On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (48 page)

Chris walked over and asked what she wanted to load across
first then, picking up the bags she pointed to turned and walked through the
rift to her room. He came back about a half second later.

“There's someone in your room, a man... I don't think he saw
me, but he was wearing a mask, so I don't think it's just your secret
boyfriend.”

Jelly spun and asked him if he was serious. He peeked his
head into the room quickly without totally going through the rift at all.
Pulling back he nodded, he looked around and spotted her small digital camera
on top of her a soft, green colored, duffel bag. The camera was a girlish shiny
pink that really suited Jelly, but looked odd even being
held
by Chris.

“Can I borrow this?” He asked, getting a nod in return.

He popped through the short-cut again, head only, then stuck
the camera through and clicked pictures, pulling it back after three of them.

Each showed a man, wearing a black face mask, a ski-mask that
no one even had any more except for people involved in crime, or who worked on
television shows about crime, and in each he turned a little more, as if he'd
heard something.

Chris looked at the pictures carefully and turned halfway to
Jelly, who took the camera from him.

“Anyone you know?”

She shook her head.

“Um. Kate... Can I sleep in your room tonight?” She asked,
looking more than a little frightened.

Kate just nodded.

Kate called Willet to set up a sweep of the room, just in
case the person had left anything, and also asked Hilda to come in and see if
she could pick up a scent trail. The only problem with all this being that
Gretchen, Jelly's roommate had returned and began loading things into the room.
No one knew what to do to get the other girl out long enough to check things
out and Willet would be showing up at the mansion to be brought through into
the room with his expert.

It was Don that came up with a plan, one which surprised Kate
and Blaine when he suggested it.

“Tell her the truth. I don't mean about the short-cut into
her room, but that your friend's little brother got some pictures of a guy in
your room. It could be anything, but your uncle, who's a security expert, is coming
to check everything out, because he dotes on you. You know that it's nothing
and the pictures may not even be real, since my little brother has a crush on
you and
may
just be trying to impress you...”

Jelly smiled and went through the rift to Kate's room, Chris
bringing both of them and Hilda through then went back to get Willet when he
showed up.

Kate stayed in the room, so that they wouldn't overwhelm poor
Gretchen. On the good side, Jelly told her that while a bit noisy, the girl had
a sense of humor and adventure, always doing art for the drama club, even though
she couldn't act her way out of an imaginary paper bag.

“That's what she told me, not my own judgment there. She may
be great, I've never seen her do any acting at all.”

Chris came with Willet and another man, a small, dusky fellow
that reminded her a little of an actor she'd seen in a movie that Troy made her
watch about a year before. In the movie the actor that looked like him had
played a vigilante out to avenge the death of his family. She'd been more
concerned with trying to get laid at the time than the movie, but she
remembered parts of it. The man looked about fifty, salt and pepper hair and
grizzled, several days beard growth and a faded shirt that had probably been
around over a decade. He didn't look like good date material right off the bat,
but he wasn't there for sex and pizza, she reminded herself. She wondered if
the guy might be a little shady and then laughed inside, realizing she'd hired
Willet because of what he knew, most of which would probably involve illegal
things and people.

The man didn't speak at all. He just looked around her room,
holding a small electronic device and checking it carefully. When that was
done, he pulled a strange device made of wire, string and crystals, it didn't
do anything which seemed to make him happy. At least if that grunt he gave
meant happiness and not constipation.

Then he searched everything in the room, even turning over
the mattress and checking the bed frame. He found the chamber under the bed
that currently held two sleeping Vampires. He knocked on it and shrugged,
turning to her after a few seconds.

“Panic room?” He asked indicating the chamber with his hand.

She didn't know if he was trustworthy or not, so she didn't
know what to say. Willet told him the truth though, that it held two Vampires
working the night detail. The man nodded as if that was a good idea and went on
checking everything. He carefully returned everything to the exact position
he'd found it in before he started searching.

When he finished they waited for Hilda to call, which took
almost half an hour. Gretchen hadn't been a problem, actually agreeing readily
to the idea, if just to see her room be swept for bugs like in a spy movie.
They all got caught up with some boys that asked them to a party. Hilda didn't
want to be mean, so they kept talking for a lot longer than she'd meant them to.
Finally she agreed that they would all go and bring their cute friends, which
got the guys to go away.

The room search found not one, but three cameras. Each hidden
to watch the spot where Gretchen would be sleeping and changing clothes. This
got the girl to begin to feel worried. Then they took all this to the RA, since
it had been Human electronics and seemed pointed at the other girl, it wasn't
strictly
their
problem. Willet started to write it off, but stopped
himself and shook his head, then asked Hilda and Blaine to step aside with him.

They talked for a few minutes and then came back, telling the
RA that Blaine, pretty boy that he was, had rich family members that wanted his
girlfriend, Jenifer, to feel safe and secure at school, all of which was, in its
own convoluted way, true. They offered to sweep the floor. Most of the students
didn't get it, and didn't want strange men that looked more than a little
sketchy going through their stuff.

Kate didn't blame them. Who'd look at Willet and his friend
and think that these men would ensure their safety? Pilfer their underwear?
Yes. Do what they promised? Not nearly as easy to sell to strangers.

They found cameras set up in
all
the bathrooms and the
showers. By the time they found the third one, school officials had shown up
and watched them pull out two more. The woman from the school looked shocked
and called the Dean directly and asked the men to stay for him to get there.
Willet got obviously worried, but the other man just nodded and looked like he
belonged there.

Kate got Willet aside for about ten seconds and reminded him
that this time he actually hadn't broken any laws and suggested he remember he
worked for a security company in Washington. She wished they had cards or
something, but told him that he was just there to look out for his niece and
had come out thinking that Chris was trying to pull something. Boys will be boys,
right?

As it turned out the school officials didn't check into
anything and asked if the men would check the other facilities. One other floor
in that dorm building had cameras in the showers. Willet offered to call in a
whole crew to sweep the campus, at company expense, which the Dean gladly accepted.
The police were called in and they got to watch cameras being pulled out
themselves.

As darkness fell the school was in a bit of an uproar. No one
knew if these cameras had anything to do with the murders or if some pervs were
just watching them online. Don came to Kate's room, knocking gently on the
heavy door just before the Vampires started to stir, so that they could be
passed energy as soon as possible. He held Kate for a second while they waited.

Nikki got out first, then Hawk, who apparently had slept in
her arms all day. It could have been worse for him, Kate figured, since Nikki
wore nothing but a fairly sheer powder blue shift that didn't hide a lot, it
wasn't see through though. Then again, Hawk couldn't feel much of anything, and
didn't
have
a sex drive, so sleeping with a hot girl all day would be a
purely aesthetic thing for him.

Don moved toward Nikki first, having learned by now who would
be first in line, at least roughly. She pulled the sheer top up slowly, drawing
it against her skin in a way that seemed seductive and artistic all at the same
time. Don placed his hand on her stomach firmly and started breathing deeply as
he fed her while Kaitlyn explained the new situation.

“So that's where we stand right now. We need to get everyone
in place for guard duty and I'd like someone to stay with Gretchen for a while,
at least at night. Jelly's coming here tonight and maybe Gretchen if she needs
to, so everyone remember not to do anything too weird. Right now we need to get
Hawk fed too, and then changed for work, all right?” She looked at each person
in turn and they all agreed with her, even Don, though he couldn't speak and
pass along the needed energy at the same time.

Don fed Hawk next, taking a lot less time than normal with
it, which caused the boy to spasm a little, but he didn't say anything about
it. When that was done the boy turned to her and waited. Kate smiled and asked
him to take off his clothes and hop on the bed. When he did he climbed in face
down still not saying anything.

Kate got it immediately, the boy simply expected that
someone, probably Don, would be having sex with him and having not been told to
do something different, he assumed it would require him to be turned away.

“Hey, go ahead and roll over. This isn't about sex, at least
not yet. What I need to do is change you into someone that can stay with
Gretchen all night without raising suspicions. I checked with Jelly and
Gretchen seems to be into guys, and slightly older guys at that, so we need to
age you up a little. It won't hurt... are you ready?” She kept her voice light
and happy, the boy just rolled over and nodded, his affect a little flat. She'd
have to help him work on that if she could. Faking Human mannerisms made
such
a big difference in how people responded to a Vampire.

Don moved in beside her and worked his hand up her shirt,
sitting turned away from the boy so he could reach her easily and began dumping
energy into her, she waited until she was full, and just about to start orgasming
before initiating the change. She did a male to male shift this time, not
knowing if it would work, but dreading the two hours it would take otherwise.
It actually worked pretty well, though she was really glad for the extra energy
she got from Don.

Her plan was a simple one and involved Gretchen's favorite
television program's star, a ruggedly handsome action hero that played,
surprisingly enough, a bodyguard. She'd studied several pictures of the man on
the internet earlier, and planned out with a few tweaks that she thought might
help a bit. A slightly flatter nose shape, better muscular definition and just
enough hint of stubble to look manly and like someone you'd trust to protect
you. When she was done Hawk had turned from a rather average looking brown
haired teen boy, into a television caliber hottie that should get Gretchen's
attention instantly, and make her want to have him staying the night without
having to argue the point with her.

Standing up, Hawk made his way to the mirror and looked
surprised. An actual look of mild shock took over his face for a moment, before
he smiled. The new man looked ripped, his skin a little darker than he'd
expected, it seemed, and older than he'd thought. About mid thirties. He looked
down and noticed his penis. Kate saw the response and tilted her head at him.
The move was a bit coy and playful.

She raised a hand to keep him from speaking, “I know! But
Jelly swears that that's what Gretchen keeps saying she wants. So, I've turned
you into her perfect man... Just in case you have to sleep with her. No need to
leave her disappointed.”

As Jelly had explained it, Gretchen, who'd had several
boyfriends and more than a few one night stands during the year would go on and
on about wanting a guy with a
big one,
and had graphically described what
she wanted, more than once, to her roommate. Complete with hand gestures, and
several times pictorial demonstrations. If Hawk, looking like this, couldn't
get the girl's attention, then nothing would.

Grabbing her phone from the table next to her, Kate dialed
Willet while Nikki and Don found clothes that would fit new Hawk, who was about
as tall as Don, and similar in size, if a little leaner looking. Don gave him a
slightly envious look and kept digging through what clothes he had in her room,
brought in just for this reason. Thinking about it Kate realized she could
probably do this with anyone. At least if they were Human enough looking to
start with. If Don wanted to look more like Hawk did, she could make it happen.
She'd probably need Zack to pass energy to her while doing it, or Chris, but
the whole idea seemed pretty doable, now that she thought about it. Really, it
was probably a good skill to practice, if she got a chance.

The outfit they had was perfect for the role, too. A blue
workman's button front, faded and slightly worn, and tight blue jeans that
really showed off Hawk's new behind. They put a pair of black tennis shoes on
his feet and managed to be just generic enough looking that it wouldn't seem
like they were dressing him up to be the character from the television show on
purpose, while still leaving him looking a lot like the actor.

They told Willet to let Gretchen know they'd arranged a guard
for her, a Mr. Eugene Hawk. He'd be there within a few hours.

“That's to give her time to get used to the idea. She should
like him though, once she sees him.”