Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (27 page)

The De'geru chief, or whatever
his title was, called in, and mentioned that some police had come by, and
apologized for shooting at them. No one had mentioned the puppies though, so
taking a deep breath, he had. That led to a very, very interesting discussion
about things he really hadn't been ready for.

The semi-aquatic creatures
hadn't
been kidnapping puppies to resell, or to eat. No, both of those answers would
have been far too normal. Boring almost. They weren't even having sex with
them.

It turned out that they
reproduced by introducing their genetic material into mammals, by stabbing them
with a special claw. Then, over the course of several years, the infected being
would become one of them. Most of them had started life as Humans, originally,
but it wasn't required.

Ty pretended that
wasn't
a
huge, mind warping thing. One so different from what he'd envisioned reality
being that it actually shook him for a while. On the good side, they wouldn't
need any more kids for about ten years, so while the puppies were gone, the
disappearances would stop for a long time.

After that, nothing but work
happened for the rest of the night.

Which was, he noticed, a first.

Tyler was scheduled for a far
earlier work time the next day, which had good and bad parts to it. It meant
being there at ten, which was harder than it sounded, since he needed to
exercise first. That meant getting six hours of sleep, then climbing out of bed
to run and do some calisthenics before jogging over to the mall for the day.

The bookstore was just the store
that day. In fact, Zack came out to work with everyone else, not having to go
anywhere at all. It was a bit shocking, since he was a good worker. Better than
Tyler was actually. The place was very clean, straightened and tidy by eleven.

"Hey, Zack..." There
was a tone to his own words, which was telling enough that the thin guy next to
him turned and seemed skeptical. It was the right thing to be, naturally, since
he was about to ask for stuff.

"Yes, Ty?"

"Are you busy for the next
couple of hours?"

"Nooo. Why do you ask?"

He went quiet for a bit, then
realized that the other man hadn't touched him that day. It wasn't a noticeable
thing, since men didn't casually make contact with other guys that often. That
was just life in the real world. Tyler wouldn't have actually noticed that part
of things except that the whole Greater Demon thing was still fresh in his
mind. The Storm had shaken him a bit, even though he didn't let himself feel
scared about it. Even if the old woman could have killed him instantly, she
hadn't been scary really. That probably meant he was stupid.

Once you know a threat is there,
it only made sense to pay attention to it, as well as you can.

"Lisa needs help, in her
store. I kind of said I'd see about sending you down for that. Not that I
promised anything, but you two are friends right?"

There was a strange, very drawn
out, looking away then. Like the confident man didn't want to deal with that
kind of thing. Then, after a bit, a nod came.

"I scare the fuck out of
her. It's what I am. When I started working with her, I didn't know what I was.
I told her about it as soon as I could, or tried, but someone else told her
first, so she freaked out, thinking I was trying to trick her into being a
slave, or something. I don't think she even knows what it was I might have been
doing. It just felt like a trick to her. After that..."

Silence came then, over the whole
place. It was telling enough that Tyler tensed, ready for something big to
happen, but it was just happenstance. Zack went on then, seeming a bit sad.

 "Well, in her fear, she
kind of drove me away. The Mages fired me, because she was scared, instead of
helping her deal with her fear. Her dad, Eric, isn't a fan of mine. Oddly
enough
because
he'd always thought I was a Greater Demon. I honestly
didn't have a clue."

Tyler looked at Zack and then
smiled, shaking his head.

"Wait... Eric Weise. That's
Harry Houdini's real name. I read a book about him when I was a kid."

That got a shrug.

"Mages live a long time.
Especially if they do a lot of healing magic. It's not a small effect either.
There are a few of them that hit five or six hundred years old. That's really
rare, because it's hard to be that altruistic all the time. If they're willing
to give away their work freely, they're repaid with long life and health, but
people are selfish things. Just so you know, so are Greater Demons. Not all the
other groups are like that. Mages are basically just Humans with power.
Vampires are
angry
Humans with power. Shifters are kind of the same.
It's why you hit them up first, by the way. They're the people you can
understand easily. You should get with the other societies as well. Now, I
mean."

They were both in the center of
the store, out in the middle of the whole thing, with nothing to do. Not work
related things.

"So, go help her out anyway?
Oh, also tell her that I'll be by later for that blowjob? It's a joke, but Eve
kept going on about it." It wasn't really funny to him, but Zack smiled.

"Got it. That will help, I
think. Not that she'll
want
to do you, but it will let her understand
why I'm there. Because you made me, so you can force her into doing what you
want. The fact that it would be really hard for you to cause that to happen
won't matter that much. Just don't really try to collect. That will make it
seem like she's being raped. Even if you joke about it too much. Because to her
mind they're the same thing."

He could see that. If she felt
too pressured, it would seem fear inducing to her.

"Yeah. Not to be mean, but
she really isn't that attractive to me. She's nice enough, but..." It was
hard to explain, since the fact of the matter was that, if she were straight
and wanted him, he probably would have had sex with her. There was just something
that told him not to do that. A warning from his subconscious mind.

That and Zack. Clearly.

The other man left then, not
saying anything else about it all. On the good side, that meant the boss was
gone, so he could work without feeling like he was going to get in trouble
instantly. Not that it had ever been an issue there. The whole thing was laid
back and relaxed for an hour, and when the situation changed, it was actually
not a horrible thing, since his mother came in.

She looked happy, a big smile on
her face and a nice rosy color to her cheeks. She was dressed in jeans and a
t-shirt, since Lucy was a casual person outside of work. Her hair was brown,
and shoulder length.
Very
straight, with a line of bangs across her
forehead. There were lines around her eyes, making her look a little older than
the forty-three she actually was. Her waist was trim though, and she had a lot
of energy. Overall she was normal, rather than skinny, her constant work
keeping her from being chubby.

She wasn't good looking, really,
but her attitude made that nearly unimportant, even for people that had just
met her.

"Hey sweetie! I thought that
I'd swing by and make sure things were going well for you." Her eyes
searched the place for a brief moment, and she sniffed the air just a little
bit, checking to make sure it was all right for him. Just about that time her
eyes locked on Kaitlyn, who was coming out of one of the side rooms, being
followed by two young men, who looked obviously bashful. To Tyler it was kind
of embarrassing, since his mother was right there, but no one else seemed
bothered by it.

In fact Kait beamed at him as she
walked up.

"You have a friend? Do you
need one of the rooms?" It was insane of course, since even if Lucy was
holding his hand still, it was the kind of thing that anyone might do. At least
if they were your mother. A Greater Demon too, but Zack didn't hold him like
that.

Rather than get angry, he just
shook his head and tried to explain as if dealing with different groups of
people was old hat to him.

"Kait, this is my mother.
Lucy Gartner. Mom, this is Kaitlyn Swanson. Succubus. Alede, more properly. So
to
her
offering to free up a space for us to have sex was probably about
right." Not knowing that Lucy was his mother, that was. The girl didn't
require him to explain that thought however, just letting her smile become
bigger.

"Hi! Yeah, different rules.
I hope that wasn't insulting? I know, why don't you take her to the cafe for
lunch? It's free, and pretty good. Really excellent, actually. I'll cover the
front?"

Tyler examined the scene, and
realized that his mother wasn't actually responding much to the whole thing at
all. He was, of course, feeling embarrassed and uneasy about the implications.
Lucy was acting like they'd been talking about the weather. Her smile was warm
and not judging however. She almost never was.

"Thanks. We won't be long. I
get half an hour for lunch, I think." He didn't know that it was all right
for him to give free food away like that, but if it was an issue, he could pay
for it later, it was important that his mom knew he was allowed to eat, and
could handle himself well enough to provide a meal for someone else. It was a
sign that he was working hard and doing well. If you had the resources to keep
yourself going, plus enough for others, then you weren't
really
at risk.

He waved a bit to get his mom to
follow along with him, headed toward the back. Her hand flew out, to touch
Kait's arm then. It was a casual thing, and while it might be a little flirty,
it wasn't so bad that he had to have an issue with it. Ignoring it was the high
road, he decided.

As far as he knew, Lucy hadn't
had a single date in the time he'd lived with her. Okay, so she might have just
been hiding that kind of thing from him, and it wasn't really his business. She
did work a lot. It was possible that she could have taken part of the time for
herself, and it would have even been fair. Though if that was the case, she
could have done it openly, too. Ty wasn't going to judge her for having a bit
of a life. She deserved it.

His mom let go of his hand as
they walked, and they settled into the cafe area at one of the tables near the
wall. He asked for the food that they wanted, which was fruit and a small salad
for him, and a decently large turkey sandwich for her, along with some fruit
juice, which they both had.

As they ate, they chatted about
things that were a bit different than he would have suspected when she walked
in. The main one was about what he wanted for his birthday. It was one of those
things that he simply hadn't been thinking about.

"I have no clue? I don't
need much, really. Just show up, if you can and that will be fine. Really, if
you need to work, we can do something later. It's just a birthday. I'll have
more. Barring massive problems at least."

There was a wry look from his
mother, who fixed him solidly with her gaze. It was both happy and steely at
the same time. Which wasn't fair, since it got him to freeze thanks to years of
training.

"That won't do, and you know
it. If you don't tell me what you
want
, I'll end up spending five times
as much, trying to make sure you get something good. Even if you won't ever use
it. It would be much better for you to just let me know. So, what do you
need
?
Clothes? Socks? A new keyboard? Sex toys for your new friends here?" She
was saying that last one as a joke. He hoped.

Blushing, or at least feeling
like he was, Ty glanced away. It was hard not to feel shy about sex still. That
kind of thing was a huge problem in his life. He was, like most real men, the
Human ones at least, preoccupied with sex. That didn't mean he was comfortable
with himself, however.

It was a twisting and tense
thing, thinking about that kind of thing. He wanted, badly, to have sex as
often as possible, but on the other hand it was also a vast distraction.

"Um, let's go with clothes?
You don't have to get me anything. You've had to do so much. It wasn't fair,
really. You took me in and cared for me for nearly my whole life. It made yours
harder."

Lucy smiled at him and shook her
head just the tiniest bit. There was a hint of humor in it, which was good to
see. It would have been too hard if saying that had made her sad.

"Tyler... That isn't the way
the world works. We make our own choices, and do what we need to in order to
make it all work. I didn't take you in as a burden, but as a way to make my own
life larger. You made things
better
for me, in a lot of ways. Yes, there
was work, but there's always that. There have been sacrifices, but again, we
all have those, whenever we try to get what we want from life. I have no
regrets. Not even one." She seemed very certain about that.

All he could do was hope that was
true.

"Thanks. I love you,
mom."

That seemed to go over well.

"I love you too, honey. Now,
I have some things to cover with you, about your parents. I... We should do it
after you turn eighteen. So on Saturday? Sunday? I don't want to ruin your
party."

That got him to stare at her. There
was no clue that he could see that would tell him what she was talking about.

"Great, now I'm curious.
What's the deal? Are they still alive or something? I know, you kidnapped me as
a baby, or you're actually my older sister, not just a friend of
theirs..." There was a smile, but also a waiting. A sense of the world
pausing for a moment, as if pregnant, and ready to burst out onto the world.

Until Lucy spoke. Then it all
just fizzled. There was a pleasant expression on her slightly lined face.

"Neither of those things.
You'll just have to wait. It... Well, it isn't a great thing, but it shouldn't
impact you very much either. It
probably
will, but... Well, you'll see.
Let's get through the party first? Clothes? For work?"

They chatted about that part of
things for a while, his attempts at bringing the topic back to what the hell
she was hinting at not working. That was a thing he was well aware of in life.
Lucy had always been able to totally control the conversations they'd had. It
was done gently, and with kindness, but so well that trying to really pry
things from her before she was ready to share them wasn't going to ever work.