Other Places 3: Detours (28 page)

Unfortunately,
or maybe to her benefit, he wasn't having any of it for the time being.

"Hold
it Catherine. Don't speak. Just don't do it. If you manage to hold your tongue,
and leave me a written list of what you need, and who goes where, I'll let you
pay it back with clothing for my employees here, from your shop. If you start
trying to attack me, even verbally, I'll kill you where you stand, and suggest
Calley replace you. I don't want to be mean, since I actually
like
you,
but so far you have not been making that easy. Pick one, and let me know which
it is." He stood looking at her as her mouth worked. She started to speak,
and a squeak managed to get free, which sounded both scared and annoyed at the
same time, but then she walked to the front desk and started writing on a pad
that was kept for phone messages.

Taking
a deep breath, he managed to fake a smile for the woman, and did a good enough
job of it that Calley at least smiled back.

"Thanks.
She's really just terrified that you'll make her do porn with Humans. She isn't
really that bigoted and has even dated Human guys before, but she doesn't
exactly want it on the web for everyone to see, either. Say, did Jahn and his
wife send those funds along, yet? They were supposed to. It might make things
awkward today if they haven't. One of the things that's needed is getting him
from the summit. We should leave his wife and kids." She looked around and
then shrugged, her small shoulders going higher than a human would have
managed, nearly to her ears. "I mean that too. Just to protect them. We
don't really know who's targeting who yet, so it seems like a good idea. A leader
must be seen as brave, but his children don't."

She
had a point. It was just one that he wasn't going to concern himself with.
Catherine came back with the list, and other than line five, which said, quite
clearly, "fuck you, Demon" the rest was doable. Zack pointed at that
one and smiled.

"Agreed
then. Later tonight?" He was joking, but she blanched, as he showed the
thing to Calley. She actually went wide eyed again.

"Um,
Catherine, why would you offer that? You should have at
least
specified positions
and all that. Wow. Zack, you don't like it rough, do you?"

It
was sort of cute, how innocent she was pretending to be about it all.

"Not
really. Don't worry Catherine. I won't break you. Good thinking, coming up with
that. It will help us grow closer."

She
just looked worried, and started to turn when he laughed.

"I'm
kidding
. I'd go into how I actually do like it rough or something, but
we sort of have an emergency right now, so, you know, implied playful banter...
You turn red and manage not to say anything
and
... I let you off the
hook. Only this time. If you offer again I'm taking you up on it. My libido is
really kicking into overdrive. If I wasn't so busy I'd be dragging you both off
to the back room about now. I mean that, too."

Personally,
he was going to blame Mirror Him for that part of things. It was all too new to
him and he wasn't used to feeling things that strongly yet. It would work out,
he didn't doubt. Eventually.

Still,
the list wasn't that bad, and most of it was doable. He didn't know how to find
the Shifter's world headquarters, but hopefully Jahn Samson would know.

That
and eating was all he had to do for the rest of the day, until seven, when it
got dark. Then he and everyone else he could find, took small candles outside
and joined nearly a thousand others. It was Bey that got up to speak to them
all, since he looked old enough to be listened to.

"Thank
you all for coming. Tonight we should share our good wishes and send our best
thoughts to those that are in need, after the attacks today. Tomorrow we should
all band together and find those that have done this, and ensure they cannot do
so a second time. Please join us in a moment of silence." It was simple,
but no one spoke, for nearly five minutes.

Then,
almost as if it were planned, people started to sing.

"God
bless America..." It wasn't a horrible voice that did it, but still got
him to look across the way, since the man that spoke was standing next to
Stocky the Bunny Boiler and looked an awful lot like how Zack used to. Enough
that they'd still be confused for each other, no doubt.

Xenses,
no doubt.

Working
his way over, he was a bit shocked by what happened. Not that everyone started
to sing, no, that was Human nature. It was that, as he got closer, the fact
that Stocky double B...
hugged
him. Then, without changing outwardly at
all, the world started to roil around her a bit. Showing that she'd been
something different than he'd thought, from across the way. The pattern was
vaguely familiar too.

"Rotted?"
he didn't make a big deal out of it, but she smiled.

"Yes.
Call me Ann though, since we're friends. This is so wonderful. Xen enlisted my
help a few months ago, to keep tabs on your house man, Troy. It was my idea to
sleep with him, but I got a twofer there, since Xenses was visiting. He looked
so pretty at the time, too." She waved at him, her face a bit blank
suddenly. "Not that you're horrid now, but I did like the old look
better."

She
linked arms with him, which was a little too close for him.

Zack
tried to make his voice calm and reasonable anyway.

"So,
you didn't kill her? I was worried about that, after what you said to Troy
earlier. That thing, trying to take me, it threw me off. It might be a bit
outside of the bargain we made, too."

Xenses
didn't ask what he was talking about, getting it all already. That was one of
the nice things about speaking with Greater Demons, no doubt. They understood
what you meant more often than not.

"I'd
say that I helped you. True, not in a way that's comfortable, but you're even stronger
now, with your two halves merged. Yes, I'm sorry about tricking you into it. On
the good side, you won't be taken by anyone too easily, as a slave, which is
excellent. Don't go up against that bitch Keeley, if you can help it. Just as a
guide, imagine what I did but about fifty times stronger?" There was a
look that seemed a bit sinister then, as he scanned the crowd. There were a lot
of people, and they hadn't finished the song yet.

Zack
nodded, "I figured it was something like that. A loophole in the exact
words we used. So, Keeley and Darla are expecting you to show up on the
fifteenth, in Johannesburg. Where exactly, they didn't say. It's a trick of
course, but as far as I can tell, they aren't particularly tracking me. That
could be wrong, so, consider yourself warned?"

That
got him slapped on the shoulder in a way that was a bit too friendly,
considering everything in the past.

"Thanks.
I'll make it worth their while. Or, at least give them a chance to set that up.
Now, I'd like to leave Ann here with you? She gets along with most of your
friends all right, and mentioned that you two are dating? That's pretty fast
work, but what else should the world expect from my son?"

Stocky
looked at him and smiled hugely.

Zack
just nodded back, getting the woman to seem happy enough.

"After
a fashion, I suppose. Mainly friends. Still, you can't stay like this." He
meant the current face, which had her simply... Shift. The body wasn't that
different, but her features altered enough that she wasn't the same girl, after
about a minute. Then she turned a nice and even tan.

"Better?
I have to say, you're kind of picky, aren't you? Can't be a little girl, can't
be the one stalking your friend. I suppose you'll insist that I stay female
too? Tsk." She was teasing, at least.

Zack
nodded.

"Yep.
For now, anyway. Say, were you Rebekah in that little play, the other day?"
He didn't know that at all, but she nodded, cuddling closer to him.

Next
to him Xenses seemed to be ignoring them, or perhaps listening to something
that Zack just couldn't hear. Then he waved lightly.

"I'm
out then. Another attack in L.A. Oh, hey, here..." There was a touch on
his hand and a thread sprang out at him, with a lot more force than was needed
for him to pick up on it. It nearly slapped into his mind, rather than just
being presented.

It
had the faces and names of the people involved in the plotting and the attacks.
All of them, which was nearly forty people.

Then,
without waiting at all, the crazy and no doubt evil, Greater Demon Xenses,
vanished. It was slow, and almost ponderously done, but he managed to get onto
the lines and leave, without anyone doing more than blinking once.

Ann
held his hand, and then kissed him gently on the cheek.

"We
should get married, don't you think? We can't have kids, but we could adopt?
Or, I know, I can raise one from the dead? That will be fine, I think. Or would
you like to get a dog instead? This is so much fun." She didn't try to
drag him off at least.

Sighing,
Zack looked over at Lenore, who saw him, but didn't seem too put out by the new
girl on his arm.

"I
have a girlfriend. Over there? We're friends, that was what we agreed to,
right?"

She
nodded, her face decently cute, if still a little round. Like a real girl,
instead of a computer generated model, like Keeley.

"Indeed
it was. Still, you like me, and I know your rules now, so it seems right. You
can bring your other women and men too. I like Troy. We can take him to bed
with us tonight?"

Zack
didn't say no, since Ann was clearly insane, or trying to make him think she
was, but was also being annoying, not evil. He didn't want to push her too hard
that way, so ignored her.

"We
should go in, I need to get in touch with some people, since I have some people
to kill, it seems. After I check things out, I mean. I don't just go around
doing things like that. Killing. There's a good reason for it." His voice
was light and lightly airy, but not
that
playful.

He
meant it, but didn't want the crowd to think
he
was a terrorist.

The
Demoness cuddled his arm a bit more, rubbing her chest against him, and
chuckled.

"Well,
so much for me making you think I was really going to insist on instant wedding
bells. What's the project? More to the point, can you kill them in a way that
will allow me to resurrect them, so we can do it all over again? That's always
more fun. For me. Not so much for
them
, but hey, if they wanted a vote
in the matter, they shouldn't tick off people like us."

He
looked at her, feeling a little blank at first, but letting a small smile come
to his lips after a while.

"You
know, I think we can probably manage that. I need to get a team together, but I
doubt anyone will insist that we treat these particular people all that nicely.
Not even Gregor. These are Christians, but not the good kind."

"There's
a
good
kind? You mean dead, right?" She wrinkled her nose then,
since it was clear that not all Demons were big fans of the religions.

"Not
yet. You know those jerks that go to people's funerals and hold signs saying
'God hates Fags'? It's them. Their leader has been trying to find a way to
start a holy war for years, and planted evidence to make this look related to
Islam. I personally find that annoying, since it's going to play merry havoc
with the economy of the Human world. Just when I finally became wealthy,
too."

It
sounded self-serving and petty, but as reasons went seemed to work well enough,
since Ann just started walking with him. He moved over and gestured to Edom and
Lenore, which had Bey coming along with them, even if he'd been leading things.
Zack smiled and waved him back.

"You
should stay here and help these people in their fear and grief. We just need to
do a few little things. It won't take long."

Not
really.

Inside
he contacted Gregor first, his voice relaxed. After he explained the situation
the generally kind seeming Greater Demon actually growled.

"Oh,
him
. I know the one,
and
his family. They consider themselves the
true elect. That never works out well, in the end. I've tried to steer the
faithful away from that kind of thing, but every few hundred years someone
comes along and manages to get a small group to think that they're the chosen
few." There was a very long and drawn out sigh. "So, I can go and
deal with them, now."

Zack
shrugged, but cleared his throat.

"I
was thinking more along the lines of having them killed, brought back, and then
confessing on live television, only to die by their own hands, publically? We
can play with that idea, if you want. The Rotted volunteered for that last
part. Not wild about religious people, I think... Just in general."

There
was a strange silence then, and the man finally made a sound that seemed like
something was stuck in his craw.

"You
have Xenses and the Rotted working on this? Who else?"