The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (15 page)

By the time he was clearing away
the dishes for them, Tina smiled at him in a way that didn't seem all that
scared.

"I really thought you were
going to eat us. Goethe said that, and... I had that happen before. My legs.
They were grown back, by Xenses. He was killed. I don't know what happened, but
before we could get away Goethe showed up and took us. Neither were kind, but
we survived. Xenses... Well, that was my fault. I..." Then she stopped,
and didn't speak for a very long time. He didn't prompt her to.

Darren, for some reason, his
voice gruff with disuse, went on when the woman couldn't get herself to.

"
We
, years ago. I
don't know how long ago, we were young then. We had a son. I... My parents,
adopted, they... They were mages. I don't know if you've heard of that?"

He nodded.

"Sure. It's kind of a known
thing now. People know about them. Vampires. Shifters. A lot of the other
groups, but not all. Angels too. Greater Demons can't believe in them.
That
one isn't public really, except like always. I've met a few. Honestly they seem
pretty normal."

There was a strange look between
the two new people. It had a quality to it that spoke of something like disbelief.
He shrugged at them and smiled.

"A few years ago a Vampire
came out really publically. I mean, medical tests done on live television. Lifting
up cars and things. A bunch of others did the same thing right on top of that,
so it kind of stuck, even though Humans still have some difficulties with the
idea. Then some of the other groups did the same thing. A lot of stuff was on
television. I know a few Mages. Hiram Stone? Lisa Weise?"

Darren looked troubled and
finally nodded once. A single movement that held questions.

"Hiram Stone? Lisa Weise?
I... Well I've heard the names. Different types. Stone is... A criminal? Dad
whined about him for a while. Weise, yeah. I met her dad a lot of times. He
came over to talk with my parents. Kind of an asshole. I didn't really know
them. Human, so there was no need to really have me in their world of magic. I
was jealous. The whole thing, being weak and knowing I always would be, that
ate at me. Burned inside. That was my undoing. I should have just moved on, and
become an attorney like they wanted. My mom and dad."

Tyler could see that, if the road
they'd taken had ended with them being slaves. Being a lawyer was better than
that.

Tina found her voice, though it
was rougher than it had been. An echo of pain long held. Of horrors suppressed,
but not well enough to be forgotten.

"We had a son. He... He was
perfect. Little and wonderful. A... A man we knew, a friend, came to us and
told us that... That if we gave him our boy, he'd give us power. I knew what
the Mages could do, but I didn't know at first what a Demon really was. He
seemed so nice. Reasonable. All we had to do was give him what he wanted. We
said yes. Both of us
had
to, for it to work."

Tyler waited then, watching them.
That wasn't a good thing. A Demon
couldn't
have had good things in mind
for the kid, could he?

Darren took back over, the
handoff not all that smooth really.

"We were enslaved then. In
agreeing, we were both taken. By Xenses. The Defiler. We didn't know what that
meant. We learned. He... We suffered for what we did, giving him our son. We
deserved it, maybe. That... There's no good curse words to describe him. Xenses
wasn't just a monster. He was worse than that. We were tortured. Raped. Used in
ways that I won't go into. He... He made our kid do that to us too. He forced
him to eat Tina's legs, while she screamed. It went on for over a year, then
one day, our boy was just gone. It was a relief. At least he escaped. Dead, but
it's better than what he'd been being forced to do. We were never told what had
happened. It probably doesn't matter."

That got agreement, a gentle
murmur from the other party. Tina shook a bit, the story hitting her hard. Like
it should. After all, she'd sold her own child to a Greater Demon. That
should
impact a person forever. He had a pretty good idea that they'd paid for their
wrongdoing.

Maybe even enough to be equal to
what they'd done.

When she spoke, her words sounded
like they'd been run over a rasp first, or perhaps as if she'd been screaming
instead of barely whispering.

"It went on forever. We
weren't even allowed to die. Ordered not to. We were used to the breaking
point, and healed, ten thousand times. More than that. The pain, the... I guess
it doesn't matter now. What do you want us to do? I can suck your cock for you?
Or Darren can, if you want? Or you can kill us? That might be for the best. We
aren't really free. I hear that in death we can be."

He ignored the sex part, since it
was too raw after hearing what they'd been through over the years. Instead he
tilted his head a bit, and took a seat at the table with them. They were still
right there, where they'd eaten breakfast.

"I... Worked out a way for
you to be free. It's a bit rough, and you
will
die. You have to. But
you'll
also
have a good shot at coming back. There are... Well, you know
that there are two kinds of Greater Demon, right? The sane, and the insane
ones?"

That got a look from Darren that
was deathly blank.

"Yeah. We met a few of both.
Honestly, I couldn't tell much difference."

Ty let his hand move apart on the
table top, palms going up.

"Granted. The thing there is
that The Line Walker is taking you on, to get you both free. It's an iron clad
arrangement that he made with me. He's kind of known to be the nicest of the
Greater Demons, in case you wonder why he'd bother. Not that he isn't a badass,
too. He
isn't
one of the sane ones, or he probably wouldn't bother
trying to help you." That sounded really mean, but it was also true.
Keeley wouldn't have helped them out. Not without getting something from it, he
bet.

The woman forced a smile and
shook her head a bit.

"I don't want to get my
hopes up. It hurts too much when things are stolen away again." There was
hope in her face anyway. "Is this Greater Demon actually going to help us?
Their kind lies, you know?"

"Well, I can't speak for
him, but Zack has been pretty honest with me so far. I've worked with him a
lot. In fact he helped set up the Coalition of Nations. Then, so did The
Mistress of Souls, so we should be careful there. I work with him at his bookstore
in Vancouver, Washington. Hartley and Co."

Darren stood and jumped back
then, and Tina gasped. It was very dramatic, even if Ty didn't get it.

"Zachary Hartley?" She
sounded stunned as the words came out.

Ty nodded.

"That's right. The Line
Walker. Zack Hartley. Why?" He feared that there would be some kind of
history there. Zack had acted really strangely around them the day before. That
could mean something.

He was right.

Darren looked like a trapped
animal, but explained it to him. It seemed like it was a bitter and desperate
thing, both at the same time.

"Zack Hartley was our son.
Our dead child."

The storm that hit shortly after
finding out that Zack was using the name of these people's dead son was sudden,
real, and had hail stones the size of golf balls involved. There was an
unnatural tenor to the whole thing, which wasn't lost on Tyler, even as he
moved to get the house ready for the day.

Sitting around wasn't going to
help anything, and Tina was having a meltdown. That was due to the fact that
she was nearly certain the Zack was the Greater Demon Xenses. There wasn't a
lot of moaning and hair pulling, but she went nearly catatonic and muttered to
herself. Darren just seemed resigned to whatever was coming. His spirit so
broken that the only thing
he
could think of was darker than Ty would
have liked.

"I don't suppose you could
kill me? Both of us? We aren't allowed to do that ourselves." The words
weren't even bleak, just blank and a bit lifeless.

Ty tilted his head back and
forth.

"I could check that out for
you first? See what's up with Zack that way? So far he's been pretty cool as
far as not being an evil defiler has gone, but I know we can't trust that
part... Um..."

The thing that he needed to
address was that all the people he knew to ask about Zack might just lie to
him. Except his mother. She'd tell him the truth. Even if she forced him to lie
about it later. She was busy though, trying to stop The Storm. Who, given the
weather, was
probably
outside waiting for him. It was tempting to go and
see. To confront the bitch before she could jump him again.

Not that it would help. He wasn't
in her league as far as almost anything went. Worse, after escaping once, she'd
probably just destroy him, this time. It put him at a small disadvantage.
Instead he called The Technician. She might not help him, but at least he had
good news for her. Not good enough to get loads of free information from her
maybe, but then again, it could happen.

She picked up on the second ring,
the voice coming from the hand piece of the house phone. A land line, of all
things. It was a bit nineties, but still worked. Put in by The Mistress of
Souls. Why she wanted one of those, Ty didn't know.

"Tyler?"

"Hey! Yes, it's me."

"Ha, I
knew
you loved
me best. Things worked out with Goethe yesterday then? Given that you aren't
busily rebuilding your body, I mean." It wasn't a question, though she
still sounded really young. There was no pretense of flirting with him, so
there was likely no one else around at the moment.

"It worked. I... Sort of got
some slaves from him. Um, Tina and Darren Hartley?"

There was a cough, and a sound
that seemed almost pleasant.

"I understand. One moment.
Can I come there, do you think? I have an open allowance for it from Keels, so
it should be all right that way. Back in the day I was her mentor, so we're
close, for our kind. Is it good with you ?"

He thought for a second, and then
shrugged, knowing that no one in the world was going to see him do it.

"Sure? We're having a hell
storm though, so I might be about to come under attack.
If
The Storm
didn't get her name for her bad temper."

"Interesting! I'll be over
in... Call it three minutes? Be by the door to let me in. I don't want to get
too wet." The phone clicked, so he moved to wait, having enough time for
it. It was early still, being about nine. That meant no one else was awake,
except the former slaves and him. He'd left them at the large kitchen table.
They were both too upset to enjoy comfort, he was willing to bet.

When the knock came he opened the
door quickly. Half of him expected Will to be there, but if that was the case,
then win or lose he was fighting. Instead it was a girl that he didn't know.
She was cute enough, having slightly round cheeks and a button nose. Also heavy
set. Like forty or so pounds over what would have left her really good looking
given her cheek bones. Her clothing was bright, and kind of standard, being
jeans and a tank top that showed she wasn't lacking in the chest area.

She also looked about thirteen.
True a thirteen year old that wore more makeup than was good for her, and who
seemed to be trying to act about thirty, but also like she wasn't really making
that happen. A false sophistication that bled into nearly everything. Even the
way she brushed up against him as she darted into the mansion. The whole thing
had to be contrived too. All of it.

"Hey love." She turned
and gave him a hug, absorbing all the information he had about life in the
single move. When she pulled back she winked at him. "I hinted to my
friends that we're dating. So when the tabloids accuse you of being a child
molester..."

He nodded, and closed the door,
then playfully grabbed at her behind, missing on purpose.

"Then when that happens I
out you to the press? Great plan. Don't ruin my singing career before I
actually get one, will you?"

That got a laugh and a touch on
the arm that probably wasn't needed, all things considered.

"You should be trying to
hold a concept, like Eve taught you. It's a bit strange, having her mentor you
while she's still learning, but these are odd times, so it fits. Anyway, if we
aren't
going to shatter the age of consent laws here, we should go and see to the new
slaves. Soon to be ex-slaves. Zack got with me last night about that. It's
going to cost him a lot, to borrow my Geordis like he wants. The time machine
thing he mentioned? He was flustered. It would be cute, if that sort of thing
wouldn't end up with him being dead forever. You need to learn what not to do
from that example. If anything like that ever comes up for you, you need to try
your best to throw your mother to the wolves." She walked on, clearly
knowing where she was going, having gotten the whole scene from his mind.

As she walked she looked back
over her shoulder, her medium colored brown hair just past collar length being
brushed to the side.

"You were looking at my
butt, weren't you?"

He hadn't been, so rolled his
eyes.

"Nope. Start walking again
and I'll try to do that now. What's with all the trampy flirting anyway? Just
being a tease, or is this for a project?"

That got him smiled at, with no
real glaring being involved.

"The second one, really. I'm
Alli now, not Darla, in this form anyway. I still have to go back and forth
between a few different personas, but it would be good to keep all of it in
mind. Short for Allison. A
bit
of a micro-slut, but I'm old enough for
you to have sex with in reality. That makes it easier to get the boys I want to
do my bidding. I'm just starting high school in a few weeks. So, if you could
use that name instead of Darla with my new friends? On the good side you can
get unlimited fourteen year old hummers off of me. Well, for a year. Then I
have to age up, or it will look funny." Her voice and mannerisms nearly
fit the look.

Again he got the idea. She was
trying not to seem dangerous, even though she clearly was. Anyone working that
hard not to be noticed would be.

He didn't protest that she looked
too young for him, since Ginger was in the same range, more or less. Thankfully
he wasn't too much older himself. That part
had
to be hard for his
girlfriend. It would be even worse if she were a boy. A lot of men might be
willing to date a young looking Vampire woman, who was cute and could fake
being a bit older with enough makeup, if it were done right. How many women
would publically do the same?

Then, given all those female
teachers that were in the news having slept with young boys, it might not be as
big of an issue as all that, if the Vampire man was open about who and what he
was. So, being polite he did glance at Allison's behind. It was nicely round,
but in a far more average way than Darla or Keeley had going on. She seemed a
lot more like a real girl this way.

In the kitchen the two slaves of
Goethe looked up, and stiffened, even when Alli smiled at them.

"Hi! I'm Zack's Aunt, his
mentor, too. The Technician. So sit back and shut up, because it's story time,
boys and girls. Ty, would you like to sit in? You might as well know all of
this, too." Her voice went from almost brutally hard when addressing the
others, to soft and a bit gentle with him.

Showing that
he
wasn't in
trouble with her at all, he thought. That was good. He had enough enemies in
life already. Those cultists and their soul bonded life mates the feminists.
Taking a seat, one closer to Allison the little girl Demon than was probably
safe, given that their knees bumped when he did it, he settled and waited.

Darla, or Allison now, gave him a
grin and reached under the table, to squeeze his knee.

"That's the spirit. We'll be
in the tabloids in no time."

Then she looked at the other two
and frowned so hard they both winced.

"Twenty-eight years ago my
brother, Xenses, known as The Defiler, impregnated you Tina." She glared
at the woman, then relaxed and looked over at Darren. "Don't get too mad
at her over that. He looked and acted
exactly
like you at the time. She
didn't know about it taking place, and probably couldn't track it back to the
right date if she tried. It was he that got you pregnant however. Still, you
both
thought
that Zack was your son when you sold him for power, so
don't think you get out of the blame just by not being his dad now." She
tapped the top of the wooden table, which was handmade, and while classic in
style, felt new to him. The whole thing shook from the blow, startling everyone
there.

Her hand went under the table
again, and rested on his left knee. Her face showed only that she was upset.

"You both have some idea
what happened with Zack. What was done to him, and what he had to do. What both
of you did to him. Yes, under orders, but again, you don't get out of that. You
sold your own child to one of the worst beings to have ever existed! It would
have been kinder by far for you to have just sacrificed him in a blood
ritual... But
no
, you were foolishly jealous of the power that others
had, and wanted it for yourselves. Notice, that didn't work, did it?"

Tina actually spoke then. Not to
defend herself however. Ty would have been, but neither of these two even tried
yet.

"No. It was just rape and
torture, for decades. Healing and when we were lucky, drudgery. After Xenses...
Goethe was a relief. We were both raped and brutalized, but it was regular in
pattern. There were survivable limits to it. Is... Is the Demon that Tyler made
that bargain with actually Xenses? That seems like what he'd do, making an
elaborate hoax like this to give us hope, then ripping it away."

There was no real pause, though
the small hand started to make circles on his inner thigh, which forced him to
be a little distracted. Which, was no doubt, the point. She'd told him that he
was supposed to be holding a concept. He did it then, moving to calm, since he
kind of had that one already. After that he decided to move to the knowing of
the color blue. Those were hard to hold for him so far.

The girl shook her head. It was a
gentle thing, and not emphatic.

"No, Zack Hartley is your
son. A Greater Demon. The one you sold into slavery. The Mind Taker found him
as a child, after he'd been nearly broken, and killed him. Then brought him
back. He was hidden, after a fashion, with your parents, Darren. Douglas and Lyn."
There was a soft sigh then and a headshake. "Lyn... The Changling. If only
you'd asked
her
to help you find power. She would have, you know. To her
you were her own son. Now... Well, if you think that I'm upset with you, then
you'd best not seek her out. I doubt either of you would survive the centuries
of torture that you'd get there. As it stands the only reason you aren't
undergoing that right now is because Zack is too kind to lie to Tyler, and Ty
made a solid bargain with him, to have you free. Once that portion is done, I
highly
recommend that you run, however. Far away from the lands of men. Past that, if
you can find a way to do it."

She stood then, and removed her
hand from his thigh. It was a relief, since she'd started to stroke his leg a
bit, and his body was responding. His hind brain, if he had one that worked,
didn't seem to care what she looked like.

"Know this. Several of us
could have freed you from Goethe at any time. He clearly never cared for you in
more than passing. If you think that you were forgotten by the rest of us,
think again. You are
vile
Humans. You let what should have been the
kindest of my kind become insane. Driven to that state by your own greed and
avarice. Yes, your son is The Line Walker. Yes, he will save you. But know
this, you don't have just one Greater Demon enemy in this world, but
six
.
I'll stay
my
hand perhaps, but that's all. I might not even do that.
You'll be free soon, but I suggest, very highly, that you go away, and end your
lives, as soon as you can. It's the only protection you can find. No matter
what you believe, you will never, ever be safe again." She leaned into Ty
then, her pert, but large right breast pressing against him.