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

How much of the Lucy that he'd
known his entire life was real? The idea hadn't really hit him before, but
suddenly, in the midst of everything else, it did. The woman that had raised
him, to the best of his knowledge had just been a woman that was a friend of
his dead parents, who'd taken him in and treated him like her own. Even though
it had meant struggling, and hard hours of work, she'd done it without
complaint.

Making sure he had a decent life.

Now it was almost certain that
the whole thing had been an act. It might even be that the things he thought
were real weren't. Had he really gone to school even? He recalled every day of
the whole thing, but
also
that he'd cut his own head off and survived
it. At least he'd come back from it.

So could he count on
anything
he'd known as being right?

Feeling confused, he tried to
hide it, but after the very large order was called in, enough food for dozens
of people probably, Lucy settled back alongside of him, and patted his arm.

"Some of it was a lie. But
know this, I always loved you. The whole time, son. Probably more than a Human
mother would have her own flesh and blood. I used magic the whole time to make
certain I would. You, perhaps more than any child in history, were
loved
."

The thing there was that he
didn't know if he could trust her or not.

Then, that was part of being a
person. You never knew who you could trust. Not until they failed you.

So far Lucy hadn't. Not that he
knew of.

Then, if it
had
happened,
would he?

The song he was playing on the
keyboard was jazzy and a bit more "boogie-woogie" in a classic sense
than he normally would have gone for. It wasn't meant to be for the band
though, so Tyler didn't care that much. He was just using it as an exercise. It
helped to think outside the box from time to time, after all. That meant
pushing yourself into areas you might not go otherwise.

That was what he was thinking
about anyway as he started to sing.

"Time to jitter. To hop
about. Got one leg, so stomp and shout." It was kind of funny, and Lucy
giggled at him, sitting a good bit away, taking up the other half of the sofa
they were sharing. She was stretched out a bit, like it was her life mission to
make sure that Ginger didn't climb in next to him. Not that the Vampire was
even trying to do that. She just sat, waiting, in the chair across from them.

Listening to the song he was
working on.

The thing morphed as it went on,
becoming a series of jokes about having a poor position and only having one leg
to stand on. Still, it was humorous enough that when Rebekah and Scotty came
out of their upstairs rooms they were smiling, having heard it all.

The bone white Vampire woman, her
all red eyes gleaming smiled so genuinely that about forty fang teeth showed in
her mouth. It was intimidating, but also a bit nice to see. She normally didn't
let her guard down that much as far as Tyler knew.

"Hey! You're alive. We were
told not to expect that..." She glanced at his leg, and then nodded, a bit
more somberly. "Hence the song? I haven't heard things like that in
decades. About sixty years now. Boogie-woogie. I used to love that stuff. So,
keeping the new stumpy look for a while?" It was, he knew, her way of
asking just how seriously he was compromised. She didn't sound all that
worried, but then, he was already showing that he could sing, play, and even
wasn't so mentally damaged by the whole ordeal that he couldn't make up new
work.

So, from her perspective, he was
fine. Just slower and easier to catch, probably.

"A few days to grow it back?
I know that Zack is expecting me in for work on Wednesday. Sorry about
vanishing like that. Kidnapping me seems to be the personal hobby of a certain
annoying Greater Demon." He didn't name names, but Scotty looked a bit
panicked about it all.

That got Lucy, who they all
recognized to wave at him a bit, catching his eye as she grinned. It was sort
of nerdy, but not unfriendly.

"Don't worry
too
much.
You're
under the protection of The Mistress of Souls. The Storm
won't harm you, because doing so means going to war with Keeley, and
that
would mean her destruction or enslavement. The bitch has three of the most
insane as her servants right now, did you know that? Keels, I mean. Not that
she's all that bad. My point is that you, whitey here, and Steve the cutie are
all pretty safe. As it stands I need to take off soon. There are rules as far
as acting in another's territory and I'm already calling on my friendship with
Keeley to be here this long. I just wanted to spend some time with my son for a
while." She waved at him, in case they didn't get who she meant by that.

They did, naturally.

There was a slow nod from
Rebekah, who really was very white. Her skin was the color of chalk, and her
hair was pure white as well, or, if Ty were going to be honest, there might
have been a slight eggshell tone to it. Her teeth were about the same as her
skin, but shone a bit, being damp like they were.

"That does match up with
what I've heard. So we need to focus on protecting Tyler? I... I can stay with
him, but I doubt that will stop a Greater Demon. I mean,
Eve
was with
him when he was taken last time, and I don't think I could take her, even with
a small army, so..."

Lucy stood up and stretched,
which, young seeming or not, had Scotty glancing her way. Probably due to
hunger and the fact that she looked Human, rather than him being a mother
humping pervert.

"Thanks. That would still
help. Eve... She's kind of in her own category, protection wise. A
friend
of a lot of the goodie-goods. The Line Walker, The Technician and The Mistress
of Souls. The Cleric too, I think. She isn't really owned by any of them
however, so she's kind of fair game. That..." There was a look around the
room, and a leaning in as she stood, as if she were about to share with the
whole gang some kind of secret information or knowledge.

Then she waited, building
dramatic tension. No one spoke while she let the whole thing linger.

"Eve Benson is more than she
seems. Less than a Greater Demon.
Perhaps
. More than A Vampire now
though. All through her own efforts. You should all court her, if you have a
chance. I doubt that The Storm will confront her again, if she has a choice.
Eight times out of ten, in a battle between them The Snowflake would
lose." Then moving toward the door, she turned at the entrance, and smiled
at them. "So do the math there.
Two
of those times she'd kill one
of my people. A thing that even your Bey could not manage and he's the only
other one of you worth his salt. I do think that you youngsters could learn to
be the same however, if you really try? Especially you, young Miss
Harris." It sounded nice and polite, but there was no mention of a
goodbye.

Lucy just left, using the front
door.

Leaving him to fend for himself.
Except that the others stayed with him too.

Scotty sighed, and then looked
around, scared still. That was what it seemed like. He was moving more than
normal, at any rate.

Tyler shrugged.

"You should all go get some
food. I think we have some blood in the fridge?" He glanced at Rebekah.
She owned the blood harvesting concern for the entire country. The Human one at
least. Eve owned the animal blood one, which was a big deal as far as Vampires
went. There were new laws for them that meant they weren't allowed to get their
own from people anymore. So if you wanted the good stuff, you had to pay.

Cow blood was more like living
off of soda and protein drinks, if he had the idea right. It could work, but it
was less fun.

In charge or not, and she really
was as far as the band went, Rebekah got up and looked at the other two.

"Miss Harris, would you like
some? I need to see to myself and my charge." It was a very funny way of
putting things, since she meant Scotty. Plus Ginger had been staying there, so
they should have been on a first name basis by that time.

Regardless, Ginger shook her
head.

"No, thank you. The Rotted
had a real point. I need to be more disciplined. I know, it didn't seem like she
was saying that, but it's one of the things that Eve has worked with me on. We
really only need to feed about once every nine or ten days. She can go for
months that way. Half a year or more. I think there's a trick to it, but I
haven't asked yet. It's probably hard."

That got Scotty to sit down, his
body shaking a little more.

"But the hunger..."

Ginger, looking younger than
anyone else in the room, and no one seemed old, smiled then.

"That part is
always
there. Always. But just because we hunger, that doesn't mean we need to drink.
It's like going out in the sun and staying up all day. Anyone can do it, if
you're willing to suffer the pain." It was spoken softly, like she was
suggesting shoving your hand in a fire was just another thing, as long as you were
willing not to pull it out.

Rebekah grimaced, and shook her
head. Her words though were a lot different.

"We should do that then.
Scotty? I won't make you. I think that I need to finally grow up though and
become a master as well. I'm over two hundred. It's time."

That got the squirrely and
squirming Bat-Vamp to make a distressed noise.

"
Fuuuuck
. That's not
fair. The other kids don't have to suffer like that." He looked at Tyler
then, who had a raw looking stump sticking out, and a black and white keyboard
over his lap.

There was a gentle snorting sound
from Rebekah, and some eye rolling from Ginger, but Ty nodded.

"True. As far as
I
go
anyway.
My
baggage is totally different than yours. My trials,
too." He flashed back to the cave then, and shuddered a bit, recalling the
hunger that he'd felt at the time, the life energy he needed not coming in from
his mom. Cut off like that, he'd nearly gone insane with hunger.

If what these three had to put up
with was anything like that, then he could see how not having their daily blood
would be a big deal. Even if they didn't need it. It was why he'd taken his own
head off like he had at the time. There was no way he could have stopped
himself from eating the little boy he'd been with, otherwise. Consumed alive,
because that was what his body had really needed to keep going.

If God hadn't sent that water for
the boy, Tyler would have had to kill him first, so he wouldn't suffer. Then
himself, to keep from eating the body. There were things that he just wasn't
willing to do, if he could help it.

Scotty shook his head then.

"Aye. That's always the way
of things. I guess. We should do as that evil creature said then, and entreat
The Snowflake to aid us? I hear that her ministrations can indeed promote
learning."

Tyler didn't get it, but Ginger
nodded.

"Yeah. She's the best at
getting people to be able to stay up all day. It isn't easy, or fun, but it
works. I can ask her for you? She's a friend of mine. Really, she's pretty much
my best friend." It wasn't a boast, just a simple statement of fact.

Tyler nodded.

"That sounds good. You
should see if she can do up a class for them? Maybe some of the other local
Vampires that want to try it? I mean, if that's allowed." He was speaking
without meaning to again. Like someone else was using his lips. This time felt
different. When God had done it, there had been a tingle. Now it was more
subtle.

That probably meant it was Lucy
doing it. A thing that he'd never really noticed before, but that almost had to
be a part of his whole life. He was basically a meat puppet after all. A toy,
in a way. The surrogate child of a woman that had wanted one, but who couldn't
have her own.

Greater Demon women couldn't.
Only the men reproduced, for some reason. Normally with Human women, which was
interesting. It probably meant that Greater Demons had been Human, originally.
Or the other way around.

Otherwise breeding with them
wouldn't be a thing.

Ginger didn't wait, pulling a
sleek silver cell phone from her handbag, after hopping up and going across the
room to where it was sitting on a side table. The handbag was blue, to match
her skirt. That she was dressed like that probably had to do with her new job,
rather than personal choice. She was the Assistant Ambassador for the area
after all. It was an important job, and she was
really
young for it.

It wasn't just her looks. She'd
been turned, against her will, when she was fourteen. That meant she looked
that age still. True, at the moment she seemed a bit older than that, but it
was down to makeup and how she was dressed. She was actually almost twenty,
which made her two years older than Tyler was. They were dating, so that kind
of thing came up.

Still, six years dead was a baby
as far as Vampires went. Rebekah would have been a
medium
level Vamp,
given her age and that she wasn't able to stay up all day. Scotty wasn't even
that, and each of them was over a hundred and sixty years old. So for Ginger
Harris to have her position was a statement. Part of that was nepotism, and the
fact that Tyler had set it up for her, because they were together.

The Vampire Council had let it
stand though, because baby or not, the girl had power that had to be respected.
She'd gone from a half wild thing that everyone had thought wasn't going to
make it, being killed for her lack of self-possession, to a Master Vampire
inside of
months
.

Because Eve had trained her to be
that way.

She was even younger as a Vampire
than Ginger was. Like Lucy had told them though, she was different. A power in
her own right already. Tarsus, The Librarian, who was practically the leader of
the Greater Demons, as much as they had one, had told Tyler flat out that she
was, essentially, a Greater Demon herself. Only, she wasn't. Not by birth. A
new thing that was more than what she should have been, made that way through
her own work and effort.

He'd never thought about it
before, but nodded to himself. If she could do that, could someone,
something
,
like him do the same? Or possibly take a different path that would also lead to
greater abilities. It would depend on what was needed, of course.

Across the room, Ginger spoke
openly.

"Hey Eve! Can you get a few
weeks off to come to Sparks? Rebekah and Scotty want to try your training
course. I was thinking we could tack Evan into that as well? He's pretty solid,
as far as the council goes... I don't know about that... One sec." She
looked at the room and stared at Rebekah directly. "Will you back the
Council if it comes to it? In war, or ruling, even if you don't like it?"