Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (7 page)

It probably did, in her universe.

The other man looked disgusted,
so Ty took a deep breath.

"Gloves and a sponge? I can
do that right now." He tried to sound like the idea didn't squee him out
totally.

His new boss however gave him a
hard look for about ten seconds, and then smiled. It was a slightly fierce
looking thing.

"You know Tyler? I think
you're going to do really well here. Come on. I'll show you to the supply
closet."

If the first day was any
indication, his real job was going to be in three or four parts, at least at
the beginning. Hit the bookshelves, run a front counter till, and clean the
spooge rooms. That was
just
as gross as Ty figured it would be, too.

Harder to get to than it seemed
like it should be as well. The place just wasn't that busy most of the time,
and that should mean that they all had room in their schedules for keeping
things tidy. Instead, just enough customers came in who wanted to spend time
with the girls that were there that it was nearly impossible to get into one of
the reading rooms at all.

Finally he wrote up a sign that
said
out of service
and taped it to the outside of one of the doors that
was being used. The girl that came out had a woman with her, and
both
of
them looked like they were out of his league. True one of them was a little bit
older, being around thirty, but as she adjusted her skirt, she managed a nice
smile for him on the way out. That was better than most of the men had done.
They mainly just seemed embarrassed, which he could see.

It was the girl, the other one,
that paid attention to him though, and turned when he pointed to the door.

"Fifteen minutes. So, if you
have to, stall while I get things fixed up?" It was the room he'd already
cleaned, but that wouldn't last with a constant stream of bodies. How the place
didn't smell like a locker room, he didn't know.

The dark haired woman, who had
ringlets, black glasses, and a form fitting t-shirt and jeans on, just nodded
at him.

"Thanks! Are you the new
person then?" She moved in, but didn't actually tackle him or try to dry
hump in the store. Roberta had done that, twice already.

Worse, Ty was nearly certain the
succubus was on her best behavior. It
did
make him feel good about
himself, being wanted like that. Also a bit horny. Still, this one stuck her
hand out, to shake. It was hard to do, but he performed a similar move back.

"I'm Kaitlyn." Her
voice was far more normal sounding than the other one. It actually seemed like
she was just trying to meet him. Not that he could trust that.

"Tyler. Call me Ty? You're
Eve's friend? She told me that I should try to hook up with... Um... Ben? For a
video project?" He blushed, and then shrugged at her. "I... I think I
might be sort of bisexual. This is a new thing for me. I mean, I just realized
it a few months back." After a talk with his mother, oddly enough. She'd
mentioned that he should be open minded that way, and he'd realized that he
sort of was.

Rather than seem like she was going
to judge him, there was just a pleasant expression on her lips. They were pink
and glossy, which made them really distracting, he realized. Even if she
wasn't
trying to blow him on the sales floor.

"Oh, duh. Cleaning!" It
was a good enough reason to run away, and really wasn't too bad this time. He
cleaned, tidied and hit the space with air freshener, while the girl that had
been in there went out on the floor and started to work there. Straightening
books on the shelves.

When that was done, he pulled the
makeshift sign and slapped it on the other door.

Things went on at about that same
level until about six, then it all really picked up. Cafe or not, the place in
back seemed to be doing brisk business, and a few people even tried to order
books. He was
not
very good at that part, only being able to really help
one of the people that asked anything of him. That title was on the shelves,
thankfully, and the man bought it. Before going to the back with Kait. Then, at
about seven, the two Alede just left, even though things were busy, and two
others came in. They were clearly the same kind of being, since both of them
were super hot.

It wasn't just some kind of
normal thing either. They didn't look like models, or playboy centerfolds, they
looked
better
than that. Even without being airbrushed and
professionally made up first. Or, they might have been set up like that, but if
so, he couldn't tell at a glance. Still, he waved to them both, getting them to
come over almost instantly.

"Hi! I'm Tyler." He
waved at the pin on gold plastic badge that Hiram had made for him. It was
actually kind of nice looking. It said that he was an associate, above his
name. "I'm new. My job is to make sure everything stays clean for you, so
I need ten minutes per room after every other, um, friend of yours comes in?
I'll mark that with a sign. I might need more time if things get messy, so keep
that in mind. I know, pushy, but I need this job, so I want to do it well.
Please help?" He tried to look earnest and sound polite, which other than
seeming like he was going to pass out from being that close to the Alede, he
really thought he managed.

The red headed one on the left
started to reach out to him, meaningfully, which got a head shake.

"Um,
no
? I probably
shouldn't get too close to either of you. Like I said, I really need to do well
here. I'm trying to get my own place and that means keeping steady
employment." Now he just sounded like a jerk, and so awkward he wanted to
hide, but these two didn't even look hurt by his words.

The blonde one just took a step
back.

"Not a problem. I'm Ivy.
This lovely person beside me is Alexis. Don't worry Tyler. We've got your
back." The thing was, they really did. For the rest of the night they all
worked like it was planned out ahead of time. They even stocked shelves a bit.
There wasn't a lot to do that way, since he'd hit that part earlier, but they
all managed to keep the place looking pretty good.

So far it was looking decent at
least. At just before nine, Zack came out from the owl room, and waved to him.

"Good work today. Can you
come in tomorrow? Then you can have a day off if you want, on Monday. The order
comes in late, on Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you can work those it would
be great." He didn't seem to be saying it was a deal breaker if he
couldn't, which was nice.

"Well, I
don't
have
much of a life, so... I'm going to have to say...
Yes
? I also don't have
a car yet, and probably can't get one for a while, or take a bus late at night.
I can run in, if I can use the showers in the back? Is that a thing or..."
Really those could just be for the Alede, and he didn't want to step on any
toes that way, if they were.

"Yep! I can get you home
each night, for the time being. So we have a plan?"

 "Sounds good. I could
probably use any extra hours for a while. If that... I mean..." He didn't
know how to shorthand the idea he had for getting out of the house, or why.
Most people would be doing it to punish their parents, or gain more freedom.

He wanted that one too, the
freedom, but it really wasn't for him.

Zack nodded.

"I might have some things
coming up, if you aren't too picky about what you do to get your money? Nothing
illegal, or that will have you prostituting yourself. Mainly just errands in
different locations that require a lot of waiting around, that I don't have
time for." There was a subtle, almost invisible change of direction then,
as the Greater Demon moved to the front of the store. It was kind of obvious
that he was supposed to go along as well. The whole thing was almost a bit too
smooth. Almost like mind control, except that getting him to walk toward the
front of the place wasn't exactly some huge issue.

Unless it was.

Ginger was at the front, and held
a container of something, which had a fork or spoon hanging out of it. Zack
smiled, but didn't take it, since she handed it to Ty.

Then she laughed, gently.

"More fruit salad. It
occurred to me that you probably hadn't eaten anything all day. You can munch
this while we all go back to the store? Bey is here, and there's a thing, in
the back room?"

Tyler didn't understand her
really. It was clear she didn't mean the bookstore, but other than that, he
couldn't imagine what anyone would need them for. Especially him. Unless they
had more mixed fruit to get rid of? It was pretty nice, clearly having been
made fresh, just for him. He was hungry, which meant that he was eating with
quick shoveling motions that were probably pretty rude.

From the left, a voice called
out. It wasn't anyone he knew, though when he spun to look he recognized her.
The distinctive clothing store red head. Calley.

"Hey! You two, Ginger and Tyler,
leave lunch free tomorrow? We can go to my house and see if you like it well
enough?"

That got a happy reply and a wave
from the Vampire, which on reflection, was about what he should do too. It was
a bit late, but he managed it before they were out of sight. It was a bit
strange, but maybe Ginger had approached her with the idea? Or Zack?

Either way, it was a possible
place to move, and a house was almost always going to be better than an
apartment. As long as the rent wasn't too high for him to manage. If he had to
pay a third, and the place wasn't too huge, it would probably be something like
three hundred to four hundred a month. He thought. It wasn't like he'd rented
any place before. They'd need things like security deposits and last month's
rent too.

That was going to take a bit to
save up, but it wouldn't hurt to look.

Just inside the yoghurt shop Tyler
was able to toss his container and the plastic fork out. His hands were clean,
since he'd been fairly civilized about the gobbling of the delectable fruit.
The strawberries had actually been nearly perfect. Ripe and red, but sweet
enough that they could have been a bit mushy. They weren't though, which was
rare. You normally had one thing or the other. Sweet and mushy, or firm and a
bit sour.

Ginger patted him on the back, as
Zack moved to let them go first.

"Back here, where we stored
everyone earlier?"

The space was arranged a slight
bit different now. The sofa that had held Tara the Manthori earlier didn't now.
It had a small fellow on it, along with a cute but slightly nerdy looking
Burgerville manager. He knew that for sure, since her name tag told him. She
was Maggie, which he recalled as being the person that had lent them the car
earlier. Smiling, he waved at her, since she was pretty clearly awesome, on a
level that actually warranted the use of the word. Like Lars from the gym.
After all, who just lent you their car to carry bodies around in?

The bald man didn't have a name
yet, but wore a decent looking black suit, and smiled at him, so he got a wave,
too. Across the room there were three other people, all of them standing there,
looking at him directly. It was kind of embarrassing, actually, but he knew Eve,
and even if she was too pretty, he nodded her way.

"Hey." For some reason
he felt like he was at the high school dance. Not that he'd gone to many of
those. Just one, which he'd left after half an hour, so it probably didn't
count.

Edom, the very well dressed and
very hot guy from earlier smiled at him. He was right next to Eve, and on the
other side of him was a woman that seemed to be in her fifties. She looked kind
of hard though, for all she was wearing a skirt. As in, if she wanted to, she
might be able to kick his ass. Given that she was probably a Vampire, or at
least someone special, that was probably a good thing to keep in mind. What had
Ginger told him earlier? Be polite to everyone, just in case?

"Hello. I'm Tyler, um,
Gartner. Pleased to meet you." That was about all he knew as far as social
graces went, but Zack patted him between the shoulder blades, and saved him
then.

"Tyler, let me introduce you
around. This gentleman is Bey.
The
Bey. It's his name and title, all in
one go. Next to him is Maggie Sims, his wife, and maker. Don't be confused,
she's the oldest person in the room. Also
really
good at making
hamburgers, if you ever go off the whole raw food vegan thing you have going
on?" Then he turned and pointed at the older, hard looking woman. She
flinched when he did it, like he had a gun in his hand, rather than just
indicating her. "This is Althea Sims. The Chief of Police. You've met
Ambassador Freeman. Edom, in case you didn't get the whole name before. Eve
Benson, known in some circles as The Snowflake. And of course, let's not forget
the Vampire Ginger. That leaves Tara Fields, who you've met in passing I
believe?" The last bit sounded a little strange, but the girl nodded,
after looking up from the floor.

Then she pointed at him.

"I think I remember him.
When those...
Fiends
, tried to kill me, he stopped them. I'd tried to
run away, but they followed me. I guess... I should start at the
beginning?"

That got the little man, Bey, to
bow, while seated.

"That would be wonderful, if
you can speak about it dear? I know that it might involve difficult
matters." He seemed concerned about it, but the woman kind of curtsied,
and went on, her bone white flesh nearly gleaming under the florescent
lighting.

"I was approached, about six
months ago, just after I broke up with my old boyfriend, by their leader, Robs.
At first I figured that he simply wanted to add someone with mental abilities
to his crew. I'm not a great fighter, but I do pretty well that way. High
compulsion, and hydrokinesis. That's rare, so it happens every now and then.
People want me to join up with their gang or crew. Then, after a while I
realized that he just wanted to date me." She glanced at Ty, and shook her
head a little. "It was stupid. I realized after a while that he wasn't a
good person. I don't mean just a little broken or bent either. He was... Wrong.
Inside. Insane, but able to pass for normal, most of the time. Well, after a
while I had to let him know that I just wasn't interested. That didn't go well,
and he tried to have his goons kill me. I fled into the night and was chased
for hours. Finally I tried to call for help, after I realized I wasn't going to
get away before I went down for the day."