Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Page 13

  Picking up his notebook from behind the counter he made a note about how good their hearing must be.

  Alexis looked scandalized.

  "We don't have to work! We're Alede. That isn't our way. People provide for us..." At least she seemed a little troubled by that part of things. Not too much, but it was clear she didn't totally think what she was saying was right.

  The other Alede shook her head.

  "No. That's bullcrap, and you know it. People know about us now, and we can't just keep floating around using people. Eventually things are going to come to light, and if we can't at least seem to have some kind of value outside of being decent looking, we will be attacked. We've seen that before, historically speaking. Women will come after us again, for stealing their men. We have to at least look like we have some kind of utility outside of that. I can see the others not getting that, but you and I know different, don't we?" Why that was wasn't spoken of, but the other girl nodded a bit sadly, and walked away, out the front.

  Hiram still kind of glared at him, but again, didn't get to speak.

  Kait held her right hand out.

  "No. Don't. She was being a brat, and got called on it like an adult. She has the skills now not to act like that. She isn't even hungry. She was just being demanding and entitled. It's a problem for all of us. Me too, I won't lie about that. I just have goals, so need to improve." She glanced at Ty, and shrugged, her glasses shifting a bit, and her curly brown hair showing a single wisp on the left hand side. "I'm planning to take over the Alede Ruling Body. There are other reasons, but the main one is that they tried to have me killed when I was younger. Alexis too. If Zack hadn't stepped in for us, we'd probably both be dead. The Mistress of Souls, too. I mean think about that one for a bit. Demons are better people than we are... That can't be allowed to keep happening."

  That was a good enough reason for him. Hiram still looked pissed at him though, and the man was the manager. That didn't bode well for him. Still, he didn't scream or anything, and there was a distraction then, as the delivery man, Kenny, showed up, wearing cute little brown shorts and a matching shirt. He was a bit plump, but not too much so. It was more of a pleasant roundness, even though he worked hard enough for a living that there was some muscle there too.

  They were a person down, or he thought they would be, but a few minutes later before the twenty or so boxes of books came through the front doors, Alexis came back, with a good looking man and an ultra hot woman in tow. The woman was Ivy, and Tyler was almost certain that the guy was Robert.

  He waited for the round robin haranguing to come, over what he'd said to the younger Alede, but Robert just nodded at him.

  "Alexis told us to get our butts over here and help. Ivy, if you'd make sure that Ken is taken care of? I'll help get the books logged in." The man, while good looking, seemed to be a lot more efficient than Roberta was normally. It kept going on too, though it was kind of subtle after that.

  Why that would happen Ty didn't really know. Were Alede different in their different forms? Were Shifters? That one kind of made sense, but it wasn't a thing that he would have ever thought about before, to tell the truth.

  That was what he thought about as the first book cart came from the back twenty minutes later. It took time to get things logged into the computer system, so he took the wooden cart, and started right in, getting everything up as fast as he could go. Eve showed up at about seven, and took the third one, as Kait and Hiram worked one together. Alexis and Robert worked together too.

  As he moved to the back, a while later, Eve nodded to him.

  "This is different. How did we get this much help suddenly?"

  Tyler thought about it, and then waved at Kaitlyn, across the room. "It was her. Part of her new program to make sure her people are taken care of in the, um, new environment. Being known and all that?"

  The Vampire girl, who was about two or three full points under the Alede in looks, and still seemed ready to go on television that way, glanced over and then nodded.

  "Makes sense. Really, we should all get together that way. A bit of support between other groups can't hurt. So far we've all been going our own way. The Vampires are the only group that has a system in place to handle the press and other media, so far. You know... You should get on that one, Ty. Go around and see about getting a meeting together. Not many people could do it, but you're a Human, or close enough that no one will doubt that if you say you are. No one really thinks of you having an agenda yet. Do that for me, will you?" There was a chuckle, but then a shake of her head, which made her shoulder length hair move a bit. "Tomorrow, before work, I mean. You have all that extra time each day you waste on sleeping. You know, you should think about being one of us. A Vampire? Then, as soon as you get up to speed, you'll have more time for things."

  It was kind of idle chatter, but he nodded a little.

  "That's a thing. For now though, I need to get to the books."

  In the back, most of the eight book carts were filling up fast. That was because Zack was there now, and was working both smoothly and faster than could easily be tracked. The man turned as Ty grabbed one of the carts, which seemed to have a lot of popular fiction on it, but before he could take it away, called out to him.

  "Hey. I hear that you're the one putting together the new coalition for the different groups in regards to Human interaction now that almost everyone is out?" It was spoken with a playful tone at least.

  Tyler shook his head.

  "Does everyone here have super hearing? I'm going to get a complex about passing gas, you know that right? As it is I've already had to stop muttering under my breath. You're a horrible mother fucker, by the way. Just in case you were wondering what I was going to say when you walked away." He grinned and shook his head. "I'm kidding. You've actually been cool so far. Still..."

  Zack just snorted a little bit.

  "No shit, huh? Don't worry too much. Most of them won't really be listening to you most of the time. Not yet. Eve had a good idea. Get a schedule for me, and I can take you around to different nodes. That's where we keep most of the embassies. First though, I have phone numbers, which will be faster, and make it seem like you have resources. Talk to Bey first, for the Vampires. He's smart enough to throw in with you early, and that will make it seem like you have something going on that's real. Besides, he was really impressed with what you did the other day." Then the man, who was thin even if he ate a lot, turned back to the computer and started entering lines of numbers off of books.

  There was no more speaking, so he took that as a sign that getting back to his paying job was the thing to do. That meant trying to move fast, since otherwise Eve was going to finish two carts for every one he did. It helped a lot to get rid of the pauses between the movements when he could, but it wasn't the same as having super powers. It took enough effort that he didn't really think about anything else for a while.

  When he got a chance to come up for air, because there were no more books left in the back room, it was only ten o'clock. He still had hours left to work, being on the schedule until two in the morning. Most of the others got to go home though, including Hiram, who glaring earlier aside, seemed pretty happy suddenly.

  "That was... Incredible. Who knew, I should have yelled at the girls years ago. Sigh."

  Tyler made a face and then shook his head.

  "I didn't yell. Maybe I snapped a little, but that was annoyance, not anger. I know that I shouldn't have anyway, but I'm only Human." Not that it was a good excuse.

  People needed to try their best to be responsible for their own actions. That was the way he'd been raised. You were supposed to try and do the right thing, not just when it was easy, but even when you didn't really feel like it.

  "Besides, it was all about Kait and Alexis, in the end. Robert, too. That is Robert, right?" He hadn't asked, but the man himself, who was near the front desk talking to an older lady with white hair and a skirt that was a bit too short for her years, generally
speaking, turned and nodded.

  On the good side, that meant a lot of people got to leave early. Palma was gone, though she'd left out food for the others, including some fruit, which when he got a break Tyler ate several pieces of. Zack had handed it to him, so he figured it would be all right, even if he couldn't afford it.

  "I didn't know we got free food."

  The man had a tray filled with what seemed to be a variety of sandwiches. Big hoagie style things that had to be hard to fit into his mouth. Oddly enough he stopped, and looked back at Ty, who was sitting at one of the cafe tables.

  "Everyone in the mall does, if you eat here. So, you know, if you need to come in on your days off for a while you can always get something. You'd think more of them would use it, but you know, Greater Demon." He waved at himself, then settled at the table, taking the chair across from Ty. "You can't blame them. Most people are afraid of my people. Mainly because half of us are insane monsters. I know I don't go out of my way to hang out with them, if I can help it. Not that I always get a choice."

  Eating a pear, since that was his favorite kind of fruit, Tyler didn't nod, or react at all. It just made sense not to be an a-hole to his boss. That didn't mean he wasn't curious.

  "I don't know much about demons. Greater and Lesser, but nothing else. How come the cool looking ones with the horns and red skin are the lesser ones?"

  Zack smiled.

  "I know, right? Not all of them are like that. Djin can look like almost anything, for instance. The main reason is because we're totally different beings. Greater Demons are a species. One clearly related to Human. Lesser Demons are tulpas. Energy beings created by people's thoughts? I have more in common with you than I do with one of them that way. Demon basically means that we can walk the lines. That's a thing we have in common. Mages can too, and most other groups of note can manage it a bit, but being able to do it as an individual is the real point. I'm pretty much the best at it. Out of everyone that we know about." He ate a sandwich faster than seemed reasonable, and then wiped his mouth with a paper napkin from the stack on his tray. "That probably makes me the biggest Demon then. No one thinks of it that way. You know, it's about the evil and all that, which is also real enough. When you can, you should try to avoid people like me."

  "I get a choice? Goody, free will." Tyler glanced at his boss, but there was no frown. Nothing but eating for a bit.

  "I can't go into that with you." It was a strange thing to say, but Ty didn't ask about it, since there was a clatter from the front of the space. Zack got up and started running, sandwich in hand, so Tyler did the same, trying to be careful as he moved through the store, not wanting to make a mess.

  Thankfully it wasn't that anything was happening in their store, the yelling coming from the place across the way. Pretty Plus.

  A woman, one who wasn't all that pretty, but who managed to have a serviceable face, and hit the plus requirement nicely stood in the front of the place. Holding a gun. Directly at the head of a very good looking woman that he'd never met before. Zack stopped at the front of his own place, going stock still. Everyone else did, too. Probably so they wouldn't scare the lady with the weapon. She was a little heavyset, in a muscular way, compared to the blonde that she was holding hostage. Bigger too, as far as being tall went.

  "You fucking bitch. You stole my girlfriend."

  The other lady, seeming a bit scared, tried to speak then.

  "I'm not sure I know who you mean?"

  "Nellie! She told me all about you, and your vixen ways!" Then, because just having a gun wasn't good enough, she slapped it across the better looking one's face, making her bleed. Hard.

  No one else walked over, scared, or more likely, not wanting to get involved when they didn't know what was going on. He could see that. Still, being a fool, he could also see what was needed. Thankfully the other lady helped, by speaking softly.

  "I don't know anyone by that name." It got her hit again. Hard enough that she went to the floor. It should have stopped things, but the lady with the gun pointed it at her, not paying any attention to anything else at all.

  "Die you bitch!"

  There was a gun shot, but it missed, which meant there was enough time for him to get there. That started a wrestling match for the weapon, that was a lot harder to win that it should have been. Tyler noticed that as he pulled the gun away. It was a medium sized thing, and went off as he took it, but he managed to carry it away with him, when the lady picked him up bodily, and threw him about ten feet away. The nifty thing there was that he managed to roll. Not well, but enough that other than his pride, he wasn't really hurt. Then the aggressive lady, whatever she was, turned on him.

  "I won't let you save her! She dies now!"

  Sighing, he tossed the weapon away. He didn't know how to use it, and trying to shoot the standing woman would probably end up with him hitting some innocent person in the background. They could have helped, now that there was no risk of being shot.

  "Um, I don't think she's the one that you're looking for. What's the name of the Alede that Nellie is seeing?"

  The big woman spun on him, her foot raised to stomp the Alede, who was trying to scoot away on her behind, in the head.

  "What?" It seemed like she was really baffled. As if the idea had never occurred to her before.

  "The name of the Alede you're going after? I mean, good looking, with big... Um," He held his hands up, describing what he meant, and shrugged. The heavier woman was busty too, so it seemed fair to point that part out. She glared at him, and growled.

  "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

  Tyler froze, for about ten seconds, his face feeling like it was warping without his ability to influence it. It probably made it seem like he was being an asshole. He just couldn't help it.

  "Well, she said she doesn't know Nellie. Not by that name anyway. Coming here and going after the first good looking woman you see is kind of not going to work. There are like ten of them around here that would make most models turn green. Hell, I was just working with a Vampire that could do movies. What's the name of the Alede that you're looking for?"

  The lady, who wasn't Human, given her slightly morphing features, which included a slightly protruding nose that darkened as he watched, shook her head a little. She was, most likely, a Shifter, given that.

  "Alede? No. I'm here for the Cat bitch. Catherine. She works at the clothing shop..."

  "Oooohhh." Tyler looked around then, to see about fifteen people get it all at once. Waving his hand a bit, he closed with the woman, who had gotten taller over the last few seconds. Changing into something else. Probably because she didn't have her gun. Looking over he noticed that Calley had come out and collected it, holding it by her side, carefully. Most of the places were closing for the night, so at least there was that. There looked to be four or five patrons left, but most of the people there were at least in on things. They weren't Human soccer moms just looking for a bargain or trying to find the latest book written by some heavy drinking guy who hadn't seen daylight for seven years.

  There were no kids either, which was good. Mainly due to the fact that the woman in front of him was still getting bigger, and had grown hair all over her body. It was tempting to make some kind of quip about needing to shave her legs, but the raw fear was stopping that.

  He kept talking anyway, not even knowing if the woman, who was obviously a Bear of some kind, could understand him anymore. That kind of thing was a question that he should have known, but at the moment really couldn't remember. Hopefully it wasn't a waste of time.

  "This is the Alede embassy. I think you're looking for a different place. Also, you came pretty late. I don't know that any of their people would be here now. Maybe you should, I don't know, um, do something else?" What that was, even what he was suggesting, Tyler didn't know.

  It did seem like she was paying attention to him, so that was a good sign that he was either getting through to her, or was about to be mauled. Since
the woman could pretty clearly have messed him up as a Human, it seemed like cheating to him. There was no way he was taking on a bear in a fight.

  Racking his brain, he tried to come up with anything that would distract a bear. It did come to him that Calley had mentioned the idea that shifters weren't really their animals in some kind of true duality. That they were unique beings, that didn't share that much with what the animals did at all.

  Which was less helpful than if he could distract this lady with some honey.

  He tossed his hands up in the air.

  "So, can you change into a form we can chat with? I don't know how to help you right now. Pretty much all we can do is run around and yell a lot this way." It didn't seem that likely, since, at least if she was fighting him, which seemed to be the most likely outcome, given what everyone else was doing at the moment, being a bear kind of meant she won.

  As a Human, now that he knew she was as powerful as she was, he might be able to do something. Then, talking really did seem like the best option. Not that the downed Alede was going to be happy with that one, he didn't think. She'd been pulled into the back of her shop by Robert, who had wisely closed the heavy metal grating at the front of the place. The lights were off too, like that was going to fool anyone. Then again, they might have all fled out the back. That made sense to him.

  It was a funny scene, actually. Standing back, by about twenty feet or so, stood about ten people that could have each ended this inside a few seconds. Eve was there, along with a different dark haired Vampire woman, who was less attractive, but still nice looking. She seemed concerned, but wasn't exactly wading in to help him. Zack was looking at the whole thing carefully, and had actually held Kait back, so that she didn't run forward to help him. More likely that had been to help the other woman there. The blonde.

  Three Trollienkeine had come as well. Two of them were ladies, but each looked like taking on a Bear with the giant wooden paddles they had might just happen.