Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2)

by P. S. Power

  It gave him some things to think about, and notice, over the next week. He didn't get full time body guards or anything. At least not ones he noticed. Nothing happened anyway, except that he had to go to Arizona and talk to the prosecutor there about the Blythe cultist and what had happened with him. It was, as it turned out, funny, after a fashion.

  There was nearly constant footage of him being beaten the whole time, which was enough to have the men doing it locked up for years, since it counted as torture. Even if he, personally, couldn't feel it. Most of them were going to end up walking though, it seemed.

  The leader was an old man, and his second in command was a woman. If she did a year behind bars for her crimes, which were pretty serious, it would be a miracle. On the good side the camp was well and truly shut down. Not that some of the abused kids weren't just being sent off to other, similar places already. Hopefully they'd survive them.

  Most probably would. That was his hope anyway.

  Thankfully he had The Line Walker helping him out, so he was able to get to and from all the different locations he was needed to be at on-time. Otherwise he would have had to miss work to go and hang out in a different state. Instead he managed to make all of his schedule happen, and practice each day. He came up with several new songs too, and set them to music.

  Compared to his first few weeks there, the whole thing was kind of quiet. His mother came in, looking like a young girl, several times, and had a meal with him at the Cafe, though she insisted she pay for it each time. On the good side she still acted like Lucy, not the petulant child that he'd seen The Rotted as first. It was easier to put up with, because that kid had been annoying.

  She gave Tyler a hug, pulling him downward a bit, and grinned at him.

  "This is Zack's store, so his place. A Greater Demon doesn't accept food from another of our kind. That would be saying that we're under their power. So we pay for it when we come over to eat. Anyway, The Mistress of Souls asked if you'd be allowed to go and play in her band. I said yes. I'm sure you'll do a great job. Perfect, in fact. You're very good. Creative, and hard working about it. I'm proud of you, Tyler. Never forget that." Then after patting him on the arm, she walked out.

  Looking after her, he felt that sense of pride. It lingered in his mind, not fading. Which meant that she'd just managed to give him a set of slave orders, he was willing to bet. So that he'd go and do a perfect job with the band, most likely.

  That was nice of her, after a fashion, but he still had to put the effort in. The real work was yet to come that way.

  Zack came to get him as he got off shift, at five that day. It was a Friday, but he'd worked from six the night before, so everyone else could come in fresh for the weekend. He, after all, was slated to be gone. He even had his keyboard with him, and his new songs printed out. After all, he was going to have to perform for Rebekah, Scotty the drummer and Steve the...

  Really, Tyler didn't know what to call him yet. The guitarist, probably. Zack got him to the right place, which was a big house in Nevada, and left him directly on the doorstep of the place. It was nice. Better than anywhere he would have expected to live, really. Before he could say thanks for the free trip, The Line Walker stepped to the side, into nothingness like he did so often, and was gone.

  The door in front of him was larger than normal, and made of solid seeming wood. Oak, most likely, not that he was an expert in that kind of thing. The place was a light tan color, with deep brown trim, but so large that it had to have had four stories. The roof was pointed in places, making it seem nearly like it had towers all over it.

  Behind him, off to the right as he faced the front door there was a large pond, with a fountain in the middle of it. One that looked like a naked woman on a clam shell. It was a bit tacky, but he wasn't going to complain about it. The drive behind him was cement, not asphalt, and had a topiary carved into a bush in the center of the roundabout. That was made to look like a hippo, he thought.

  In fact a lot of the place had a fanciful air about it. It was a bit silly, but also the kind of place that a band would live in, if they were successful. That was a bit of projection though, so far. He didn't even know if they'd want him to be a part of the group. As far as that went, he didn't really think that they were going to get a choice.

  The Mistress of Souls had put the whole thing together, and probably had a reason to do so. Getting in her way might not go that well. Even if she was sweet seeming most days. That would probably last right until she started to eat them, it being snack time and all.

  Holding his keyboard under his left arm, he knocked gently, assuming that he'd need to do that two or three times before anyone heard him. It was early still, for Vampires, but apparently Scotty the drummer was old enough to be out and about at a bit before six, even in the summer. The man had brown eyes, and hair, and was small. About five foot two or so. Thin as well. His nose was flat and his skin so pale that his freckles didn't really show much anymore.

  Rather than suggest that equipment be brought around to the servants entrance, the Vampire smiled, winced as the sun hit him and stuck his hand out anyway.

  "Mr. Gartner?" The grip was firm, but not a man-test. Just like what a polite person would use with a new person they wanted to impress.

  "Tyler. Or Ty, if you want?"

  "Scott Lender. Scotty, by preference. Come in, please, out of the sun. Can I get you anything to drink? We have some of the good blood. Human. Also animal, if you'd rather?" The words were really friendly seeming.

  Inside it was cool, and very large. Almost cavernous, and slightly dark. The fantasy theme from outside doubled in there, with tables that were flat on the top, which had legs of different lengths making the whole thing seem off kilter. They were all in polished wood, a lot of it seeming natural, like it was made from logs and branches. Everything in the front area was like that. The colors were all brown, but there were different shades of it.

  Almost everything had faces carved into them. Different things, not just gnomes or Humans.

  Tyler shook his head but spoke, since the small, quick seeming Vampire was ahead of him.

  "I'm not a Vampire. Just dead. Animated by The Rotted. On loan for this, I guess? It means that I'm kind of her slave, but she acts like my mother. She raised me." He was working on the idea that being up front was the best policy, but the other man stopped.

  "That must have been horrendous. The tortures and depravities that kind of being..."

  That got him to shake his head.

  "Nothing like that. It was really normal. I didn't even know I was dead until about a month ago. On my eighteenth birthday. She was always really sweet to me. I mean, I had to do my homework, and help with the dishes, but it was just kind of like what most people had growing up. How about you? You're a Vampire, but also a Bat?"

  That got the man to smile, and stop putting down his upbringing at least. There was a bit of quick flapping, his hands moving rapidly.

  "That's no secret. Most don't get it. I guess you're immune from the Human problem? Not being able to understand what's right in front of you at times, like they all are? It will make things easier, for me at least. Rebekah, too. Have you met her?"

  "Um, no. Is she nice?" It seemed unlikely, given that she was famous, but Scotty here seemed all right so far.

  "Incredibly kind and gentle. It looks like I'll be the problem child in this group. Bat Shifters... We tend to be a bit... Friendly? It might be an issue. It's hard to explain."

  "Yeah. I know a couple of Bat Shifters. Calley and Maddy Hale? I think I get the idea." Then he shrugged at the guy. "I'm bi, so, you know, if you want we can do some things. You're a Vampire though, so you'll need to work that part out with my girlfriend. I have two of those, but Ginger is the one I mean for this. I'm also dating Calley. Ginger is a Master Vampire."

  The small man looked both interested and suddenly scared. It was amusing really.

  "That's heady then, isn't it? Most Shifters have never met a Bat, and
you know three of us? Dating a Master Vampire, too. I'd call you a liar, due to that being so unlikely, but why would you bother? It would be easier to get me into bed if you were single."

  Which was a point, but he didn't think it would be a real problem, as long as permission was given all the way around. The man gestured for him to follow along, and took him into a sitting room that was large, and filled with sofas, large chairs, and had two people in it.

  A good looking freckled boy with red hair who seemed to be about his own age, and an all white woman that had hundreds of fang teeth and blood red eyes. Her hair was a different color of white, compared to her skin, and she had on a light pink top that was loose and flowing. She was thin, and not really very pretty, but definitely had different looking down to an art.

  Scotty waved to the others.

  "This is Tyler Gartner. Ty, to us, being his friends. These are Rebekah, and Steven York. Steve. So, who's in charge of this messy little debacle? Shall we go by age, or arm wrestle for it?" There was a look at Rebekah then, as if letting them know who'd win both of those competitions. She didn't seem old, but that could be deceptive.

  Tyler moved over to a chair that was near an outlet and plugged his cheap little keyboard in. Then, opening his notebook, he settled and started to play. After the opening bridge, he started to sing. The others listened, politely enough, but instead of letting him move to the next song Rebekah sidled up to him.

  "Do that again? You have the words?" She moved in along side of him, and sang along, working into a harmony on the piece. Perfectly the first time through. She was incredible, which he knew from having heard her on the radio before.

  Steve got his guitar, and by the third time they did the thing with percussion, too. Scotty had a little pad thing for that, and while it wasn't perfect in tone, it was decent.

  The Vampire woman nodded.

  "Steve, play it an octave down? Scotty, can you change up to a secondary beat when we get to the chorus?" She tapped out what she meant on the arm of the chair, which she was sitting on.

  Three play thoughts later she put her hand on Ty's shoulder.

  "Not bad. Do you have anything else?"

  "Of course. Here, I call this one Among the Living." It was probably a bit on the nose if you knew him, but the Vampires both liked it. Steve was pretty close to a miracle worker on the guitar, too.

  They ended up working until nearly midnight, when Rebekah clapped her hands.

  "Okay, so I need to go and call Keeley and offer to wash her car. That's not our normal thing, but she's really pulled out the stops here. I had no clue we'd have the first album ready this fast. I figured on six months to a year for it. We should take a few practice days, and then see about getting studio time."

  Steve looked at her and gave a cool looking lopsided grin. It was nearly a smirk.

  "See, I told you two you should let me into your band, but nooo, I wasn't Vampy enough for you. I bet you're sorry now, aren't you Rebekah?"

  That got the woman to shake her head.

  "It wasn't that you weren't good, or even the thing where you're a Human. It was more the part that you were in middle school. So, are we going with a theme? Vampires are on the way out, I think. Now that people know we're real we've become all boring. We could put on thick face paint? Clowns or something like that?"

  He winced, not wanting to be a jerk, but also not wanting to be part of a clown band. It didn't fit the music they had so far, for one thing.

  "How about nice clothing, and I don't know, being ourselves? Or is that too boring?" Ty tried not to sound like a nerd, but Scotty rolled his eyes.

  "There are thousands of good bands that seem like everyone else. We should do something special. How about we can perform in the nude? We're all nice looking that way, I bet."

  Rebekah giggled at that and shook her head.

  "Not if you want to do any live shows. I... How about this, each of us can have a persona. I'll be the femme fatal, Scotty can be the man-whore, Steve can be the good boy, and Tyler can be the closeted gay one?"

  She was teasing him, it seemed, or making a comment on his lack of body hair. Not that she had any either. Her pale, chalklike arms were as bare as his own were.

  "I'm bi, and not in the closet. I don't really care who knows about it. It's been in the press already. On the radio at least."

  The woman nodded at him, and then looked around.

  "I'm good with that. You don't get to be my age and still have a lot of prejudices that way. Really tough, you can be the bad boy of the group. Go and get into some fights, or get a girl pregnant?"

  He nearly said that he couldn't do that last one, but it really wouldn't be that hard to find a girl to claim her baby was his for some cash, he bet. That, and some sunglasses at the wrong time of day would be a start.

  "I do end up in a lot of fights. Mainly me being attacked. Probably because I keep putting my nose in the wrong place. Bad boy. That fits. I can go around trying to act all tough." He looked at Scotty and squared his shoulders, then lowered his voice.

  "Hey, you... Get off my lawn."

  It got a laugh, anyway. It also showed that he wasn't a very good negative influence, he bet. Still, they worked out what their roles would be, which mainly came down to letting the press agent make stuff up about them, Rebekah assured them all. Scotty agreed with that part, having lived that kind of thing before too.

  Steve just sighed though, and looked at Tyler.

  "Our press person is my sister, Hally. So guess who's going to end up looking extra bad all the time?"

  They all chatted until Steve needed to go off to bed. Ty didn't need sleep, for his part, and while Scotty went to lay down when sunrise came the other Vampire stayed up for a bit.

  "So, a band, if we can sell the world on the idea. Those songs are good. The hard part will be cutting some of them. At least four are potential chart toppers. All we have to do is make it happen, and then have nearly impossible luck. Are you ready for stardom?"

  The funny thing there, he realized, was that he really was.

  He hadn't been before, but now that he knew his mom was good with it, everything felt just right that way.

  Chapter fifteen

  At about ten in the morning there was a knock on the front door. Steve was awake, but eating in the kitchen, having a bowl of cereal. The Vampires were down for the day, so Ty jogged over, wondering who it was. He kind of expected Keeley would be showing up. Possibly that Hally woman, since she was attached to them in some kind of nebulous fashion, and might just check on her little brother, just because.

  He'd never had a sibling, but liked to think that if he did he would have done that kind of thing. Checking up on them, and making sure the world was treating them well. Not that he knew what kind of relationship the York's had as a family.

  For all he knew Steve hadn't been kidding about how his sister would treat him in the press.

  It wasn't either of those two, but it was a person he kind of recognized.

  "Cleric?" The man looked almost the same as before, but that had been Tarsus, The Librarian. Ty nearly changed that one up, in case it was the same man again. He had on the Catholic priest outfit. The collar, the black shirt and everything. Also the same wire rimmed glasses. Very similar ones, he realized, since the lenses in these distorted the eyes more. They were real, it seemed.

  "You would be The Clerk? It was suggested to me by The Mistress of Souls that I enlist your aid. May I come in? I'm... Rather being hunted at the moment."

  He moved to the side, and looked past the guy. He looked like he was in his late fifties or possibly his early sixties. His hair was thin on the top and silver all over. That didn't mean he dawdled though, moving lightly, getting inside and closing the door behind himself.

  "I won't be able to stay too long. It seems that my time in my current position has, finally, come to an end." He looked around the place, at the odd furnishings, but didn't comment on them. Instead he locked eyes with Ty. "It's a r
ather long story, but I think the important portion is this; I'm not a Greater Demon, and have merely been pretending to be for some time, to further my own work. I'm an Angel."

  Then the man stopped, and stared at him. Waiting no doubt for the denial to come.

  It made sense to him. They had Greater and Lesser Demons, so Angels almost had to be a thing.

  "Okay. What do you need me to do for you? I mean, I guess I'm on the other side of things, but no one ever told me not to help the good guys, so..."

  The older man just started to chuckle, and then shook his head.

  "That's the easiest time I've ever had convincing someone of that fact in all my years. My lines of communication have been cut off to my brothers, by Tarsus. He fears that I'm a Greater Demon he calls The Void. It's ridiculous, of course. That would be the Archangel Michael, not me. Which he should be able to work out, even if he can't remember Michael after they speak. If I give you a missive, can you pass it to him? Mike, I mean."

  It sounded reasonable, really.

  "Sure, do you have an address for him?"

  That got him laughed at, but The Cleric pulled out a sealed letter from inside his shirt, where it had been hidden.

  "All you need to do is pray, and if it is the will of God, he'll send him along. I admit, I'm rather grasping at straws here, but as you stated, you weren't told not to help me, were you? I should be gone soon, before I draw the hunters to your door. That would be poor repayment. I can't pay you for the service. Not unless I find some way to survive this. It isn't very likely."

  "Good luck? I'll, um, do that praying for you?" He'd never even considered that God was a real thing, actually. Church hadn't been a big deal growing up, Lucy not being a believer.

  Here was a guy claiming to be an Angel however, so there it was. Either it was real, or a trick, and really, who would bother doing that kind of thing to him? The Librarian wouldn't. It was too much work for a prank.