The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (5 page)

Rebekah grinned at him, one
filled with teeth, which turned up cutely at the sides.

"I know that one myself. I
always wondered why that was. The whole God thing. It's so hard to remember
that one as more than fiction. Anyway, we should get to work, after the boys
eat. See you tomorrow?"

Zack smiled in return, and then
winked at her.

"Yep. I'm bringing Jonas in
at ten, your time. I hear that you're going to be awake to see him? That will
be fun. See you then."

There was a nod for each of them,
and then the skinny, half Japanese looking man walked out of the room. Leaving
a sense of himself in his passing.

The night went well, though Steve
had to go to sleep earlier than everyone else. They did get a few solid hours
of practice in however, and started to re-work what they wanted for the first
album, which was really fast for that kind of thing. So much so that Rebekah
kept grinning about it all when she spoke on the topic.

About the time Steve was fading,
she stood, stretched and shook her head.

"Next week? We can have the
studio at any time, since Keeley owns one in the area. Then... Well, it either
works or not. We'll get the advertising we need and if we don't suck too much,
our stuff will be played on the radio. That's one of the perks of working with
Demons. Stuff gets done."

Scotty sighed, drummed on the pad
in his hand a few times and then looked up at the decently tall all white
woman.

"I suppose. Is it worth the
cost in the end however? We owe her so much already that to add to it is
foolish. One day she'll be coming around to ask us for repayment. What would a
being like her wish for, when it happens? I doubt it will be for hugs and
cuddles." The tone was dismal, with a slight hint of fear and anger
underneath it all. Scotty's eyes were generally all black, or more exactly a
deep brown color that was a bit too close to black for most to bother noticing.

Now they were all red. It was a
Vampire thing, Tyler thought. Some, like Rebekah, had that going on all the
time. The orbs were solid red, with no whites. Others, like Ginger and Scotty
went back and forth between normal and horror show, depending on their mood.
Generally if you saw red, someone was in trouble.

That thought got him to look
around, and oddly enough feel a little worried. Ginger wasn't back, and it was
after midnight by several hours. Steve didn't have to work the next day, so had
stayed up later than was normal for him. Still, he'd figured that the others,
Calley and Ginger, would have been back by then.

Before he could mention any of that,
his cell phone rang. He couldn't even hear it, since it was upstairs, in his
room. Far away from himself. Left there by one of the others at some point, so
he could rest. Rebekah ran to get it, and was talking on it, holding the black
thing to the side of her head as she scurried back.

"Here he is." She moved
it away from herself, holding it out to him, like it was a snake, rather than
just a call from a buddy. It was his work phone though, so that made sense. He
didn't have one for friends and family to get in touch on.

Unhelpfully she didn't call out
who he was speaking to first or anything, so Ty was going in blind. He glared a
bit at the Vampire, who moved back, not speaking, or looking at him too much.
That wasn't a great sign, actually.

"Hello? Tyler Gartner
here."

There was a sound that was a bit
like breathing, though wet and a bit harder than it should have been for a
friendly call.

"Gartner of the
Nation?" The words were drawn out, deep and almost cracking.

"Yes. What can I do for you
today?"

"Is Merisy. You come fight
for me? Little thing fight? I be challenged, say, Gartner come, fix. I no kill
today. That right?"

"Uh. I need to know more.
Can I come to where you are? It..." He was about to say it wasn't the best
time ever for that kind of thing, but the incredibly deep voice perked right up
and didn't let him speak.

"Good. You come. I no kill
little thing that annoy me. New place of bassadors." Then the phone hung
up.

Sighing he tried to think of who
to call about the whole thing. The new place of the bassadors was probably the
new embassy complex, as spoken by someone that either wasn't fluent in English,
or who had some other reason from not saying the exact words. Some mouth and
jaw shapes might make that hard. Tyler had never thought about it before, but
that was probably a real issue at the place like that. That meant,
if
he
could figure out where that was, he could possibly find out what was going on.
Hopefully he hadn't been promised to fight to the death or anything like that.
It wasn't his job, if that was the case.

So he tried to call Ginger, since
her number was in his phone and she might at least know who to get in touch
with. She picked up on the third ring, her voice normal sounding.

"Hi Ginger! I just got a
call, from Merisy? I don't know him, and didn't get the whole thing. It sounds
like I'm supposed to go and fight someone?" He didn't want to, but it
really had seemed like that. There was a low chuckle from his girlfriend then.

"Probably not. The Dragon
Shifter Assistant Ambassador is freaking out a bit, and wants to kill the Elth
Lord that came in earlier today and started to order everyone around. I ended
up having to hold half our people here back from that. The guy they sent is
an... Well, I won't say that, but he isn't easy to get along with. It might be
good if you could come and talk to him? Otherwise I think that he might be
taken out. Not in a good way, either."

"Okay... I'll... I need a
ride, I guess. I should probably change clothing too. This isn't a great time
for this. I look all lopsided at the moment." How he was going to set that
up, he didn't know, but Ginger was talking to someone quietly, and after a
moment got a bit louder.

"Evan is going to come pick
you up. It should be about fifteen minutes?"

That was the name of the Vampire
that was about to become a Master. Hopefully it was the same guy, so he could
meet him.

"Sounds great. I'll be
ready."

In order to get that done Tyler
would have to hop quickly. The whole thing was awkward, but he did notice as he
changed that the wound itself was largely healed already, and that he had a
tiny foot, one that looked to belong to a baby, sticking down from where a
stump had been not long before. It was pink, little and could wiggle a bit when
he tried. Honestly, he needed to get pictures of it, since it was really
adorable.

Maybe even get a tiny footprint
in ink. He could keep it on the fridge.

That meant he needed full length
trousers on, and that folding the end up probably wasn't the best idea in the
whole world. Things were simply coming back online for him a lot faster than he
would have thought, to tell the truth.

Holding the wall, after he
changed, it was a struggle to get down the stairs. In fact he had to sit on the
steps and rapidly scoot on his backside in order to make it in time. Scotty
waited at the bottom, not even smiling at him, when he got there. In his right
hand he held a length of wood that was lacquered and had a silver top to it
that was round, like a doorknob. A very fine one.

"Here you go. A walking
stick. What anyone is thinking, making you go out like this... Well, they
probably don't know. This is from an old costume of mine, from when I was doing
the All Vamp Band a few years ago? Rebekah thought it made me look debonair. I
didn't have the heart to tell her that it was a silly affectation for one of
us, so I kept it. It's yours now. Use it in good health."

That was a funny thing to say, so
Tyler stood up on the bottom step of the large staircase that led to the second
level where his room was, and took the proffered stick. It was easier to kind
of half hop, half walk after that.

"Thanks. I should head
toward the door. Really, all the way out, or I'm going to be late." That
would be embarrassing, but he didn't have long left if this Evan guy was
prompt. That turned out not to be such a big issue.

Tyler moved to the end of the
long driveway, by the gate and even outside of it, with no sign of anyone
driving along the road. Finally a blue truck that looked to have seen better
days pulled up. Given that he didn't want to eat the driver in particular, and
that the man looked half panicked for some reason, it was probably his ride.
Only half an hour late.

He waved, which got the man to
pull a U-turn and come back around. When he stopped it was evident that the
vehicle had seen better days. It had a large primer spot on the passenger side,
which was facing him at the moment, and the Vampire that got out and ran around
the thing seemed like a very normal person. That was he had very light brown
hair, that was visible under the lights from the house and headlights of the
truck, and his eyes were a deep blood red. Even though he was clearly a classic
Vampire, who should have had a far more normal color. Probably brown, given the
hair.

Other than that he looked a bit
like Ty himself did. White, thin, though Evan had more body mass to him and was
a bit taller. Maybe three of four inches, marking him as being over six feet.

Not wanting to wait too long
Tyler hobbled with his stick over to the blue thing, waving as the worried
Vampire came around. There were no fangs out, so he was taking it as a sign of
distress over something, as opposed to him about to be attacked and killed.

"Evan? Ty Gartner." He
waved again, rather than putting a hand out to shake. That was probably rude,
but he needed his right hand at the moment, unless he wanted to hop for real.

"Ahhh." It was a
strange reaction, and sounded like he expected a beating. "I'm sorry it
took so long. I kind of got lost coming out here. It really isn't far, but I
overshot the driveway, twice."

His body language was still
nervous, even as he got the door for him, like he was a girl. Or someone very
important.

"No big. I'm the one begging
a ride. Um, I don't suppose you could kind of push me up into the truck a
bit?" He hated to ask, not wanting to seem weak, but he wasn't used to
only having one working leg yet.

The Vampire was efficient, and
didn't seem worried about that, just giving him a boost with a hand on his
behind. There was no feeling him up. It was just like the man knew what had to
happen, and did it without compunction.

That was probably why Ginger
wanted
him
to learn to be up all day. He also wasn't bad looking, though
the fact that neither of the Vampires had real sexual feelings probably meant
the man had a lot more to offer than just a pretty face, or someone else would
be getting the spot.

They drove in silence for a bit,
the Vampire still seeming really nervous about things. That was kind of odd.
For a moment Ty wondered if it was a kidnapping attempt. Before he could ask
about it, the Vampire spoke, his words a bit rushed and stilted at the same
time.

"I was told... That you were
coming to see to the situation that blew up earlier? That Shifter and the
Elth?"

"Right. If I can do anything
about it. Really that kind of thing isn't my job in particular. I'm kind of the
Human slash Other groups rep, but I was asked for, so I figured I'd see what it
was about." It was the truth, or close enough to it that the other man
just kept driving for a bit.

When he spoke there were still
nerves showing. A subtle tremor to the whole thing that was out of place.

"Assistant Ambassador Harris
mentioned that. Do you think there will be a war over it? I can call in some of
the others, if you want? We were told to back you up, by The Bey. Even if it
means fighting to the last death."

Tyler shook his head slowly. That
would have made him a bit nervous, if he didn't know who he was dealing with
too.

"Nope. If we can't talk this
out like adults, then we'll leave them to their own devices. We can't have a
threat of violence every time someone has their
feels
hurt." Then,
changing the topic, he looked over at the guy. He wasn't really that much better
looking than Tyler was. It was hard to judge people that way, but he didn't
think that Ginger was just going to promote the guy for his style or anything.
"So, I hear that you're going to be working with Eve? Are you excited? It
sounds a bit miserable, from what I hear, but if you can do it, really worth
the effort."

That got him looked at, the pale
face baffled.

"Um, sorry? Eve? I was told
there might be some training, but no one mentioned what, exactly. There wasn't
time, I think."

Not knowing if the man was being
kept in the dark or not, Tyler nearly said nothing. Then again, if people
wanted to pull things like that, they needed to let him in on the secret first.
Otherwise they could kiss his behind.

It occurred to him that he was
being a bit of a grump. That could have been the kidnapping and missing leg
thing, or even a response to re-growing it. Looking down at the thing that had
been a stump, it looked longer now than it had. Not even close to being ready
to walk on, but the little foot bulge in his black slacks was slightly over
halfway down the shin of the other leg it seemed. That meant there was work
going on in his system. Some kind of magical effort, since nothing physical
would do that.

Then, being called out for some
kind of pissing contest might be enough to make him a little surly too, he
realized. That was no reason to take it out on Evan though, since he might well
know the man for a long time, given that neither of them would die too easily.

"Yep. Eve Benson is coming
into town in the morning, to help a bunch of you learn to stay up all day and
become Master Vampires. Ginger set that up for you. By
name
. It started
with Rebekah and Scotty. Um, you know, they used to be in the All Vampire Band?
Now they're in Living Proof. The Council signed off on it. A couple of other
people too, so it's kind of a big deal."