Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (19 page)

Three Trollienkeine had come as
well. Two of them were ladies, but each looked like taking on a Bear with the
giant wooden paddles they had might just happen.

Instead, for a long time no one
moved.

Then, as if it made any sense at
all, the Bear woman changed back before her clothing burst at the seams
totally, and amazingly, started to
cry
. Taking his life in his hands, he
moved forward and put his arms out, to give her a hug.

Rather than kill him, she did it,
and leaned into him, sobbing against his neck.

Being that it was nighttime it
was hard to get a cup of tea for the lady, who turned out to have a name. That
was Vivian. It fit her a lot better in her Human form, but Ty didn't mention
that. Strangely, she clung to him the whole time, even as they walked into the bookstore.
That made for some awkward shuffling, but no one else closed with them, staying
about twenty feet back.

Zack however, ran back to the
cafe, in order to dig up a tea bag and some warm water. The idea that he was
the only one willing to do it was funny. Except, that wasn't the real answer.
It could have been that a lot of the others didn't want to bother getting
involved for one reason or another. It was kind of sensible even. Several of them
were hanging around though, and watching. Seeing what happened, or maybe even
to make sure that if something did take place, they were there to back him up.

Like the three giants from the
power lifting gym. There was no reason for them to follow along into the
bookstore like they had, much less hang back in the stacks, seeming very ready
to move. Okay, they might have been there to help Vivian, or even just to watch
the free show, but that didn't seem like their way as a group.

A single mug with a tea bag in it
came out a few seconds later, on a brown plastic and wood tray. It was placed
in front of Viv, who looked a bit tattered now. She was wearing a skirt and a
blouse that were both brown. The shirt was half toasted. It still covered all
the possibly embarrassing bits though, so it was good enough for him.

Zack didn't sit down, but smiled.

"Do you need any sugar, or
something to eat?" It sounded kind and gentle really. Sympathetic.

"I could use something to
eat? Changing always sets my blood sugar off. I only went a little, but it was
a lot of work." That had a pile of cookies, all chocolate chip, being
delivered so fast that it was kind of clear that Zack knew where they were off
the top of his head.

When that happened, the woman
looked up, suddenly far more reasonable than before.

"Thanks. I'm sorry I made a
scene earlier. It's just... Nellie..."

That started more tears, even
while she ate, which meant more holding from Tyler, since he really didn't want
this lady to feel all alone in the world for the time being. After that, Zack
moved back, acting like he was working the Cafe.

It was about five minutes before
she spoke, her voice rough.

"I... Don't know what to do
now. I can't take being locked up. Bears don't do well with that. What do I
do?"

"Uh..." There was very
little that he could think of that way, to tell the truth. Worse, even though
it was kind of late, the police came in then, hands on guns, about ten strong.
They didn't shout or anything, thank god. Vivian started to stiffen, ready to
fight, to stay out of a cage.

"I'll-" She was
starting to change again, so he stuck his hand out, and touched her arm, hoping
that wouldn't set her off.

"Don't worry. These people
aren't here to make any problems." Then, looking around, Ty, looking like
an eighteen year old kid that no one would be taking all that seriously,
decided to lie his ass off.

"Hi! I'm the head of the
Coalition of Nations." He glanced at the rest of the room, and shrugged.
"That's pretty much the U.N. for Vampires, Shifters and so on. The
government interaction body for Humans. This lady is a Shape Shifter, and as
such has special needs, in regards to official interaction. I don't suppose you
could call your Chief? Um, Sims? She asked to be informed in case of any
actions like this. You've all had Shifter related training already,
right?"

One of the Police looked at him
like Ty was about to be shot, but then glanced at the slowly altering Vivian.
He was a stern looking fellow, with gray skin, gray hair and a mixed gray and
white mustache. None of his wrinkles indicated that smiling was a hobby of his
either. His hand was on his firearm, and he seemed pretty darned stressed.

Still, he nodded once.

"We'll take care of that.
You have this here? I didn't get your name."

"Tyler Gartner. Don't worry,
this is something we can take care of. The Shifters have ways to deal with
this. In fact, our job is going to have to be keeping
them
in line.
Trust me, you do
not
want to break one of their laws if you're one of
them. For now, if you and your men could get with Chief Sims? Maybe give us
some space? This doesn't have to be a problem. Well, not a new one anyway."

It was probably fear, but the man
nodded, and waved at the men and women behind him.

"Pull back. Gartner here has
this. There's a system in place. We're just on backup here."

It was a good idea, even if he
had just made it up. Not that it had come out of a vacuum. Both Eve and Zack
had suggested enough of it that he got the idea. He'd been steered toward it,
pretty bluntly, now that he could see the whole picture. That was telling, or,
possibly, coincidental. Maybe it was about the
actual
need for this kind
of organization, too. Some kind of group thing that could talk to the Human
authorities and handle things without a huge death toll.

After all, the police didn't even
know what to do with a Bear Shifter that was also a lot stronger than a regular
Human and a trained mercenary. Really, outside of her own culture, no one
probably did know that sort of thing. He didn't. Normally he would have
probably gone to the Shifter Ambassador and asked her about it, but given
everything that seemed like a pretty poor plan. Vivian had come to hurt or kill
her after all. For girlfriend theft.

That seemed a little over the top
to him, but since he was standing next to a half-Bear lady at the moment, he
wasn't planning to mention it. Instead he sat back down, and pushed the white
plate filled with cookies toward her, and watched her closely until she saw
what he was doing. It took a bit, since she stared at the police, who kept
moving back until they were at least out of sight.

Then she plunked down, her face
kind of distorted.

"Have something to eat. Low
blood sugar isn't going to help anyone right now."

He still had no clue what the
fuck to do. Finally, he spoke out loud, his voice low.

"Calley, can you get in
touch with someone in charge on your side of things? That might be
useful."

He couldn't tell if that was
going to do anything, but after a bit, the strange looking woman next to him
sighed.

"She said that she'll call
National. I... Is that really needed? I just... Nellie said that she was with
this Cat bitch now, and that she was pretty while I was just a fat, gross piece
of shit." There was a darkness and anger to what was being said.

"Wait." Ty put his
right hand up and really looked at the woman next to him. Then he used his
imagination, because she really wasn't his type at the moment. It was being
covered with hair though, not the rest of the package. "She actually said
that
?
She
had
to have been just angry and talking. You know how people do
that. The mouth runs, and the brain lets it, to everyone's detriment? You
aren't gross, or fat. Okay, a bit bigger than average, but that's
all
muscle." He rubbed his lower back, which was probably going to be all
bruise, the next day. "I can swear to that one."

He grinned, and went on.

"Honestly, Viv? If she said
that about you, then
fuck
her. I don't know her, but even if she was the
best girlfriend ever last month, if she can't see how cool you are now, then
you can do better. Still, use your words, not
guns
.
That
part was
messed up. You almost killed an innocent woman."

There was a pause, and a downcast
look. It seemed shy suddenly.

"I wasn't really going to. I
just wanted to scare her, that's all. I didn't know that it was the wrong place.
It made sense. Nellie is like me. A little big. It's a large woman's clothing
store."

That seemed right. It
wasn't
,
but it had a ring of making sense. A blonde woman that steals your girlfriend
at a clothing store where she might meet a plus sized woman. He could see it.
That
probably
wasn't going to help the Alede lady that had been pistol
whipped. It would kind of be fair for her people to have a problem with her
being hurt.
He
did, which was why he'd gone over in the first place.

That one was almost certainly
going to end up being an issue.

"Okay then, in the future,
and I need you to
promise
me this, don't try to scare people like that.
Now, let's get this fixed, as best we can. Um, if we can't lock you up, how do
you suggest you pay for what you did?" Not that she'd get a choice in the
end, but it would be telling as to what she was really thinking. A lot of
people would duck out on that, or try to take the least amount they could get
away with. No one on the other side was ever going to be happy with that. Not
that anyone that was a crime victim was ever made happy by seeing the other
person suffer.

You'd need to actually see it
happen, and to be evil, for things to work that way.

The large woman ate a cookie, and
then sighed.

"They, the Nation, normally
puts us on an island. All alone. With food and water, but nothing else. Maybe
some trees. That's it. It isn't fun. We can do it, because we handle isolation
better than Humans, but that's what we do. I guess I'm going to have to,
huh?" There was sadness, but no shifting out of fear or anger. In fact,
she'd returned back to her normal self.

That thought got him to pause for
a second. Just because he saw Calley as a Human, and possibly Ang, the two
other Shifters he knew, that didn't mean that Viv here wasn't in her other form
most of the time. Not that he was going to ask, but making assumptions about a
person that different wasn't going to work.

Probably why that Demon, Zack's
mentor, had suggested he write all this stuff down. To point out to him that he
needed to really learn things, and not just think that what he was used to was
enough to get by on now. Not if he was going to soak in other cultures like he
was.

Before he had to think of what to
say next, Zack walked over, holding a cell phone.

"Althea Sims." It
wasn't a question, and he was supposed to figure out that was the Chief all on
his own, it seemed. He did, so taking a deep breath, he took the high end
device carefully. It was a lot nicer than anything he could afford.

"Chief Sims? This is Tyler
Gartner. Um, Coalition of Nations. We have a bit of an issue here. A Shifter
woman brought a gun to Westfield, over a relationship dispute. No one was
harmed." He looked over at the Bear and sighed. "At least no one was
killed. An Alede was hit several times, with the weapon. Beaten, not shot. We
have this taken care of on the ground here, but if your men try to take Vivian
in, things might not go well. She doesn't seem to respond well to confinement.
Bear Shifter, so it's a real issue that can't just be glossed over."

There was a long pause, and a
slow exhalation.

"I see. I can't ask my men
to throw their lives away on a situation like this. On the other hand, you just
mentioned several possible felonies. We can't let people simply break the law
of the land they're in. How do you suppose we deal with this?"

It was a really good question. A
surprising one, since he really would have figured that the woman was going to
start
by asking who the fuck he thought he was to interject himself into the
situation. Since there was no possible good answer, it was good that she didn't
go there. Really sweet of her, to be honest.

"I have a call in to the
leadership of the Shifter's. Vivian is taking full responsibility for her wrong
doing and has volunteered to be stranded on a small island, alone, as
punishment. It seems that walls and bars won't work, but that might. She's
being pretty reasonable now that things have calmed down. It was a bad
situation, and while there might need to be some things redressed, I don't
think we need to pull out the stops yet. She won't do it again. I
don't
know how to get the Human laws addressed in this. We might not reasonably be
able to. Trying to use Human methods will probably start a battle to the death,
and knowing that in advance, we can't let that happen. Regardless, it might be
best if you let us handle this. Is that doable?"

There was a long, very drawn out
sound that seemed frustrated. Not really angry, so at least there was that to
work from. The fact was, he just didn't know what to do about it. Nothing was
going to be good, but they had to try.

"I don't know either. This
is the second supernatural problem inside a week, in my jurisdiction. The last
major event required a young Vampire woman to be entombed for six months, which
should
have been a death sentence. That didn't really impinge on my area
however, being that by Human rules her only issue had been self-defense. This
is a bit different. I don't even know the official disposition of the Vampires
that attacked one of their own in public the other day. No one spoke to me
about it."