The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (11 page)

That wasn't enough to get them to
go away, so he gave up trying to be nice, and just made the food. Not that he
wasn't going to be kind, of course. It just was kind of clear that for some
reason these two had been trained or conditioned to do exactly whatever their
master said. Probably at the end of a lash, one way or another.

So they stood, and he made up
three trays, each with a full bowl of soup and a package of saltines. Then he
moved into the other room, since the nice furniture there made excellent
snacking surfaces. He hadn't considered that earlier, but now that there were
three of them doing it, he kind of wished that they'd used the table in the
other room.

They all ate identically. That
wasn't a mistake either, since both of the others watched him first, and then
followed along so closely it was nearly mocking. That didn't seem to be their
point though, so he didn't mention it, just crushing crackers into the hot bowl
of steaming red goodness and eating until it was all done. He might not feel
much, but he could taste food, and there was a sense of warmth in his middle as
he finished. That part was, most likely, imaginary. After all, if he couldn't
really feel the temperature of the room he was in, then getting how the food in
his tummy made him feel wasn't very likely.

When he was done Tina got up
instantly, and took his tray from him. She did the same for Darren.

Speaking to him a bit like he was
a dog, she started out of the room.

"Darren. Start
cleaning."

Whatever had happened in life to
these two, they both seemed to be capable of complex tasks at any rate. He
nearly told them not to do the work, and to kick back, but that hadn't seemed
to work before.

"Okay. If you'd like to do
that, that's fine. Make sure you rest too, and eat enough. Or, if you want, eat
too much. I'm sure we can find more food." It had kind of just been there,
but there really was a lot. Months worth of it just sitting there in the
kitchen, and more in the pantry off to the side. Even the fridge was filled
with things. Half of that was blood, but there was milk, butter and six types
of cheese too.

That reminded him. He
should
have had grilled cheese. That was really good, if he was eating that kind of
thing again. Dairy. The idea of dunking the crispy bread into the soup was
alluring, now that he'd remembered that it was a thing.

The new people busied themselves
well enough, and if they weren't pleased to be there doing the work, they
didn't complain or seem upset by it either.

All he could hope was that he
could figure out how to save them before Goethe called on them to do something
far less pleasant. Just because they belonged to Ty now, that didn't mean they
weren't still the Greater Demon's slaves.

The day didn't go fast. In fact
it kind of dragged, as far as Tyler was concerned. Oh, things were happening,
but they only loosely related to him. It got so bad, so slow, that at about ten
he actually turned the television on and watched the news. They had a nice
cable package, or at least all the channels, regardless of how it got into the
mansion.

That it might have been done
illegally, well, the place was paid for by a Demon. A bit of cable theft might
just not be beyond what The Mistress of Souls was willing to do. For that
matter Ty was too, so he settled in and watched the talking heads miss the point
of what was going on for about an hour.

Just as he was about to get up
and find something else to eat, remembering that Lucy had mentioned that eating
might help take the energy load off of her as far as his healing went, there
was another knock at the door.

He looked through the peephole
this time, and found, unsurprisingly, another Greater Demon.

"Weeee." At least this
time it was just Zack, and he had a man with him who seemed far more normal. A
young guy, who only seemed a bit older than Tyler did, in looks.

Not that it meant anything.
Opening the door, he shook his head.

"Line Walker. Is
this..." He had to focus to get the name of Rebekah's friend that was
coming in. It was clear that, even being normal looking and standing out in the
full sun it was kind of clear that this man lacked the life force needed to
make him essentially yummy to Tyler. That meant he was dead, most likely.
Probably a Vampire, since he'd never met anyone that was dead and not one of
those. Just him. "Um, Jonas?"

The man stuck his right hand out
very professionally. The move was returned, since Tyler had limped to the door,
not really needing his cane any more.

He had a nice enough face. It
wasn't that he was a great looking guy, in particular, if they were going to
use television actors as the standard for that kind of thing. Almost everyone
did, so it was probably fair enough. The man had very clear skin, which the
dead tended to, and was lean enough to be attractive. That and symmetry was
about what men had going for them that way. At least until wearing makeup
became a thing for dudes.

"That's right! I didn't know
that anyone would know who I was."

"Tyler. Call me Ty. Come on
in? Rebekah isn't around."

That got Zack to smile.

"We know that one, we were
just out jogging along with the new group. They are
not
a quick bunch.
What they are however, is still awake and stumbling around under the full
burning light of day. It's kind of impressive. You'll be glad to know that your
group is doing well. Evan is struggling a bit, but no worse than Eve or Ginger
did on their turn. Rebekah will probably be set in a few days. She's over two
hundred, so... Scotty is younger but also doing better than the rest."

Tyler gestured for them to come
in, smiling a little.

"Cool. I didn't know that I
was going to get reports about it. Are you going to come in to observe each
day, or do I need to grill Eve for the info?"

That got him pointed at as Zack
moved into the living room. There was a happy expression to go with the move.

"That one. Unless you want
to trade for it? It seems a bit too small to be worth your while that way, to
be honest." Zack glanced at the Vampire man, who was one of the new kind
that went out in the sun and didn't have fangs, and explained. "Tyler
isn't a Greater Demon. More or less he's... I guess kind of an avatar of The
Rotted. More than a slave, but animated by her power."

That was a different way of
thinking of the whole thing than Tyler had considered before. Much nicer than
meat puppet. That always sounded a bit dirty.

"Is that why..." He
nearly didn't say it, but Zack had mentioned him having gotten the water to
trickle into the cave for the boy somehow. At the time it had seemed like
prayer had worked, and that God was on his side, but so far everyone had
assured him that it didn't work that way. "The thing in the cave?"

There was a pause, and a
considering look.

Zack started to nod, just a tiny
bit.

"That... Actually makes a
lot of sense. It would explain it nicely. You should try to learn how to use
magic. The Greater Demon kind. Anne can hook you up that way I bet. You'll want
to work that out with her though, since I'm betting that she's the one you'll
be getting your power from, at first."

He gestured to the chairs and
sofas.

"Have a seat? I wasn't
really doing anything, just watching the news be mishandled in order to control
the minds of the masses."

Both of the others chuckled a
bit. Jonas winked.

"Part of my job is skewing
those media perceptions. I'm an aide for Richard Swerlin. It's a real enough
thing. About seventy percent of what we call news is just people making stuff
up and lying to influence what other people are thinking." He didn't seem
too happy about it.

There was a slightly awkward
pause then. It was the part of meeting any new person that was kind of hard for
him, Tyler knew. That moment when he was comfortable enough to accept that the
person with him seemed all right, and that he didn't think he was going to have
to fight them, but when he didn't know enough to select the next topic of
conversation safely.

Jonas was Rebekah's boyfriend, he
thought. Still, bringing her up might make the guy feel threatened, since Tyler
was living with her. True in a giant mansion that was big enough for everyone
to have their own space, but what if the man didn't get that? What if that kind
of thing was threatening to his ego or just bugged him?

So Ty went to having a guest over
one-oh-one.

"Would you like something to
eat? We have blood." He turned to Zack and grinned. "I was going to
make some grilled cheese, and more tomato soup. Would you like some?"

The Greater Demon made a
considering face.

"Sounds good. Do you have a
cook yet?"

"Nope! I did get some new
people in, but I don't know if they can cook. They're busy cleaning up right
now. The lady seems like she might know her way around the kitchen. I need to
have them killed." Before he could even go on with that one, the Greater
Demon nodded.

"Slaves? I know that Darla
has a machine that can do that for you. You can kill them, and have them
brought back really safely. Other than that... Well, I could do it, with
healing. It's a bit risky with Humans, but I've done it on a few that have
worked. Eve might be able to as well, and she won't bargain with you half as
hard as the rest of us. I suppose you could get Anne to do it for you too, but
her preferred way of doing things would just have them enslaved again." It
was a lot of data, and helpful, even if it was given as casual conversation.

"I haven't even had a chance
to go over that yet. A guy showed up with them on my doorstep and didn't want
them anymore. That was how I took it. Anyway, food." He moved toward the
kitchen, which had the other two following along with him, since they were a
gang now, it seemed.

Zack helped with the food, and
Jonas was more than willing to get his own blood, warming it in a pan of water
to the temperature he enjoyed. The interesting thing was the amount of food
that the Demon came up with. He didn't make a small pan of soup, but gallons of
the stuff, in a giant thing that was either meant for canning or designed to
steam things. Now it held all the tomato soup in the house.

Then he got out a griddle and
started eight sandwiches at one time. That wasn't the end of it though, since
he got ready to make about twenty-four more than that. Tyler looked at it, and
raised an eyebrow, which got the Demon to shrug.

"I need to eat more than
most people, and you should start doing that. Right now you're a net drain on Anne.
She told me how she built a power exchange into your system, even though you
aren't alive. If you can get enough food in you, that should help her out a
lot. Then it won't be as big of a deal when you learn to use magic. See, free
advice. Just because we're friends, and coworkers. Keep that one in mind later,
when I ask you to do overtime, instead of kicking back with your band
friends."

That was probably a good plan. It
was kind of clear that being awake twenty-four hours a day, while a nifty
power, also meant that he needed to keep busy. In the moment though he did that
by helping flip grilled cheese and stirring the giant pot of tasty smelling
soup.

After they were a little past
halfway done, and Jonas was sipping his body temperature blood from a large
white mug there was a bit of noise from the kitchen door. Tina stood there,
with a huge, forced, smile on her face.

"Sir? We've cleaned the
house. What do you wish us to do next?"

He pointed at the food, and
smiled. The woman wasn't skin and bone, but it was clear that she could
probably use lunch.

"You and Darren should get
something to eat. Then a nap or something? Go hang out in the hot tub for half
an hour or so?" It was hard to suggest fun and relaxing things, he
realized. Mainly because he didn't do things like that himself very much.

The funny thing was that Zack,
who looked about half Japanese, hooded his eyelids a bit, and spun in place to
look at the lady in the doorway.

His words were a bit cryptic.

"I see. So, it was Goethe
that stopped by? I should have checked that one." Then he turned back to
the food. His words had been a little strained and cold sounding. Like he
really didn't care for the other Greater Demon, on a personal level.

For her part Tina seemed really
happy to hear that working all the time wasn't the goal of her being there. Not
that she was actually pleased. It was all fake. Then, his interactions with
Demons hadn't been that bad compared to most. Sure one of them had caused him
to cut his own head off, but even that wasn't too traumatic for him. It had
been a
choice
for him. One made under duress, but still his own action.

These people, Tina and Darren,
they probably hadn't had any chance to do something like that themselves.

Rather than talk about it all,
Zack just made up four plates of food. There were more crackers too, and the
big bowls of soup were placed on the table efficiently. Zack was acting strange
however, and looked away from Tina more often than was normal.

Still, he didn't seem angry at
the woman after a moment, his voice becoming kind.

"You should call Darren. I
need to eat."

The lady left the room to do it,
as the food was dished up. Jonas didn't help with that part, but did sit with
them, not bothered by the fact that he wasn't getting any of the wonderful
smelling grilled cheese. It was all just about perfect looking, too. It wasn't just
piled on the plates, but was placed there with care and concern for appearance.
While all the same, it had the feel of being served at a restaurant, rather
than what Ty had been thinking of.

There was no real conversation
during the meal, except for Zack giving about half the remaining food to Tyler,
and waving at it a few times.

"Eat more. It will
help."

The two new people just looked at
their single servings of food, and ate mechanically. It was oddly stressed
seeming. Tyler could see what Tina and Darren were thinking. At least he
figured that it would be about trauma and lives that were crippling to the
spirit. Zack however just didn't add up. He was acting like he was annoyed by
them being there, for all that he was being nice, and making sure they had
enough to eat.

At the end of the meal he got up,
and took their plates and bowls.

"Tyler and I have this part.
Why don't you do what he suggested and go take a restful nap for a while?
That's what you want them to do, isn't it Ty?" It was leading and that one
he got, right off the bat.

He
was the boss of them, by order
of their Greater Demon lord. So his word was law to them, at the moment. Zack
patted the man on the back, and winced, getting his entire life's story from
him. Hard or not, he did the same with Tina a moment later. There was another
cringe. It was big enough that Jonas noticed it, too.

That couldn't be a good thing.
What would make a
Demon
react like that? It had to be awful on a level
that Tyler probably didn't want to know about.

"That sounds good. Let's get
you some bedrooms? On the third floor I think. Here... I'll take you up."
They all went again, but it didn't take long. He really wasn't limping as much
as he had been before either, and that let him speed up a lot. It seemed like the
food was helping.

He was going to need more to eat,
or so it seemed.

That meant getting access to food
that he didn't have to pay for, because for all he was living in a great house
and had three jobs, the funds hadn't been pouring in yet.

"Hey, I have a paycheck
coming, don't I?" He asked a bit blankly as they made their way back to
the kitchen.