Other Places 3: Detours

Other Places:
Book Three

Detours

P.S. Power

Orange Cat
Publishing

Zack
was a bit amazed at how fast the work had gotten done on the new store.
His
new place. It had gone from being two empty store shells in the Westfield mall,
to having polished hard wood floors, a nice front counter area, rows of solid
wood bookshelves, and a small cafe in the back on the left hand side. There was
more than that too, since on that same side, a bit more forward, was the
"reading room" where people could take books they selected and lounge
on comfy sofas or in nicely appointed leather chairs while they read.

If
one of the Alede, or Zack supposed, other workers there, didn't lock the doors
so they could have sex. That was the real purpose of the place after all.
Technically there were two small rooms in there for that, having their own
furniture. To him it seemed a bit overdone, but he hadn't had to do all the
work, so wasn't going to whine about it.

Kaitlyn
and some of her friends had done that part. He'd just paid for it all. The cafe
had been put in place by a nice Hsreth woman, named Palma, who had come with a
recommendation from Zack's Aunt, Keeley. She looked like all of her kind, sort
of blocky, with naturally curly hair, and pale skin. Still, she was willing to
work for room, board and only a few thousand dollars a month. That was really
high, for a simple mall worker, but the woman was a three hundred year old master
chef
and
baker, so it was probably a steal, as far as that went. True,
it meant that Zack had to trade for a small house close to the mall for her to
live in, but that hadn't been all that hard really. People were more than
willing to help him set things like that up now, for some reason.

Even
the ones that were clearly afraid of him. Especially them.

That
part of things wasn't his favorite, if he was going to be honest with the
world. No one wanted people to live in fear of them, did they?

Mirror
Him, the voice that lived inside of his head laughed, and let his face show a
bit in the shining brass molding along one of the shelves.

'Right.
No one wants to be feared... except for half of humanity. That's a kind of
power, if you aren't too much of a pussy to take it.' There was less sarcasm in
the words than Zack was used to, as if the broken part of his mind was actually
just making a point.

He
was probably right, which was a scary thing to consider. Greater Demons were a
lot of things, including
strange
, and about half the time, totally
insane, like him. No one ever thought of them as wimps though. If he let that
happen, well, the other Demons wouldn't make fun of him. They'd capitalize on
it, and kill him, before he even noticed it being done.

That
sent a small shiver of fear through his soul, but Zack focused, remembering
what it felt like to be calm and collected, then added a sense of confidence to
the mix, as well as a tiny touch of magic. He'd been learning to be careful
there, not using more than was really needed. No one had told him that, but
once he started paying attention, it just made sense. You shouldn't waste
resources, if you could help it.

He
didn't answer the voice in his head, or the reflection in the brass work,
choosing to keep looking around closely instead. The books were on their
shelves, all in the correct sections, and tightly packed enough that the place
seemed to be real, not just a front for other things. They had a computer
system set up too, with every title cataloged, as well as the ability to find
and order things for pretty much anyone that wanted it.

The
place smelled a bit, since there was a hint of plaster and dust in the air
still, from some work being done earlier in the day. The new plants had been
brought in though, and while they were all ones that could deal well in low
light situations, they were also nice and green, giving the place a refined
feeling, that wasn't scary or depressing at all. A lot of the shops at the mall
had that kind of vibe going on, which, along with the horrible location, being near
the middle of an industrial area, meant very few real customers ever came in.

Still,
the whole place, other than being a sex hunting ground for the Alede, was
really a front for his own operation. That took up nearly a third of the space
too, and was off to the right, through the rather nice double wide wooden door
there. The handles were more brass, and it was decorated with carvings of owls
and pine cones. Okay, that was a bit generous, since it looked more like whoever
had done it had started out doing very professional work and became brain
damaged toward the bottom, but the fact was that it had been the other way
around.

Zack
had gotten decently good at it by the time he reached the top. He was already
working on another version of it, but even Darla, his Greater Demon Mentor, had
thought that very few people would care about his shoddy and inept work on
that. That was a quote too. She
wanted
him to do his best, and so did
he, but she was also practical. The truth was that only a few people out of
every hundred would do more than glance at the thing, and half of them that did
would think it was a stylized representation, or something.

Those
that claimed to be interested in art generally tried to be open minded too, which
made the whole thing a lot easier that way.

The
door didn't make a sound as he entered at least, the hinges well fit and oiled,
by him again, and the space on the other side was...

Pretty
nice, and basically open. He had a little office in the back, but it was only
about five by seven, and had a single tiny desk in it for answering the phone,
if it came up. There were a few hooks on the walls for coats and things like
that too. That, a soft looking office chair and a walk around phone. That was
it for the place, so far. He'd need to personalize it with pictures, or some
art.

The
main area was done in marble, with a stone circle on the floor about halfway to
the back. That was where the node was, as demonstrated by the cut green marble
tile that sat in a sea of white that had soft green streaks in it. He'd picked
it all out, and again, done the work on it himself, but it had been after the
door, and gone a lot better.

That
was mainly thanks to the vast storehouse of information in his head though. All
of art, history and pretty much any skill that anyone had ever come up with.
All he had to do was think about a subject for a bit, and the data would start
to flow. It was harder to work with than it sounded, and he knew he wasn't
really getting it all yet, but hey, for a Demon like him, that was pretty much
what crazy meant.

Now
all they had to do was sit around and wait for some customers.

Zack
grinned, and headed out to the main area. Right now the floor staff was totally
made up of women, for some reason, though that could change, if he wanted.
Daily, if need be. The Alede were all going out as women at first, but if a lot
of females came into the store, then they'd accommodate them by becoming a
trove of good looking men.

Right
now though it was Claudia and Kaitlyn holding the front, along with him and Palma
in their own sections. He was, even though no one knew it yet, planning to work
clean up, and on the floor, for the most part. All the stocking was done for
the moment, but things came up at busy places. He was almost sure of it. Not
that this one would have that kind of traffic, especially at first.

On
the good side, they were going to be open twenty-four hours a day, since one of
the things he got out of being him was the nifty ability to not need sleep. Not
that he'd be there all the time, but if a call came in at four in the morning,
there would be a body there to get in touch with him.

So
far though, no one seemed ready to come in. Then again, the front was closed
off, and the big steel safety gate was still down, making that hard for regular
people that might want to give them a try. Kaitlyn waved to him, Claudia
standing beside her, beaming. It was almost nine after all, so they stood ready
to get things started. It was sort of exciting, after all. He'd never owned a
business before.

Kaitlyn
smiled at him, far too cutely for a real girl, her thick rimmed glasses looking
out of place on her face. Like she was actually a top actress, just
pretending
to be a nerd girl for a role. Since that wasn't too far off, Zack let it go. At
least she'd worn jeans and a nice sweater, rather than a mini skirt and
come-fuck-me heels. Like the Alede next to her. She
did
look hot though.
About as sexy as was manageable for a place like what they had.

Zack
smiled back at them.

"All
right! Palma, ready in the back?" He pitched his voice to be almost
playful, since that was a thing he could do, if he worked at it. There was a
brief pause, before the woman answered. It was, Zack knew, that she'd actually
done an assessment of the whole cafe and eating area before responding. She was
good at her job and took it seriously.

"The
back stands ready!"

Then
trying to be cute, he looked at the two girls. Well, one girl and one woman.
They both looked young, but the fact was that Claudia was fifty-three, for all
that she looked thirty years younger than that. Kaitlyn was seventeen though,
and looked it.

"Ready
in the front?"

The
older one licked her lips, her mind going to things other than steel door
activation switches, but Kaitlyn answered. Her words a bit loud so that Palma
could hear her too.

"The
front stands ready!"

Zack
took a deep breath and then leaned in next to Kait, turning the brass key and
holding it in place, since that was needed to work the door. There was a red
and silver button too, which he pointed at.

"Ladies,
if you'd do the honors?" That meant both of the incredibly good looking
women pressing against him in order to get it done. Not that they
had
to
do that at all, but asking a succubus to avoid contact was probably considered
rude, he reflected, trying to ignore it without using any magic to get the job
done.

Then,
slowly and a bit laboriously, the heavy metal safety grate pulled up, spooling
onto the roll at the top, stopping with a soft clank. The lights were already
on, but they had some book displays that would actually move right out to the
front, as well as signs on stands. Working as if they'd practiced the moves,
that got done in about a minute, without any stress or dumping out of
bestselling books at all.

Zack
clapped, then spoke, not bothering to make himself lie. That was still hard for
him, but could be done, with enough magic and make believe. Otherwise he still
told the truth all the time.

"Good,
now if you two remember to up sell, and remind people that Palma is one of the
best at her job, we might even have a real customer or two someday." There
was a smile that went with it, which turned to a soft chuckle when Kait made a
tense face.

"Um,
up-sell?"

Being
a drop dead gorgeous succubus meant that a lot of them didn't have jobs at
McDonald's when they were teens, but
she'd
worked in a coffee shop, so
there was no excuse for her.

Zack
nodded.

"You
know, suggest that people buy things, especially if they go along with what
they're getting at the time. You know, if they come in for a cookie, suggest a
coffee or hot chocolate to go along with it. If they like mysteries, point out
the new one that came in, that kind of thing. You know, like when you go to a
fast food place and they ask if you want a drink with that?"

The
older Alede nodded her pretty red head and gave him a look that was best
described as
saucy
. At least he thought that was what she was going for.
He still had to think about things like that, since he was a bit, stunted, in
that regard.

Still,
she followed it with a light smile, which he figured meant she wasn't being
mean to him.

"I
see, so, we tell them that we'll blow them,
if
they buy at least a
hundred dollars worth of stuff?" She giggled a bit, as if it were a joke.

Zack
shook his head.

"Nooo...
That
would be prostitution. Blow them and
then
suggest that
you'll be their friend if they buy things? I'm sure you'll work it out. In the
main though, I mean real sales, not, you know, using sex for everything. Not
that you won't do that too, but it isn't what you get paid for."

That
got the two women to stare at him a bit.

Finally,
Kaitlyn pushed her plain glass, make-believe glasses up with a finger.

"We
get
paid
too? I thought it was all about the free energy."

They
were all standing in the front of the place, since there was literally no one
visible in the mall yet, talking about everything for the entire world to hear.
Then again, anyone with good enough ears knew their secrets already, and if
they didn't, they would after Zack sent Kait around with coupons for books and
a flyer letting everyone know that mall employees got free food there. Like the
rest of the mall, it wasn't a real store, so he could do that.