Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (31 page)

"That's right! My daughter
and granddaughter were there, at the complex that was attacked. I don't know if
this is the kind of thing you handle, but a coworker of theirs, a Human male,
was shot, protecting one of
our
people. An Alede. I heard that
they're
all okay, but this man is in the hospital right now. Because of evil carpet
munchers targeting
my
people." She seemed a bit concerned, as shown
by her using carpet munching as anything
except
a suggestion for a fun
evening's activity, but Tyler couldn't work out what it was she wanted.

"Okay. I'm not really
tracking you here. How can I help you with this? I
want
to, but I just
can't see what you're getting at. Do you want me to help you punish the
attackers? The Human authorities have them right now. The ones in on the
attack. The others, the ones that vandalized the place, are being handled by
the Line Walker. The Greater Demon? Just something like fixing the mess they
made, so nothing too bad. He promised not to kill them for it, or torture them.
Physically. He was
really
careful about adding that part in, so I bet
they're in for a fun time, but they'll live."

There was a little pause.

"What I was thinking was
that we need to make sure that the Human that was hurt is taken care of. I've
seen this before. More than once or twice. Someone jumps in to help one of my
people, simply because they're pretty, and then ends up horribly hurt, losing
their jobs because they can't work for a while, and being buried in debt. The
girl that was saved, Alexis, she can't afford to cover things like that, or
take time off to help him, but
I
can. I was wondering if you could
arrange that for me? I don't even know how to find him. I asked Kaitlyn, my
granddaughter, but she won't tell me anything, to protect him. I guess I can
see that, but there's a risk to waiting. Who knows what's happening to him
right now?"

He didn't know what to say,
really. After a moment of silence, he sighed. It hurt a bit. Then he tried to chuckle
a little. It came out soft, and slightly menacing, to his own ears.

"I... Okay. I guess I can
tell you, but I need you not to tell everyone?
Promise
?"

"All right? Why?"

"Um,
I
was the one
shot. I think we're covering that up, to help protect the feminists that
weren't in on the attack. I don't totally get it, since I'm not important or
anything, but there seems to be a plan in place. That said, I could use some
help, financially. I don't get paid for this part of things. The Coalition? So,
that really would be helpful, if you mean it. I should be getting out of here
in the morning tomorrow. But I don't know how soon I'll be able to get back to
work. Other than answering the phone, I mean. I'm going to try and get a Mage
to heal me, if I can."

"Oh... I... I'll be there
then. I'm flying up now. Let me..." Then the phone went dead, which was a
little off. After all, while a bit of money would be helpful, in covering the
bills, he couldn't see why he needed an
actress
in particular.

Not that he was going to turn one
down, come to think of it. After all, it never hurt to have friends. Plus, it
was really kind of sweet of her to have thought of him at all. Her concern
hadn't been about gaining anything, just making sure that some guy she didn't
know wasn't left hanging after risking his life for one of her people.

That was kind of
awesome
,
come to think of it.

"What? You can't say
that." The Mage Ambassador, Lisa Weise, was standing next to his hospital
bed. That was really nice of her, actually, but it seemed that she didn't want
to hear what had happened at the bookstore.

"Um, sorry? All I said was
that a feminist hate group came to kill some Alede. They are one. Aren't they?"

He was waiting for her to
explain, worried that he'd actually gotten something wrong. Were they violent
Christians instead, and he'd just been confused the whole time? He had to
wonder. Maybe they were something else, like a really girl-centric gang of...

Actually there was nothing that
fit there, and he knew it.

Lisa looked like she was about to
soil herself, but spoke rather than running to the little room next to them.

"Feminists didn't do this.
It was just a group of wackos claiming that." She seemed pretty certain of
that too, so he decided not to make a big deal of it. There was probably some
truth to that.

His mouth started working anyway,
since it had been on his mind.

"Like how
most
Nazi's
weren't anti-Jewish, just their leadership was, and about ten or twenty percent
of the population. Even they didn't want to burn people in ovens. Most of the
Nazi's were just going along with the ones doing the bad things." It was a
historical fact, though a bit out of context. The feminists that chose to
believe as they did could simply not do it and be fine. The Nazi's would have
probably beaten or killed the ones that didn't go along with them if they'd
tried it.

"You're comparing feminists
to Nazi's? That's a bit... I mean, okay, they shot you, I
guess
that
could sour a person on a group. I mean, I don't love Greater Demons, but being
truthful, none of them ever really hurt
me
personally. Just people I
knew." That was a bit dark, but she didn't leave, even though he couldn't
really chase her.

He tried to explain, just in case
it was important to her.

"I just meant the division
of the group. Where we see a small radical version doing things that taint the
rest of the group's idea. It happens over and over, too. The problem, I think,
is that our minds are built to group things together. To me, well, I know that
feminism isn't a single group.
Women
aren't, either. Or men. They're all
made of thousands or millions of people. Each one is at least a little
different from the others. We still do it though, for most groups. Why should
feminism not be counted as one thing?"

"What? I mean I kind of see
it, but..." She was either being nice, since he'd been shot, or she wasn't
sure how to answer that.

"Yeah. It's that stereotype
thing really. We
should
make the effort to see everyone as individuals,
but it's a lot easier to just make bulk assumptions. A guy in a dark alley with
tattoos is a 'bad guy', so we don't go down there to chat with him late at
night. We know nothing about them though, we just lump them into a group, based
on a few factors. He could be a saint or an opera singer, but no one would
guess either of those, would they? It's probably like that. Feminism is that
kind of thing. Some people that use that name say outrageous things, call for
the death of all men, or claim that we're all rapists, which makes everyone
assume that anyone saying they are a feminist is like that too, even if it's
secret. Good point though, I shouldn't say that kind of thing, just take them
as individuals." He nodded a little. It really was a good idea. Harder,
but he had the time.

"I guess..." She gave
him a weak smile and was clearly not saying something. Looking around, he could
see that one. Berating a man in a hospital bed seemed like a thing he'd want to
avoid if it were him in the other position.

"I'll try to do better. It
is a little hard right now." With a wave he indicated his middle. It hurt,
he imagined, but not that much. Ty really thought it would have been worse.

Lisa gave a small chuckle, and
sat, which surprised him. He'd actually figured that she was planning to come
in for about five minutes, then would be ducking out. They'd only met once
after all. All that time Eve had needled her using him, so it probably wasn't a
happy memory for her.

"Well, I can't blame you for
that one. I try to do that myself, in theory. Judge each person as an
individual. Except the Greater Demons." She shook her head. "You
know, with most people, when I say that, they just nod along. We all get that
one, but you don't do you? Humans don't believe in them really. I was taught to
avoid them, as a real thing, from
childhood
. One of the first things I
remember learning was that you
never
dealt with demons. I think that a
lot of people, Humans, don't understand how real that kind of thing is for some
of the other groups. Now I have them all around me, and even though most of
them have been fine, I... I'm afraid of them." She sounded like it, and
looked around like it would summon one of them.

Ty smiled though, trying not to
be an asshole about it all.

"Well, that sounds hard.
Just, you know, I'm kind of afraid of women. The better looking they are the
worse it is. But my fear isn't
real
. Some women have done some horrible
things, but most
don't
. Because of that I need to trust that they aren't
all
horrible. It's a bit of the same thing, isn't it? Some Greater
Demons are probably monsters or insane, but some of them seem kind of like
regular people. Manipulative ones maybe, and evil inside by nature, but a lot
of regular Humans are kind of like that, too." Like women, though he didn't
point that out. Men had their moments that way as well, he supposed.

The fact was, Ty couldn't think
of a single episode in his life where that had happened, but then again, he
also couldn't really show any places where women had. Not as a group. That
probably meant he was being kind of an asshole on the topic, thanks to being
shot by that kind of person. It made it seem like all of that group was going
to support the actions that got him hurt and wrecked the place he worked, but that
probably wouldn't be the case.

People weren't, in general, evil.

Lisa sighed, seemed slightly put
upon, then rolled her eyes.

"I know. Zack is a good guy.
I was so scared of him that I treated him like crap for a long time, and he
never held that against me. All he's been is
kind
. Some of the others
haven't really hurt me too much, but where they go, things break. People
die..."

Which would be honest enough, he
realized when she covered about ten people she'd known who had died. Including
one of them that had just been a boy.

She looked around again, and
leaned in, the metal frame chair she was in creaking under her slight weight.

"Zack
killed
a boy.
For trying to compel Lyn into having sex with him. That's illegal, but the boy
was only fifteen. He just punched him in the head. So hard that it vanished.
That's what Bob told me. The old Ambassador. Except... Well, he wasn't one. He was
a Greater Demon that had killed my mentor, and taken his place, for years. I...
It's so hard to trust anyone now. Even people like you. How do I know that you
aren't one of them? Everyone I know seems to be."

Tyler didn't have an answer for
her, "all I can do is say that I'm not. I mean, are you one?"

That got a strange answer, with
the woman, her hand pale and soft looking, was waved a few times, and the topic
changed, like he was being silly. That was suspicious, so he interrupted her.

It was
rude
, but hey, she
was dodging the question, wasn't she?

"Wait. You didn't answer,
are
you a Greater Demon? I know that they can change shape. That's what the one did
to take Bob's place, right? You can't tell by looking at a person, can
you?"

The woman made a silly face,
sighed and shook her head.

"That's... Of course I am.
You caught me, didn't you? What a good little Human you are! Very clever. Not
that I didn't leave ten thousand signs for you to follow, but even given that
most of you would have missed it. You aren't a normal boy though, are you, Tyler
Gartner? The truth is I was hoping that The Rotted would come by to see you, so
I could ambush her. Now I suppose you're going to tell on me, aren't you?"

The thought
did
cross his
mind.

"Well, I
would
, but I
don't really know how to get in touch with her. Why... Why do you keep coming
to me for this? I've met her maybe twice in my life. Even if she's been around,
like you claimed before, how would
I
know? Like you just pointed out,
Humans miss that stuff, don't we? I can see how that would happen. If you look
like Lisa, how can you not be? That wasn't even a thing that could happen as
far as I knew, even a few weeks ago." Greater Demons weren't one of the
groups that had come forward to the public.

The Demon, if it wasn't really
the Mage Ambassador being a pill and making fun of him, reached toward him and
touched his arm, holding her bare flesh against his. Drinking in everything he
was, or had ever been. It was a neat trick, but a bit of an unfair one really.

She chuckled softly though, and
shook her head at him while holding a slightly sexy smile.

"Oh, you. I'd mock you over
being so slow and stupid, but it really is just part of what you are. You can't
help it. Well, that isn't
exactly
true. You, like all people, have the
ability to try to reach beyond what you were
created
to be. The pure
fact is, most people will never bother making the attempt. That's the crippling
part of your kind. The lack of understanding, as far as reality goes. I mean,
you just sat here discussing gender issues with me, as if any of that is
real
?"

It was tempting for him to hold
back and pretend he secretly knew what the fuck she was talking about but
couldn't really, being to curious about what she might be saying.

"I have to admit I don't
know what you mean. Men and women are really the same? I thought that..."

"No, pumpkin. Men and women
are very different. That's the thing. Yes, you can reach beyond what you are,
but only if you can learn what that
is
. Men and women can't change
however, because they're all blind to their own roles in the greater scheme.
Now, an
individual
might be able too, if he, or she, were willing to see
what they really were. For the fifteen minutes, before the rest of the world
comes for them, trying to stamp them out for being different. People, Humans,
truly
hate the enlightened."

Ty was silent for a while, just
sitting and thinking about the whole thing. When he finally spoke, his voice
cracked a tiny bit.

"Sooo... You're saying that
all of this man versus women thing is useless? That there's no point to it at
all?"

"Pretty much! Men have to
fill their roles in the world, protecting women, being the provider and
grinding themselves against the world to save the women. Women have to try to
find the best mate, protect their children and use men up to do it. Neither
group has a choice, because it's part of what Humans are. It isn't even
wrong
.
It's so strongly inbuilt that even having told you this you may not be able to
understand it all. Then, you also might get it. You know what I am now, and
that I won't lie about these things to you. Greater Demon means being honest,
after all. At least with ourselves. Even us insane ones. We say insane, but
compared to Humans we're perhaps a bit... Quirky. Like my inability to let go
of what I once owned, until I'm ready."

He nodded. Not because he
understood what she'd really been saying, but because that's what you did in
conversation, to keep people talking, and not rending your flesh from your
bones or whatever she had planned for him.

Scrambling, Tyler tried to work
the whole thing out, keeping the talking going, stalling the time of his own
death.

"So, men are kind of slaves?
I thought they ran the world? Is that wrong?"

The forty-odd year old looking
lady, who actually had makeup on now, as compared to the other day, let her
head tilt a bit to the side. It was a subtle movement, but it told him that she
was thinking, or at least trying to guide him into thinking that.

"No. It isn't slavery to do
what you're built for. Men are the workers of the Human world, and always have
been. The builders, creators, and protectors. The hunters and guards. Father
means
warrior, too, in a lot of real ways. Boy
means
future husband. On the
other hand, woman means protected being. The life giver. The one that cares for
the children. The taker. The user. This doesn't make them the masters of the
world however, since if you paid attention to what I just said, they clearly
can't exist and survive without men. Not until they find a way to replace them
completely. A caste of worker robots perhaps? Automated providers that will do
all the things they won't, without asking for anything in return?"

It was a lot of information, and
didn't sound like the world he knew at all. Then, while it was probably all
true, it might not be
his
truth. It could be that the Greater Demon was
confusing him, with bits of information that he wasn't really going to be able
to see or understand.