speaking, but I'd like to invite Luthor. He's a good guy and if Eloise is
invited, he should probably get an invitation too. Vaun as well, since he's
like Claire's boss's boss or something along those lines. Oh and, well, the
Demons should be invited too, especially Beatrice. She's done some things
lately that, well, even Zack thinks she may be
almost
all right and he's
not fond of their kind most of the time.”

Kate looked around and noticed they were being watched by all
the Alfric really closely. She winked at Xan who waved at her from the Burger
Joint. Glen caught her eye and made a strange hand gesture, which turned out to
be pointing to a line that ran from him to Charli. A complicated multi-colored
strand of gold, rose and green. Kaitlyn had no clue what it meant, but nodded
anyway, since it seemed clear that it meant
something
.

First though, they needed to run the idea past a few people.
Mainly Zack and Claire, but Merri and Val too, Kate told them all. Libby was
important, but if they couldn't talk
her
into a party, then it just
shouldn't happen at all.

Part of Kate wanted to jump up and do it immediately, but she
decided to listen to everyone else's ideas first. Some of them thought that
inviting world leaders seemed a bit ambitious, but Troy just smiled.

“Hey, I said we should
invite
them. The odds that
they'll come are pretty small, but at least they'll know we cared enough to
ask, right? Besides, I don't think we're allowed to have a party at Zack's
anymore without giving this kind of stuff thought.

“After all, if we just invited our immediate friends, we have
a decent start on a who's-who list of important people. If we leave these
people off, someone may be insulted. Even if it's honestly just us having a
little get together.” He stroked his chin, clean shaved, now that he worked
with Claire each day. She didn't mind facial hair as a rule, but felt that it
didn't belong around food. Kate thought that the Vampire had made that rule up
to get rid of the little goatee he'd been sporting at the time he started
working with her. It really had made him seem a bit like he could be Satan. In a
movie where he was the good guy hero, true, but given all the Demons around the
place already, it probably wasn't a great look for him.

They left from lunch a few minutes later, going back to their
respective places of work or business. She grabbed Troy's arm and asked him to
meet her later. He smiled... and said he wouldn't miss it. Perhaps the back of
Frozen YoGurt at five or so, he suggested, giving her a meaningful look that
could have meant anything. He might be meeting her to give her information...
or to see if she wanted to have sex under the soft serve machine or, who knew
what? She agreed to be there giving him a nod. The
worst
that happened,
she figured,
would
be him trying to have sex with her under the large
silver machinery and that would be... fun. So it seemed like a good idea to
her.

As long as Claire didn't catch them at it. Then they'd both
probably die. At the very least they'd be put to cleaning her shop for several
days. For a woman that didn't even eat regular food, she was really picky about
what kind of things could be done around it.

Back at Candles and More Kate locked herself in the office
with Lisa, who looked shocked. At first. Then she smiled softly and asked what
was going on, her legs inadvertently spreading in anticipation, and a slight
hint of pheromone being released from the woman. Obviously already getting
turned on, just by the pattern of the door being locked.
Damn
.

Kate realized that Lisa really
did
have an addiction
to pleasure. It sounded so innocuous. Almost stupid. After all,
pleasure
almost always seemed like a good thing, right? Too much though and it could
keep you from doing anything else. Rats had been known to push levers that led
to electrodes in their brains hooked to their pleasure centers, even forgoing
food to do so. They'd do it until they
died
, if you let them. Humans
were smarter, capable of realizing they needed to eat and sleep, at least part
of the time, but that didn't mean unlimited access to pleasure was good for
them. She wondered how much Zack had been hitting the poor woman with?

Going for low key, Kate moved around the desk and hugged her
gently. It wasn't romantic, or hinting at anything more than common connection
between them. Bodies pressed together, but without the rubbing and slight
grinding that most of her people would have added, alone with someone like they
were at the moment. A normal enough greeting between them, having known each
other, sometimes in traumatic situations, for over a year now. They were
friends, but nothing more than that.

Lisa clung to her, pushing her breasts into her, nipples
going erect. In the
whole
time she'd known Lisa, she could count the number
of times the woman had become obviously aroused in her presence on one hand.
All of those except two involved other people being provocative or doing
something so overtly sexual that it would take a saint not to notice.

Letting go, she stood back casually, and watched as the other
woman's body leaned forward toward her, a lot more than it needed to just to
pay attention to Kate.

“Some of us were talking at lunch and we thought it might be
nice to have a party. But... Since half the people that we want to invite are
on the list of dignitaries and world leaders we thought we should run
everything past you first, and Claire, Zack, Merri and so on. We're actually
thinking fairly low key, for all that we want some of our heavy hitter friends
to get a chance to come. Understood, most of them probably
won't
, but,
what do you think?”

Lisa may have been thirty seconds from throwing herself at
the girl, but that didn't seem to dull her mind much. Instead of telling her
what an awful idea it was, she thought about it for a while first and seemed to
give it some
real
thought. Even if she simply said no right then, that
level of consideration heartened Kate. Even a few
seconds
of thought
seemed like more than they could have really expected.