Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Page 12

  Without thinking, he just knew, somehow, what to do. It was a bit eerie really, but did leave Calley calling out happily several times. In fact, nearly two hours later, as they cuddled on the couch, she sighed and nestled into his chest.

  "That was freaking great." A soft kiss touched his lips, causing a bit of a stirring between his legs. "So the virgin thing was just a trick?"

  It wasn't, but it was nice to hear that whatever the hell he'd just done had worked like that. Tyler had always heard about people not being very good in bed, but it really seemed pretty easy. Like all the instructions for it were just hard wired into him. If that was the case, then it was hard to understand what everyone else was always going on about.

  "A trick? Why would I do that?" It was a good point, but he kind of got the idea. Men would use whatever they had to get at sex with a woman, most days.

  Her hand, which was small, and very warm, found him again, and started to stroke, making his body respond. Just as she was about to use her mouth, for the second time that night, there was a soft pop, which was, he realized after the fact, Ginger opening the door and closing it.

  The Vampire girl, looking cute, and like she was ready for her first day of high school, in a green t-shirt and jeans, stared at them both for a moment. Then she grinned.

  "I can't leave you two alone for a minute, can I?" Then, as if it made any sense at all, she pulled off her own shirt. She had a bra on underneath, which was slightly lacy, and was left on. "Okay, you were going to do him, so I'll do you at the same time?"

  Calley seemed to get it, and smiled. It was a huge and unrestrained thing.

  "I love my new roommates!"

  The whole thing took about an extra hour, since he got plenty of turns, and while Calley was certainly enjoying the attention, it was kind of clear after a bit that it wasn't really about sex for her, but the contact. Ginger was kind of clumsy about the whole thing, too. Also, very cool, as in cold.

  It occurred to him, near the end as she kissed him, thrusting her tongue between his lips, and tasting like the Bat girl, that she was actually a moving corpse. That made a lot of what they'd just been doing necrophilia. Not that he had a hang up there, really.

  As long as she was an adult, and could consent, it was fair game. It was, he realized, another thing that Lucy had mentioned a few times to him. He'd figured that she was talking about guys, at the time. Maybe seeing that his eyes lingered on a few muscular backs on television without being touched with envy for too long or something. It worked for this too.

  He liked Ginger, and Calley, so it was fine for them to do things together. Even if one of them was dead, and the other could become a flying mammal. Not that he'd ever seen that kind of thing.

  Really, it sounded cool.

  They ended up in a weird sort of heap, with him along one arm, leaning back, and Ginger on his lap, holding him with both arms around his neck. Calley was on the other side, but had managed to tuck her feet underneath them in a way that was both cozy and a bit uncomfortable at the same time.

  Not knowing what to say, he tried for funny. It kind of worked, even.

  "So, you both know that I'm never calling you again, right?"

  That got a sigh and a strange nod from Ginger, The cool skin of her face right alongside of his.

  "Yeah. It's a shame though, since we need to coordinate the wedding. I was thinking white and light blue for the dress. Maybe we could do an Elvis thing?"

  He went very still, which got the girl to stiffen a bit. Her eyes went wide, though Calley giggled a bit.

  "I was just..."

  He shook his head, and kissed her on the cheek.

  "Trying to give me nightmares about the worst wedding possible? That's... Awful. Truly. My mother would disown me if I tried. It would at least have to be tasteful. Plus, you know, I'll probably be dead, after I bang all your hot friends like I plan to. I hear a rumor that you have super powers or something? Hardly fair."

  Calley looked at them both and then shook her head a bit.

  "Well, you know, I'm cool with that, as long as I get invited to play too, from time to time. Seriously. So, you know, you can get with Edom and we can all have a party? Oh, speaking of parties, I invited everyone from work for your b-day bash next week. Next Saturday, so make sure you get some time off for that. I mentioned it to Valerie too, so she's coming. We'll need to pick up some kegs. Which eighteen year olds can't do. So I guess that's up to me?"

  He tried to remember who Valerie was, but drew a blank. It was like he should know, but there had been too many new names over the last few days, and a lot of excitement, so some things just hadn't been sticking like they probably should have.

  "Valerie is... Your Ambassador?"

  That got a headshake, and a foot caressing the inside of his leg warmly.

  "The Alede Ambassador. Kait's mom? Which is a thing to keep in mind, since if you sleep with her and not Kaitlyn, it will be insulting. By Alede rules she kind of owns you."

  "Um, what? I didn't know that I was property. Even if anyone was going to claim that, wouldn't it be one of you?"

  The Bat girl let her foot move up his thigh a bit, and Ginger nodded.

  Her voice was young enough sounding that he had to remind himself that she was several years older than he was.

  "Oh, sure. By Vampire rules you're mine. Both of you are now. For real, I mean. We live together, and have sex now, so I can even feed off of you, without it being against the law. Not that I will, since I'm sticking to cow, but if it came up, that would be totally kosher. I don't actually know what Shifters do that way."

  There was a shrug, and contact with an intimate, but only slightly responding part of his body. They'd done enough that he wasn't ready to do it again yet. That didn't seem to bother her.

  "Our rules are pretty much like Human's. Bats, my family, all tend to be a bit, um, free that way. The other groups do what seems right for them. Just to make this clear, there is no overlap at all between what our animals do and what we do as people that way. I mean, Swans don't mate for life in some kind of psycho fashion, and Wolves don't go around peeing on everything to mark it as being in their territory. There are some weird things that happen, like everyone in my family being bi. Real bats aren't like that, but we are, for some reason. No one knows why."

  That got him to think for a minute, and realize that it might be the kind of thing to write down later, in his little notebook. Taking notes was probably not a horrible idea, come to think of it.

  Ginger went on then, her face very still, like she was trying not to scare him.

  "So, if you want to get with my friends, you have to ask permission. As it stands, honestly, I probably won't let you, since everyone is kind of higher ranking than me at work. Other Vampires might be fine that way, since I'm decently high up. Tara for instance? You can do her. Manthori even like sex, so that would be good. The one person there that would be kind of a tossup would be Eve. She can kick my ass in a fight, so let's not test that one, if it's all the same? If anyone higher ranking than me tries to take you, I have to fight them. Unless they have my permission first." There was a soft shrug, and her arms tightened a bit. "I was kidding about marriage, but we do get a bit territorial, so..."

  A tiny foot moved up from his lap to push the girl a little.

  "So you're not that different from any normal girl? Does that mean I can't sleep with Edom? He's yummy."

  There was a nod then, and two hands going out in a slightly forced looking gesture.

  "Yeah? The same goes for you, too. Technically... Well, in a lot of ways, being a Vampire is kind of like being in prison. You're both my bitches now, as far as anyone else is concerned. If anyone screws with you, I have to protect you. On the good side, most of the classics won't bother, unless they have a bone to pick with me, personally. The people at work are fine that way. None of them will try to poach you, or will at least ask first, so I can give permission. Eve is clearly kind of into you, Ty. So I guess I should tal
k to her about that."

  It sounded complex and a lot more real than he'd been thinking when he was getting it on. Like they were all actually together now. Though with strange rules that he still probably didn't understand.

  "Okay. So, let me get this straight... Vampires have big social rules to follow this way, but Shifters might or might not? And... Alede... I haven't even slept with any of them, so that doesn't count, does it? Let me get my notebook, I need to make a chart, I think." He actually got up, still nude, and ran to his room for that. He noticed that his clothing was in the little dining room, on the floor, so on the way back, picked it up. Ginger was dressed too, so it seemed like it was time for that. He gave Calley her clothing too.

  "So, let's start over? I don't want to screw this all up."

  The Shifter dressed, but made a point to touch both of them when she sat back down. The girls were kind of small, so it made it easy enough for all of them to share the sofa. Ginger was on the far end this time, with Tyler in the middle, being touched constantly.

  It was Calley who started counting things off.

  "For Shifters it's pretty simple. Treat them like Humans for this part of the world as far as sex goes. I mean, I don't care, personally, if you get some on the side, and really, you have to know that I will, if I can. That's me though, not society. I'm just extra special cool that way. Vampires have rules, but the basic idea is that if you really want to hit one of them that way, you need to clear it with Ginger first. If she says yes, then it will be all right. There are a few cases where politics might mean she has to say no. In that case, don't do it, if you have a choice in the matter. With Kait, well, that one is a little bit different. You told Roberta and some of the others to back off the other day, so she went around and kind of claimed you, so that they would. Not that it will hold forever. It wouldn't even if you were sleeping with her, since her kind will do anything to get laid. Right now, if you had sex with another Alede first, it would be a huge insult to her. So, if you need to get some at work, do it with her. Well, or Zack. Ben and Hiram are really straight though, so that just won't work. Zack is too, but his mentor keeps trying to make him bend that way, because for one of them being straight is pretty much a sign of mental illness."

  Ginger had a slightly different way of looking at things, and actually knew more about what Mages did than Calley.

  Some of the other groups were mentioned too, which was interesting. For his part, he decided not to play that way too much for the time being.

  After all, he wasn't certain, but he kind of thought he might already have a girlfriend for the first time in his life. Better, or perhaps worse, he seemed to have two of them.

  Because he was ready for that. Absolutely.

  Chapter nine

  At work the next day, a thing that he'd shown up for two hours early, since Zack had scheduled him to be there starting at four, he got to work directly. His idea had been that everyone would be geared toward being there late, in order to see to the new stock. It was right, but that meant the place was in near ruins when he walked through the door.

  By getting right to work, he was able to straighten and clean the place before he was even supposed to be there. Hiram was working the front desk, and tried to help, but there was enough traffic to keep him busy for the most part, running the till. Even at four, when he was supposed to be getting there, the books weren't coming in, since they had a special deal in place making them the last stop on the delivery person's route.

  That meant, according to Hiram, that things really wouldn't be coming in until about five-thirty.

  "Kenny likes to come in and spend some time with some of the girls about then. We've got Eve coming in too, so it should go pretty well tonight. She's fast, and works hard. With the crew we have we might actually be done by midnight for once." There was a grim look then and a head shake. "Trust me, I've had more than one night where it was just me and Kait trying to run the place and shove things on the shelves until dawn. Not that I'm knocking her. She actually tries pretty hard for an Alede. The rest... Well, when you have life handed to you, and can expect that to continue forever, there's no need to develop a work ethic."

  It was a bit of info that had him writing in his book when he had the chance. It was a real sounding point.

  Still, there were things left out, as far as he could tell.

  "So, Mages all have that? They work hard all the time?"

  The man, looking a bit rough, having a day's worth of growth going, even if he also had on a button up sweater and a nice shirt. It was a strange look. Like Mr. Rogers if he sold drugs on the side.

  "Fuck no. We're just people. Hell, I was a thief for most of my life. That's all about not doing the hard work, when you get down to it. Some of us Mages are better that way. Hard work and all that. Humans are good that way, too. With the Alede, well, when you love having sex, and look like they do, why would they do it? That Kait does marks her as really special. Don't tell her I said that. I don't want her to get lazy."

  That was said as she walked up, grinning. She was coming from the back left hand side, and a man, who looked to be in his forties or so, was fixing his clothing as he came out. Tyler didn't make eye contact with him, since that would probably leave him feeling bad. Like he was being judged, as crazy as that sounded. Still, the space was free, so he ran to clean it up. He hadn't been doing that, and, as it turned out, that meant the place reeked.

  Mainly of various bodily fluids. It was gross on a level that made him want to hurl a bit. Worse, someone had sprayed some lemon scented air freshener, in an attempt to fix the problem. That wasn't going to work, since there were actual puddles of things in places, as well as crusty white splotches on the leather chairs. In one place there was a stain on the carpet that hadn't been there the last time he'd cleaned the space. Clearly, no one had really tried since the last time he'd been in.

  It took about twenty minutes of scrubbing, while wearing some nice yellow rubber gloves. The half bucket of water that he'd brought was a dingy gray when he finished, which said things that he couldn't like at all. Yes, it was true that the girls were always kind of busy, but was it really impossible for them to run a sponge over the space they'd just used each time?

  That seemed to be the case. It kind of pissed him off. Which, of course, was stupid of him. After all, he was just there to clean and put books on the shelf. Generally to be helpful, not to tell anyone else how to do their own job. He was being paid for his work, but that was all. Getting upset over things he couldn't control wasn't going to help anything.

  When he finished with the first room, the one closest to the till, the other one opened up, so he slapped up a sign in front of the other one, so it could dry, and did that one too. That got a rather upset seeming Alexis standing at the door, about ten minutes in.

  "You're using both rooms at once? That's not fair!"

  Tyler glared at her for a bit, and then shook his head. Being an asshole wasn't a good plan, since he didn't doubt that Zack would side with the very pretty non-Human over him, if it came down to it.

  "Just a minute. Let the other one finish drying and you can have at it again. I'll check it as soon as I'm done here."

  The girl looked at him like he was being lazy, and crossed her arms, in a bossy and annoying way.

  "I have a friend coming now."

  He just nodded, and didn't tell her that he really didn't care. They could wait five minutes, and he really doubted they were going to run off and leave her hanging due to him. The very idea was a bit insane, but it was possible that the woman hadn't had enough energy yet that day. He got a bit grumpy when he didn't eat for too long, so it was fair to assume that she might feel that way too.

  Still, standing in the doorway, calling out that she had a friend coming, every ten seconds wasn't really helping him get his work done. Finally, after five minutes of it, he snapped at her a bit.

  "Shut up, will you? I'm working as fast as I can. If you hadn't been a pig for the las
t day I'd be done right now, so go away and let me get this done so you can get back to whatever it is you have planned?" It wasn't even that mean sounding, but for some reason she started crying and ran off.

  Tyler growled a little under his breath.

  "Well, fuck. I bet I'm fired then. Stupid..." He finished up, and took the sign off of the other room, figuring that he was probably going to end up having to move back home, not having a job, with which to pay for rent or food. Worse, he was glared at by Hiram as he walked up to the front counter, since there was a moist and upset Alexis behind the counter, clinging to him.

  Before anyone else could speak, Kaitlyn walked over, looking angry. Tyler tried to get ready for her to yell at him for making her friend cry, but her words were a bit different than he would have expected from her. After all, she was, as Hiram had kind of pointed out, part of a pampered and privileged class. There was no reason for her to understand that reality couldn't just form around her needs all the time. That was, really, why Alexis had gotten upset with him.

  Reality wasn't doing what she demanded, instantly. She was pretty after all, so to her mind, it was supposed to do that, and sometimes probably did.

  Kait wasn't having any of it.

  "I agree with Ty. From now on if you want to use the facilities here, then you have to do your fucking job, too. Zack is paying us to be here, but that's to work at his store, not just collect energy. That's an awesome perk, I won't lie, but it isn't unfair to ask you to do your job, Alexis. It isn't just you either. We're all doing that kind of thing. You heard what Hiram was saying about work ethic earlier? I think we should all be trying to get one of those."

  The words got Tyler to tilt his head, thinking about what that really meant. First, it was clear that Kait thought that her kind were sort of abusing things, and might even think they did that as a rule. Second, she not only had heard the conversation going on, but had expected that Alex had done the same. In closed rooms, while having sex.