The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (19 page)

"Hello!"

Sylvester smiled at him.

"Mr. Gartner. So good to see
you." Then the door was opened. Just as easy as that. Like he was
expected.

Of course he could have been
anyone, but there was nearly no way to tell that. Then again, who in the world
would bother faking being him?

Smiling back he went inside.

Tyler found several things that
day. The first one was that a lot of people apparently had jobs at the embassy
that pretty much worked out to being visiting. Those people were called
Ambassadors. He learned this when something like ten of them called his
secretary to try and see about getting an appointment with him.

Also, he had a secretary, who
turned out to be a man that he'd never met before, hadn't hired, and who, he
reflected, was almost certainly a Greater Demon. No one else would just walk in
one day and start working like that. Besides, he didn't want to eat him. Well,
there was a bit of an urge to do it the way most people would have meant it, but
only the low tickle that the Demons all gave off that way.

The guy was called Ricard,
according to his name plate, which didn't sound like a real name. Not that it
was a bad one. He was light skinned, and had very soft looking short blonde
hair. It went with his nice tan. The eyes were a perfectly standard blue, and
shone a bit, brightly, when he saw Tyler walk in.

The giveaway was that the man
knew who he was, instantly. Normal people needed to meet each other first.

"Mr. Gartner! I have several
messages for you. Should I call back to let them know that you're in finally?
I've been holding them off for a while, but they've been pestering me a
bit." The name plate on the desk, was a shiny and expensive etched brass
thing. It only had his first name however. That was off, if only a little.

His own was on the door behind
the fellow, etched nicely into a second brass piece of metal. Ty noticed that
he got two names, and a title. It was just Mr. but still, it made him sound
older than he really was. That probably meant that Ricard here had set it up,
in order to do just that.

Glancing at the man he just stood
there, watching for a few seconds, trying to feel the concepts coming from him.
The man wasn't food, so not Human, but did stir his hunger a little bit,
meaning that he wasn't dead. There was energy there. Power.

"Sorry, I don't know which
Greater Demon you are? The Storm?" It would make sense, given everything.
At least if he was going to be egotistical about it. That idea, the one that
said she might be after him at all personally was a bit over the top. Oh, she
might get him, in the end, or try to take him again to punish Lucy, but it
wasn't him she wanted really. No matter what she said.

Ricard gave him a long look, and
then smiled slowly.

"Fram. Called The Bold. Not
that I love that name. I was asked to come here and watch out for you by The
Rotted. I'm getting fifty million for it, in gold. Good catch, by the way. I'd
been told you were a bit clueless. By the Mistress of Souls, not your mother.
She
actually seems to like you." There was a sense that he was trying to dig
at Ty with the words.

He shrugged.

"Yep. Pretty much. I have no
delusions there. So, I don't suppose there's any way I can check your story out
right now. I'll look into it, however. So, messages? Also,
fifty
million? Man, I grew up poor, and mom had that kind of money lying
around?" He shook his head, feeling a little bit sad, but not too much.

Ricard waved at him then.

"It was for the best. People
raised without any hardships don't come out very well in the end. That was too
much of a risk with an investment like you. You're the first being like you
that I ever heard of. What do you call yourself, other than Tyler." There
was a close look, and the man straightened his shirt a bit as he sat behind the
desk.

"I haven't put a label on
it. I don't know if I can. I guess I tend to think of myself as undead or
sometimes a zombie."

That got an eye roll. A bit of a
sniff went with it.

"
Doofus
. You are so
much more than that. I've only known you for two minutes, and I can tell that.
What you are is... Well, my guess is that you'll have to write that story for
yourself. I've seen zombies, mainly made by The Rotted. They're a lot
different."

A sheet of paper came out at him
then, and there was a smile to go along with it. It was, he could see, a bunch
of messages. Just like he'd been promised.

"Thanks. I'll call people
back myself. I guess I should actually come in and do my job? I have to say, I didn't
think it was that big of a deal."

"It is. Let me know when you
plan to be in, and I'll set up real appointments for you. Do you need anything?
Coffee? Sex?" The Greater Demon batted his eyelashes at him, his face
flirtatious.

"Hmmm. Food? Lots of it? I
need to eat more now, I guess. We could have an early lunch? Can we get food
in?"

"We can! Well, if my cover
is blown, I'm going to pull out the stops. I'll have that handled. So, no sex?
I could call in a girl for you? Or some guys? Whatever you want. Even a
Pickatyrn, if you want? Sexy skunk women. The scent is a bit ripe, but if you
can handle that it's
more
than worth the trip. Always in season too, so
they're pretty much good to go for anything." It was teasing, but also a
bit of a test, he thought.

Why that was, Ty didn't know.

"Not right now, thanks.
There are social rules that I need to follow, so best I go a bit slow that way.
Besides, I have several girlfriends, and they're really sweet." That
sounded very sexist of him, he realized. Like he just excluded men like that.
It was kind of true too. Not that he didn't like men, but it was much easier to
find women.

Also a big distraction. Sure he
was eighteen, but could he afford to let himself be that distracted at the
moment? Taking a deep breath, he went into his office, which was nice inside.
Rich looking. There were books on shelves that covered both of the side walls,
all the way to the ceiling, and a big wooden desk that looked to be made of
cherry wood. How he knew that he didn't know.

It was nice, however.

Thinking for a moment, he tried
to clear his mind and hold the concept of being very aware of what was going
on. What he, in particular, was doing. It was harder than it sounded like, and
he lost it after the first calls started. It was a fight then, for the rest of
the day to hold the right concepts while he worked, since there were some
surprises. Most of them nicer than he would have thought, since people showed
up to give him gifts.

All of them were strange, and
reflected the people doing the giving, which was nice really. He didn't need a
lot, and the feeling was more about introducing a culture to him, rather than
being a bribe. Thankfully. He didn't know what he could have given in return if
they were meant to pay him off.

So all day long he had a Greater
Demon bringing him food, and forcing him to eat it using shaming tactics, in
between people just showing up to shake his hand, bow, or in one case hug him.
That one at least was Calley, in her position as the Shifter Ambassador.

She seemed happy, thankfully.

"Hey honey! I didn't know
you were coming in to work. I heard from the Lentis Ambassador that you were
in. She wants to meet you, but their opening present hasn't arrived yet, and
won't for about a year. They're from a very long way off. I told her to just
come in anyway. I see that the others have started with things already? I have
something for you from my people. I'm keeping it in our room. Tonight?"

He grinned, getting it, and
returned the big hug, adding a gentle kiss to it.

"I probably can't. Eve and
Bey are meeting with me in Toronto. Something seems to be up there, with a
Human group bugging some of the Vampires. I guess it's my job to sort it all
out. It might not work."

Calley murmured, and held him
closer for a bit.

"Too bad. For me I mean.
Well, I'll tell the Lentis Ambassador to come in and say hi?"

"Or I can go to them? That
might be easier for people. Or not." He said that since there were three
people in the doorway of his office space, each looking unique. One was a woman
who was about seven feet tall, and was almost not wearing clothing. It wasn't
exactly a great thing, because she wasn't that great looking. Too lean and
muscular for that really. Hairy in places too, but just like a Human, if a tall
one.

The other two were men, and blue,
if in slightly different colors. Each was clearly of the same species, and were
standing up, but it was clear that they normally walked on all fours. So they
were doing it to be polite. One of them had grabbed the door frame to steady
himself.

"Hi everyone! Come in,
please." He looked at Calley, her rust colored short hair and freckles
just as cute as ever. Really he would have loved to spend more time with her,
but she moved in and kissed him again. On the cheek this time. There were
people watching after all, and the tall woman with hairy under arms and legs,
with her top barely covered and wearing what he could only describe as a loin
cloth grunted. She looked Human, but not like anyone he'd ever seen before.
Dark skinned, but in a tan way, rather than African. The features were
intensely sharp, and nearly man like, even though she had nice enough hip
bones. It added a lot to her look. She was staring at Calley and then him,
interested in the scene.

"Ho, Gartner of the Nations.
I am Skalla. Of the people. Amazons, as you call us? I have come to ply you
with gifts, so you will side with us against the Humans if war comes between us
again. Should I trade my body for that, like the Shifters? I did not know that
was an option. I brought meat, instead. From the rarest of beasts of my
homeland, far away." She grinned, and moved to get that. It was sitting
outside of the office door, wrapped in leather hides.

It was cured somehow, and a bit
like jerky, but smelled incredible.

"Come, we will eat, and then
sign our bond in blood!" One of the two blue men sniffed at the package,
only to have her swat at him playfully. She didn't make contact and seemed
pleasant about the whole thing.

Tyler smiled as Calley winked at
him and left.

Escaping before he had to make a
fool of himself.

"I... Can't eat that. I'm
sorry." He searched for a way to explain, but nothing came to him. Not fast
enough. Instead of seeming pissed off that her gift was being rejected, which
he could have seen, she looked horrified.

"Our gift... It is too
humble. We have insulted you. I will atone for this, I swear it." She
didn't move, but there was a feeling that atoning
might
involve
something like ritual suicide. That was over the top. Plus it was for the wrong
reason.

"No, the gift is
very
fine. I... Well, the truth is that I'm not alive, and my type of being can feed
on the living of our own kind. I don't eat meat, so I won't be as tempted to do
that. Part of my job is to protect them, even from myself. That's all." He
didn't know how to explain it, and she still seemed really upset.

"I knew that you were not of
the living kind, but had no thought what that might mean. We know of the dead
that are restless. It happens among The People, from time to time. What may I
do to redress this... Wrong that I have committed."

The blue furry being stood very
still, watching avidly. They hadn't spoken yet, but seemed to be picking it all
up.

Ty smiled and shook his head.

"There
is
no wrong
here. Though, would you be willing to help me with a small problem? There are a
group of women, in a place called Toronto, who could use your council, I think.
They aren't fighters, but keep making aggressive moves at different people.
Human women. Could you go and talk to them? I can get you there and back, I
think. The Line Walker owes me a few trips still."

There was a gasp, from everyone
in the room except him.

Skalla's nipple went erect,
though that probably wasn't a sign that she was turned on, since the hair on
her arms stood up too. He could tell though because they flashed from under her
top when she bowed toward him.

"This must be of great
importance, to travel that way. I shall not fail. How many must I battle? What
weapons will they have? I have my bow with me, but no magical creations to
fight by my side. Could we get Human thunder throwers? The best of those are
worth having, I think. Those that do not stop?"

It was an interesting line of
thought, but he shook his head.

"Okay. They might be armed,
but probably won't be. We'll have two of the top Vampire fighters with us, so
that probably won't be a problem. I simply think that if you go there too, they
might actually listen to us. Maybe not. They like powerful women however, and
you seem to fit that description."

Skalla the Amazon slapped her own
chest, above her breasts.

"Ho! It shall be done, great
Gartner, of the Nations. I shall teach them as you say. I will go now, to prepare.
When do we leave?"

"Um... Call it five? I need
to meet Zack at my house for a thing at seven. There might be a side trip
first. I should call and check on that. Can you be here in..." He had a
clock, and it was later than he'd thought. "Call it half an hour?"