Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (6 page)

Tyler nodded though, since it
really did.

"A bit? I mean, having you
coming in with hot hard bodies all the time when I'm not getting any will kind
of suck, don't you think? I'll live, but
yeah
... I can see that being
difficult for me." It was honest, and came with violent scarlet colored
blushing.

Ginger giggled again. It was
cute, and not too overdone, thankfully.

"I meant doing girls, too.
Not that I've done that much. So far I've never really been with anyone that
wasn't a Vampire. You know, I hear it's a lot harder to lick someone when
they're filled with yummy goodness? Also, I'm a Classic, which means I don't
have a sex drive. It's more about making connections and keeping my people
happy than anything else."

That was news to Ty. He didn't
respond for a moment, but finally nodded, keeping his eyes straight ahead,
watching the road like a hawk.

"That won't be an issue.
I... I don't know, but I think I might like guys, too." Then he waited
because it was just possible she'd have a problem with
that
.

Girls being bi was trendy and
almost normal anymore. Men were looked down on for the same thing. He was
holding his breath he realized, when she finally spoke.

"Neat. Maybe we could get
together and do group stuff? I've never done that."

He hadn't either, but had to
wonder why she'd bother with it, if she didn't get anything out of it herself. Tyler
didn't ask, since body hiding murder buddies or not, they'd just met. That
probably
did
help him feel more comfortable with her.

"Yeah? Not that it will come
up that often, I don't think. If I can, I need to spend the next half year or
more basically working all the time. That means doing such a good job that Zack
doesn't fire me. I don't know, Greater Demon. That sounds like the kind of boss
that could be picky, doesn't it?"

They were pulling into the parking
lot, near the gym, when she spoke on the topic.

"Zack is probably the best
of the Greater Demons. He's really young for one of them, too.
Don't
make any deals or bargains with him, and remember, anyone you meet there might
be another of his kind. Half of them are insane, and you won't be able to tell
if that's the case, so be really polite, all the time. Helpful, honest and
brave. They know
everything
, so if you have a problem, it's best to just
go and see about it with him. Also, just because he's not bad seeming, that
doesn'
t
mean he isn't evil. They all are. Heck, the
Vampires
are. Don't mistake
our outer behavior with what we really are inside. It's different."

Then, as if it made any sense at
all, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek after he parked.

"So be careful."

He could see that. After all, he
really wasn't even certain that he wasn't dreaming the whole thing up. That
probably meant that being very cautious was a better than average idea.

As he took the keys and climbed
down from the vehicle, the scent of pine hit him again. That and dirt. If
nothing else, he was a murderer now. One with a job. A thing that he hadn't
killed to get, which meant hurrying along was a good plan.

Lars was still in his work place,
and the giant man with his heavy features smiled hugely at him, showing
slightly yellow, but very heavy teeth, including fang like tusks that were
hidden otherwise.

Without speaking he took his keys
back.

"It has both tanks filled,
and we took it through a car wash, so that it won't be all dusty, or smell like
Vampires. I don't know if that's a thing for you?"

Oddly, the man bowed to him, just
a little. It was out of place, considering he was in sweats and had a gym logo
on his front.

"Very good. It went
well?"

Taking a deep breath, Tyler
nodded. It had.

"They won't be back. Or
found. Apparently it was even legal, so, until their friends come for me, this
should be done."

It wasn't comforting, but the
giant grinned again.

"That is the way of all
battles. If you have warning, come and tell Lars and his people of it, and we
will join you? This is our area to guard as well."

That was different sounding, but
he nodded along.

"If you need me, I'll do
what I can to help you, too? It probably isn't a lot, but you know, if I can
help, let me know?"

That got him a pat on the
shoulder, near his wound, and a push toward the door. It was nearly a subtle
thing, or would have been if he weighed about three hundred pounds more, as it
was he covered by walking that way and then kept going, waving over his shoulder
to the giant guy.

Then, passing the bookstore
totally, he hurried to the Yoghurt World, so he could deliver Eve's card. She
was there, and on the phone, chatting with someone behind the front counter.

"No problem, Bey. We can
meet up tonight?" She took the card like it wasn't a problem, and kept
talking to her friend. They sounded like they were close, anyway.

Seeing a pen and pad, he wrote
down what he'd spent, and made a note as to why. It was over a hundred dollars
worth of stuff, but the girl just pulled it around when he was done, glanced at
it, and gave him a thumbs up.

"Actually, I have the man
right here. He just walked in. Back from taking care of the problem?" That
was addressed to him.

"Um, yes. Like we talked
about? There were no problems."

"Great. We can get the rest
of the story later? After you get off work?"

"Sure?"

Then he was waved out of the
store, though she didn't seem upset. Jogging carefully, he headed toward the bookstore,
finally, only to have a small Japanese woman walk alongside of him. He tried to
ignore her, since she looked close enough to his age that dating was possible,
and was attractive enough that just looking at her made him turn red. Just a
little though, since she hadn't spoke to him or anything.

She followed him into the store,
and when he got to the front desk, to see that both Zack and a guy that seemed
to be in his forties or so were there, the woman touched his back lightly.

"We need to see to healing
his arm and the worst of the other damage. Physical closing only, using
telekinetic binding, rather than accelerated healing. Would you like to do the
honors Mr. Stone? I think that you're ready to do that."

The rather average looking man
looked at the lovely lady, and made a face.

"Yeah, let's torture the kid
on his first day. What happened anyway? Car wreck?" He waved at Ty's face,
which did have some bruising on it still. Somewhere in the initial fight he'd
gotten pretty banged up. It hurt, sort of, but dwelling on it wasn't going to
help him keep his job.

Before he could speak, Zack did,
shaking his head a little.

"Nope. Vampire problems in
the area. A group set off after one of their own people, so Tyler had to step
in and stop them. They're all dead now." It was a statement, not a
question. The others had all sort of asked, but the cute store owner
knew
.

Like Ginger had said. He seemed
to know everything.

Rather than ask twenty questions,
and despite his reluctance, the man walked with the rest of them to a back
room, over to the side. It was a huge space, and had nice marble floors with a
circle laid into it, in green marble what had gold metal lines around it. The
rest was a deep gray, and the walls were dark, but very polished, wood. There
were fine carvings along the top, all with an owl theme, like the door they
went through had.

Toward the back there was a small
office, built out of wood and glass. It seemed separate from the rest of the
structure. The door said Mr. Hartley on it.

Zack waved at it.

"Don't take too long. For
your part Ty, try not to scream. This place isn't really soundproof. As soon as
you two are done here, it would be great if our new man can be shown how to do
everything? He'll need a name tag. I'd like him to be up on how this place runs.
I'll cover the front, but I have a pickup in half an hour." He walked
away, as if anything he'd said made real sense.

Hiram Stone, the manager, winced.

"Fuck. Well, this
will
hurt then. I can do the healing, even doing it the wrong way like this, but I'm
not that great, going fast."

The hot woman patted his cardigan
wearing arm, and laughed.

"Just measure the energy
flows, Mr. Stone. I showed you what to do. Use care, and I think it won't be
too bad. If it is..." There was a shrug, and she looked at Ty directly.
"Then don't scream? It's clear that you aren't a weak person, Mr. Gartner.
I have the upmost confidence in your ability to withstand anything we can dish
out."

That was good to hear, especially
when the strange man touched his arm, right over the wound, and started making
it feel like he was being stabbed, over and over. Tyler was up on what that one
felt like now, so actually had to fight not to move or make any noise. It
lasted about ten minutes, and then the woman pointed to the other bruises.

"The face and chest too, or
else it will be hard for him to breathe tonight as he sleeps. Remove the blood
from under the skin. Micro-teleportation." That hurt too, but not as much.
When it was over she clapped, which was an efficient looking thing.
"Excellent. A
bit
rushed and sloppy on your part, but it did work.
Now, you should both probably do what my grandson suggested? I know that the
pickup he has in a few moments is very important."

Ty just filed away the fact that
the woman was a Greater Demon, and that Zack
might
just be put out if he
hit on her, being that she was his grandmother. The looks didn't match up, age
wise but he could see how Zack did seem a bit like they could be related.
Mainly around the eyes. He noticed that as he headed out front, and the man
passed him, touching his arm lightly as they did. It wasn't really flirtatious,
and Ty wasn't up on the idea of sleeping with the boss as a good career move,
but it also wasn't normal. Two fingers traced along his arm gently, as the man
nodded.

"Good work. I should be in
and out all night. I can get you home at nine or so, Ty. We'll need to get you
a car. Good idea finding a place closer, in fact, that's another reason to talk
to Calley. I hear she has a couple of rooms in her new place, and you seem
pretty stable." Then, as if what he'd said was sane, he walked through the
owl door.

For his part Hiram Stone stopped
in the middle of the place, and spread his hands.

"Acres and acres of books
and they're all ours!" It was funny, and kind of nice to hear, since it
didn't sound like he was too pissed off for him being late.

Fighting Vampires was a real
excuse there, it seemed. One that counted.

"I like books." He did,
but saying it that way made him sound a bit slow. Thankfully, there was just a
nod in response.

"Each one is a treasure. So,
we have eighteen main sections, with each of those having at least one, and
sometimes two or three, sub-sections. I have a map, and of course if you look
up, it's listed above the shelves, in order to make it easier to find. Memorize
the layout. The books on the shelves are in alphabetical order, by section.
First letter of the first authors last name, which isn't nearly as hard to get
as all that. For the first bit, you'll be doing that, cleaning and
straightening, and running a till. That isn't too hard, since we don't do a lot
of business most of the time. Up-selling is a big thing here."

Ty nodded, since Zack had already
shared that part. The real draw was that they had Alede there. Succubi and
Incubi. He'd never seen one in person before, but they were a known thing,
having come out about four months before. They'd been on television however. In
fact,
Judy Swan
was one. The actress had come out first, which took a
lot of people by surprise, since she was pretty, but not so much so that it
seemed out of place for Hollywood.

Almost as if to unveil that fact,
a woman came out of one of the side rooms, along with two rather bashful
seeming men. They were both a bit older looking, being about thirty or so, and
one of them needed to get his fly zipped. The succubi saw them standing there
and left her friends instantly, smiling at him like he was a piece of fresh meat.

"Why, hello! Are you waiting
for a friend?" It was clear that she meant a friend like her, not just
someone she didn't know.

Ty shook his head.

"Nope. I'm the new guy here.
Everyone in the world practically has told me not to get involved with you, and
the other Alede. I think they know how fragile my little mind is. I can see it
now. So, um, I don't want to be rude, but... I can't have sex with you."
It
felt
really rude, because she hadn't offered that to him, but rather
than deny that had been her goal, the fantastic looking lady just seemed a bit
sad.

"Oh.
That's
too bad.
Well, I'm sure we'll be great friends anyway." Then she turned to Hiram,
and leaned in to either flash her cleavage, which was really hard to ignore, or
just feel up the other man's arm. "Hi, you asked us to let you know when
it would be a good time to clean up the sitting rooms? One of my new friends
that just left
missed
. It happens." Then she traipsed off, as if it
made sense that she wouldn't be the one doing the work.