The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (9 page)

Which made the Vampire coming
along make sense.

"So, Marissa, what brings
you to the area?"

There was a slow exhalation, and
a flapping hand wave, as if she didn't want to say anything. Then, oddly
enough, she coughed and told what was probably the simple truth.

"Honestly? I came to spy on
Eve Benson as she works here. There's no harm in those that she's chosen to
train this time, but my fellow Councilors and I wish to make certain that she
isn't working on an army to overthrow us. Not that we imagine that to be the
case! It's simply that she's become most powerful, far too soon for one of
us."

Ty shrugged.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan to
me. I don't know all the people involved, but Rebekah and Scotty are all right.
Not monsters or angry Vampires. Evan... He seemed nervous around me earlier.
I... Really, I think it might have been because
I
was there. The local
Ambassador was a bit like that too, at first. Still, Evan seems like a good
guy. The others I haven't met yet." He spoke like it was a report, which
she seemed to take it as.

"Oh? Very nice then. I'll
need to question them all.
Delicately
, of course. No one sane treats a
Master Vampire casually, no matter their age. In part that's why I've come,
under the covers, shall we say?" There was a bit of a flirty air to the
words, and a look that told Ty that the woman knew exactly what she was saying
and how it would sound.

Then, working together, they
warmed her blood so she could drink it.

As it turned out, a few hours
later, the reason that Scotty and Rebekah had vanished had everything to do
with the sudden arrival of a Council member. They were busily standing down the
street, under a tree. Cowering in fear. At least that's how it was described to
him when Eve got there at about four. It was light out, or close enough that it
was easy to see.

She hadn't gotten them or
anything, just coming to the house on her own, after running past them.

"Hey, if they want to stay
outside in the sun like that, it works for me. I just need to get the others to
do the same. This is the largest group that I've ever taken through something
like this. Rebekah is nearly there though, already.
She
could probably
do it on her own. Hopefully that will make it easier."

Tyler met her on the doorstep.
The girl looked young and wasn't that much older than he was really. Her hair
was near black, and her warm brown eyes twinkled a little bit as she smiled at
him. For his part he accepted a careful hug and noticed that the woman didn't
question why he had a cane, and a bare foot sticking out of his pant leg. It
wasn't full size yet, but was getting there. Finally.

Eve glanced that way, but didn't
make a big deal about it.

He resisted an urge to grab her
butt as he pulled away. Not because he thought she'd freak out about the move,
just because it would be rude to Ginger if he tried things like that. Not
Calley. She wouldn't have cared, given who she was. That part was kind of nice,
actually. Of course, it also meant that the Bat was going to have a lot of
partners in life. Friendly women didn't lack attention really, as far as he
could tell.

"Um, do you know a Vampire
named Marissa? From the Council?"

Eve was smart enough to get that
something was going on with that question, which, Tyler understood, was really
intelligent. She didn't look it, being too pretty for that kind of thing, but a
lot of the women he knew were smart like that. On a level that he couldn't
match, looking like they could have walked off a movie set.

"I do know her. Why?"
She glanced at the house, getting the idea instantly.

"She's come to spy on you. I
think the idea is to make sure you aren't moving against the Council, training
yourself an army of day walking minions."

The Vampire smiled at him and
rolled her eyes, then looked over to the side. At just about the place where
The Storm had slammed her into the air, a few weeks before. Then kidnapped him
to stuff into a magic blocking cave.

Being clever like she was, the
girl understood what he was thinking. That, or she was able to read minds. If
that was the case, then he had no secrets from her anyway, so he didn't worry
about it. He had enough to on about, without having an issue with her as well.
Unless she was The Storm. Then there was going to be a problem. One where he
was in trouble again, he didn't doubt.

"Oh? Well, that sounds like
a plan then, if she came to spy. Not that she really needs to. We're cool, she
and I. You know, partners in the animal blood business? How about you?"

The question was how he felt
about having the Vampire lady there, he understood. Eve seemed slightly uneasy
about it, as if it were going to be her job to get rid of the Council member if
he had an issue with her.

"She seems nice to me. I got
her a room, so she can stay here while you work. Past that if she wants. Are
you working out of here for the project?" He realized that he didn't
really know how long that was going to last.

"Can I? I was kind of
thinking that we'd just be in your new embassy. I didn't know I was going to
get a warm shower too.
Awesome
. So,
I
should go and see Marissa,
then find my new trainees."

He nodded, and started to move
back into the house, speaking while he did. True, the Council Vampire would be
able to hear him, just being in the other room, but he didn't really care about
that part.

"Say, I'm looking for a way
to get free from the whole energy thing I have. You know, being connected to
The Rotted? Not that I don't love her, I just kind of want to not be a slave
forever. Can you help with that? Ideas or something?"

That got a shrug and a wrinkled
brow.

"Noooo. I don't think so.
What you'd need for that is one of the Greater Demons. I'd suggest you get with
Tarsus, or The Technician. You're on good terms with both of them, so that
should work. I'd try Darla first. Tarsus will charge you through the rear for
any help."

Tyler nodded, then stopped.

"He actually owes me a few
favors. Medium sized things. I don't know if that will be worth anything with
him."

The girl smiled at him, and
touched his shoulder, letting her hand linger.

"It might? Just for clues as
to where to look. I... Really, you probably can't do that. Getting free that
way doesn't seem possible. I mean, you might learn to change your energy draw
needs, or where you can get it from, but you can't
die
to break the
slave connection. It might be hard to get Anne to kill herself to free you.
Even at that, if you can't power yourself independently of her, it's not a real
point... Which is what you were asking about. Right. Good thinking."

Then she moved into the front
room, and waved at Marissa.

"Hey girl!" There was,
rather typically for Eve, but strange for Vampires in general, a warm hug for
the Council member. "I hear that you came to check up on me? Let's go do
that? I need to meet everyone anyway. Rebekah and her junior boy wonder are
down the street, hiding from you. Do you want to go get them first?"

After a few moments of chatting,
they left, meaning that he was alone for a while.

Finally.

Limping still, though his
movements were much smoother, he got to the living room, and settled onto the
sofa. In
his
spot. The place where he normally settled, or had so far.
It was a great place, the mansion as a whole, but more than he needed, he
realized. The house was pretty, and a bit eccentric, with its odd furnishings,
and slightly skewed proportions.

The thing there was that he
really would have been fine being back in Vancouver, in the little room that he
was renting from Calley. It hadn't been grand, but it was clean, and had his
stuff in it, which was, in the end, all he needed. That kind of thing, how
little he wanted, was different, when he stopped to think about it. For a
moment he considered that it might be due to the fact that he wasn't a normal,
real, man. Then he had to think about all the people that he knew, and realized
that wanting nice things around you was more of a Human
woman
thing than
anything else.

Men had nice houses at times,
they just didn't really seek them for themselves. They got those things for the
women in their lives. That seemed strange to him on a level that he knew wasn't
normal. Men provided for their women, and this situation was being put together
for him. Okay, Ginger and Calley had gotten in because of him, but he didn't
own
it. Then, neither of them were a Human, which
might
change how they felt
about the whole thing. Or, and he knew that it was just as possible, he could
be wrong about what women wanted in life.

Still, it was a nice place. He could
see that one.

Picking up his keyboard, he
started to play. Making up new tunes, and writing them down for a long while.
Then he went to his room, sneaking in since there was a sleeping Calley in
there still, and got his notebook. The one he was filling out with all the info
he'd gathered on the Other groups. Taking an hour, he wrote down everything he
could think of, and tried to keep things organized.

Then, almost on a whim, he picked
up the phone and considered who to call about his lifelong problems.

At first he sort of wanted to get
in touch with Darla, The Technician, but that was probably just due to the fact
that she seemed less scary than The Liberian. At the moment, it was most likely
better to face his fears, and keep them in mind solidly. Zack had been right on
that one. He couldn't let himself trust any of his kind. Darla wore her pretty
face for a reason, and part of that was so she could trick men like him into
wanting her. Getting his phone, Ty quickly dialed the number he had for the Greater
Demon man, and waited while the phone rang three times.

"Hello?" The voice was
different, sounding young and a bit higher than what Ty associated with the
Greater Demon leader.

"Librarian? This is Tyler
Gartner?"

"Clerk. What may I do for
you today?"

"Um, I'm mainly looking for
information. I need a way to get energy, without eating living people, or
drawing it from The Rotted. The idea is that eventually I'll not be dependent
on her, so I can work toward getting free. I was wondering if I could trade one
of those favors you owe me for it?" It seemed fair to him, but he knew
that a Demon might just think that data like that was outside of what they'd
agreed to when he'd gotten a few Greater Demons to meet with him a month before
or so. It hadn't turned out to be hard for him to get it done, so maybe that
would influence what the man was willing to pay for it.

Instead of telling him to go
stuff his head deep up his own behind, the man laughed a bit.

"Oh?
Very
good. Yes.
I'll need to research that one. It isn't a thing I already know for certain.
Not in any ways that you'd want to use. It's a unique situation, as you know.
There are however a few areas that might be fruitful. The difficult part is, of
course, not the energy draw. I could teach you how to do that in a few years
time. Indeed, you might even figure that out on your own, with a bit of help.
No, it's doing it
while
a slave to another, if she doesn't wish it done.
I'll see what I can find for you however. Anything else?"

"Nope. Is... How are you doing?"
He was trying to be polite, but there was another laugh. One that seemed nearly
kind, which was a trick.

Obviously
.

"Well, if you're going to
ask
...
I'm doing fine. I might have a task coming up that would fit your skill set
however. I could, perhaps, if I can work out a method for you to use, teach you
how to gain energy, say in exchange for that effort? I will
tell
you how
to do it, if I figure it out, at any rate, but there is often a difference
between knowing what a thing is and how to actually perform an action. It might
be worth doing."

"Um, sure? I mean, I'll need
to know what the job is first, and be able to get it done, before I really
agree, but if I can, and it seems fair, I guess I could work that out?" He
didn't really want to agree to things he didn't know about, which wasn't lost
on Tarsus, it seemed.

"Very careful of you. Better
than some of the young of my own kind manage. I will speak to you soon, Clerk.
Yes. I think perhaps that will work well for us both. Make sure you don't keep your
mother in the dark on this. My guess is that she will be far more amenable to
you finding your way free, if she knows you are making that effort."

"That's probably true.
Thanks. I'll do that. Talk to you later, Librarian."

There was a click then, and he
redialed the phone, calling his mother. It rang again, but instead of picking
up, a knock came from the front door.

Honestly, Tyler expected to see
Lucy there. If not in her normal mom form, then one of the little girls that
she pretended to be most of the time. Instead it was three people standing
there, and none of them looked all that much like the woman he'd known most of
his life. They didn't feel like her either, which was probably more important,
the way things had been going in his world of late.

One of them was a woman, and she
seemed fine enough. Like a Human, being delicious and normal that way. Her face
had a forced smile on it, and her hair was both long and brown, but there was a
hint of gold to it in highlights. Her eyes were a gemlike green, too. That all
could have worked to leave her pretty, but it didn't. The man next to her
wasn't huge or anything, looking a bit more run down than the woman, even.
Stooped, and broken seeming. He had a fake smile on his lips too, and a day's
beard growth or so.

It was the man in front of them
that got Ty's attention however. He seemed to be a mountain man. A trapper from
a seventies Disney movie if Ty had it right. The man was dressed in all leather
buckskin, with moccasins on his feet made out of something similar. He had a
lot of muscle, and a salt and pepper colored beard that looked like it never
had seen either a comb or a pair of scissors. The eyes were a plain brown, but
held something that seemed wild behind them.

Not anger, as much as a lack of
sensibility.

"Hello!" Tyler didn't
know what else to say, but when no one else said anything he went on anyway.

"I'm Tyler Gartner. From the
Coalition of Nations. Do you need my help?" Really, he should have plugged
the band too, while he was at it, but none of these people seemed like the kind
to like standard pop music.