The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (8 page)

They rode in silence, the Bat
woman twitching and moving like always, more or less. That didn't mean she
wasn't paying attention to the world however. It was kind of clear she really
was.

When she spoke it was a bit
shocking to him. Part of that was that her voice was small sounding. Not
bombastic or excited which was kind of common for her.

"I didn't mean to make you
upset. With the orgy thing. Really, I was kidding. I know that kind of thing
isn't really what Humans do most of the time."

"Eh? Oh, I wasn't worried
over that. Not
much
. I just noticed that a lot of things in my past that
I'd never really thought about seem to have just been orders. You know, that whole
slave thing? Even understanding this
now
was kind of an order from my
mom. That's all. Deep stuff you know. That's how I roll."

There was a tiny chuckle that was
nearly too soft for him to hear.

"Okay. I got
that
one
wrong. Good to know."

"I know I'm all complicated
and stuff. Sex is cool and you are who you are. This was all about other junk.
Stupid things, probably. Or not. I don't even know, to tell the truth. I guess
that it comes down to being a slave. Part of me wants to control my own fate,
and I think that Lucy will support that even. I just can't know that for a
fact."

Calley drove for a bit and
finally spoke, her words a little clipped.

"I know. How can we fix that?"

"That's the thing. As far as
I know, it can't really be made any better. This is it. This is the best I can
have for myself. Really, it isn't that bad, over all. I'm not alive, but I get
most of the perks of that. Plus the cool healing thing. It just..." How
did he explain what he was feeling to a person that was, in the end, the
captain of her own ship?

"You want to have
control."

"Okay, I was getting ready
to have to beat around the bush for a while, but that's the heart of it. The
thing is, I can never
know
if I do or not. Even if things were better
and I thought that I was a real boy again, I could never know that it wasn't
just Lucy telling me to think that way. Even if the other Greater Demons told
me it was the case, I can never actually know, can I? Plus, I kind of have this
sense that everything is going to come to an end. Not instantly, but, you know,
for real? I think it started when Lucy brought me back."

There was a soft smile then,
which he saw on the side of his friend's face. The inside of the vehicle was
dark, but he could make that much out.

"Oh. That one. News flash,
anyone that knows about Greater Demons has to have the same thoughts. Not just
them either. Mages can screw your mind like that, too. I bet Ettarians could
manage that as well.
Incredible
telepaths, those people. Then there are
dozens of chemical ways to do the same thing. That... I know that it doesn't
make things any better for you, but you should know that we're all in the same
boat there. We all live with that kind of fear. Or..." She stopped for a
while, thinking about something or another. "Really, most people just
don't consider that part of things in life. That's how we get by."

That was a powerful tool, no
doubt. All he had to do was give up thinking about things, and it would all be
good again.

It wasn't wrong. He could see
that, and even had to figure that sooner or later it would be pretty much what
he did too. After all, Lucy could make him do or think anything she wanted. That
was clear. If that was the case, either she already had, or she didn't want to.

Either way he didn't have the
ability to really control her on the topic. That meant he was, for the rest of
his life, going to be vulnerable. Her orders were, more or less, the word of
god. Not unless he could learn, somehow, to beat that. To become, if not
living, than strong enough to not be a slave.

Even while being one.

That did
not
seem likely.
In fact, he was willing to bet that no one had ever managed it in all of
history. Still, if anyone had, he could copy it. If they hadn't...

Then he could be the first. It
wasn't like he didn't have enough time to learn. Even if it never happened, it
seemed like the kind of thing that wouldn't be a waste in the end. It was
interesting, but he was fine thinking about that. There was no residual sense
of being tired when he considered trying to survive on his own.

Without
eating people. That one was a
deal breaker for him.

As they got back home, the trip
not really taking very long, since the new embassy structure seemed to have
been picked for its convenience to him, or more likely The Mistress of Souls.
That made him have to wonder if she lived in the area herself. For all he knew
she lived out back. The place was large enough, and there was a guest house
looking thing in the back yard that he'd never been out to. They didn't have
servants, as far as he knew, so it wasn't for that.

The evening went a little bit
differently after that. If coming in that late, since it was nearly two in the
morning now, was going to be called evening. Steve was out for the night
sleeping like a Human should, and Ginger was back at work. Calley needed to get
to bed too, and after a sleepy kiss she headed off that way.

The difference was that both
Scotty and Rebekah were gone for some reason as well, and there was a strange
Vampire sitting in his living room. He could tell that she wasn't alive at a
distance, like always, now that he'd learned to pay attention to that kind of
thing. She didn't seem good to eat. She was also wearing a dress, and had
luggage with her, which probably meant she was visiting. It wasn't like they
didn't have the room for that kind of thing.

"Hello! I'm Tyler." He
didn't hop over to her, since most ladies didn't want to shake hands anyway,
and it would be awkward at the moment, given his cane. On the good side, even
though it was a bit short on that side, his tiny little foot, which was bigger
now, actually touched the floor and was sticking out the bottom of his trousers.
He wasn't ready to go running, but it was kind of clear that it wouldn't be too
long now.

The lady, who looked to be about
thirty or so, and was a bit manly, if in a made up and cute way, lit up when he
spoke.

"Ah! A person. How
entertaining. I fear that I drove the others here away with my unannounced
visit. I'm Marissa. It was suggested to me by Lenore Hawthorn that I could,
perhaps, visit with her daughter Ginger. I'd planned to travel this way, and do
prefer the home touch to a hotel. Are you a servant?" There was no
particular tone to the words, even at the end. As if asking if a person was a
servant was just making conversation in her world.

Then, it was possible that the
lady was just having trouble working out what exactly he was.

"Nope. I live here. With
Ginger, so this
is
the right place. We should get you a room. Normally
I'd help carry the bags, but... Well, re-growing my leg right now. Sorry about
that."

The woman waved at him, and
smiled in a friendly fashion.

"Oh, pish. Don't give it a
thought. I carried them here from the airport, I think I can make the stairs.
So, if you don't work as a servant here, which I could see being a very good
job, being such a grand place, how do you occupy your time?"

He led her up the stairs, since
there was an empty room at the end of the hall that he, Calley and Ginger
shared. Probably up the stairs too.

"Musician, among other
things. Keyboard, and singing. We have a band here. I also work in a bookstore.
Down this way?" He gestured, and hobbled after the woman, able to nearly
keep up, now that his foot was able to touch the ground. "Also, I head up
the Coalition of Nations. That's why I was out so late. Calley, the woman you
heard a bit ago? She's the local Shifter Ambassador."

They got to the room, which was empty
and very large. It had its own bathroom as well. For his part, he stood in the
door, but after placing her bag down Marissa turned and waved for him to come
in.

"So, you're
that
Tyler? Gartner, isn't it? That portion wasn't pointed out to me. I hope you
aren't offended by my dropping in like this? No doubt this is Lenore trying to
get me in trouble. I'd thought we'd parted friends, but you never know with
women. I do believe she thinks I have designs on her man friend. The Line
Walker?" That was name dropping it was clear, and she obviously knew that
he'd pick up on that one.

Ty grinned.

"Who doesn't? He's cute. Not
that
I've
gotten to do anything with him myself. He owns the bookstore I
work at?"

"Oh? That
does
make
you well connected then, doesn't it? Not to be importune, but I couldn't help
but notice that you don't have a heartbeat. Are you perhaps one of the New
Vampires? No one mentioned that we were running the Coalition, though it's a
wonderful idea."

He shook his head, and limped
over to one of the soft looking green chairs, sinking into it, as she did the
same, in the one across from him. So they could have a conversation.

"I'm undead the hard way.
Resurrected by The Rotted. Basically her slave, though she doesn't make me do
that much, day to day. My adopted mother. So, read into that one what you
will?"

He laid the cane across the arms
of the chair. That was probably a bit defensive on his part, since the Vampire
woman would have little to no desire to drink his blood, being that he didn't
have any life force to leech off of. That sounded mean in his mind, thinking
things like that, but it was just meant to be the truth. He had nothing in particular
that this woman would want. Not that
killing
him would actually get her.

Not unless she was The Storm in
disguise. If that was the case it was a better one that Will the male feminist
had been. Not that he'd picked up on it until it was too late, meaning it had
been a good enough thing to trick him with. He just liked Marissa here better.
Probably because she was a woman, which seemed less threatening to him, even
though that was insane. The Vampire could rip him limb from limb. A thing he
might well survive. Will, the skinny Human man if he'd really been one, hadn't
represented a real threat to Ty. Not even considering that the first time
they'd met the man had managed to get him shot three times.

It made an impact.

Now this lady could have killed
him, true, but that danger was out in the open. The thing there was a question
of who she really was. As a Vampire she was powerful, and dangerous, but so was
The Storm. The difference was more along the lines of asking who wanted to harm
him then. Marissa had no reason to, if she was whom she claimed.

He realized in a flash that he
didn't really know that. She'd given a name, and nothing more so far. Then, he
hadn't
asked
for her information, so she might not even be hiding
anything from him. It would be silly to try kicking
that
door down just
to discover it had been unlocked the whole time.

There was no speech from the
woman for a while, the well dressed woman, her clothing new, but done to a
classic cut, watching him without blinking. That would have made him nervous,
except that it was a very Vampire type thing. Not a Greater Demon one. Sure,
that could be faked, but it would take skill and being willing to bother with
it. It made him feel better, which
might
be a trick.

For probably the first time in
history, a person being stared at directly by a Vampire was sitting there
hoping
she was just thinking about lunch. Which was a good point. She was a guest, and
if he was playing host, which giving her a room seemed to be saying, it would
be polite to get her some food. A thing best accomplished by raiding the
fridge. True, he might have to repay Rebekah for the blood he got from her
stores, but she owned the company, so he was betting they could go wholesale.

"Would you like something to
eat? I think we have some Human blood in the fridge. Animal too. Ginger doesn't
eat people anymore. It's a self-discipline thing, I think, rather than her
being poor." He didn't know what an Ambassador got paid, but it was
probably more than a yogurt girl.

There was a clap then, the pale
hands looking soft, and the nails trimmed short, but well cleaned and groomed.

"Wonderful of you to offer,
kind sir. You'll turn my head yet, being charming that way." She actually
batted her eyes, and gave him a look that would be best described as
coquettish.

He returned a wink. After all, he
had two girlfriends, and there were Vampire rules for Ginger, but that didn't
mean he wasn't allowed to be polite. Not as far as he knew.

"Here let me run and get
that." He limped still, but a foot stabilized him on the right now, and
while the cane was helpful, the foot was about half size. At that rate he'd be
able to wear shoes on both feet by noon.

Marissa walked behind him, even
though he'd planned to just dash down and get her something. That was fine,
because he realized that he didn't really know how to warm it up. The glass
bottle went into a small pan of water, and it wasn't boiled, just brought up to
about body temperature. How to tell when that happened he didn't really know.
He could guess at how warm a thing was, but Tyler didn't really know how close
he could get on the lower end. He ran at something like room temperature
himself and didn't feel it. Not in particular. So a warm day felt the same as a
freezing cold room to him.