Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3) Page 30

“Bey! And Miss Rome, how wonderful of you to come. I was just speaking with the leaders here. They have some troubling news. Some of their cloning technology has fallen to people from the outer world. I was about to hurry to our people, Bey, and report on this. Is that…” She gestured, her very long fingers, which were at least twice as long as a normal person would have, moving in the direction of the node that they’d just come from.

  “Ah! Indeed, Memes. Miss Rome has come, out of personal friendship for you, to remove you to our chambers. Unless there is need to discuss more? Avery left a meal uneaten, to come for you directly.”

  That didn't get them from the room instantly, the others, the tall ones, talking to the Vampires with their minds. Avery got that when her skin started to tingle. It tickled a bit, but if there was information in it, she wasn’t able to pick it up at all. The others did though. They all bowed, and then left, with both of the others needing to go back to their castle node complex.

  Then they scurried from the room, moving fast. Avery called out, knowing that they’d hear her well enough.

  “Call if you need me?”

  There was no answer. At least that she could hear. She left then, hoping it was the right thing to do. The news of cloning technology being stolen was strange, but seemed to link up a bit with other things that had been going on. The problem there was that she didn’t have enough data to make a clear picture of anything. One tried to form, but it wasn’t real.

  It was, most likely, an artifact of the limited data she had.

  With a bit of focus, she let that go, and moved through the glowing node point, back to the shop. Edom had two treats ready for her, when she got there. One was slightly melted, but still good.

  Sitting, she ate for a bit, then looked at the man behind the counter.

  “They both went back to their council house. There was real seeming news, but I didn’t get enough of it from the people there for it to make sense. They’re telepaths. That doesn’t work on me very well.” She took another bite of the frozen treat and then closed her eyes. “This is really nice. Thank you.”

  “Not a problem at all, Avery. I noticed that we haven’t spoken a lot in the last few days. Is there anything new in your world?”

  She nodded, then realized that a lot of it wasn’t really secret at all. Some was.

  “There are things. I’m going to be dating the Alede Ambassador, to work my way into their government. The other line walkers are fine with it. Well, not Kaitlyn, since they tried to kill her at one point, but the others aren’t having a big issue. None of the others will work with them though, so it’s probably going to be Phillip and me. There’s a big meeting in another world. I got Lenore, Bey and Scotty invited. I can get you in as well, but I wanted to hold you and Eve back. You might have to go anyway, but if that’s the case we need to do it carefully. We want our people well represented there, but having too many Ambassadors in at once will be suspicious.”

  Interestingly, he nodded, as if that made sense.

  “We could set up a bar there? That often works pretty well. I can get Troy in for that. He has the needed skills. Do you think that there’s danger? A trick or trap?”

  She shook her head.

  “Not even a little bit. That doesn’t mean it can’t turn out that way. I sort of want to stack the deck with our friends, if possible. The IPB people seem solid, and so do the Noram folks. We should make sure of that before we meet officially, however. I have a meeting in the IPB world in two weeks and will be back each day or two. We need to go and see about Will Baker’s people. That or have some in here.” The time passage worked better going the other way.

  Edom smiled at her.

  “I see… That’s different than I thought you might have going on with this. Are you bringing the Shifters in on it?”

  “Yes? I should go and see about that now, if I can. That’s a good idea. So, you’re in on this with me? It isn’t a great plan so far, but we need to do what we can. If this thing goes wrong, it’s going to be my fault.”

  There was a nod, and a slow grin.

  “You know, I think I am in with you. Thank you, Avery.”

  Chapter twenty

  Avery didn’t really know if she was supposed to call first or not, in regard to the new President of her people. Calley was her friend, but very important now. It was kind of clear that she wouldn’t be in power yet, since that didn’t happen for sixty days after the election took place.

  They were friends though, meaning she wasn’t at all certain what her place was there, any longer.

  So, thinking about it, she decided that calling was in order. At least as a starting point. Bente needed to be updated as well, if she cared about that kind of thing. Really, all of her people kind of needed that. The line walkers were up to date, thankfully.

  Really, that left Calley, Commander Hart and her mentor. That and Val, since they were going to be fake dating soon. She was thinking of it that way, which had her gently chided by Tarsus, without even trying. After all, the best way to fake something was, very often, to really do it. With an Alede that would mean a lot of sex. Possibly with other people involved, being that she wasn’t a good energy source that way. She didn’t think that would be the case, at least.

  It didn’t scare her, thankfully. The idea just sounded sort of boring. Sewing would be more fun. Even washing the dishes would.

  Bente was called first. That just made sense.

  “Avery?” The voice was slightly accented, but very clear and understandable.

  “Pristine. I just wanted to check in, since I’m back from vacation. I can come to you, or we could come up with a meeting time?”

  “Wonderful, dear. It’s so nice to work with a being as conscientious as you are. I’ll come to you, however. In… Call it three days? Practice your sewing as well as your creativity. You should be leaving for your new work that day, correct?”

  Avery didn’t actually know that, but it was probably the truth.

  A Greater Demon had said so.

  “Most likely. I’m living here and traveling there and back each day. I have some projects, but nothing that should get in the way of your lessons. Do you need anything else? Within reason, I mean.”

  There was a pause, which had to be acting, since Greater Demons didn’t need the time to consider things that beings like she did.

  “I’ve been hearing rumors that there’s a meeting taking place in a different reality? Would you know anything about that? I had it from The Bold, who heard from The Rotted, who claimed that you were involved in that?”

  She nodded, knowing that the woman on the other side of the line in Italy would understand it was happening.

  “I’m doing the messenger work for that. Eve is paying me for the work. Under paying me, but I set that up on purpose. I don’t really need to worry about the gold right now. I have more than I can do anything with. There’s a level where it stops mattering.” She meant it, but figured there was a flaw in her reasoning.

  “Correct. Unless you’re dealing with my people, or a few others in differing groupings. You should avoid that, when possible. If you must do that… Well, then bargain as hard as you can get away with, naturally. The powerful do that, in the main. It isn’t mandated, if you have enough ability to enforce your will. That means I have an in there, to this meeting?” There was a change in the pacing of the words at the end, rushing to push Avery into taking action, even if she might not wish to do that kind of thing.

  The truth was, she didn’t care. Greater Demons weren’t to be trusted, but the right ones wouldn’t be harming them, if they were part of things.

  “You, Zack and say… I don’t know who else would fit there, from your people.”

  “Hmmm… Perhaps we should ask Tarsus? He’s most powerful and wise, but generally able to interact with others without doing great harm, unless it benefits him more than other actions. That should be safe enough, for a thing like this.”

  Avery took a slow breath, not knowi
ng if that was what the demon wished her to do. She didn't know if it was smarter to resist what he might want or not. What she had to guess was that talking about it anyplace that it could be overheard was foolish enough to end in her death, if she weren’t careful.

  “We meet in three days then?”

  “Yes. Unless something comes up to prevent that.”

  There was a click then, the phone going dead. The dial tone returned after hitting the correct button, so it was just her mentor controlling the situation. Again. Working with any of that kind of person was all about being manipulated. Avery hadn’t gotten that before, but it was starting to seem like it was really just the case. She would have thought she was learning, or at least getting smarter, but the truth was that Tarsus kept feeding her answers to things.

  Including that she needed to concentrate on increasing the creativity, since it was one of the tasks set for her by Bente. If she failed in it due to lack of trying hard enough, she would be punished. How that was going to happen hadn’t been discussed, because self-preservation had pushed her toward the correct path that way so far. As she called Calley Hale, just putting the number in, Avery tried to think of creative clothing options that would work for her new job.

  Not that she was going to be making her own costumes for the program. No one did that and it was a job probably best left to Humans. It was just that she’d be on camera a lot, which would mean Bente could check in on her from a distance, just by turning on a few machines. Not that she wouldn’t be up on whatever Avery was getting up to anyway.

  There was a soft click on the line just after the fourth ring.

  “Hello, this is Calley Hale. President Elect of the Shifter Nation. If you have any press inquiries or wish to set up an interview, please leave a message at the tone. If you have a personal message, please press one. Press two if you wish to lobby for social change.” There was a pause then. It went on long enough that Avery figured that the tone would be coming next. “Or, you know, you could just talk to me, Avery.”

  “Um, hello?”

  “Hey! Sorry, I saw who was calling. What’s up?”

  It took her a few seconds to work out that she was actually talking to her friend and not the answering function on the phone. That had happened before to her, meaning it was a real enough thing.

  “I’m just getting in touch with everyone. To make sure that…” She didn't know, actually. “Reporting in, basically?”

  That was a thing, at least for Shifters.

  Enough so that the Bat on the line made a considering sound instead of laughing at how awkward she was being.

  “That’s nice of you. Things are going well here. I’m at Sparks right now. Oh, hey… Scotty was telling me that he’s supposed to go to a meeting in a different world?”

  “Yes. We need at least one Shifter to be going as well. Probably Tyler, too. I’ll be there, but just taking people in from different places. Can you tell me who you’re assigning to go? I can get a few more people in, I think. We also need at least one Human.” It was going to be a lot of people going at the rate she was adding to things.

  Calley sighed into her ear.

  “Nifty. I’ll get that all set up? We don’t get invited to things like this all the time. When do I need to have that name to you by?”

  “We get a few days. Sooner is better though. I’m starting my new job in a few days, so that will change things as for when I can work each day, passing messages around.” She felt stupid, saying all of that, but it was kind of her life at the moment.

  Which wasn’t much of one, really.

  “Got it. I’ll set up someone to act for us. I’ll get back with you… Probably tomorrow or the next day? I know it probably sounds weak, but damned if being President doesn’t make you popular. I haven’t even really started yet and I’m on the phone almost constantly. Speaking of which, I need to hop over to the other line here… Talk to you soon!”

  The last call was more fun for her, since it was just to Commander Hart. The man who’d looked out for her for three years, when no one else would. That went well, but also reminded her that she needed to make some clothing for him. She’d done a little bit earlier in the year. Summer was coming however, which meant he’d need cool clothing, since he lived in a southern state.

  They didn’t talk about anything important. It was just a progress report on various things. Everything except the fact that she needed to infiltrate the Alede command section. Their Governing Body.

  Still thinking about clothing and focusing on the area of her brain that hurt when she tried to be creative, in order to push it to new heights, she headed down the mall toward the Alede clothing store. One of her positions had been doing repairs and some minor work on lingerie. Now they had Leslie to do that stuff. There was a plan in place that needed to be seen to anyway.

  Val wasn’t in that day however, which wasn’t that odd. She was the Ambassador for her people stationed at the Westfield Node complex, but they didn’t really do daily work of note. Robert, the second in command, was there, which would probably be enough for any real Alede business. They even ran on normal store hours, instead of twenty-four hours a day.

  The Vampires had people there all the time. Even the Shifters did. Not all the groups had to though.

  Avery didn’t even bother talking to anyone in particular. Instead she just went home, walking the distance, using shortcuts. It didn’t take her long, but gave her a bit of exercise. The other option was to go to the Yoghurt World and use the node to move directly to Edom and Eve’s back yard. It was an option and no one would have minded that, but being lazy wasn’t going to help her later.

  The rest of the night was just her making new outfits for work. Her processing speed on that kind of thing had gone way up, she thought. It was hard for her to notice, since her focus on it had improved, in order to hold to Bente’s high standards. Still, at ten she was able to climb into bed.

  No one was around the next morning, so she used some of the food there to make a large breakfast for herself. Then cleaned up and went back to her sewing projects. No one called her to do anything, and she wasn’t on the schedule to work. In fact, though she ate and slept, no one was around for several days. That was different, really.

  In the end what got her out of the house was the raw fact that she needed to go and check on her message duties with the IPB.

  That trip went slightly differently than Avery was used to. Mainly due to the fact that everyone was outside, in the front common area. That was mainly dirt, rounded and surrounded by cement and glass walkways. Many of them were dressed up like police SWAT teams might be. That, or riot officers. It didn’t come up often for the Shifters, but they had training in both urban warfare and riot suppression, since mercenaries didn’t always get to choose what kind of duties they were needed for.

  Turning around, to look at the front of the fence line, she noticed that there were about a thousand people standing there. Many holding signs. Those were about a lot of different things, but the most common statement seemed to be about someone named Proxy. A lot of the people wanted that person to be beheaded, for some reason.

  It was on about a third of the signs, specifically. Not hung, or shot… Beheaded.

  Walking quickly, her skirt seeming well and truly out of place, someone waved at her. It wasn’t anyone she knew, but the large man smiled at her, which was kind seeming. He had gold colored skin, as in it glimmered a bit like the metal, and lavender eyes that held several shades of purple inside of them. His outfit was a bit different, being in white and gold, with a cape that hit him mid-thigh in the back.

  “Hello!” His voice was deep and powerful, but again, seemed pleasant. There were several people near him, about half of whom had on decorative outfits which were designed to catch the eye, compared to the brown that almost everyone else had on. The tan, really.

  “Hi. I’m Avery Rome? I was just coming to make sure that Marcia Turner didn’t need anything taken around to other rea
lities, for her current meeting project.” She glanced behind them at the chanting people, then looked back and smiled a little. “I couldn’t help but notice that there seems to be more liveliness in the area today? Is this normal?” It hadn’t happened before when she’d been there.

  One of the people that was a bit behind the golden man moved forward. He had a face mask on, but the front was clear. That didn't hide who it was, being meant to simply protect him from thrown objects, at a guess.

  It was Den, even if he didn’t have a camera at the moment. It left him looking funny, she was so used to seeing him with one of those in his hands.

  “Avery! Hey kid… Probably not the best time to come hang out, really. Proxy had to go and kill a terrorist group a few days ago. The trouble there was that about half of them were high ranking Islamic Caliphates. That they wanted to kill a few million people with a biological weapon doesn’t seem as important as blaming Brian for doing his freaking job.” There was a charming grin that seemed a bit cocky then. The man was good at things like that. “On the nice side, they aren’t blaming us for being Infected for once. These good people just want to lynch one of our people. That’s all. Trust me, that’s like… Two steps up in the world?”

  The large man smiled then. It seemed like it was a real thing even.

  “Three even.”

  “Brian Yi? From the camp out?” She winced. That was someone that she knew, even. Letting him be harmed for stopping bad people wasn’t really something she could allow.

  The trouble was that she didn't know the rules of engagement in the situation, not having any orders for it at all.

  The man, her friend Denis, nodded his tan helmeted head.

  “Yep. The same guy. This isn’t anything we can’t handle though. The biggest thing now is to let people complain, so they know that they have free speech. Even if blogging really would have worked as well. As long as they don’t pose a real threat, they can stand there all day chanting and marching. Now, what can we do for you? Oh… Mark has the edited show back? They really did a good job in post-production on it. Fast, too. Scott, you saw that? Right?”