Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4)

  Alternate Places: Book Four

  Shield of Innocence

  P.S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2015

  Chapter one

  "I simply must get to the market! This isn't my place. I'm sure you won't mind?" The man who was speaking was a heavy set individual. Which was a polite way to say morbidly obese. Short for his kind, according to his inner shadow self. Insistent as well, but not angry about it, as far as Zack could tell. He just had things to do, and honestly expected the Line-Walker, who was a friend of his, after a fashion, to help him out. Even if the situation was a little bit strange.

  The problem there was that Zack had never met the fellow before. Not even in passing as far as he knew. The man's inner self was certain of his position that way however. After all, Zack had taken him to Lesser Shia himself. Then the new boy, Christopher, who was a demon that the man had never met before, had brought him back to the mall.

  This information bombarded Zack's mind, the man nearly gibbering in his terror. The problem, it seemed was that he'd ended up in the wrong place. In a pretty major fashion.

  Holding up his hand, Zack let his brow furrow.

  "Um... Hold on a second here. Who are you? I don't want to be rude, but we haven't met yet. Have we?"

  The man, hiding his inner distress pretty well, brushed at his blond hair, which was in a short, professional business cut. His body was large, as in very heavy. Not just plump, but the kind of thing that showed both a love for food, and certain biological problems combining into a nearly crippling condition that would have left a normal man bed ridden. If he wasn't at least six hundred pounds, Zack didn't understand mass in the slightest. In a way it spoke to his inner will and strength, that he got out of bed to walk the lands of normal people.

  "I am Yavvel S'tress Condiceit. The Ettarian Ambassador to the Westfield complex?" There was a slightly frightened, watery expression to his smile. A forced thing that was hanging on by no more than the finest thread at the moment. "Which isn't this place."

  His breath was starting to come more rapidly, as the whole thing hit him. That was understandable, really, Zack had to figure, getting the basic idea from the man's inner self.

  "Ah. So, it isn't Underwood Mall. Except that it is? You don't know me, but a different Zack the Line-Walker? And... He's been taken by a demon?" That wasn't great news really. Demons were kind of evil, even if a few of them weren't all that bad.

  It was hard for Zack to wrap his head around even now, after finding out that the man that had sexually abused him, raped him, and passed him around to others for their pleasure as a child was an arch-demon, not really a demon. It had been so hard for him to change his mind about that kind of person, who interacted with people only by possessing others. To hear that he, in a different reality, was that kind of being... It wasn't good.

  There was a head shake then, the man indicating that he was reading his mind, his eyes going wide.

  "No, no... It's different than that. He's a Greater Demon. It's... Basically it means that he's like you, I think? He walks the lines. At any rate, this isn't my place. If I can get back to the grand Market, at Lesser Shia, I can perhaps find him and be returned to my rightful land? I don't have funds. Not here. I could send for some, after I return? If that's possible." He didn't know that it was, and that left the heavy man feeling out of place on a grand level.

  Zack made a considering face, then shrugged.

  "If Chris got you here, we can get you back. That shouldn't be a problem at all. I've never run into another me before, so that's strange, but not anything to worry about." He wanted to ask how bad he was, that other, evil version of himself. A demon. Just thinking about it shook him, on a level that he hadn't thought could happen anymore. The other man smiled at him, and chuckled, clearly relieved.

  "Zack Hartley is a good being. He has aided many over the last years. I... Am I understanding that you'll help me? Even without proper funds?"

  "Sure? Why not? We should probably go straight back to your mall though. That way I can take the location of it from your mind directly. Is that all right, do you think?"

  "Ah! Yes, that would be most excellent. Is the way through the back of the candle shop here? Amazing. There were some issues with the mages at Westfield, and they rather kicked young Zack out a few years back. He moved to a different location. It's a gift basket place here? Something Wonderful? At the other place it's a book store and node location now. I was... Rather shocked to find it missing. Thankfully I met a young woman I recognized here, who helped me find you. Calley Hale? Only she claimed her name as Libby here. Wonderful person, in both worlds. Do you know her?" The man meant on a personal level, it was clear. He was just being polite however, and was way more concerned with getting home rather than making nice with the natives. Zack nodded at that one since he would have been doing that too if it were him, but didn't respond out loud, walking past the tidy rows of candles and incense. They had some souvenirs too, including t-shirts. Those were new, and caused him to wince as he walked past.

  Most of them said, 'I heart Hartley' on them. The heart was red, and the words a deep and impressive black. It was embarrassing but Kaitlyn, his fellow line walker, had insisted they get them in. Worse, people actually bought them. Yavvel, very kindly, picked up on all of that and didn't mention it, even as his inner self snickered a little at the concept.

  Outwardly the man just pushed his great mass into following along as quickly as he could, so that Zack, this strange one that looked like a younger version of the real line-walkers old self, wouldn't have time to change his mind. He could only pray that it was possible to return to his own place. The fear that he wouldn't be able to was buried though. Deep down, under his surface politeness. He was an Ambassador, after all. There was a good chance that this land could be a good place to open up, if they were peaceful. So far everyone had been kind to him, which boded well as far as that went.

  The big man behind him, Zack ducked his head into the office as he passed.

  "Hey, Lisa? I'm going to take the Ettarian Ambassador back home? Apparently..." He stopped, looking at the woman. She was blonde, in a slightly dingy kind of way, and in good shape. She looked to be about thirty-five, and had a wonderful smile. He knew that because she looked up from her computer, and smiled at him lovingly.

  "Ettarian? I don't have that one on my schedule..." Her mind scrambled wondering if she'd messed something up, as she saw the man. Trying to work out if she'd made a mistake or possibly been rude to the being, who looked human to her. Normal, if a bit too fat for his own health.

  Zack shrugged, then winced. He'd been trying to break that move as a habit, and for all his mental prowess in other areas, that one just didn't come to him. Not easily. Why that was, he didn't know for certain, but it was still there. Probably because it wasn't that big of a deal, when he got down to the base of the thing. He didn't really have a drive to do it, so it didn't come as easily.

  "Yavvel S'tress Condiceit. Ettarian Ambassador. Chris brought him here, instead of taking him home. If I have it right, that's actually an alternate version of here? Which is really cool, don't you think? I'm going to get him home, and maybe see if we all have evil twins living there. I won't be too long. Unless we get lost in time and space. Then, you know, it might be a while." He was joking, or trying too, but both Lisa and the man behind him seemed horribly worried about that.

  Which wasn't a real thing for him. Zack always knew where he was, so getting lost wasn't a problem. He reached out and took the big man's arm, and started walking again. He was about to explain what was needed, but Yavvel was a telepath as it tur
ned out, so simply sent everything he could about where he was from, exactly, with a good bit of power. More than Zack really needed.

  "Got it! Ouch. That was a bit loud." He smiled though, meaning it. A lot of people had more problems than this man was having getting the idea of place that was needed. As it stood, Zack kind of felt like he'd been to the other place before already, thanks to what Yavvel had just done.

  The node point in the back of the shop was inside a silver inlaid pattern in the floor. That was meant to keep demons from using it magically, and seemed to work pretty well. They'd never had any real trouble with them coming in unannounced at any rate. He waved at the empty space in the middle of the back room. There was brick tile all over the place, in a rust red color that was very tidy, since it was the main transfer point that they used still.

  "You've done this before, so it won't be that different, I don't think. Just follow along with me?" He looked at the man, who nodded. The only strange thing was that he tried to hop a little, working hard to move his bulk, as they actually got to the right place.

  Why that was Zack didn't know, but getting them into the void was as easy as it always was. The sense of utter darkness, and nothingness, enveloped them both. It could have been both scary and oppressive, but it was, more than anyplace else, where Zack felt most comfortable. After all, he'd lived there almost all of his entire life. He was, in the outer places, the real world, about twenty-four or so. The rest of his long life had been in this nearly timeless place. Meaning that he was tens of thousands of years old, if he were going to be honest about it.

  He didn't let himself linger, wrapping this new being inside of himself, to prevent his dissolution. It was possible, for some, to learn how to do that for themselves, but it normally took about a decade of concentrated practice to really master very well. If he moved fast enough, this man wouldn't even realize that anything in particular had happened other than what seemed like a blink that went on a bit too long.

  The instructions that he'd gotten from Yavvel was really solid, and only led to one space. To Zack it seemed pretty obvious. Chris however was younger than he was, and probably hadn't checked, just taking the man where he thought he needed to go. It was fair enough, since he would have done the same thing, he knew. When a person came and asked for a return to the mall, from Lesser Shia, they all would have done that. The idea of another place being so similar was just strange.

  There was one big difference however, that he could tell right off the top. Yavvel had indicated that they needed to go into the back of Something Wonderful, not Candles and More. To be more exact, it was a much bigger place, and filled with books, and a better than decent cafe.

  There was no one in the way at the node point, so Zack stepped them through into the empty space, and then blinked. Looking around, taking in the carved patterns on the walls, done in dark stained wood, and the marble floors, he had to resist whistling. Not that he was good at that. This place kind of deserved the admiration, so he nearly tried anyway.

  Still, he smiled, looking back at Yavvel.

  "Wow. This place is much nicer than where I work. Is the whole mall like this?"

  Before his new friend, and Zack had to guess they were on good terms, more or less, could speak, a man walked out of a small office space at the very back. He was about the same basic size that Zack was himself, being slightly on the thin side, and about five-nine. A bit more muscular, perhaps. The colors were about the same too, except that this man looked a bit better. Part Japanese, too, which was different. His clothing was nice, though dressy casual, which, oddly, was exactly the same as how he was dressed that day. A dark blue button up, a black belt, similar colored slacks, and shiny black shoes. Like they were twins.

  Rather than yell, or act frightened, the man just tilted his head a little, and then looked at Yavvel.

  "Ambassador! I wasn't expecting you. Especially through the node like this. I..." He looked at Zack closely and then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not certain I know you. I can see that you look like Xenses, if a bit younger and friendlier seeming, but he's dead. I thought so at least. Given that Yavvel here isn't being defiled that could still work. So, one of the others?" He seemed to be trying to figure it out, his inner self worried about it all.

  Zack smiled, trying to put the man at ease.

  "Zack Hartley. Um, before it gets confusing, Yavvel here accidently got taken to the wrong reality by one of my apprentices. So I'm just getting him back. I hope you don't mind me using your place here? This is... Really nice. I work out of the back of Candles and More, back home."

  Instead of calling him a liar, the man looked at him very closely, then Yavvel, and after a moment, nodded. Like it all simply made sense to him.

  "Neat. I... This might seem strange to you, or not, but I can get a reading from you, your entire life, by shaking your hand. Would that be all right with you? I'm not totally certain this isn't a trick. It would let me feel better about it." His inner self smiled about it, but didn't scream about him being a liar, or hint at an attack, so Zack nodded. Interestingly, the shadow looked a lot more like he did than the part Asian man.

  "Sure! Here. Um..." He shrugged, and didn't even mind the move this time, then went on, trying to be open and honest about the whole thing. "I'm kind of old. A few... Um, I think it must be close to fifty thousand years now. I don't know if that will make a difference?"

  The man hesitated, then took a breath.

  "Okay... Well, either that's a great way to get me not to check, meaning this is a trap, or it's real and I need to be ready for it. Well, either way, let's see?" He moved in smoothly, and clasped hands with him. It was electric. Powerfully so.

  It was enough that only his own force of will, honed over the ages, allowed him to not jump back screaming. The other man was doing better that way, and after five minutes, his eyes closed the whole time, he gasped and let go.

  "I... See. Well, that's pretty convincing. Why don't we go and look around here then? While I shake and recoil from all that?" He seemed to mean it, and Yavvel moved toward the door, his face calm, but his shadow stating that he'd walked way too far already that day, and what he really wished for was to get to his embassy, on the upper floor.

  The thing there was that he didn't know how to get out of the situation, without potentially losing this new contact. After all, this second Line-Walker had gotten him home. For free, apparently. Courting him as a friend only made sense. Enough so that the other man, who was dressed like Zack was, nodded.

  "I agree, Ambassador. Why don't you go rest up, and I'll try to get things set up that way? I see no reason for us not to all be friends. This is a good being, as you sense."

  The heavy man nodded, hoping it was the right thing to do, and then headed toward the front of the place. To a door that would have been about where the front of the gift basket shop was.

  Zack looked at the other man, who waved subtly toward a nice door to the side that had owl carvings all over it.

  "Um, sorry, I didn't get your name?"

  The other guy, who was possibly a demon, even though he didn't have one inside of him that Zack could see, smiled.

  "Zack Hartley. Same as you. I even used to look like you, which is interesting. I can change shape, so I picked something a bit different, since you also kind of look like my dad, who was a horrible monster. Anyway, let's go and see if you can find any differences? We won't take long, so your Lisa won't worry too much." Then, as if he were pleased about the whole thing, he guided them out into the the book store, which was nice, and much larger than he would have expected.

  When they came out a familiar person waved to them from the front desk area. A bit absentmindedly, not really looking at them until she helped a very attentive older man. One who it was kind of clear one of the other Alede had been having sex with. Zack could tell, since that woman came out from the back, a wave of interest hitting him. That kind of person did things like that.

  The new one wasn't a person that
he knew however, though as she walked up to them from the back she froze, clearly understanding who he was. Her shadow actually spoke to him. That happened a lot really. It was kind of like telepathy, he guessed, but very visual for him, too. Really, it was like there were two solid people standing there, at the same time.

  Zack?

  He answered in the same fashion, knowing that her conscious mind wouldn't understand it.

  Yes. It's me, only from a different place.

  The other man, the alternate him, smiled.

  "Roberta, this is Zack Hartley. They just call him Hartley where he comes from, which is a different reality. He's a Line-Walker too, but is honestly a human, not a Greater Demon. I was going to show him around, and see if I can get him and some of his people to work out of here part of the time. Their operation is a lot more advanced than ours."

  Zack smiled and gave a small wave to the woman, who, instead of looking at him like an oddity, seemed ready to get on her knees and help entice him to stay. Her inner self seemed to like that idea anyway. She reached out to touch him, a flash of lust coming off of her that was strong enough to affect him pretty strongly. He felt himself stiffen, and locked that response down using a lot of focus and physical control.

  No one else noticed it, but Kaitlyn, the woman working the desk, walked over, pushing up a pair of glasses that looked familiar. Unneeded too. She was exactly like the girl that he knew. Lovely on a level that was nearing perfection, confident seeming, and... Controlled. At least compared to the other succubus that was trying to subtly drag him off to the side. Not that much compared to his Kate, but there had been real work on that score, it was obvious.

  He didn't really get it, but the other Zack shook his head a little.

  "We don't have time for that right now. Leave Hartley here alone." He didn't try to explain to the Kaitlyn looking woman, who smiled at him instead of the demon that ran the place, locking eyes.

  She pushed her hair out of the way, her inner self amazed at what she was seeing. Then she glanced at her Zack and shook her head.