Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Page 5

  Oddly, the man bowed to him, just a little. It was out of place, considering he was in sweats and had a gym logo on his front.

  "Very good. It went well?"

  Taking a deep breath, Tyler nodded. It had.

  "They won't be back. Or found. Apparently it was even legal, so, until their friends come for me, this should be done."

  It wasn't comforting, but the giant grinned again.

  "That is the way of all battles. If you have warning, come and tell Lars and his people of it, and we will join you? This is our area to guard as well."

  That was different sounding, but he nodded along.

  "If you need me, I'll do what I can to help you, too? It probably isn't a lot, but you know, if I can help, let me know?"

  That got him a pat on the shoulder, near his wound, and a push toward the door. It was nearly a subtle thing, or would have been if he weighed about three hundred pounds more, as it was he covered by walking that way and then kept going, waving over his shoulder to the giant guy.

  Then, passing the bookstore totally, he hurried to the Yoghurt World, so he could deliver Eve's card. She was there, and on the phone, chatting with someone behind the front counter.

  "No problem, Bey. We can meet up tonight?" She took the card like it wasn't a problem, and kept talking to her friend. They sounded like they were close, anyway.

  Seeing a pen and pad, he wrote down what he'd spent, and made a note as to why. It was over a hundred dollars worth of stuff, but the girl just pulled it around when he was done, glanced at it, and gave him a thumbs up.

  "Actually, I have the man right here. He just walked in. Back from taking care of the problem?" That was addressed to him.

  "Um, yes. Like we talked about? There were no problems."

  "Great. We can get the rest of the story later? After you get off work?"

  "Sure?"

  Then he was waved out of the store, though she didn't seem upset. Jogging carefully, he headed toward the bookstore, finally, only to have a small Japanese woman walk alongside of him. He tried to ignore her, since she looked close enough to his age that dating was possible, and was attractive enough that just looking at her made him turn red. Just a little though, since she hadn't spoke to him or anything.

  She followed him into the store, and when he got to the front desk, to see that both Zack and a guy that seemed to be in his forties or so were there, the woman touched his back lightly.

  "We need to see to healing his arm and the worst of the other damage. Physical closing only, using telekinetic binding, rather than accelerated healing. Would you like to do the honors Mr. Stone? I think that you're ready to do that."

  The rather average looking man looked at the lovely lady, and made a face.

  "Yeah, let's torture the kid on his first day. What happened anyway? Car wreck?" He waved at Ty's face, which did have some bruising on it still. Somewhere in the initial fight he'd gotten pretty banged up. It hurt, sort of, but dwelling on it wasn't going to help him keep his job.

  Before he could speak, Zack did, shaking his head a little.

  "Nope. Vampire problems in the area. A group set off after one of their own people, so Tyler had to step in and stop them. They're all dead now." It was a statement, not a question. The others had all sort of asked, but the cute store owner knew.

  Like Ginger had said. He seemed to know everything.

  Rather than ask twenty questions, and despite his reluctance, the man walked with the rest of them to a back room, over to the side. It was a huge space, and had nice marble floors with a circle laid into it, in green marble what had gold metal lines around it. The rest was a deep gray, and the walls were dark, but very polished, wood. There were fine carvings along the top, all with an owl theme, like the door they went through had.

  Toward the back there was a small office, built out of wood and glass. It seemed separate from the rest of the structure. The door said Mr. Hartley on it.

  Zack waved at it.

  "Don't take too long. For your part Ty, try not to scream. This place isn't really soundproof. As soon as you two are done here, it would be great if our new man can be shown how to do everything? He'll need a name tag. I'd like him to be up on how this place runs. I'll cover the front, but I have a pickup in half an hour." He walked away, as if anything he'd said made real sense.

  Hiram Stone, the manager, winced.

  "Fuck. Well, this will hurt then. I can do the healing, even doing it the wrong way like this, but I'm not that great, going fast."

  The hot woman patted his cardigan wearing arm, and laughed.

  "Just measure the energy flows, Mr. Stone. I showed you what to do. Use care, and I think it won't be too bad. If it is..." There was a shrug, and she looked at Ty directly. "Then don't scream? It's clear that you aren't a weak person, Mr. Gartner. I have the upmost confidence in your ability to withstand anything we can dish out."

  That was good to hear, especially when the strange man touched his arm, right over the wound, and started making it feel like he was being stabbed, over and over. Tyler was up on what that one felt like now, so actually had to fight not to move or make any noise. It lasted about ten minutes, and then the woman pointed to the other bruises.

  "The face and chest too, or else it will be hard for him to breathe tonight as he sleeps. Remove the blood from under the skin. Micro-teleportation." That hurt too, but not as much. When it was over she clapped, which was an efficient looking thing. "Excellent. A bit rushed and sloppy on your part, but it did work. Now, you should both probably do what my grandson suggested? I know that the pickup he has in a few moments is very important."

  Ty just filed away the fact that the woman was a Greater Demon, and that Zack might just be put out if he hit on her, being that she was his grandmother. The looks didn't match up, age wise but he could see how Zack did seem a bit like they could be related. Mainly around the eyes. He noticed that as he headed out front, and the man passed him, touching his arm lightly as they did. It wasn't really flirtatious, and Ty wasn't up on the idea of sleeping with the boss as a good career move, but it also wasn't normal. Two fingers traced along his arm gently, as the man nodded.

  "Good work. I should be in and out all night. I can get you home at nine or so, Ty. We'll need to get you a car. Good idea finding a place closer, in fact, that's another reason to talk to Calley. I hear she has a couple of rooms in her new place, and you seem pretty stable." Then, as if what he'd said was sane, he walked through the owl door.

  For his part Hiram Stone stopped in the middle of the place, and spread his hands.

  "Acres and acres of books and they're all ours!" It was funny, and kind of nice to hear, since it didn't sound like he was too pissed off for him being late.

  Fighting Vampires was a real excuse there, it seemed. One that counted.

  "I like books." He did, but saying it that way made him sound a bit slow. Thankfully, there was just a nod in response.

  "Each one is a treasure. So, we have eighteen main sections, with each of those having at least one, and sometimes two or three, sub-sections. I have a map, and of course if you look up, it's listed above the shelves, in order to make it easier to find. Memorize the layout. The books on the shelves are in alphabetical order, by section. First letter of the first authors last name, which isn't nearly as hard to get as all that. For the first bit, you'll be doing that, cleaning and straightening, and running a till. That isn't too hard, since we don't do a lot of business most of the time. Up-selling is a big thing here."

  Ty nodded, since Zack had already shared that part. The real draw was that they had Alede there. Succubi and Incubi. He'd never seen one in person before, but they were a known thing, having come out about four months before. They'd been on television however. In fact, Judy Swan was one. The actress had come out first, which took a lot of people by surprise, since she was pretty, but not so much so that it seemed out of place for Hollywood.

  Almost as if to unveil that fact, a woman came out of one
of the side rooms, along with two rather bashful seeming men. They were both a bit older looking, being about thirty or so, and one of them needed to get his fly zipped. The succubi saw them standing there and left her friends instantly, smiling at him like he was a piece of fresh meat.

  "Why, hello! Are you waiting for a friend?" It was clear that she meant a friend like her, not just someone she didn't know.

  Ty shook his head.

  "Nope. I'm the new guy here. Everyone in the world practically has told me not to get involved with you, and the other Alede. I think they know how fragile my little mind is. I can see it now. So, um, I don't want to be rude, but... I can't have sex with you." It felt really rude, because she hadn't offered that to him, but rather than deny that had been her goal, the fantastic looking lady just seemed a bit sad.

  "Oh. That's too bad. Well, I'm sure we'll be great friends anyway." Then she turned to Hiram, and leaned in to either flash her cleavage, which was really hard to ignore, or just feel up the other man's arm. "Hi, you asked us to let you know when it would be a good time to clean up the sitting rooms? One of my new friends that just left missed. It happens." Then she traipsed off, as if it made sense that she wouldn't be the one doing the work.

  It probably did, in her universe.

  The other man looked disgusted, so Ty took a deep breath.

  "Gloves and a sponge? I can do that right now." He tried to sound like the idea didn't squee him out totally.

  His new boss however gave him a hard look for about ten seconds, and then smiled. It was a slightly fierce looking thing.

  "You know Tyler? I think you're going to do really well here. Come on. I'll show you to the supply closet."

  Chapter four

  If the first day was any indication, his real job was going to be in three or four parts, at least at the beginning. Hit the bookshelves, run a front counter till, and clean the spooge rooms. That was just as gross as Ty figured it would be, too.

  Harder to get to than it seemed like it should be as well. The place just wasn't that busy most of the time, and that should mean that they all had room in their schedules for keeping things tidy. Instead, just enough customers came in who wanted to spend time with the girls that were there that it was nearly impossible to get into one of the reading rooms at all.

  Finally he wrote up a sign that said out of service and taped it to the outside of one of the doors that was being used. The girl that came out had a woman with her, and both of them looked like they were out of his league. True one of them was a little bit older, being around thirty, but as she adjusted her skirt, she managed a nice smile for him on the way out. That was better than most of the men had done. They mainly just seemed embarrassed, which he could see.

  It was the girl, the other one, that paid attention to him though, and turned when he pointed to the door.

  "Fifteen minutes. So, if you have to, stall while I get things fixed up?" It was the room he'd already cleaned, but that wouldn't last with a constant stream of bodies. How the place didn't smell like a locker room, he didn't know.

  The dark haired woman, who had ringlets, black glasses, and a form fitting t-shirt and jeans on, just nodded at him.

  "Thanks! Are you the new person then?" She moved in, but didn't actually tackle him or try to dry hump in the store. Roberta had done that, twice already.

  Worse, Ty was nearly certain the succubus was on her best behavior. It did make him feel good about himself, being wanted like that. Also a bit horny. Still, this one stuck her hand out, to shake. It was hard to do, but he performed a similar move back.

  "I'm Kaitlyn." Her voice was far more normal sounding than the other one. It actually seemed like she was just trying to meet him. Not that he could trust that.

  "Tyler. Call me Ty? You're Eve's friend? She told me that I should try to hook up with... Um... Ben? For a video project?" He blushed, and then shrugged at her. "I... I think I might be sort of bisexual. This is a new thing for me. I mean, I just realized it a few months back." After a talk with his mother, oddly enough. She'd mentioned that he should be open minded that way, and he'd realized that he sort of was.

  Rather than seem like she was going to judge him, there was just a pleasant expression on her lips. They were pink and glossy, which made them really distracting, he realized. Even if she wasn't trying to blow him on the sales floor.

  "Oh, duh. Cleaning!" It was a good enough reason to run away, and really wasn't too bad this time. He cleaned, tidied and hit the space with air freshener, while the girl that had been in there went out on the floor and started to work there. Straightening books on the shelves.

  When that was done, he pulled the makeshift sign and slapped it on the other door.

  Things went on at about that same level until about six, then it all really picked up. Cafe or not, the place in back seemed to be doing brisk business, and a few people even tried to order books. He was not very good at that part, only being able to really help one of the people that asked anything of him. That title was on the shelves, thankfully, and the man bought it. Before going to the back with Kait. Then, at about seven, the two Alede just left, even though things were busy, and two others came in. They were clearly the same kind of being, since both of them were super hot.

  It wasn't just some kind of normal thing either. They didn't look like models, or playboy centerfolds, they looked better than that. Even without being airbrushed and professionally made up first. Or, they might have been set up like that, but if so, he couldn't tell at a glance. Still, he waved to them both, getting them to come over almost instantly.

  "Hi! I'm Tyler." He waved at the pin on gold plastic badge that Hiram had made for him. It was actually kind of nice looking. It said that he was an associate, above his name. "I'm new. My job is to make sure everything stays clean for you, so I need ten minutes per room after every other, um, friend of yours comes in? I'll mark that with a sign. I might need more time if things get messy, so keep that in mind. I know, pushy, but I need this job, so I want to do it well. Please help?" He tried to look earnest and sound polite, which other than seeming like he was going to pass out from being that close to the Alede, he really thought he managed.

  The red headed one on the left started to reach out to him, meaningfully, which got a head shake.

  "Um, no? I probably shouldn't get too close to either of you. Like I said, I really need to do well here. I'm trying to get my own place and that means keeping steady employment." Now he just sounded like a jerk, and so awkward he wanted to hide, but these two didn't even look hurt by his words.

  The blonde one just took a step back.

  "Not a problem. I'm Ivy. This lovely person beside me is Alexis. Don't worry Tyler. We've got your back." The thing was, they really did. For the rest of the night they all worked like it was planned out ahead of time. They even stocked shelves a bit. There wasn't a lot to do that way, since he'd hit that part earlier, but they all managed to keep the place looking pretty good.

  So far it was looking decent at least. At just before nine, Zack came out from the owl room, and waved to him.

  "Good work today. Can you come in tomorrow? Then you can have a day off if you want, on Monday. The order comes in late, on Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you can work those it would be great." He didn't seem to be saying it was a deal breaker if he couldn't, which was nice.

  "Well, I don't have much of a life, so... I'm going to have to say... Yes? I also don't have a car yet, and probably can't get one for a while, or take a bus late at night. I can run in, if I can use the showers in the back? Is that a thing or..." Really those could just be for the Alede, and he didn't want to step on any toes that way, if they were.

  "Yep! I can get you home each night, for the time being. So we have a plan?"

  "Sounds good. I could probably use any extra hours for a while. If that... I mean..." He didn't know how to shorthand the idea he had for getting out of the house, or why. Most people would be doing it to punish their parents, or gain m
ore freedom.

  He wanted that one too, the freedom, but it really wasn't for him.

  Zack nodded.

  "I might have some things coming up, if you aren't too picky about what you do to get your money? Nothing illegal, or that will have you prostituting yourself. Mainly just errands in different locations that require a lot of waiting around, that I don't have time for." There was a subtle, almost invisible change of direction then, as the Greater Demon moved to the front of the store. It was kind of obvious that he was supposed to go along as well. The whole thing was almost a bit too smooth. Almost like mind control, except that getting him to walk toward the front of the place wasn't exactly some huge issue.

  Unless it was.

  Ginger was at the front, and held a container of something, which had a fork or spoon hanging out of it. Zack smiled, but didn't take it, since she handed it to Ty.

  Then she laughed, gently.

  "More fruit salad. It occurred to me that you probably hadn't eaten anything all day. You can munch this while we all go back to the store? Bey is here, and there's a thing, in the back room?"

  Tyler didn't understand her really. It was clear she didn't mean the bookstore, but other than that, he couldn't imagine what anyone would need them for. Especially him. Unless they had more mixed fruit to get rid of? It was pretty nice, clearly having been made fresh, just for him. He was hungry, which meant that he was eating with quick shoveling motions that were probably pretty rude.

  From the left, a voice called out. It wasn't anyone he knew, though when he spun to look he recognized her. The distinctive clothing store red head. Calley.

  "Hey! You two, Ginger and Tyler, leave lunch free tomorrow? We can go to my house and see if you like it well enough?"

  That got a happy reply and a wave from the Vampire, which on reflection, was about what he should do too. It was a bit late, but he managed it before they were out of sight. It was a bit strange, but maybe Ginger had approached her with the idea? Or Zack?