On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (24 page)

The other Vampire looked at her blankly.

“You owe me
nothing
. Not for this.” Soft and velvety,
her voice commanded everyone's attention. “He raped your
mind
. I know it
happens in Vampire culture and that it can be ordered by the Mages' leadership
in certain cases, but
he
didn't go through channels, and you hadn't
wronged him or anyone else he knew. He took you and used you how he wished and
didn't let you go. If Mr. Hartley hadn't found out about it and saved you, he'd
be using you still. That you were willing to stop at what little we did amazed
me. I would have killed him for you if you wanted, even if it meant my death. I
still would, except that now it would probably start a war.” She stopped and
looked down.

Nikki quickly hugged the other woman and let go almost
immediately, without saying anything.

Blaine looked up and smiled, painlessly or so it seemed.

“Good to know. Note to self: Make friends with Troy.”

Don looked at both women and told them that he'd help however
he could, which got everyone else to nod. Britney had moved next to Don and
Kate, sitting between them, a hand on each in what to any Alede would be a clear
sign of ownership of them both, or at least calling dibs, Kate realized. Blaine
didn't say anything about it though, but looked at his sister a bit forlornly.

Nikki looked at Don hard then and asked what they owed him
for his services.

“We're not rich or powerful and kind of in hiding, but we'll
pay what you ask, if we can.” She didn't look at Don though, she had turned to
Kate, since Claire had put her in charge, she understood. Vampire politics.

Oh, yay, she thought.

“OK. Well, just with the current grouping here, I think that
Don's going to need a lot of sex soon, probably within a few days. Britney and
I can do a
lot
of that, obviously, but Nikki, if you could play back up?
Really we need a fourth too, if it's as bad as it is with Zack, but we can hold
out that way for a while, if that's all right with you Nik?” The Vampire looked
at Don closely and saw him blush and look away. She nodded, giving the back of
his head a smile.

“As for you Rebeca...” Kate's mind whirled, spinning in place
not able to think of anything at all that didn't involve sex. Damn being an
Alede! She froze, not knowing what to say, Rebeca started to cringe, realizing
what had happened inside the other girl's head, at least a bit. Don came up
with something though, his voice embarrassed.

“Well, Blaine's going to need some help for a few days. Not
too big a deal I guess, but someone should look out after him? And after that,
if you're still here, well, we could use some help keeping our dorm room clean.
It's not horrible, but it could be tidier. Is that all right? I don't want to
insult you, but I'd make sure you stayed fed anyway. If that's too much work
for it, we could think of something else...”

Everyone else in the room laughed at that and didn't stop for
several minutes. When it died down someone would start to speak and the
laughter would start again. Finally Kate had to lock down her emotions like
Zack had shown her how to do just to be able to speak. It was the first time
the thing with emotions had actually
worked
for her.

“Don... She'd have to drain, what, two or three people per
day?” Nikki nodded telling her that was about right. “
Drain
that many
people each day, that means killing them, to have as much energy as you can
give her in a few minutes. If you didn't feed them, she and Nikki would
probably have to spend most of the night going out and getting blood from
people in little drips here and there just to stay alive, not collecting
anything like the energy they have right now. It's nearly as bad for the Alede,
and takes a lot more partners to fill us up, even if we did the equivalent of
draining someone. Really, short of giant orgies, you
can't
harvest that
kind of energy each day.”

She moved to put an arm around him.

“In cash, if you had it Nikki, what would you say that kind
of feeding would be worth to you each day?”

The dark haired Vampire thought for a moment before saying
anything.

“About ten to fifteen gold each day, which would be about ten
thousand dollars right now. That's why I'd gladly blow you a couple times each
day, or fuck you,
or
let you have my ass if you want it. It's a much
better return for us than what we'd get at home, getting a few ounces of blood
from each donor. Having to pay
them
or suck them off for it each time.
It's a blessing when you can find one willing to trade blood for drugs. I
learned to make amphetamines just for that. Not crystal though, that's too
harsh and makes the blood taste bad.”

Rebeca looked at Kate too, avoiding Don's eyes entirely.

“At home, until Zack learned to do this feeding thing, Claire
tried to give me the ones that just wanted money or drugs. When they couldn't
be found, more than once, she traded herself in my place...”

Nikki spun in her chair and stared, “Seriously? Wow... That
would be like... I don't really think I can explain it. Given our society, that
would be a lot like a princess taking over for a whore and still giving the
whore the money. No offense Rebeca, you're the
least
whorish young
Vampire I know.”

Blaine put a hand out toward the woman, but didn't touch her,
Rebeca put her hand on his arm briefly then moved away.

“All that, and so bad that an Ambassador takes your place,
and you still helped me? Thank you. I, that... Well, if it ever comes up, I'll
take your place instead. Just ask and I'll do it. All right? Whenever you
want.”

Britney and Kate both teared up at that. The Vampires
couldn't, but Rebeca thanked him for his offer. Don tilted his head and asked
why the Alede and Vampires didn't team up.

“I mean, if so many people want sex, and are willing to trade
blood for it, can't they do both at the same time? Kate told me that the energy
from sex is always there anyway, so even if the Vampire's doing it, that energy
still comes out, right? Or, is that a stupid idea.”

Kaitlyn shrugged, “Betty, she's a younger Vampire and the
Succubus
Maria did that at a club once. Betty told me that she thought she could get
used to it, that it worked really well for her. Of course
she
actually
did all the guys, since Zack would have freaked if Maria had spent the evening
fucking and sucking all comers. Maria did the girls though.”

Britney looked up, “I don't know that name. Maria. Is that
another one of his wives or something? I thought he was pretty free with who
they had sex with. It's one of the reasons why all the Alede think he's so
cool, he doesn't insist that his people have sex only with him.” She seemed
baffled by this.

Kate and the Vampires all chuckled, though not unkindly.
After a few seconds Kate let the secret out though.

“No, Maria is
Zack's
girl form. Hot too, like Alede
top notch hot. By using something kind of like compulsion, she can
fake
being a Succubus really well. Like you wouldn't know she wasn't if she walked
into the room right now, and would probably call me a liar when I tried to
explain. But Zack's really straight, so much that Maria's only allowed to do girls.
So Betty had to jump in and do all the guys so that Zack didn't wake up the
next day freaking out. He was hiding from things that can read minds, so he had
to really become her mentally. I can't really explain, but it's best to just go
with the idea that Maria was a real and separate person that night.”

Then they had to explain how the Alede could change other
people's genders too, not just their own, as long as they had enough power.

“We can show you later if you want, Don. Especially if you're
providing the power for it. If you'd like. Right now though, you'll be easier
to take care of as a guy.” Kate smiled at him and patted his lap gently, he was
still hard, which all the Alede in the room at least, knew.

Nikki surprised her by kneeling in front of him and working
at his belt. He started to stop her, but Britney, sitting beside him, started
kissing him passionately, and pulling at his shirt, she left it on, but ran her
hand underneath it as Nikki got his pants down. She didn't take him into her
mouth though, instead she looked around the room, and finally asked Britney to
help her out.

“I don't produce saliva...” Britney got it immediately and
went down on him a couple of times, then they took turns, alternating. Kate
looked on, thinking it seemed like fun. She'd have to remember to ask Nikki to
help her and try that with him herself. Or maybe turn in to Kyle and have her
and Britney, or maybe Blaine, do her. Or maybe Nikki and Don? She'd have to
suggest that too. There were so many interesting possibilities with this group!
Too bad Rebeca was so damaged, or that they couldn't turn the Vampires into
boys...

“Hey... Has anyone ever tried transforming any Vampires into
the opposite gender?” She asked suddenly, causing Nikki's head to bob up so
that she could speak, Britney's mouth descended so perfectly though that Kate
doubted Don noticed the disruption.

“Not that I know of... That would be, useful. Do you think we
could try it soon? If it works we could go back earlier than planned. No one is
looking for two guys after all. OK, a bit weird, but I'll deal. It's not like I
don't do women already, so the only difference will be in technique right?” She
stopped talking and traded with Britney then, working Don for several minutes
until he came in her mouth. She swallowed and didn't make an issue about doing
it, blood wasn't the only body fluid that contained live energy, just the most
plentiful and easiest to get.

Don had to get to bed he told them and hoped the next day
would be a little more normal, since he had work to catch up on now. Kate
explained about the papers and how they'd managed to protect them while Britney
tried to molest Keeber. Britney looked at Don and kissed him, telling him that
she'd only done it because she was worried about him and didn't understand why
he laughed.

She settled down to study and the boys both left, with Rebeca
to watch after Blaine, leaving Nikki and her alone. She set up to study, deciding
to read her text books for a while, so that Nikki could use the computer, and
realized that if the other woman wanted to stay for any length of time she'd need
another one. She thought about it and decided to try to ask Zack if she could
borrow one of the six or so he had in the computer room.

She focused the thought quickly and let it ride on the tip of
a tendril like line that she sent off to him, not knowing if it would work or
not. About ten minutes later Zack walked into the room making Nikki jump, carrying
a laptop and router, with all the cables they'd need.

“Troy said this would work, but if not you should tell me and
he'll come fix it for you. I'm... Needed to do something else, er, Libby's
waiting and told me that if I didn't get back soon she'd strip naked and start
masturbating in the living room until someone helped her out...” He turned and
left without waiting for a reply.

The computer worked well, being practically unused. That
meant she could work on research for a while, knowing that the next section
they'd be covering in class would be Mesoamerican art. She wanted enough background
before they started that she'd know what would be a good topic to cover.
Professor Eilis hadn't commented on the extra paper she handed in, which caused
her to worry that maybe it sucked so much he was having to fight his way
through it. She hoped not, but all she could do is try to make sure she did as
well as possible on the next one.

At five in the morning a soft knock came at the bedroom door.
Rebeca stood in the hallway with Don. He looked fidgety and embarrassed, but
came in when asked anyway.

“Um, yeah, I woke up like this, you know, aroused and I tried
to, you know, take care of it myself, but I can't come! I think I may be
broken...” He sounded on the verge of panic, but Kate just smiled and told him
to lay down on the bed. She pulled his sweat pants, obviously what he slept in,
off, along with his underwear, in a single swift movement, and straddled him,
already wet and well lubricated, since her nature caused her to be ready at a
moment's notice. She'd started becoming aroused herself when she'd seen he had
an erection.

Kate moved on top of him without bothering about foreplay and
started milking him with muscles that Human women didn't even have, explaining
that Zack had found a similar problem. He'd take care of things himself, like
Don had tried to do, and nothing would happen. Whatever this effect of feeding
the Alede was, it meant he needed a partner to actually get rid of his arousal
for a while. A few days or so, at least.

She got him to come easily, and sent him back to bed. There
was no reason for him not to get some of that sleep that all the Humans loved
so much, after all. Rebeca stayed, since she'd need to go to bed soon herself,
in the light proof box built into the frame of the one that Troy had lent her.
It turned out that Nikki had built it herself. That particular Vampire was
pretty handy when it came to making things like that, it seemed to Kate.

“It's good to have useful hobbies!” She told them a few hours
later when both women got in the box for the day. They'd be cozy, but once the
sun rose, they wouldn't be aware of anything until it set
anyway
, so it
wouldn't be that big of a deal, comfort wise at least.

After they went to bed, she had a few hours to herself with
very little to do. That meant there was time to do normal college girl stuff,
surfing the web, downloaded a few songs, which she did legally, because Zack
paid for it, and she figured that
someone
should actually do that for
the music, so that the artists didn't starve totally. Then she went to the dining
hall for breakfast. Mainly because she was bored, not hungry. The extra energy
she'd gotten the day before had dulled her physical hunger a lot for some
reason.