On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (50 page)

If they were, then it meant that these people, locals most
likely, were killers as well as everything else they'd done. She felt the
connections sink home. That was it of course. The links were coming together.
There was one missing though, one from the beginning of the problem. She didn't
know what it was, but it had to be there, she could feel it.

She popped out of the node and went to Frozen YoGurt, not
knowing why. She just followed a line that was in front of her, a color that
she couldn't have explained if asked, but that she could see anyway. A rich
electric flesh tone. It sang to her, inside. Honestly it was a wonderful thing,
though not loud or pretty really. When she walked into the store, Claire stood
standing next to the Vampire she didn't know. The tall one that she'd seen before.
With Troy.

Kate gave both blank stares, looking at the connections
between them. Like parent and child, she saw, the links deep and old, the array
of red over the head of the tall Vampire much larger and complex than the one
over Claire. Seeing so much more now, Kate wondered how long she'd sat in the
void this time. Longer than she'd realized. Much longer.

“I think that there's a tie between McC's bar and the murders
on campus. I need someone to find all the internet video that's come out of
there, if possible. Who could find something like that, do either of you know?”
Kate knew, before she said it, that the tall Vampire could take her words to
mean that if he knew a name and gave it to her, he could discharge one of the
favors she was still owed, but she didn't care. She decided at that moment to
leave the Vampires to their own politics. As long as it didn't get in her way...
fine, but she'd do whatever made sense to her, not worry about little things
like that if she could help it. They had reasons for being what they were, but
they weren't hers. It was an important thing to keep in mind.

You had to let people be what, and who, they were.

The tall Vampire spoke to Claire for a bit, asking if she
knew the bar, the spelling of the name, the location and what was being looked
for. Then, he spun, his feet covered in black shoes, his legs in tan canvas
pants. His shirt simple and loose on his frame.

Looking at the lines that came from him and how they meshed
with the ones in her head, Kate saw how some things might be connected. She
didn't know if any of it mattered, but she decided to ask anyway.

“Claire, your friend... Is he the one that turned you into a
Vampire?” Kate knew her voice seemed flat at the moment and couldn't spare the
focus to change that, not wanting to drop her observation of the various
interconnections yet.

The Vampire took a deep breath and winced, for the first time
Kate could remember the move didn't seem fake or preplanned. The question just
shook Claire that much. She didn't answer, so Kate decided to try her next
question.

“Did he also save Rebeca?”

The Vampire took several steps back as if ready to flee, but
not taking the action. Finally, she looked around, and nodded silently.

“All right,” Kate told her, letting her off the hook. “For
some reason you don't want to discuss the topic. I can deal with that. I was
just wondering what the lines meant. How are you doing?”

She turned the discussion for a while, then made her way,
still a little clumsily, through the rifts to her dorm room, which sat empty.
She hoped she hadn't been gone too long, because she had work do and had only
missed a few classes so far this semester.

The room seemed still, but she could see the lines that ran
beneath the bed to the Vampires, both linking with her, like the links to and
from all her friends. She found Don's link and followed it to his room,
deciding to just walk over. It was dangerous, after a fashion, but she didn't
feel too worried. Not for herself. Anyone coming at her would probably die, if
they weren't just out jogging.

The campus seemed empty. The few people she saw were mainly
men and they walked hurriedly, with a sense of purpose. Left feeling afraid and
like they were possible targets, even though most of them were larger than
average and not that great looking. If this was tied to people that wanted
images of sex, they were probably safe enough.

When she reached the door she knocked firmly only to have the
door open almost immediately. Don grabbed her in a hug, and pulled her into the
room. He'd been crying and so had Blaine and Britney who sat with him. Kate
swallowed, dreading the answer to the question she had to ask.

“What happened.”

Don shook his head, but spoke anyway.

“We... we messed up bad Kate. We didn't pay enough attention
to Gretchen and... They
killed
her. She went out one night at about
night fall, three days ago and she never came back. They found her body, in the
same exact spot in the commons, under those exact same bushes.”

He sobbed clutching at her for a bit, she stroked and petted
him by rote, not knowing what else to do at first. Finally, sitting next to him
on the bed she asked if anyone else had figured out the possible McC's
connection yet?

She no sooner mentioned it than Zack and the tall Vampire
both stepped into the room. The Vampire handed her a thumb drive and walked
back to Zack who waved somberly, but didn't say anything. It was clear that the
Shadow selves of everyone in the room had already told him about their failure.
She looked down at the black thing in her hand, afraid of what she'd find on
it.

She put the thumb drive into Blaine's computer without
asking, but he didn't protest, coming around to see what the file held himself.
When the window opened she found twenty three video files. Not knowing what
else to do, they decided to click the first one, the largest file, which showed
Britney on her knees at the Glory hole in the bar.

“Right, so he found the right bar at least. I guess we should
check out the others?” Kate looked at them all eyes tearing up a little.

Blue Beret guy was there, doing some guy he was obviously
with, playing at being naughty it seemed. Britney identified the liberal arts
student that had died too. Near the end they found Gretchen, who rather
drunkenly serviced about four guys before puking and making a mess all over the
room.

They didn't recognize any of the others as students, but a
few of them could be, looking young enough.

Don looked sick, “That's, well, there's a real connection
there. I guess we should do something, but what? Do we call in someone better
suited to this or burn the place down? What?” There was a slightly lost tone to
the words. Kate let herself nod slightly, still not feeling much of anything.
That wouldn't help at the moment. Later however, there would be more than a few
tears over it all. It had to happen. It was just too much for her at the
moment.

They sat, discussing plans for a while, until a knock came at
the door. Don opened it, but just stood there, gaping a little at the girl in
the hallway. Kate looked past him trying to see who was there.

“Yoga girl?” Don proclaimed, then realized she probably had a
real
name and didn't answer to that one at all.

Kate saw it then, the thick link from her to Don, ropy, purple
and silver intertwined, a bit like the one between Glen and Charli had been
that day at the food court, when Riley warned them about his aunt. Kate just
asked the woman in, not knowing if she was the one or not. If so, she'd
certainly picked a nice shape to present herself in.

She didn't have to wait long at all for an answer, since the
woman looked at Don and spoke, bluntly for her kind.

“Hi Don... Yes, I guess I
could
be called that, here
in this time and place. I'm... I don't know how to explain this quickly, but we
have a deadline here, we have to do this tonight and I don't have time to get
you to do the right thing the normal way, you just have to do it. I didn't know
what to start doing until about an hour ago when everything fell into place, so
I have to pray Riley wasn't trying to trick me somehow, or if he is, it will
allow the universe to stay in balance.”

The woman didn't ask to sit, standing in front of Don and
then looking around at the others. She seemed incredibly uneasy for some
reason.

“Um. Well. I guess I should explain, but there isn't time...”
Yoga girl closed her eyes, as if trying to come up with some way to say the
next words. To Kate it seemed clear that she wasn't having a lot of luck,
making small gasping sounds under her breath, almost like little sobs. Don
wouldn't be able to hear this at all, but he could see part of what she did
inside, kind of like Zack could, reading her mind. What she actually thought
deep inside. He looked at her and shuddered.

“
Fuck
!” Was all that he would say for about a minute.
He just kept repeating it over again as the woman went on, finally explaining
out loud what was needed.

“Right. Fuck. These killers are going to leave here soon,
tomorrow at the latest.
If
we don't catch their attention and hold them
here. No one else can do it Don... I'm so sorry...” Tears came to her eyes, one
escaping and running down her cheek. “I'm so sorry.”

First Don started shaking, cradling his arms against his
chest weakly.

“Fuck. Right...” He took a huge gasp of air into his lungs,
exhaling fully.

“So, I need to become a girl and do that stuff? There's
really no other way?” His look seemed resigned, but he looked at the trickster
anyway, not giving up hope yet.

She shook her head and swallowed, “No. No one else would
survive it and if they get away, the world will be... Affected. Not quickly,
but the balance will change and tilt in ways we may never right again.”

Don stared at her, not blinking or moving, for a long time,
she looked back, still crying, but not breaking eye contact with him. Finally
he nodded weakly.

“Let's do it then.” He said weakly his voice dark and
sounding a little sick.

The Trickster explained what they needed, tracking devices
from Willet, or more exactly his strange friend that came the first day, a
change for Don, and one for Nikki into Dwayne, as soon as she woke up.

“Blaine, you'll need to do that, because Kate has to go and
do something else...” The woman turned to her and handed her a piece of paper
with three addresses written on it.

“Go to the first one and find the man there and take him to
the other places. You'll understand when you get there. You need to leave now
though. We'll need you back here as fast as possible. Change Don though. He needs
to be cute, but not like your kind of person. More average. Can you do that?”
The question wasn't really a question at all. Kate thought for a minute and
then moved to Don, who had stripped out of his clothes and laid on the bed,
Britney directing him. He looked... Sad and more than a little scared, but he
wouldn't say anything other than to laugh weakly and tell them all not to
worry.

"It's... I just might end up being a little
uncomfortable. That's all. Nothing to whine about. I'll be fine."

He smiled at them, trying to be reassuring, and failing.
Given what they were doing, Kate got the general idea, she thought. She just
hoped that he really knew what he was doing. That the Trickster in their midst
was playing things straight with them, unlike the stereotype that hung around
them all. If he was hurt and it was all just a gag or prank, then Yoga girl was
going to find herself in a very uncomfortable position. Her kind were powerful,
on a level that very few could match, but that wouldn't protect her for long if
the Line-Walkers all decided she needed a lesson of her own.

After about fifteen minutes of working, the girl that was
left on the bed looked... cute. Probably good enough to get a job in television
as the best friend of the hot girl on a sit-com. The kind that would eventually
take off her glasses, shake out her hair, and suddenly become beautiful. The
Trickster looked at the girl and then nodded to Kate.

“Good enough. I'd have liked it if she were a little less
pretty, but we don't have time to quibble and this will work. Now go Kate. Your
task is just as important. Hurry!” She didn't push at Kate trying to get her to
move, but it felt like she
wanted
to. “Run fast friend. Lives depend on
you today. More than you know.” She called out as Kate moved into the rift that
would take her into Don's room at the house back in Washington.

She made the step over well, and on the first try, which
surprised the heck out of her, but instead of stopping to wonder at how she'd
managed it, she ran, looking at the paper in front of her. The address, the
first one, seemed familiar. Not like she'd
been
there before, but still,
like she'd been close by.

It hit her that it was
very
close to Zack's old house.
The one he and Troy had shared for years and that they finally bought a little
over a year before. Was it a year and a half, yet? She knew how to get close to
it though, from the mall.

She headed to Something Wonderful, running through the back
door, out of the kitchen, and stuck her hand out, seeking the rift there, a big
one that Zack had made, so it was really straight, she realized suddenly. Easy
to use compared to the natural ones. She recalled what the others had done each
time easily once she got that part of it. It didn't take a twist or side-step,
just walk through, hitting the right spot and making a slight, almost imperceptible
shift of weight to the right as she moved.

The scent of fruit potpourri hit her as she entered the
basket shop. Charli worked the front desk. Kate almost shot by, but something
stopped her when she saw the girl, who looked more professional than she'd seen
her before. No jeans and t-shirt today, but a skirt and blouse with a matching
jacket over it, all in black. It took Kate a bit to remember that Charli was
the Assistant Ambassador, not just a store clerk anymore. Right. She was even
more important than she always had been. Not just a Human to keep in the dark,
but one of her people.