Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) Read online

  There was a hint of a snort, a thing that came across more as intent than anything else, but was clear. Then a single word came at him. It had friendly overtone, at least.

  Asshole.

  That, in a way was true, Zack realized. He'd been taking people into the void, risking their lives, for hundreds, and at times thousands of years. True, he pulled those that failed, far more than those that could handle it, instantly, but it was still a danger to them.

  Worse, he expected Troy to fail at opening the rifts. Not because he hadn't done well, but due to the fact that nearly everyone that had even gotten that far, all twenty of them, had.

  Troy however moved away from him, waiting, and when Zack focused on the weak point in space that was a node that entered a different world, he felt the right kind of intention coming from the smaller impression that was his best friend.

  It did take a few tries for Troy to get it, but he went out first, into the back of Candles and More.

  Zack felt a smile that couldn't exist, and went after him. It was the right one, after all, and the place was still open. In fact, Lisa was in her office speaking on the phone. Half yelling.

  "Look, we have a schedule for a reason! I really doubt that Zack will view you needing to make an appointment as an emergency, dad." She looked up as he tucked his head around the corner, Troy having frozen in place, watching the world around himself, outside the line. The clock on Lisa's desk said it was only seven. Meaning that his distortion of time had been good.

  They'd only left about fifteen minutes before, and boom, here he was back with the newest, and highly trained, line walker. Possibly the most natural of them so far, including himself. Not that he was going to tell Troy that yet. There were dues to be paid and lots of Lesser Shia shifts to cover first.

  She covered the mouthpiece of her old fashioned corded phone, the thing was a bit dingy with use, and had started out a color that was close to what some white people had going on.

  "My father seems to think that he doesn't need to call ahead for a reservation. Grrr. I don't suppose that you could get him to the Australia node? It... Well, an emergency isn't really correct, it's a political wheeling and dealing thing, but it did come up suddenly."

  Zack shrugged, and looked back at Troy, who shook himself, and blinked. Recovering a lot faster than anyone else ever had, it seemed. At least he was learning to fake being himself again. That was on purpose, too. He was trying to blink, and act normal, even while not dropping his internal focus.

  Shaking his head, Zack smiled at Lisa, feeling a surge of love for her. She wasn't fond of her dad, but he was still family, so she tried to help him, when she could. It was sweet of her. A kindness that made the world a better place. A lot of what she tried to do was like that. Oh, she was far from perfect, and felt scared far too often about things that didn't need her to. Under that she was good though. Not pure, but still special.

  "Um, sure. Here, wait a second..." He stepped back and spoke loudly enough that the man on the phone would be able to hear him. At least if he was paying any attention at all.

  "Hey, Troy. Can you go and find George Penbroke, and then take him to the Australia node? He's been there before, so it shouldn't be a problem for you. I'll give you a lesson on it first. It's a freebie, but good practice." Then as Troy smiled at him, he moved, so that his friend could be seen by Lisa.

  As soon as he was around the corner, he smiled, charmingly, and waved at her.

  "Hey, no problem. I've been there, too. Is he near a node?"

  Lisa Penbroke was many things. A bit high strung at times, and a little too emotional about things, at others. What she wasn't was slow, mentally. Or that easily rattled by good news.

  She moved right back to the phone, nodded. Her inner self spoke then, the shadow, which looked real and physical to Zack at least, turned and spoke to Troy.

  He is at the D.C. central node. The mage office there.

  It was clear that Troy picked that up on the surface level, because he jumped back, his face showing honest surprise.

  "Ah!" Then he looked at Zack, not knowing how to frame his question.

  "It's everyone, all the time. Welcome to the crazy life! Try to act normal though. Otherwise they'll have you committed, and that won't end well."

  It had happened to him once. Troy had been a regular person far longer however, so managed to relax, and smile almost instantly.

  "Got it. So I just go and do that?"

  Shaking his head, Zack made himself wrinkle his nose.

  "Nope. First you're taking me to a half dozen places. Tell George that we'll have Troy there for him in ten to fifteen minutes? I'm making him figure out how to find places first, so it may be longer than that."

  That was important. None of the others really had that ability yet, and could only go where they'd been before. If Troy could learn that part, he'd be nearly set, as far as line walking went.

  So for the moment Zack was just pretending that it was how everyone learned.

  It took a bit, since his friend had to learn to wrap him up, to carry him along safely. Normal people would start to dissipate in the void in a few moments, not knowing how to survive there. So Zack pretended to be one of them, actually letting himself dissolve when Troy started to drop the ball. It wasn't too bad, thankfully. He nearly had to pull himself back together, but after the first trip, in which they ended up at Lesser Shia, Troy finding it from memory, it didn't happen again.

  Then, standing in the main working room, a translator in blue walking forward, Zack smiled at them. This one was a male, though it was nearly impossible to tell that from the outside.

  "Hi! This is the line walker, Troy Lopez. Would you pick a random node location for him? I need him to find someplace that he's never been before."

  The being, who made their living with words, simply gave a nod, which looked a little spooky, and held out a very pale white hand. Troy took it, and the shadow of the being passed along the right data.

  Then they stood back and bowed.

  "We are pleased to meet you, Troy Lopez. That is the location of my homeland, far away. We would ask that you not divulge it to others? Not even the Line Walker Hartley has been there."

  Troy bowed, and then took Zack through the line. Of course, the instant the right node was found, he knew the location too, but Troy had done his part correctly. Zack was wrapped up well, and they ended up in a new place that seemed correct.

  There were several of the translators standing in the room, wearing different colors, with their pale, slightly flat, faces showing. They were odd, but could have passed for human on a city street. Zack bowed to them. Then spoke in English, knowing that they'd understand.

  "I'm Zack Hartley. This is Troy Lopez. If you ever need us, please let the translators at Lesser Shia know, and we'll set things up." Then since they were clearly a bit in shock, he turned to Troy, and smiled.

  "Now, have you ever been to the Colorado node?"

  His friend hadn't, of course. Zack knew that. So when he shook his head, he smiled.

  "Good. I want you to find it, and take us both there. Try to imagine a map. It can help sometimes. As a hint, it's were the main governing of the Shifter Nation is done."

  It was a lot clumsier then, but Troy had seen Zack look into a node point to find things before, and while it took about fifteen minutes, they got pretty close to the right node. It was in a storeroom, but in the right building. That counted as being close enough.

  Zack chuckled anyway as Troy sighed and acted forlorn over it. That got the guy a pat on the shoulder.

  "You have no idea how many times I've done that. We need to hurry though. Why not find George Penbroke directly and go to him? Take me with you, but I'll go home from there. Back to Something Wonderful. Then we can get back to the house, so you can sleep like a real person." Zack didn't need to, having a direct tie to a master vampire like he did.

  It meant he had to eat more, but Claire didn't really need to feed any longer.
He didn't sleep, which was a good payoff, but hunger was a real issue for him now.

  Troy, still a bit quiet from his time in the void, held his arm out, after a moment, looking for George, then stepped through, giving him a small tug. They ended up in the right place, with Lisa's stuffy seeming father glaring at them a little.

  "You're late." The man was holding a gold, honest to goodness, pocket watch on a chain. His charcoal gray suit was impeccable, and matched it however. He managed to be a little blocky, without seeming truly fat. His steel gray hair was neatly combed however, and it was clear he was dressed to impress someone that would probably be considered refined.

  Troy smiled at him. They weren't friends, really.

  Troy, a mere human back then, had pretty much threatened the entire mage community into leaving Nikki and Rebecca alone, once. They were vampires that had kind of kidnapped George and humiliated him for a week. He'd eventually let it all go, but instead of being impressed by Troy, the man had clearly been nursing a grudge.

  Luckily it was the name calling kind, and not a real plan to kill him. George's shadow self came out and growled, a bit fussily, at Troy, and flipped him off with both hands. It was hard to fight a smile over it, but they both managed, if with some work.

  The darker skinned man, who was dressed casually for him, not having been at work that night, smiled.

  "That's my fault. Anyway, I'm here to get you to the Australian node? We can do that now, if you want? Uh, how late are we? I need to get a watch, I guess."

  George glared a bit, then glanced at his nice time piece.

  "Four minutes. I expect better from you, in the future. Tonight it's fine, but what if it had been an emergency?" Now the man actually sounded more reasonable, almost like an actual grown up.

  Zack didn't comment on that, knowing that things went wrong and sometimes people just set their clocks differently.

  "I'll meet you back at Something Wonderful?"

  Troy nodded, then explained to George what they were going to do, even though the man clearly understood it all. He'd done it before, being Lisa's dad, after all.

  Then the two stepped and vanished. It was tempting to follow them to ensure Troy's work, but he resisted. It would either happen or not.

  After a few seconds he stepped into the back of his basket shop, getting a bit of a jump from Charli.

  Then smiling, and stepping away, he waited for Troy to get there, which took less than a minute.

  "All right, you can fill in here tomorrow night, when I take Charli in for her training?"

  That was meant to be funny, since the girl had resisted even trying it for a few moments, but Troy nodded, like it was a real thing.

  "Will do. Now what?"

  Zack looked at the place and shrugged.

  "Now you learn to use the shortcuts, and we go get something to eat? I'm already getting hungry again."

  That was just a part of his life now. Then, things always changed.

  Chapter four

  The night was interesting, for Zack.

  Troy figured out how to use the shortcuts, and then led him around the world using them, jumping into nodes at times, in a way that left Zack feeling pretty impressed. It took hours though, and by the time they got back to the house, they were both kind of hungry again.

  Troy walked them from the back of Something Wonderful to the point just outside the back door of the mansion. Inside Merry stood in front of the oven, having just put something into it. The process had just started, Zack could tell. It made him feel clever, since he figured it out on his own, not being told by her shadow.

  The rolls, which were something with raspberry filling, didn't smell even close to ready yet. Instead there was a yeasty scent to the room. There were still bowls that needed to be cleaned too, and given that his tiny wife didn't leave messes for long, that probably meant that the click he'd just heard was the hot box being closed.

  She spun, her red hair not moving much, being put up at the moment. It was down her back when loose, and a lustrous color that held hints of metallic shine to it in the right light. Her green eyes went wide, as her shadow stammered about how sorry she was that the place was less than perfect.

  Then, as if it made sense to her, she bowed to Troy. It was a low and humble thing. The kind that her people used for royalty.

  "I see! This is so wonderful!" Then, even if it wasn't the kind of thing that she would have normally done, she ran across the kitchen and hugged him. Given the height difference that put her face nearly in Troy's crotch. It was pretty clear to all of them that she wasn't doing it on accident, even though, as far as Zack had ever noticed, the two weren't sleeping together. Not yet.

  Which didn't mean that nothing was going on there. The idea hit him a bit harder than he would have thought most days. Troy was sort of with Hilda, but Merry was probably the one that he was closest to, even if they weren't having sex. Maybe even closer than Zack was with her, which left him feeling a bit sad for a moment.

  He locked that down before anyone noticed, and his shadow was better behaved than most so didn't give him away.

  Merry moved back quickly enough, and didn't seem ashamed of her actions, not meaning them in a bad way. That counted, if you weren't an evil person yourself, so Zack smiled at her, and let it all go. They were married, Merry and him, but it had been kind of ordered by her king, and they didn't get any choice in the matter. If she had a friend on the side, well, she was an Elth. That kind of thing was actually normal for her people. It wasn't like he didn't have sex with other people, so it was only fair that she get to be happy.

  It was also interesting that she could tell who was a line walker and what their rough ages were, at a glance. Zack couldn't really do that. Not without asking about it.

  Troy smiled and winked at her, feeling fond of the tiny woman.

  "Yeah. I have to say, this line walking stuff isn't that hard. I mean, now that I can do it. It's probably just me being awesome again. I can't help it though, I am Troy Lopez."

  Eve who appeared in the doorway, smiling, let herself snort in derision.

  "Oh? Sure, it wasn't the magic I used on you before you went. No, it's all you. Not that you aren't pretty decent, but don't let it go to your head. So that part worked?" She looked at Zack, wanting a slightly unbiased opinion about it all.

  "Yeah. I think it really did. He isn't there yet, but I think he's going to be the best line walker in the end. That includes me, and I've had the most practice. I need to go over some energy work, so he can feed the vampires and Alede energy." That made sense to him, but Eve made a face.

  "Um, sorry, you lost me. What?"

  That got Merry to smile and nod.

  "Oh, yes! Several of the human line walkers can provide energy at no cost to themselves, passing it to others. It would be good if another can do this. You should show her, husband. We have offered her no food, or drink, and she is a guest." There was an undertone of worry there, and Eve started to beg off, her shadow moving to do it first, not needing anything at the moment, but Zack understood it was an Elth thing, and to Merry they really needed to do something for her. Or else it would be incredibly rude.

  So he nodded.

  "Sure? It won't hurt anything, and you might be able to work out how to do it yourself. If you can... Well, then essentially you won't need to drink blood anymore. Let's try it? I'll need you to lift your shirt up." There was a slight blandness to his voice, but smiling she started to lift her button up without hesitation.

  It was a nice stomach that was exposed. Pale, and flat, showing just a hint of ab definition. Troy smiled at it, and looked away, even though he wasn't the type to be really embarrassed. It made it seem like it was all a joke, but the vampire woman played along anyway, clearly being a good sport.

  Moving in, Zack started to increase the circulation of energy. As he breathed in he let the power of the universe come in through the crown of his head, then as he exhaled pushed it out with force through his right hand an
d feet.

  Then he drew it around. Closing with her, he explained the idea to her.

  "Can you see it? The movement?"

  She stared and then, surprisingly, nodded.

  "Yep. It's like seeing heat coming off of a hot road in the desert, but I can make it out. Kind of flowing?" She made hand gestures, which were more or less right.

  "That's the stuff. So, what I'm going to do is add you to the circuit, basically running power through you. You should be able to take it in. When you get filled up, let me know and I'll stop."

  There was a sturdy nod, and as his hand connected with her, she made a small sound. It wasn't displeased.

  "Hmm. Okay, I can feel it. I'm good by the way. I tend to walk around pretty close to full all the time. Neat. So, can I get in on those lessons with Troy the line walker, too? I have Alede friends back home that might get off on it. Free lunch and all that."

  Troy laughed, covering his mouth, and Merry did the same but didn't make any noise.

  Zack sighed.

  "They do. Get off on it? You have to be careful though, or they can get addicted to it. Then Kaitlyn will kick your butt, and lock you in a closet."

  Eve just smiled, and looked around knowing that she wasn't getting it all. That was nice, since he wasn't going to explain that one, since it wasn't one of his proudest moments.

  "That's a good idea. I was going to try for some food, but I don't think we have any ready, so let's get that done?" His words came out a bit terse sounding, but that was due to his own hunger, which was a bit high at the moment. Merry looked worried about it, being sensitive to his moods. That was an Elth thing too, especially for the women. It probably meant that she didn't really expect him to treat her well all the time. He really tried to, however.

  Always. She was worth treating well. Almost everyone was.

  Thinking that, he smiled at everyone, let his eyes go wide and waved for them to follow him to the drawing room. Normally Claire used it as her office, when she was at home, but at the moment it was empty. The place was nice, if old fashioned looking. There was real leather on the chairs, which got Troy to tense, seeing the pain coming off of it. It was kind of clear that Eve got that too, but didn't let it phase her. In fact, her inner self spoke of it being a bit tantalizing.