Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Page 3

  "Calley! This is Tyler. You heard about the thing earlier?"

  How that could have happened, he didn't understand, but the friendly seeming woman, who looked to be about twenty-something, in the small numbers, nodded violently.

  "I sure did. Great story. We should all get together later. You eat food, right? You had that fruit salad." This was addressed to him, and since she was cute, but not going to be a model in the next few days, Ty was able to actually not feel too bad, chatting with her.

  "Mainly fruits and veggies. I know it's a weird diet, but-" He was about to go into the health benefits, and how he did eat eggs too, but the woman just reached out and took his right arm, and held it, at the elbow.

  Her hand was very warm.

  "Great. So, let's do that? We can meet for lunch, if you aren't busy?"

  Eve waved at his other arm, "healing then, I bet. Dinner? I won't be there, but you two should hook up. It never hurts to have friends. Right now I'm trying to get him on over at the bookstore. There are things, and reasons. Don't mention anything. Spread the word?"

  As if that was just the normal thing to do with slightly sweaty people in running gear, she moved him along with a hand on his back, leaving the adorable woman behind. He actually looked back, and blushed when he noticed Calley was still there, watching them.

  He whispered to Eve, forgetting to feel awkward about it.

  "Is she single?" It was, he realized, the second time he'd ever asked that about anyone in his life. The other time the girl had turned out to be the girlfriend of the guy he was talking to, so that hadn't gone over too well at all.

  He winced, doing it so clearly that Eve got it. She glanced back and then looked at him as they kept moving.

  "Seems so, since she's nodding about it. You should totally get with her then. I mean, you're both incredible people, so it makes sense. Before you ask, no, she isn't my girlfriend. My girlfriend works at the place I'm taking you. My boyfriend too... But you know, if you can get them into bed, fair game. Actually, if you can get Ben to go for it, I'll record the whole thing. That sounds kind of hot."

  He nodded, but couldn't make himself speak. He wasn't exactly a homosexual or anything. He didn't think so. If that was the case he wouldn't have that much trouble talking to women in particular. Then, it had been hard to speak to Edom, and really, if he was going to be honest about it, if the man had his dick out, he probably would suck it. That was kind of gay. On the great side, he didn't have a problem with that.

  Just as they got to the front of the place, he managed to take a deep breath, and nod.

  "All right. I'm not sure I'm into that. Being online, I mean. If it comes up I'll let you know though? I could use a tape like that in case I ever get famous. That's a thing now, right? All the cool kids get one?" He meant it, even if it was a very strange thing to be saying to someone he'd just met.

  Without removing her hand, she moved closer, and pressed her cool body against his. He thought it should be cool. To be honest, it just felt right. About the same as him, really.

  "Perfect. I'll set it up. Don't worry. I..." She looked around the place, which was the size of two decent bookstores. It also had a full cafe, one with people in it, even though it was still pretty early in the day, in the back on the left. There was a cute guy sitting at one of the tables, leaning over a tray that was filled with more food than seemed possible for a football team to eat at once. Still, skinny or not, he seemed game to try.

  He looked a bit Asian, around the eyes, and seemed lean. Hard, from the way his muscle was playing under his shirt. It was clear that he knew Eve at least, since he waved at her, and kept a smile on his face as she came over.

  "Zack? This is my new buddy, Ty. I was wondering if-" Before she could finish, the man leaned over and held his hand out to shake, taking in the blood spotted blue bandage as he half stood. Then he searched his face for a bit. After a moment, one that seemed a bit like the man was trying to come on to him, which produced much blushing, he sank back down, very gracefully, and nodded.

  "Nice to meet you! Are you looking for work?" It was a simple enough thing to ask, and while a bookstore wasn't his first pick to get a job at, it also wasn't fast food, or waiting tables.

  Unless, and he looked around at the place they were in, it was. That still wasn't fast food. It was the one thing he was really holding out for. Something other than that.

  "I am. Not to sound goofy, but I do like books. I read a lot. Mainly free ones from the library. Um..." He glanced around and then shrugged. "I have no experience at all, but if they go up alphabetically, I can learn how to do it." That put him as being almost out of things to say, but the cute guy made a considering face, and then ate a filled croissant thing. When he was done, he nodded. "It isn't really that hard here, most of the time. Most of the people that work here are different. You know about the embassies, but there are some things that haven't made the news yet. Different groups that aren't out. We need to keep it that way, until they're ready. Almost every place here is an embassy, so being diplomatic is part of the job."

  Eve seemed pleased enough as she settled into her chair.

  "Yeah. This isn't one of those. Zack, well..."

  There was more eating and no talking for a bit, until the good looking man finished that. Then he just looked around, and pointed toward the front.

  "The big draw here is that we have several Alede. Succubi, and Incubi. They spend most of their time entertaining people in the rooms to the right. It's safe. They only harvest spent life energy, so you get the idea, they spend a lot of time getting people to produce it. All of them are nice. Horrible workers. Or, to be more fair, so-so workers, who get distracted really easily. Try not to do that during working hours. Really, if you can muster the fortitude, try to ignore them as far as sex goes. Our Manager, Hiram, is a Mage and will show you the ropes here, as far as the store goes. Palma, back there?" He waved to a slightly heavy looking woman with curly hair, who smiled at the use of her name.

  Then she waved and went right back to work.

  "She's a Hsreth. One of two that work this place now. Right now we're closing at night while Carla is on vacation. Wonderful cooks, bakers, homemakers and pretty much the best around at anything domestic. If anything comes up that's food related at all here, she's in charge of it. Do what she says, even if it doesn't seem like your job at the moment. I know you don't love the idea of being in food service, but there's two levels to that. The kind you're worried about, and the kind that people pay a lot of money for. Guess which kind she's into?" There was a smile, but Zack's eyes locked with his.

  It was a bit intimidating.

  "Ben is a regular Human, like you. He does the role playing game guides, science-fiction and fantasy. Everything else too, but he specializes in those areas. What kind of thing do you like to read?"

  The question was sudden, but he was being interviewed, so answering a few things wasn't unexpected. The whole thing kind of was, and he felt really underdressed, but that was survivable. Almost as if reading his mind, the man across from him gave a small nod.

  "Mainstream fiction, action adventure, survival guides. Martial arts. I read a little mystery?" It felt dumb, making that a question, but it got a smile.

  "Great! Like I said, everyone does all of it, but let's face it, the girls aren't going to get that much done, most days. Hiram won't be in until noon. Can you come back then?" There was a glance at his arm, but Eve waved at it.

  "I'm going to see if Lyn can heal him for us? I think that will work best. Also, there might be a small issue with some Vampires he roughed up a bit. Actually he kicked their collected asses pretty hard. Can we tell them that he works for you now?"

  That got the slightly muscular guy to give a faint smile and a one shouldered shrug as he started to eat again.

  "Sure? Or you could both go back, and kill them all? I've met Tara before. That makes her one of my people. We need to stop being so kind to everyone that tries to kill our people."


  That seemed to be the end of the conversation, but Ty had a few questions, so sat, even as Zack went back to eating, and Eve stood, to get on with whatever she had planned.

  "Um..." He felt red faced, and a bit like he was going to pass out, but said the words anyway. "Two things. First, how much do I get paid? Second, what are you? You said everyone here is something, but then didn't add yourself to the Human list. Just Ben and me. I think."

  The guy didn't seem annoyed. In fact, he looked almost relieved, as if it were the right thing to do. Stand up for himself and ask uncomfortable questions.

  "Fifteen dollars an hour to start with. This really isn't a bookstore, though you do need to try and sell stuff. That means we can pay more. You have to do more work for it though, so it's fair. I run the node travel business, next door. Through the door with the owl carvings over there? You can tour it later. Um... Node travel... basically it's long distance teleportation? I take people to and from places that are very far away. Alternate realities too, not just Asia and Europe. It's in demand, since I'm the only one really doing it. As for what I am..."

  He stopped and started to eat another pastry. Tyler got the dramatic tension building part, so just watched him patiently, and waited. Finally the guy smiled around a bit of flaky crust, and rolled his eyes a little.

  "Fine, be that way then. All in control of yourself and cool like that. I'm a Greater Demon. We can go into what that means later, but for the time being, it just means that I'm not a horrible person to work for, as far as scaring off would be Vampire assassins. Still, and I'm not joking here, you should go and kill them all. We can't let this kind of thing happen in public. They were trying to kill her on a street. What would have happened if some poor regular jogger came along just then, instead of Tyler here?"

  Eve snorted, which got Ty to stand, and not answer at all. He didn't know what would have happened, to be honest. Probably death for whoever was there. Possibly nothing. For all he knew, those Vampires would have let him go, if he'd just moved on past.

  They would have all been busy watching Tara be murdered, or helping with it.

  That got a nod from Zack.

  "Exactly. That's the best case too. I should probably get down there and check it out myself, but if I do that too often everyone will think I run the place. I don't. Really, I don't even get to have an opinion on the matter. You two both do. Please, consider what I've said."

  It sounded really polite, but Ty sighed.

  "I'm not going to kill people for a job at a bookstore. Not even a cool one like this. Not that I disagree with you. Shouldn't we try to find out why they were going for her first? If it was something stupid, or that can't be fixed, we can kill them then?" Which made him tighten his face. "Of course, if I go in right now and chop their heads off, then even I can do it without a fight."

  Not that it wouldn't be gross to do that. Messy too.

  Eve shook her head then.

  "We should take them out into the woods first, if we're doing that. Less bother on the clean up and carrying. I'll need to borrow a truck, and have someone else drive. Ginger doesn't have her license yet. She's twenty, but it's hard, looking so young."

  "I have mine? Not on me, but I can get it, if someone will take me back to my place?" Then huffing a bit of air out, he fixed Zack with what he hoped was a stern look. "Not that I'm doing it to get a job. I can see that it might be needed."

  Eve walked away, and Zack started eating again, but smiled up at him like he was being cute.

  "You know, you really should get with Calley. She's a total love. Here, let me get you a card. Call in if you're going to be late?" He didn't have one in his pocket, but moved to the front desk with him, as Eve got out through the front. It was a wide open space, with no specific door, just paths made by rows of book displays. The whole thing was done so smoothly that Tyler had the thing in his right hand, and was moving out before he'd even had to break stride.

  It was like they'd worked together for years or something.

  Demons were a thing, of course. Everyone had seen the one that had been on television, but Zack didn't look like that. At least not that Ty had noticed. That one had been something like ten feet tall, vastly muscled, red in color with gleaming white horns on its head.

  Zack was just sort of attractive for a guy. Fit, but a bit smaller than he was, actually. Or, well, he didn't know that for certain, having never seen him standing up, but at a guess that seemed right.

  Looking to his left, he saw Eve entering her store. That meant jogging to catch up with her. Slowly, and without jostling his arm too much. It took a bit to get there, but he moved quietly. Enough so that Edom looked up at him from behind the counter he was manning.

  "Um... I think we're just going to kill those bad Vampires, if that's all right? For trying to take out Tara. I... I'll go do that, if we can get a big enough vehicle for it? Um, Ginger can come too?"

  That got a small, slightly irritated look, but it wasn't about saving the innocent Vampires like he figured it would be at first. Not that at all.

  "That means I need to call someone in. Is Eve going. too?"

  The question was firm, but asked of him, like he knew the answer?

  "I don't know. I can drive, but I probably can't bury anyone really. Not quickly. Unless we burn the bodies? I can douse them with gas as well as anyone." It was probably true, anyway. There might be some sloshing around, but the idea of making the young looking woman do it wasn't a thing he could really consider.

  Which was, no doubt, silly of him. She'd probably killed a thousand people in the last six months. Not that Vampires needed to do that kind of thing, but at least a few of them were pretty violent.

  Then, he was planning to kill some of them. It really wasn't much better. Zack was right though, if they did it right, then these five weren't going to come after him again, even if the new job thing didn't work out. He hoped it would. Fifteen dollars an hour might not be a lot, but it was a good start, just having graduated like he had.

  The Vampire Edom gave a single, rather somber, nod.

  "We have a spot for that. Several, really. Ginger can get you there directions wise, and do the digging. I was planning to keep them alive, given that there's a Human involved. I can see you aren't going to have massive issues on this one however. That's good. Useful. Did the thing with Zack not go through?" He seemed ready to commiserate if that was the case.

  "I got the job, actually. Uh, he didn't give it a name, but I guess I'm supposed to do everything? Like a clerk, I guess?"

  "That's the best kind of job, if you can swing it. Make yourself indispensible and move up the ranks. It's a great place to meet people and make contacts too. Just don't let yourself get too sidetracked with the girls there. Wonderful people, but the whole reason they need you is because it's so hard for them to find help that won't just go and have sex all day long."

  He hadn't seen anyone that would have gotten him to do that. Maybe once or twice? He wasn't dead below the waist or anything, but the man standing in front of him seemed to have a good idea about what would be needed. Not having sex at work was just kind of normal. If he was at Burgerville, or Mickey-D's, that would be enforced too, so it wasn't unfair or anything. Everyone kept mentioning it however.

  Even though he hadn't seen it, he kind of started to imagine the place being staffed by Swedish swimsuit models. That could be distracting.

  "I'll do my best. Especially since if they're really that great my natural shyness will protect me by putting me into a coma every time one of them comes around. As it is I can just barely stand to talk to Ginger and Eve."

  With a very serious look, the dark man moved to go back to his real job, whatever that was.

  "Cultivate that, young man. Succubi can be addicting, but regular people aren't meant to have that kind of thing all the time. After a while it will make most people kind of useless. By a while I mean far sooner than a body might think."

  With a cell phone to her ear, Eve move
d out of the back and waved at him.

  "Good! We'll have it back, with a full tank of gas, before six. I promise." Then she pulled the small silver and black thing from her face, and grinned. "Lars, from the power lifting gym heard how you handled those thugs, so is lending us his truck. I promised gas, which will take some funds." She glanced around, then pulled a card from her pocket. "Use this. The PIN is three-three-two-six. That's for gas, and maybe snacks. If you need more than that, you have to ask. Don't lose it. It would be a pain in the rump to get a new one."

  He took the thing, and wondered if that meant they were dating now. It wouldn't of course, but who told you their PIN number and handed you their card like that? Either someone with almost no money, or a person that knew that there was no way in the world you'd steal from them. Given that she'd been one of the people that Tara had called for help, and that she could run very fast, with bodies on her shoulders, Ty had to figure on that second one.

  "Right, so gas, snacks, and the down payment on my new house?" For once he managed to say the words in a totally deadpanned fashion.

  Eve made a sound that was between a snort and a chuckle. A snuckle. It was cute, but her words were just nice. Like he didn't really mean it.

  Which he didn't, wanting to live like he did.

  "You can't do that on my card, silly. If you want to buy a house, there's a whole process you need to go through. Do you though? I have some friends that can help you find a place."

  "Not really. I do need to leave home soon. I have a personal goal of letting my mom off the hook by the time I turn eighteen. That's in eight days. I don't think I'm going to make it. Maybe if I find a roommate?"

  Those just didn't grow on trees and he didn't have even a single friend in the whole world that would be willing to go in on a place with him like that. Eve gave him a fairly blank stare, but Edom grinned.

  "You should talk to Ginger. She makes enough, and has been looking to get out on her own. Her mother is the regional manager, which also means the Chief Ambassador for the Western States. She's older than she looks though, and can afford it."