The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (23 page)

Nodding, to himself, he actually
thought he got it.

The whole thing, not just with
Keeley, but with all of it, the Coalition, Eve, everything... It was part of a
plan. One that pretty much had to be put forth by Lucy.

After
all, no one else would care enough to bother.

It wasn't as if he could check on
that at the moment. So, just to keep up with things Ty got himself to the
kitchen and made fake meat chicken patties and had eight sandwiches. He fried
some onions for them, and had avocado too, since they had several ripe ones in
the fridge. Next to the bottles of blood. That probably should have freaked him
out, but it just didn't. Honestly, the blood was a tiny bit tempting.

It took a while, nearly an hour
and a half for Zack to get back, and there were no parents in tow, so they were
either situated, being tortured or were dead.

Ty just looked at the Greater
Demon and gave a nod as he washed his hands and face in the sink. He would have
fed Skalla too, but she'd been hidden away someplace the whole time. True, he
could have called for her, but there hadn't been a reason to, and really, he
sort of wanted to be alone.

Now it was time to let go of that
feeling. Like Allison had mentioned to him. He had the power to control how he
felt, so he probably should, most of the time. Getting lazy that way would
leave him at a disadvantage.

"So, is that taken care of?
By which I mean, they're all moved to their new location and not being
harmed?" He wanted to hold his breath, since he had a sneaking feeling
that Zack was going to tell him the truth, no matter what it was.

"Yeah. I got them a little
cottage by a beach. In a place so far away they won't ever be back. There are people
there. Nice ones that are hard working and who don't even know what a Greater
Demon is. Life should be easy for them. Good, I hope. I know, I probably should
have punished them, but like I said, I think they had enough of that, over the
years. They were stupid and greedy for power, but that's what, half of
everyone, ever?"

"Something like that. A real
point too. So, we should get Skalla and go to Toronto. You can get her back
right? I still have a few trips..."

"That works. So, the final
showdown with the boss feminist. Have any plans for her? Use some of that speed
you've been working on? Maybe a death blast?"

He shrugged.

"Honestly, I was thinking of
going in with Skalla and Eve behind me and suggesting that not goading Vampires
is a good idea. I... Do you think that someone is behind this? First they went
after the Alede, and then Vampires? That doesn't make sense does it?"
Things were trying to fall into place, in his head, the conceptual awareness
still in full force, but he was missing too much for that.

"Not really. It's part of
Human nature to fear the unknown, and these are people that have had actual
lessons that told them they were oppressed, even if they can't see it
firsthand. So when Vampires and Shifters and all that came into being, suddenly
being shown to everyone as far as the women's groups were concerned. It was
easy to lump them in with the secret cabal that runs the world in their theory.
The Patriarchy. Blaming Vampires is at least a bit closer than going after the
men that have to do their bidding and are being pushed around by them all the
time. So, no. This is all them. They aren't being manipulated from outside,
just within. That's a guess though, so I wouldn't let my guard down if it were
me."

He thought for a few seconds and
nodded.

"Those cult people? It's
probably close to the same for them, isn't it?"

"Right, except that they
were always kind of battling the darkness, so it made sense to them that they
had to protect the young from evil. The sad part is that their leadership didn't
even mean any harm. They really wanted to help. It was just that fanatics make
poor Human beings in general, no matter what their beliefs. Life is almost
never what the people on the fringe imagine it to be. It doesn't matter which
edge they're on."

Which was all sensible, and a
thing to keep in mind if he felt annoyed shortly. That was nearly certain to
happen, so he tried to hold a nice calming concept.

"So, we should get Skalla
and go to our doom?"

That got a nod, the Greater Demon
seeming normal, even after watching his parents die and come back to life
earlier. Then, Tyler was being the same way. It meant a lot, really. They were
both
probably shutting down how they really felt at the moment.

It was a super-power too, after
all, and made sense to use. Allison had told him that, and so far she hadn't
abused him too much.

The large woman lumbered down the
stairs when called. Which, he realized, wasn't technically true. She moved
quickly, but with no more noise than he would have made doing the same thing.
Scotty was at the top of the stairs, but didn't volunteer to come with them. It
was the sensible move, since battling with ideologues wasn't a thing anyone
should try to do on purpose if they didn't have a stake in the game.

Zack smiled at the lady and
walked toward the big wooden front door. Ty followed along, having done that
drill before. After they were outside, he closed the door, and Zack walked a
bit away from the place.

"I'm going to open a node
here, directly to the meeting site. Eve and Bey will be there shortly, I think.
At about seven-thirty. As soon as they do that, we'll go in as well. It will
look a bit like we all appeared by magic." He grinned, and waved his hand,
making a purple glowing disk appear in otherwise thin air.

Since there wasn't a lot else to
do, Ty tried to analyze what had just happened, based on the concepts that hit
him. They were gentle things, but warped the world a bit. Like time being
distorted, but different.

"Bent space? That... It's
subtle but it shouldn't take that much power to do." He muttered this out
loud, and instead of correct him, or call him stupid, Zack seemed happy.

"No doubt, right? It takes a
lot of practice, but not power. Most people don't want to bother with subtlety,
so they hurl vast amounts of death or magic at things. Life energy, more or
less. To open this took me about what you using magic for that one punch did
earlier. Even at that, I'm being lazy. I need to get better at things like
this. Really, with magic in general. Here, I'll make a little dent in space,
try to get a sense of it, and then copy the pattern in your head. Don't use any
power for it. Just make the idea work for you. Like you have been."

He got the idea, and even though
he tried for about half an hour, very little happened. The thing there was that
a tiny bit
did
, which got The Line Walker to clap.

"
Awesome
. There are
Greater Demons that couldn't have done that without using magic. If you keep
working on that you'll eventually be able to make holes in space. It isn't line
walking, and will probably take you a long time, but if you ever end up trapped
somewhere again, you might be able to just walk out. Once you get good at it, I
mean." He tilted his head a bit and looked at Skalla. "See, this is
why I should try to teach more often. I could have done that too, but never
even considered it before right now. I even knew it was possible, but hadn't
thought about it."

The large woman gave the much
smaller being a cold look. Her words didn't match that however. Those were
conversational enough.

"Ho. That is so. The best
warriors are those that teach
and
fight. Those that show what they have
learned, but do not use, tend to do so poorly. Those with skill and the will to
teach excel, often." It was said nearly like it was a cultural truism,
rather than a simple statement made by one person.

Zack looked at the purple disk
and waved at it.

"There they are. We should
go through. I don't see an attack taking place. Who's going first?" He
looked at Ty, but Skalla moved to the front, her hand reaching to her back, the
leather of her outfit creaking a bit as she held the handle of her blade over
her shoulder. The thing was curved and had edges in places.

"I am the shield. That is my
duty, to make up for the grave insult my people gave to Gartner, of the
Nations. If I must die, or kill, to make that right, I will, with a glad
heart."

Tyler smiled, since it was nice
to have back-up.

"We shouldn't have to even
hurt anyone. If they start to attack, you get to slap them down. Be gentle.
I... Well, I think you'll see. A big part of this is going to probably be
protecting these women from getting themselves into trouble. If I ask you to
stop though, please try. I won't unless things are about to go really
wrong."

That got a blank look from the
giantess, who had he realized, piercing brown eyes below her heavy eyebrows.

"Ho, Gartner. That is the
plan." Then she stepped into the light like she'd done it before.

He went next, Zack gesturing for
him to do it, and the Greater Demon moving in right behind him. The space was
silent at first, being an auditorium. One with two sides arrayed in it.

At the front were about twenty
Vampires, many of whom were armed, with sticks and knives. In front of them Eve
and Bey stood, along with a man who looked to be about forty. He was in charge,
clearly, since he had a suit and tie on. After a few seconds Ty realized that
Jonas was right there too, standing directly behind the Vampire he hadn't met. Not
in person.

He was going to guess that the
man that he'd seen often enough on television, was Richard Swerlin. A
government official, if from the wrong country, and internationally famous. For
being dead. Like Ty himself was. Well, except a Vampire, and Tyler wasn't
actually famous. So, they didn't have much in common. They had talked on the
phone before, however.

On the other side of the room, in
the seats, clearly having set up first, and without an eye to the fight that
looked to be about ready to happen, were about seventy young men and women.
Near the front were a few older ladies. They weren't all heavyset, but none of
them had makeup on. Eve, and it looked like all of the other Vampire women
there, did. It made for a stark contrast, even if about half the college age
girls on the feminist side probably would have been about as pretty as most of
the Vampires, if they'd bothered to try. A few were even nearly at the level
Eve was.

They were already chanting at the
Vampires, though it didn't make a lot of sense.

"This is what patriarchy
looks like!" It was repeated over and over again. A few of them started to
surge forward a bit, but they were trapped by the rows of chairs.

Then, shocking him a bit, Skalla
pulled her blade and screamed. It was a blood curdling bellow that made him
feel just a bit like wetting himself, standing right there like he was. He
nearly let a nervous smile come to his lips, but didn't, not wanting to start
out seeming weak.

It didn't stop the chanting. They
should
have stopped the chanting however. The Vampires
all
looked
at the giant woman respectfully, with Richard Swerlin actually bowing to her,
from across the room. Bey gave a deep head nod and gestured politely, and Eve
smiled and waved.

"Zack, Tyler! Over here! We
were just about to start the negotiations."

He started over, as did Zack, but
Skalla walked up to the front of the line of chanting people, picked out the
largest woman there and slapped her to the ground. That got three men to yell
and move to grab at Skalla, who smiled and did the same to them.

"Ho! Heed my words and
survive this day! Fail and die. For there is no third path! I am Skalla, of The
People. You call us Amazons. I have been brought to save you from your foolish
ways. You seek a battle here that you cannot win. Hark! Before you stands an
army of the
dead
! The weakest of their people can kill you all, and they
stand ready! Now, to silence, and explain. Why did you come here to die? That
is the line of the fool!" She was loud, but there was still murmuring
about her having hit a few people. She answered that one by calling for silence
again.

At least that was how Ty decided
to take it. She slapped people until there was no more than a soft moaning and
an attempt by some to rush the doors. That didn't work too well, since several
of the Vampires from the back scurried around and locked them all first, then
stood guard and pushed them back into a slightly mewling group. It was really
funny, since the women were suddenly all very cowed, and were hiding behind the
slightly effeminate looking men in the group. Not that there was anything
wrong
with looking that way. It was just that they all did, which was kind of rare.
Most groups of men were more manly, in general.

Tyler knew that he probably seemed
like that too. It just didn't seem like they were going to be up to fighting
Skalla, really, even though they stood up for their women fairly bravely. The
thing there was that the women, when the chips were down, all let them do it.
Except for one, who was heavyset, red haired, and had a
very
shrill
voice.

"You can't do this. We have
rights! This is what Patriarchy looks like!" She jumped forward, and made
exactly the wrong move, trying to slap at Bey.

Tyler could see why he was
chosen, really. He was smaller than the woman in question, and was smiling
gently. It was a peaceable looking thing, which probably marked him as being
someone that wouldn't hit back, to her mind. That wasn't the case, which got
all the other Vampires to look scared suddenly. Even Swerlin, who was a Master
Vamp himself. No one moved as the bright red haired larger lady, who was
youthful, and screaming some slogan that was hard to understand, went for the
tiny, hapless seeming man.