Other Places 2: Road Blocks (18 page)

It just wasn't going to happen.

Richard Swerlin had run as a Vampire and gotten a seat in the House of Representatives based mainly on the fact that his opponent was so creepy that the openly polygamous, obviously unbalanced man was still a better choice. He'd popped his teeth out on national television and run on a platform of trying to get the undead not to feed on the living if they were unwilling... And no one believed him at all. Or at least almost no one had.

Zack shrugged, his shoulders touching the fabric of his shirt, which was probably a bad thing to sleep in, meaning he should have changed first. He was tired though and really needed a place to lay down.

"I hate this stuff. The things like this. He's not wrong, or, well, he
is
, but it isn't his fault. Things are weird here and he's trying to find out what. He can't though and we can't tell him, because he just won't get it. He won't be placated easily either, I don't think. Not if there's unofficial stake outs going on. Do you know he tried to buy drugs from me? I get the idea, I look like a tweeker, but still, no means no, and he was really aggressive about it."
And
, Zack realized as he finally shut up, he was whining. It got him to roll his eyes.

"Sorry. I need to get some sleep. Any suggestions?"

She thought for a moment, started to speak and then shook her head.

"I nearly said my place, but then you wouldn't get much sleep at all. Let's see... The Baron Grande? It's the Massachusetts Node. They have rooms, it's an ancient hotel, if anything younger than I am counts as being antique. Which unfortunately, it does." She winked at him, and patted his shoulder gently, moving closer to him than their three or four previous meetings really should have allowed for.

"I bet they'll have something for you right now. They're on lockdown too, so business has to be a little slow."

Then she was gone, traceable only due to the collapsing rent she made in space. It formed in front of her, then faded after half a second as she moved away. He got that it wasn't physical now at least. Shaking his head he wondered again if he could do that too? Not having anything better to try he focused and made an attempt, but it felt like he was just walking to the back door normally. There was a tiny bit of a ripple behind him, when he spun to look at it however. He thought so at least. That could mean a lot of things however. Really, he might always leave that kind of thing and just now have noticed it. He walked away then, and spun again, not doing anything at all, but the only thing that happened was that he felt a little dizzy.

Blanket and pillow in his arms he tried it again, making a point of really firming up the bend in space in front of him, but not really pushing through, like he might at a Node.

Again, it rippled behind him a little, but it wasn't all that.

He smiled, and knocked on the door, hoping to be let in.

It was late, but Hiram was there, looking fresh and ready for the day, and after taking in the gear he had nodded.

"Old lady finally tossed you out for your drunken ways and all that cheating?" It had the sound of a joke, but one that could secretly be commiseration if it was needed, at a moment's notice.

"Remodeling. I'm going to a hotel, I think. I'll be back in the morning." He didn't exactly push the man out of the way, but he did brush him a bit, smiling the whole time so it wouldn't turn into some kind of manly aggression display. He really needed to get to a bed, and fast. Why he was so tired, he didn't know, but it was hitting him hard suddenly. It might have been trying to warp space outside, but that hadn't even made him breathe hard, so he doubted it. No... This was something else.

 Possibly just lack of enough rest lately?

It wasn't hard to find Massachusetts through the Node, since they only had the one nexus, and when he came out, in the lobby, using one of the lesser points, the man behind the front desk gasped.

"I... we..." He didn't seem to be clear at all, but looked at the pillow and blanket and then gave Zack a most puzzled expression, his slightly middle aged face wrinkling over the cheap, but well cared for gray of his jacket. "May I help you, sir?"

Whoever he was, the man managed to get his feet under him and become professional fast enough that it was clearly his day job. Or night job as the case may be.

"Yes, please. I'd like a room for the night? I don't know the rates..." He could put it on his card, but it would look funny if charges showed up all over the place too quickly, wouldn't it? It probably couldn't be helped, that night, since he'd used most of his cash at Denny's.

 "Oh? Very good, sir. What kind of accommodations would you be looking for? Are you entertaining, or... Do you need a place to hold a meeting?" It was very clear that the man wasn't trying to judge, but also didn't think that Zack would want to just sleep for some reason.

"Just a bed and possibly a shower. One night. It doesn't have to be fancy."

That got another confused look, but the man let him pay, which came to ninety dollars after taxes, and left the desk in the hands of a young woman who seemed incredibly nervous when she looked at him. She'd seen him come in too, but the twenty-something brunette was clearly trying to avoid eye contact. She was cute, in a glasses and slightly stringy hair way. Just a tad overweigh, but not unpleasantly so. The man seemed stiff, but took him to a very nice room that had a giant bed in it and was done in rich reds and golds.

Zack was glad he asked for the basic room. On the good side, this one had a Node in it. That seemed wrong, really, but there it was, right over in the corner.

"This is really nice. Thank you. Oh..." He didn't know if he was supposed to tip the man or not, but only had a few ones and no bags, so he got him a card instead. One with the contact info for Candles and More. "If you need anything, let me know, all right?"

After all, they had guests in, and it was a Nexus, a nice rich one too. The man didn't even look at it, just nodding without speaking and getting out of there so fast that Zack couldn't even ask about a wakeup call.

 It was hard, sleeping in a new place, but he managed after a while. Sure, it was ten when he woke up in the morning, but the time difference meant it was really only seven, so he wasn't late or anything. He showered, but put on the same clothing as the day before, and got his pillow and blanket around, rolling them together so it wouldn't look sloppy. Then he took the key, an actual metal one, back to the front desk, where the girl from the night before stood.

"Good morning!" He tried to seem awake and bright, since that was always nicer than being surly, and acting like an entitled snob, wasn't it? "Do you have a restaurant or..." He didn't know what the or would be, but the woman swallowed as if he were a mugger and pointed to the left, where there was, a good ways away, indeed a door with a rather nice sign above it. She didn't speak at all, just watching him like he was going to steal something and took his key very carefully, without letting her fingers touch him. Maybe she thought he was dirty, wearing the same clothing?

A grumpy sounding Mirror Him explained, sounding as if anyone would have realized the real issue already.

'She thinks that you're a Demon. Probably even after that guy showed her the Line Walker card. You'd think that would have her being a bit less obvious about it, but some people won't be. Don't let it get to you. You know it's not your B.O. You
should
go get some clean clothes before you bore me with another day of candle shop work.'

It was strange, but Zack remembered a time, not all that long before, when MH had kind of insisted he go and get a job. Now it was all whining about being bored?
That
was balanced, wasn't it?

There was no answer to that, just silence and a sense of brooding for some reason. He couldn't tell why, but it was way more about something different, and not being bored at all. Something about being called a Demon?

The restaurant had food and it was pretty good, but not that filling. The servers were all attentive enough, and tried to leave everything to one younger man who was literally shaking with fear. In the end Zack tipped him, on his card, going to twenty-five percent, mainly because he felt bad for the man, rather than anything else. The black haired fellow was clean and hadn't seemed like he could work up enough spit to put it in his food, but he was still more than a little hungry.

Instead he asked the woman at the desk if he could use a Node, which had her freaking about five seconds later, but she ran down the hallway with a key in her hand, which he took as a sign that he might want to follow. The room she took him to was small for a Node space, but was able to get him to Candles and More, from where he went outside, after tiredly waving at Hiram. A quick change and the realization that they had nothing to eat, got him back to the shop about ten minutes later, ready for the day.

In fact he was early enough that he got himself over to Lenore's across the way, and managed to smile before speaking.

"Zack. How are you doing?" She didn't seem worried, and was alone already, which meant that things might be calmer than he'd thought, if it wasn't felt that she needed the backup."

"Not horrible. I could use a bite to eat though? And, if possible a PR department to explain to people that 'Line Walker' isn't my fancy Demon name, just something I get called now and then?" He explained the renovations and the hotel stay, which got her to nod along, as if it all simply made sense to her.

"Well... It's about half and half, right now. The people that know you at least believe that you're a good being, no matter what you are, but many do think that you might well be a Greater Demon. The problem there is that everyone knows that if they attack you, they'll face about half of the various groups right now over it. No one wants to risk it. You're too well liked." She handed over a concoction that had half a dozen prepackaged honey buns, sitting alongside real yoghurt, sweetened with honey and dried fruit. Cherries today. It was fantastic of course. Everything she made was good, he realized.

"Thanks." He pointed with his spoon and ate for a long time, until it was all gone. The worst of the hunger was gone at least, so even if he felt amazed, it was a good thing. It was a lot of food, compared to the amounts he'd been able to eat after nearly starving.

Lenore smiled at him and then patted the back of his hand gently.

"Never a problem. Now, I hear that the Ettarians were planning to keep almost everyone out of the talks? That seems unwise, doesn't it?" She let her voice go low and slightly vicious, but didn't go red eyed yet.

"Or, I guess they were really just not thinking anyone would be
able
to come. It's a nice enough place. I'll take Hildegard later and we'll make sure they're holding to their schedule. I don't think they really meant it as a slight. Then again, I don't know why anyone thought it was a great idea holding it all the way over there? It's almost like someone wanted everyone to have
me
take them all." He meant it as a throwaway line, but Lenore let her brow furrow and then, slowly, nodded.

"It... rather does, doesn't it? I think perhaps you need to make an effort to speak to Miss Thomson and your other... Less than savory friends." She wrinkled her nose and held up her hand in a move that seemed too forced to be happenstance. "And yes, I get the irony of a Vampire calling anyone unsavory. Still, it might be a good time to see if anyone knows anything. Go carefully, Zack. This is almost certainly a trap, and if Greater Demons are involved, I doubt that anything you do will truly save you from it, without similar aid."

The problem with that, of course, went without saying at all. If he asked for help from Keeley and her friends, it would place him in their debt, which was just about the worst place that he could be. On the other hand, the only people that could have set something like that up, or would bother, would probably be Greater Demons right?

That left him wondering why, or if he was just making things up and sending Lenore into a crazy person cycle along with him? It was possible, and he'd seen feedback groups happen before. Cliques of people thinking the same, but obviously wrong things, and reinforcing it for each other, so they always
felt
right. They didn't know they were doing it either, for the most part.

He almost hoped that was the case here, but didn't know if it really was. Heading back to the candle shop, sitting in the front, he called Keeley, not even thinking about it being too early in the day for her. She was probably sitting in her first class at school and everything, if he had the timing right on that sort of thing, which he probably didn't.

"Hello, Zack." She almost always asked what she could do for him, but he heard a bell ring, and knew what that meant from televisions shows. Class was starting.

"Could you call me back when you get a chance? I have some things to discuss."

"Right, talk to you later." She clicked off so fast it was clear that someone had been glaring at her over it.

Hopefully they didn't try to take her phone away. He was really curious after all.

Keeley
didn't
call back right away, so he ended up actually going to the Ettarian lands again, to make certain they had something set up. They had a shuttle to take them from the Node to the conference center, which was a nice place, in a strange and slightly extruded looking way. The rooms he and Hilde were shown to weren't huge, but they had enough for three hundred people already, without sharing, and large spaces for people to hold the meetings in, now that they knew it was a real thing and not just some kind of joke or whatever it was that they'd been working on before.

The interesting thing was that the tall woman from the day before was nowhere to be found at all, which seemed strange to Zack. He'd thought she was a dignitary in her own right, or at least in charge of the facilities. Instead they got a young man that knew how to get in touch with people, using telepathy. He didn't speak English, but knew enough to send the information directly to Zack's head, so they were able to pass information clearly enough. It was mainly about practical things, like special diets, sleeping arrangements and translators, since they couldn't communicate with most of the races directly.

'We'll need those brought in, I fear.'

Which meant more work for Zack, but he did get them to agree to cover at least room and board for the people that would be coming in. It seemed like a logistical nightmare to him, but Hildegard understood and patted his back gently.

"We'll simply contract some Hireesie. They're conversant in all the languages, I think. It's their nature." That got the young tall man to nod, when he translated, and they found a woman who was working on the room construction, making desks and chairs for the delegates or whatever they were calling the attendees, to show him how to find them. They didn't have a Node, exactly, just a single weak spot that allowed them to moved into and out of the Reynard lands. Those beings looked normal enough to Zack, and seemed to speak French, but had a Node and were, he hoped, willing to let him use it. They didn't have a large group of people there, not being considered a very important group by anyone, tending to stay to themselves and not trade a lot with outsiders.

A short six hours later, he was back at Candles and More, having opened negotiations with the Hireesie, who really did all speak his language and after a few moments in which they seemed to be
learning
it, all did it better than he did as well. They were a birdlike people, ones that looked far too different to be at Westfield, but were actually kind of pretty, having large round eyes and bright feathers on their heads that stuck nearly straight up, for all that they looked like thin and pale Humans otherwise.

The Reynard were the actual sticking point, since they didn't want anything, but weren't wild about just letting people come and go as they pleased either. It turned out that they had loose ties to the Shifters, so Zack headed to their Embassy personally, to try and see about getting some help. That...

Got him yelled at by Catherine Peterson. The bitchy Ambassador.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?
Who
the hell do you think you are? The Reynard took us nearly two
centuries
to open up as a contact. They don't like outsiders and hate Humans! Are you trying to sabotage us? Why do you want to do that? You've done nothing but work against me personally since you got here!"

That at least had the rest of her own staff either slinking away so they didn't have to see the scene, or rolling their eyes. After all, Zack was working
against
the Shifters? They'd barely crossed paths really and when they had, he'd gone out of his way not to make anyone to mad at him, hadn't he? She was still talking, but it was all just a load of garbage that she'd been imagining about him.

"You... what, just because I haven't offered you my ass, my entire people aren't good enough for you? You one forms are all the same! You can't be at the top, so you try to tear down the ones that are."

Zack looked at her, but didn't have an expression for this. He tried to review and find something, a frown, or perhaps an angry look? That didn't seem right. Pity was closest, he decided, but couldn't remember what that was supposed to be like at the moment. A short five minutes later, after she stopped talking, with him just staring at her, blankly, he blinked.

Really, she'd given him so much ammunition that even Zack, who normally wasn't able to use comebacks, since they all had to be true, had a good dozen of them ready to go. If it had been MH in charge at the moment, he could have reamed the woman and done it without ever addressing more than what she'd said personally. As it stood he decided that it wasn't worth it at all and looked at Rupert, who was standing behind the woman, the giant man with his large brown beard looking like there was going to be a physical altercation, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it at all.

Zack gave him a single nod.

"So... I take it that's a no?" Then he just left. He didn't want to be rude, but everything else he could think of would be worse, and he had work to get to. The translators were needed first, or at least before the meetings, but people were going to be heading out later that
day
. In fact, when he got to the shop again, Hildegard was already there, waiting by the Node, with Lisa holding a list and gesturing to people.

"Leader D'ast'arg. You and your people will be first, followed by Cless and Mobes..." She had ten groups ready to go, and nearly forty people standing there. He counted, and there were actually forty three, plus baggage. This was just the first group too.

He walked through the Node alone first, to let the Ettarians get ready, which they nearly were, though the shuttle wasn't there yet. It was a nice vehicle, a thing that slid on a track that had very low friction, instead of a road, so it was quick enough.

Now at least the tall blonde, Ulsan, was around, dressed in all white, with loose trousers and a tunic that made her thin body look shapeless, compared to what she'd had on the day before. He just waved and thought at her.

'Incoming.' She got the idea and nodded, folding her hands in front of her, and standing by two gentlemen that were both pushing seven feet high. They were dressed the same, except that one had a blue belt on, showing that he had style. The man clearly understood the thought and smiled about it as Zack turned to start things going.

It did
not
go smoothly. Hilde did her job, but while the people there had said they were willing to be touched by her, they hadn't all realized that meant being picked up like a teddy bear and carried. No one thought that she meant them harm, or smelled bad, or anything that crass, they were just afraid that she might crush them. That or their luggage would be delivered to the wrong place. It was a bit insulting really, but Zack just smiled, being glad that only about half of them spoke the same language that he did.

 In the end it meant that an hour's worth of slightly plodding and easy work turned into nearly three of frustration and a desire to leave people in the Arctic. Even Hildegard, sweetie that she was, growled at two of them and seemed cranky by the end.

Worse, by the time that was over, the evening group had shown up.

Lisa smiled, as if they were the nice ones too.

"The ones that are a bit more comfortable with a Vampire aiding them. I did explain that the porter, Barbara, would be picking them up physically, several times. No one seems worried. About that. They're all Vampires however and are requesting that Humans be brought in for... snacks." She did not seem thrilled to be delivering the information at all. Zack didn't glare, but left everyone standing there, to go and talk to Lenore, who wasn't in her shop. It was Edom instead, and while he was wearing his little white apron, it was over a modern and very expensive business suit.

On the good side he already knew what was going on.

He spread his hands slowly.

"Can you take them some of the new blend? That's not bad and it might at least tide them over. I don't know what to do on the other end."

He sighed.

"Right. Get with Rebekah and see if she'll ear mark some for us? I'll try to make certain it reaches the right place. Do you have some here? For sampling?"

It took fifteen minutes to set up, but the Vampires, all of whom were old and crusty, no matter how young they looked, and not the well balanced kind that were on the council, managed to tolerate being fed from paper cups.

There was grumbling, but Zack spread his hands and looked from one of them to the next, his eyes going cold, since he was supposed to be done by seven and wasn't going to be at this rate. Not at all.

"The situation on the ground is delicate, ladies and gentlemen. You may not like getting blood from a bottle, but we don't have people for you to feed from and doing that at this particular meeting will probably start a wasteful and unneeded conflict. So, how about this; you can all drink the stuff I get for you, or I'll take the bottles and..." Really, what he wanted to do was claim that he'd shove them up their tight Vampire asses for them, but that wasn't going to happen. Instead he modified it. "And leave them here for someone that
likes
to eat. This is taking a lot more work than I thought it would, and I'm getting annoyed. It's not really your fault, but working with us on this would be
so
nice right now."

Surprisingly, that worked and the grumbling stopped, which let him get them all into place, even if it did mean being felt up by a Vampire girl. No one complained this time, so the extra explanation seemed to help. That, or they just weren't worried that Barb could crush them.

After that he had to go to Arizona and pick up coolers packed with ice and blood, which meant walking about ten miles in all, along with Barb, carrying the things. They had seven of them and would need more, since the Vampires were trying to stack the rooms with their own people, so they wouldn't be outnumbered too badly if it came to a fight. No one said that exactly, but it was so obvious that even Zack could see it.

On the last trip, being playful like she was, Barb grinned and started to rush ahead.

"Race you! Last one to the shortcut is a rotten egg!" The words marked her as being older than he was by a good twenty years, but the truth was more than that. He shook his head, then shrugged, trying to bend space like he had the night before.
If
he had. It was clear, once he was doing it, Barb was too, and that the harder she pushed, the bigger the warp in front of her got. Or at least the further away from her body it pushed. He copied that, just walking quickly, which was really all she was doing. He'd always thought of it as running, but it looked different now. She was ahead of him and not watching, but when she stopped, a bit short of the transit point, he did too, which got her to jump.

"Holy crap!" She wasn't breathing hard and he was a bit, but she still seemed a bit impressed, if he could judge such things. "How the hell did you do that? I mean, I'm not exactly the fastest Vampire girl ever, but you
matched
me..."

It was actually too hard to explain, since to her way of thinking she probably just moved, not realizing how it was done. Trying to go into it would just be too much work. He was starving, and his stomach growled at him fiercely.

He
had
missed dinner, which could explain it.

"Here, I need to get some food and see if I get my own bed tonight or if it's back to the hotel." He took her arm and shocked at his speed or not, she made the hop perfectly, having done it so many times now. He watched it, and saw just the tiniest extension of space around her when she did it too. Once he knew to look for it, it all made perfect sense.

They weren't done of course, because they still had to make seven trips to the Ettarian lands, where a man was standing by to get the blood around for rapid delivery. Zack thanked him, telepathically, which got the man to smile and nod, then call for help to get things in place fast enough for the Vampire's liking.

Then...

He headed to the food court and made a total pig of himself, eating three full trays of things. It was insane and he should have popped, but he just had to. It was probably a mental thing. Controlling his stress through eating.

'You gotta watch that, or you'll get fat. Not that a bit of weight would hurt for
now
, but you don't stay twenty-two forever.' MH didn't tell him to stop even with that warning, until people started watching him do it. Then he suggested they move along and at least diversify where they were doing it.

It wasn't totally lost on Zack that Keeley hadn't been around all day, or even called back. Sure, she
could
just be busy, or worried that he was going to confess his undying love for her, or angle for that three-way with her and that hot redhead that was way too young for him, but he really doubted it was that. Perhaps the busy part? The rest was stupid of him to suspect. As far as he knew, she didn't make mistakes that big, and while she was hot, she wasn't really his type, being all...
Demony
.

So he was a little bit shocked to find her standing outside the back door of the Mall, leaning against the building when he came out at ten.