On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (34 page)

Don however didn't let that stop him from stepping between
the girls. After all, he hadn't had his butt kicked at all that day, had he? Kaitlyn
thought she got the idea though. He simply viewed the world differently than an
Alede did. That was all.

“Britney, I know it doesn't feel good to be used by someone
just because they wanted to get close to someone else, but that doesn't really
deserve
a beating. If it does then I'd have to start in on about a dozen of the people
that did the same thing to me this year to get close to you and Blaine. And,
honestly, it sounds like trying to help her uncle out of a jam is a pretty
decent reason. I'm a little sad that she didn't sleep with me because she
wanted
to, but, hey, that's about what I get in life, right?”

A laugh came from the corner of the room, and David, one of
the younger Vampires stepped out, causing Claire to raise an eyebrow at him,
but he didn't stop.

“Ooooh, poor little Donald, all these hot women only want to
sleep with him for some kind of
reason
, instead of just for
him
.
Boo-hoo...” He laughed and walked over to Don, slapping him on the back. “Cheer
up. It could be worse. They could all
not
sleep with you for a reason.”

Don shrugged and tilted his head to the side with a look that
said, been there, done that, clearly enough that everyone smiled in sympathy.

Jelly shook her head, “No, guys, it wasn't like that! George
just said I should try to listen in to what you said at meals and stuff. The
rest was all me. I mean, you
invited
me to do stuff with you, and I came
because I like you! I didn't tell him about the Vampires or anything. He didn't
see them because he didn't come to the room after they got there! He was only
there the day before and that was Blaine and Don's room anyway. But after that
he didn't ask me to do any more than listen to you at dinner. I told him what
you said, but, it
was
in an open room... I know that doesn't make it
better
,
but he didn't tell me I had to sleep with you and I didn't do it to get
information or even stay closer to you because of that.”

Kate tilted her head, "He was there? In Don and Blaine's
room?"

“What? Oh, Morgan, the guy that told the police about how
those guys wanted to rape Blaine? That was him.”

Britney crossed her arms and shook her head at the girl.

“That still doesn't make me happy. You're going to have to
work pretty hard if you want me to believe you're not spying on me now. Or Kate
or Don. You can spy on Blaine if you want to. That should be all right. He's an
exhibitionist anyway.”

Zack didn't say anything, but he looked at Claire closely speaking
to her shadow self and shrugged, then winced and told her he didn't know. It
seemed insane, even when you knew what he was doing and that it was real. It
just did.

“
Both
of them did it and enough people saw them do it
that we should probably just announce it. They even carried people through the
lines multiple times. I'd like to take them more places tomorrow and have them
practice before they go back to school, if I can get the time with them. If Kate
is all right with being around me, I mean.”

Claire smiled and walked to Kate, reaching out and taking
Don's hand on the way past.

“Both of them walked the lines? Just to try and save us from
our... Past exuberances? Our Kaitlyn and Donald?”

Half the people in the room looked shocked when they heard
this. The other half just stood there, either already knowing about it and
accepting it or not really being ready to care about that yet.

Merri came back in to the room nervously, eyes down holding a
plate of food.

“Kaitlyn... I'm sorry about my earlier actions, they were
beneath me and I shouldn't have...” She started to cry then, fat tears crept
from her eyes. Taking the plate and passing it to Don, she moved in to hug the
woman.

“Oh, don't worry about it Merri! All's better and forgiven
now. Later, when everyone realizes what Zack actually did, then we can have the
next round of things. My guess is that it will be all about glaring and
recriminations however. For now though, all you did was not make some food for
me. I can go without a meal here and there. Besides, if I can forgive Libby for
hitting me with a lamp or Lisa for going all, what do you call that look Lisa?
Evil Gandalf? Or Jelly for spying on us for George, or even George for
continuing to spy on us when I distinctly remember him being told that he could
just call us up and
ask
if he had questions...” She shook herself a
little to keep from getting sidetracked.

“But anyway, if I can forgive them, I doubt that I'd have any
grudge against you. If anyone has a right to be mad at me, it's you or maybe
Claire. I mean I could have killed him today. I may not have superpowers, but
if you hit a person enough, things can happen...”

Claire cleared her throat.

“I have to beg to differ Kaitlyn. Today alone I've heard you
traveled the lines, the first Alede to ever do that without being taken through
that I know of and I saw you move in a fashion that you rarely see outside of
Vampires. Yes, it clearly injured you, with all those ruptures all over your
arms and face, but you moved at speeds that some of the Vampires in this room
would be hard pressed to follow. So, you do indeed have
super powers
and
used them in a fight. I mention this not to make you feel good, but to point
out that each blow potentially held death in it today. Keep that in mind when
hitting your friends in the future.”

Kate looked down for a minute, then looked up, pointed over
to the corner and stared.

“Look! A distraction!”

Everyone laughed, except Zack who spent about ten seconds
looking for it. Of course, being
him
, Kate wondered if he actually found
it.

Then she asked Lisa to give her George's number.

“It's time we dealt with this once and for all.”

She dialed the number that the older Mage provided her.

After the second ring, a man's voice answered, saying hello.

“George? George Penbroke?” She asked, making sure he actually
answered his own phone.

"Yes. May I help you?" He sounded professional, and
polite enough really.

“Great! This is Kaitlyn Swanson. I don't know if you remember
me? Um, about five-seven, dark hair, really hot? Oh! I also work with your
daughter and Zack Hartley?” She waited for him to say something.

"Certainly. You're kind of hard to miss."

“Well... Let's see... Could you come over here do you think?
Because I'd like to talk some things over with you, if that's all right? It's
nothing serious, and not a trap. Bring friends if you want or come alone. I
promise that the worse anyone will hit you with is a raised voice and maybe not
even that... What do you say? We'll have snacks...”

Betty said something from across the room. Kate pretended not
to understand her exactly.

“Oh! And a really cute Vampire said she'd sleep with you if
you come over. Um, I can't really offer more inducements than that, except to
tell you that we have your current spy and you might want to come and make sure
she's all right, don't you think?”

To his credit George's first words were
don't hurt her
and he assured them all that the girl Jenifer wasn't really spying on them,
just listening at a distance. Nothing that she deserved or needed to be harmed over.
Then, shocking Kate a bit, he said he'd be there within an hour.

Kate thanked him and hung up.

Betty walked in front of her, smiling, but crossed her arms
over her black stretch shirt, the action pulling the cloth a little tighter over
her firm breasts. She put her left foot forward and cocked her hip saucily.
After a few beats she leaned in and kissed Kate on the mouth without changing
her posture at all. After breaking off she laughed.

“I
said
, I'd fuck him up. It's not exactly the same
thing. If I have to put out now... Well, then you
owe
me, that's all I'm
saying.”

They all looked at Kate as if to ask what she thought she was
doing, instead of telling them that she was playing it by ear, she laid out a
basic plan.

“This needs to be wrapped up now or else someone is going to
end up being killed. If we were even a
little
more upset today, what
might have happened to Jelly? What might still happen to Nikki and Rebeca? They
aren't going to want to be men forever and while I think I can shift their girl
forms now too, with enough energy from Don or Zack, so they look different that
way too, why should
they
have to be other people? Yeah, they weren't
sweet and light in their retaliation, but seriously, I'd have killed the guy
for what he did and I'm
nice
!”

She moved to sit on the sofa, next to Troy and Hilda.

“So we're getting thing fixed tonight if we all have to line
up and do Lisa's dad until he cries uncle.” She looked around the room. “Except
Lisa. She gets a pass on this one.”

Lisa stood shuddering at the idea, stopped, looked around the
room and shuddered again. This got most of the Vampires in the room to at least
chuckle.

They discussed what they wanted to achieve before George got
there, going as far as to make extensive notes, if hand written. Betty grabbed
them and came back with printed copies from the computer room about ten minutes
later, bound in little paper covered folders, everyone in the room got one.
Kate's had a nice bright pink color. Pink was one of the best, non-sex, related
things about being a girl, she thought. It could be overdone, but then any
color could. This bit in her hand, with its glossy cover and smooth texture
just lent a bit of happiness to the room.

The Vampires, under Claire's direction set up a large table
in the living room, big enough that everyone could sit down, with extra seating
available in case he came with a small army. By the time the car pulled up, a
nice silver sedan, everything was set up as well as possible on such short
notice.

Kate walked to the front door, since she'd been the one to
invite him after all and welcomed the visitors with a smile. George she
recognized and caused to pause when she gave him a hug at the door and offered
to take his coat. She shook hands with the others, because she didn't know
them. A tall brown haired woman caught her attention, but just because she
looked so regal. Another gray haired man, smaller and thinner than George, who
wasn't fat at all, followed with a darker skinned man that looked Native
American and wore comfortable looking Jeans and a work shirt made of something
heavy, like flannel.

She took their coats and jackets, hanging them up in the
front closet by the door, asking them if they had any papers or weapons they
wanted from them before they went to the meeting. The Native man nodded and
pulled several items from his pocket. One of them a knife wrapped in a plain
leather hilt, wrapped with a string that had beads, stones and bird feathers on
it.

In the room itself, she put an arm around George, signaling
that, for this meeting, he had her protection, for what that was worth. She
asked him to introduce his friends please, as they sat.

“Of course,” George said smoothly. “This gentleman is Daniel
Fort,” He gestured at the older of the two men as he sat near the head of the
table. “Next to him is my lieutenant Gabrielle Harris, next to her is Harold
Peirce.” The last wave of his hand went to the Indian looking man. Looking at
him Kate realized she hadn't ever slept with a Native American before. Not that
race matter in sex at all, but still variety was always nice.

George looked around, saw Jelly and nodded.

“I trust you haven't been harmed in any way, Miss Stone?”
George said first thing.

“No... Um, they knew all about me before I got here, or got
the internship.” She gulped and sounded scared. Lisa looked over at her father
and raised her head.

“That's true. We knew before Eloise put her forward to the
council by the way. She felt it wouldn't be proper to let your involvement keep
the girl from such a potentially career advancing experience. Nor do we intend
to let it happen now either. So, with your word on the matter to leave her
alone, I think we can take Jenifer out of play with no harm to her or her family?”
She said this civilly enough that no one blinked.

“Agreed.”

This, oddly, came from the older man sitting next to Mr.
Penbroke, but George nodded that he agreed as well, so did the others.

“Great! This is going so well already!” Kaitlyn enthused.
“Now, there are a few things we want from you Mr. Penbroke and I Imagine
your... organization?” She turned her hand up toward the others at the table
next to him. “To start with, even though we can all understand how...
uncomfortable
you were made by Nicole and Rebeca, given that it was in retaliation for an
extra legal action, an act on your own part that could be best described as
forcible mind rape, I think that using large but not harmfully sized dildo's to
anally sodomize you for a small
fraction
of the time that you did that
to Nikki is a fair, if embarrassing punishment, don't you, if you really think
about it?”

Kate looked at him frankly and openly, so caught the phases
of his response, shock, embarrassment then denial.

“You've been misinformed Miss Swanson... I was kidnapped and
deprived of sleep while being forced to watch a children's television program
for nearly a week straight. My dignity was impinged, but I wasn't sexually
violated.”

Kate sat up, eyes going wide...

“Really, are you sure? Because, well, what you described, it
doesn't sound like fair retribution at
all
. I mean, I would have done
more to you for that and you yourself would have had someone
killed
or
mind fucked back in the same way, wouldn't you? Making you watch kiddy shows
for a week? That seems, well, a little unlikely, especially in light of your
rather extreme response to what could be described as gentle hazing...” She
shook her head, unable to believe she could say this and keep a straight face,
much less a tone of voice that sounded serious. Even more amazing, everyone
else at the table kept a straight face too.