Other Places 2: Road Blocks (13 page)

Finally he just said that, getting narrowed eyes and a few nods from Bey.

"I concur, Mr. Hartley. Perhaps if our friends tell us what their issues here are, we might remedy the situation?"

No one was willing to speak on the other side, so Lenore moved so that she was off to the side, not behind them any longer and straightened her white apron. It was clear that things had already gotten slightly physical already.

"Merely flaring tempers. It isn't easy to bear the sting of name calling and bigotry, and they were simply letting it be known that they did not appreciate the local Shifter community burning down their domiciles. They might not have been grand palaces, but a person's home is sacred, none the less."

The angry looking people nodded at least and one was brave enough to speak then, if in a deferential tone. After all, no one screwed with The Bey. In fact they stood with down cast eyes, not even looking at the tiny man.

"We could smell the scent of them all over the place, and they worked as a team. It's pretty clear that they wanted us dead, from what they shouted. If they'd done it an hour earlier, none of us would have been up, but luckily Devon is an early riser and managed to pull the rest of us to safety." The man in front who was speaking gestured to the back, where an average looking Vampire that looked about thirty-five stood. He was pale and had dark hair, but was different than the others. More like Jonas, lacking fangs, it seemed.

That got Bey to go very still, and for once, Zack to feel like he might be able to do something about the situation.

"Right, first, let's call and check with the Shifter Ambassador, or better, her second in command." He looked at the arrayed people and shrugged a single time. "There's a reason for that. The Ambassador is bigoted against Humans at least, but that might translate to anyone not able to change shape. Calley, her second, is open minded and a decent person. That's probably the option that will have less screaming, over all." In his opinion at least.

Lenore went to the phone, either to call in take out for everyone, or do that, and Edom moved into place on the other side of Bey. Still ready to fight, if he had to.

It made it look like they had a wall of death. Except for the one obvious weak spot in it, which was him. He sighed and gestured to the booths.

"Do you all have someplace to stay tomorrow?" Their houses had been burnt and it turned out that, while they didn't live together, they did have places in a small clutch, or had. So they'd all been neighbors. It meant that they didn't have a lot of other people to fall back on at a moment's notice or anything.

One of the women glared at him as if that might just be his fault, but didn't scream or anything, resting her butt in one of the orange vinyl seats and looking mean for a while instead. The others followed along then, but it was pretty clear they were at loose ends. Zack wasn't about to invite them to his place either. Not worked up like they were.

Instead he looked at Bey and shrugged, hoping it would look better than he imagined it did.

"Uh, Bey, are the baby Vamps still at that summer camp? They were fixing it up, right?"

That actually got a bit of clapping, the tiny man smiling fiercely as if it were the world's most brilliant idea ever, and anyone saying different was about to have their head shoved through the back wall. Given the way the man liked to do that normally, it would probably be in the form of a bloody mist at the time, too.

"I do not know, but it was being readied for your summer vacationing enjoyment. Are you suggesting that these people be allowed to use it, while this is settled?" The Vampire elder looked at him, as if
very
pleased, but didn't add anything else too it.

"If we can? If not, I don't know, we can rent a place, or maybe two, can't we? That doesn't get anything for them tonight. Or get them to work, if they have jobs they need to see about. It might not be perfect, but..."

That started a conversation at least, and something funny came out almost instantly, which was that the angry and dispossessed Vampires hadn't really expected their own people to help them that much. Fires happened, and so did wars. You were supposed to deal. They'd mainly come to try and get support for killing some random Shifters, in retaliation.

Zack shook his head to that, when the angry woman said it in a low and menacing voice.

"Not right before the meeting on this, you won't. Not random either. If you can't find the guilty, then it isn't justice, just creating more problems. You said you knew what they smelled like? Can you tell the difference between full scents and say, an old t-shirt that they'd been wearing being rubbed over some wood?" He really didn't know, since the limit of his scent of smell was the occasional flower and half microwaved hot pockets.

Bey nodded however.

"That won't be at issue. If they say the individuals were there, and are not lying, then they were. There are ways to fake that, but most involve actually tricking a person into doing the act you desire done. It is a very good sign, actually."

For some reason what they were talking about actually got everyone to calm down a lot, even though some Human dude was telling them that they weren't allowed to go on a killing spree. It was funny, but Mirror Him was kind of on
their
side in the whole thing, and made a point of letting Zack know that.

'If it were our house, I'd be all over the mother fuckers that did it. No reprieve, no saying they were sorry, just dead. I keep all your cool stuff there, you know what I mean?' He sounded deadly serious about it, even if they didn't
have
any really cool stuff. Well, other than the new furniture that Lenore had gotten him.

Still, Calley came over, and they all acted no more than aggrieved. She offered to send out some investigators, Shifters with keen noses, to check it all out, but it was clear that they didn't really expect to get an honest hearing that way. Even Edom and Lenore looked away, as if it were silly to mention.

Bey however clapped once.

"Excellent, Miss Hale. Please see to that this night, before the scents fade. You have my word that no one will molest your people while they work. I shall go myself, to ensure that, as will these homeowners. We seek a peaceful resolution to this, and will not allow any innocent beings to be blamed or harmed in the matter." It was a bit political sounding for him, but it worked well enough to have some large vans brought out and people called in for the task from Calley's side of things.

 The only problem there was that everyone expected Zack to go along too. Because he might be needed to keep the peace.

Mirror Him nearly growled at the Vampire woman that suggested it first.

"Like
that
makes any sense? Listen lady, I don't know what you expect me to do, but this is your problem. You've got
Bey
with you, do you really need a little Human to hold your widdle hands for you? Seriously?" For him it was nearly a polite speech, though the Vampire that had spoke, the angriest looking one, jumped to her feet, right hand clenched in a fist.

She didn't swing, so Zack, who had control of his body again suddenly, merely moved into the gap in space that was caused by all the other bodies and the handy tables and booths. When she did lash out, a few seconds later, all he had to do was shift to the left a bit and then rotate his upper body while his legs were steady on the ground. She tried to hit him about fifteen times, and he never truly moved out of range, he was just never where she was striking.

After about five seconds she humphed and sat back down again.

"You claimed us, so it
is
your problem." The certainty she showed about that fact was so great that Zack nearly wondered if he'd accidently asked her to marry him. If so, given that there were five in the crowd in front of him, he might be in for some interesting dating in the near future.

Edom chuckled a bit from the far side of Bey and handled it for him though, since the black Vampire was, obviously, great. One of his favorite people really, come to think of it.

"
Bull
. He's making arrangements for you, yes, but I totally missed the part where he held you down and mounted you, then tossed you crying and broken into the corner. Stop trying to be a gold digger and go get in the van, or I'll call in some favors and have you left outside all day tomorrow." He smiled though, his white teeth gleaming above his charcoal gray suit jacket. "The same, of course, goes for the rest of you. Of course I don't want you to think that it's lost on me that none of you were making the same claims."

They all nodded except the angry woman in front who made a face and shrugged, actually smiling, if miserably.

"Can't blame a girl for trying."

Except of course, no one cared what she had to say at the moment. Bey in fact waited for the vehicles to get there, and then held back, along with Lenore, to see what Zack wanted done about her false claims of being... claimed.

"We can kill her if you like? Or of course, you can do it?" The little man was so serious that it sounded like he was insisting, until he smiled and laughed a little. "Ah, friend Zachary, you are too gentle by far for the young of my people. I shall speak to her and she shall apologize to you. Or if you wish we can simply drop the matter? Most would have actually raped her and claimed her as a slave in truth for daring to even say such, but she is lucky that way, I think?"

He blinked and shook his head a little, but didn't let himself go wide eyed. After all, the idea that Vampire culture had some things in it that were darker than he'd been made aware of so far didn't actually shock him, did it? They kept hinting at it, after all. They'd flat out offered to give him servants and slaves, and from the sound of it they meant for the rest of his life, which would kind of undo that whole thing Lincoln did, wouldn't it?

 Shrugging, his boney shoulders pressing against the inside of his Wal-Mart button up shirt, he sighed.

"We'll write this off to her being worked up at the moment and not blame her for it? Her house did just burn down after all, and I guess that trying to get a position with a rich person isn't that bad of an idea." He froze for a bit then, and tried to count things up in his head. "Wow. I just realized, I'm
rich
. Keeley's been handling most of that for me, so I hadn't really thought of it before. I mean, I have a card for it, but there are millions of dollars in the accounts."

Both Bey and Lenore seemed less than impressed by the proclamation, though Lenore explained that to him at least, getting that he wouldn't know what that lack of response
meant
from them, since she was actually trying to be his girlfriend and all.

"It's the major problem that we're having with you, Zack. You live simply and don't seek anything in particular, which are good traits, but it makes it hard to pay you. Then you come and stand in front of a bunch of upset Vampires, not all of them young, and drive them back for me, and seek only to help remedy their problems. If you were a Vampire we'd be considering you for the Council I think. We have almost nothing else to do with you."

That got a gentle chuckle from Bey as well.

"Indeed, friend Zachary. As it stands, Marisa has offered to come and play body servant to you in an attempt to repay our debts. That is no small thing for one of our leaders."

He nodded, but didn't respond, since, while a fine looking lady, Marisa was a man, and Zack didn't really want to know what being a "body servant" entailed, he didn't think. So he opted for smiling and moving on to a different topic.

"Is there a way of getting some properties then? I mean, I don't know how to do that, not quickly. I can pay for it, but... we need to put them somewhere." It sounded lame and weak, but Bey simply nodded, and left. Lenore actually touched his arm gently.

"Zack, be careful. This is kind of you, helping those in need, but we can only take so much debt. If it becomes too great with no way to repay it, the elders will do nothing but worry about it all the time and probably camp out on your doorstep, trying to give you presents." She smiled sweetly and turned away a little, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "You don't want that. I'm nearly positive of it."

He nodded, since it would ruin the quiet of his neighborhood, all those people hanging about. Plus it would make it look like he lived in a drug den and that wouldn't do at all.

Giving her a smile, he turned and left, knowing that he should have given her a hug first. He went back and did it, since that was kind of what having a girlfriend meant, wasn't it?

There was no one at his house except a famous actress, who was busily reading a science fiction novel that he'd gotten a long time ago and re-read several times himself. It was famous too, and had been made into movies a couple of times he thought, but was a bit dry, when you actually read it.

It was the desert theme he supposed.

Judy marked her place with a slip of paper and stood up from the old and well worn sofa as soon as he walked in.

"Hey sweetie! Take your shoes off, I'll get you a drink." She actually went to the kitchen, so he did it, glad that he had new socks on, leaving his tennis shoes by the door.

What she came back with was a glass of Sunny Delight, not anything alcoholic, which was good, since he didn't drink. He really didn't need to, since reality was screwed up enough for him as it was. The very nice looking and athletic blonde woman wasn't even teasing about it, just handing it over as he sat on the other side of the sofa, where a Vampire's head had once rested.

Separated from his body, at the time.

"So, how was your day?" She said it like she meant it, but also like she was practicing to be a nineteen-fifties housewife. If so, she'd totally missed having dinner on the table. Zack didn't mention it, since she was being friendly and was probably bored, having been left alone for hours.

"Not too bad. I have a lot of new work coming in suddenly, taking people to the big meeting about not having a war. It seems over done to me, but apparently everyone just deciding
not to
is too much to ask. I guess I'll have to take the Alede leader, or whoever, too. I'll let you handle setting that up? You can tell them that you called in a personal favor or whatever, so I won't look like I'm going back on my word not to help them." Fixing her with a solid look, he took a sip of the fake orange beverage and let his eyes close. It was good. For a long time all he'd had was water, so everything was still excellent to him.

She waited for him to finish the drink and took his glass, setting it on the carpet a few feet from them and pulling his legs around for some reason. It was, he realized, so that she could rub his feet. She did it through the socks, but he kind of wished she wouldn't since they'd been trapped in his shoes all day and couldn't be that clean anymore. It
did
feel good. Enough that he melted a little inside.

"Or, you could just tell Charisa that she can walk. She tried to have my granddaughter
executed
. Don't tell Kaitlyn this, but it had
nothing
to do with her, and everything to do with that bitch being jealous of my success. She tried it, back in the seventies, and ended up a small time porn star. It burns her up that I'm making this really work. Going after my family is too much. I could respect a bit of sabotage, but that? It's an invitation to take things to a level that my kind seldom does." She pushed a little harder on the ball of his foot, not paying attention, until he tried to pull away in pain.

That got him to think about things and finally shake his head.

"No, I can't risk leaving anyone out. Why don't you use this to... I don't know, get back at her? I have no clue how to do that kind of thing, short of assassination, but you might know what would get to her. You don't get long to work it out, but we can schedule her for the last day, going in?" That was actually his
idea
, making her go last, but Judy sat up and went to the phone, smiling at him as if he were wonderful, so she clearly had some other idea in mind.

That meant he could wander to the kitchen and start making something to eat. He didn't know what Judy might want, but if it was more advanced than Mac and Cheese or a T.V. dinner, they were going to have to get take out. That he could actually do that now was a shock to him, all over again. In fact he'd immediately gone to the Raman cupboard to look for something to eat. They had it, since the first thing he'd gotten nearly was six cases of the stuff, just in case the cash ran out. Zack had learned not to take things for granted, he thought. That was the plan at least. Always be prepared.

He ended up being a little more adventurous than Mac and Cheese, adding browned beef to a box of the stuff with an actual cheese sauce packet. Zack had already eaten, but was starving again and it was clear he needed more. That, and to do his energy exercises, which he'd been neglecting. He did it at the stove, and was just adding it all together when Judy walked in, her eyes bright and face looking like it was Christmas morning.

"All taken care of. She even had to thank me for getting her a good spot, without waiting there for three days first. So not only do we get to take out revenge on her, or at least start, but she won't know what hit her." There was a brief pause and then she steepled her fingers in front of herself dramatically. "Mwa-ha-ha!"

Nodding he gestured to the beefaroni and saw her shake her head, meaning he could have as much as he wanted, since Troy wasn't around and he didn't think that Bey, when he got in, would be eating food. For some reason that did remind him to pick up Rebekah first thing in the morning, which would be a good time to ask about some deliveries of her product to his place.

Judy seemed happy, and sat to watch him eat, her youthful face smooth, and while less than perfect, it was about right for her chosen profession.

It made him think.

"Hey," He made sure to swallow before talking, since his grandmother would have to call and scold him otherwise, knowing that he'd done it with her secret grandma magic. "You aren't as good looking as the other Alede. How does that work?" The second the words where out he realized that tact might have been a good plan, but she actually smiled about it, not taking offense.

"We all have a good looking form and one that's less so. You know that we can switch genders?" She looked at him as if it would freak him out or something, her face going blank.

"I've seen that. It messed me up more than a bit when I was looking for Kaitlyn, because I kept finding Kyle instead. I didn't really notice a big difference in looks, between them. I mean, different, but Kyle is about the same as Kaitlyn that way..."

"Not really. Kyle is... Oh, let's call him a solid eight point five. Kaitlyn is a ten. You probably just didn't notice because she hides her looks in her natural form. She was born a girl, not that it matters really. We all just pick whatever suits us and run with it. Some trade off every ten years or so just to keep things interesting." She waved a bit and then smiled. "So Joe, my male form, is
hot
. Actually so good looking that I can't take him out for the movie industry. Too many men would be attracted to him and think that meant
he
was gay. You know how that goes."

The funny thing was that he did, if not first hand. It was a thing that guys did. Not
him
, since he didn't have issues that way, but a lot of them did it.

"Neat. So, why don't the Shifters think of you as awesome all the time? Their supremacists keep going on about how two forms are better than one, and people you want to have sex with
have
to catch the attention..."

He was trying to joke, but it was actually a point of real political stuff, according to Judy.

"Well, they do, really. Not as much as those that can turn into an animal, but it's certainly there. We're kind of second or third on their list of who's worth listening to. The Vampires are about seventh or eighth, since tossing small cars around gets the attention, then it's almost everyone else and finally regular Humans. They've had some issues there in the past, so aren't fans."

He practically shoveled the beef and cheese dish into his mouth, using his napkin only because of childhood training. It was a bit insane, but he was
still
just starving for some reason and couldn't get full. Judy, being a good guest, pretended not to notice.

"This current thing is a mess, of course. Everyone keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the next attack or a declaration of war from some fringe group that sends us all into a tizzy. I know it will be hard for you to get, but for the most part, our wars are both big and small at the same time, when they happen, which is rarely." She waved her hands in the air, as if trying to show points on a map that didn't exist. "We have people spread all over the place, and some of the groups, like Vampires, don't have their own homeland. The Alede either. We mainly claim New Zealand, which is why the women there have sex more often than anywhere else in the world on average, but don't tell anyone. So if a big fight breaks out, it's mainly local, since we can't really travel around quickly. Here it would basically mean that the Vampires and Shifters would fight things out, and whoever the Trolleinkein and Kobolds side with would win, most likely. No one else has the numbers to make that big of a difference. Well, the Mages, but they don't do well in war."

She didn't explain that one at all. Instead she waved at the kitchen, her eyes lighting up.

"Have you thought about remodeling? This isn't a bad space really. Add some larger windows, maybe marble countertops and a hardwood floor?"

Zack nearly cried poor, then remembered he wasn't, and shook his head anyway.

"I don't own it. The landlord might frown on all that."

She laughed, covering her mouth delicately and then making a funny face at him.

"OK, first, make an offer on the place, I bet that he'll sell. Second... No, he wouldn't. If you added a hundred thousand to the property value, he'd be wild about the idea, not whining about it. At least until he had to pay the taxes on the place." That got her to grab a pad and pen from her own gear, which was in his bedroom and start planning a full scale remodeling project.

Zack looked at her for a bit, then shrugged.

"The basement too? Bey is going to be staying there when he's in town..."

She clearly had no idea who that was, other than an old Vampire, but was excited to have something to do. That was just good sense, because they still didn't have cable, or even a nice television to watch, or the internet. Zack had been so busy that he hadn't thought about it and Troy, for all that he was interested in that kind of thing, wasn't exactly holding the keys to Zack's bank account or anything.

That meant he walked around with her and took notes for a while, and then sat while she made phone calls, getting workmen set up for the next day. He had a checkbook around somewhere, in his room, that Keeley had given him, so it should work out well enough, even if it did cost lots of money. Judy didn't ask what he was willing to spend on the whole thing, but he figured that it wouldn't break him totally and that was good enough. He was putting his foot down if she tried for diamond encrusted anything. Especially in the bathroom. He wasn't a rap star after all.

He did get the bed that night, and she didn't complain that Troy was out working until the wee hours of the morning, though he was there and playing a video game when Zack got up, as well as eating pancakes.

He took a big bite and paused the game, which seemed to be a new one and pointed at it. "Assassin's Pride. Kevin from the club lent it to me. You know, the bouncer? I have to hit the hay soon, but your new friend made me breakfast. She's awesome by the way... Um," He pushed the plate away and looked a bit guilty, but kept looking directly at Zack anyway. "I've... kind of been sleeping with her. I mean, she volunteered, just like, you know, climbing into bed with me and whoever was there and she's... a bit freaky. In a good way, but..." Troy's slightly dusky face was a bit red underneath, which meant he was clearly embarrassed by the idea that he was poaching that obviously from Zack. It was a good sign, even if taking three days to ask about it probably wasn't.

"She's an Alede. A succubus? They drink sex energy. I mean, only after you've used it, so it isn't that big of a deal, but that's the reason there. Really you should probably do it with her before you go to sleep, since I don't know that she's had anything today." He shrugged and looked at the kitchen, knowing that Judy would know he was talking about her. "Also, she's a famous actress, so don't let anyone know that she's here. If the tabloids find out she'll have to leave, I think. Then I won't get any pancakes unless I make them myself." That would be a sad, sad thing too, since his didn't look half as good.

As if knowing what he really wanted from her, the lady herself walked out with a large plate of the things, six high and the size of Zack's face, smothered with butter and syrup.

"Here you go!" She handed it to him, to eat in the living room, and then winked happily at Troy. "I agree on the sex idea, if you get some time? It's the best way to start the day!"

That got Troy to hurry with his own eating, since, for some odd reason, a hot actress wanting to bang you seemed to get a man's attention. The odd thing there was that, while Zack
did
think she was pretty and nice, and knew that his girlfriend was just assuming that he was sleeping with Judy anyway... He really didn't want her. He did want sex however, which was
confusing
. It wasn't some little thing either.

If Kaitlyn had been around, he would have done her right then and there for instance, or Barb. Even Nikki or Hildegard would be nice, he decided. But not the good looking actress?

Mirror Him chimed in then, his voice a bit playful instead of biting.