Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (25 page)

"You can't do shit to me. I
didn't break any laws. I don't really care if you're the President. No one will
convict me. No one. I'm pretty much untouchable on this."

It was funny, but Ang nodded a
bit, Jahn and Catherine winced, and Calley looked away.

Tyler however thought he saw a
small loophole in her logic.

"Well, that might be true,
for a Human, or a Shifter. By
our
laws you didn't do anything. Except
nearly getting the Alede Ambassador killed is against
their
laws. I
don't know the penalty for that kind of thing, but you might well want
us
to be your judge and jury, instead of them." Not that he had a real clue
about that.

The woman looked at him like he
was just an asshole, abusing her with his words.

"What are they going to do,
make me go down on them? Please. You all know I'm right. I didn't do anything
wrong. I have a right to say whatever I want. I didn't make any threats. I
didn't tell her to hurt anyone. I never even
mentioned
an Alede. You
can't do shit."

She was so smug that it was clear
Jahn was about to lose it and start yelling.

Tyler grinned, "I have a
few
things we could try. I can have The Mistress of Souls take you as a slave for
instance. She offered.
Or
we could just kill you and bury the body. I
did five just the other day, so I know a good spot for it."

It was a bit of an idle threat.
They both were, but the woman didn't seem to understand that anyone could just
do that. Make her go away, if they didn't want to bother with her. For a moment
he wondered if she thought that being a Shifter meant she was immune to having
to deal with her own shit. Calley however looked at him and sighed.

"It's that she's a woman, I
think. She honestly doesn't think anyone will hurt her, no matter what she's
done. This isn't that common for us, but it happens. It's mainly a Human thing.
She might have gone native though."

There was a soft breeze, and then
a cool hand on his shoulder. Eve stood there, appearing as if by magic, which
got the woman sitting in the chair to gasp.

The Vampire spoke calmly.

"Or,
I
can handle
this. I won't even have to kill her. Just compel her to cut out the bull
crap."

He looked at her, and then the
defiant and entitled seeming killer in the chair.

"Let's do it? It's all we
can do without just giving in to murder."

It was the second time in a day
that it seemed like women were acting like they were greater than everyone else.
That wasn't normal, was it?

It felt wrong. Thankfully it was
just a few of them.
Most
women were better than that.

Like his mom.

That reminded him to call her,
later.

It took work, for him, getting
out of the Shifter embassy. Finally he hugged Eve, who'd done the real work for
them, and then rather unilaterally proclaimed that Nellie there needed to be
put on an island, like Viv was.

"It isn't about punishment,
but letting other people know that we won't let them use machinations to start
problems. Vivian has to go onto one for two weeks. I think that we should
increase that for Nellie."

Jahn nodded. "I agree. There
was no remorse to her, was there? How long are you thinking?"

Ten years came to mind, but being
alone for that long would drive anyone insane. Even if Shifters were stronger
that way than normal Humans.

"Six months. Food and water,
and some self-help books to read to keep herself occupied if she wants?"

That got Catherine to seem
pleased, if nothing else.

"That's good. She tried to
have me
killed
. It's good to see that
someone
cares about that.
Thank you, Mr. Gartner."

He nodded at her. She was
slightly sharp faced, but seemed to mean it well enough. Having heard she was a
bigot, that was good to see. Then, the ability to bury that kind of thing at
need was probably why she was the Ambassador.

"Can you see to that? I
don't want to make work for people, but I don't really have the power to make
it happen, if you disagree."

He was covering his own butt, but
the Shifter leader murmured that doing that would happen. Nellie just sat
there, still being influenced by Eve, who had pretty much told her to stop
being a horrible person. She just looked sad, as if she got it all now. That,
or understood she was going to be punished. That meant he was able to get Jahn
to go back to the bookstore with him, and while they had to wait for Zack, that
didn't take very long.

He waited though, for his boss to
get back, and was tempted to get straight to work. He wasn't due in until four
still, and it was before two.
That
meant, if his mother was around, that
he could call her before she went off to work for the night.

Tyler wanted to use the store's
phone for it, in the back room. It wasn't long distance, but The Mistress of
Souls had said something about that kind of thing, and he didn't want to risk
it. There was a low desk like thing set up, near the showers. It wasn't that
big of a problem, though Roberta walked in, and smiled at him. Stripping her
clothing off just as his mom picked the phone up. Tyler stuck out his tongue
and looked away from the very hot,
incredibly
tempting, succubus.

"Hello?" It was her
personal cell number, so she wouldn't know who was calling, just that it was
from the bookstore.

"Hey mom! Just checking in
with you. I don't need to go to work for a few hours. Well, I'm here already,
for the day. I should go help out in the Cafe or something. Make myself useful
and pay for the free food I get here. I had some things to look into so ended
up here before I needed to. I did a radio show earlier?"

"What? Why? Is something
wrong?" She sounded very concerned. Not just a little bit either, so he
took time to explain what was going on, Coalition wise.

They didn't talk long, but she
was sweet, like always, and gave him good advice about work, which mainly
amounted to the idea that, when you were the new guy, it wouldn't hurt to do a
bit extra. Also, that passing out brochures that an attractive girl ran up for
him seemed like a great plan.

"Is she single? She sounds
nice, setting those things up for you. I can't like that name, really...
Greater
Demon. It sounds a bit over the top, doesn't it?" There was a kindness to
what she was saying, but he didn't know about Keeley's status that way.

"Oh! My cool new roommates
are throwing me a birthday party next Saturday. You can come?" It was at
about seven in the evening, but a weekend. That would mean she probably had to
work, he thought.

"I think so. Let me see if I
can trade shifts with Mindy. You remember her, don't you? She used to babysit
you, when you were little."

He laughed.

"By little you mean until I
was nearly old enough to date her? She's hardly aged, either. I used to have
such
a crush on her. When I was about ten, or so." The woman was tiny, and had
that adorable kind of look that Calley did. Without the glasses.

"I know. Why do you think I
stopped asking her to look after you? I was half afraid you were going to ask
her to marry you and run off when I wasn't looking. Well, you've made it that
way, haven't you? Almost a man now. Days away. Already starting important work
and everything. I'm very proud of you, you know that, right?"

"Oh. Now I'm blushing.
Thanks."

"I love you, sweetie. Always
remember that."

Then, a bit awkwardly, he got off
the phone. Feeling a bit strange, he went and started to clean the cafe area,
then hit the sex rooms. It was funny, but an older woman had managed to hit the
timing right, and was sitting in one of them, actually reading a book. Like a
person might do in a bookstore.

She saw him with the cleaning
gear, and started to stand.

He waved her down, and spoke
politely.

"Not needed, if you don't
mind me doing some light work in here? I can wait too, if that's better for
you?"

"Ah! Well, in that case,
I'll just sit here and read for a few hours. Can I have coffee in here?"

She
could
, so Tyler ran to
get her one, with a lid on it. After all, it was cute, and what the room was
for
,
in part. Being friends now, she did let him clean a bit, though the other room,
the first one, nearest the front desk, was filled almost constantly after that.
He loaded the older woman, who had gray hair, wrinkles and a loose white shirt
on, with buttons on the front, with coffee and some cookies. They were large
and fresh, Palma having made them herself.

After an hour and a half she got
up, and patted him on the arm.

"Thank you for being so nice
to me. It's rare that I'm treated like that anymore. The cost of getting older,
I guess. There was a time, about four thousand years ago, when I used to turn
heads, I'll tell you that." She seemed really pleased by what she was
saying, and patted him again.

Tyler nodded about it, his mind
moving slowly, being only a normal Human like he was.

"Four thousand years? Your
hand was warm, so not a Vampire. I don't know if Dragon Shifters live
that
long. Greater Demon then?" He spoke softly, but it wasn't a whisper.
Others would hear it taking place.

"Oh, yes deary. Very good,
noticing that. I'm The Storm. A little bird told me that a certain Line Walker
was seen talking to The Rotted about me. I did rather steal one of her slaves.
Not that I hurt the dear thing. I promise you that. She died peacefully. Would
you be willing to tell her that I stopped by? I
was
planning to kill
you, at first, but you gave me free
cookies
. Such a nice young man you
are. Let her know that I'll be seeing her?"

Twisting his mouth a bit, he
nodded. "I can put a call in? I don't really know her. We don't hang out
really."

That got a laugh, as if it was
different than that.

"Don't you? You might want
to think about that. I won't give her away, but she's been around, more than
you know. Now, I should be going. Can you put these books back for me?"

"Sure. Don't worry about
it."

Then he paused.

"Oh, um, hey, are you in on
the whole Coalition thing? It's just getting started, but it can't hurt to get
in on the ground floor."

That got the older looking woman
to stop, look at him like he was mentally defective, and then pat him again.

"I promise nothing. I won't
work against you in that. For now that's all I can grant you. Thank you for
inviting me. I'll spread the word to the others, if anyone asks?"

Then before he could thank her,
she stepped to the side and wasn't there anymore.

Tyler did another cleaning of the
room, then took the six books out. They were all about pottery, for some
reason. Ceramics, glazes and things like that. After they were on the shelves,
he clocked in, even if it was still a tiny bit early. Any day he had to deal
with strange Greater Demons like that, he deserved an extra two dollars and
forty cents, or whatever he'd get from it. Then he waved Zack down.

The man looked at him instantly,
but didn't seem worked up or anything.

"The Storm stopped by? She
said something about not killing me because I delivered free treats. You're
good with that, right? I'm pretty much handing out cookies to anyone too Demon-like
from now on. Not that she was. She actually seemed really sweet."

Not being shy about it, Zack held
out his hand, like he wanted to shake, which he explained. "All of us, my
people, can sort of download information on contact. It's one of our racial
abilities."

Thinking back, all the Greater
Demons had tried to touch him, he realized. Most people didn't do that all the
time. Some did though, so it wasn't that odd. Ty took the other man's hand,
wondering if it was like reading minds.

"More like getting
everything, all at once. I already had a copy of you, so this is just an
update, which is easier to deal with. I'll get you Anne's number. It might be
best if you do the talking, since it was your life that was saved. Heh.
Cookies."

Letting go of Ty's hand he kept
going. It had been warm, but just nice, not blistering hot. He didn't seem any
more worried now either. It was reassuring. Also, the guy was really hot.

Tyler lashed out, without
warning, and punched him in the chest. There was a twitch, but no instant death
to follow along behind it.

"Did I get that right? I
didn't think about it until after the contact broke, did it take you by
surprise?"

There was a considering look,
tightened lips and a head tilt that reminded him a bit of an old movie with
Robert Deniro that he'd seen.

"Not bad. I probably could
have gotten out of the way, and most Greater Demons wouldn't be hurt by what
you can do physically yet, but I didn't even catch that you were going to,
which is your point?"

"Coolness. Sorry there, I
couldn't think of anything else at the moment. I should have
kissed
you.
Well, if it comes up again, I'll go that way. Anyway, if I'm not fired for boss
abuse, I guess I should get on that? Talking to Anne, The Rotted."

"I'll get that number for
you. In the future, well, if you feel like you have to hit people, do a better
job than that. Too many around here could accidentally kill you, if you don't
manage to bring your 'A' game each time." Then he left the central stack
floor to go, and presumably, get Anne's number for him. Except that wasn't it
at all.

Instead he came back about ten
minutes later, with a tiny school girl, who was in a different little outfit
than she had been before. The glasses were the same, but the skirt was bright
yellow, though she had on a less eye splitting top that was merely white.

"Clerk. I hear that you
drove off my enemy? The Storm?"

"Drove off... Gave cookies.
Here
."
He held his hand out, since it would be faster that way, and he doubted that
hiding information from the girl was a great plan. There wasn't even a pretense
of not understanding that he knew what was going on that way.

Instead she just placed her dry,
and warm, palm against his own. After about half the time that Zack had spent,
which still wasn't long, the girl took her hand back, and smiled at him,
happily.

"Thanks. I can use that. I
wonder why she was going to kill you to send me a message though?"

"Well, because you're
someone else that's been around? Probably Ben. Unless... Lyn is a different
Greater Demon, isn't she?"

Zack looked away, subtly shaking
his head, but The Rotted glanced around, then nodded.

"The Changeling. In hiding
for now, so try not to tell everyone. Not that half the Mall here doesn't know.
We're concealing it from the new Mage Ambassador however, since Lisa has been
having a rough time lately. You should go and make contact with her. She could
use a real Human in her life right now. Plus, you don't have the Mages in your
Coalition yet. I know, why don't you run do that now? I'm sure she's
here."

Zack glared a bit, but then
patted Tyler on the back, because, clearly, he was a dog. The thought that he
might have
that
base level of value to these beings, if that, suddenly
hit him. Also, hard on the heels of that, he considered why they wanted this
Coalition of Nations so badly. The idea that it was that great of an idea
wasn't real. Everyone could see that.

"I could do that. I suppose.
Who should I talk to?"

Zack looked at him, his face
softening a good bit.

"Lisa Weise. Blonde, nice
looking. In her forties."