Possessed By You (Overworld Underground Book 1) (41 page)

"Well, now that you've both thoroughly humiliated me, let me introduce Tyler." I extended a hand toward him.

Tyler gave them a boyish grin and shook their hands. "Tyler Rock. Very pleased to meet you."

Dad glanced at Tyler's hand, quite likely noticing it felt a bit warmer than usual. He held onto it a fraction longer than absolutely necessary, and gave him a smile, which bordered on sinister. "Treating my little girl well, I see."

"Yes, sir. She means a great deal to me."

"Good to hear. After what I had to do to her last—"

"Dad, please!" I scowled at him.

"You're a very pretty boy," Mum said. "Popular with the girls, I'd warrant."

The heat in my face notched up a hundred degrees.

"Thank you, Mrs. Glass," Tyler said. "But the only woman I have eyes for is Emily." He looked at me and gave me a heart-melting smile. "Why don't we have a seat, and you two can interrogate me all you want?"

Mum's eyes lit up. "And confident too, I see." She looked at Dad. "Yes, let's have a seat before we make Mr. Rock feel unwanted."

"Tyler, please, Mrs. Glass." My boyfriend pulled out a chair for me, and I sat.

"You may call me Victoria."

Dad smiled. "Mr. Glass will do just fine."

"Dad!" I scooted forward in my chair. "You'd better behave if you ever want to see me again."

He chuckled, and took a seat across from Tyler.

After we ordered drinks and food, Mum said, "Are you perchance related to Cyrus Rock?"

Tyler's eye twitched ever so slightly. "He's my father."

"So you're a member of
that
Rock family," Dad said. "How's the contest going?"

"Contest?" Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Ah, you meant the inheritance test." He shrugged. "Going well, I suppose, although I think it's a farce."

That raised a few eyebrows. "Oh, really?" Mum said, her voice heavy with disbelief. "So you don't much care about the people whose livelihoods you hold in your hand?"

"Oh, quite the contrary, Victoria. I think it was an act of utter callousness for Cyrus to hand his children these companies and make a game of it. There are plenty of other ways to test the business mettle of someone. Then again, the entire process is nothing but disgusting nepotism." He shrugged. "I guess it's the way of the world, though.
Emperor
Cyrus wants his children to fight it out for the empire."

My father seemed a bit taken aback by Tyler's brutal honesty. "And yet you accepted the challenge. You could have bowed out."

Tyler paused for a moment, quite likely because he didn't really know Hugo's reasoning for accepting the challenge. "I could have, yes." He nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe I'm not worthy of such power. I hardly think anyone is, to be honest. I hold power over thousands of lives whether I want to or not. It's more responsibility than I care to think about at times."

"You seem acutely aware of that responsibility." Dad folded his arms on the table. "How does the power to manipulate so many people make you feel?"

The waitress arrived with our drinks. Tyler tasted his red wine and leaned back. "It scares the hell out of me."

"Scares you?"

Tyler squeezed my hand with his free one and smiled. "I've been manipulated. I've been forced to do things and endure bad treatment from those who are more powerful than me."

"Like your father?" Mum's eyes glittered with intensity.

I felt Tyler's grip tighten on my hand for an instant, and thought he might be thinking about his
other
father, the unearthly one. "Really now," I said. "You don't have to grill him about every little aspect."

"No, it's okay," Tyler said, smiling uneasily. "No one is free from manipulation, no matter how powerful. The power frightens me at times. At other times it makes me feel somewhat heady." His eyes hardened as they seemed to focus on something in the distance. Then he looked at my parents. "I'm no longer the same person I was. My experiences have led me here, and I plan to do right by those people who work for the companies my father entrusted to me. And if it means losing my inheritance, so be it."

Mum and Dad exchanged looks, and their eyes actually looked troubled.

"Something wrong?" I said.

"No," Dad said after a second's hesitation. "Tyler is different from others of his...social status."

"I hope that's a good thing." Tyler sipped his drink and grinned.

"Yes," Mum said, giving him an even look. "It is. Provided you're being honest."

I wasn't sure if I should breathe easy or grab Tyler and run for the hills. Then again, I hadn't seen my parents together for quite some time, so I decided to turn the tables on them. "What exactly are you two doing in Atlanta?"

"Counseling, primarily," Dad said, leaning back and looking at ease once more. "The massacre at Edenfield High has been pretty traumatic for the students."

"Did they ever figure out what happened?" I asked. I, of course, now knew it had likely been vampires responsible for the tragedy. The work of the Custodians had likely concealed the truth by the time my parents arrived on the scene.

He shook his head. "Not exactly. And two of the students are still missing after the attack."

"Two?"

"A boy they detained for questioning and his girlfriend."

"Good lord," I said. "I can't believe that sort of thing still happens in a civilized society."

Tyler chuckled. "Civilization is just a veneer."

"Are you a believer?" Mum said.

Tyler's amused grin made an appearance. "In people?"

"In God."

His grin faded to an almost wistful look. "That has yet to be determined."

Thankfully, the food arrived before an inquisition began, and I was able to keep everyone off the subject of religion and God. A part of me questioned why exactly I wasn't very concerned with Tyler's religious beliefs. My life as a child had revolved around serving the church and belief in a higher being. Discovering the existence of someone like Tyler should have strengthened my beliefs. Instead, I found myself questioning them. Either the Bible was completely wrong about demons being pure evil, or Tyler was very good at deception as a Biblical demon should be.

The circular logic of that argument nearly made my head spin like someone possessed.

After being self-absorbed for several minutes, I realized Tyler and my parents were talking about football—or as Americans so erroneously call it—soccer. Mum, an avid soccer fan, had at some point in the past, addicted my father to the sport during his time in England. Tyler apparently had an interest in it as well, though I couldn't for the life of me remember discussing it with him. Then again, we hadn't spent an awful lot of time talking.

My face heated at thoughts of what we
had
done.

"We'll see how the World Cup pans out," Dad was saying. "But I hope you're wrong."

"Of course he's bloody wrong." Mum's eyes flashed in time with the exuberant smile on her face. "I'd be willing to put a wager on it."

Dad's hand went atop Mum's, and he cleared his throat. She seemed to deflate all of a sudden, her lovely smile fading away.

"Well, he's still wrong," she said.

The conversation meandered to several harmless subjects after that, and then my dad looked at his watch. "Well, unfortunately we have to be up early." He stood and stretched. Held out a hand to Tyler. "It's been a pleasure."

Tyler smiled, and took his hand. "The pleasure was all mine."

Mum took his hand and shook it, her eyes seeming to search Tyler's for a moment. "You seem different from the others. I hope you truly are."

My boyfriend seemed a bit startled by the comment, his eyebrows rising high, but he quickly settled back into an amiable grin. "I am, Victoria. I promise."

We walked them outside where Joe waited in the SUV. Tyler waved for him to remain in the car, and opened the door for me to climb into the back. I hugged Mum and Dad one last time before watching them walk down the sidewalk toward a parking deck.

As Joe pulled away from the curb, I breathed in relief. "Well, that went better than I'd expected."

"Oh did it now?" Tyler kissed my cheek and grinned. "We certainly covered all the bases."

"Indeed. Work, religion, family." I rolled my eyes. "On top of that, they were acting a bit odd." I shrugged, thinking back to the look my mother had given Tyler, and the way Dad had cut off Mum's discussion about soccer. Usually he just let her run on and on.

My cell phone rang. I pulled it out, and raised an eyebrow. "Why hello, Dad. Long time no talk."

Dad laughed. "Say, honey, I was wondering if we could steal you from your boyfriend tonight just to do some catching up." His voice sounded off—as though it were a bit strained.

I wondered if perhaps they hadn't liked Tyler as much as they'd pretended. "How about tomorrow?"

"We'll be too busy. I'm sorry if we're cutting in on anything. I just think—"

I looked at the phone after a few seconds of silence and saw we'd been disconnected. I tried calling back several times, but my calls went straight to an error message about the voicemail not being configured.

"Problem?" Tyler asked.

"No. My parents wanted to have me to themselves for a bit, but we got cut off." I shrugged. "I just wish they'd take a day off their busy schedule for something like this instead of a last-minute call." A sigh escaped me.

"They seem about as normal as parents get," Tyler said, "if a bit blunter than most."

I gave him a sideways look. "Since when did you become a soccer aficionado?"

"I acquired the taste from someone else."

"From—" I cut off my sentence as I realized what he meant. He'd picked it up from someone he'd possessed. "Do you really like it, or is it just—I don't know—like a vague recollection?"

"I honestly like it." He shrugged, glanced at Joe. "The, uh, person who was an avid fan piqued my curiosity, so I started going to games." His gaze seemed to shift inward. "I think it was one of my first humanizing moments."

I felt my eyes flare in surprise. "Really? From a sport? I rather think people behave like animals at those events."

"True." He took my hand in his, rubbing a thumb over my skin. "Competition is primal. But it's also about being a part of something bigger than yourself, even if you're not really in control." He kissed my hand. "It unifies people. Brings them together. Where I'm from, that's uncommon."

"Nobody works together?"

"Oh, they do. But usually because someone more powerful is making them do it."

"Yes, well that's often the case here, I'm sorry to say."

Blue lights flashed from behind us, and Joe cursed.

"Speeding?" Tyler asked, his face growing concerned.

Joe shook his head. "Following the letter of the law, Mr. Rock."

Tyler's eyes narrowed and he looked back at the police cruiser behind us. Joe started to pull over to the side of the road. There was almost no foot traffic, just a few abandoned buildings on the side of the road.

"Not here," Tyler snapped. He leaned forward between the front seats and pointed several blocks away where restaurants and teeming nightlife crowded the sidewalks. "Up there."

"Yes, sir." Joe hit the accelerator.

The cruiser blipped the siren a couple of times, and the officer in the car motioned Joe over. Joe held up a thumb toward the rear-view mirror where the officer could see it.

"Pull over
now
," the officer blared over the loudspeaker on his car.

"Keep going," Tyler said.

I leaned close to him and whispered, "Aren't you going to get Joe in trouble?"

He looked back at the police car again. "I hope not."

I thought back to his time as Thomas. To the time he'd rescued me and Isabel from Stephen. "Why don't you like the police?"

"We're here, sir." Joe pulled into a no-parking zone in the front of a lively part of the street, well lit, and with people sitting outside various restaurants despite the chilly weather.

"Thanks, Joe."

I looked back, expecting to see the officer on the radio, but he appeared to be talking to his partner in the passenger seat. Seconds turned to minutes, and finally, the officers got out of the car, one approaching the right side of our vehicle, shining his flashlight into the windows, one hand unsnapping the strap on his holster, freeing his firearm. The other drew his sidearm, holding it to his side, and approaching the driver's door.

Joe reached into the dash compartment, pulling out what looked like an insurance card, and withdrew his license from a battered leather wallet.

Tyler made a call on his cell phone, glanced out the window at a street sign. "We might have a situation. Peachtree and Eighth." He paused, grunted. "Then do it. That's what I'm paying you for." He ended the call and gave me a smile that did nothing to allay the alarm bells ringing in my head.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" I asked.

"Hopefully nothing."

"Nothing?" I opened my mouth to say more when the officer on the driver's side stepped up.

"License and insurance," he said, even as Joe handed it to him. The officer's eyes settled on Tyler and me. He gave us a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He took Joe's documents and looked them over.

"May I ask what the problem is, officer?" Tyler asked, his body looking quite relaxed, one arm sprawled over my shoulder. But I could feel the tension in his arm, the way his muscles coiled and readied to move in an instant.

It was all I could do to keep my face as outwardly calm as possible.

"You have a brake light out," the officer said.

Joe's forehead wrinkled. "Really? This car usually warns me if a bulb goes out." He chuckled. "Hell, it tells me if the stupid tire pressure is off by a hair."

"Why don't you step out of the car and we'll show you?" The officer motioned toward the back of the car.

Joe glanced over his shoulder at Tyler who gave a slight nod, then opened the door and stepped out. He followed the officer to the back where they spoke while the other officer remained a discreet distance away, eyes locked on the car. Tyler looked at the rearview mirror. I leaned toward him and saw the officer and Joe centered in the reflection. Joe had a confused look on his face. He shook his head.