Crystal Core Read online

  It was a good thing to know, in case anything like that came up. It also reminded him as to where he needed to visit next.

  While he didn’t need a dragon killed, he certainly had one that he needed to get in touch with. A vampire, as well.

  Chapter eight

  Willum walked into the back of the frozen treat shop, in a world that he’d been to many times, but didn’t really know well at all. The fact was, he’d mainly been in the one building. That was all. Not that place next door, or to the local river or pond. For all he knew it was located next a vast purple ocean, just outside the front door. Well, down the way a bit.

  The doors on the shopping complex were clear glass, so he knew they had large gray parking areas with yellow lines for ground cars directly outside. That and streets on at least two sides of the building.

  Moving toward the front, not calling out, due to the idea that he didn’t want to scare anyone, if they weren’t expecting someone to come through the node in the back, he saw that it was probably a good idea. There weren’t just one, but three small family groups taking up the booths along the right-hand side from his perspective. There were two people behind the counter, working away at a good pace. Serving a small line of individuals who were ordering frozen yogurt of different types. It was actually the busiest that Willum had ever noticed the place being.

  In all his visits he’d only seen five or so real customers. Half of those had been there to purchase blood, being vampires. These all seemed like regular people to him.

  Ambassador Edom Freeman worked behind the counter, with his nice jacket on, and a green and white apron over that to protect his clothing. Next to him worked a woman who was much lighter. Her hair had several colors to it, making it seem a bit like a brightly colored, but melted rainbow. Bits of metal glinted from her face. She was shorter than Ed, by about three inches. Making her about five-four or five. It was hard to tell, since she was moving so quickly that it was difficult to judge that kind of thing.

  Neither person looked at him, which wasn’t surprising. After all, he hadn’t come in yelling and announcing his presence. What he did do was step back into the hallway toward the back room. It looked to be red tile like brick on the floor, with plain white walls around him. People could see him from the front, but that didn’t stop him when it came to getting his clothing around. In most places, suddenly making your outfit change color and shape didn’t get that much attention.

  Even if people were standing right in front of you at the time, at least on occasion.

  In this case, no one even looked in the correct direction, to notice his clothing seem to melt, from the rather nice black silk and leather that he’d been wearing to a rather tidy looking pair of blue jeans, and a tight red t-shirt. There were black running shoes as well, but to make it all match, he put a colorful red stripe on the sides of each.

  As he moved back out, heading further into the room this time, Edom looked up. It seemed as if the movement caught his eye, rather than the scent or anything along those lines.

  Then the man froze in place, instead of continuing with his treat making, even though that was, very clearly, the primary task of the moment. The sense coming off of the fellow was interesting, if a bit unusual. The man knew he needed to greet Will properly, being an important person as he was. One that had aided his own people in solving a lot of the problems they’d been having with attacks.

  Then again, the store was filled with common folk at the moment. Brave ones, attracted by the magical sign out front, as well as advertising that had been on television in the last weeks. That, combined with the local holiday, meant that business was definitely up.

  Rather than make a big production of bowing, which wasn’t a thing commonly done there, Willum just glanced at the room and nodded.

  “I’ll start on the floors? That and the tables…” It wasn’t hard to find the supply closet, that one having been used when he was there before. He did have to recall how some of the things were done, but everyone there cleaned so much of the time that he’d seen it all, even in his brief visits to the place.

  Getting it right took mind reading, if only his poor kind, to make himself really useful. After all, he didn’t know the job, if what he was doing counted as one there. Still, by taking the information from Edom, and the new vampire there, who he didn’t know by name at all, he got the general idea. They wanted the place to stay tidy, but without pressing others to leave too soon or feel interrupted.

  On two occasions, over the next hour, with many more people coming in, some carrying red, blue and white flags or even being dressed in that color scheme, people asked for help from him. Once it was for more napkins, which were kept behind the counter. The other was when a small child, who looked to be about four, managed to dump a rather nice-looking confection all over a table.

  That had him turning around, since the small boy hadn’t really even started to eat yet. The first attempted spoonful had sent the thing tipping to the side.

  “Ed? Can we get another one of these for the young man here? I’ll get this taken care of.” It was, perhaps, heavy handed, giving their product away, but the dark-skinned man just nodded and smiled. His teeth gleaming a bit under the stark lights of the store.

  “A fudge ripple, wasn’t it? Coming right up. Thanks, Will.”

  It wasn’t hard work, just being basic cleaning. They even had running water in the supply closet, as well as nice rags to use for wiping everything down. Though, when it was time to do the windows, he had to switch to a paper product for that. Thankfully the multi-colored girl who was doing most of the cash handling and passing out treats thought that at him forcefully enough that he caught it in time.

  It hadn’t been on purpose or anything on her part. Simply that she’d made a similar mistake before, and it had taken her hours to really fix it. There were a few smudges on the door from greasy fingers, but the whole thing was remarkably tidy, otherwise.

  Finally, the crowd died down to almost nothing. Two people were still there, eating their treats slowly, seeming to be talking to each other. He didn’t let himself listen, since it was pretty affable sounding. Finally, one of them looked up. They were both men, but seemed to be together, as a couple. That was hard to tell, and was more of a feeling based on body language than anything else. They didn’t hold hands or hug, but were still leaning in toward the other person more than men generally did. He thought. The signals used in his world were slightly different. Sometimes even drastically so.

  The very thin man smiled at him, then looked over at Edom and the female vampire.

  “Are you all going to the Fort for the fireworks, later? We’re planning to meet up with some friends there, ourselves. I heard that the Coalition of Nations is doing a concert today. Living Proof is playing, along with… I think it’s Toby McGuire?”

  The words got the festive looking lady vampire to smile then.

  “Tobin Peterson, I think? I hear that he’s good. From a different reality. That’s the story anyway.”

  The shorter customer, who was a trifle plump, for a man, and no larger than a tall commoner, if lighter in skin color, rolled his eyes.

  “I bet. I mean, people from other worlds? That’s not a thing. Then, I didn’t think Vampires and were-people were either. Living Proof is good, anyway.”

  Willum smiled then, since it wasn’t a great sin not to know things. Especially new ones, like other people who had crossed the void between worlds to visit them. Instead he nodded.

  “Tobin is really good as well. I’ve heard him, Lydia and…” He had to focus to recall the name of the other singer. It was Sara’s main tutor, so the woman was kind of important. There was a real pause though, of nearly two full seconds, for him to get the information out. “Lauren. They all work as a team for that. You should go and listen to them, if you can. I think I have free time, so should do that as well. Not that I know how to get to the event.”

  Edom smiled then.

  “We should al
l go. I know where we need to be for it. The embassy here has a food stall there. It’s fairly popular, since we just give things away. Crystal and myself were going to close up here and head over to help with that, in a bit.” There was a big smile then. “Technically, the whole mall is closing at four, since half the shops have most of their people gone today for that. Which is in… About ten minutes?” There was no look at the men sitting at the table. Then, they’d already purchased their goods, and had them consumed, more or less. Them leaving when the others did wouldn’t be a major issue, he had to think.

  Willum nodded at the man, who was busily working away, still. Tidying, and restocking things.

  “By we, you mean all of us?” He didn’t know if it was a celebration where strangers would be welcome. Pressing in wasn’t a great plan, after all.

  That kind of thing could work at times for spy work, but just visiting had to be done on more polite rules. Which he was failing at, not giving the man or his lady friend, a way out, without being rude.

  Before he could stumble over a proper statement for that, the man behind the counter simply nodded.

  “That I do. Especially if you’re going to come in and work like this. Unless… Is there a situation? I should have asked earlier.” The smiling face seemed actually concerned for a moment.

  The feeling behind that was annoyed, but only with the man himself, for the supposed failure. As if Will wouldn’t have been yelling about that first thing, if it were an issue.

  “Nope. I have some news, if you have time to hear it. Some of it might be helpful with some other things. None of it is pressing. I’m actually on vacation right now. I just came to see about visiting with Eve and Avery.” They weren’t there, obviously.

  Not that there was anything wrong with Ambassador Freeman that way. Or his cohort Crystal. The girl, doing her own cleaning, grinned then.

  “Yay. More help at the food stand. The front looks good. I should really go over the supplies list though… That’s going to take too long. We’re supposed to be there at four-fifteen.” She looked over at Edom, who made a bit of a face.

  He explained that though.

  “We were planning to run. It’s about seventeen miles from here…”

  Doing the math on that, poorly, since it wasn’t a thing he had a lot of training in, Willum nodded.

  “I can, oddly enough do that one. It would take me a few minutes. Though, we can just use the node to go in, if that won’t bother anyone there? That will be faster.”

  The vampire fellow went very still then.

  “That sounds a bit pricy, for seventeen miles.” The being straightened his apron a little bit. It wasn’t fussy seeming, but felt contrived. A mannerism that meant nothing, put in place simply to make him seem more alive.

  Willum waved at him then.

  “I don’t take paying customers. Ever. It’s part of the rules. Just messages for me. Small packages as well. I have done up to several hundred pounds at once, or even more, a few times, but it can’t be a living being. So, if I take anyone anywhere it has to be for free. Making going not far at all way more practical.”

  The two men slowly cleaned up their table, standing to move toward the door.

  The thin, taller one, waved at them all.

  “See you all there then, possibly? There will be tens of thousands of people, so maybe not. Um, bye!”

  Each of them did that back, but Crystal spoke. It seemed to be her official duty.

  “Thanks for coming in. Hope to see you again soon. Happy Fourth!”

  “Happy Fourth!”

  Why it was a pleasant day at all, he didn’t get, but Willum knew enough to echo the words, since Edom had said them as well. So had the two men. That meant it was likely a community wide thing, at the very least.

  After that, they simply all cleaned for a while. It really didn’t take long. Crystal was put to writing quickly, since new supplies were honestly going to be needed, from the sound of it. That part had Edom smiling again. The man did that a lot, but most of the time it was no more than him being polite. Now he meant it.

  “We’ve been turning an actual profit, for the last two weeks. We don’t have to, being an embassy space, but it’s always nice to know that you could. It’s the new ads. Eve helped put them together, along with Lenore. Avery got some of her television friends to help with it. You know Krista Hall, don’t you?”

  Willum had to stop for a moment, before answering.

  “I do, I think. As long as she’s the same one… She works with Avery on Red Rain, as the director? I’ve met a few of her, to be honest.”

  Rather than acting confused, Edom tapped at the air a bit. Pointing without really doing it.

  “That’s the very lady herself. It turned out pretty well. The council even endorsed the funds to get it on the air. True, that was mainly about keeping Eve and Avery happy, but that doing it improved business for one of our operations wasn’t missed at all. Now…”

  The man didn’t stop, smiling a bit wider as he looked out the front glass of the place. Willum did as well, getting the reason for the pleased expression. Also, the sense that there was about to be a battle. Six people stood there, glaring at the front of the place. Each of them held a weapon of some kind in their hands. Most were dressed far too warmly, if what the others had on was any signal as to the time of year there.

  The humans had been in light shirts and short pants. Even the women had been. Not all of them, but at least half. That meant it was fairly warm outside, if not there in the mall.

  Three wore long leather coats, in a slightly shining black. It was really a bit gray, but most wouldn’t have bothered with the difference in shade. They were a mixed group, with some seeming Vagish, one looking like a tall city man from Noram’s Capital and the other two being pale, though tall.

  How that translated into the world he was in, Willum didn’t know at all.

  Edom took a breath and turned, slightly, to look at Will.

  “Forgive us. It seems we’re about to be attacked. It’s the downside of advertising. Not all of my kind appreciates being known openly. As if it isn’t far too late for that now. We’ve been having some troubles with vampire hunters, in the last months. Ever since the veil dropped and regular people started being able to recall what we are.” He bowed a bit, toward Willum. “Perhaps you should leave? I don’t know these people, but it’s early enough that they’re probably not children. They wouldn’t be awake yet, otherwise.”

  That had been a thing he’d heard a tiny bit about, from his friend Eve Benson. Instead of doing anything like run away, even if it was the wise plan, Willum waved at the men and women in front of the shop. He was fairly certain they could hear everything, anyway. He could have.

  None of them even tried to harm the magical sign. That got him to dig at his neck a bit, getting two new shields out.

  “Here, put this on? It’s a gift. I’ll go over how to use it later, but for now, just tap the glowing part and desire it to turn on. Crystal, one for you as well.” The six angry seeming vampires stood out front waiting for them. Two of them were actually suspicious of what he was doing. When the others had their new presents turned on, he bowed to the people standing in front of the place.

  At first only two of them did it back, being the Vagish seeming ones that were women, then the others followed along, as Willum walked to the front of the shop and went out to greet them. Behind him, seeming ready for battle, was a confident and slightly angry Edom and a very upset, nearly enraged, Crystal. She held to her composure, however.

  “Hello! May we help you today?”

  He spoke in English, since it was the primary language of the land he was in. Possibly their world, but he didn’t know that for certain. One of the slightly tan ladies stepped forward.

  “This does not concern you. We have come to discuss our betrayal, with the Ambassador here. If you would consider moving to the side? You need not die today, over this.”

  That got him to wince
a bit.

  “It looks like I won’t be dying any day. Possibly ever. I’m immortal apparently. As in I can’t die at all? Not just hard to kill, or unaging, like you. I just found that out, so you know, it’s a bit of an adjustment. Still, wouldn’t a discussion be more fruitful? We can write a note to those in charge and I’m sure that they’ll take your words into account, before taking action the next time. Really, I don’t know the situation here, but… That will probably work better than violence.”

  There was a soft laugh, from Edom.

  “That isn’t wrong. A phone call would have worked as well. The council is aware that some of the actions of late have caused discomfort. The attempt right now is to prevent violence, rather than encourage it. Would you like to come in and leave a message? I can have it delivered to the Council directly, which isn’t the normal pattern for such things. I have a group of missives to be sent off soon anyway, which should serve for getting yours looked at in a decently quick fashion.” The man seemed very calm and not at all intimidated by the folks in front of him.

  One of them jumped forward, wisely striking at Willum, since he was closest to the group. The metal pipe in the pale man’s grasp stopped in the air, hovering about three feet in front of Will’s face. The floor made a loud cracking sound as things inside the depths of the structure warped, the force of the movement going under his feet.

  Everyone froze for a bit. Including the ones on his side.

  “Oh, right. Shields. We all have them and you don’t. Really, we pretty much can’t be touched by anything you can do. I don’t think so at least.”

  One of the women dashed in, hitting Crystal. She used a wooden stick, one with a sharpened point. It stopped in front of the girl as well. Then, one of the tall, rather pale, men pointed at Edom. Fire sprang forth in the air, playing over his shield. A big part of the energy of it flowing into the ground. It left scorch marks on the floor.