On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (9 page)

“It sounds cool and all until you understand that about three
quarters of people that think they're important
really
want you to
believe it and instead of letting their name carry weight with you, they try to
make you
notice
them as important. On the good side it means that you
really notice the polite ones that much more.”

Britney bounced in place happily, asking question after
question, since Kate suddenly seemed a lot more interesting than she had
before, at least that was Kate's guess as to her sudden interest.

“Who's the nicest famous person you ever met?”

“Well, outside of personal friends and family members that
have
to be nice to me you mean?” The other girl nodded as if that only made sense.
“Well, I think that's probably a tie between Clyde, the North American leader
for the Weres, and Eloise Penbroke the world Leader for the Mages. Eloise
always remembers my name and insists that I just call her Eloise. Which is
really nice of her considering I'm really just a store clerk, or was at the
time. Clyde's nice, and also kind of hot. Before you ask, no I haven't slept
with him. It's always been an emergency when we've crossed paths. I doubt he
knows who I am personally, but still, always really soft spoken and polite,
even when everyone else around him is melting down.”

Britney dug into her box of bottled juices and pulled one
out, unscrewing the cap she took a sip and shuddered in pleasure a tiny bit
when it hit her tongue. Then she took another sip, repeating the reaction.

“This stuff is
so
good Kate. Your friend Merri should
make this professionally. Sell it for three bucks a bottle and people would
still buy it faster than she could make it, I bet.” Another sip.

“OK, who's the most famous person you've slept with? Is it
Hartley? Tell me it is and I'll fuck you right here, just to touch something
that touched him!”

Kate laughed and pushed the other girl away, as she playfully
tried to climb into her lap. After a minute of this, Britney started to chant
“Tell me” under her breath.

“Seriously? OK, but you can't tell anyone, all right? Not
even Blaine. If you don't promise, I won't tell you. There's an actual reason
for this, or there might be at least, so...” She looked at the girl, knowing
that from what she already said that she could put everything together and hoping
that the girl would prove trustworthy.

“I promise! If I tell a soul, without your direct permission
or dire need, life and death need, you can take my eyes out every day for a
month. I know you can do it and
you
know I'll heal from it, but still...
Ow, right?” She looked at her friend, big cornflower blue eyes locked on her
own deeper blue.

“OK... The most famous person I've ever had sex with is...
Libby Paterson.” She looked at the other girl, watching things come together in
her head.

“Wait, I know that name... Isn't that the bat girl that
betrayed Hartley? Seriously? You really did her? Cool! Before or after that
whole thing?”

“Both, but mainly after, only once before, but don't tell
Zack. I technically wasn't supposed to be having sex with anyone back then. It
was kind of a thing at the time. I was having energy control problems... She's
a bit of a nympho though, thankfully, and lured me into it. I guess all bats
are kind of like that? A bit like us in regards to sex, I mean. Which given
what we are, you have to know wasn't all
that
hard to do. I should
invite her over here for a visit soon. Maybe the weekend after next? I'd say
this weekend, but I've got that date with Don, unless, I mean, do you want me
to break it? I know how much he means to you, but I'm actually looking forward
to the movies and having sex with him after. I haven't gotten any in weeks...”

This led to a discussion about Zack coming to deliver energy
to her every few days, which led to the next inevitable question.

“Who's Zack?”

“Zack Hartley. Remember last night when I kicked you all out
because Hartley was coming? Surprise... He actually was. That's when I told him
about how you all loved the things Merri had made for me before, he told her
and she had him deliver the things for all of you today. So if you really want
to have sex with something Hartley touched, everything in that box probably
counts. More, he even touched it knowing it was for
you
...”

It seemed clear that the girl thought she was lying to her
now. But she played along for a time anyway, finally she broke, laughing out
loud.

“Nah... Good try though! You had me right up to the point
where Hartley's your personal errand boy. Too bad, I would have happily done
myself with this bottle later, thinking Hartley had touched it and had a full
hour of bliss over the idea. Still, it's a good line and your delivery is
really flawless. You should consider writing some time, you know there really
is
a whole bunch of Hartley fan fiction out there. You can find it online.
You should be especially interested in the “slash” fiction. My favorite is the
one some guy wrote putting himself in as a Vampire character. Look up
Hartley/David on Google. Talk about steamy! I'd almost be willing to do this David
guy just for writing it.”

She took off then, giving her a wink and telling her to let
Merri know she
appreciated
the things she'd sent.

Kate laughed for a while then, feeling a little like she
dodged a bullet, kicking herself a bit for telling the girl so much when she
was supposed to be keeping everything a secret. She let go of it after a few
minutes, it being already done and grabbed a bottle of the juice Merri had sent
her from the fridge. She worked until the paper for art history was finished as
well as she thought she could get it, printed out and bound, coming in at seven
pages printed, single spaced. She hoped that wouldn't hurt her grade too much,
being longer than it should.

Then she looked up that Hartley fan fiction. It was
fascinating
.

Most of it was horrible of course. Truly awful, and obviously
written by Alede that thought that Hartley was someone or
something
very
different than he really was. Darker in personality, more of a fighter than a
lover, bossy and egocentric to start with. Purely sadistic in a few of the
stories.

Some of the others were poorly written or in a few cases,
written well, but by someone that thought that Zack wasn't Human at all. He'd
turn into a werewolf during sex or his ancient reptile form would show through.
Something like that.

Still, when you hit specific names, some pretty interesting
stories popped up. All of the Vampires she knew had a story with Hartley, not
just David. Several of the Alfric did. Mac and Merri as well as Glen and Xan.
She could buy that someone would know who Glen was from stories that had
leaked, being the leader of Merri's people at Underwood, but Xan? The Alfric
who ran the Burger Joint? Sure, a cool guy
and
a good friend to Zack,
but who outside of the mall would really know that at all?

Everyone had a story with Zack it seemed, including her...
except
Riley the Trickster. That sounded like a bit of a challenge to her. He may have
even written all the other stories himself just to get her to make one up about
him. Or, she reflected, Rose might have done it, though she probably would have
just called and asked Kate to write it if she wanted to see it done, being cool
that way. Most Tricksters didn't just share information, because most beings
wouldn't do what they needed them to. A lot of time those things could be
morally incorrect, but clearly needed, but sometimes they were just painful, or
embarrassing. So they had to fool people into doing what the universe needed
accomplished to stay in balance. She'd learned a long time before that when a
Trickster wanted something done, it was almost always best to just go along with
them. It didn't mean you'd be safe or not end up looking stupid, but it
generally stopped the worst of it, because they didn't have to add any little
personal “lessons” for you then.

 She started writing, feeling a little awkward at first. Zack
wouldn't
have sex with a man... It was kind of a blind spot for him, and
probably stemmed from the horrible abuse that he'd undergone as a child, rather
than any kind of actual hatred for gay people. So it wasn't going to happen, unless
he was
tricked
of course. After four hours she had a story worth putting
up online she thought, in which Riley ended up having rather uncomfortable anal
sex after fooling Zack into believing he was actually his sister Rose. It was
actually halfway funny, she realized, in a farcical kind of way. Especially the
part where Rose catches her brother and tricks him into putting on a sign
proclaiming himself to be a pervert, covered in super-glue.

She signed her real name to it, so that if Riley objected
he'd know who to go to, and submitted it to the web-site that had most of the
other decent stuff on it. Now, as long as the site wasn't run by Riley...and
given the Trickster's nature, possibly even if it
was
, it should go up
within a few days.

After that she was left with about eight hours before she had
to do anything the next day. Not needing sleep and having had plenty to eat,
she found herself kind of at loose ends. She'd started to eat a sandwich from
the fridge out of boredom when the phone rang. She picked it up quickly, since
it was nearly two in the morning and a ringing phone could potentially bother
someone, even with the ringer turned down to the lowest audible setting.

“Kaitlyn?” Came a familiar voice, Zack's, from the handset.
“Could we possibly borrow your healing skills here, um, now? We have three
injured. No one you know, but it's important that they live if at all possible.
Wu-Li's trying but he can only do so much when severe trauma is involved. He
felt that you might be able to do a lot more though...”

As always with Zack, he didn't ask in a way that made her
feel obligated. He sounded almost like he didn't care what she did, or at least
like he didn't want to pressure her, thinking that one action would be as good
as any other. She knew him though, maybe better than anyone else in the whole
world. After all, she'd spent decades in the void, with nothing else around her
but
him
. The opposite being true as well, she knew, he'd spent that same
time doing nothing, but focusing on her.

He wouldn't ask for her help if there was another way, not
when she was supposed to be off at school learning and doing student stuff. If
it had been
really
important to him, personally, he would have just
shown up, risking interruption of whatever she might be doing. Her being a
Succubus, that would probably involve sex to his mind, even though she hadn't
gotten any sex at college yet, though she'd been here for nearly a week now.
Maybe she could get some from someone at the mall though, depending on who was
there, of course. It would be the middle of the night, so most of the people
would be working or gone for the day, depending on which embassy they were
with.

“Sure, I'm free, I just finished up my art history paper and
I don't have any classes till later. Noon my time. When can you get here?” She
knew it could be a variable amount of time. If he stood in the back of
Something Wonderful or Candles and More, the shops he frequented most often,
since he owned Something Wonderful and did most of his work at the other place,
it could be a minute or two before he worked his way over to her, if he didn't
push it. On the other hand, if he had really expected her to come, he might
have called from the house in which case...

The thin, young looking man stepped into the room with her
almost instantly. He wore nice clothes for this time of day. Slacks, a button
front shirt and blazer that looked casual-dressy. The only thing that kept him
from being really good looking, for a Human anyway, was his weight. Every time
he managed to gain anything, it seemed like something would happen, forcing him
back into a hyper thin, raw boned look.

She hung up the phone and set it back on the desk, knowing
that he wouldn't have come that quickly if it wasn't at least a little bit
important, call or not. Putting out her left hand and darting toward him, Kate
moved, hoping he'd do what he used to and simply pull her through the rift,
instead of knocking her out or something. He hadn't
seemed
twitchy or
anything, but who could blame him after all he'd been through if he was?

He made the grab perfectly, as if they'd planned it and
turned, pulling her through the dip in space in the middle of her dorm room,
into the living room of the big house everyone shared. Home.

“We should probably hurry.” He told her, not letting go of
her arm, running toward the kitchen with her, which wasn't too far away from
where they'd come out, just around the corner.

Merri, the small, adorably cute red-headed woman looked up
from the oven, where she had something baking that smelled wonderful. A smile
came over her face and her eyes lit up as she saw them. “Kaitlyn! Welcome
back.”

Zack laughed and called out that they'd be back later as he
pulled Kate out the back door, she managed to call out to the woman as they
passed though.

“Love you...”

Then Zack yanked her out the door, into the rift that would
carry them to the mall.

Going through a rift didn't feel like anything, not to her at
least. The sudden shifts could be a little disorienting to some people, but to
her it always seemed like she blinked and the world around her just changed.
Kind of like a slide show or something like that, or a jump cut in a movie. In
a way it felt a little disappointing at first, since it always seemed like
teleporting thousands of miles or even a few feet, should be accompanied by a
special effect of some kind. At least a popping sound or a flash of light.
Instead all she got was a sudden smell of fruit potpourri, which she associated
with the gift basket shop they'd just gone in to.