On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (29 page)

“Um. Well. You know, I think it may be a good idea? We need
to get with Claire though, her head is probably the sharpest when it comes to
things like this... But right now, with all these
interns
to do all the
work...” The blonde woman grinned at her from behind her desk, a hand moving to
the front of her blouse, playing with a button. The top one, on her dark green
blouse. Her pupils dilated enough for Kate to consciously notice it.

That was a major thing. Normally people didn't do that just
because someone cute was talking to them. There were little signs like that all
the time, but this was a massive and sudden change from what Lisa was supposed
to be. If an Alede had been doing things with her, instead of Zack, then she
would have known what it meant.

Honestly, she did know. It was just a thing her mind wanted
to rebel against, even now. As she stood there, watching it, she fought for
some other explanation. A reason for this to be happening that Kate just didn't
have the breadth or scope to understand.

Lisa looked at her hungrily, which really told Kaitlyn that
something had gone very wrong here. Early on Kate, as both herself and Kyle,
had thrown a
lot
of lust at the woman when Zack wasn't around to get
after her for it. She was good looking and a bit hard to get, or at least she
had
been. Now she was using body language that said that she'd do pretty much
whatever the younger looking woman wanted without hesitation.

Now the only question left was Lisa's reason for doing this
now
.
If it was just a realization how hot Kate looked,
or
that she was a
fellow adult in every way that mattered, therefore available, well... good. The
Alede wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and it had driven her crazy for
months that the other woman had resisted her charms.

If it turned out to be addiction though...

Then things were really going to go south fast. Worse than
that, she couldn't see a way for it to be anything else.

Kaitlyn knew she loved Zack, and would die for him. She
almost had more than once already, after all. The same was true the other way
around too, so it wasn't some kind of silly groupie thing, she didn't think.
The man had earned her trust, hadn't he? But she also cared for Lisa and by the
conventions of her culture,
Zack
should be responsible for her wellbeing.
Now that she had a strong inkling that he'd addicted her like this, she was
honor bound to
do
something about it.

But what?

That would be the real question. Still, she didn't have to
freak out yet. First she needed to verify that this was an actual addiction
and
that Zack had done it. It might be that someone else had, after all. Any of the
Alede could have managed it without even really trying, after all... There were
a lot of them around Underwood, too.

It could even be a trick by someone else, or some other
group, designed to shake her faith in her friend. Possibly to get more
important people to feel the same way, of course. No one would really care
about her that way too much. They shouldn't, at any rate.

“That's a good idea Lisa. I'll go do that, and of course, I'll
talk to my mom about it too. She's good at this kind of stuff.” Kate walked
around the desk and gave the woman a
very
innocent hug, trying to test
her reactions.

It wasn't even an innocent Alede embrace. She did it like she
was a slightly stuffy Mage girl, barely even touching her while it happened,
her pheromones and energy locked down so tight that nothing leaked out from
her. Lisa clung to her tightly and didn't let go for a long while, her left
hand firmly in the middle of the girl's back, pulling her down, since the Mage
sat in her office chair still. Her right hand found Kate's behind and cupped it
gently, at first, then harder, groping it hungrily.

Kate leaned in and kissed her, the woman returning it
breathlessly. Breaking away, acting as if it were a coy move to build attention
rather than an escape, she backed up. Smiling, so her friend would know that
she wasn't upset or angry about his. Far from it. If it had been
real
,
Kate would have been busily getting to second or even third base by now. It was
tempting anyway. That was another danger for them here. Lisa wasn't in her
right mind in certain ways, and taking advantage of her was wrong.

If she wanted to do that, she needed to handle things
differently.

Kate looked at the other woman with lust in her eyes, “I need
to go do this now, but we can...
talk
about this later?” Her voice
promised a lot more than talking, she knew. It was needed at the moment, if she
wasn't going to simply do her boss in the back office then and there. Otherwise
the woman would feel bad about things, and probably strike out at her. That or
run to some other Alede for a fix.

She might do that last one anyway.

Unlocking the door, she threw a glance over her shoulder and
winked at Lisa, making sure the move was just saucy enough to keep her
interested for a few minutes. Then jogged to the front where Jelly manned the
front desk still, looking more than a little lost. The Mage girl smiled at her
when she walked up, then faltered seeing the look on Kate's face. She might
have been young, but the girl was no fool.

“What's wrong?” She asked her voice going quiet.

Given where Kate had come from, which it was clear she understood,
Jelly seemed to think it was important. Not just about her not getting a raise
or even Lisa's panties off. It could have just been that, of course, on any
regular day. It just wasn't.

The dark haired girl just shrugged and told her that it might
be nothing. That was still possible after all.

"Honestly it's probably nothing. I'm just a bit worried
about Lisa. She seems a little under the weather."

She wanted to give the other girl a heads up as to what might
happen later, but she didn't know herself. If Zack had done this at all... did
he even realize that he'd done it? He had the power, but Kaitlyn had actually
gone to school in order to learn how to manage that kind of thing. And if he
did
,
was it on purpose or just because he'd discovered something new and didn't
realize what could happen?

On top of that...

Who could punish him if he
had
done it on purpose?
Kate had seen him be melted into a pile of goo, have his head chopped off and
come back not ten minutes later, almost as if
nothing
had happened. The
worst pain that had ever been put on a Human, possibly ever, had already been
heaped upon him for a time too great for Kate to even imagine and she had a lot
of experience with decently long time scales now.

Shaking her head she set off at a walk across the way, anger
beginning to stir in her. It might not make sense yet, but she'd probably need
it for whatever was about to happen. She didn't storm into the Frozen YoGurt,
but she walked with enough purpose that Claire came out of the back office when
she asked Troy to go get her, instead of inviting her in.

Because the Vampire wanted enough room to properly fight her,
if things were headed toward violence? It made sense, after a fashion, even if
she didn't intend for that to be needed. No, she had to have Claire, if not on
her side in all of this, then at least not actively working against her.

“Claire... A word or two? In private?” Kate didn't look over
at Troy when she spoke, but he cast out deep blue lines of concern for her and
a smaller, lighter line that held concern for
Claire
. This got her
attention pretty solidly. Not because Troy
liked
Claire. A lot of people
did and he spent a lot of energy worrying about others in general. What got her
to focus on him about this was that he felt concern, if slight concern, that
she'd
hurt Claire. That gave Kate pause and she stopped for a moment, not
understanding the why of it. Straightening, trying to relax and look, if not
happy, at least normal. She let the muscles around her eyes and mouth go slack
for an instant, then firm them again with nothing more than a look of focused
concentration.

“Don't worry Troy, I'm not even sure if I'm
mad
yet,
and I doubt it's going to be at Claire if it turns out to be anything... But
Claire? I
do
need you right now.”

The Vampire nodded and ushered her back into the office, a
space about twice the size of Lisa's. One with a large wooden desk that Claire
moved behind, and comfortable chairs arranged in front of it. Off to the side,
not one, but four smaller desks, all empty right now, stood, the chairs behind
them nice leather covered affairs as well, but smaller and clearly more
functional. They had rollers, but didn't look like they would swivel. No one
walking into this office would ever doubt where the boss sat. That was clearly
part of the overall design of the space.

Claire didn't pretend to be at ease, settling behind the
large mahogany desk and leaning forward, giving Kate her full attention.

Kate shook her head, not wanting to talk about this at all,
still hoping that she was wrong.

“Two things... First, we're planning a party. The interns and
Troy. It looks like it's going to be political, so we need to put it together
right. As a group we know too many people that are too high powered to
not
invite almost everyone at a certain level. Your leader Luthor, and Vaun and,
given that, your boss, whoever that is. About the same in the Alede leadership,
Mage, Trolleinkein, and Alfric as well as anyone else you can think of. Clyde
certainly. Pretty much everyone from here should be invited... Life was so much
easier back when it was just me and my friends from school, you know? Last
week?” She struggled a bit to paste a smile on her lips, but managed it well
enough. She hoped.

Claire raised her eyebrows and started writing a list of
names, not question the pronouncement that they
would
be having a party,
and inviting world powers for some reason. She probably figured she could find
a reason to cancel it later, Kate realized. The other woman put the pen down,
not exactly in a dramatic fashion, but in one that clearly looked slightly
rehearsed, like all her movements did when you knew to examine them closely
enough. It wasn't just here, but all Vampires of a certain age that did things
that way. The younger ones were all a little awkward though.

It wasn't that they'd forgotten how to react yet, just that
they were busily doing that. It showed in how they moved at times, their powers
and supernatural nature slowly taking over. By the time they were about a
hundred or so, all of them seemed completely different than real Humans did,
most of the time. Then, with work, they all managed to bring things back
around. Pretending not to be what they were, with greater or lesser success.
Claire was decently into that part of things. She probably even fooled most
people. Most of the time.

“That's... not why you're... upset though, is it?” The
Vampire asked softly, making eye contact, but not staring.

Kate shook her head, making it a slow and controlled move
that would be familiar to the Vampire woman in front of her, and explained what
she suspected had happened with Lisa. Claire looked mildly concerned, but didn't
say anything until she was finished.

“Kaitlyn... I know, intellectually, that this is a big deal
to you and your people... I'm not trying to diminish that, but... What,
saying... if it's true, what do you propose to do about it? No one in the world
can actually
stop
Zack, short of killing him, and even that may not be
possible. Plus, I'd have to put my foot down there, since killing him would
kill
me
as well... What do you propose? Sending him to his room without
supper like a naughty child and giving him a thrashing?”

Hesitantly Kate started to nod, “Yeah Claire. I think that's
exactly what we have to do. At least in spirit. First, I need to get with an
expert and make sure I'm right about this. I don't want to go making
accusations without proof. Still, when the time comes
if
I'm not just
smoking crack here, I need you to back me. If Zack did this, he needs to learn
that it's wrong and that someone will actually stand up to him. He's a good
person, but power can corrupt anyone and he's going to have a
long
time
for that to happen.”

Claire carefully didn't commit to anything, Kate noticed, but
didn't tell her that she was being a moron either. Which she
would
have
if she didn't think what had been said didn't make
some
kind of sense.
It was probably the part about checking things out first that did it. That
really did sound pretty reasonable. What she seemed to be proposing was more
along the lines of an intervention too. Wasn't it? That...

Might not work either, she knew. Zack looked young, but was
one of the oldest beings in existence. It made a difference in how you
responded to other people and events. It was already happening with her and she
was a mere fraction of his true age.

Her next stop was to the Alede embassy. Not Beautiful Plus,
and not to her mom, but the Alede Ambassador. Cornering Norris inside the door,
she asked him to announce her
officially
. He looked surprised, but noted
how she seethed under the surface, too. If any person in the world knew her
moods and weaknesses by now, it would be Norris. The Alede that had sat with
her for weeks at a time, doing nothing but looking for chinks in her emotional
armor. He hurried off without asking questions.

In Patty's office she asked Norris and the staff, to clear
the store and get out of ear shot. It was close to being rude, for one of them.
Past that, she knew, so she bothered to look over at the man and explain first.

“If I'm wrong about this, then I'll take my lumps, but no one
else should have to. I don't want to spread rumors... This... If I'm wrong,
then I'll probably be sent into exile. If I'm right...” She told them, looking
into Norris's eyes meaningfully, but knowing that the others, Val, Britney and
Blaine would hear her nearly as well as the people in the room, even as they
worked folding clothing and putting things on hangers. Secrets were hard to
keep from their kind. It was a factor that a lot of people forgot when they
took them to their beds.