Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (16 page)

He went on anyway.

"The world revolves around
you, don't you know?" The trick to saying things like that was, he
thought, in seeming sincere. It was pure flattery, but that wasn't the point. A
bit less obvious than telling her she had pretty eyes, which she did, under the
thick and heavy frames. He could tell because the quarter inch of glass lens
made them look huge.

There was a soft sigh and a head
shake.

"I know. Tell me more about
how wonderful I am."

It was, he decided, his turn to
laugh a little. Not too much, because then it would seem like he wasn't serious
minded enough.

"You mean you don't want me
to
show
you?" It was brutally hard not to giggle then, since he'd
already admitted to not having any skills in bed. It occurred to him that this
really wasn't going to work out. Not in any way that would let him keep living
there.

Then, if he had a choice between
awkward sex with an adorable Shape Shifter, and a roof over his head...

The Bat girl didn't seem too shy
herself, looking at him off and on as she finished eating. At the end of the
meal, when both of them were done, her having had seconds, she stood up, and
waved toward the door lightly. Then she pulled her baggy gray shirt off,
showing that she didn't have anything on underneath.

Her skin was white and smooth,
being almost hairless for some reason. The skin was stretched tightly across
her stomach, showing a bit of definition there. Her breast were tiny, but real
enough, the nipples small and pink.

At the door her sweat pants came
down, and she stepped out of them. She didn't have anything on under that
either. What she did have when she turned around was a well groomed patch of
rust colored hair between her legs.

Tyler stared, trying not to turn
so red it gave him away. Not stammering like an idiot also came to mind, which
meant doing something, rather than waiting for an invitation.

Standing he pulled his own shirt
off, trying make it seem manly, and
not
like he was going to need help
with his shoes in a few seconds. He was watched closely the whole time, and
when he had his clothing off, so that they both matched, he locked eyes with
her, and closed in.

Speaking was right out, and he
honestly didn't have a lot of experience, so he winged it, and touched her
face, gently. Stroking it with two fingers, slowly tracing a very light
pattern, almost not making contact at all.

It was enough to have him pulled
over to the sofa. After that things moved in a curious slow-fast pattern that
left him reeling, and very centered at the same time. The whole thing should
have been clumsy, almost to the point of failure, or left him embarrassing
himself in any of a hundred ways, but it was like something had switched over
in his head, the second that the woman had kissed him back. Maybe before that.

Without thinking, he just knew,
somehow, what to do. It was a bit eerie really, but did leave Calley calling
out happily several times. In fact, nearly two hours later, as they cuddled on
the couch, she sighed and nestled into his chest.

"
That
was freaking
great." A soft kiss touched his lips, causing a bit of a stirring between
his legs. "So the virgin thing
was
just a trick?"

It wasn't, but it was nice to
hear that whatever the hell he'd just done had worked like that. Tyler had
always heard about people not being very good in bed, but it really seemed
pretty easy. Like all the instructions for it were just hard wired into him. If
that was the case, then it was hard to understand what everyone else was always
going on about.

"A trick? Why would I do
that?" It was a good point, but he kind of got the idea. Men would use
whatever they had to get at sex with a woman, most days.

Her hand, which was small, and
very warm, found him again, and started to stroke, making his body respond.
Just as she was about to use her mouth, for the second time that night, there
was a soft pop, which was, he realized after the fact, Ginger opening the door
and closing it.

The Vampire girl, looking cute,
and like she was ready for her first day of high school, in a green t-shirt and
jeans, stared at them both for a moment. Then she grinned.

"I can't leave you two alone
for a minute, can I?" Then, as if it made any sense at all, she pulled off
her own shirt. She had a bra on underneath, which was slightly lacy, and was
left on. "Okay, you were going to do him, so I'll do you at the same
time?"

Calley seemed to get it, and
smiled. It was a huge and unrestrained thing.

"I
love
my new
roommates!"

The whole thing took about an
extra hour, since he got plenty of turns, and while Calley was certainly
enjoying the attention, it was kind of clear after a bit that it wasn't really
about sex for her, but the contact. Ginger was kind of clumsy about the whole
thing, too. Also, very cool, as in cold.

It occurred to him, near the end
as she kissed him, thrusting her tongue between his lips, and tasting like the
Bat girl, that she was actually a moving corpse. That made a lot of what they'd
just been doing necrophilia. Not that he had a hang up there, really.

As long as she was an adult, and
could consent, it was fair game. It was, he realized, another thing that Lucy
had mentioned a few times to him. He'd figured that she was talking about guys,
at the time. Maybe seeing that his eyes lingered on a few muscular backs on
television without being touched with envy for too long or something. It worked
for this too.

He liked Ginger, and Calley, so
it was fine for them to do things together. Even if one of them was dead, and
the other could become a flying mammal. Not that he'd ever seen that kind of
thing.

Really, it sounded cool.

They ended up in a weird sort of
heap, with him along one arm, leaning back, and Ginger on his lap, holding him
with both arms around his neck. Calley was on the other side, but had managed
to tuck her feet underneath them in a way that was both cozy and a bit
uncomfortable at the same time.

Not knowing what to say, he tried
for funny. It kind of worked, even.

"So, you both know that I'm
never calling you again, right?"

That got a sigh and a strange nod
from Ginger, The cool skin of her face right alongside of his.

"Yeah. It's a shame though,
since we need to coordinate the wedding. I was thinking white and light blue
for the dress. Maybe we could do an Elvis thing?"

He went very still, which got the
girl to stiffen a bit. Her eyes went wide, though Calley giggled a bit.

"I was just..."

He shook his head, and kissed her
on the cheek.

"Trying to give me
nightmares
about the worst wedding possible? That's... Awful. Truly. My mother would
disown me if I tried. It would at least have to be tasteful. Plus, you know,
I'll probably be dead, after I bang all your hot friends like I plan to. I hear
a rumor that you have super powers or something?
Hardly
fair."

Calley looked at them both and
then shook her head a bit.

"Well, you know, I'm cool
with that, as long as I get invited to play too, from time to time. Seriously.
So, you know, you can get with Edom and we can all have a party? Oh, speaking
of
parties
, I invited everyone from work for your b-day bash next week.
Next Saturday, so make sure you get some time off for that. I mentioned it to
Valerie too, so she's coming. We'll need to pick up some kegs. Which eighteen
year olds can't do. So I guess that's up to me?"

He tried to remember who Valerie
was, but drew a blank. It was like he should know, but there had been too many
new names over the last few days, and a lot of excitement, so some things just
hadn't been sticking like they probably should have.

"Valerie is... Your
Ambassador?"

That got a headshake, and a foot
caressing the inside of his leg warmly.

"The Alede Ambassador.
Kait's mom? Which is a thing to keep in mind, since if you sleep with her and
not Kaitlyn, it will be insulting. By Alede rules she kind of owns you."

"Um, what? I didn't know
that I was property. Even if anyone was going to claim that, wouldn't it be one
of you?"

The Bat girl let her foot move up
his thigh a bit, and Ginger nodded.

Her voice was young enough
sounding that he had to remind himself that she was several years older than he
was.

"Oh, sure. By
Vampire
rules you're mine. Both of you are now. For real, I mean. We live together,
and
have sex now, so I can even feed off of you, without it being against the law.
Not that I will, since I'm sticking to cow, but
if
it came up, that
would be totally kosher. I don't actually know what Shifters do that way."

There was a shrug, and contact
with an intimate, but only slightly responding part of his body. They'd done
enough that he wasn't ready to do it again yet. That didn't seem to bother her.

"Our rules are pretty much
like Human's. Bats, my family, all tend to be a bit, um, free that way. The
other groups do what seems right for them. Just to make this clear, there is
no
overlap at all between what our animals do and what we do as people that way. I
mean, Swans don't mate for life in some kind of psycho fashion, and Wolves
don't go around peeing on everything to mark it as being in their territory.
There are some weird things that happen, like
everyone
in my family
being bi. Real bats aren't like that, but we are, for some reason. No one knows
why."

That got him to think for a
minute, and realize that it might be the kind of thing to write down later, in
his little notebook. Taking notes was probably not a horrible idea, come to
think of it.

Ginger went on then, her face
very still, like she was trying not to scare him.

"So, if you want to get with
my friends, you have to ask permission. As it stands, honestly, I probably won't
let you, since everyone is kind of higher ranking than me at work.
Other
Vampires might be fine that way, since I'm decently high up. Tara for instance?
You can do her. Manthori even like sex, so that would be good. The one person
there that would be kind of a tossup would be Eve. She can kick my ass in a
fight, so let's not test that one, if it's all the same? If anyone higher
ranking than me tries to take you, I have to fight them. Unless they have my
permission first." There was a soft shrug, and her arms tightened a bit.
"I was kidding about marriage, but we
do
get a bit territorial,
so..."

A tiny foot moved up from his lap
to push the girl a little.

"So you're not that
different from any normal girl? Does that mean I can't sleep with Edom? He's
yummy."

There was a nod then, and two
hands going out in a slightly forced looking gesture.

"Yeah? The same goes for you,
too. Technically... Well, in a lot of ways, being a Vampire is kind of like
being in prison. You're both my bitches now, as far as anyone else is
concerned. If anyone screws with you, I have to protect you. On the good side,
most of the classics won't bother, unless they have a bone to pick with me,
personally. The people at work are fine that way. None of them will try to
poach you, or will at least ask first, so I can give permission. Eve is
clearly
kind of into you, Ty. So I guess I should talk to her about that."

It sounded complex and a lot more
real than he'd been thinking when he was getting it on. Like they were all
actually
together now. Though with strange rules that he still probably didn't
understand.

"Okay. So, let me get this
straight... Vampires have big social rules to follow this way, but Shifters
might or might not? And... Alede... I haven't even slept with any of them, so
that doesn't count, does it? Let me get my notebook, I need to make a chart, I
think." He actually got up, still nude, and ran to his room for that. He
noticed that his clothing was in the little dining room, on the floor, so on
the way back, picked it up. Ginger was dressed too, so it seemed like it was
time for that. He gave Calley her clothing too.

"So, let's start over? I
don't want to screw this all up."

The Shifter dressed, but made a
point to touch both of them when she sat back down. The girls were kind of
small, so it made it easy enough for all of them to share the sofa. Ginger was
on the far end this time, with Tyler in the middle, being touched constantly.

It was Calley who started
counting things off.

"For Shifters it's pretty
simple. Treat them like Humans for this part of the world as far as sex goes. I
mean,
I
don't care, personally, if you get some on the side, and really,
you have to know that I will, if I can. That's me though,
not
society.
I'm just extra special cool that way. Vampires have rules, but the basic idea
is that if you really want to hit one of them that way, you need to clear it
with Ginger first. If she says yes, then it will be all right. There are a few
cases where politics might mean she
has
to say no. In that case, don't
do it, if you have a choice in the matter. With Kait, well, that one is a
little bit different. You told Roberta and some of the others to back off the
other day, so she went around and kind of claimed you, so that they would. Not
that it will hold forever. It wouldn't even if you were sleeping with her,
since her kind will do anything to get laid. Right now, if you had sex with
another Alede first, it would be a huge insult to her. So, if you need to get
some at work, do it with her. Well, or Zack. Ben and Hiram are really straight
though, so that just won't work. Zack is too, but his mentor keeps trying to
make him bend that way, because for one of them being straight is pretty much a
sign of mental illness."