Other Places 1: Shortcuts (31 page)

Talk of the people from the food court reminded him of the present he'd promised to Merry, which got the two people sitting at the front counter with him, both eating with chopsticks, even as Zack used a fork, since he couldn't manage it left handed otherwise, to stop mid-bite and stare at him.

His grandfather recovered first, just nodding at him, but not trying to tell him it was too much or anything.

"I can have some cards run up for it. For everyone that works at Westfield?"

It didn't take long for them to come up with the basic outline for what he wanted, which was basically just letting people that wanted a trip home to come in and schedule it, though they needed to work out the specifics on a one by one basis. He realized that some of the places might be a little hard to find, but as long as it was along a node somewhere, he could do it, he thought.

They lingered over the food a bit, so that they were just cleaning up at about seven. No one had come in and other than the fact that they had to clean up some dropped food around where he'd been sitting, the place was clean and tidy looking. After they left he just sat for a while, listening to the music coming from the speakers on the wall. It was an instrumental piece that had some great power chords. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to listen to it, jumping when he opened his eyes to find both Nikki and Bey standing in front of him.

"Friend Zack!" The enthusiastic little Vampire beamed at him with a smile that got one in return. "We are closing in on Lazar the fiend, even as we speak. We found that he was near this area, so wished to inform you, lest he try to harm you again. We've moved his young army off to the forest, at a compound we hold in this area. It has its own lake and several small streams. You should go there sometime in the summer months, when you vacation."

For some reason Nikki had to smother a laugh, hiding it behind her left hand. When she had control of herself, Bey glaring a little at her, she explained.

"It really
is
lovely. Bey had just been suggesting that we give it to you and he wants to see if you'd like it. It used to be a summer camp, back in the fifties. It was a front for a blood farm. People would pay to have their kids taken away for three months and used as juice boxes by the Vamps that ran it. It was shut down after one of the campers died, while canoeing. It was kind of a sordid affair, which was covered up. I think one of the other campers killed the boy, to tell the truth. Held him under for some reason."

That didn't bother Zack at all, but he didn't think he really had a use for a summer camp himself. Still if he could go camping there, that might be neat. He'd gone before, but not very often, not since he'd left home a few years before. There hadn't been enough money for it, or people to go with. Troy might go, but they needed a group, or it just wouldn't be any fun.

"Well, maybe we could all go together for a few days? In the summer though, since right now it sounds cold. Plus..." He lifted his splint a little and made a face, even though it didn't hurt that much now. "Broken. It would make sleeping on the ground too hard. On top of
that
I hear the place is totally infested with baby Vampires right now." He smiled, which got the others to do it again and made Bey nod.

"Yes. It is a remarkable collection. I'm glad now that we didn't have to kill them all. Some will die, of course, unable to adjust to what is truly needed, but I think almost a third of them have great potential. Edom is working now to find several homes for them in the area. It will take some time, in the interim we have them refurbishing the facilities at the compound. It will be lovely when they finish."

Bey seemed so happy about it all that Zack had to smile too, even though he felt a bit uneasy about the idea of being given something like that. It would take work to keep it up after all and what would he do with it most of the time? Well, it wasn't anything official yet, so he ignored that part and waved to them as they left, trying to find the Vampire that had nearly killed him.

That was about all he really needed from them, he decided. Lazar was scary and needed to be stopped, somehow. There was no doubt in his mind that Bey could easily take him out, if he could find him. The trick there, it seemed, was in actually doing it.

Which was something Zack had no doubt he could manage. It was one of his little tricks after all, being able to use the node to find people. It was so basic an idea that he nearly felt stupid for having not mentioned it before. After work he could just collect up the others, find the evil Vampire and take Bey to him, which would end that part of the saga in about ten seconds. It was such a good idea that he tapped on the glass several times and mentioned it to Edom, who gave him a look like he was a moron.

That didn't make sense until the dark skinned man called, so they could talk like normal people.

"That would just compound the debt Zack! If you have to hunt him down... just don't do it. We'll get him soon and it will be fine. Let us do this, please. Now, do you want something from over here? I have Barb on hand and she can run it over." He gestured to the woman who was cleaning near the back left corner of the space, washing the wall with a damp cloth. There was a framed picture near the booth, which she moved to dust under, before turning to wave at him. She said something and smiled, seeming happy about it.

It got a chuckle from the man on the phone with him.

"She wants me to ask if you were looking at her butt."

"Well, I am
now
, does that count?" He really was, since she'd mentioned it. She filled out her black jeans pretty nicely that way, even being fairly thin. "I could use something though, whatever you feel like fixing would be great." He didn't want to seem greedy, but he was hungry again, since rice and vegetables didn't really do a lot for him. It was good food, and the fried stuff had helped a bit to keep him full, but there it was.

That had both a hot black haired beauty and a frosty treat presented to him about five minutes later. It was a little strange, but he noticed how good Barb smelled suddenly. Like flowers and sweetness. Her face was happy, at first, but after she handed the frozen yoghurt over, which turned to be a blended thing made from fresh chocolate chip cookies, she started to look a little more subdued.

"So... I couldn't help but notice that those flowers haven't arrived yet."

It took a few seconds for him to understand what she meant. He had kind of promised her flowers hadn't he? Maybe a movie too.

"Um, well, if you'll drive and the weather holds, we can possibly go out tomorrow? I think I can get paid again now. I'll have to find a florist. I've never gotten flowers for a girl before. Just, you know, if we have sex, you get to do all the work." He waved at his still rather battered looking form, as if trying to explain. She didn't laugh at him though, which was what he'd expected.

"Well, OK, if you're going to be all charming about it like that. After you get off work? It's Thursday, so I'll be needed at TTLA, but if we could go a little early, there should be plenty of time."

"I can see about being ready early. Let me call Hiram and see if he'll cover for me." He moved to do it right then, noticing that Edom was looking at him with a visible smile, shaking his head a little from across the way. It had a distinctly human look to the whole thing.

Hiram didn't even ask why he'd be needed to close the next night, just agreeing instantly.

"Yeah, could we... not have Jelly in for a few days? Her mom is worrying about her grades slipping. They haven't yet, but finals are coming in the next few days and I don't want her to be over stressed, I can fill in and..."

"Good point, you and I can work that out. I'll call and remind her to study and not worry about us for a bit." After all, she already was going to get her free guild membership for the year. She'd want Christmas money too though, no doubt, but grades were important too.

There was a happy sigh from the other side of the phone, "great. Thanks Zack. You know when we first met I kind of thought you were a hard ass, but you turned out to be a decent guy."

It was a little awkward then, since he didn't know what to say, so he just thanked the man for the compliment and got off the phone.

"There we go! We can meet up as soon as you're ready." They decided on six-thirty the next day, giving Barb plenty of time for her to eat first and get ready. It was her morning after all, so she needed a bit of a chance to wake up first and get cleaned up after she ate. It wouldn't do to show up with blood breath, since that was considered pretty rude for a Vampire.

The rest of the night went almost perfectly, since he felt kind of excited, having a date with a girl that he was almost certain would be willing to put out. At least if he didn't blow the whole deal utterly before then. He started to get a little aroused just thinking about it. He was so pleased that he walked the whole shop, making sure it was relatively in order. There was a loud bang from the other side of the mall, like a car accident in the top parking lot, but Edom and Barb vanished, going to take care of it, so he didn't worry about it overly. They'd come get him if he was needed, no doubt.

Moving to the back he started to turn off the lights when someone very strong grabbed him by the back of the neck. There was a bit of shaking and he was pushed forward, toward the node, an angry growl coming from behind him.

It was one of those very clear moments in live, since he knew what he was going to find when he turned around. Lazar, scar and all, standing there. He looked ragged and a bit dirty, as if he'd buried himself at some point in the last days and hadn't bothered to change clothing after. He even smelled of dirt.

When he spoke there was an arrogance about him that didn't fit with the idea that he'd been fleeing for days from people he had to know not only wanted to kill him, but
would
.

"You, little Line Walker, are going to take me far, far away from where The Bey and his friends can find me. Then I'll kill you and no one will ever know where I've gone."

Mirror Him Laughed and started to take over, ready to die first.

"Moron. He should have promised to let us go and made it seem real. We have no reason to help him now."

There was a pause though, as Zack held up his left hand, ready to let Lazar take his arm.

"No, I've got this."

It was enough to make the Vampire stop and look at him funny.

"Who are you talking too?"

"Myself. Are you
sure
you want to kill me? I can take you away and give you a head start, if you want, which will probably be more than enough. No one will want to follow you so far away they can't ever get back." It was true, but the Vampire didn't seem to be buying it.

"No, you're not getting out of this that easily." He said, actually sounding a lot more relaxed now.

"Oh, alright, had to ask. Here, take my arm and follow me then. Make sure to bend over a little at the waist, so you can go head first. It can be a little disorienting other wise."

For some reason, the moron actually did it.

It had to have been desperation coupled with panic, and an arrogance that bordered on narcissism, that got the Vampire to try it. Anyone thinking at all would have realized that the one thing no one could force Zack to do was take them through a node. Even as it was happening he was kind of amazed at the guy. Then, he hadn't exactly been advertising the part of things that he was trying now, had he?

Instead of asking the man to jump, so that he'd be carried along easily, Zack focused as hard as he could and took the easiest trip he could work out, which was the one to the back of Yoghurt World. Normally Lazar, being on the ground and so stable, would have caused him to miss the node and just walk through it. He'd done it dozens of times with different people already and almost expected it to happen this time too.

It didn't.

No, Lazar moved fast enough to keep pace with him and let his arm, head, and shoulders be passed through the node. The rest of him wasn't going fast enough, so ended up staying in the back of Candles and More a half instant later.

"Oops, decapitated you. Sorry about that.
Asshole
." It wasn't even Mirror Him that said it this time as the head and upper body of the Vamp hit the ground on the hard floor. It was kind of messy, and his right hand was still clinging to Zack's right arm. It was disgusting, but he managed to pry the bleeding thing off just as Barb and Edom walked in, looking a bit baffled.

Both of them froze, then Barb went wide eyed and ran away, coming back with weapons from the utility closet. Ed just stood and after a few seconds shook his head.

"Crud. You didn't just find him, but killed him too? This isn't going to make Bey happy. Not at all."

It was Mirror Him that spoke, his eyes looking sad and trying very hard to sound like Zack normally did. It was a little hammed up and sounded far too innocent, but it was probably about the way M.H. saw him, so Zack let it go.

"No, it wasn't like that. Poor guy... he felt so bad that he came to me and asked for my help in ending it all. He wanted me to know that he was very sorry for hurting me, and for us to tell Bey that he hopes his sacrifice will allow those little Vampires he made to be absolved of his wrong doing. It was pretty noble really. I cried a little. I'm a softy that way." The words were complete bullshit, but the others seemed to find it at least as believable as the idea that Zack had killed the Vampire on purpose without his help.

He had to go back to Candles and More with Barb to get the other half of the body and they arranged it for Bey and Lenore to see, keeping the parts well separated, since a true master Vampire might just be able to come back from a wound like that, if the parts were pressed back together fast enough. No one thought Lazar was anywhere near that level, but just in case, no one wanted to test the theory. Zack knew he certainly didn't.

They stood in silence for a long time, waiting for the others to get there. It seemed like a long time at least. When the place filled up Bey didn't seem nearly as upset as Edom had thought he would. In fact he clapped Zack on the back, proudly.

It hurt a bit.

"Friend Zack! You killed the fiend! Ah, well, I had hoped to not bother you with that part of things, but it is done and a good thing for the world. We should take his body to the lake compound and show his brood. I do like the story you're weaving about it. That he nobly sacrificed himself for the good of those he created. Perhaps it will help them all, in time? We'll tell that tale to them, about his change of heart and willingness to do the right thing in the end."

Mirror Him grunted a little and sighed at the tiny Vampire.

"Not buying it, huh? Well, it was worth a shot. Zack took him out, not me. I'm not absolutely sure that the guy
wasn't
trying really to die though. Told us that he was going to kill Zack after he took him away. It was almost like he was trying to get something like this to happen. That or to be left behind and caught by you guys. What was the banging that distracted you?"

Edom waved at the back door, explaining it to the others.

"A car was pushed into another one. It looked like a hit and run, except there were no drivers at all. It wasn't that carefully done, but it was bold enough that I didn't get it until I saw his head on the ground. Lazar must have headed straight in after doing it."

Then as if almost contrite, Lenore and Bey both helped him clean the blood off the floor of his shop, insisting on doing most of the work themselves, taking the mop, bucket and rags away with them when it was finished. They went over it all until no traces of blood were left at all, they assured him. He wasn't worried overly, since he really doubted that a forensics team would be by anytime soon looking for clues. It was nice to know for aesthetic reasons however. No one wanted to work in a pool of gore after all.

Then they left Barb in charge of the Vampire embassy, since no one was coming in as long as Bey was in town it seemed, and took the body away, driving off into the night as the snow began to gently fall. It was pretty, he realized, when he walked out into the night, still feeling like someone was going to attack him.

It could happen, he realized, but it probably wouldn't. Not that night. All the Vampires that might come for him were gone now. At least until the next moron came along and wasn't bright enough to realize he was just a store clerk.

Troy was home, since it was Wednesday and with the snow they hadn't even bothered to open TTLA. No one was coming in after all. Instead he was playing a videogame on the sofa, sharing a bowl of microwave popcorn with Calley, who seemed to be doing fairly well, killing things on the screen.

"Hah, take that with your poorly designed battlements!" She was firing heavy weapons at the weak points in a wall on the screen, which was in two parts, hers being the right hand side.

That got a low sound from Troy who lobbed a grenade as Zack waved at them, which got the game paused.

"Hey buddy! Calley called and said you told her to sleep with me first. It was just strange enough I invited her over. I made some soup earlier, I could heat you up some."

"Nah, I'm good. I ate at work. Hey, um, Keeley said that she left something here for me?" He didn't want to mention that she was a Greater Demon, specifically, since Calley might freak again. She seemed pretty sensitive on the issue.

"That hot chick that came by earlier? Yeah, I put the box on your bed. Who is she?"

"Oh, um, I have a date with her on the twentieth. Tomorrow I'm going out with Barb though. Just to a movie. Nothing major."

"Oohh! My Barb? From my work? Way to go."He turned to Calley and smiled. "Hot Vampire girl, you'll love her. You said you like girls too, didn't you?"

"Yep. It's a Bat thing. We aren't all that picky when it comes to getting people into bed." It came out sounding bad, but she didn't back away from it at all, just grinning.

"Sounds fun though. So... Zack." Her voice changed from happy and a little provocative to serious inside two words. It got both Troy and him to stare at her, waiting.

"Yes?"

"Um, Catherine, the other day... I know it was kind of rude of her, trying to push you around like that. She's a bit of a bigot. I think she honestly forgot that you weren't a regular human for a while. Some of my people are like that. They think having two forms means they're better than everyone else." Looking at the screen she took a deep breath and kept going. "
I'm
not like that, neither is Rupert. I just wanted you to know that we aren't all evil. Cyrus thinks you're the bomb, if that helps."

There wasn't a lot to say about the topic, so he didn't. Some people believed silly things and it wasn't just Shifters that did it. It was nice to hear that Calley wasn't one of them, but talking about it wasn't going to help overly.

He playfully kissed her on the cheek and pretended to be taking her off to bed as he was going, pulling gently on her arm, which got Troy to give him a dirty look. That part was mainly because she was clearly getting up to go with him.

"Hey!
Mine
... Get your own Bat girl." He grabbed her other arm, and Zack let go chuckling.

"Alright, for now. Later though I reserve the right to totally poach."

Calley thought it sounded good at least.

He headed to bed then, after doing more energy exercises and making sure he had another cup of herb mix. The deep breathing still hurt, but he didn't particularly want to die, so he needed to have that flowing and circulating energy it seemed.

The next day he managed to get the shop open before anyone else got there, his grandparents seeming happy and almost at peace, being back at work like they were. Lenore didn't come over, but she did wave to him, her face looking just a little sad for some reason. Hopefully it wasn't that there was any kind of real trouble going on. At just past noon Wu-Li came in holding a large envelope of something or other. He stopped in the door and stared at Zack with unfocused eyes, then nodded serenely.

"Very good. I'll have more tea for you soon. Keep working as you have been, but double the time you spend with your turtle breathing. This is for Evelyn Millhouse, would it be possible to get a ride to her place so I may administer it? There are rather careful instructions needed. I hope it is not too late."

So did Zack.

"Um, I don't know, if I can..." He didn't have a car, but Brad was walking from the back with the keys to his rental in hand. He also had a bag with him that he put on the front counter. It was a Christmas themed gift bag, with a picture of a Christmas tree and some little birds on it, that he pushed toward Zack.

"The gifts for everyone you wanted? So you can deliver them."

Smiling he and Wu-Li left then, and his grandmother, looking as trim and young as always, went to work on the Christmas tree, keeping it alive and healthy, even without roots, or enough light. It was a good trick really. Working with things like that always was.

Delivering the cards was kind of interesting. Most of the beings just seemed a little baffled when he walked in and started handing things out, making sure to leave one for each person in the place. He went to the top level first, which had a lot more shops than the bottom one did, many of them being truly strange places. Cool though. He decided that he'd come back to a few of them for his Christmas shopping, since he'd be able to get people things this year. There was an electronics store that had some really interesting things, and he eyed a new game console that had Troy's name all over it.

"Merry Christmas!" He'd worn a little Santa hat from the shop, and felt a little awkward at times, since some of the people clearly didn't get what he was doing at all, or who he was, for that matter. Some of them returned the greeting happily enough and a few others mumbled something that sounded like variations of season's greetings. It was fun though, over all.

The food court people got what was happening however and seemed pretty happy about it. There really were at least three different types of people there he realized, once he went from one little restaurant to the next. The Trolleikein girl Hildegard smiled at him and took an envelope for each of her people happily, opening hers before he left.

Then she... started crying, which got the others to stop what they were doing and run over, looking ready to rip his good arm off if he'd distressed their friend. She held the little card in her hand out to the oldest looking one there, a giant and muscular looking brute of a man with silver hair that covered his head, face and the backs of his hands in a way that was a bit too dense for a human.

"This is..." He just handed the paper around, which got one of the women to make a strange face and open another one of the envelopes.

She gasped.

"Are they all the same?"

Before he could defend the generic nature of the things, the others started to open their own.

"Um, yeah, you're all kind of big, but we can work out how to do it. Make sure to schedule early." He gave a little wave and left, feeling really uncomfortable. The only other place that was as bad turned out to be the plus sized women's clothing store. Passions, it was called.

The reason was a little different, since before he even got to the front counter he was tackled by a really hot girl that looked to be around seventeen or so. She kissed him on the mouth hard, licking his lip just a bit, even as he tried to step back, feeling more than a little shocked. It wasn't that he minded, as much as he didn't know what the hell was going on.

The girl stood back and called out to the others, waving to someone at the back.

"It's him! Everyone come here!" She sounded pretty excited at least, which was nice, but he still didn't get it. It took a second for him to realize that this was Kaitlyn. They hadn't met, or at least he hadn't seen her in person before, since that had been Kyle. He recognized the glasses though. Nice and nerdy looking, with heavy frames in pure black plastic. Half the people in the place were really good looking men, and all of them looked young, and as if they were ready to steal the job of a model somewhere without even trying.

Before he could do more than work the envelopes out people started to hug him, which was, frankly, bizarre. Especially since one of the guys was clearly trying to feel him up as he did it.