Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2) (32 page)

"Right. Come on in. What do
you need to see first?"

It was a combination of things,
the first being the kitchen, which was a large space that clearly wasn't made for
a house full of Vampires and dead people. The sink had a dish in it, from
Steve's cereal, and the counter held an empty Pizza box. Otherwise it looked
almost like it was pristine. Professional, too. The floor was a brick like
ceramic, which should be easy to keep clean, and the stove, fridge and
dishwasher were all silver colored metal.

Clara nodded at it, then checked
each thing there to make certain it was functional. Turning them on, and
waiting for a moment, to make sure they did their actual jobs.

"Very good." Clara
didn't seem that impressed, but was satisfied enough.

Glen looked around too.

"Can we see where the party
will be held? That will allow me to work up some strategies for keeping people
out of the areas of the house they don't belong. Not that we really will. This
place is too large for that. Is there a dungeon or anything like that? We can
lock it up tight. The wine cellar, too." He didn't seem to be kidding
about any of that, but Tyler was a bit curious.

"You know, I haven't really
looked around yet? I have a room, but I don't need to sleep. I don't get tired
or anything, so I've been working most of the time. It's kind of what I do. I'm
in the band here, but also work at a bookstore. With Palma? She's a Hsreth too.
Nice woman."

Glen seemed pleased to hear that,
for some reason.

"A cousin of mine, after a
fashion. We're all related, so that isn't surprising. Clara is my mother. We
should poke around then, to see if we really need to hide anything?"

That was more fun than it sounded
like at first. On the first floor there were several big rooms, all of which,
except the kitchen, were good for guests, Clara let him know. At least with
some decoration and moving just a bit of furniture. Her gaze had shifted
though, from being happy to be there into an intense work mode. It wasn't
exactly Human.

Fierce
came to mind, if that could be
used in regards to party planning. Her movements sped up, as they found
different things. On the second floor there was a large recreation room, that
had pool tables, various large games, like what a bar might have, and
interestingly enough, an
actual
bar along the back wall. Fully stocked.

The woman nodded at it.

"We'll need a second tender
then." Turning to Ty she winked. "We have several people with us,
sleeping in the Van. Like you, we don't need rest. Not much. There's plenty of
space here however, we can block off the stairs past this point?" It was a
question, so he just nodded, as if he had a right to make that kind of thing
up.

If it was a problem, then they just
wouldn't do that. There would be four bathrooms available, which both Hsreth
informed him would be needed, if people were drinking and doing drugs. Which
given the nature of their guest list,
would
be happening.

She walked away then, not explaining
that part. Glen moved slower and did that bit.

"Greater Demons, several
high ranking officials including politicians, and about fifty movie and
television stars. All coming in for tonight. We really should have given people
more notice, but when The Mistress of Souls throws a party, people come. I'd
say, or else, but she really isn't that bad, for one of her kind. I used to be
her slave." He said the words softly, like he was trying to not be
overheard.

Ty tilted his head.

"Used to?"

There was a strange look then.
One that seemed to say a thousand things at once. Not all of them good or
happy, but enough of them were that it wasn't horrified seeming.

"She died, and in death
released us. Then was brought back, by The Line Walker. I believe he killed
her. I don't know the specifics there. When she came back though, even though
none have managed to stand against her powers, she let us go.
All
of us
that were her slaves. Truly. She doesn't even demand that we give her our labor
or goods now, to this day. She
asked
us to come here and do this, and is
paying the full rate for it. A Greater Demon!"

Tyler sighed and looked away, but
nodded.

"I'm a slave. To The Rotted?
Only I don't think that will work, her dying like that. She raised me..."
That got him to grin, since it was funny sounding. "From the dead, but I
meant she's basically my mom. Her power is keeping me alive. If that
goes..." He shuddered, thinking of death, and darkness, but Glen went wide
eyed.

"Aye. Then the only thing
that would keep you alive would be the eating of flesh. Your own kind. Do you
have to do that now?" The tone was academic, as if he wasn't really
worried too much about the idea.

Then, thinking about it for a
moment Ty realized that he really didn't crave the man in front of him. Oh, he
was cute in an older, square fashion, but there was not subconscious desire to
rip hunks of flesh from his bones. He
did
feel that toward Steve though,
he had to admit. Then he suppressed that thought, hard.

"Nope. I kind of feel it, I
guess. I... Didn't know that would keep me alive. I'd let myself die first. For
that matter, I don't eat meat. Vegetarian. I do dairy, but not eggs. I mean,
baked into things, but not just to eat? In case that's too close to something
that would trigger me into eating people."

The Hsreth smiled at him, and
patted his shoulder to get him to leave the recreation space.

"I'll make note of that. I'm
certain we can have appropriate options for you. We'd have to, with the people
coming later. Blood, and some other things as well."

Then, since they were moving into
the right spaces, they started straight into moving furniture. It was a bit of
work for the Hsreth to keep up with him, but they had things arranged by the
time Clara came to look for them. She only changed six things, out of the
twenty they'd done. Those were minor adjustments to help control the flow of
traffic in the room. Then Glen had to vanish into the kitchen, as the house was
invaded by people that all started into work pretty well, after using the
bathrooms.

He'd never thought about it, but
he really could tell who the Humans were. They all looked tasty. There were no
Vampires here, but one of the men was something else, Tyler thought. Tilting
his head as the man walked by, he caught the man's eye.

"Um, sorry, not trying to be
rude, but... Shifter? Not a kind that I've met before, I don't think?"
That might be rude, but the man, who looked a bit Hispanic, and was bone thin,
just nodded. He was tall and lanky, but hard looking at the same time.

"Snake. Good catch. Most
people can't tell like that."

He nodded, and then told the
truth, after a fashion.

"My girlfriend, one of them,
is a Bat. Calley Hale? She's the new Ambassador for this area."

The man froze for a bit, then
gave a low whistle.

"
Fuuuuck
. Bat girl's
making good? I haven't seen her for years. Not since I went straight. I used to
be a thief. Then I stepped on the wrong dick, and figured that getting out
while I was still alive was the better part of valor. Not that it was bad for
me, but, you know, Greater Demon shit? The Line Walker. Scary mother fucker,
let me tell you."

Tyler didn't really see it, but
nodded.

"Yeah, I work at his
bookstore. Part time now. He should be here tonight. Calley and Ginger, too.
Ginger the Vampire?" He said it almost hopefully, but the man just shook
his head a bit.

"That's a new one for me. Is
she nice? That kind runs hot and cold, but if you met at their embassy in
Vancouver she's probably all right. They have good people there. The Mages
there don't suck either. I had some trouble once, and they fixed it in my
favor. A guy, a Mage, tried to rip me off. Hiram Stone. Now
he's
a piece
of work, let me tell you."

That got him to grin, but the
Snake fellow had to get back to work, since he was actually there to do things
like that. It kind of left him at loose ends. So, not knowing what else to do,
for the first time in a while he just sat down and watched the news. There
wasn't much going on, but just about the time he was going to be bored out of
his gourd, his cell phone rang.

"Hello? Tyler Gartner,
Coalition of Nations, how may I help you?" He tried for formal, since a
lot of people that called him up were stressed out already.

"Tyler? This is Karen Hart?
I don't know if you'd remember me, from the Jeff Smears program? Um... There's
an emergency? We, our in studio guest, he
kind
of took Rochelle hostage
in the other room, and we're barricaded in the booth? I called the police, but
the guest, Mr. Michel... He's a Santorin?"

Which meant nothing to him in the
slightest. Not even a single glimmer of an idea came to mind for him.. So,
looking around the room, he saw that there were several people, and just called
that out.

"Anyone know what a Santorin
is?" It was a long shot, but the Snake man from earlier popped his head
into the room, and nodded.

"Night dwellers. Kind of
like shadow people? It would be really odd for one to be out in the daylight.
Why?"

"Hostage situation. The
Santorin is on a radio show. Jeff Smears?"

That got a nod, and then a
disgusted look.

"I
hate
that guy.
Werechickens... Um, unless there are ransom demands, they probably just need to
turn the lights down. Unless someone insulted the guy? Santorin are
really
big on respect. Beyond just the whole please and thank you thing. Bowing, hand
shaking, and being kind generally work, so it should be fine in a professional
environment. They aren't assholes about it or anything, not that I've ever
heard."

That got him to wince.

"And the poor man had to
deal with
Rochelle
. I bet that's it. Still, we can try the lights first.
Karen, can you do that part? You said you were blocked in?"

That was the case, but by having
her knock on the door, and bowing low, Karen was able to get out, holding a
phone to the side of her head the whole time, while Jeff gave everyone a blow
by blow over the radio. Because
ratings
. Even if they died, they were
going to take the national time slot that day. Especially then, Ty was willing
to bet.

She hit the lights first, and
then,
very
abjectly, started to apologize for anything that they might
have done wrong.

"I'm really, really sorry.
Seriously. Is there anything you need, or that we can do to make things better
for you?" Her voice wasn't scared.

There was a hissing sound that
came back, which he couldn't make out.

"I... Could you talk to Mr.
Gartner? He's from the Coalition of Nations? That would be better than killing
Rochelle, I think?"

Tyler didn't love the dark
skinned lady. It wasn't about her looks, which were good, in a slightly older
way, but the fact that she'd kind of dissed him the first time they'd met,
thinking he didn't look important enough for her. Zack had described it as him
not even seeming Human to her, actually. There was a noise as the phone was
passed, and a voice, which sounded a lot less like a snake now that it was
closer, spoke.

"This is Michel."

"Hello, Michel. I'm Ty
Gartner. I understand that you've met Rochelle? Not that I want to make
trouble, but
I've
met her before, too. What did she do?" His voice
was very
dry
, for some reason. Like a high school principal, calling to
tell the folks what little Johnny had gotten up to that day.

"It is not her, only the
refusal to dim the lights, which is done now. She should have
asked
,
instead of insisting that I stand under the pain producers!"

"That sounds reasonable. I
don't suppose we can call it good now however? A little misunderstanding? I'm
sure she sees the error of her ways now. Or, well, honestly, I'm not
certain
of that at all, but having all of you walk away from there is better. Even if
it's hard at the moment to see that."

It took a while, but he finally
talked the Santorin man down, and while the police did try to shoot him,
that
didn't seem to annoy him like the lights did. In fact, he pretty much ignored
that part of things, though it was clear that the stern yelling
was
considered rude. That meant Ty had to talk to them too, which, after about
fifteen minutes meant that they calmed down enough to understand it was fine,
and that them shooting the neighbors through the walls wasn't going to help
anything.

Eventually he ended up talking to
Jeff and Karen on the air.

"See, just a small
misunderstanding. If a Santorin comes over, make sure the lights aren't too
bright for them, and be extra polite. From what I can tell it's more about the
trying
to be good than the specific rules. Glad that's resolved. Now, why not do that
interview?"

That was strained, but Jeff
managed it, more or less. Tyler was left on the air the whole time, just in
case, but Michel rallied, and managed to explain things pretty smoothly. He
was, after all, an Ambassador for his people. The one being sent to the new
embassy, in Nevada.