Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (34 page)

The dolphin, who was named Shay, took
two steps toward him.

"We're just getting in, too.
We're staying at The Tides. We have some... Family connections there, so get a
good rate. Not free, but our friends and us here rented a few rooms. The others
are still sleeping." Her chirping inner dolphin let him know that two of
them were cats,
and
they had a minor dragon with them, who was cold
blooded. He wasn't happy with the location choice, but most of the world in the
northern hemisphere was kind of cold for him at that time of year.

The other people where a variety
of things, and not listed for him at that moment.

He nodded at that, and stood up.
These people hadn't really been planning to fight with him, and were less
likely to now, given even one watcher. Stretching a bit he nearly just stood
there, not knowing what to say himself.

The walrus kid, who was about
eighteen, cleared his throat. He was light skinned, but had brown hair that
wasn't too different than Zack's.

"I hear you, on the food. We
have some, back at the hotel." It wasn't an offer, but the others winced,
since it
could
have been.

Zack took it that way, but let
them all off the hook, at the same time.

"Thanks for the offer. How
about... Not to seem all pushy, but I'm here alone, so how about I treat you
four to breakfast? We can cut the sleepyheads out, for being lazy? Sleeping the
day away like that. Why, there's light out and everything already."

It was really clear that the seal
man, Samuel, wanted to beg off and take the win they already had, apparently,
since Zack wasn't crying or carrying on about them not having a kite with them.
That was undone by Brad, who grinned, his stomach being more important to him
than their cover story.

"Okay. That sounds great. We
can get lunch or something later? I mean if you don't run away from us first.
We're all a bunch of freaks, by the way. I mean who flies kites at this time of
day, in the rain?"

The others got uneasy again, but
Zack smiled.

"Seriously. Then, saying it
to the guy sitting outside watching the sun rise... You know, I can't really
make
too
big of a thing of it can I? Do you know of any place that might
be open? It's a bit early." That was his concern, but Brad stood still for
a bit, sniffed the air, and pointed toward the center of town.

"Food, that way." He
said it with certainty, but the others acted like it was something odd.

True, Zack couldn't smell
anything except the beach, but that was pretty much the way that food
had
to be. Instead of going to the stairs, well down the beach, the boy walked
straight to the wall behind them, marching quickly, since he was really in need
of food after his change, and climbed up and over it easily. Too much so for
how large he was. The others just did it too, since it was the kind of thing
they practiced, and Samuel got ready to lend Zack some aid doing the same
thing. Not that he needed it. He was thin, and not that heavy, which helped,
but Zack led an active life, and while it didn't make him superhuman, strength
wise, he also had a link to a vampire, which did give him an edge toward that
sort of thing. He was, if not exactly a power lifter, able to hold his own with
these people.

The older looking man, who was,
now that he was closer, about thirty-five looking, which probably meant in his
fifties for a shifter, didn't show much surprise to that. Zack had climbed,
like a normal person that was in shape, but that was all. They went over last,
and had to scramble, since the bird lady, and the walrus boy were both leading
the way. Nearly running they were walking so fast.

Looking over at Shay and Samuel,
Zack rolled his eyes. Happily though.
He
was hungry too, after all.
Then, he was eating for two, being tied to Claire like he was.

"I hope it isn't just a
candy store. This town does have those, right?" He was speaking to the
man, but Freya, the oddly named bird lady turned to look at him, and bounced a
bit.

"Yeah. Some really good ones
too, but I need some meat. Eggs at least. I hope that we can get something not
too sweet. Maybe some donuts? How much money did you bring with you? I'm not
sure you understand how much we can eat. When it's free, I mean." She was
actually concerned, since the others would need more food than she would, and
she
ate a bit like a linebacker.

"Not a problem. I eat a lot
too, most days."

She nodded, not getting that he
meant it. Food for ten people could add up, after all, and the four of them
would need to have about that, just for them. The thing there was that they
didn't have any money of note with them, since the idea had been to get away
for the holidays on the cheap. They were mainly people that didn't have a lot
of family to stay with, but who wanted to be with people they could open up
around about who they really were.

Not that she hated Zack, who was,
while a bit gullible seeming and too kind hearted, treating strangers to
breakfast, seemed pretty nice. Her interest ended there however, since he was,
as far as she could tell,
just
a regular human.

She did notice how stressed
Samuel was however, but kept walking fast, too. One way or another, she needed
to eat pretty fast.

Brad's nose was good, it turned
out, and they ended up at a place that was just opening their doors as they got
there. The man that welcomed them was a bit older looking, and had on a cream
and black apron, with an old timey puffy shirt that was red and white stripes
on underneath it.

"Good morning! Are you
coming for coffee? Still up from last night?"

Zack grinned.

"Food, please. Lots of it?
We're a competitive eating troop, and need to practice, so what do you have
that we can do that with?"

The man sized them up, took it as
a joke, and then treated them seriously anyway. Customers in the winter were
rare, and he needed any sales he could get.

"We have some nice
buttermilk pancakes? I could get you a few hundred of those?"

Zack nodded, "that sounds
good. Eggs and sausage, too? Too many carbs at once is horrible for your blood
sugar, and this is just practice, not a contest. Normally you just drink a lot
of water to stretch your stomach, but you have to learn to handle solids too,
and this is the day for it."

The man smiled, wondering how far
Zack was going to take the thing, but showed them in. The place was nice
inside, being well cared for, and warm. There were fake plants all over the
place, and polished wood on the walls. The tables didn't have cloths on them,
but were clean, which was a good sign. They were handed menus however, which
they all took as they settled into place.

He ended up next to Brad, who
looked at the thing in his hand.

"Um..." He didn't know
what to do then, but loved the eating contest story. The real issue was that
someone else was paying, and there might be a limit as to how much he should
get.

Zack looked at the older man, who
was the owner, but not the chef, and then smiled, shifted to the side and
removed his wallet from the back of his jeans. It was made of green hemp, since
leather would have been a problem for him. Pulling three one hundred dollar
bills, he handed them over.

"I wasn't kidding about the
order. Does anyone want anything else, too? This is training, so we'll need
water as well." He tried to seem serious, which got the proprietor to
suddenly do the same.

"You'll need that all at one
time? That might take a bit..."

He nodded and looked at the menu.

"Understood. Can we get some
cinnamon rolls to start us out?"

They could, and since the chef
had gotten up early to start making those from scratch, they were still warm.

Samuel ate as well as the others,
even if he were nervous about Zack still, and shook his head.

"So, you're a professional
eater? I didn't even know that was a thing. I hope we can all keep up, or we'll
look bad." He wasn't
too
afraid that they couldn't.

Brad laughed.

"I should
totally
do
that. I'm good at eating, practically a professional already." It was a
fat joke, but also true, given that he needed about ten to fifteen thousand
calories after his change.

If he was anything like Libby,
anyway.

Zack didn't lie, shaking his head
a bit.

"Nope.
I
work at a
candle store in a mall. Eating is mainly a hobby for me. It
is
a sport
though. A real one. People make a living at it and everything."

That started a conversation about
what they all did, which was actually mercenary work. They were all field
operatives too, unlike the people
he
knew, who were more office types,
except for Maryl. She had to go and do real training, to keep in shape and stay
ready to fight. Libby wasn't forced to do that anymore, since once your people
tried to kill you, there was kind of a release on any sort of obligation to
them.

They explained it carefully,
being a bit cagey about it all.

Samuel ate a few bits, trying to
work out how to put things.

"We're... Actually private
contractors. We mainly work overseas? Uh..." It was kind of true, for all
of them, but they didn't look like most people doing that kind of thing. The
women especially. So Sam told the truth, after a fashion. "Shay does
underwater demolitions, so do me and Brad. Freya is in communications."
Then, wisely, he stopped.

Most people weren't going to ask
that kind of person for specifics after all. You said what you did, the other
person looked a bit surprised, and then said something about it being
interesting. Unless you worked at a store in a mall, and then even ordinary
people just acted impressed that you had a job. They showed that by nodding
once or twice.

Most of them looked young, and
you didn't expect a lot from people in a certain age range. Being private military
contractors was sort of interesting, and had a certain cool factor even. Samuel
kind of expected that part to get noticed, but Zack just ate for a bit, and let
the others do the same. They all needed it. Shay, the dolphin, kept up with
him, but Brad ate three of the sweet rolls to his two, and Freya only had one
and a half. The others did better than that, and the food started to come on
large trays by the time they were finished. They divided it all up, with Zack
taking ten of the things, smothering them in butter first, along with maple
syrup.

The others kept up, which would
have gotten stares later in the day. The entire staff, both of them, just
served them for about an hour, until other patrons started to get there. Most
of the food was at the table by then, so they didn't have to stop eating, which
was nice.

It wasn't until nine-thirty that
they slowed down, and were interrupted by three bears and an antelope. They
moved to the table, looked at the remains, and then at Samuel.

The woman that spoke, Vivian,
glared a bit.

"Kind of telling,
isn't
it? Sloppy." Her voice was deep for a woman, but that was down to her
guttural growl, rather than being manly.

Zack answered, waving at the
table.

"You snooze, you lose. They
know that we're a professional eating team. I guess we can get you something
too, but we're timing you. Luckily you're the b-team." He had his card
still, and it would clear, so wasn't worried that way.

The large woman stared at him,
but then smiled, and shook her head a bit.

"Brilliant. Yeah, that
sounds good. I'm Vivian. Viv Hobson? I don't think we've met." She was
trying to figure out what kind of shifter he was, guessing something like a
lynx, given his thin body, and quick eyes. That was similar to a
snake
in looks, but it was too cold out for that kind to bother being there. If they
had been, then being happy and quick would have been out of the picture. So it
was something else.

He was clearly smart though, to
have worked out the competitive eating con like that. Vivian decided to use
that one herself, in the future. The man that brought the menus didn't even
blink at the others as they ordered what would have normally been too much food
by far. That meant it was a good trick.

Vivian looked at the thin, but in
shape enough new man, and got Brad the gunner to move so that she could sit
next to him. She was a powerful woman, but bears tended to be muscular, not
fat, and she filled out her casual clothing well enough. Her hair was a
standard brown, but she'd showered and put on some makeup before going out, so
felt confident enough to flirt a bit. The man was nice looking, but not
totally
outside of what she'd dated before.

"So, Zack, is it?
That's
a nice name. Like the line walker?"

The others, the ones from
earlier, went still, not having been able to explain it all yet. He just
shrugged, putting two and two together. After all, the clothing store slash
shifter embassy had a bear with the same last name, who was
also
a bear.
That was telling.