Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2) (35 page)

"I don't know? I'll ask, the
next time we have a chance to talk about that kind of thing? God and me, I
mean. Or Mike." Then he turned a bit, and whispered gently, almost below
the edge of what could be heard.

"Can you see who that is?
I.. He looks familiar, but... Not Human?"

That got the girl to stare, her
blood red eyes a deep black in the dim light.

"No... Wait, isn't that the
guy from the bookstore? Will? He worked with us a few weeks ago, doing his
community service for having trashed the place?" She spoke out loud, which
got a wave from the dark shape in the night, which came into focus a moment
later.

"Hey. Yeah, that's me. Will.
Anyway, Tyler, can I speak to you for a bit? It isn't anything big, I just need
to apologize." The words sounded right.

After all, the thin man, who had
curly hair that was a little too long to be manageable, and who was a little
bit too womanly for a straight man to pull off, even though he probably was,
had tried to have him kidnapped. He'd pointed him out anyway. So maybe he just
wanted to apologize.

There was something wrong.

Several things. The first being
that the guy wasn't Human. Enough so that Tyler didn't want to eat him. Not in
a flesh consuming way, at least. He was potentially cute enough for the
other
kind, but even
that
was a bit off. It was easier to tell now, though
hard to put his finger on.

The other big thing was kind of
huge.

"Wait, how are you even
here? I didn't invite you and no one else would. Not that it's a problem, since
I was thinking we should talk, but..."

The skinny fellow, who was a bit
weaker looking than Tyler was, nodded.

"I know. I... Oh, wait,
sorry, Eve, isn't it?" The words were casual sounding, and had the air of
a person that was about to ask another to kindly go away so that a real
conversation could be had without them. The sort of tone people used when they
wanted to be firm, but not rude.

"Yes. Who are you?"

The answer was a little strange,
being a movement that Tyler couldn't track. It caused Eve to fly away, at a
very great speed, moving upward as she did it.

Then Tyler found himself grabbed,
faster than he could track. The world seemed to shift, but after a moment he was
dumped on hard stone.

"I'm The Storm. Obviously.
You'd think the girl would have picked that up, wouldn't you? Then, she's not
really
one of my kind. Just a trumped up Vampire hussy. Still, a good bit better than
a dead thing that was stolen from me, don't you think? Well, if you can't have
the toy, best to break it so the other kiddies know to go fuck themselves."

Then there was a sinister chuckle
that reverberated off the stone walls around them.

Tyler shook his head a little,
and looked around the place he found himself in. It wasn't nice exactly, but as
cells went, it could be worse. It was cave like, being made of smooth stone.
Dry too. On the walls, up high, were painted or etched sigils and patterns. It
was kind of decorative that way. The lines were lighter than the tan rock
around him. Nearly white.

The big deal here was that there
was another body in the space. Hunched on the floor, whimpering already.

The boy was about six, or seven
at a glance. He had dark hair, and brown eyes that were filled with fear. The
lights weren't bright there, but the swollen face showed that the kid had been
beaten more than a little already. There was blood on his plain, foreign
seeming, tan clothing. Most of it dried, but not all.

Given that he was alternating
staring at, and
avoiding
eye contact with, The Storm kind of told Ty all
he needed to know there. For some reason she'd been hurting this child. There
couldn't be a good reason for it either. None that he could see. Then, he
wasn't a Demon.

That might just make a bit of a
difference.

The young seeming man, Will, soft
and feminine in a lot of ways, sneered at him then.

"I should explain, don't you
think? It will make things harder for you, if I do... So I think I will. People
have it too easy these days. Not like when I was a kid." There was no
pleasantness left in her words, or
his
, since Will didn't change in
front of him or anything. If you dressed like a guy, you probably wanted to be
referred to as one.

Tyler sneered back. It wasn't a
thing he really knew how to do, but there were things in life he wasn't wild
about. Beating kids was one of them. So was holding them in caves. Even if this
one was clean enough, except for the spot along the wall where the kid had
urinated. It wasn't a huge place, being odd shaped, and sort of circular.
Perhaps a hundred square feet. If it was more, it wasn't a lot bigger than
that. The ceilings were really high though, and there were lights about twenty
feet above them. Hanging things that prevented him from seeing what was above
that.

It was just a pool of black up
there, as he tried to find the exit. Not that he could climb the walls in
there. They were perfectly smooth, or close enough that he was leaving that
way.

The Storm, Will at the moment,
shook his head.

"This place has spells on
it. Thousands of them, all geared toward one singular objective. To prevent
anything placed in here from gathering power from the outside. Any kind of
energy. If you don't have the key, you don't get out. Well, a Greater Demon
might
,
if they were clever, and had enough time, but not a being like you. That isn't
the point however. A sturdy cage would work for you as well as any Human."

"Ah? So, what's the point
then? Isn't this a little over done, just for me? Cement walls would have to be
cheaper. Plus,
spells
? I don't know any magic, so that seems a bit
overdone too. What's the deal?" He couldn't really follow that part, to be
honest.

She, he, whatever the correct pronouns
were, gave him a look that spoke of him being a special needs child.

"To
torture
you. That
isn't too hard to see, is it? By doing so I can also punish The Rotted.
Naturally
."
There was slight exasperation to the words.

"I actually got that part.
Sorry, I should have been clearer. What's the point of using a place with
hundreds of spells on it? Overkill just for me, isn't it? Part of that torture?"
He didn't really understand, but the young white man nodded at him. It made his
slightly fuzzy hair move a little bit.

Then after a bit, there was a
wave at the walls.

"Hundreds of feet of solid
stone. If you were connected to The Rotten even this might not stop you from
escaping. Oh, it could take centuries, but you don't tire, so you would
eventually use one rock to pound the living stone into submission and leave
this place. The thing there is that
you
do not have that luxury."

That seemed about right, and
explained a whole lot, so Ty nodded.

"Ah. So I'm cut off. I get,
what, three days then?"

Glen had mentioned something like
that. Also that he should be able to keep going, if he ate Human flesh.

"Hence the boy? You
have
to know that I won't kill him. Even if it means not being anymore. My life
isn't that important to me."

That actually got a nod, and another
sneer.

"Oh, I know you believe
that.
I
even have faith that you will try to resist on a level that no
one in the history of the world has managed, Tyler. The thing there is that,
before you vanish from existence, beyond any ability to control it, you will
become a revenant. You may choose to eat this child now, and live for a while
longer, or do it when all is lost. There
is
no other choice. If you
consume him however, I shall bring you another in three days. And so on. All
you must do is eat." Then there was a laugh.

It had a nice, very wicked, sound
to it. Melodic, but so bug nuts crazy that it had to be fake at the same time.

"I understand."

"Do you? Do you really,
little puppet? No one will be coming to help you. No one
can
. There is
no food here, even if you could manage to hold off and not eat. This child is
dead already. There's no water. Nothing you can do will save him.
Nothing
.
Your choice now is in how you dine. Will you do it without remorse? Will you
angst and whine over the inevitable? You must eat his living flesh to survive,
and you will. That act, at the single moment of the first remorse filled bite,
will ruin you. Forever."

That was kind of clear. Tyler
could see that one, without even trying. He was stuck, with no way out, and no
good options. The being in front of him didn't want to negotiate with him
either.

She just wanted him to eat the
boy. A thing that, he knew on a level that was haunting, he
would
do.
Exactly as she wanted. The hunger was there already, many times stronger than
he'd ever felt it. Calling for him to eat. To consume the life of his own kind.
It was, most likely, about him being cut off from the force that powered him.

It was, he understood finally,
his nature.

There was no good way out. What
he had though was a thing that the Greater Demon didn't seem to consider. There
was, very obviously, no way for him to free himself. No way to save the boy,
that he could see.

Except one. Well,
unless
he could get a miracle going.

Laughing, she waved at him, not
getting what was happening in his head. Still, he spoke, because it was what
people would expect.

"Let the kid go. There's no
reason not to."

Will, the feminist, who probably
wasn't that at all, giggled like a mad man.

"But you see, there
is
!
By breaking you forever, I can take you back. You were my toy, Tyler.
Mine
!
That witch stole you from me, and I
will
have you back. Even if only as
a puddle of rotting goo. You will eat, and you will be for
me
, once
again. Once you make that change, The Rotted will die, by my hand, and I will
use you as I wish."

That was a bit convoluted, so he
just stood, waiting, as the hunger grew. At the rate it was progressing, he
really doubted that it was going to take three days for him to break. As The
Storm had said, the poor kid was dead already. It was just a matter of how it
happened. With control, or with him being eaten alive.

That was clear too. He had to eat
life, not death. That was what his inner self wanted at least. Flesh would do
nothing for him without that essential spark. How he knew that wasn't clear,
but he could feel it. Understand it all, now.

Will, laughing, stepped to the
right and disappeared. Which meant something. Either The Storm had used the key
to the place, or had held energy inside of her.

He had some of that too.
Otherwise he would have stopped moving, or thinking.

For a long time he just stood
there, waiting. Nothing happened, except for his growing hunger, and a sense
that his resolve was going to fail a
lot
sooner than he expected. The boy,
seeming to understand more than it seemed like he should, whimpered. He also
tried to hide, shrinking back away from Tyler, to the other side of the tiny
cave.

Tyler nodded at him under the
bright lights.

"Do you speak English?"
The guy was very young and didn't seem to be dressed like he was from America,
but there was a head nod anyway.

When he spoke he sounded British,
even with his dark skin.

"Yes. Are you going to eat
me now?"

Tyler closed his eyes, and wanted
to lie to the kid. Finally he nodded.

"I think I am. I..."
What he wanted was for someone to come and rescue him. That wasn't going to
happen. Not with a Greater Demon having set the whole thing up. There was
nothing left. No hope. He hadn't even realized that he'd had that before.

Now he could see it, plainly.

The kid started to cry, which
made the hunger worse. That was so far from fair that he decided to curse God
for it. Then, blinking, he smiled. It was, after all, worth a shot. Prayer. It
had kind of worked before, hadn't it? There was nothing to lose, so he tried to
form what he needed clearly. Rescue, of course. Water and some kind of food.
That it wasn't for him didn't matter much.

"Um... Hey? Can... You get
this kid out of here? I don't even know if you can hear me here... I don't know
how long I can hold out. If..."

He was talking to God, which was
a thing that everyone did as they were about to die, no doubt. Even atheists
would probably murmur a kind word or two, just in case. The big difference he
realized, was that when he spoke to God, the guy listened. For some reason.

For a long time he focused,
holding what he needed so hard it hurt inside his very being. It felt like a
piece of him vanished then, the last of his energy leaving. Flowing away from
himself into the wall to his right.

The answer didn't come in words.
Not even his own mouth moved this time, like it had before. No, it was a
popping sound. Three of them. For a moment he hoped that it would be the rescue
portion of events. It wasn't. Not for him.

Along the far wall, from a crack
that had suddenly formed in the smooth rock, a bit of water started to flow. It
wasn't a lot, and didn't move fast, but it was real and damp. On the floor
under it, very slowly, a bit of it started to collect. Then slowly, it dribbled
away through another gap. A tiny thing that was just big enough to let it
happen. Not even wide enough for him to slide a fingernail into.

From up above that point, from
where the water came from, there was a clatter as he stood over the spot. A piece
of stone, about as wide as his hand fell out of the wall. That didn't speed up
the flow at all, but Tyler got it. The edges were rough, jagged and if not
sharp like a blade, still enough to use. The thing had a point as well. Inside
he felt spent and tired, but this was what it seemed he was going to get as far
as help.

It wasn't very good, but in a
pinch it could be used as a weapon.
Or
a tool to cut things. That was
probably the point of the whole thing. Now the boy had water. Tyler didn't need
that to live. So the stone in his hand wasn't meant to help him kill the kid
before he turned into a monster, in order to prevent himself from eating the
boy alive. It was for a different purpose.

He could have taken that in a lot
of ways, but he knew what it was for. It nearly stung his mind it was so clear.
After about ten seconds he nodded, and let a small smile come to his lips.

"Fine. I'm counting on you
to get him out. I'll... Do my part. Make sure you do yours."

He smiled at the kid, who seemed
to think he was insane for some reason.

"I was... Talking to God?
Praying, you know? He sent me this." The rock was hefted. "And water
for you."

"Are you... Going to kill me
now?" There were tears in the words. Real fear, and a sense of
resignation.

"
Nope
. I do need you
to turn around. I... I think help will come. You need to hang on though, all right?
Drink the water, and live. You'll be hungry... Um, I think you might need to
eat me. I should be pretty tasty, if it comes to that. My diet isn't that bad.
A
bit
chewy, but if you have to do it, don't hesitate. This isn't like
with me and you. Understand? I'm ordering you to do it. I'm the adult here, so
you
have
to. That's how things work. Now, don't watch. This might be a
bit gross."

The boy covered his eyes and
turned away. Probably thinking he was about to have his throat cut from behind.
It
was
tempting, but not Tyler's way.

Instead he started sawing on the
side of his own neck. It didn't hurt.