The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (20 page)

There was another chest slap, and
she ran, barely making any sound at all as she did. Leaving the large package
of tasty smelling meat right there.

"Ricard? Could you take the
package out for me?" He didn't want to mention why, but if a group of
school children came in for a tour right then, he'd probably have to run away
to save them. From himself.

The blue furry guys were easier
to deal with, and left a knife that was made of hyper strong plant fibers, in
some kind of resin. It was kind of amazing, actually. He took the time to talk
to them, and found that while they had accents, they were very understandable.
They also had a plant based infrastructure, and grew everything they needed.

"We have seen this Human
world, and wonder if, perhaps, they could use some of our knowledge? It would
be freely given, as a gift? If this would not offend?" It was a question,
though the words were nicely diplomatic at the same time.

"That would be great! I'm
willing to bet that a lot of people here would be interested. We'll just have
to announce it publically when you do that, so everyone knows about it.
Otherwise the big companies might try to suppress the information."
Especially since one of the plants they mentioned was basically a tree that
harvested a lot of electricity, and could store it like a battery for use
later. It would be handy to have a couple growing in the yard from the sound of
it.

They didn't understand what he
meant however, since it was kind of clear they didn't have or use money of any
kind. If you needed something, it was gotten for you. If you didn't need it,
then you didn't get it, because it would be a waste of resources. Tyler had
left his notebook at the mansion, but took notes on a yellow legal pad that was
on his desk. These people didn't
have
a name, but were fascinating
anyway.

They left just before Skalla came
back, carrying a large sword and wearing leather armor. He nearly mentioned
that it wouldn't be needed again, then realized he didn't truly know that. He
doubted that the Feminist would attack her, but if they did, she deserved to be
armed.

Besides, she looked impressive
that way. It just didn't seem all that comfortable.

When it was time to leave and he
got up, she followed him, walking exactly three paces behind. Right up until
they got out of the building, then she moved to the front.

"Where do we go? To your
magic wagon?"

"Nope. I don't have one of
those. I just walked here. It's only about four miles away, is that too far for
you?" They had two hours, but he didn't know how well she could move.

It wasn't a problem. In fact, by
moving close to her on her left, and wrapping the concept of the time
distortion field around them, they got there at about five-fifteen. He knew
that from the clock on the wall of the living room when he got in.

Scotty was there, twitching and
looking annoyed, but he smiled up at Skalla.

"
Hello
. How are you
doing?" It was a bit flirty, which given that Skalla was probably a three
by most people's standards in looks, probably meant the man was really bored.
Or horny. Both could be the case, since he was watching television. It was a
rerun of a sit-com from the nineties. Even Tyler recognized it.

If the wild seeming woman was
amazed by the moving picture window it didn't show on her face.

Tyler waved from one to the
other.

"Skalla, this is Scotty. He
plays in the same band I do. Making music. He does drums. He's
also
a Master
Vampire. A good guy, if you're looking for a date. Scotty, this is Skalla, of
The People. An Amazon. If you hurt her, I'll break your legs." He didn't
really mean it, but the Vampire smiled a bit and nodded.

"Understood."

Then he started to chat her up,
like they were in a bar, which was hilariously painful to listen to, even
though the large and lean lady was giving as good as she was getting. It
seemed. It was hard to tell. Ty had a funny feeling that if Scotty wasn't
careful he was going to end up with a rather large wife, or whatever her
culture's equivalence was.

Tyler wasn't his father though,
so if that was the case, then it was fine with him. Scotty made enough money to
support a wife. Even if she ate a lot. Kids might be a problem, but that wasn't
his responsibility, so he didn't think about it. Instead he sighed, glad that
he'd managed his new trick that well, putting the field around the large woman
like he had. It had been intense, concentrating like he was, but once they got
into it, she'd been nearly perfect without being told what to do. Quiet the
whole time, and staying right next to him, perfectly.

For his part he left them alone.
As long as they got into place at the right time, what happened that way wasn't
his business. Later though, he needed to find out and write up what he could
about Skalla's culture. The idea was suddenly very front and center to his
mind.

Really, it wasn't just him that
needed that data.
Everyone
did. Thinking about it, he had a good start
to a book on the subject as well. Not an in-depth study on each group, but
enough to get people started. For a second he wondered if that had been The
Technician's plan all along.

"Tina! Darren!" There
was no answer, but the sound of feet scurrying toward him gave them away.
They'd been upstairs, doing something.

Probably nothing fun, since so
far he hadn't been able to really help they do anything like that. Plus they
both carried dusting rags. From the scared looks on their faces they seemed to
think they were going to get in trouble for something. It was the expression
they always had, so he didn't let himself read into it too much. Until he
realized that these two had probably been put there as spies the whole time.

Blinking he realized that he
missed that
entirely
before, but now that he was holding a concept of
awareness, if imperfectly, he could see it. Why else would a Greater Demon show
up on his doorstep like that? Goethe had no reason to trade the slaves either,
and now that he thought about it, that
had
to be a set up the whole
time. If not to place spies in his house, then to set a trap for one of the
others. Why else bring them? None of the other Demons took their slaves around
with them. Not even The Mistress of Souls. Her whole thing was having slaves,
but
she
didn't do that.

That one was harder to figure
out. The primary one that came to mind was Zack, but the guy didn't seem to
have a lot of enemies amongst his own kind. He was loosely connected to Lucy,
but Goethe wasn't after her, in particular. No, he'd been set after The Storm,
by Keeley. She'd suggested that the other demon was coming for him in some
fashion. Except the mountain man looking guy wasn't a moron, and had probably
figured that out, then used that as a way to get people close to her.

These two could have easily been
keeping tabs on The Mistress of Souls, and had the added bonus of being immune
to her power, already being enslaved themselves. More or less at least. From
what he'd heard she might just be able to take a slave by brute force. It
wouldn't work on
him
, since he'd just die if she tried, most likely.
These two however...

He waved at them.

"Hey, we have a party later,
at about seven. You two should find something nice to wear. You have those new
clothes that Zack brought you?" Even if he hated them for selling him to a
Greater Demon, their son had made sure they weren't in rags, without being
asked.

That got a nod from both of them
and a gentle murmur from Tina, who was in her late forties, he realized. She
looked a bit younger than that, which was probably a side effect of all the
healing she'd had over the years, to repair the damage that had been done to
her.

Darren was in the same boat
there. Really, they would have looked younger than that, if they weren't so
haunted seeming.

"Yes, sir. We'll go do that
now?"

"Good plan. I think we have
a little over an hour and a half. I should get a snack." He was hungry,
but that was kind of a constant thing. He might be able to get rid of that
feeling by holding the right concept, he realized. Later. At that moment he had
to set up something a bit more complicated than that.

It started with a phone call. The
girl's voice on the other end sounded correct to him. Like Allison the slutty
teen rapist. It wasn't her though, being the real, unrapey, Allison. The
Technician.

"Hey." It was all she
said, and held a feeling to it that she was chewing gum at the same time, even
though there was no rude smacking sounds.

"Hi, Alli. This is Tyler.
Can you be here in ten minutes? Emergency." He didn't say more at first,
but then relented before she could speak. "I'm going to set up Keeley, and
kick her ass. I figured that you might want to watch?"

"Sure! Be right over. See
you then." It was kind of clear that she had other people with her. That
was fine as long as they didn't attend. After all, teen guys would try to fight
him, if they saw him going for Keeley. They probably couldn't help themselves.

The second call was to Zack, who
he got to come too, though he didn't mention the impending fate of Keeley.

When he called her, he was a bit
gruff.

"Mistress of Souls. This is
Tyler Gartner. Get over here. Now.
Don't
ask questions. Don't speak.
Just move your ass and be here inside five minutes. It's important. For
you
.
There will be a cost for it, and you'll gladly pay. Do it now." He sounded
mean, but he realized, she wasn't exactly on his good side at the moment. That
he
had
a bad side was news to him, but there it was. All angry and ready
to back up his ire with something other than strong words.

Zack got there first, but
Allison, the teeny-bopping Technician came through the front door just after
him, carrying a large and probably very heavy box. It sounded like that when
she got the thing settled to the floor. It actually creaked a bit under the
weight of the thing, even though there had been no particular thud. That was a
sign of what kind of strength the tiny body had, which he filed away. Keeley
would probably be similar.

Zack smiled at him, and seemed a
bit tense, and Allison moved over to give him a hug. Probably to show she was a
giant bitch, because she had to know how confused the whole thing with Keeley
had left him. Worse, even if she looked too young, she managed to rub up
against him in a way that would have been provocative, if he wasn't so scared.
After all, he was probably about to stop being. It was stupid and senseless of
him to even try it.

He was going to do it anyway.

Just like Keels had her limits,
so did he. She'd crossed them, and even if it meant dying forever, he was
willing to do it.

Oh, she hadn't been totally in
the wrong, but she
could
have just told him off for telling her what to
do with Steve. Sure, she didn't play by Human rules, but the thing there was
that he didn't have to either.

The little girl let go of him,
and let her mouth quirk a bit.

"
Really
? Well, I
think you can do it. Use a burst of magic, but build the field first. She's
good with that kind of thing, so expect her to get it, but if you can go in
hard enough..." Glancing at the front door, she waved at him and mouth two
words silently. "Do it."

Then she got Zack to move away,
gesturing a bit wildly. Almost as if they'd been hurrying, the two parental
slaves came down from their rooms, both dressed and groomed well enough for
what the real plans were. The clothing was clean, and nice enough for a low end
party, he guessed. Both were in black, with Tina in a slimming dress and Darren
in a sports jacket, white shirt and tie.

Trying to do what he'd been told
he set the whole thing up as he moved to the front door, doing that before the
knock came. He could feel her there on the other side, he realized. Seeming a
bit too tasty, but not like a real person. It was kind of clear Keeley was
doing it in order to control him. Influence at any rate.

Just as he opened the door, he gave
her a cool look. She'd come dressed up as a geeky twenty-something girl,
complete with thick glasses. She was her, but looked more real now than before.
A bit less like she was computer generated, and a little more like she was just
used to having men give her everything she wanted for free, instead of opening
a vein for her at first sight.

She smiled though, and it seemed
real. Then, it would. She was a freaking Greater Demon, and like all of them
had told him, they couldn't be trusted.

"You said you had something
for me?"

That got him to nod.

"Um, yeah. Here..."
Then, just like little trampy Allison the innocent non-rapist had told him to
do, he surged magic into his speed, pushing it to a level that he'd never
experienced himself. Then he slammed his right fist directly into her delicate
and lovely nose. It broke and she flew backward. Then he cut the magic and
started in on her, following her to the ground. She fought well, but he was
better. She was strong, and did damage to him, including breaking things where
she hit.