On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (33 page)

Don grinned and told everyone that the world smelled like
warm honey buns. Lars smelled roasted meat and Birk smelled tacos, which made
everyone laugh. The Alede all smelled more intimate things, which they normally
would have shared, but didn't after Kate elbowed them both while looking at the
Trolleinkein. Jelly smiled and told them how she smelled lemons.

“Go figure, I wouldn't have guessed I liked the smell of
lemons that much!” She linked arms with Kate and rested her head on the
slightly taller girl's shoulder for a moment, then let go, in order to gawk at
everything around them.

The translator took them to a side walk, one with hand rails
and a covering awning, and explained it to them carefully.

“The ground here is solid, but can pass things along its
surface. When you step on it, nothing will happen for a moment. Then, as you
walk you will be propelled forward much faster than your steps would normally
carry you. Walk at your normal speed please and do not run. It should carry you
at about forty-three miles per hour. The wind is brisk, but you all look
suitably dressed.” The translator repeated this in flawless sounding Trolleinkein,
which got smiles from the large men. They nodded that they understood.

The translator got on the dull white surface and waited. Then
when everyone stood behind the blue clad figure, he began to walk, slowly at
first, then building speed as they went. After a minute or so they were flying
past the world around them, even though it felt to Kate like she was walking
normally. She'd done this before, having been to Lesser Shia a few times now,
making her an old pro. The others all stared, and acted amazed as they did it.

Making them all seem like tourists. Not interesting and cool
like her.

When they got near the place they needed to be, the
translator signaled with a hand gesture and stepped to the right, telling all
of them to do the same. Jelly almost missed it, having been looking the other
way at something, but Birk grabbed her arm and swung her to him as she walked
past, spinning her around slightly by the arms. As she did this he softly said
“thweee” which somehow made the otherwise aggressive move seem playful. Kate
winked at him when she caught his eye.

They still had to walk for awhile, past about forty different
shops, stands and kiosks, each with a small group of people in front of it. The
streets teamed with beings, but somehow none of them ever seemed to come too
close. No more than six feet away, even though at least some of them must have
been comfortable with closer body space limits. After all, Kate thought as she
looked at some of the various kinds of people passing her,
she
didn't
have a problem being closer than that to people. It was almost like a force
field steered people away from one another, or like the ground itself guided
their steps a bit, kind of like that walk way only slower.

Standing and paying attention she noticed that the translator
had two thick blue and white lines that ran to it, something she hadn't noticed
before on anyone. The being guided them to a humble looking, at least for this
neighborhood, shop, empty when they went in, except for them. There were no
shelves, just a single counter with a strange looking veiled being behind the
counter. The proportions behind the veil and baggy robe didn't seem human at
all, but the voice sounded soft and like it came from a very pretty woman to
Kate. Not that it mattered, not right now. If this being had a different nature
than she did, all to the good, especially if it could help with their problem.

The translator didn't wait for anyone to speak, instead it
made simple introductions and asked for one of them to explain what the problem
was they needed addressed. It took a while, because the being wanted to know
the whole story, including who had attacked Kate and who had held themselves
together. The being wanted the same tale from both Don and Jelly specifically,
even though it had just heard it. When Britney started speaking, trying to go
over the story again, it gave her a piece of candy and explained that it had
already heard from one of her kind, but thanked her for her thoughtfulness and
commended her desire to aid others.

It listed off each person involved and double, then triple
checked what kind of person, race, temperament and basic skill sets each had
before disappearing into the back of the shop. When it returned it provided a
vial for each woman, coded with the first letter of their name, as well as one
for Kate, to her surprise. It had her open the vial and swallow the contents in
front of it.

“This is a form of bacteria, carefully crafted specifically
for you. It won't harm you in any way, but will remove the specific addiction.
If you wanted any other addiction removed, that would be extra, of course.
Yours is free, because you came in person.” The creature bowed to them all.

Kate felt... Well, she decided, she felt fine. She didn't
crave the hyper levels of feeding from Zack, but still knew it would feel nice.
It seemed to work, though she had no proof. She asked if Don would try passing
her energy, explaining what she did to the shop keeper and translator, figuring
the rest of them would get it already.

After a minute she had to push Don's hand away. The pleasure
felt a lot more intense than it had been, like it had the first time she'd felt
it, over a year ago. She nodded and asked how much. When she heard, she
couldn't believe it.

“Three gold? Each?” She said, hoping it wasn't for each
bacteria or something. The translator asked for clarification from the
creature, who shook its head.

“No, for
all
of them.” It said, clearly indicating all
the vials.

Kate asked Don to get the coins and waited for some catch in
the bargain. To be told they needed a thousand doses or something like that,
but the creature informed them that, as long as the doses were taken by the
right person, one would serve. This didn't, it informed them, mean that the
individual couldn't become addicted again to the same thing, it simply removed
the
current
addiction. Care would be needed and the person would have to
choose to not continue doing what they'd been doing before.

The money disappeared so quickly that Kate wasn't sure where
it went and the creature listed several other services that could be rendered,
including body modifications, though the individual would need to come personally
in most cases, unless the change was to be
very
generic. Mental
upgrades, longevity services and more. Kate looked at the group with her and
then told the creature that she would keep all this in mind, because it really
could come up, given the way their lives tended to go.

The translator got them all back to the right node, taking
the reverse of the same route they had come by, though they used the walk way
across the street to get there. It left them at the door to the node room and
bowed to them as it backed away.

Kate and Don took Birk and Lars first, along with the vials,
then went back for the twins and Jelly. Don took Jelly and Britney at one time,
when he stepped out he dropped to his knees gasping for breath. Zack smiled at
him and chuckled a bit.

“That never gets better you know. If you can, always take
people one at a time. Big people are hard, but two or more are much harder,
even if they're the same overall mass. Eventually you learn to pant more
softly. If you practice at least.”

He walked with them back to the house, collecting Chi from
Bat Street, since he'd made the ruling earlier and Patty since she was their
expert in such things. She looked at Zack, worried and a little scared it
seemed to Kate. A line forming between her eyes at the top of her nose as she
walked, casting glances at his back every few steps.

It took a while to get everyone together for the project.
Lisa had to come by car, from wherever Maryl had hidden her, fearing that
someone might attack in retribution. The Bat woman
knew
how fast
everyone could turn on you and didn't want to take any chances with her
girlfriend. Claire drove herself over from
her
house, the place she
stored the rest of her young Vampires, some of whom simply weren't well enough
behaved for company yet.

Chi lined them up and administered the vials to each woman in
turn, explaining what he'd been told. That the bacteria inside did
nothing
except remove the addiction that Zack had caused. They all took it happily
enough, since it would get their Zack back and, even if not addicted to the pleasure
he could create any more. They still loved him, or at least were fond of him.

Then Chi surprised them all by telling them that, while Zack
could be around them now, he wasn't allowed to use any pleasure on them other
than what he could create by normal means. That being what any normal Human
could produce without any special abilities. Zack nodded and didn't say
anything.

Maryl frowned and shook her fist playfully at Kate.

“Darn you! I didn't even get to give him a hand job yet.” She
laughed though.

Lisa looked around uneasily and started to walk over to Kate,
uncertain of herself. Libby followed and finally walked up beside her and
slowly put her arms out for a hug, shoulders hunched as if ready for a punch
instead of an embrace from the girl.

“Sorry Kaitlyn. I know you weren't trying to steal Zack
away... I shouldn't have knocked you out with that lamp...”

Lisa looked at the small Bat woman shocked.

“You hit her with a
lamp
? I used fairly high level
Magic and barely did anything to her.
I
should have gone with a lamp.
Who knew?” Lisa moved in and hugged her too. “I
am
sorry about that, it
was, not good. And Jenifer...” Lisa walked over to the girl who looked a bit
scared and put her arms around her.

“Thank you! I know that it can't be easy to stand up to your
new boss like that, especially if they turn out to be a psycho addict that's
trying to hurt people... But you did it. You did the right thing, even though
it was hard and didn't give in, even when you thought you were losing. Skill
comes with time and practice, but guts like that are rare.” She hugged the girl
again, holding her close for a few moments longer than Kate thought really necessary,
which made her laugh a bit.

Jelly looked at Lisa, then at Kate and started crying.
Because that made sense?

“I'm..” She began, looking a little panicked as everyone in
the room looked over, concerned. The day had been rough and if the girl started
having a meltdown, who could blame her? Everyone took a few steps toward her,
just in case she needed them.

“I'm spying on you for George Penbroke!”

Kate felt floored. Like someone had physically knocked the
wind out of her. If they had a spy in their midst, especially one for George,
then Jelly
would
be the logical one to pick, but still... she'd slept
with the girl! They'd
all
slept with her and not just once or twice, but
a
lot
. Maybe it was the Alede in her, but to Kate, when you slept with
someone, especially more than once or twice, a bond was formed, and while it
didn't make anyone a better person, it did normally preclude things like
outright spying for evil Mages that wanted to destroy you and your friends.

The next shock came when Lisa gave the girl another hug, her
arms wrapping the girl tightly, a small smile coming to her face, not a totally
happy one, but gentle and not blaming at least.

“I know. Most of us here have known for a while now. We were
just waiting for Kate and her friends to get a chance to settle in before
telling them. Eloise told us. Apparently your uncle Willet found out that
George was using some charges against
him
as leverage over
you
and
went directly to Eloise with it. He told her to just take him in right then and
protect his niece. Which, as I'm sure you realize, she decided not to do,
taking him in. She really did get him to promise to be on good behavior until
your internship is over. Binding word, too, so he's getting a vacation. Not
that he shouldn't have to pay for his crimes, but the Mage council doesn't
allow blackmail either. In this case it's a bit of a wash, but you might want
to talk to Willet and let him know that he doesn't get any more free passes
because of this?” Lisa kept hugging the girl as she spoke.

Sitting down on the carpet, a blue throw rug that managed to
be soft and clean even after everyone have walked on it for weeks, she just
felt tired. Kate wondered who else in her life would end up betraying her. She
shook her head and ran a hand over her face, paying attention to the caress of
flesh on flesh for a moment. Taking a deep breath and swallowing, she listened
to what Lisa said.

“It should be clear to anyone that you were in a hard spot
here and that you didn't have a lot of choice. After all, if your uncle was
willing to be taken in to free you from the clutches of my father, who, while
he's been a bit of a dick about all this spying thing lately, isn't exactly
evil
,
then you two must be pretty close. I've known Willet for years and frankly, I
didn't think he even knew what a selfless action
was
.” She stood back
from the girl a little and looked directly into her eyes. “I'm happy to be
proved wrong about that.”

Britney and Blaine both crossed their arms and looked at her
with real anger in their eyes. Britney spoke for them glaring and not breaking
eye contact with the smaller girl that knew for a fact she couldn't take the
tall blond in a fight.

“You used us just to get close to Kate? We thought you were
our friend!” She took a step toward the girl. An angry move that caused a few
people in the room to tense. Troy had to put a hand out to stop Zack from stepping
forward. Telling him softly that having his butt kicked by
two
hot
chicks in a single twenty-four hour period would be a little much even for him.