The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (31 page)

"
Yet
? I doubt I can.
I'm powered by a different sort of magic. I can do that kind too, but the
amount needed is too much for me."

That got a girlish chuckle, and a
hand on his arm.

"You aren't done learning
yet, Tyler. You have power and time, and those two things can lead to a lot of
wonderful, and horrible things."

Which was probably true.

"Oh, hey, while I have you
here..."

She looked at him brightly, like
he was about to ask her to the prom. From her expression she was planning to
say yes, too. Which was nice of her. He hadn't even tried to go to his own at
school. Tyler had been far too shy for things like that back then.

"Do you feel like something
vast is coming? A dark ending to reality?" He didn't get to explain before
she made a face.

"Not really. I was told that
something
would
be. It's in the notes in my head. I guess I've been told
about it at least five times, by Mike? I wonder if we're doing it? For that
matter, is he cute? That isn't in my notes."

Tyler let his head move from side
to side.

"Not horrible looking. A bit
average, but in a kind way. I doubt it though, about the sex, since he isn't
material, from what he said. Anyway, that's interesting, anything specific in
the notes on it?"

"Not really. Just that
you're involved in it, and a bunch of us will be too, in the end. Something
about fear that can't be unfelt?
That
sounds annoying, doesn't it?"

It really did. What was the point
of being able to block that kind of thing, if you couldn't?

"Thanks. Well, I should...
Call Lucy, actually. So she won't be worried."

Keeley gave him a last hug, and
then headed out around the edge of the building, probably to check on those
windows. The power was off inside, but for some reason his cell phone worked,
so he dialed the right number. He was a bit low on charge, but as long as he
didn't take too long, it should be fine.

The thing picked up on the first
ring.

"Hello?" The voice was
female, and young. Also familiar enough to him that he knew who it was.

"Allison? I was looking for
Lucy." He dialed the right number, he was certain.

"I grabbed Leslie's phone
when we left the restaurant. Let me... Phone for you? My
boyfriend
? You
better not have been making a play for him, or I will
so
murder
you."

There was a grabbing sound and a
laugh.

"Tyler? How are you doing?
You should text, like a normal person."

"The Storm came. I won, but
she managed to get away at the end, onto the lines. Keeley figures she might
need a few days to recover. That's about it for now. I thought that I'd keep
you in the loop. Now, you and Allison hang out? I did
not
see that one
coming. I hope she isn't being a bad influence on you." He should have
noticed that one. A lot of signs had been there. They probably had the same
group of little high school freshmen friends.

Demon Academy, or some such.

The idea tickled him actually.
Little kid demons running around like that. Stealing souls and crying in the
bathrooms that the boy they like doesn't like them back. After a moment he
sobered and realized that the reality would be a little dismal. These were
beings trying to trap kids, in order to steal their entire lives away from
them. It wasn't fun, or cute,.

Lucy muttered something, then
spoke to him again. It was late at night, about twelve now, but there were
young voices on her side of things. She didn't sleep, of course. That meant he
had no clue what was going on.

"I can be right there.
Allison, too. Call it an hour? We have people here and..."

He shrugged, and looked at the
very dark building around him.

"Probably not needed? I was
just letting you know what was up. I don't need my hand held yet. Later maybe?
Keeley is putting together a brunch on Sunday. You'll have to pay, but you
should come. Ginger and Calley are coming, too. We should get Zack and Ginger's
parents. Lenore and the Human ones."

That got a laugh, because she
seemed to have worked out that The Mistress of Souls hadn't invited them all.

"You need to pay, too. Don't
let the others push you around. I love you." There was a giggle then, away
from the phone, and the sound of a body moving in.

"I love you too,
Tyler!" That was Allison. The Technician, playing a role to trap innocent
kids into being her... Well, probably her friends, more or less. If she wanted
slaves, she wouldn't have been as tricky about it.

That would be good, since sooner
or later they were going to learn that she wasn't exactly Human. What Lucy was
doing there... Well, that made sense. She was finding new things to do, since
her kid had left home and didn't need her as much now. A lot of mothers went
back into the work place, after their kids left. He hadn't gone to college, but
was working instead.

Then, with the last bit of juice
in his phone, he called Calley.

"Tyler?"

"Yep. Alive and erm, you
know. Anyway, I won, but she got away before she died. It should be safe for
now. The power is totally out here though, so you all might want to hang there,
if you have that?"

"We have generators going. Can
you come here? Or, do you need help? Are you injured? I can come... One
bit..."

He smiled, and then realized that
he was actually more or less fine.

"I'm good. Actually I can
just walk over. It won't take too long. I need to think. Call it... Ten minutes?
I want to change first, and that could be awkward."

She laughed, since the place was
several miles away. Still, he wasn't going to go in normal time, needing to
practice holding the concept that allowed him to be quicker, without using any
real energy. That meant he was at the front of the place, which had four guards
out this time, rather than two. Different beings than the ones he knew, but one
was an Amazon, he thought.

She looked right for that anyway.

They just moved to the side,
letting him in, which worked, but wasn't exactly all that safe really. Then, he
was either him right then, or a shape shifted Greater Demon. So they either had
just let in the right man, or done the right thing, since fighting would have
gotten them all killed.

He didn't slow down though,
except at the door, and went to find Calley, who was at her own embassy, along
with everyone that had been at the house, and Ricard, his personal assistant.
Who was also the Greater Demon Fram.

"Hey all. I'm still here.
Ricard..." He held out his hand, as if to shake, but the Greater Demon did
what he was supposed to and sent out a tendril of magic to get all his data.
Proving he was, in the end, him.

Fram gave him a short head nod.

"Not truly. Several of us
can fake that. Still, the rest of the package does seem right. So, I was just
about to abuse the poor cafeteria night staff. Would you all like to come
along? If the world isn't going to end this moment, I mean?"

They all agreed, and while Calley
was exhausted seeming, the Vampires were all fine. Steve was actually sleeping
though, curled up in the corner in a sleeping bag. It was green and had a
military feel to it. Fluffy looking. Really, he envied the kid that ability.
Once a day he could just turn the world off and not bother with it for a while.

The cafeteria was a plain place,
and while open enough, and holding large tables, it didn't have a lot of
people, or beings, there at the moment. A few. Those were all large furry
people however, who looked at them come in, but didn't call out or anything to
anyone. Trollienkeine, though some of them had tails. Not all of the six did.
The hair was a mix of light brown, dark brown and white. The two white ones
were the tail having kind, it seemed.

There was a buffet set up along
the far wall, which was a nice hike away, and Ricard didn't bother to pretend
he wasn't getting as much as a tray could hold. Tyler got a plate too, but just
picked whatever seemed interesting to him. Except meat. Even with plenty of
energy coming in all the time, he didn't want to tempt himself with flesh.
Still there was plenty, even given that. All of it was real food, too. Nothing
from a box, or store, that he could tell.

The tables were wood, and covered
with red table clothes, but the place wasn't all that nice. Functional, more
than anything. A place to get food, not wine and dine. It was good though, for
all that, and, Ricard assured him, the food was even better during the day.

"We just have enough people
here to make it worthwhile to stay open all the time. So, I hear that you
fought a Greater Demon and kind of kicked her butt? The Storm. She's not too
bad in a fight.
I
took her out once though, so I wouldn't let that go to
your head. I normally end up losing, so... Yeah." He didn't sound happy
about that, but looked at Tyler closely, as if sizing him up.

Ty shrugged at him a bit.

"Well, I don't suppose I
could trade you something to get you to be on my side? I don't have much. I just
don't need anyone throwing in with her if I can help it."

The nice looking Greater Demon
gave him a considering look, and then smiled.

"Well, you can trade sex for
it. Nothing too kinky or anything, let's say? Call it once a week?"

Tyler shrugged. Everyone else
looked at him closely though, as if wondering what he was going to say. It was
a negotiation though, and if the guy thought that was going to be a good
starting place, then what he was really willing to settle for would be a lot
less.

"Hmmm. I get to pick what we
do, and how often, but we can do that. About that often, but if we miss a week
or two, or even more, due to unforeseen circumstance, then that's just what it
is. I don't want to risk defaulting for something this minor. I mean, it's not
like The Storm is really going to come and ask you to help attack me, is
it?" The Demon had a deal, with Ty's mom, to watch him.

That probably meant that killing
him was out of the question.

Fram got that he got that too.

"Okay, but I get to have a
turn, too. No fair just doing me up the behind all the time, or putting me
under your desk while you have meetings. We can
do
that, but not only
that, is what I'm trying for here."

"All right. Half and half
that way. Good. We can take care of that later. Now, what's new around here?"
Everyone was looking at him funny, but that was probably because he'd just made
plans to fuck his secretary, and that
was
kind of sexual harassment.

The guy was kind of hot though,
even though he was playing that part off. Tyler would have done him anyway.
Which, he realized, the Demon
would
know. So the whole bargain was
probably both really trivial and about letting him feel assured that the guy
was on his side.

Which could always just be a lie.

What was it that he'd been told
that way? That Greater Demons followed through on their deals if they thought
that whoever it was could follow through on
making
them. Or at least be
enough of a nuisance to make problems. He might be in that range now, or
really, Ty could be fooling himself. Letting him seem to nearly win a fight was
a good way of getting him to let his guard down after all.

Not that he was going to fall for
that kind of thing. Too many people wanted him dead for that. That number being
one
. It was still too much. Or, well, she had tried pretty hard to take
him out, but her goal, originally, had seemed to be about getting him to go
with her. Why though? He was all right, he guessed, as far as looks went.
Utility, too.

Tyler was a good worker and
didn't get tired, so that could be part of it. But he could always be called
away by The Rotted. Or, if The Storm were clever enough, he could be used as
bait to get her to the right place at the right time. Even if the Greater
Demons had been
honest
with him, that might still be the real plan. To
use him to get at his mom.

Fram smiled at him, and licked
his lips, playfully, as if that would bother him. Or distract him. He could
feel the small bit of energy coming from the man, as he tried to read his mind.
Probably succeeding. Without thinking about it, he ended that, choking the
energy from the bit of magic being used. That got the Demon to go wide eyed,
but even as he tried again, there was no mind reading allowed.

No, from that point on he had to
keep his thoughts, and most of his plans, to himself. Because it seemed that
he'd made a big mistake. The Storm wasn't really going to do all that work to
get him. Insane or not. So that meant she, and whoever might be working with
her, had some larger goal in mind.
If
anyone was working with her. So
far that hadn't been a real thing as far as he could tell, but she might have
confederates. That, or minions.

Slaves even. If that was the
case, he'd have to watch them. No one around him had that kind of a link,
thankfully. He really didn't know what he'd do if one of his friends had been a
slave like that. Except of course, he did. He'd kill the link. It wouldn't work
for him, since Lucy used death energy for it, at least with him, but he could
try it out on Steve later.