On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (42 page)

Then Zack stopped talking and looked at Marcia, waiting for
her to finish the tale. She told them how she knew she couldn't stop Roger,
he'd just hit her too, in a mood like that, so she'd gotten her neighbor, an
older man, who called the police and then came over and confronted her husband,
fought him for the piece of wood he'd been hitting Chris with and kept him from
killing the boy.

“Mr. Cooper saved him. Roger wasn't going to stop, I could
see it in his eyes. It was like he wasn't even inside any more. I thought he
was going to kill us all. He'd said things like that before, that if he ever
went, he'd take us all with him. I wrote it off as him just blowing off steam,
but this time, he just...
went
.”

Don hugged the woman and looked at Kate, not knowing what
else to do. She got up and patted him on the shoulder, then went in to see
Chris, who laid in bed, his eyes open, if blurry, one of them, the left,
swollen shut, the other had blood in it, even in the dim light of the room. He
had his own room, because of his condition, so at least she didn't have to deal
with a roommate.

He looked at her and smiled, which looked like it hurt, though
he didn't wince.

“Hello.” He said simply.

She smiled and walked closer to him slowly, “Hi Chris. We
talked earlier, but you may not remember it, you sounded pretty out of it at
the time. I'm Kate, a friend of Don's. I'm going to do some things to you, it
won't hurt, but it will make you feel better, then we can all get out of here.
Does that sound all right to you?”

He made a strange sound that she recognized after a few
seconds as laughter, “Right. Just like my brother, waiting till I'm beaten up
and drugged to hook me up with a babe. Well, I won't tell if you don't...” The
slurring from him seemed worse when he spoke that many words all together, so
she asked him not to for a bit.

The simplest thing to do would be to transform him totally
and then turn him back. She considered it for a bit, and looked out in the
hallway, signaling the others to stop any nurses or doctors from coming in, if
they could.

The boy didn't struggle, clearly not thinking that this
situation overlapped with reality. She turned him into a cute teen girl, brown
hair with golden highlights that nature normally wouldn't have provided and
clear blue eyes that reminded her of Britney, as well as a soft face with
perfect skin. She turned him back to himself, which not only had everything
fixed, but left him without any drugs in his system. Or acne, which she'd have
to remind him to thank her for later, his skin had looked a little rough there,
under the bruising and lacerations.

He sat up and stared at her.

“I... don't hurt! Am I dead, then?” He asked this calmly, but
seriously enough.

Walking over to him she bent over and hugged him, so he could
tell that he still lived. He melted into her embrace and stayed there for a
while.

“So, dead then. Well...crud. Died a virgin. Oh well. I don't
suppose they have sex in heaven, do they?” He quipped.

“You're not dead Chris. I just healed you. It's a talent of
mine. I've come to get you and your mother away from here. Let me help you out
of those splints. We don't really want to explain this to the nurse on duty,
you know?” She got him free of the splints on his arms and helped him do the
right leg, the left he managed himself. He didn't have any clothes in the room
though.

Wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, he got up and walked
to the door, causing everyone to surge toward him, except Hilda who stood her
ground, keeping watch. Don walked over and Marcia ran, grabbing the younger boy
by the shoulders, then letting go, realizing that he could still be hurt. At
least Kate suspected that as her motive. Her first move after that turned out
to be chastising him for speaking back to his father.

Hawk laughed out loud at the woman and told her that she
might, just might, want to reconsider that as the first thing she said to the
kid. She paused, gave him a hard look and hugged Chris.

“Right. Sorry, old habits. We aren't putting up with your
father any more boys. This is it. He doesn't get to nearly kill you and come
back this time!” She said it like she meant it, but Don clearly didn't buy it,
since he just shrugged, a slower movement than normal, but one that clearly
showed that this was something he'd heard before.

Chris looked up at her and held her gaze for a minute, “Mom...
I don't really know what you're going to do, but I
can't
go back. He
nearly killed me. I mean really
killed
, mom. He was trying to
beat me
to death
and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I won't let him near me
again. If I even see him I
have
to run. He'll kill me if he can now. I
know it and I think you do too. If you don't...” The boy shrugged.

The woman tried to rationalize everything she'd ever done,
the fights and even drunken brawls over the years. She promised to do better
now. She meant it as far as Kate could see, but Zack looked at her and sadly
shook his head. He sent a single thought to her, focused on the end of a thick
tendril of blue light.

She already plans to take him back.

Don turned and spoke to Zack, looking not sad, but disgusted.

“I know. Fuck mom! He tried to kill Chris! You can't just
take him back again and don't bother trying to deny that's what you're going to
do!” He looked more angry than Kate had ever seen him, actually turning red in
anger, a trick that Alede couldn't pull off biologically. Veins started popping
out in his head as he glared at the older woman.

Claire looked around casually, then without seeming to even
move physically, suddenly appeared in front of Marcia. Her eyes went blood red,
and a wave of sheer and immense anger came over her as she told the woman what
she would be doing. For a second Kate thought she planned to kill the woman,
her anger was so clear. It sent thousands of lines of red from the Vampire to
the woman, something new to Kate, but it didn't feel like a good thing at all.

“You're sending Chris away for his own safety. He's staying
with friends of his brother's in Washington State until his father is
apprehended. You'll sign any documents needed to make this happen and keep
doing this until you know that Chris is safe. Do you understand?”

The older looking woman said she did, then thanked them for
taking Chris in.

“I know I haven't been a very good mother... I just hope I
can start now and keep you both safe. I'm sorry...” She cried and hugged the
boys, who hugged her back, Kate saw, even if she
was
a pretty bad
parent. The best one they had, apparently, which had to count for something,
right?

Hawk looked at the other boy and put his foot alongside his,
then sat on the ground and took his shoes off, handing them over to the other
boy.

“We're walking outside, so here.”

Chris asked what
he'd
do then, if Chris wore his
shoes. The Vampire boy looked at him seriously and told him not to worry about
it. He'd be fine and if he got too cold he'd just get one of the others to
carry him.

This made Chris laugh, a low, slightly shocky sounding
chuckle, but Hawk just smiled back lazily, as if it took too much energy to
interact with people past communicating basic information.

Zack led them back to the rift he'd made earlier, rather than
make a new one. Kate didn't get it at first, until she saw how closely Chris
watched Hawk, who marched bare foot over snow and ice without comment. After a
while, the Human boy started to look concerned, even a bit scared for the other
boy. Zack pointed at the Vampire's feet.

“His feet aren't hurt Chris, because he's a Vampire. He
doesn't even feel the cold. In a bit, just up ahead there in that building,
we're going to go through a hole in space. To Kate's school dorm room. From
there we'll go to my house, which is, as you may have guessed from what Claire
said earlier, in Washington State. This is a lot of new stuff, but go with it
for now, all right? Even if we're all crazy, I promise it's the harmless kind.”
He smiled and opened the door for them into the abandoned building, a three
story mini office complex that had gone under when the economy took a down
turn, it looked like.

At the rift Hawk went through with Zack first, to set up a
forward guard, then Claire, who could control Chris if he started to freak.
Kate walked up to the boy and took his hand, then took Don's and had Zack lead
them all through. To her perception they all “clicked” soundlessly through the
hole in space, ending up in her room, she pulled the others out of the way and
didn't let go of the boys hand while Zack got Hilda and took them all through
to the mansion in the same order.

“Chris,” Don started when they got there. “I know this all
seems weird, but let me short hand it for you. Vampires, werewolves and all
that kind of stuff is real. Plus about a million other things that we'll tell
you about over the next few days. For right now though, be polite to everyone
around here. They're all good people, but
all
of them can kill you. I
mean
all
, the tiny women, other boys,” He gestured at Hawk with his
head. “The hot girls and pretty boys too. Everyone can...sneeze and possibly
take you out. Just stay calm, polite and do what Kate, Claire, Zack or I tell
you, all right?”

Even to Kate this sounded patronizing. Hawk apparently
agreed, because he glared at the back of Don's head. Don looked around and saw
all this and sighed.

“Sorry Chris, I'm being a dick it seems. OK... sorry. Still,
be nice to everyone, right? Everyone here deserves it.” He stopped, Claire
having placed a hand on his arm, signaling that he should be quiet.

Chris looked around, but didn't comment, then he looked at
his feet. He sat down on a low bench and pulled Hawk's shoes off and handed
them back.

“Thanks, I owe you.” The boy said. Hawk just nodded and put
his shoes back on. Claire stepped forward and looked at the Human boy, smiling.

“What do you propose to trade for this service, then?” She
asked, Don started to say something, but Zack shook his head and smiled.

Chris looked at Claire, “I don't know. What does he need? I
don't have anything to trade right now...”

The cute Vampire smiled at him, a kind expression on her
face, softer than Kate had ever noticed before.

“Well, I had planned to have Eugene play footman at the
reception tomorrow, but you could cut his work in half were you to do so as
well. I think that is of near equal value. You'll work longer than you walked,
but the party won't cause you to lose toes.” A wink followed this and she put
her hand on the younger boys arm, not unkindly.

He agreed, which made Hawk laugh and explain that he shouldn't
just
agree
to things, if he isn't setting the terms himself, he needed
to
ask
for specifics each time.

“Otherwise who knows what people will have you doing? What if
playing footman at a reception means something totally different to Claire than
it does to you? You could show up, and be expected to suck cock for six hours
for all you know. Some people you meet have really different ideas of what
things mean, and some of them have nothing to do with what you've learned. Plus
you've already
agreed
to it, so you'd be stuck. Luckily for you Claire's
cool that way, but not all Vampires are. We're
just
getting people
seated, serving drinks and running errands, by the way. If you suck anything,
that's up to you.” He waved a hand, the gesture looked a little stiff, but
worked well enough to convey his meaning.

Chris half choked on a laugh, but he told them all he'd be
more careful in the future. Claire looked at the Vampire boy and made a signal
to him, a slow movement of the head at an angle that humans didn't move in,
which Kate guessed meant they should talk later. The boy nodded without looking
back at the other Vampire directly, a subtle move that everyone else in the
room except Claire and Zack probably missed.

Merri walked into the room and clung to Zack, kissing him for
a while, then hugged Claire for nearly as long. Chris stared at the tiny woman,
almost as if entranced. Turning to him, she cocked her head to the side and
told him that she was an Alfric. His face went a little white.

Don looked at them both as did Zack. To Kate it seemed clear
that links were formed and information passed, but she also could tell she
missed most of it.

“So, Merri, what did Chris just say?” She asked, casually,
almost lazily.

Merri smiled and tried to wink at her, doing a much better
job this time.

“Oh, he asked if I was an Elf. He didn't mean any harm or
insult by it though, so I'll let that pass,” Narrowing her eyes at the boy, her
face went serious in an instant. “This
one
time. Don't make that mistake
again.” A tiny finger pointed at him, looking like a gypsy woman from a movie
that intended to put a curse on someone.

Chris took a step back and mumbled that he'd try not to. This
got a smile from Merri who announced that would be enough. Then she took him by
the hand and walked off to the kitchen with the boy, still wrapped in the
hospital blanket and wearing the flimsy gown they'd given him there, bare foot
and looking a bit lost.

"The sun will rise soon." Claire told Hawk
specifically. He walked out of the room instantly, presumably to go to the
basement where most of the Vampires slept during the day. Then Claire pulled
out a writing pad and started making notes. She asked Don what the boy would
need. Clothing, shoes, toothbrush and so on. He added that a computer would be
good too, or at least the use of one, if that would be all right with Zack, who
asked Claire to see if Troy would arrange that for him.

Troy was the go to man for anything technological after all.
Also the one to see if you wanted someone killed for harming innocent people.
Kids especially. For a brief moment she had to wonder how dead Don's dad was
about to be. If one of the nicest people she knew was probably going to kill
the man himself, what would the others actually do?