Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Read online

  He could tell the difference now, since just about the time he was done writing and got the book back into place, Alexis came back.

  She was younger than Kait, it seemed, but only by a few years. That got him thinking, since he had a notebook to fill out about what he learned, and needed things to put in it.

  "Hey, how old are you two?" It could be anything, most likely, but Kait smiled at him, a bit of interest coming from her and a look his way being enough to causes a pleasurable thrum through his body.

  It really did tell him something special was going on that way.

  "I'm twenty-three. Alex, you're what, seventeen?"

  The woman, who looked about twenty-three or so, just like Kait, nodded and licked her lips moistly. Then she reached out and touched Ty on the arm, her fingers lingering, driving his attention to that single point until he shook his head and took a step back.

  "That's right. We're the same age, right Tyler?" She tried to move in, following him, but Kait, who was clearly his buddy now, moved in front of him, guarding him from the predatory sexual advances of her other friend with her own body.

  "Whoa there Alexis. He told us all on the first day that he was trying not to get sucked in with us. It's our job to make sure he can resist, if he can." It wasn't a conversation he remembered really having with anyone, except possibly Roberta, but the girl nodded, and let out a long suffering sigh, then moved nearly ten feet back.

  "I know. Sorry, Ty. I'll go and see if anyone needs me?"

  Kait nodded, but Tyler smiled, his words coming out sounding a bit bland.

  "The first reading room could probably use being spruced up?"

  It made sense to him, but the idea that super hot demon women, or whatever Alede were, might just not be up on the concept of doing their own work that way floated suddenly through the air. The girl did make a face and a frustrated sounding moan, that was just about like every teen girl confronted by an unpleasant task ever, and then went, when Kait crossed her arms and nodded.

  "That's a real point, Alexis. The guys aren't here to slave away for us. We need to pull our own weight. You and I especially. Zack pays us to be here, and while we do bring in a bit of business, just being around, it isn't enough for us to get lazy."

  There was no discussion which might tell him what was happening, but it was good to hear. It was even good that the other girl went away, since aroused or not, she'd been humming like a blast furnace that way, spraying sex all over the place. To the point that it was actually hard to think around her. On the great side as soon as she got about thirty feet away, that portion of things eased a lot, even with Kait right there with him.

  It really did warn him that she might be able to take him in a fight. Without ever doing more than being herself. It was a threat that he needed to be on the lookout for, if he didn't want to end up going down too easily. Not that he was planning on starting a fight with her, but he, as a regular person, was at a disadvantage that way. Probably with most of the people at Westfield.

  Maybe even more than that.

  Chapter eight

  Ben, being a decent seeming person, arrived for his shift on time, and chatted for a bit before Tyler got out the door. It wasn't that he had anything better to do, or anyplace to go as much as that it felt weird to be at work when he wasn't being paid for it. Like he didn't really belong. Being new was probably part of that too.

  Not that getting Zack to call The Rotted for him wasn't worth a few hours of work, as far as he was concerned. It really was. Feeling at loose ends, he didn't know if going home was the thing to do. Calley's didn't really feel like that yet. It had his stuff though, and he was allowed to be there, as far as he knew. Before he got fifty feet down the red brick walkway in front of the store, a body collided with him from the back. Small arms wrapped around him, then pulled him to the side a bit as a flash of red and blue started laughing.

  Calley nudged him with a hip almost instantly, bumping into him warmly.

  "Hey dude. Headed home?"

  "That's the plan. You?"

  "Indeedy-do. I even have the next three days off. I plan to hang around playing videogames and getting drunk. I can count on you to toss food at me every eight hours or so, right?" It was pretty charming, especially when she took his hand and pulled him away, as if staying for even another minute in the evil place of employment was a risk.

  Given that she had way more experience that way than he did, he made a point of walking faster. After all, the very first time he'd gone into work on a day off he'd ended up working for several hours. It could just be a thing that he didn't know to be aware of in life.

  His binder was in his right hand, and Calley pulled on the left, which he realized, probably made it seem like they were together. That got him to look at her brightly freckled cheeks. Her glasses glinted a bit when they got outside, though she dropped his hand then, and started watching the world more closely than was probably needed. She wasn't good looking really, but she was very fit, clean and friendly, which were good things too. In a lot of ways that was easier for him to deal with than the Alede or even someone like Eve.

  "What kind of things do you like to eat? I mean, if I'm supposed to toss it to you, I'd guess things that aren't too messy. So, no spaghetti? I can cook. I know, it seems strange given what I eat, but I learned how, because my mom was gone a lot growing up. She worked all the time."

  "Oh? I thought you only did whole fruit and punishment? Raw broccoli and all that?" The statement made it seem like she hadn't fed him rice the night before, which was cooked, but maybe she'd thought he was just being polite eating that kind of evil prepared thing.

  "That's not my diet, and anyway, that kind of thing has just been the last few years. Meat is murder." He hadn't said that before, and did eat eggs, sometimes, but the girl didn't call him on it, or go on a rant claiming she was going to eat all the meat in the world because he chose not to.

  She didn't even imply that not eating meat meant he was a pussy. Since about half the people he told his reasons for his diet did, that was refreshing. Instead she just nodded.

  "I'll eat pretty much anything. For real. I don't go in for intelligent creatures, but otherwise, if it's slow enough for me to catch, it goes in my mouth. I need too many calories to do anything else. About seven thousand a day."

  Tyler knew that he needed to eat more too. It was hard though, with his current diet plan. Not that the last days were helping. Kids on their own for the first time often lost weight though, until they could get established. Everyone knew that. He was fine. Even being lean he could go for several months on very little food if he had to.

  "Okay. I'll try to cook occasionally then. What kind of games do you play?" It was a safe enough conversation, and had him introduced to a mind numbing collection of things kept in a cabinet next to the television, when they got in.

  There were a lot of fantasy oriented games, but most of them were first person shooters. When she got to that section she sighed.

  "It's a bit of a cop out on my part. I need to practice more, but it's a lot of work to drive out to the range all the time. Boring, too. I know, you can go with me? That could be fun. I'm required to keep in practice, just in case a war ever starts. Most Shifters do their public service by serving the community as mercenaries. Shifting lets us heal way faster than most people, and we tend to be kind of good at fighting for one reason or another, so it works out. Do you know how to shoot?"

  "No? I never have anyway." It just hadn't been part of his life. Really, the closest he'd ever come was using a bow and arrow at summer camp.

  "Cool! I can teach you. It's not that bad. A bit loud, but hey, what isn't? Neat. So, let me go get a shower, then we can have dinner?"

  "What do you want? I can go get that started."

  Frustratingly, she just waved at him and started walking out of the room, loosening her clothing.

  "Anything will be good." It meant going into the other room and seeing what was there.

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nbsp; It was actually a well stocked larder, like what his mother had always kept, so he made a veggie stir-fry, with a peanut sauce and rice. He made enough for six people, figuring that any leftovers would keep well enough. Refrigerated rice wasn't brilliant, but it was edible.

  When his new roommate came out she was dressed in gray sweats, and hadn't bothered with shoes or socks. They were baggy, but she had mentioned that she was planning to sit around and be comfy, which this really seemed to be.

  Sniffing a bit she examined the food that was laid out on the table and then gave him a highly serious look.

  "But... What are you going to eat?" Then she grinned, because there was a lot of food. Even if she ate as much as she'd claimed earlier. She wasn't a regular Human, so that was really possible. For that matter he needed about half of what she did, or more, most days.

  To that end they both loaded their plates, and ate silently, across from each other in the tiny dining room. There was a metal sculpture on the wall behind him, that looked like leaves. There were small red glass candle holders too. The other wall, which was mainly open, showed the living room. The television was off, which was a thing that didn't even impact his mind, since the box had always gone off while you ate in his life. The two times he could remember that they'd eaten at home in front of the tube, both had been during Presidential elections, so they could track the polls.

  The whole thing felt a tiny bit strained, but that was all him, he realized. Well, not totally. After all, Calley was normally almost manic in her chattiness, or had been so far. Right now she just ate, pushing food into her mouth like it had wronged her. After half her heaped plate full of food vanished, almost like magic had taken place, she grinned up at him over the remains of the rice.

  "This is really good. Thanks. We should try and do this a couple times a week. Have dinner together? I'd invite Ginger, but she just doesn't really eat. Maybe we could con her into sitting here while we eat and chat about how to take over the world. Or sex. I like that one, as a topic."

  That should have made him blush, given that this was probably the first time in his life that anyone had just sat down with him and talked about that kind of thing or even said the word in a way that didn't mean gender. Thinking about it, he'd never heard a woman say anything that boldly, with him right there.

  Even the Alede hadn't. They might do it, but that wasn't the same thing. They kind of didn't get a choice. Their nature forced them to it. Just like his was making him eat food. It didn't mean he didn't like it, just that it was a thing that he didn't have vast control over.

  "All right. How do we use sex to take over the world?"

  There was a soft snort then, and a few more bites of stir-fry.

  "Porn, clearly. We get everyone hooked, and then threaten to take it away if they don't toe the line."

  "Ah. That doesn't sound very easy. What if we could, I don't know, have a vote? Get everyone on one page, and then slip in the idea that, hey, Calley and Tyler are great people to have in charge?"

  There was more eating and then a giggle.

  "Great idea. Unfortunately we already have national elections. It hasn't worked too badly." Gesturing with her fork, she made a circle in the air. "We just don't get to take over that easily. We should have gotten there first, like smart people, but no, both of us had to be born in the wrong century for that, didn't we? Laziness, pure and simple. So, back to my excellent porn idea."

  It was his turn to eat for a bit, while not really thinking. It was kind of flirty, but heavy handed, for him. Then, it might simply be that this was the way it was done. You did porn, got people hooked, and then took over the world. That or Calley was hitting on him.

  Finally he nodded.

  "Are you suggesting something? Because I'm all single and everything..."

  Calley winked at him.

  "Yup! I've been hinting for days too. I was afraid you didn't like me or something. Which would be insane. I mean, who doesn't love me, am I right?" Her fork flashed for a bit, as she looked up from her plate, meeting his eyes. Her own were a combination of playful and something else. Coy, or possibly flirtatious. It wasn't a look that he'd never seen before on a woman, though it had been rare enough that it took a few moments to kick in that she really meant it.

  Playing with him at the moment or not.

  A sudden wave of nearly crippling shyness tried to creep over him, and his throat tightened. This was the part that would do him in, as far as getting to have a girl that did more than speak to him in pitying tones. True, no one had ever been as bold with him before as far as sex, but this always happened when the topic closed in too pointedly. They'd do normal things like make too much eye contact, and he'd freak out, look away and make everyone in the world think he was too good for them. That, or he seemed so weak that any hint of interest that had been there would fade.

  Women said they wanted a lot of things in a man, but according to his mother, the only source he'd had on the subject, what they really liked was assertive. Not stupidly so, either. They wanted a man that seemed valuable and like he was worth having, which for ladies involved hitting a bunch of subconscious keys that a lot of them only sort of knew were there.

  Things like direct eye contact, not smiling and not acting like you were going to pass out just because the subject turned to something a little bit more intimate than the weather.

  Focusing on that, he made himself look back and her, locking eyes like they were lovers in a movie, and nodded.

  "Sounds like a plan then. The porn part. I'll want to get a bit of practice first, since I'm a virgin."

  He didn't look away, even though it was about as stupid a thing as he could have said. His mom had also mentioned reading a new study that showed that women were as into sex as men, as long as the man seemed a good bet for being skilled. He'd pretty much just announced the opposite there. It was kind of an important part though, since the woman was going to find out about that if they did anything. Ty knew where various things were supposed to go, but that was about all. Still, he straightened, and tried to give her a look that seemed a bit smug.

  "A sexy, sexy virgin."

  It got a laugh, and a slightly strange expression from his new roommate.

  "Really? That's hard to believe. You're cute, and do things like save damsels in distress on the street. If that doesn't get a girl's juices flowing I don't know what would. Are you just saying that as some kind of reverse psychology thing? To make me think I'm special?"

  He let a rice loaded fork, a bit of the savory peanut sauce saturating it, come to his lips.

  "Seriously? The woman that can change into a Bat doesn't think she's special?" That hadn't been what she'd just said, but it was a great place to start from. People liked to think that you were focused on them. In fact, it was part of why women liked assertive men really. They wanted a partner that would pay more attention to them than the competition. That meant a guy would give them more of his time and resources, if they had children.

  Except of course that it didn't work, really, because the men that had historically been successful at seeming like that, as if they'd stick around and be there for a girl the next day, leaving all the right hints and bits of information that said that kind of thing, were also the creeps that would be gone in the morning. That had to be clear, didn't it? Either that or Lucy had a penchant for really strange dinner conversation.

  He went on anyway.

  "The world revolves around you, don't you know?" The trick to saying things like that was, he thought, in seeming sincere. It was pure flattery, but that wasn't the point. A bit less obvious than telling her she had pretty eyes, which she did, under the thick and heavy frames. He could tell because the quarter inch of glass lens made them look huge.

  There was a soft sigh and a head shake.

  "I know. Tell me more about how wonderful I am."

  It was, he decided, his turn to laugh a little. Not too much, because then it would seem like he wasn't serious minded enough.
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  "You mean you don't want me to show you?" It was brutally hard not to giggle then, since he'd already admitted to not having any skills in bed. It occurred to him that this really wasn't going to work out. Not in any way that would let him keep living there.

  Then, if he had a choice between awkward sex with an adorable Shape Shifter, and a roof over his head...

  The Bat girl didn't seem too shy herself, looking at him off and on as she finished eating. At the end of the meal, when both of them were done, her having had seconds, she stood up, and waved toward the door lightly. Then she pulled her baggy gray shirt off, showing that she didn't have anything on underneath.

  Her skin was white and smooth, being almost hairless for some reason. The skin was stretched tightly across her stomach, showing a bit of definition there. Her breast were tiny, but real enough, the nipples small and pink.

  At the door her sweat pants came down, and she stepped out of them. She didn't have anything on under that either. What she did have when she turned around was a well groomed patch of rust colored hair between her legs.

  Tyler stared, trying not to turn so red it gave him away. Not stammering like an idiot also came to mind, which meant doing something, rather than waiting for an invitation.

  Standing he pulled his own shirt off, trying make it seem manly, and not like he was going to need help with his shoes in a few seconds. He was watched closely the whole time, and when he had his clothing off, so that they both matched, he locked eyes with her, and closed in.

  Speaking was right out, and he honestly didn't have a lot of experience, so he winged it, and touched her face, gently. Stroking it with two fingers, slowly tracing a very light pattern, almost not making contact at all.

  It was enough to have him pulled over to the sofa. After that things moved in a curious slow-fast pattern that left him reeling, and very centered at the same time. The whole thing should have been clumsy, almost to the point of failure, or left him embarrassing himself in any of a hundred ways, but it was like something had switched over in his head, the second that the woman had kissed him back. Maybe before that.