The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3) (35 page)

She laughed a bit.

"Clerk. All right. Steve,
not Hally. She
isn't
a slave. Will you accept Steve as payment for the
others I want done?"

"I can check the sister, and
if she is enslaved remove it?"

"Sure. I'll bring her to the
party you didn't invite me to on Friday?"

"What? You
had
to
know that you were coming. Always, unless we hammer religious symbols all over
the place. You know, to ward you off? Good then. We can do that. So I own Steve
now?
Kinky
... Too bad he's in the Band, so no sex. Sorry Steve. Oh, wait...
You've been doing Rebekah, so that rule has changed, hasn't it?" He broke
the slave line instantly, while he spoke, which got a slow gasp from the other
side of the walk-around phone.

"That's impressive. So, see
you tomorrow? Brunch?"

"We'll be there. See you
then." He nearly said love you at the end, which was weird, since he didn't
and wasn't used to saying that kind of thing on the phone all the time like
some guys did with their wives and girlfriends.

Instead he hung up.

"There. Steve, you're free.
Keeley said that your sister isn't a slave, but will bring her by, next Friday,
so that I can make sure that isn't a lie."

He nodded, and then stood up.

"How do I tell that I'm not
a slave?"

Tyler could tell, but didn't know
how anyone else could. It was Rebekah who actually helped him out that way. Her
face serious, and her hands up in front of her, ready to fight the guy.

"Easy. Keeley is a smelly
cunt that has had more cock in her than most dock whores have had by their
fiftieth year on the streets." Then she waited, like she expected an
outburst or attack. It didn't come.

Steve just laughed.

"What does that prove? I
mean, she isn't any of that, but so what?"

Rebekah sighed and nodded.

"So what? If you were still
her slave you would have gotten angry with me for that. Slaves
love
their masters on a level that is hard to believe. They can hate them, fear
them, live in constant terror of them, but if you seem to threaten them too much,
and they haven't ordered the slave not to defend them, there
will
be a
fight. If you can laugh at that, and you mean it? Then you
aren't
a
slave now."

Steve didn't seem totally
convinced, but he just became quiet while everyone else kind of accepted the
idea. That was pretty clear, since they started trying to divvy up his time to
free the nameless masses of enslaved people that would be coming forth.

That got him to laugh after a
bit.

"Guys, it's what, a few
thousand people, tops? Even if there are tens of thousands that are worried
about it, it's a pretty small group." That made a lot of sense to him, but
everyone else was acting like he was Jesus come again. Calley started to pace,
being too excited to sit at all, and then ran off to get her phone. Ginger did
the same after a bit, but managed to seem a little more calm about it.

As she hit the button to send on
the small silver phone she gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry? I really do need to
report this. On the good side I can call Lenore, and
she
can take credit
for you. You know, how she dragged you up from the gutters of Vancouver
Washington, to the heady heights of Sparks, Nevada. Or at least mention that
I'm dating you, which gives the Vampires an in. If she wants to know what you
want for it, what do we say?"

That was a good thing to ask.

"That they act sensibly and
not get me killed?" That sounded fair, to him. Rebekah and Scotty both
laughed, the Vampire woman covering her mouth.

"Oooh. Say that. Say that!
We need to get their reaction on tape. A speaker phone or something. I bet the
silence will be deafening as they try to guess what that really means."
Then she let go, and doubled over with laughter. It really wasn't that funny,
but the others started to go as well, except Steve, who was quiet.

That meant Ginger had to suddenly
go silent when the cell picked up.

"Lenore? This is me, Ginger?
I kind of have interesting news? You know Tyler? Yes, were still dating. Noooo,
it isn't
that
, though I'll ask later. I'd say no, if I were him, but,
well, you'll see."

Then there was polite listening
for a while. As if they were just carrying on a conversation. After a bit she
covered the mouthpiece of the cell, which wasn't going to keep a Vampire from
hearing anything, so was probably just an old Human habit left over.

"She wants to know if she
and Zack are invited to the party on Friday? Or, more to the point, she wants
me to wrangle an invitation?"

Rebekah smiled, which seemed
genuine and showed a lot of her fang like pointy teeth.

"That sounds good. Seven
o'clock, here?"

They held a conversation over the
covered phone, at a distance, since Bekah was across the room, sitting on her
part of the good sofa. Okay, it was no better than anyplace else to sit, but
the other end of it was where he plunked himself down, since normal people
didn't stand forever. Even though it didn't bother him to do that.

Since it wasn't that hard to get
into one of their parties it seemed, they ended up with spaces for several
others by the time it was all done and over.

Then, as Lenore was about to get
off the phone, Ginger laughed.

"Hey,
I
called
you
.
I have
real
news? Though I'm sure the party thing is pretty big,
too."

Rolling her eyes a bit, she
waited, and made little talking gestures with her hand, which after a bit got a
sudden laugh from Rebekah and Scotty.

Ginger too.

"I know you can hear me do
that. So, Tyler learned how to power himself, and how to do some other magic?
It's really different than what we've seen. So,
one
of the things he can
do is break slave links. Greater Demon slave links. Yes. We tested him on one
of Keeley's slaves. Steve York? It seems to work
really
well... Not.
They're going into business together, using their abilities. She'll enslave
people and get them to fix their problems, then he'll undo it. A kind of
ultra-compulsion. I... Don't know. That might work. We
could
do
something similar. You can ask at the party? I'm not one of The Mistress of
Souls gal pals or anything, like you."

They got off the phone a bit
later, as Calley came down the stairs, holding her own phone to the side of her
head. Hers was a bright pink thing, that looked like it fit her, but wasn't all
that professional.

"Jahn Samson, and his son.
Party? Tim, the older one? He's trying to get into the Coalition offices as an
Intern. Do you have a program for that?" She smiled at him, like it was
funny or something. The guy was young, but that
was
about the right
level of things.

Intern.

"I want a written application
letter. List out what skills you bring to the table, and you'll need to be
willing to work with everyone. We can talk about it? Friday. Have the paperwork
in hand. I think that means you can get into the party anyway. Are you going to
bring your dad? You don't have to, but he can come, since he knows you. Tell
him to be cool. It's a party." He smiled, but couldn't hear the reply, but
Calley smiled and nodded.

"Yes. That was a party
invitation, for both of you. I think he's serious about the internship, if you
want it. Unpaid, of course, and you still have to go to school and battle camp,
but we can work out the rest of it. You don't need a vacation for a few years.
You're young, so you'll deal." It was nearly firm sounding in tone, but
her face nearly beamed.

When she hung up, after having
told them the correct information as to when to be there and all that, Calley
took a deep breath.

"Whew. That was..." She
ran over to Ty and gave him a big hug. "I love you. I really do. You
managed to
not
invite Magda Samson. It would make Tim look bad if she
came, too. His dad is there to represent
him
, not the Shifter Nation.
Which makes sense. Magda may be a trained medic, but she sucks. Her bedside
manner is weak, I hear. Plus, a
medic
?" She laughed, like that was
an insult.

Steve looked at her funny, and
shook his head.

"What's wrong with that?
That's a good job. People get hurt, and need help."

She stopped her snarky laughing,
and nodded.

"Right. Shifters, we heal
when we change. So really we don't need more than a few pressure bandages to
buy the slow ones time to do that. It's like... I don't know the Human military
equivalent. It isn't a real job for us. Worse, she
refuses
to touch
Humans. The ones that might actually need her medical care? She's kind of a
waste of space, and everyone knows it, except for her."

 That was basically her own first
lady, who, as far as Tyler knew, really
was
about that bad. Not that he
had a personal issue there. Zack kind of did for some reason. Still, Greater
Demon or not, he hadn't killed her, so the issue probably wasn't too serious.

Then, slowly as the night
progressed, other people started calling. Not for him. None of them wanted to
talk to him in particular. They wanted to talk about him. Even Steve got a
call. That one was from his sister, Hally. On the nice side, it had nothing to
do with anything except for him not being a slave anymore and if he was angry
at her, or Keeley, over it.

Not surprisingly, he kind of was.

"She... She used me. For
years, sis. She made me love her! I would have died for her, and she... She
played with me, like a toy. I... Yeah, I don't really know what to do right
now. My friend Tyler is going to get you free, if you're a slave. We should go
away. I... Maybe Zack will help us? He's a Demon, but kind of cool."

For her part, she didn't think
she was enslaved at all, but did mention that she'd come to the party, so Ty
could check on that for them. Keeley had told her that she should. Or, if the
girl could be trusted,
asked
her to come, to reassure her little
brother.

Which was exactly what she would
have been told if she were a slave, at least if she didn't know it.

Ginger moved over to him,
clicking off her own phone, clearly eavesdropping shamelessly. Not that she
could really help it given her hearing.

She waved the cell, indicating
her last call.

"Eve said that she wanted to
bring Lisa Weise as her date. Something about a threesome? That's a coup. Lisa
hardly sleeps with anyone these days. I don't think she was serious though,
just asking if Lisa was okay to come. Representing the Mages, since she's the
one that has enough clout to speak for them that has any kind of an in with
you."

"Oh? I should have had her
down already. I wonder if we can bribe Zack to pick people up? I don't have
enough points built up with him for that. Oooh. That reminds me. I have a call
to make."

He'd forgotten about it, but
Tarsus, The Librarian was working to find a way for him to break the slave link
with his mom.

Ty went to his room, or started
to, then headed outside. He dialed without thinking, doing it on purpose, since
the Greater Demon wasn't exactly a pal of his. Even talking to one of that sort
was a risk. The kind of thing he needed to get used to, it seemed.

When it picked up, the man on the
other side spoke first.

"Clerk. How are you
faring?"

"Librarian. I'm doing well. I
called to invite you to a party? This coming Friday. I worked out how to power
myself and can break slave links, so people are talking."

"You
can
? I see. Yes.
That falls into line with one of the methods I was going to suggest. Entropic
energy. You've worked out how to break the link with your mother?"

"You mean stealing life from
the world, allowing hundreds to die in the process, at least eventually, and
then flooding the new link that forms from The Rotted with death energy? Yeah.
An Angel mentioned that to me. Or, actually what he said was that I
shouldn't
just steal life from the world, and I figured out the rest. So, I know how to
break the link, and can, but doing that would cost others more than I'm willing
to risk."

There was silence, for a long
time.

"I... Recall them now. It's
very disconcerting. I was wrong about reality for so very long that I can't
help but think I'm actually mad now. Anyway, I'd be charmed to come to your
party. Tell me, can you undo the work of The Mistress of Souls? Her efforts should
be the firmest of us all. If that could be done... Well, then several things in
the world will be very different, won't they?"

"It isn't even hard. It
might be annoying to some of your people, but
all
I can do that way is
break the lines. I'm thinking of selling my services for that, if you want in?
If you have a slave that you want to free, come to me and I'll make you a good
deal, that kind of thing? I'm hoping that going merchant with it will keep
anyone from thinking that I'm going to come for them in the night, and um, free
their slaves." He spoke in a slightly funny voice, going for humor, but
that was ignored, and the man on the line laughed a bit. It was done so well
that Ty knew it wasn't about his little joke.