The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (12 page)

He got a smile though, and a nod.

"You do. Thinking about how
to pay for all of this? I'll cover my part. You need to do the same, since this
all belongs to Keeley. Not that she'd force the issue, but you're kind of in a
weird place, as far as Greater Demons go. I mean, you clearly aren't one of us.
In a way though, it's a bit like I said. You're
part
of The Rotted,
after a fashion. The Clerk. So going with our rules will help to keep you safe.
That means paying your own way, and making sure that you don't offer any of us
food for free."

"Got it. So, I need to pick
up more hours at work?"

Zack shook his head a little bit,
but didn't say no.

"That's a plan. You get free
food there. It's part of the payment for the work, so keep that in mind. I
could..." He stopped, and took a vast breath, letting it out in a shudder.
"I could set up enough food for you, if you want? I'll trade you Tina and
Darren for it?" He held up his right hand a bit, then moved to the sink
and started rinsing dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. "I'll
set things up for them to have their slave links broken, and to be brought
back. That way it won't cost you anything. So, that, in exchange for as much as
you can eat? Good food, too. No meat in the mix?"

Tyler stared at him for a moment,
wondering if there was a trick involved. Was Zack planning to torture the two
new people, or use them to get at Goethe? That last one might be fair enough,
or not, but Ty's job with the Coalition meant he pretty much couldn't give Humans
over to any of the Other's for things like that. Not if he could stop it.

Then, what if Zack just wanted to
help him out? That sounded kind of nice, really, since trading with The
Technician for people to be brought back from the dead couldn't be cheap. That
was the problem. It seemed geared toward getting Ty what he wanted, and
that
didn't make any sense.

"I... The food, an assurance
that all you have planned is to break the slave thing, and, um, a favor?"
It didn't feel right, asking for more, but the thin, good looking, guy just
locked eyes with him.

"What kind of favor?"

Tyler had something for once.

"Um, I need some people
brought here, and taken home when a party is done. The Technician's friends? I
think there are four of them in all, maybe five? I don't know where they are,
but they were speaking English?"

That got a snort. A single,
slightly derisive one.

"Arizona. All right. That
food, my assurance that I'll follow through with my plan, and transport for
Darla's friends and her to a party here. If they don't want to come, or can't,
it isn't transferable, however. Anytime in the next three months for that, as
long as it fits in my schedule?"

It was tempting to put his hand
out to shake, but he just nodded.

"Done." It felt a bit
like a mistake however, and his breath caught when he saw the look on The Line
Walker's face.

It wasn't
happy
about
having made a great bargain, or blank. He seemed upset. Almost like he was going
to cry, which wasn't a thing that he thought that kind of being could do for
real. So was it fake? If so, why bother? Jonas didn't even see it happen, and
the expression was gone quickly enough to just possibly have not been a thing
that he was supposed to notice.

Zack winked then, and smiled,
seeming like his normal self.

"Can my new people stay here
for the night? Maybe a few days? I want to get with Darla on this and see about
getting use of her time machine. If not, well, like I said, there are other
ways. That one is pretty good. I should go and see to that now. I can pick you
up at just before six tomorrow? For work? You mentioned five as being good for
you?"

There was a glance down at his
still thin leg, but Tyler patted it. It was closing in on being back to normal.
Faster than he'd thought it would, too.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be
ready. Say, have you seen my mom lately? I tried to call earlier, but there was
no answer."

That got a head shake.

"A day ago, but not since.
Though you
might
try calling twice? I hear that works, before going off
to worry about people. I mean, you know that she's alive, and not trapped or
anything. Other than that, what she's doing probably isn't your business, is
it?"

Jonas made a face.

"That's a little harsh,
isn't it?" His voice was nearly meek sounding, but he still said the
words, Greater Demon being there or not.

Since Zack just shrugged, it
seemed safe enough. It was, of course, but most wouldn't know that. Plus it
could always change, without visible warning.

"The Rotted isn't going to
play by normal rules, and is so old and powerful that it's a waste of his
energy to be concerned for her. He's trying to use Human rules for a situation
that they won't be effective for. It's a Greater Demon way of thinking, but he
needs to get on that now. Especially if he's going to go around acting like one
of us, making agreements and all that." The words were dark, and nearly
mean, but not derisive, somehow. "You should get with Eve. I think you two
should make a point of being friends. You have a lot in common. I'll mention it
to her, if I see her."

Then the man got up, and patted
Jonas on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine here, I
think. The others will be back later. I know, you can suck off Tyler here while
you wait." Then, with those sweet words he left.

Ty rolled his eyes.

"
That
was a trolling
thing to say, wasn't it?" He glanced at the other man, who'd gone really
still for some reason. "I mean, you're a
Vampire
, so you'd have to
talk to
both
Ginger and Rebekah about that first, right? He has to know
they're both busy right now."

The man gave a slow nod, and then
sighed.

"It's... The New Vampires,
like me, we aren't very strong. We can handle the light, but no one even knows
if we'll be stronger as we age. We're all too new. There have been some
stories, about our kind being abused by the others. Made into sex slaves and
things like that. I can't take a Greater Demon in a fight, so, I guess I just
get on my knees?" He didn't seem to want to, which was a bit insulting,
since Tyler knew he was of at least average looks. That got him to smile, thinking
that.

"Nope. If you don't want to
do that, then we won't. I mean, I know that
I
like to get to know a
person first anyway, myself. I didn't know that about the New Vamps. That
should be looked into. Can you write up a report on it? I can pass it to the
Vampire Council, I think. Especially if it has something to do with Humans.
That's what the Coalition really does. Even if not, I can pass it along. I have
some contacts. Um, Marissa is staying here, to spy on Eve and her new trainees?
You could talk to her about it?"

If he'd seemed a bit nonplussed
about going down on Tyler in the kitchen he seemed perfectly freaked about that
idea. It showed on his face, which was rare for Vampires. At least the
Classical ones. After a few seconds he nodded though, and looked at the table
top. He was sitting, though there was no reason to be doing that, in
particular. It was just the kind of thing that people did.

It was, if nothing else, less
conspicuous than standing around would be.

"I'll try. That... It's
dangerous. I'm pretty safe, myself. Representative Swerlin is a nice guy, for a
Vampire, and hasn't let anyone do things like that to me. Bekah is important
too, with the singing and blood business. Should I risk coming to the attention
of a Council member in my own right? She might kill me. Or rape me herself.
Being a hermaphrodite like she is... Well, she can get the job done, can't
she?"

Tyler stopped for a second, that
bit of news catching his attention pretty firmly.

"I... Did not know that
about her. Well, neat? I'll have to ask if she wants to do something later. If
I get time. Now that my leg is nearly back to normal, I need to start getting
back to real work."

Not that he had anything to do at
the moment. Except, he realized, going off to call everyone and make certain
they were doing all right. He should have done that already, but had gotten
side tracked. The first thing he did was call his mom, since, while he
shouldn't worry about her, she was pretty important to him.

He did it at the table, with
Jonas right there. The phone picked up this time, and a little girl answered
it. That was what it sounded like to him.

"I can't talk. I'm at summer
camp, and we aren't supposed to have phones." It was a very strange thing
to hear.

Instead of asking what kind of
camp it was, he just spoke.

"I need to learn magic. Zack
thinks if I eat more that will help with the energy? Tarsus is looking for a
way for me to get free of you, or at least power myself. That may not happen.
He said I should tell you that so you won't think I don't love you. I do, I
just want us both to be free. That's all."

"Oh?" There was a
hushed laugh and then a more reasoned sounding voice. "Do it. I should be
around in a few days. I have a project that I'm working on here, to trap a
certain Greater Demon cunt. Try not to get me killed with the magic? I think I
get the idea there, and it means pulling from me directly. I can take energy
from you, if you eat enough, after a fashion. It isn't a direct trade though,
so be careful in how much energy you consume, please?"

"Got it. Love you, mom. Talk
to you soon."

"Love you too, honey."
It sounded really funny coming from a little girl, when said that way. Phony,
and like she was reading a line from a play.

After that he called Kaitlyn. She
seemed surprised to hear from him.

Complete with a gasp.

"Tyler? Are you okay? I
can... We can come help you. Zack told us you were back, and alive, but no one
knew what to do. I should have called, but I didn't know if you were able to
talk yet. What can I do?"

He nearly hesitated, but then
tried to speak in a friendly manner.

"Not too much. I'm actually
doing pretty well. I'll be in tomorrow night to the bookstore. What I wanted to
do was get together and go over Coalition things? We'll want our other people,
too. Vivian and Balthias. Can you set that up?"

"Yep! Good thinking. Can we
meet here? If you're coming in anyway, that will save on travel time for me and
the others."

"Sounds great. After work
though? That might be a bit too late for everyone else... You know what? Screw
it. Schedule it for nine in the morning and I'll just stay and work until then.
It makes for a long day, but I won't get tired. So, how are you doing?"
That was him trying to be polite, though he did like the Alede.

For her kind she was hard working
and dedicated, he realized. On a level that was close to being the best it
could be, given her drives, needs, and situation. Really, she was closing in on
super human, or at least being a workaholic, in that regard. She had a plan in
place, to take over her peoples ruling body though, and being lazy wasn't going
to get that done.

Plus
she'd helped him lecture a
radical feminist once. It wasn't that he disliked that kind of person really,
as much as they'd kept being really mean, trying to kill his friends,
and
kidnap him. That part reminded him of something.

"Oh, I need to get a gift
basket or a card for Maggie Sims. She saved me from those kidnappers. For that
matter I need to get in touch with the local prosecutor,
and
the one
that's handling that cult thing. I'm kind of shocked they actually calmed down
already. I really expected more harassment, you know?"

They
had
tried to kill him
in a Wal-Mart, after that they'd gone silent, as far as he knew. Then, being
dead in a cave for nearly a month might just have hidden him pretty well. Even
if he
wasn't
actually hiding from them.

His pretty Alede friend was
helpful. Instantly, as if she thought it was part of her job.

"I can do a blood basket,
for Maggie. With some flowers? Daisies I think, unless you have romantic
designs on her? She's cute in a nerdy way, don't you think? You
should
do that. I'll handle that part. I can't do anything about the court stuff, I
don't think. We did have another protest across the way. The local feminist
group called in support from Portland, and are really going after my mom. I get
it, I guess, but still, it isn't going to help them in the end."

"You get it? Really? I
don't. Even after all the explanations. I mean, it's kind of clear they don't
think highly of men, and you
did
do that scary thing where you became
one in front of that woman. I even can sort of see the whole thing were being
too pretty is hard for them to take, competition wise, if on a subconscious
level. But, mainly the man thing. So if they were coming for you, or me, or
even
Zack
, I could see it. But Val is a total love. Why have a problem
with her? Especially when the only way to do that is to go and force it to
happen?"