The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (26 page)

"
Niiiice
. Okay, do
better. We can go about twenty times this fast without using any energy. I'll
try and do my part here." If that helped make things stronger, he didn't
know, but he could feel that she was holding the same basic thing he was. It
linked up after a bit, and they fell into lockstep. It was either really cool,
or kind of creepy. Honestly he wasn't certain which at the moment, not being
able to think that much.

It felt right. Like they were
really close and connected. More than lovers would be even.

He let her do the directions,
since he had no clue where they were going. They turned onto a freeway after a
while and walked, the whole thing feeling very slow to him, down the gray, but
smooth, asphalt, passing cars that weren't moving. Neither were their drivers.
The only time he nearly lost it was when Eve grinned at him and pointed to a
small red convertible.

It had the top up, but through
the window he could clearly see that the woman in the passenger's seat had her
head on the lap of the driver. She wasn't resting either. It was nearly enough
to throw him off, but he managed to regain the right sense of things, and
ignore most of the world after that.

The rest of the trip, which took
a long time,
and
no time at all to his perception, was peaceful. They
ended up on the front doorstep of the mansion, just about noon the next day,
with Eve smiling hugely.

"That, was not too shabby,
for your first trip. You used a bit of magic, so we need to get you inside and
eating to feed The Rotted to pay for it. She's here, by the way. In the
kitchen, stealing your food, I bet. I would be if I was her. That's totally
fair. You got a little sloppy at the end, magic wise. On the good side that
trip didn't really hurt me, which is special and good. You're still too slow,
but hey, what can we ask of the new kid, right?" She grinned, a disarming
and pleasant thing, and went into the house like she lived there.

Then she called out.

"Hey everyone, I'm home! I
need to run and get with my trainees. Is Bekah with them?"

She tilted her head, and then
looked at Tyler.

"Thanks Anne. I'll go round
them all up there then. Ty's doing well. You two should chat. Later."
Then, like she was making fun of how very slow he really was, she turned and
vanished into thin air, even though
he
was still standing there in slow
time.

Though, really, he was doing good
anyway, for him. That trip had been nothing short of a miracle, really. One
night and part of a day, walking on foot, to travel thousands of miles. It
wasn't a thing he planned to make fun of. Still, showing off a little bit, he
walked into the kitchen, moving at about full speed. Then he cut it all and
stood there, wondering what it looked like.

Not that impressive, since the
girl that was there, looking nerdy and about the same age as Allison, if cuter
and less slutty at the same time, jumped up from the table, which was laden
with food.

"There's my Pumpkin! I was
worried for a bit last night, when the drain started. That wasn't too bad."
He got a hug, which felt a little weird now, after the thing with Keeley and
what she'd said at the time.

Lucy made a face, clearly getting
it all.

"Wow. Bitchy of her. She
must like you. Notice that she went for
sex
, rather than ripping your
testicles off? True, she then had to ruin it, to make her little point, but
that's part of her way, I think. She did have to be punished for that. Not
too
poorly done on your return volley. I could have gotten you money for killing
her, if you'd just pressed things a bit. Then her sister would have brought her
back though, so it was just as well you didn't waste the effort. Well, too late
for that. Anyway, I'm going to have to leave for a bit, but I wanted to check
in with you first. My guess is that The Storm will make another play for you
soon. Probably one that's a bit more direct this time. That thing in the
cave..." She shook her head, and ate part of a turkey. She used a fork and
knife to do it, but the whole thing was in front of her.

After a bit she sighed.

"That was
foolish
.
She might have destroyed you, but she can't steal you from me. Not that way.
Even if you'd turned rogue and started to eat people, I could always bring you
back. Even death won't really stop that."

He sort of knew that, now.
Beheading himself, at least mainly, and coming back from it, well, that had
been a good sign. Ty wasn't going down too easily.

Lucy nodded.

"I... Don't think that even
coming back to life would really do it. Not the way you'll have to. Still,
being as free as you can be won't hurt. Besides, maybe I'm wrong? I mean, I'm
not, but if you don't need me, I
will
let you go. Just know that I love
you, honey. I'm so proud of you, too. Would you like something to eat? I have a
lot of potatoes, and they're your food. I did the work fixing them though, so
that should cover my part, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Plus that whole thing
where I'm not a Greater Demon, so those food rules won't apply."

He smiled, and she waved a fork
in the air.

"Don't they though? Not with
me, but you're
my
representative. If any of the others come over, or you
go to their places, you need to handle things correctly. It's rude, otherwise.
Trust me, you
don't
want to be rude to the relatives."

That made sense to him. Not the
whole avatar part, since he really liked to think of himself as an individual,
not just an extension of his mom, but all the Greater Demons seemed to kind of
think of him that way, so she might really have a point there.

"I'll look into it. So, is
there a plan here, as far as taking care of The Storm? I don't really want to
kill her, but... Oh, no, wait. I'm
totally
fine with that. Not that I'm
holding a grudge, but I'd love to have that part of things be done. It would
kind of let me get on with my life."

That got a simple seeming nod.

"Wouldn't it? Probably. When
she comes for you, you'll have a chance to take care of things. If she comes
for me, that will probably be the end as well. Either one of us dies, or we
manage to come to an accord." She kept eating the whole time, her face
calm and a little bland.

Then she quickly got him a plate
and dished up the roasted potatoes that she had in a giant bowl. They had the
skins on them, but were quartered, and smothered in spices and butter.

They were good though, and made
with enough care that he enjoyed the meal, even if it was a bit strange, eating
a big plate of one thing like that. Lucy took a lot longer to consume things
than he did, clearing the table, in fairly short order.

In the end she stood, and waved
at the mess. She was short at the moment, and looked like a skinny, classes
wearing white girl. Her hair was light colored, and her glasses had turtle
shell frames. Her little skirt let her knees show, but only just.

"Clean this up for me? I
really need to get going. I should be back in a week or so?"

"Okay. Be good. As good as
you can be, you know, being an evil Greater Demon. Try not to torture anyone
that doesn't deserve it, I guess?" He let himself smile, as she laughed a
bit.

"No promises. Half the fun
of being me is making people suffer. Of
course
they don't all deserve
it. I know that you really want me to be good, and wholesome. I gave you that
idea for over a decade and a half, so of course seeing me that way is the most
comfortable for you, but it
isn't
reality." She gestured at the
table, and shrugged. "The meal I had before this was three African natives
that crossed me. Last night I raped a man. I looked very different, but I held
him down and took him up the ass, just because he cut me off in traffic earlier
in the day. I think that you're finally getting the idea.
We're
Demons,
Honey. You've been around some confusing beings, I'll grant you that. But never
forget what we are. We're sharks, not puppies. Forget that, and you
will
end up being worse than eaten."

He nodded, since that kind of
thing really seemed likely, from what bits and pieces he'd heard.

It was kind of what Greater Demon
meant. He just happened to know some of the nicer ones. Kinder
seeming
ones.

"You really ate people, and
raped a man for being a bad driver?" It was still hard to buy, but the
little girl, looking adorable and innocent, nodded.

"I've done worse than that.
In the last few days. Even your girlfriend Keels has done things in the last
month that would make your gorge rise if you knew about it. Zack...
He's
actually far too kind. Probably the worst Greater Demon I've ever seen that
way. It's his real insanity, you know. Kindness has no place in our
hearts."

"And you love me? So,
that's
nuts, right?" He smiled.

Lucy, the only parent he could
remember ever having, nodded then.

"Nutty as a fruitcake. I
never claimed that I was sane however. Not directly. I do love you. It's a
liability. A fairly safe one however, in that you would be very hard to
destroy. Most hobbies aren't as powerful as you are."

That he was just a hobby, even a
beloved one, both made sense and was less than fun to hear.

"Well, I'll try not to do
that part then. Being destroyed. That sounds unpleasant, doesn't it?"

"Oh, sure. Still you could
do worse than being destroyed. Be careful, dear. Things are about to heat up, I
believe."

Then she left, waving at him over
her shoulder. He didn't watch her leave in particular, but noticed something.
He could feel her bending space as she left. It wasn't that familiar, and
surely wasn't strong, but the raw concept
was
enough for him to feel
what she was doing. To understand it even. That was, probably, a new power, if
one that he'd learned, rather than some inborn thing.

Then, as he cleaned up the
kitchen, he noticed that he could feel other concepts in the air. Mainly as
things changed. For instance, there was a Vampire in the house, upstairs,
moving around. After a bit, he got that it had to be Marissa.

"Um, hey, do you want
something to drink? I could heat up some blood for you?"

While he couldn't hear her words,
he got a sense that she accepted that, and was coming, so he pulled a bottle
from the fridge, and set it up to warm on the stove in a small pan of water. A
bit later, not making any noise at all, the Vampire moved into the space. It
was eerie, in a very neat way. Like she floated a bit, instead of just walking
in.

"I wasn't aware that you
knew I was here. I hope you don't take my eavesdropping amiss?" She seemed
worried about that. Like it was a real thing.

"Nope. You can make up for
it with sex, if you want? I think we kind of already have permission from
Ginger for that." He smiled, and looked away, feeling slightly shy about
it. They'd done things before, so it wasn't totally outside of what could
possibly happen.

Certainly the Vampire didn't
think so.

"That would be darling!
After I have the blood? I'd hate to waste it. Here, let's sit and talk for a
bit first. It seems that young Eve
isn't
planning a massive army of Master
Vampire vassals, and is, as near as I can tell, simply supporting those of us
in power. She's young yet, so no doubt that will change eventually, as soon as
we go against her will too strongly. Then, that's how things should work in
life. Those in power need to feel a threat is always there, hunting them, or
they will drift too quickly into self-serving behavior." It was
conversationally spoken, but she seemed to be the shy one about it.

Probably having to do with the
fact that Eve was kind of his buddy now.

"Cool. One less thing to
worry about. So, do you want to stay here for a while anyway? Eve is planning
to hang for a bit, I hear. She's been helping me to learn Demon magic. And no,
she isn't one of them. I'm not either, and I have a strange feeling that
I'm
more connected there than she is. You should get her to try and teach you that
too. It can be useful, I think."

The Vampire woman, who was more
than that, sniffed a bit, and moved to the stove, pulling the blood from the
water with her bare hand. It was only about body temperature for a normal
person. For all he knew, she wouldn't have felt it even if the water had been
boiling.

Tyler wouldn't have. Really, he
was kind of certain that even his sense of pleasure was imaginary. It seemed
right to him, but otherwise he didn't actually feel anything, so it was likely
just that Lucy had told him to feel like that. Really, he wondered if he could
taste food, or anything like that.

Except that, real or not, he
could
.

Marissa drank from a large mug
and didn't savor the tasty beverage particularly. At first he didn't get it,
but as soon as she was finished, she stood, put the mug under the faucet and in
fairly short order was pulling him off to her bedroom.

When she spoke, her words were a
bit hurried. Almost desperate in feeling.