Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (24 page)

"People aren't cake."

That got him to smile, since it
was just the truth.

"Exactly! And Vampires, even
if they think you might be tasty, are
still
people. They look at you and
see lunch, but
also
their brother, or sister, or mom. They're far more
likely to treat us like people than the other way around. Which isn't good on
our part of that equation. Not yet. We need to work together.
All
of us
do. Doing anything else is just being bigoted."

There was a pause, which got
Karen to start making talking motions with her right hand, sitting on her stool
over in the corner. She had a little desk there. Jeff seemed not to know what
to say, even though it hadn't been that shocking of a statement, as far as Ty
could tell. Denny didn't either, so Karen jumped up, and moved to a mic about
four feet from her. She pulled it close, her eyes wide.

"Hello, dead air! We had a
Vampire on the show, via phone a few months ago, Eve Benson. I don't suppose
you know her?"

That took him a second, but he
was able to smile and speak then.

"I
do
. She's a friend
of mine, actually. In fact we're meeting up tomorrow."

Karen half glared at Jeff, but
the man just seemed flummoxed still. That got the woman to keep going.

"Oh? Are you dating?
Inquiring minds want to know. You mentioned a sex tape earlier?"

"Okay, now you're
floundering. I said I
didn't
have one. I've got to work on that. Besides,
I think my girlfriends would freak out if I did that with her. At least without
getting permission first. We're meeting up to practice
fighting
. In case
anyone wants to know, she is
wicked
fast. Good too. I make her work with
me in slow motion. For her I mean.
I
get to go full out. It's only
fair." He laughed a bit. "I'm kidding, that
still
isn't a fair
fight. She's a Vampire, you know?"

Karen stopped too, then made a
face.

"
Girlfriends
? Plural?
Now inquiring minds are going to want to know all about
that
."

It was his turn to feel on the
spot, but he waved his left hand trying to get himself started.

"Ah... Okay, that's probably
going a bit over the top about the relationship. I live with two women, and things
could work out like that... But I'm pretty much just talking myself up right
now. You know, see all the women that want to get with me? I'm hot... You know
it." It was funny sounding, but everyone laughed, so it worked for him in
the moment.

Jeff even managed to rally.

"So, who are they? Regular
Humans or..."

"Well, I won't give names,
but one is a Vampire, and the other is a Shifter. Both women, like I
said."

Denny leaned in, his pale face
looking a bit silly.

"So, you mean
I
can't
score a date with you too?"

"Um..." He got that it
was a joke, but shrugged. "Yeah, we can do that. I've never dated a guy,
but you're kind of cute, so why not?"

They managed to get back to
living with different types of people, which he hardly knew anything about,
having only done it for a few days. Still he gave some information points, and
it did leave him seeming like he knew a bit about what he was saying.

They even kept him past the top
of the hour, and took calls. It was fun, and funny, but did let him give out
the number people could call if they had a real problem.

"Remember, though, my job
here is to pretty much put other people together. Hopefully, more than that
won't be needed most of the time. Now, Denny, let's go make out?"

It was a good place to end things
on, but Denny wasn't allowed to leave yet, the show having half an hour left.

Through the window he saw that
Zack was standing there, ignoring the lady from before, as Karen helped him get
out of the room.

She held his arm as they moved
along, and she whispered into his ear.

"That was
good
. Just
the right balance of information, lecture, and humor. Now, we just need to leak
pictures of you and Denny kissing and we can piss-off the right wing enough to
increase ratings. I'll just call him over... He's gay and not seeing anyone, so
as long as your girlfriends won't pull off any body parts..."

There was a giggle to go with the
words, but he nodded.

"We can set that up? Or, I
should
probably
take the high road for now. You know, do this as if it
were serious?"

"Yeah, I can see that one.
So, if we have problems with any supernatural people, we can call on you? Or if
we need to get one for the show? The last one we had on was Ms. Benson. That's
a thing we need to change. We should probably have her on regularly. You said
you know her?"

That meant he had to not promise
to convince Eve of anything, but also mentioned it to her.

"If I get a chance I'll ask
her about that. I have a meeting with the Shifter President in about..."
He pretended to look at his watch, which he didn't have. "Now. So I should
go. But yes, if you have something related to the Others, you can always call
and ask me about it."

Zack waved at her, and carefully
didn't look at the dark skinned lady at all. For her part she was standing
there staring at him, her slightly sagging chest pushed forward, and lips damp
and shining.

Tyler didn't even get to say
hello properly when he was taken through a few steps with a tug on his arm.
That got him back to the owl room, where the node point was. Zack let go of
him, and sighed.

"Rochelle there is a piece
of work, isn't she? In case you're wondering she didn't see you as a Human. Not
something
else
either. That's why she was acting so funny. Her first
move was to think you couldn't be a high status person, which is what she was
looking for from a guest. Karen is better that way. You should call her and see
if she wants to go out sometime."

He looked at the Greater Demon
and tried not to feel troubled.

"I'm kind of seeing Ginger
and Calley."

"Oh, sure. But if you want
to
keep
them, you have to constantly point out that other women want you
too. They're both good looking enough to get a lot of men, but they're still
women. Your greatest value to them at the moment is being wanted by other
women. She was firing off signals though, Karen was."

Tyler didn't know if that was
true or not, but decided to at least call and let her say no. After all, Greater
Demons might actually know how to do things like that, and it really wasn't the
sort of thing that he would have considered on his own. Did women really value
men more if other women were into them?

Really, if that was the case, it
shouldn't be hard to get other women to do that.

"So I should bribe some
girls to say I'm sexy?"

Zack smiled at him. "I
wouldn't go that far into it. Calley and Ginger are both good people. They need
to be handled differently than men, but they're reasonable and rational. Even
Karen is. You should avoid the ones like Rochelle. A lot of women are in things
for their own benefit, and will use you if they can. A lot of them really. Not
that men are perfect, since you like them too you need to be aware of that,
relationship wise.
They
just want to use you for sex. The ones that like
you will anyway. If you're into that then they won't be that manipulative about
it."

Then the man wondered off, but
called back a few seconds later.

"We'll leave to get Mr.
Samson in about half an hour. I need to get a snack first."

Even if he was off the clock, Ty
got back to work, since, as Lucy had mentioned, doing a good job there was
important.

The pickup didn't actually take
him being there, but Zack got him to stand in the owl room, waiting for the
man. World leader or not,
he'd
apparently been waiting for Zack to show
up on the other side, which meant he was there, stepping out of empty space,
seconds later. Luckily, there was a silver metal ring inlaid into the floor, so
Ty was looking in the right direction.

The man that came in was nice
looking. As in square faced and mild. His hair was dark, and professionally
styled, and he held a posture that spoke of concern, but not fear. Even with a
Greater Demon right next to him. Almost instantly a large, but soft, hand came
out.

"Mr. Gartner?" He, it
seemed, understood who he was talking to at least.

So a man in charge of an entire
people could get that he was himself, but a slightly glorified secretary
couldn't understand that fact. That didn't leave Rochelle looking very good.

"Mr. Samson. I think the
plan is for Nellie to be waiting for us over in the Shifter embassy. We have an
offer from the Vampires to have some personnel come with us, if you feel the
need to threaten her into good behavior? The Mistress of Souls also offered to
enslave her, if she won't toe the line." He winked. "We should avoid that
one right now, and save the privilege for later, when we really need it."

The man went pale, but he nodded
slowly.

"I agree. Who was offered, from
the Vampire side of things?"

Tyler looked at the door,
wondering if saying her name would summon her.

"Eve Benson. She offered
herself for the job. I think she might be a little bit pissed off though, over
the whole thing."

Jahn looked at him, as if he'd
announced that Satan would be making an appearance himself.

"The Snowflake? I don't know
if this situation would require that level of potential harm."

That got Zack to shrug.

"It isn't about the harm,
it's about showing Miss Holver that no one is going to put up with her acting
like an entitled bitch any longer. She's gotten a person killed already, and
nearly had that happen again last night. If Ty hadn't gotten to her first,
Vivian might well have killed Valerie, the Alede Ambassador. That would not
have gone over very well, as you might imagine. Her daughter is a friend of mine.
Eve Benson is her daughter's
girlfriend
, and The Mistress of Souls seems
more than a little protective of her as well. This needs to stop now."

Mr. Samson nodded, squared his
shoulders and looked at Tyler.

"Should we go? It won't help
to wait."

The store a few slots down, was
filled with trendy looking clothing, made for men and women. It was all nicer
than what he had, and seemed to be about the speed of someone his age.
Overpriced, of course, for someone on his budget, which was nothing, for the
time being.

At the back of the store, there
was an open door, with Ang and Rupert standing outside of it, like they were
guarding the place. That had to be the right place, unless they kept the really
cool shirts in there.

Zack hadn't gone with them, since
this wasn't his issue. At least that was what Tyler thought was going on. It
was kind of cute, but when he glanced back Eve was standing at the front of the
place, looking too hot to be his backup for the day. Not that he wouldn't take
the help, if things came up.

"Keeber, Ang. This is Jahn
Samson. He's come here today to help us try and convince Nellie Holver to
straighten up. Can you stand to be in the room?" This was spoken directly
to Keeber, the large and hairy man seemed a bit depressed and somber. Calley
had mentioned that was his nickname, and what he preferred to be called, even
if it didn't fly most of the time for embassy work.

His voice was slow, but he
nodded.

"Yeah. I'm a bit mad at her.
Viv isn't a bad woman. She's just... We're Bears, you know? We can get mad, and
it's hard to stop. Nellie used that to steer her towards what should have been
her death. Cathy could have died too, or that nice Alede lady. I won't make
problems." He seemed genuine enough about the whole thing. He also had a
gun on his side, under his shirt.

Jahn looked over at him, and
locked eyes.

"Family?"

"Sister. My little
sis."

The leader nodded. "Fine. If
you'd stay out here then? We'll try to resolve this without bloodshed. As you
mentioned however, she's a Bear. As are you. If it gets too intense, back away.
Mr. Gartner and I can handle this."

That they could do that wasn't a
thing that seemed right to Ty, but Ang nodded.

"True. Do you wish me to go
into the room?"

Dragons apparently didn't get
that upset about things most of the time, and it wasn't his family involved, so
he was invited along. Mr. Samson took the lead though, opened the door with his
own hand, which showed what was inside the space.

Two women were standing away from
a single chair in the middle of the open room, which had boxes along the sides,
and shelves with clothing sitting on it. Back stock, most likely. In the metal
frame chair, not tied in place, was a largish lady, who had her hair cropped
closely, and a lumberjack style shirt on. Seeing them walk in, she simply
sneered, as if she weren't in trouble.