Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (5 page)

Eve grinned and shook her head.

"Zack and Merry, sitting in
a tree..." She was smiling, or at least fighting one.

Troy sighed and waved toward the
counter area.

"Married for several years
now. It's a bit sad, since half the women I like
he's
already involved
with. If he wasn't my best friend, and, you hear me,
so
cool, I'd totally
steal some of them away."

Eve snorted at him, and shook her
head, then turned to look as Hilda came around the corner. She blinked, since
the woman was large, being about six-six, and looked a little bit like a
blonde, white skinned, she-hulk. She was powerful, but also very pretty.

Lyn looked too, as the woman got
near the table, seeming a bit like she didn't know if she could sit with them
or not. It was possible, her inner self spoke to him, looking much larger and
more furry, that these women were part of some secret plan. Not that she
couldn't be in on that, being the head of the Nation of Line Walkers security
forces. It was clear that she was still putting in time at the power lifting
gym, since she wore the gray sweats they all did there.

Zack half stood, and gestured for
her to get a chair from a different table.

"Hey Hilda. These new people
are Lyn, short of Kaitlyn, and Eve. They're from a different reality, but are
line walkers, so we're getting them to join up with us here. They'll be going
home in a few days."

The big lady, looking like she
could possibly go do a shoot for playboy, with very little makeup, smiled
hugely.

"Ah! That is very good then!
I am Hildagarde of the Trollienkeine. You have such as I am there, in your
strange and distant land?" She was making her face polite, but covertly
sniffed toward the new Alede. They often smelled a bit to her people, but she
seemed to think this new one wasn't
too
bad. She settled only three
seats away from her, next to Troy.

Lyn nodded.

"Oh, sure. We even have a
Hilda
.
She looks a little different than you do. I bet you're the same person from
different places though. Nice to meet you."

The larger woman nodded.

"I too, am pleased to meet
our new people. We should have a party, dancing and roasting meat on the fire
pit, but this would strain those that are sensitive to cold. It is the chill
season here. Soon we shall harvest the tress of sacrifice, and deck our halls
with their severed limbs, as a warning to their kind. Then sing the sacred
ballads of this season." She intoned this all solemnly. So seriously it
was cute.

Zack didn't smile over it, since
it was also a pretty accurate description of the day, to his way of thinking.
He did need to get some good decorations going. All the stores had a little,
but it was time to get something flashy going.

As he thought about that more
food came, including a container of things for Lisa, in a Styrofoam container,
with several napkins and real silverware on the top.

"For Lisa, later?"
Merry looked at the floor, shame creeping onto her face. About not doing the
work herself.

Zack got it, but Eve winked at
her.

"I can take that right now.
Don't worry, I won't miss much of the conversation. I can hear what everyone is
saying." She stood slowly, with a lot of grace, then turned, and moved so
fast, she vanished. Less than two seconds later, she was back, settling back
into her seat, with the food gone. Delivered, no doubt.

Zack snorted.

"All right, so
you
get to do the quick deliveries from now on. Good to know."

Then he ate, since there wasn't a
lot else he could really do at the moment.

That evening they all met in the
front room after dinner. The reaction to having two new line walkers, ones that
seemed to come from nowhere to a lot of people there, was generally positive.
Zack had been afraid that it would seem like too much, coming in too quickly
for some of them.

After all, it was nearly
impossible to do, so could feel wrong, or like a trick to the more paranoid
people there. His big worry at the moment was Claire, who had been watching the
new vampire woman Eve, with an intensity that nearly had to presage an attack.
The big problem there was that if his wife did that, Zack didn't know if the
girl he'd brought in would spare her life.

His vampire's shadow was actually
a good bit more polite, internally. Speaking questions as to what this new
thing
was. Finally, sitting very close to Zack on one of the large cream colored
sofas, she smoothed her old fashioned long dress, and smiled at both of the new
people.

"Well,
this
is
exciting, isn't it? It makes sense that a different version of Kaitlyn might
manage the same feat. Learning to walk the lines like that is... Incredible
isn't too small of a word for it. I wasn't aware that a vampire would be able
to do the same thing, however." She made herself seem slightly troubled,
then winced, playing it up a bit. "When I went into the lines my mind
nearly broke after half a year. I'd feel bad about that, but most do no better.
None of the other vampires have managed it so far. Can you explain that to
me?" Her eyes tinged with blood red, but only in the center of them. It
would get worse if she were really worked up.

Eve titled her head a bit, forced
a smile she didn't mean, and then shrugged.

"To be totally honest, no.
It could be a lot of different factors here. One of them was that I had
training before I even became a vampire. I starved myself for days at a time,
for years, learning to deal with hunger. In my first year... Well, I had to put
down some troublemakers that were going to kill a bunch of Christian protestors.
I... Are you all out here yet?" She looked around, but not one seemed to
understand her at first.

Rather, they got the
idea
,
but no one could believe what she was trying to say.

Over on the other sofa, sitting
between Nikki and David, Betty made a skeptical face and shook her head.

"Wait, people, like normal
ones, know all about vampires in your world?"

Lyn the Alede double of Kate
snorted.

"Oh, yeah. Not just them
either. They know pretty much everything now. People there have a real block
against being able to remember that kind of thing is real however. I mean, like
you can show them powers and stuff, and the next day they just think they
dreamed it. About two thirds of the time, anyway. It took real work to get them
up to speed. You don't seem to have that here? Your Troy is way more accepting
that way. Ours is good, and a vampire now, but until he changed, he really had
to struggle at times to believe everything." She shrugged, looked at the
real Troy, and winked. "Sorry, I got off topic. The point is that people
do know about us. A greater demon set up some vampires to attack people about
two weeks after the big announcement. At a night club that the Vampire Council
owns, the Tarran 2 LA. So Eve killed a dozen of them, to protect the innocent
people. Then the council ordered her to be locked up in a glass coffin. Alone.
For six months, with no food, or company even."

That pronouncement got a bit of a
cough from Eve and wide eyes from the other vampires present, including Claire.

Eve didn't make them wait for an
explanation of that part, thankfully. More than one of them looked like they
were going to burst, trying to find out how she'd survived.

"I learned how to keep the
energy links to my hosts alive and strong, using magic. Then, to keep from
going mad I meditated the entire time, more or less. Though, to be fair, the
Council only ordered six weeks. The rest was set up by my friend Keeley, to get
me out of the way, I think. She's never explained the whole thing, but greater
demons don't always. So, that might be part of it, too. I've been alone with my
thoughts for a long time before." She looked around the room, and let her
eyes rest on Chris, the thin boy smiling at her a bit, and not looking away
instantly.

Zack would have at his age. Eve
was pretty enough for the movies, and wasn't even acting like she held no
interest in the kid. Not that either of them were
that
any longer.

Troy waved at her a bit, and
cleared his throat.

"Wait. I don't think we
should dash past the important part here. The other Troy is a bad assed master
vampire now? I
knew
I'd be good at it." He smirked a bit, as the
others all groaned, if softly.

Next to him Claire chuckled, not
meaning it.

"She didn't say that. It
takes hundreds of years for one to be a true master. You must walk the day, for
one thing. Show discipline in how you feed as well. Though, Eve, you mentioned
energy links? Don't you just take power from the blood directly?"

That got a head shake.

"No. We
can
do that,
but it's a lot more efficient to form a link to an energy source, and draw on
that. Don't you all do that? I don't know if that's a learned thing or not. I
mean we have to teach the little vamps to understand they are doing that... Can
I get back to you on that? As for the other thing... Troy
is
a master
vampire. Also less than two years into the whole thing." She smirked, as
the others looked at her, unbelieving.

David, brushing at his curly
black hair, rolled his eyes at her. He was good looking, for a guy, but Eve
just looked at him, not all that interested for some reason.

"Oh? I suppose
I
must
be the Ambassador there then? I've been around for nearly fifty years. Over
here at least." There was a bit too much derision in the words, which got
Nikki to make a face at him.

"Don't be rude, Dave.
Different worlds are
bound
to have different things happening in
them."

Eve didn't attack, or even seem
upset, just holding up two fingers. Then she grinned at the fellow, locking
eyes until he looked away. On the shadow level there had been a rather
impressive display of power and threats, the internal monsters yelling at each
other. Eve's was vast and powerful however, David's much more modest seeming,
so he went silent and sat there, not moving in the slightest.

Then Eve chuckled.

"
Second
in command of
the Iowa Node, now. And yes, before you ask, also a master vampire. One of my
skills is getting people through that, so they can stay up all day. I don't
know if it will work here, but if I can learn to travel back and forth, so I
don't miss too much work back home, I'd love to try it? We need to see if you
all just missed out on forming links or not. I think that I can trace that
down, but I'll need a volunteer..." She looked around the room, and cutely
enough Chris raised his hand.

"Oh, pick me, pick me!"
His inner being did the same thing.

At least to Zack's eyes. Everyone
else saw things differently, he knew. The closest to him was actually Don, of
all people. Then, they
were
related by blood, if very different inside.

The hot vampire girl laughed and
shook her head.

"Not for
that
. I have
other ideas for you, but let's talk about that later? Alone? For this I need to
examine a vampire or two, while in a trance. Just to check their links, and all
that." Her inner being turned to Zack then, and smiled, her fangs showing.

I'll steal the boy for a while? I
think he'd do well, working at our node.

There was a lot more, in the
subtext, but Zack ignored most of it. On purpose. The main point was that she
wouldn't let him come to harm, and coddling him wasn't going to help him now.
She could see that. Then, everything about what she'd said was counter to that.
This wasn't a person that took it easy on others as a rule.

A thing that they probably needed
to get on board with, if it was possible for their people to be upgraded like
that. The vampires at any rate.

Looking at Eve, he saw her links,
as she'd described them. Fine lines of flowing energy that worked backwards
through the world, twisting and rippling with soft pink power. Life energy.
When he looked at the others there, he saw that same thing going on. At least
for the undead. It was fainter, but there. Then the new girl had said that
she'd worked out how to make the things last longer.

People had been speaking, and Lyn
said his name, twice. He'd missed the whole conversation, having become too
focused for the room he was in.

"Sorry! I zoned out, looking
at the energy links. It seems right to me, from the description. For the
vampires?"

Eve sat up, and then nodded three
times. It was all very precise, and a little phony seeming.

"Nifty! We can probably do a
lot then, that way. I'll
still
need volunteers. Vampires that aren't
afraid to die." She was hamming things up, playfully, and everyone except
the vampires got the idea.

Hilda smiled then, and stood,
stretched a bit.

"All of the beings here are
most brave. We should hold contests to see who will be allowed to do this, and
gain the powers of this far off strange world! It will be most entertaining.
Should we move to back of house, in the well cared for field?"

Zack smiled, getting that she
meant the back yard, which was nice, and big enough for the wrestling and heavy
lifting that she had in mind.

He shook his head though.

"I think... First, we should
take people into the void. The one that lasts longest will earn the opportunity
to try first?" That got a glance at Claire, since they were her people,
and then Eve, who was offering that training.

No one even moved for a bit,
except Hilda, who went serious and nodded somberly.

"That is a most dangerous
and hard testing! My people will have many ballads to sing about it. Those
brave enough to risk death, to gain the prize of power and aid their people to
greatness..."

Still, no one moved for a long
time, until Troy stood.

"I... I don't know if I can
do this, but I'll go first?" No one else had even moved, and his shadow
spoke of going in, to show the others that it could be done. A lot of them had
turned down the offer to try, from fear, including him.

He wasn't a coward however, and
could see what this might mean for the rest of them. If they took the chance.

For some reason, Eve Benson, vampire
from another world, smiled and started to nod.

"Great plan. You can go and
learn the line walking stuff first, too. I don't know, but I bet that if you
can do that, you'll make the early training with no problem. It really does
save a lot of time and effort. You know, after you change into a vampire? We
should go get to that first, then the rest of you can try it."

It was funny, but a small trickle
of silver and pink flowed from her, to Troy then. It was different than what
he'd seen or noticed before, but when she spoke the next line, there was power
to it, that impressed itself onto the human she was looking at.

"You can do this, Troy.
Learn to walk the lines, and the rest. I have great faith in you."

Zack stood up, and waved then.

"Come on then. We'll be back
in a day or two. Or, actually, a few hours. I'll start out in distorted time,
so that it won't take that long. I want to make certain we have all the new
line walkers off to work in the morning for training and practice. If we aren't
back though, the rest of you can cover my shift for me?" He smiled, since
there were five people that could give it a try now.

If they couldn't manage it
working as a group, then he'd have to find a hat to eat.

His oldest friend looked at him,
a bit of fear in his eyes, which he hid by walking toward the kitchen. Troy
didn't speak at all, and there was no shaking, even though the whole thing was
about as insane seeming to him as anything ever had been.

Zack walked firmly, and took him
by the arm to lead him from the shortcut that was just outside the kitchen door
into the back of Something Wonderful, which was still opened. It would be until
nine that night.

Maryl and Libby were working it
at the moment, since it was near Christmas enough that people were actually
there trying to arrange massive amounts of baskets for people. In the back, at
a long work table, Charli sat, working at filling orders. Making the actual
baskets from people. That meant the place was a mess now, and would be for the
rest of the month.

Without speaking to her, he
turned to Troy, and let his inner self rise up, becoming huge. Like the
vampires did when they compelled people. Then he spoke gently on the outside,
making sure his friend would do the best he possibly could.

"All right, Troy. I want you
to focus, and stay that way. Your mind won't stray and if it starts to, you'll
instantly come back to a single point. Over and over." On the Shadow
level, his giant, angry seeming self screamed at the poor, unsuspecting human
man.