The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (13 page)

That got an honest to goodness
and untroubled sounding laugh.

"Seriously? I guess it's having
a different perspective that way. Those women
don't
hate men, not most
of them. They hate that they haven't had the world handed to them, like they
were promised as little girls. The pretty girls grow up to be princesses, and
the less attractive have to actually work for what they get. That
wasn't
what they were told would happen by their moms and dads. So they have to
actually struggle. Not as hard as men for the same things, but they genuinely
can't see that, having only one way to see the world. So they can't
stand
attractive women that get by on their looks. Since that's about seventy percent
of being an Alede, they can't help but see us as the enemy." She sounded
really certain of that one.

Tyler, for his part, didn't know.
After all, he only had one perspective, too. It was kind of clear regardless that
the groups coming for him and his friends weren't good people. Both groups.
Jamison Blythe's cult, and the feminists. They were different, and had
different political leanings, but had both taken the wrong path in life at some
point. Ones that led them to think it was okay to hurt others, and to blame
them for the wrongs of the world.

The religious group didn't see
people that didn't believe as they did as being real people. The feminists...
Didn't see half the Human race that way. Oh, they might have, as
individuals
,
but these fanatics, as a group? That didn't seem likely.

The thing there was that he had
nothing in particular that he could do about them. Telling them they were wrong
wasn't going to help. They had to know that, on some level. You couldn't call
for the death, or harm being done, to anyone, and still think you were a good
person, could you?

That would take far too much
rationalization to work. At least for Tyler.

At dusk the world changed. It was
a quiet thing, at first, noted as different when they realized that Steve was
missing in action. As soon as they did, Tyler suspected that The Storm, or at
least some other Greater Demon had stolen the guy away. Probably to torture
him, or to use him as a weapon against someone else. Like him.

A single call, while they all sat
in the front room of the mansion, found him easily enough. He was over at
Keeley's. From the sound of it when they spoke on the phone, he was trying
really hard to get laid. Failing at it, too. In the very worst way possible. By
acting like her friend. Tyler could have told him that one wouldn't work. It didn't
with
normal
girls, and a Greater Demon was probably a lot less likely to
fall for him being a nice guy than the regular kind would have. Walking in and
ordering her to get on her knees would have worked better for him, than trying
to clean her kitchen. Not that the first one wouldn't have him
dead
, if
she wasn't in to it.

Still, flowers and making a move
first thing were a much better option. Except that it couldn't really work for
him, because Keeley was never going to be able to respect him. He was,
literally, her slave. A thing to be used, and nothing more. If anyone in the
world had ever been more in the "friendzone" Tyler hadn't heard about
it. The whole thing was incredibly sad, actually. Steve York might not have
been perfect, but he deserved better than that. Everyone did.

If he'd been a regular guy, Ty
would have told him to forget about the Greater Demon and to just go on with
his life. Maybe by striking up a friendship with a few of the Alede, who at
least would make him being kind to them worth his while.

Rebekah had her friend Jonas
over, but was
still
willing to work on the music, which was a problem in
a totally different way. It meant that Steve was supposed to be there, ready to
freaking play. The big deal there was that, being her slave, he didn't get a
lot of option but to love Keeley. Ty was in the same boat, with his mother, but
she was his
mom
. He might love her more than was reasonable that way,
but it wasn't the same. Sure, he was a young guy too, and had a lot of high
octane hormones, just like Steve, so he could get the idea. It wasn't the same
for him though. Lucy was someone he respected and cared for on a deep level.
That was all though.

Rebekah didn't seem to get any of
it.

"We don't have a lot of time
to waste. We're in the studio soon, and we
need
to be ready. The means
showing up for the practices on time, Steven!" She didn't seem nervous at
all, just a bit pissed off. At Steve. She grabbed the phone, and suggested,
with a bit of venom in her voice that he'd better get back before they started
playing, or they
might
just find a new guitarist. One that was willing
to take the band a bit more seriously.

Her face was blank though, and
she scowled a bit as soon as she set the device back in the cradle across the
room.

"Sorry you all had to hear
that. It's Keeley's fault. She
could
order him not to think of her that
way, but she decided that having him as a
friend
would work better. It's
a good plan, in a totally mercenary way. Having control over him and then
forcing him to just be her friend like that is cruel. Demon though, so what do
you want?"

Tyler rolled his eyes. Normally
he tried to be nice about whatever the others wanted, but this time he had to
disagree.

"
He
doesn't
get
a choice, and threatening him over it won't help anyone. It will just drive us
all apart. He
has
to side with her. He doesn't have the ability to not
do that." Tyler was ready to fight about it. Not upset himself, but
sometimes you had to stand up to people. Otherwise they might just decide they
were right.

Rebekah glared at him, her all
blood colored red eyes shining a bit. Her lips pulled back, and she turned on
him, looking ready to attack.

That lasted right until he tilted
his head a little bit.

"
Really
? I point out
a
fact
, and you want to go all hyper-vamp on me? That... Is something
wrong?"

The bone white lady showed half
her teeth, sneering, but then shook herself a bit.

"Sorry. Sorry." She
moved to the sofa, where he was sitting and took the far end. That was pretty
much her place in the room. Sinking into place, she closed her eyes for a bit,
before speaking. "It was being up all day. It wasn't fun. You're right, I
shouldn't take it out on the rest of you. Sorry."

"No problem, as long as
you're willing not to do that. I mean, I get the thing with Steve, on both
sides, but we'll need to do something
else
to get him not to miss
practice. Right now, if Keeley is going to be where he can reach her, he
will
go to her, when he can. I..." He went over to the phone himself, and
dialed a number from memory.

After a few rings the phone
picked up.

"Hello? Keeley here."
The voice was calm, polite and normal for the girl. So at least she hadn't
become a teeny-bopper in the last two days.

"Hey, Mistress of Souls. I
have that right, don't I? You're a Greater Demon... and
not
a vapid
waste of space that's messing up her own band's progress? I don't want to talk
to the wrong person, if I get a choice, because I doubt that The Mistress of
Souls we be nearly that stupid." He made his voice sharp, and waited for
an explosion. It didn't come.

"What? I..."

"This is Ty, and you have
our
guitar player over there, busily trying to get laid. Well, stop stringing him
the fuck along! You've known him for years, and you
aren't
some Human
girl trying to friendzone him, right? So either order him to stop feeling like
that, or sleep with him already. Either way, unless there's a real reason,
don't
let this happen again. I just nearly had my head torn off by a Vampire for
reminding them that he didn't get much of a choice in how he responds to you.
You
know
that too. Cut it the hell out." Now, there were about
fifty things that could have happened,
including
him being kicked out of
her band. Being taken as a slave might be out, but there were probably fifty
ways for him to be made not alive anymore. Or at least not moving around.
Possibly even over the phone.

Instead there was a long sigh,
followed by a laugh. It didn't sound too mean.

"Right. Right. I'll see what
I can do about that. Which one do you think I should go with? Ordering him to
not love me, or taking the time to do him right now, before sending him over
there?"

Tyler looked around the room, and
saw that all three Vampires there were looking at him, hard.
He
took
that to mean he needed to back up his band mate.

"Sleep with him, if you want
my opinion. He's a good guy and deserves it. Don't take too long though? We're
starting in an hour." Then he hung up, not waiting to say goodbye. He
wasn't upset with the Demon or anything. Or trying to really push her around,
which she probably knew. After all, he wasn't dead yet.

Then he laughed. He was
totally
deceased. It was just so easy to forget that. Everyone else in the room with
him was. They were also looking at him like he was insane. He understood that.
You didn't as a rule, talk to people like that. Pretty much anyone, Greater
Demon or not.

So he tried to explain.

"Don't worry, she's going to
handle it. I know, I should have gone with the faster one, but it isn't any fun
to have people order you around when you don't get any kind of choice in the
matter."

Scotty, red eyed and panicked
sounding, sucked in air.

"You just basically ordered
a Greater Demon to... Get fucked. To her own hearing. Coming from you directly..."

That got waved away.

"I know. That was rude.
You're right. I'll have to apologize for it. I... Really, it's the slave thing.
I can't stand it. I know I shouldn't do that kind of thing."

It was hard to pretend he didn't
get their fear. It was the basic, primal, one that everyone that had ever
existed had. That of not being. They were all dead, but they still had life to
them. The ability to move, and think, to create, and to keep going in a world
that was built for a very different kind of being. Those that had the force of
life within them. So they still wanted to survive.

Goading an apex predator was kind
of a poor way to get that done. So they were worried.

Instead of dealing with a thing
that he couldn't fix anyway, he got his music notebook and keyboard around, and
started working on a new tune. It started as a bit of random key hitting, using
chords as a building block, tapping each of the keys individually. Then he
added in the matching left hand, and started to hum along.

After about thirty minutes of
that, Bekah started to sing. The words weren't the ones that he would have
used, but it was perfect anyway. Oddly hinging on fear, change and the risk of
loss.

At one hour exactly after the
phone call had ended, a smiling and happy seeming Steve came in, not even
bothering to seem annoyed with their Vampire boss for having yelled at him
earlier.

"Keeley asked me to go out
with her. Like a boyfriend? We... You know..."

Tyler shook his head.

"Good. Still, that's no
excuse not to be here on time from now on. Schedule things out, right? This is
big business and art, so...
Yeah
." He tried to mock glare, and
broke after a bit, smiling. Then he started to play the little song again. On
the second play through the singing started.

Oddly enough Jonas added in some
background vocals for them. They weren't perfect. Close enough to get written
down.

Tyler pointed at him with the
yellow school pencil he was using.

"Can you go into harmony on
the second verse? Up at the end, like this?" He sang the part, and let the
guy do it for them. Then they did the whole thing again.

After that they had to hit the
older songs. The ones that they hadn't even gotten down on a recording
anywhere. Old, but only by a few weeks, comparatively.

That kept up until about
midnight, when Steve, still happy and seeming to float a bit, went up to bed. Almost
like there was a plan in place to avoid the tasty Human man, Eve and Marissa
came in a few minutes later.

Eve, her dark shoulder length
hair looking nearly perfect, smiled and waved at the room.

"Hey everyone. Calley and
Ginger got locked down in the new embassy for the night. There was a fight
earlier, so everyone is talking war now."

Tyler glanced over at her, and
didn't ask what had happened. No one had called him in this time, he noticed.

She finally smiled at him.

"Don't worry too much. It
was two of the very small groups that can't even reach each other normally.
They might fight here, but there are only about ten of them, so it won't be
much of a war. More like a rumble in the parking lot."

That meant he needed to call
anyway, because otherwise he'd be a horrible boyfriend if he didn't. That...
Felt a bit cold. A little like he was calculating out the cost benefit tally of
the whole thing, instead of just wanting to check up on people. He liked his
girlfriends, but he didn't love them. That didn't mean he was going to let them
go too easily however. They were fun, and it was nice to have other people
around. Plus, there was a lot to be said for having that kind of relationship,
since it gave them all a bit of built in back-up for the little things.

He called Calley first, in case
she managed to get some sleep.

Ginger was going to be up the
whole night anyway, so he called her last. When he finally got to her, talking
to half her staff first before they would pass the phone over, she made an
annoyed sound. Not about him having to be transferred three times either.

"Well, I
was
planning
on spending some time with you tonight. I suppose you could find someone there
that way. For sex. Eve would do you." It was playful, but Eve nodded and
spoke like she was part of the conversation.

"Sure, if you want me to,
Ginger. We can both double team Marissa."

The Council member covered a
smile, her hand covered with a black lace glove.

"That sounds
lovely
.
Thank you for thinking of me. Is that all right with you however, Ginger? I
wouldn't want to step on toes. I value your friendship and goodwill." She
seemed serious about it. That made sense, really. The woman herself had told
Tyler that you didn't take a Master Vampire lightly.
Any
of them.

It seemed she was living up to
her word.

The voice in his ear seemed fine
though, that way. It was hard at times to remember that the girl didn't really
have a sex drive. Eve didn't
either
, come to that. At least he'd been
told that. Even as American girls they just didn't seem to feel the same way
about that kind of thing as they probably used to. That meant her flirting with
him, which she normally managed to do when they met, was about manipulating him
using that kind of thing. Probably a lot more consciously than what a regular
woman would have managed.