On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (31 page)

“Things blow over. It can suck going through them, but we'll
all get past this, probably faster than you'd expect. Do you want me to handle
the clean up here for you?” He asked, sounding oddly military then, as if the
idea of mopping up after the battle would be only natural for him.

She nodded. It may be weak, but she didn't know what to do
now, not at all.

Hilda and Lars brought Zack out and sat him at one of the
tables in the food court, the one that Chi pointed at.

“All right, Zack, are you awake enough to hear me?” He asked,
watching the bloody figure closely. Seeing him nod a bit.

“Good! Glad to hear it. OK. First, just so we can talk, can
someone heal up Zack here?”

Looking awkward she knew, Kate moved forward, only to stop,
feeling a hand on her shoulder. Don walked with her, holding her left hand, and
covertly passed energy to her while she worked, slowly and carefully, changing
only a small bit of Zack at a time and changing it back, making it look like
she healed his white flesh to a tan colored bruise and then let it turn white.
She knew that most people didn't understand how she did this and probably
didn't care how it worked as long as it did.

When Zack looked better, making sure he had all his teeth,
she stopped and sat back down. She hadn't hit him in the chest at all, just the
head, so he shouldn't need a lot of healing past what she'd done, and if he
did, well, he'd heal. Maybe not as fast as this, but still, so much faster than
a regular Human would, thanks to his own talents and his link to Claire. So
that it didn't need any more thought on her part.

Chi looked around for a moment.

“Excuse me... Patty? You're the Alede Ambassador and this
seems to be an Alede style problem, could you explain the situation clearly to
everyone please?”

Standing, Patricia regarded the crowd and then began from the
most basic place possible. Explaining the biology of addiction, how an
addiction to pure pleasure was the
single
most addictive thing known.
How their culture dealt with people that addicted others on purpose and what
the treatment for such addiction would be.

“We have to taper them off. Going cold turkey would probably
kill most of them and the list of people addicted here is... staggering. An
Ambassador, an Assistant Ambassador, A princess and several others, all at
least as important to someone here as any of the rest.

“One thing I have to make clear though, is that Zack, Mr.
Hartley,
cannot
have access to them until they're recovered, possibly
not even then...” She stopped and looked at Zack, who'd shifted like he wanted
to say something.

“Zack... you have to understand. No matter what you do now,
these women are all addicted to
you
. This association runs so deep that
it will probably never be broken. We need to save their lives and protect them
now... None of us here thinks you're a
bad
person, but this is, a
vast
screw-up. We can save them, but it's going to take the effort of all the Alede
here and we can't have you accidentally interrupting the process. Do you
understand? From this time on, your right to produce pleasure using your
abilities is suspended. I can't back that in any way, but if it isn't, then...”

She looked around, not having anything at all to back it up
with.

Kate broke in then.

“If you keep doing this, then I'll never talk to you again.
Even if it means eventually starving to death myself, even if it will hurt me
forever.”

Chi nodded, thought for a second and then made pronouncement.

“All right then. So Zack... No touching any of these women affected
or messing with the Alede effort in any way, at least until Patty says they're
cured, even then, you have to promise you won't do this pleasure thing again
with anyone.”

Merri broke in then, describing the problem that feeding the
Alede had caused. After a bit of discussion, The Bat boy nodded and looked
around.

“OK... Maryl, you've never had sex with him, right? So you go
and give him handjobs several times a day until this is over. I know, not
exactly
exciting
for you, but, I don't know, Zack will pay you for it.
Ten gold a pop. Understood Zack?”

The Line-Walker looked very sad, but nodded. Kate shuddered, her
own heart aching for him. He'd pretty much just been told that he couldn't have
any contact with anyone he loved, possibly
ever
again. Worse, some of
them, like Claire, he was actually
bound
to. He couldn't just forget
about her and move on, they
had
to stay together.

No one was really satisfied with the whole thing, but no one
did more than glare at her about it either. Libby walked over to Don and cried
on his shoulder for a while. Claire, ever the bastion of sensibility and
practicality started to make arrangements for everyone to get home. Don walked
over to her, half carrying Libby with him and told her that he could get them
all back home.

“I think I can at least. Zack had me do it a half dozen times
this morning, including walking him through, so I know I can do it with another
person. I can't take anyone anyplace
else
right now, but from the back
of Something Wonderful to Zack's house,
that
I can do.”

The rest of the evening didn't go well at all. Kate woke up
laying on the floor of the living room to find that Libby had hit her with a
lamp from behind. No sooner had she managed to get a full charge, but nothing
past full, from Don then Lisa showed up and hit her with a white beam that came
from her index finger, causing her to fall to the ground, writhing in pain and
seeing snakes trying to eat her. That only stopped when Jelly stepped between
them, weaving a net in the air somehow with her hands, made of a more silvery
looking glow.

The girl held a small crystal up, Kate saw when her vision
cleared, trying to protect them both from Lisa, who hammered them
both
into the ground, shield or not. The force that came was almost physical, at
least it felt like it to Kate.

This didn't stop until Hilda walked up behind the older Mage
and hit her, a glancing blow with the side of her hand, turning her palm as she
struck so that the force of the blow turned toward the large woman, making the
smaller one buckle at the knees and fall to the floor. She picked her up
gently, almost lovingly, and carried her out of the room.

Later, when Claire came in, Troy stepped in front of Kate,
suddenly wearing full armor and holding a sword out in front of himself. He
called out to Claire, asking her to leave for now, and told her about Lisa and
Libby.

“Oh... well, I see. I'll be at my other house then, if I'm
needed? I assure you all that I have no violent intentions, but I can see the
need for caution...” Before she turned, she called to Don.

“Donald, would you see to the feeding and care of my people
here? It's nearly dark and I don't know if Zack will be up to it tonight...”

"Consider it done." The words were almost pleasant
sounding, compared to what everyone else had been doing the entire time.

"How much will this cost? I could perhaps free up some
funds for it? Or perhaps arrange for one of the ladies to entertain you for a
while? More than one?" Claire sounded nearly peaceful about it all, Kate
realized. It was fake of course.

Don shrugged.

 “Not tonight. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry that all of
this has happened...” Then he gave her a hug and let her go. She left, faster
than she normally would have, Kaitlyn hearing something suspiciously like a sob
coming from her as she reached the front door.

Zack had gone to sit in the void, Kate knew, but he didn't
say when, or even
if
, he'd be back. She didn't want him to hurt, but
what else could she have done? She cried until the Vampires came and asked what
happened.

Since the gender changes, the Vampires staying in the house
had a distinctly male presence when they walked into a room in a group. Their
first concern had been the change in routine, which they felt more comfortable
with when they came to understand that Don could, and would, feed them all that
night.
Then
they were worried about Zack and Claire. They weren't bad
people, especially for Vampires, but they
needed
to feed, even if it
meant seeming a little less than concerned about their friends at times.

“Are... Is everyone all right?” Betty asked, having moved to
the front of the line, lifting her shirt so that energy could be passed to her.

Everyone else grumbled that Betty should go
last
,
being the most junior Vampire in the group, but she grinned at them and didn't
give up her position.

“
I
have a current agreement with Don. That gives me
precedence, unless any of the rest of you also have deals in place?”

Dwayne held back, knowing that his deal as Nikki to provide
sex would be moot for now, since Don probably wouldn't want sex from a large
African American man nearly as much as he would have from Nikki. Rebeca, who
asked them to call him Rick for now, moved in front of the girl though, to
everyone's amazement.

“Sorry Betty... I
do
have a deal in place. I can clean
up his room here as well as at school, after all. It doesn't matter what I look
like for that, right Don?”

Shrugging the young looking Human just started passing people
energy, letting them debate who went first or last. He did say out loud that
everyone could argue all they wanted, but the day had seen enough violence.

“Violence?” Blake asked, looking at Kate, since he felt
closest to her out of anyone in the room that wasn't cold to the touch, she
knew.

Blaine explained the whole situation, very carefully,
starting at the addiction and working from there.

“So, Kate kicked his ass pretty hard. They both went into
that super Vampire like speed thing that you showed us as Nikki, Dwayne. I
think Kate nearly tore herself apart to match him, she was blood red all over
for a while. Anyway, there was a judgment and everyone decided that Zack can't
see any of the women affected until they're better and maybe not even then. He
seems really bummed out and so do they. The women keep attacking Kate.” He held
up his hand to the Vampires before they could all attack as one.

“
Except
Claire. She left, but she doesn't seem angry
with Kate or anything. She just understood that we couldn't actually do
anything to stop her from killing us all if she wanted and didn't want us to be
afraid, I think. Anyway, she asked Don to make sure you all got taken care of.”

After they were all fed, including the Alede and Betty,
pulling a small bottle of lubricant out of her front pants pocket dropped to
her knees in front of Don. No one paid attention to this except David, who said
he was a bit jealous and the twins, who both agreed.

Blake winked at Kate and asked them which one they were
jealous
of
and all of them answered. "
Both
." Making
everyone chuckle a little, except Kate who felt too sad for it right now.

After a while Merri made food for everyone, except Kate, who
she merely glared at and didn't offer anything to.

“Wow, are they all going into withdrawal already?” Don asked
the Alede around him. Blaine shook his head.

“No, they're just pissed. I mean, I
know
why Kate had
to do it. But if it had been me that had the love of my life
and
my drug
of choice taken away like that, I'd be unpleasant too. The only way this will
be fixed any time soon is if we find them a cure or good replacement. Maybe in
Lesser Shia? They say you can find anything there.” The last line was a throw
away, a thing used by the Alede to describe finding something that probably
didn't exist.

Kate sat up though, Dwayne's eyes went round as well.

“You think? I mean, this is basically an addiction right? So,
somebody probably has
some
way of fixing it...” The tall black Vampire
stared and then grinned.

“That would... at least be better than sitting around here
waiting for Kate to starve. I don't know how we're going to do it though. We
don't really have any money, any of us. I suppose we could pimp out Betty and
the twins, but that could take a while. Even if we find the money, how do we
get to Lesser Shia? Hop a bus?”

Kate shrugged and looked at Donald, who sat staring at the
wall across from him, obviously thinking intently about something.

“I think... I don't know. Maybe, I could get into and out of
the void? Zack said he thought I could do it, if I could find a shortcut. But,
I don't know how to find anything in there yet and I've never been to Lesser
Shia, whatever that is. Like Wal-Mart or Target or something? Anyway... Maybe.
Still, we need money. I don't know how much something like that would cost at
all.” Don looked around the room, then stared at Kate, letting her see that
offering to try just about tapped his pool of creative resources for now.

Jelly stood up and rummaged in her purse, which had been
sitting on the back of the sofa that Don sat on, even though she'd found a
place on the far side of the room, away from everyone. She found a card and
held it up.

“Um... Lisa told me that there was money in the safe and I
should just ask her if I needed any. I don't think I'm on her list of friends
right now, but I have this...” She held the paper out to Kate, like an
offering, held in both hands.

The number seemed like a cell phone by the area code, the
name above it said only Gregory. The Mage Ambassador at Underwood. She'd met
him personally about a half dozen times now, but she didn't know if he actually
knew who she was, having been in the background each time they met.

“Yeah... But should we bother an actual Ambassador over this?
Why should he even care, much less give us money? Though I suppose what we're
really
asking him to do is
steal
the money for us, so that should go over
better.” The bitterness in her own voice shocked Kate, but she didn't try to
hide it.