On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (40 page)

“That is... So much more fun than when Zack does it!” She
pushed Blake into place for his turn. The guys had a problem, in that part of
the situation got very messy for them, but a change of underwear beat starving,
according to Blake. Kate wondered why they didn't produce saliva, but they did
produce semen? No one had an answer for her, it was just a mystery of Vampire
evolution apparently.

David just opened his pants and grabbed a tissue, so he
didn't have to change. It would have been way too bold a move if Zack had been
there, but
Kate
didn't care. To her it just made the whole thing that
much more interesting. Betty went next, since her appointment as a head of
state had bumped her up the queue a lot. She mentioned that she
technically
should have gone first, but since this was a novel situation she allowed Nikki,
Blake and David to have first go.

No one hit her or laughed at her. In fact everyone looked a
bit embarrassed and mumbled apologies. More Vampire politics? Kate had to
wonder how they ever got anything done. As a race though, they had a long time
to develop such convoluted habits and less need to get along than Alede, who
didn't
kill
their rivals did, in a way.

Betty repeated what Nikki had done almost exactly, writhing
and crying out, sounding like she was having a wonderful time.

Rebeca came up next, looking nervous, but still pulled her
shirt open, more today than she'd seen her do in the past, David
noticed
and
started to say something, but caught a swift elbow from Nikki, getting him to
remain silent. She just stood there, unmoving. After a few minutes, Kate asked
if she was getting anything at all.

“Yes... It's like, a regular feeding from Zack. Not as fast
as Don has been, but nice. Maybe a bit slower than Zack? I'm getting the energy
just fine though... Thanks!”

The other two Vampires, a woman named Samantha, who looked
about forty, but in a good looking way and a boy that looked about fifteen and
went by the unlikely name Hawk both had a similar reaction to it as Rebeca had.
A good feeding, but not orgasmic.

Blake, used to noticing things from the computer games he
played, got it first.

“They haven't had that sex upgrade thing from Zack yet!
Rebeca didn't
want
it and the others are too new, older than Betty, but
they didn't start out friends with Zack, so this is the first big trip out for
them. No trips out, no way to earn special perks. So, no sex thing yet.” He
tilted his head at them and winked.

“Do good here tonight and it could lead to a whole lot of
good things fast though.”

Nikki hugged her and asked if she'd be doing the feeding
regularly, because this would be worth lining up for early. Kate shook her head
and explained how
Don
had actually done it, sitting outside his brother's
hospital room in Wisconsin, with her passing the energy to them.

“It got filtered through a succubus first though, so I guess
if you can feel it, it has a certain... flavor?”

Hawk looked up at her, and thanked her. Then came over and
gave her a hug.

“I don't have anything to pay you with, but, if you want me
to go and beat up that guy's dad, I will. I need transportation though. He
sounds like a real... Piece of
work
.” He'd censored himself, which got a
brief nod from Nikki.

Nikki, being the lead Vampire there looked at them, then dug
out her cell phone and tossed it to the youngest. “Hawk, could you please call
Keane and fill him in on the situation here as accurately as you can without
adding unneeded details? That would be great.” She didn't make it sound like a
command and apparently didn't need to, since the boy had started dialing before
she'd even finished making her request.

Everything started happening all at once, so she managed it
as best she could, working her way back to the mall with Betty and the boy Vampire
in tow, since she told Nikki that she'd like to keep the beat down by a teenager
on tap, just in case it became needed. Even though she really just found the
boy cute, like a puppy. Samantha, who turned out to be his actual mother, his
Human
mom, looked nervous, but calmed down when David put his arm around her and said
that Hawk would be as safe with Betty and Kate as if he was locked in an underground
vault. Probably safer.

At the mall, before they even got out of Something Wonderful,
Britney descended on them, actually knocking over one of the basket displays as
she passed. It had bottles of scented oils and candles in it, but luckily
nothing broke. The boy took a defensive posture and pushed the others behind
him, ready to defend them, which caused the blonde Alede girl to stop and
dimple her cheeks at him for a second. No one mocked him, because a hot blond
bombshell running at you suddenly in their world really
could
be a
serious threat. Most wouldn't have seen it that way, but it was the right reflex
to have. In this case, not needed, maybe, but thinking that Brit wasn't a
dangerous person would be foolish for anyone.

He dropped his head, clearly feeling dumb when everyone else
continued acting normally. Kate shook her head, but Britney was the one that
spoke, her eyes regarding the boy with something approaching admiration.

“That's what body guards do though, isn't it? I mean, if you
don't react at all, your client's dead before you move. Especially with things
as highly charged as they are right now. You're guarding two heads of state,
you couldn't know that a third was going to come jogging up! Thanks for not
killing me before we could explain though. I'll be more careful in the future.”

When the girl turned to Kate she could see just the smallest
differences in how the lines of energy traveled in the girl. Externally they
were identical, but the energy was smoother in this one, calmer. After a
moment, she got that this girl wasn't
Britney
at all.

“Is there a situation... Blaine?” She asked, carefully.

The blonde shook her head and looked at the others for a
second.

“Yeah. You know about Don and his brother?” This came out as
if testing the waters, rather than a simple question about what she knew or
didn't know. “Well, it seems that wires have gotten crossed and that, well, it
seems that the Vampire leader, a guy named Luthor, ordered the man tracked
down. We don't know what they intend to do with him yet, but Keane just called
and Vaun, some boss Vampire guy, is coming here right now to explain... He
needs pick up from Houston. Do you know how to get there? Everyone else is gone
right now...”

Kate nodded and walked with them to Frozen YoGurt, since that
was the Vampire embassy and she was surrounded by Vampires right now. Jelly
never said anything, but they still seemed to make her more than a little
nervous, though Hawk might put her at ease. Looking like a slightly plump
average boy, that should be named Scott or Kevin, not
Hawk
. Even if he
could rip her arm off, he didn't look like a threat. Maybe she'd see if they
wanted to hook up later? Or at least be friends, since Jelly might have silly
Human like ideas that the boy
looking
too young meant he should be off
limits for sex.

The yogurt place gleamed, as it always did. They made actual
food here, but you couldn't tell, unless you went behind the counter.
Everything was fresh. The toppings and frozen yogurt made every day, or even on
demand for the less common things. Behind the counter Keane wore the uniform of
the place, nice street clothes and a pure white apron that had the store's logo
on the front. He even had a little name tag that said he was the assistant
manager. He may have been over two hundred years old, Kate mused, but the guy
didn't look twenty-five and could really fill out an apron.

Keane explained the need for the pick up again and winked at
the boy, seeing that he'd been invited along. He didn't ask why, probably
assuming it was just to get him out of the house.

Kate went through the store to where the node room was in the
back, much smaller in space here than Candles and More across the way, most of
the space going to Claire's office. The floor was a red brick tile, like the walk
way out front. Unlike the wood flooring at the candle store. The walls were
nice enough, a clean white that held a few framed pictures of mountain scenes.
It was pleasant, but slightly more commercial in feel somehow that what she was
used to seeing.

Centering herself, Kate looked through the line. To her
surprise, it actually worked right, and saw the node room where Vaun stood
alone, waiting for, if not her, then
someone
, to come and get him. As
she readied to step in the line, Hawk grabbed her arm.

“I should go with you, you know, as a bodyguard.” He told her
sounding serious. Everyone in the room laughed, except Blaine who moved in
front of the boy, a lot closer than would be normal for Vampire society and
asked him what he'd do if it turned out that Vaun, a
very
old and very
powerful being, wanted to attack and kill Kate?

The boy looked back at him, shrugged and said, “Die,
probably. I'd try to buy her enough time to get out of there though. Look, I
know I'm not superman and that everyone in this room could probably kick my
butt without thinking about it, but I'm not an ambassador or leader or anything
like that. I'm the only one here that's expendable right now.”

Kate looked at him and considered the reality of the
situation. Even a baby Vampire in a small body could bench press an economy
car, run
faster
than most vehicles on the road could drive and take
about a thousand times more punishment than she could without dying. The
slightly chubby looking boy might lose in a fight against killers and
assassins, but he'd do better than
she
would against them alone.

“It's not my call, since Keane is the only one here in your
direct chain of command, if we're counting Betty as a head of state today. I'm
all for it though. Plus, it's no
less
safe for me to take him than not,
I think. Not for me at least.”

Keane seemed amused by the idea, but let the boy go with her.
Checking the node again, as Zack told them to do
each
time no matter
what, she took them both through to Houston. The instant she entered the room,
the doors burst open and four manlike figures moved into the room, nearly
faster than she could see. The boy pushed her back, hard, and dove toward the
nearest two as she translated away, back to Underwood.

“Fuck! There really
was
an attack. We have to get
people and go back and try to help Hawk and Vaun. I think Vaun was being
attacked too...” She grabbed for her phone when the tiny silver cell in Keane's
hand went off.

The good looking Vampire held up his hand as if to silence
them.

“They killed the attackers,” he spoke slowly and carefully,
trying to make sure he didn't miscommunicate anything. “Your guard is fine,
Kaitlyn. So is Vaun, just minor wounds. You can go get them now, if you're
still willing?”

It took her a minute to calm down and
all
the control
she could muster, but she got them and brought both back with her, nearly
falling to the ground, gasping for air when she returned. Hawk took her arm,
concerned, until she managed to catch her breath enough to tell him it was just
the strain of taking two people at once.

“Zack assures me that I'll get better at it as long as I
practice regularly” She gasped, trying to smile and not go all the way down to
the floor, even if it did look kind of inviting at the moment. Nice and flat,
clean too, she noticed.

After a minute she stood and tried not to show how winded she
still felt, seeing that she looked better, Vaun covered what happened from his
perspective. How the instant the door went Hawk moved at them, grabbing one and
baffling the other that moved toward her as best he could.

The boy added that by
baffle
, Vaun meant him making
weak little kicking motions at the second one's knees like a spaz, which got a
stately nod from Vaun.

“Indeed, but you bought enough time for your
protected
to escape unharmed, and then aided me in subduing them. You did well. Now, let
me finish the tale.”

Vaun then quickly summed things up, indicating how he had,
with Hawk's aid as mentioned, subdued three within moments by killing them and
captured the last one, the one that the boy held onto, in fact. That one would
be questioned and a full accounting would be delivered to them as soon as
possible.

“Now, on to other business. The new Line-Walker, Donald
Karver's father is being sought, after nearly killing his younger son. We wish
to assure you all, both the National Body of the Walkers and our own local
people here that all pains are being taken to leave the man alive. We do not
seek to interject our own justice, merely to be of aid. This order came down
from the top levels, but I think that it's quite reasonable given the
circumstances.” He bowed to them and stood waiting for a reply.

Not knowing what else to say Kate bowed back and looked the
Vampire in the eye as she spoke.

“Please convey our sincere thanks for this aid in time of
need. We don't know if the man needs to be killed or not yet, so if he can
indeed be brought in alive, that would be best. As it is, even if your people
do manage to save his life, I'm not absolutely certain that all of ours have
gotten the word not to kill him yet. It's a new organization problem. We don't
know who is supposed to really do what yet. For right now I'm just focusing on
taking care of Don and his family. The rest will work itself out.” She touched
his arm lightly, indicating a shift in subject matter.

“You're coming to the party tomorrow though, right? It will
be good to have as many friendly faces there as possible.” Her right hand
stroked his left arm, even though he couldn't feel it as more than pressure,
she could tell.