Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Read online

  "We have a friend that's a mage healer. She does really good work. That way you won't have to go to the hospital, since you'd need to report this to the cops if you did. It won't take too long, I don't think. We need to take these people with us too. I... Maggie only has a hatchback, I don't think that part is going to work." There was a slightly defeated sound to her words, which got the Eve to seem joyful.

  "We'll run them in. Really, we could do it with you, but that might be uncomfortable. These folks won't care, and we only have to be careful with one of them. Normally I'd just get you to run the fifteen miles too, naturally, since you clearly aren't a pussy, but with that scratch it might be a bit much to ask. So you understand, I'm doing it this way to make the Vampires look good, not to say you can't do it. Here, let me jog over and see if I can set something up?"

  Then, without so much as a whisper of sound, the woman vanished. She was just gone.

  Tyler got it, and nodded a bit, his arm aching and burning the whole time. He thought. It was a bit hard to tell. The worst of the bleeding seemed to have stopped, so there was that. There was just a tiny spot of pink on the outside of the makeshift bandage.

  "That's impressive. Invisibility? Or... Was she an energy projection all along?"

  Ginger shook her head.

  "Nope. Eve is just that fast, when she wants to be. I mean, I have super speed too, but not like her. Which is why making three trips to the mall carrying these jerkwads is going to be a lot less than fun. Oh! Sorry, I didn't get your name?"

  "Tyler. Gartner. Call me Ty." His voice had dropped a bit in volume. It would seem like he was fainting, but that wasn't it. He just really did not do well around attractive women.

  Not that he didn't like them. That would be silly, they were, as a group, his favorite kind of person. He just couldn't get himself to talk to them, that was all. Right now he could though, because it was about business, and fights to the death. It made a difference. He'd do better as he got to know them, if that happened.

  Sighing he smiled at the smaller woman.

  "Well, I suck at running. I mean, I can cover some distance, using a trick or two, but I'm pretty slow. I mean, for a regular guy. Eight miles an hour is fast for me, and I normally do six."

  That got him patted on the arm. His good one.

  "That's not bad. When I was alive I could barely make it around the track at school. I think I might have had asthma, not that I paid much attention to that kind of thing. You practice fighting too though?" She waved at the downed people, except the all white one, who was off to the side, not piled together with the others.

  Tyler felt blood rise into his face.

  "I... Kind of. I try, you know, out of books? On my own?"

  The girl with the dark hair was back then, suddenly, standing there and nodding her head like she'd been part of the conversation the whole time.

  "Seems to work! We need to clean up the bodies here first, then I can drive you over to Lyn? The healer? It won't take too long, I don't think. Even if we have to wait for her to show up. She won't be in until around ten. Are you cool with that, Batman?"

  Before he could nod, both girls, and two of the bad guys, since he was going to call them that, Ty decided, were gone. Nothing happened for a while, a few minutes, so he moved over toward the Vampires that were on the ground, standing a bit closer to the all white one. He tried to look more like a guard and less like a nervous jogger that had found a collection of bodies on the street.

  It was mainly true, since he hadn't really found them all that way. Explaining that they were Vampires wasn't going to work too well though, for most of them. His Vampire friend, well, she looked that part. The others just seemed like slightly seedy drunks that had passed out from partying too hard. Which, when the cops pulled up, in several cars, he nearly said.

  "Trouble here?" The first man out looked normal enough for a Saturday morning at this time. Awake, since he'd probably had the night shift, and alert enough that he noticed the white girl first thing. His eyes widened, and he seemed pretty scared, which got the rest of the men, and the one woman with them, to stiffen up.

  "Um, hi? Uh, these Vampires, I know they don't look like it right now, but the man and two women in that pile? They were trying to kill this one here. They're being transported by the Vampire, er, Council, someplace safe. It might be a while before they get back. I'm supposed to wait here?" It was a question, and sounded weak, but no one pulled a gun on him. Just on the others. The downed people.

  That got him to roll his eyes a little, since they were all aiming at his new friend. The obvious looking one.

  "No, she's the victim. It happened at sunup, so they all went down. I-" He jumped a little, since the girls were back. Given that they'd run, while carrying people on their shoulders, and covered about thirty miles, it was freaking impressive.

  It meant that one of the officers started shooting, since he was startled. Aimed at the downed girl still, too. The pale, sleeping one. Ty didn't see it happen really, but Ginger was in front of her, and took the bullets that came. Once one of them fired, they all did. They also figured out that it was just a reflexive thing on their own.

  "Cease fire! Cease fire!" The woman was the one calling that out, her very short, almost butch looking blonde hair shining a bit in the early morning sun. It was a good look for a female cop. Efficient.

  Ginger frowned at the men cutely, her hands by her sides.

  "Ow! Really? Hello is too hard for you? I'm going to be healing from that for, like, maybe half an hour."

  Eve, who was over to the side still, cleared her throat a bit awkwardly.

  "I take it that Chief Sims hasn't gotten in touch with you, yet? I called this in. Really, you shouldn't have responded. Mainly because of this kind of thing, given the time of day. Just thank god you shot Ginger and not Tyler here. He's... Um... Human." She looked over at him, and then shrugged her shoulders, the tan fabric rising smoothly. "True, an awesome one, but asking him to soak bullets after fighting five Vampires single handedly like that is a bit much to ask of a man that was just out for his morning exercise, don't you think? Anyway. Why don't you go call this in and get your orders? I'll keep moving the prisoners." She didn't wait, or ask if it was all right, and two of the remaining people vanished with her.

  That got the police looking panicked again.

  Finally Ty rolled his eyes.

  "This is under control. The Vampires are taken care of it. Why not do what Eve suggested? Call it in and make sure that it's all cleared already?" If it wasn't they were probably going to have some trouble. Ginger was hurt, and so was he. True, her body was pushing bullets out onto the street, but that didn't mean she could fight all of these armed people if it came to that. Not that he could either. Unlike the Vampires, these men and women weren't half asleep. Worse, they were actually scared. Thankfully that was of the dead people on the ground and not him, but still, nervous people with guns couldn't be a good thing.

  Thankfully the female officer, who looked cute in her uniform he noticed, did make the needed calls, over the radio in her car. Within a minute there was a reply, which got her to come out, her face a bit embarrassed looking.

  "Looks like these folks have it right. The Chief put out a memo on it just as we pulled up. We're dumping it on the Vamps, since this is all their own people. Except..." She looked over at Tyler, her face worried suddenly.

  Ginger waved his way though, and lied, as if it wasn't a problem at all.

  "Mr. Gartner is one of our employees. That's why he was able to take on all those Vampires like that. He's special. We'll handle that part of things. He's one of us. The one that made sure we got here in time to clean up the mess." Then as if to accentuate the point a bit of lead popped from a wound near her left hip. She glanced down at it and let a small grin play on over her face. "So, unless you all want to hang out? These people aren't going anywhere until the sun goes down. We should have them off the street inside an hour. The top of this next one I mean,
so about five minutes. Before dogs come and pee on them or anything like that."

  That was enough to get the men and women in blue to leave. It meant standing there, while the Vampire girl, and that had to be what she was, given the powers she'd shown, healed up. Enough so that when Eve popped back into existence, her first words were predictable.

  To Tyler at least.

  "Good. You can run the last woman back and wait there. We'll tuck Tara in the car with us. Make sure to jar that bitch around a little bit as you run. Really dig a shoulder into her middle. Freaking morons. Ruining my weekend like this. Come on, Batman."

  He didn't correct her, but kind of wished he'd said something else now. As the woman picked up the all white form from the ground like a baby cradled in her arms, her double rows of teeth showed through her gaping maw of death. Ty shook his head, but started walking anyway, even though it would be a lot quicker for him to just go home. He didn't know if the promised healing thing would do much, but he wasn't going to say no to it either. After all, until that day he'd only ever met one Vampire that he knew about for certain. The one that had spoken at the library. Linda, the tiny and attractive one that he'd forced himself to chat with. No Mages or Shifters at all. It also wasn't like he had to be at work or anything, having not managed to get a job yet.

  That... He was dragging his feet there, he knew. The thing was, he could get on at someplace like Burgerville, and knew it. They were hiring, according to the big sign out front, and it was honest work, if fast food. It was mainly that he'd just graduated, and while going to Europe for the summer was out, so was going to college in the fall. His grades had been good enough, but he hadn't managed a big full ride scholarship or anything. Since the other road in that direction meant going into the job market with a vast debt hanging over his head, he'd figured out that his best option was to skip that, and just start working. The thing there was that, while he didn't look down on anyone that worked, he really didn't want to start out in the food industry. Not that low down in it at any rate.

  So, he'd been a bit selective that way, which meant no call backs yet, as far as employment. Ty needed to find something though, since making his mother keep supporting him after he turned eighteen was just wrong. She'd done the single mom thing, and now it was time for her to be free of him. Not that she'd ever say that. It was just really clear to him.

  With a nod, he waited for the girls to get underway before speaking. It was important not to be rude, though, on the good side, if he did that with Eve it would almost certainly be about him not talking to her, rather than saying the wrong thing.

  "Call me Ty?"

  That got the woman to bob her head a little, the light blonde hair of the very white Vampire on her shoulder contrasting with hers nicely.

  "Right. Though that Batman thing... Incredible timing. It would have looked bad if it had been later, unless they ran then too. Not that I blame them. Given everything, and the time of day... Well, they were all so out of it by then that they probably thought you were the real deal. Fresh off the movie screen just to kick their asses. We should mock them with that later. You know, really rub it in? If we don't kill them, I mean."

  Thinking about it, he let himself smile. His nerves weren't totally settled yet, but it was hard to tell if that was about the girl or not. It could have been the nearly dying part of the morning's events, come to think about it.

  The walk wasn't too far for him, since he wasn't carrying anyone. About a block. Eve seemed not to mind, and had them all loaded up into a tiny Japanese car that looked a bit the worse for wear, about five minutes later. It occurred to him that she was going very slowly, so that he wouldn't have to push himself too hard.

  Really, that seemed pretty fair.

  Chapter two

  Tyler had heard about the place that they ended up in. Not all of the once secret embassies were in shopping malls, but in the ones that were, the Vampires all ran Yoghurt Worlds. It was a tiny chain, with only twenty or thirty stores in it. If they were all like this one, they were nice. The place was clean, when they walked in, on a level that he'd never seen in a food place before. Not even the occasional nice restaurant he'd been to.

  Every surface that could shine did. The stone countertop was immaculate, and the glass and chrome edging gleamed. Even the gaudy orange and yellow topped tables and booths were perfect. Eve walked in with Tara, the Manthori, over her shoulder again, and waved with one hand at the black man behind the counter. He was a lot better looking than Tyler, had more muscle, and a nice suit on. With a green and white apron over that.

  "Hello! Did you come for breakfast? We have a new donut parfait that I hear isn't too bad." The voice that came out was rich, mellow and relaxed. He was looking right at him though, so Tyler shook his head.

  "No thanks. I kind of left the house without any money. Besides, I try to only eat fruits and vegetables." Before he could add in that he didn't mean any offense, and that it was just a fitness thing, the man smiled at him.

  "I can make you a fruit salad? You aren't allergic to anything, are you?"

  "Shellfish? If you put that on a fruit salad though, then no one should eat it."

  It got a polite chuckle at least.

  "Good point. Now, why not take a seat. I notice you have a wound there? Do you need some help with that?"

  Eve and Ginger both popped out of the back, and the younger girl explained it for him, which was nice of her. He just wasn't great with new people. He liked them, he just didn't have an easy time knowing what to say about it.

  "Tara was attacked by a group of Vampires near sunrise. Tyler saw it happening and fought them all. By himself. One of them stabbed him in the arm. Then they tried to escape, once they realized they couldn't win, but he caught them all. I was going to help, but Eve and I got there just in time to see that he wasn't going to lose. We didn't want to insult him by jumping in when he was doing so well. He might have taken it the wrong way, and beaten us up too." It didn't make a lot of sense, but Eve joined in, her fresh face happier now, for some reason.

  "No shit, Edom. Then the cops came and started giving us crap, even though the whole thing had already been called in. It was a timing issue, I think. You know, instead of Althea Sims trying to jerk us around? They shot Ginger, and then-"

  The girl, the youthful looking one, though who knew how old she really was, waved at Tyler.

  "Then we told them that Ty here works for us. I did. Just to stop the hassles."

  That got a bowl of fruit salad pushed across the counter. More to the point it was a really large wax paper half cup thing. Filled to the brim with fresh things. No oysters or anything, so using his good hand he took it, and then tried to find the forks. They actually had them, on each table, next to the spoons and knives. All of them were plastic, but it was kind of handy.

  The man behind the counter seemed impressed for some reason.

  "That's not bad. There are five back there, you fought them all?"

  He nodded as he tucked a half strawberry in his mouth. It let him stall for time for a few seconds while he thought.

  "If we can call that fighting. I should have died, but I got lucky. The time of day, mainly."

  That got the man, Edom, to stare at him for a bit, then look over at Eve. Something passed between them, but it was hard to tell just what that might be.

  The Vampire woman made a bit of a face, then shook her head, ever so slightly.

  "He's what he seems. Understood? Delicious and sexy. We should see if he wants to go down to Zack's for a bit. Having him look out for Tyler might keep these bozos off his back. They aren't going to like the fact that he spanked them like little kids. Not that he can't do it again. It was skill, not just luck. Still, day after day of endless fights might wear him down. Or, possibly, annoy him enough that he blames all of us for it. We should stop that train before it starts."

  That got the good looking man, probably also a Vampire, though there was no way to tell from the outside, to look away f
or a bit, like he was thinking.

  "Not a horrible plan. You mentioned that Zack needs help anyway? Especially on nights. Maybe you should take our new friend over and see if that's a thing that can happen?" The man shrugged. "Zack's a great guy. No one wants to mess with him. So if he agrees, that might prevent you from becoming... Annoyed, as Eve mentioned."

  She watched him eat then, and no one spoke for a long time, until the last bite, a piece of fresh banana, was in his mouth. Then the long haired girl, who looked a bit like she had something slightly darker than Norwegians in her ancestry, flowed to her feet, and took his little paper bowl thing, along with the fork he'd been using, and tossed them both. Then she wiped down the table quickly as he stood, and was at the door when he got there. Ahead of him, even though that really shouldn't have been physically possible.

  Not for a Human.

  "This way!" The girl walked quickly, but didn't vanish, which meant something. That she didn't want him to have time to think, but also wasn't trying to show off really, he guessed. It was his first time there, at Westfield. His mom had never really had the kind of money that going to a mall location for anything implied. She worked as a waitress, and had his entire life, as far as he knew. It was kind of miserable for her, but she never complained about it. She just worked, six days a week. Long hours too, since rent wasn't cheap.

  There were some strange places there. A knife and sword shop, which he could kind of see being there, since people liked shiny things. Also an herb shop. It was Washington State, but that didn't mean they were allowed to sell weed openly. It was probably simple remedies and that kind of thing then, since there were no grow lights being displayed in the window.

  They had a place called Brand Village, which they stopped at, as they passed.

  It didn't seem to be the destination though, just because a rather dorky looking redheaded girl with thick glasses came out. She was dressed too nicely to work at a place like that, with a professional looking skirt on, as well as a jacket over a bright white shirt. The thing was, she also looked adorable. It was enough that he blushed a bit when Eve put her hand out to stop him from walking.