Other Places 3: Detours (24 page)

Or,
he hoped, some Sprite, since Human blood was a bit too expensive for someone
that didn't need it to survive. Zack knew he could drink it, and probably even
make himself enjoy it, but at a hundred dollars a glass, he didn't think he
really wanted to try.

Lisa
wasn't having any either. Or booze. Not in her condition.

"That
sounds good. Shall we go in? Early seating, so I don't know if things are ready
inside, or not."

On
the way past he patted Kevin on the shoulder and leaned in.

"Collectively
they own the club, so... You know, if you see any of them again, keep that in
mind? No one is supposed to know that though." It wasn't exactly true, but
it should get about the right response from the man, if asked about it. Inside,
about ten feet into the decently large space, Edom moved over to them, flowing
smoothly, and pretending not to have just been running.

"Welcome!
We have seats for you up front, please, if you will, come with me." He
didn't seem panicked, outwardly. Inside his mind raced and he kept imagining
Bey making his head explode for him. That or Gene setting him on fire, which
was apparently a thing the kid could do with his mind. Not that he was really a
child at all. Looks aside. It was important to keep reminding himself of that
sort of thing.

Rebekah
bowed, and took Zack's hand again, as if to reassure herself.

It
was pretty clear, from her thoughts, that she hadn't been the one that he'd had
sex with. On the good side, it was pretty certain that she wanted to, so at
least there was that. It meant that, when Troy looked over he went a little
wide eyed, before he waved. Jealous that Zack was hooking up with the
celebrity.

"Zack!
Darla!" He glanced at the group and waved again. "Bey!" It was
odd, but it meant that everyone in their group of high powered Vampires ended
up going over to the bar, with Edom looking at Troy as if he'd gone insane.

Troy
however seemed pretty happy to have visitors.

"I
got stuck working, last minute. Can I get you folks anything in particular?
We'll also have someone come around, if you don't know what you want yet, but
things can get confusing once the place gets packed. We can do most mix drinks,
soda, or, um, blood?" He whispered the last bit, but Bey clapped.

"Ah,
truly you are an excellent host, young Edom. We have fed, this night, but
perhaps something small would do? Just for the flavor?" Then he bowed
suddenly and touched his hand to his chest. "Forgive me Troy! I am remiss
in my introductions. You, of course, are an old friend of both the Line Walker,
Zachary, and The Technician, Darla Gibson. You know also the Mage Ambassador's
assistant, Lisa Weise?"

Troy
looked at her and blinked.

"I
do! Hey Lisa. I didn't recognize you at first, you look...
Good
."
It was flirty enough in tone that he didn't get glared at for the words at
least.

Bey
continued, as if introducing people to Troy, the bartender, made perfect sense.
Which it did, actually. The Council had just driven up and joined them, and
while they knew who
he
was on sight,
Darla
was probably new to
most of them. At least in her current form. Bey was making certain that his
fellows had that information, without actually groveling in supplication.

The
others were introduced, as if to Troy directly, and Marissa took the time to
take his hand and make eyes at him. It didn't seem all that out of place.

So
they ended up getting blood for the Vampires, but not too much, since it would
be a waste, and cola's for the rest of them. The only strange thing there was
that Gene took one of those too. Asking for a cherry in it. That was enough to
get Zack to try and check him, to make certain he was really who he'd claimed,
but he was. He just knew that sitting there with anything
except
a
child's drink might arouse suspicion. He had, clearly, done this before.

Then,
since it was the way of all public performances of note, they had to wait and
make small talk for a long time. It made him glad he had the drink. They
couldn't speak about anything important, since people were being let in. First
to the eight tables in the front, like what they were gathered around, and then
to the rows of chairs behind them. At the very back the public was being let
in, in a first come, first serve fashion. Just as the doors were closed he felt
someone pressing on his arm, trying to get him to move over.

Keeley.
She had a chair, so he scooted a bit, because his anger at her hadn't been fair
at all. She hadn't hurt him, or tried to. Which meant, as far as things like
that went, she was his friend, and needed to be treated like that. She also
looked older, if still like herself. Nearly thirty, holding some crows-feet at
the corner of her eyes, and more make-up than she really needed. She was in a
nice blue dress that had a deep neck and had enough cleavage showing that he
could have guessed at the color of her nipples, if she'd sneezed.

Instead
she took his arm and cuddled close enough that he wondered if she were her, or
the fake her from earlier. They weren't particularly close that way. Yet. Even if
she looked older. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek then, and whispered
into his ear.

"
Nice
shielding. I wasn't even sure it was you at first." Which didn't reassure
him at all. Anyone could say that. Sure Keeley might, but she wouldn't be so
chummy either, would she?

Then
again, thirty year old her, trying to seem like she worked with a band as a
manager, just might. He wasn't great looking, but wasn't horrible either, and
could be the personal boy-toy of someone like her. Especially if she was
pretending to have had a few drinks already?

Then
something hit him. She'd been hitting on Troy earlier, or at least being nicer
than she had to be... But
that
was the fake one.

And
the only Greater Demon that Troy was all that close to was actually... Xenses.
He blinked and then shook his head a bit. It made sense, but wasn't certain.
The trick there was that, whoever it had been, that Keeley had set up plans to
deal with Stocky the Bunny Boiler, hadn't she? If it was him, Xenses, then the
poor girl was probably going to be in for a hard time, shortly. Because she'd
be needed out of the way, if the act had been going to last. What that meant
for her was anyone's guess, if it was actually The Defiler that had taken her.

He
winced a bit, which pulled at Keeley's arm, getting her to lean in again.

"Is
everything all right?"

It
took effort, but he separated a strand, a single thought, and routed it around
the halo of time that was catching them all. It was just a repeat of what he'd
been thinking, but she cuddled into him, her left breast pushing against his
arm.

Then
a single thought came back at him.

'I'm
so sorry. There's nothing we can do about that now. The poor girl. I hope he
just killed her.'

That
sounded harsh and horrible, but Zack knew what Xenses thought of as a good idea
to do to friends and family, so he got that it was probably just correct. The best
case here was that she was simply dead already and that it had been fast and
painless.

Though,
most likely, it hadn't been.

He
locked that down and didn't speak, since the room lights dimmed and the band
walked onto the stage. There was no curtain, but people cheered anyway, and the
first song started seconds later. It was eerie, but good, and had people
swaying and tapping along after the first chorus.

The
people in the back danced, since they were standing anyway.

The
Vampires all had different reactions. Harland seemed to be pleased, smiling up
at the stage, since there was also another Manthori represented, on bass. A man
that wasn't all that tall, but who was very good at his job. On electric guitar
was a woman that looked to be about thirty, had silver hair and eyes that were
violet in color. She had fangs, but the presentation was more like Lenore or
Edom. A classic. Just one that was so unique she stood out. The last person,
who was on drums...

Zack
had to search out what kind of Vampire they were, since the person looked
pretty normal, but at the same time was split, carrying a shadow with them,
like a shifter. A Bat shifter, except that the hair was short and brown and the
man, while frenetic, was clearly a blood drinker.

He
hadn't really known that any of them could do that. Change shape. In his memories
he worked it out. It was what happened when a shifter made the transition. They
became different than all the others, but
also
both things at once.

They
also needed to eat a lot more than the regular kind did. Probably why this man
had gotten a job with Rebekah. She owned and ran the new blood centers, which
meant being her friend might well pay off, for a person like him.

The
music wasn't just good, but had impact. It wasn't great for dancing, and people
swayed more than anything, but they listened too, trying to make sense of all
they heard, the bridges between things being simple and complex at the same
time. After the first three songs, Rebekah bowed to the audience and then
again, to the tables in the front.

"We
have the Vampire Council here with us tonight, so why don't we all give them a
big hand and warm Vancouver Washington welcome?"

People
didn't just clap, they yelled too. Oh, they didn't think there was a real
Vampire in the room, or at least most wouldn't, but they were entranced by the
exotic bone white and red eyed woman that they were more than willing to assume
it was all part of the show. Who wouldn't?

Then
she leaned forward and blew a kiss to the back row.

Whispering,
she said a single word.

"Homeward."
That got screaming too, meaning it was something that people had probably heard
before. It seemed that the novelty band had a following already? That was neat,
but not that unexpected. Not if The Mistress of Souls was their manager.

If
he ever decided to become a performer of some kind she was the one that he'd go
to first for that, himself. Just like he'd get with Darla for business things.
Of course that mainly had to do with the fact that really, when it came to high
powered people in the world, he only knew about ten or twelve, really. At least
to talk to. There was more than that, if he counted all the different leaders
that he'd met, but they didn't really have a lot of pull if say, he wanted to
start a modeling agency. Not that he did, but it was interesting to try and
work out how he'd get that done.

Probably
by talking to Bente, since she knew people in the fashion industry and then
roping in a few Alede to work with him for a couple of years. As long as they
didn't get too famous, they'd be fine, really. Judy Swan was actually going to
be in trouble, in about twenty years, once it was clear she just didn't age
like a Human would. Of course, all she had to do was live for a few decades,
maybe three, as her male self, and then she could go back into the world as a
woman that just
looked
like that old actress. Models though, especially
the mainstream ones that didn't become too famous didn't seem to have very long
careers and wouldn't be that memorable, no matter how good they looked.

From
there, he had to imagine that women would come to him, as long as he started
out strongly enough, and so would people that needed a pretty face to make
their product line sell. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to do, but Zack found
the idea oddly intriguing suddenly. After all, Darla was right, in that he
needed to have more than one thing going on at any given time, and he'd have to
learn more about business at some point anyway.

Shrugging
to himself he decided to give it a try. It might not work, but everyone needed
a hobby, right?

Rebekah
kept singing and he stayed engaged the whole time, even standing to dance along
with Darla, Keeley and Bey during one song near the end, which he guessed was
the bands signature piece. It was good, but no better than some of the others.

Then
the music stopped and the Vampire girl on the stage held up the mic.

"Thank
you all so much for coming to listen to us tonight! We love you all!"

That
got a lot of cheering, and the band left, but wasn't called back for an encore,
since the chairs were taken to the side as soon as people stood up, and the
regular music started. The lights dimmed and colored ones started moving on the
walls, and the large gas flames were lit. Those were, thankfully, out of reach
for most people.

Inside
ten minutes the club went from music hall to dance place, and the doors were
opened to the rest of the public. Not everyone got in, but it was free enough
that way that people bothered trying to come from time to time, just on the off
chance that they'd be allowed to rub shoulders with the pretty and popular.

It
was actually amazing, but Zack had
always
been let in, he realized. Even
before, when he'd only been Troy's roommate. Back then his friend had only been
a regular bartender too, not the assistant bar manager. It probably meant that
the policies there were too loose that way, if someone like him could just walk
in off the street. It worked for them anyway, and the place was almost
oppressively bouncy after a few minutes.