Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (4 page)

Kate waved at herself first.

"Kate. Obviously. These two
are Donald and Christopher. Even though Chris is a few hundred years older than
Don, his brother thinks that looking fourteen here means that he should be
allowed to get busy. With anyone.
Ever
. I love him, but frankly I'm
about to have a fight with him over it. So, in other words, both of you can
ignore Don on that one?"

The new vampire nodded then.

"No problem on my end. I
don't have a sex drive really, but I hardly
ever
bite people
anymore." She grinned, which was a bit glib seeming, though Chris let go
of Lyn and hugged her too. Not being bitten at all. It sort of proved the
point.

They were about the same height,
so the boy managed to look her dead in the eye, his voice a little deeper than
normal.

"Making
you
my new
best friend. Cool. We can all share a room? Or... Are you staying with
Zack?"

That was a good question, and he
had a real answer to it.

"For a few days. They have
real lives to get back to, and I want everyone to learn where the new nodes
are. It isn't that hard to find, once you've been there. So, you know, you can
try to get a date with one of them and everything." Zack was going for
happy seeming about that, and didn't really care that much. Don really was
doing too much to keep his younger brother from having any fun.

Yes, there was societal and
brotherly responsibility involved, but Chris was old enough in real time to not
need to worry about things like a few human years. Everyone standing there was.
Except Troy, but that was probably going to have to change soon. He'd never
gone into the lines, and even if he wasn't going to make it as a line walker,
the discipline would be good for him.

Too many things were going wrong
now for any of their people to be left untrained.

He waved to his pal, since he
needed a lift back home, and then for the others to follow him. His first stop
was the back of Something Wonderful, since it was nearly dinner time, and he
had people to pick up for the trip. It was December, and his version of dinner
came early, since there would be a rush in the food court starting at four or
so. It was more like two. That meant it was light outside.

Eve
didn't
fall down dead
however, which sort of meant she was a very old vampire. That, or something
similar to it. Claire was up all the time, but she was about three hundred years
old. It
was
possible that the whole thing worked differently in her
world, which would give them all something to chat about later.

At the front desk of Something
Wonderful they stopped. Charli was behind the counter, her outfit for the day
being highly professional, with just enough makeup on her face to look good.
She'd started dressing up a bit for work each day, since they'd named her the
assistant Ambassador for the Nation of Line Walkers. It was an actual position
that needed to be taken seriously, so she did.

Looking up she smiled, did a
double take over the multiple Alede copies, and bowed a bit. It was a little
funny looking for a mall, but even the other people in the store shopping for
Christmas, didn't notice the move.

Oddly, the new girls both froze
in place.

Lyn gasped.

"Charli? You're
alive
?"
Then she dashed around the counter, and held the girl like she was going out of
style. Which, from her words, was just the case.

Eve took a very deep breath and
nodded. There was a pained look on her face, but she just explained, out loud,
as if no one could hear her.

"Our Charli died in an
attack about three years ago. I didn't save her. Princess Pretty Nail was blown
up. We lost three people. I stopped the vampire that attacked, but... I was too
late." Her voice was sad, even though the reality here was different. Not
that Charli didn't take the hug.

"Hi! This is a bit
different. Um... Shape shifters?" The girl looked at everyone, but saw
Zack shake his head, so moved back as Lyn backed away from her.

"Alternate reality. These
are new line walkers. They have another one there, but
he's
a demon.
That's a different thing there, I think. They don't possess people?" He
thought that might be right, but looked at Eve for an answer. She rallied from
the set back of seeing Charli come back from the dead, and agreed with that,
nodding.

"True. Not that they're all
hugs and loves all the time. Don't think that. Zack is noted as being the best
of them, and he's really young. Our Zack. You seem pretty cool too, of course.
I mean, after all that quality time we spent with each other. That pretty much
means we're dating too, right?" She grinned.

Zack laughed at her.

"Not even a little bit.
You're all my children now. More or less. Maybe family of some other
type?" Either of them worked for him.

Kate agreed with that, then
looked at Lyn.

"
We
aren't though, so
you know, if we get a chance we should have sex. It will be kinky without being
wrong at the same time."

The other Alede nodded, since she
was a succubus to, and Chris sighed.

"That sound so fun. Eve here
and I will run the cameras. Are you in Charli?"

The girl behind the tall wooden counter
seemed fine with that.

"Sure? I can borrow some
equipment. We'll need lights, too. Some sex toys... I mean, we
are
going
to put it up online, right?" There was a slightly playful grin then, since
she was up on what Don would think of his brother being involved in anything
like that, and it was kind of fun, to her way of thinking, to dig at him a
little bit.

Not that it was due to her being
mean. She actually liked Don. A
lot
. That news surprised Zack a little
bit, since he'd managed to miss that before. The girl had been warming his bed,
off and on, and thought of herself as his girlfriend. The big trouble there was
that she was starting to see what Zack could, and probably should, have told
her all along. He was way too busy, and had far too many women in his life.
They weren't his to give away, but if Charli was smart enough to get that on
her own, he kind of had to support her in moving away from him that way.

Chris didn't think it was real,
however, though both the Alede duplicates were actually willing enough to take
a shot at doing it. Even with a crowd there with them. The idea that it might
be more fun that way rang off of them.

For his part... Zack chose not to
care.

Not in an angry, or jealous way.
Both girls were friendly enough that he could get them to let him join in, at
least eventually. They were just...
His
. His family. The rules were
different for them, but the Nation of Line Walkers was so new that they didn't
have real rules for anything yet. It could be that, in the end, the Alede way
would end up informing their collective moral attitudes towards sex. Hopefully
not love, since that was harder for them to manage. Not impossible, but love,
the real, sterling and ringing thing, was mainly held close by the Alede.

That was, they loved their
children, and at times their close friends. It wasn't romantic however.
Heartfelt and real, but not... What human beings meant that way.

Troy, clearly assuming he was
going to be left out looked over at Eve. It was the kind of thing that searched
for a pal to commiserate with.

"I notice that neither of us
were invited? I blame Chris for that. I mean, someone needs to set up the sound
equipment, but does he think of me? Nope. Not at all."

The girl laughed a bit, and shook
her head.

"I'll pass, thanks. I don't
need to get involved with seedy pornographers." It was meant to be funny,
and was, though Don winced and gasped, turning away suddenly.

A deep, half manly, sob came out
of him. Zack knew that he didn't want to bring up the topic at the moment. Eve
however looked at the gangly eighteen year old and winced.

"Okay, I missed something
here. Is there some kind of social taboo, or... I don't know what I did."
Her voice was monotone, the beast that was the vampire that lived inside of her
held very still, worried that she'd truly stepped in it and alienated everyone
there already.

Kate moved a step away from Lyn,
who she'd been pretending to pet and cuddle a bit for affect, and looked at the
vampire.

"Don... He was... I..."
No tears came, but she looked away, and stopped speaking.

Finally, Don looked up, his face
hard.

"I was changed into a girl,
and drugged by pornographers that were shooting porn movies. They killed me,
over and over. Raped, too. Sorry, it wasn't
you
. I just..." His
shadow self wanted him to run, to flee the scene at best speed.

Eve however just nodded at him,
her own face still.

"Do you know who they are?
I'll go find them, and then we can... Make certain they never harm anyone else
again." She meant murder. There was no hesitation either.

Someone had hurt her new friend,
so they would pay.

Zack shook his head, trying to do
it at the right speed to not set an angry vampire off.

"Dead. All of them. We took
in a team. They'd killed several others first. It... We should have been able
to stop them, but Tricksters were involved. I don't know if you have those in
your world?"

That got several nods. Lyn was
the one that spoke now, her face sad, suddenly.

"Like Riley? The Brer?"

Zack let his head move a bit,
"his Aunt in this case. There was no trick. There wasn't time for that. It
happened during the attack on Lesser Shia, and Don had to act, to hold them in
place, or else many more would have died."

That the guy had known what was
going to happen, including that he was going to die at the same time... That
part was so tough that Zack could still hardly credit it. He honestly didn't
think he could have done the same thing, knowing all of it. It was needed
however, no matter how much it harmed him. It
did
however. Don hadn't
really been the same since then. Chris looked down at the floor, and was
keeping himself from getting angry using a level of control that stressed the
space around him more than a little.

Finally Zack waved at the front.

"I need to go and get some
dinner. I don't know who all is hungry, but I'm buying."

Eve waved the words away, but Lyn
and most of the others nodded.

"Sounds great. Thanks. I
wonder if the food court is any different here?" She seemed curious, but
had nailed the destination in one.

Merry was working, so of course she'd
want them to come to her for food. Unless she was busy with other duties. Then
they could all just get a burger, or some Italian food. It wasn't the first
time that he'd brought friends in for food, and given that it was the literal
job of the food court to feed whoever showed up and paid, it wasn't that big of
an issue. If it was too much, then he could get Merry to take the funds for it
from the household budget.

That was constantly just building
up, after all. The last he'd heard, it had been in the tens of millions of
ounces of gold. That added up.

When they finally got to the food
court, it was only ten percent full. That meant that his tiny, and adorable
Elth wife came running out to him, carrying a large tray filled with food on
her shoulder. She was only about three feet and nine inches tall, which wasn't
that tiny for her people. Some of the people were bigger, but none of them were
large by any means. Even given that, she was several times stronger than he
was. Also focused enough that she got the food on the glass topped table in
front of him before she noticed the new people.

Then she clapped her hands
together, firmly.

"Ah! You've gotten some new
women? We should find a position for them as under wives. Such ancient and
esteemed ones as well. Excellent. May I get food for any of you?" She
looked at Lyn first, and then Kate. Clearly getting who they were, or at least
that they weren't the same person.

Don raised his right hand.

"That sounds wonderful, if
it's not a problem? I forgot to eat earlier."

Merry smiled at him, and then
nodded, not answering, as the rest of them nodded, except Eve, who smiled, with
her mouth closed.

"I'm good, I won't need to
eat for a long time.
Drink
, but you understand the idea? I'm getting
energy from my links, even if they are in a different world. That's sort of
perfect."

That got a bow from the little
lady, who bowed toward her.

"I do, dark one. I shall get
food for these others? Oh, can one of you run something to Lisa when you're
done? I know that I should do it..." She wrung her hands, looking more
than a little upset. She meant Zack, or perhaps Chris.

Eve smiled and nodded then.

"I can do that. Candles and
More here, too?"

Merry bowed again, looking a
little bit mortified, but she didn't suggest that anyone else should do it
instead. That was beyond rude for an Elth. If you claimed a task, saying it
wasn't yours was the same as telling a person they weren't good enough to
matter. Moving with quick, faster than human, motions the woman moved back to
the right, where her brother, Mac, was behind the counter, serving customers.