by P. S. Power
The people looked at him, nervously. Then, they thought they were dinner, most likely.
"Let's go in? I'm Tyler, like I said. What are your names?"
It was the woman that spoke, her voice incredibly strained sounding.
"I'm Tina, and this is Darren. He doesn't really speak now. Not much. He can if you order it." What the man did do well enough was follow them in.
Tyler had no clue what to do with these two, now that he had them. All he knew for certain was that they weren't going to be his supper. Not that night and hopefully never.
"Oh! Just so you know, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat people. I know that Goethe there said that, and he wasn't wrong about me, but I don't do that. Don't need to, so no need to worry on that one."
If that made them happy, he couldn't tell. Both of the people just seemed stressed, constantly. He was limping still, but a big part of that was thanks to him missing a shoe on his right foot. It was throwing him off. The leg, when he reached down to feel it, was still stick thin, but the bones were about right and it was holding him up, so it was good enough for now.
"Would you like something to eat? I should have something. I was thinking tomato soup, with crackers?" It just sounded really good for some reason.
Tina, who was the talkative one it looked like, nodded somberly.
"Thank you, sir."
She looked like she was in her mid-forties or so, at a guess. Those had been hard years too, no doubt. She was nice looking, but had lines on her face. As deep as those of the man, Darren, who followed her, not making eye contact.
"This way then. Off to the kitchen. I know, it's kind of early for soup. Would you like something else? I can make some waffles, if you don't mind the frozen kind?" Not that he couldn't cook. Actually, he was decent at it, since his mother had taught him, growing up. Before he'd gone really far into eating only fruit, and rice on occasion. Steamed veggies too.
That was supposed to have been for health, but the fact was, Tyler couldn't get fat. He hadn't known that though, so had tried to take care of himself. It turned out he could have been snarfing cake and donuts the whole time. Instead of letting himself feel sad over it, he just started getting cans out, and making the soup. The people with him were thin, but looked like they ate regularly enough. They weren't raw bones or anything like that.
Both just stood there though, while he worked. Waiting, he realized, for him to give them orders. It was what they'd been told to do, and he knew how powerful that kind of thing could be when it came from a Greater Demon.
"Hey... We have a T.V around here, would you like to watch something? Or go sleep? Anything you want." They weren't really free yet, but hopefully he could hook something like that up for them. "I should have food in a few minutes?"
That wasn't enough to get them to go away, so he gave up trying to be nice, and just made the food. Not that he wasn't going to be kind, of course. It just was kind of clear that for some reason these two had been trained or conditioned to do exactly whatever their master said. Probably at the end of a lash, one way or another.
So they stood, and he made up three trays, each with a full bowl of soup and a package of saltines. Then he moved into the other room, since the nice furniture there made excellent snacking surfaces. He hadn't considered that earlier, but now that there were three of them doing it, he kind of wished that they'd used the table in the other room.
They all ate identically. That wasn't a mistake either, since both of the others watched him first, and then followed along so closely it was nearly mocking. That didn't seem to be their point though, so he didn't mention it, just crushing crackers into the hot bowl of steaming red goodness and eating until it was all done. He might not feel much, but he could taste food, and there was a sense of warmth in his middle as he finished. That part was, most likely, imaginary. After all, if he couldn't really feel the temperature of the room he was in, then getting how the food in his tummy made him feel wasn't very likely.
When he was done Tina got up instantly, and took his tray from him. She did the same for Darren.
Speaking to him a bit like he was a dog, she started out of the room.
"Darren. Start cleaning."
Whatever had happened in life to these two, they both seemed to be capable of complex tasks at any rate. He nearly told them not to do the work, and to kick back, but that hadn't seemed to work before.
"Okay. If you'd like to do that, that's fine. Make sure you rest too, and eat enough. Or, if you want, eat too much. I'm sure we can find more food." It had kind of just been there, but there really was a lot. Months worth of it just sitting there in the kitchen, and more in the pantry off to the side. Even the fridge was filled with things. Half of that was blood, but there was milk, butter and six types of cheese too.
That reminded him. He should have had grilled cheese. That was really good, if he was eating that kind of thing again. Dairy. The idea of dunking the crispy bread into the soup was alluring, now that he'd remembered that it was a thing.
The new people busied themselves well enough, and if they weren't pleased to be there doing the work, they didn't complain or seem upset by it either.
All he could hope was that he could figure out how to save them before Goethe called on them to do something far less pleasant. Just because they belonged to Ty now, that didn't mean they weren't still the Greater Demon's slaves.
Chapter six
The day didn't go fast. In fact it kind of dragged, as far as Tyler was concerned. Oh, things were happening, but they only loosely related to him. It got so bad, so slow, that at about ten he actually turned the television on and watched the news. They had a nice cable package, or at least all the channels, regardless of how it got into the mansion.
That it might have been done illegally, well, the place was paid for by a Demon. A bit of cable theft might just not be beyond what The Mistress of Souls was willing to do. For that matter Ty was too, so he settled in and watched the talking heads miss the point of what was going on for about an hour.
Just as he was about to get up and find something else to eat, remembering that Lucy had mentioned that eating might help take the energy load off of her as far as his healing went, there was another knock at the door.
He looked through the peephole this time, and found, unsurprisingly, another Greater Demon.
"Weeee." At least this time it was just Zack, and he had a man with him who seemed far more normal. A young guy, who only seemed a bit older than Tyler did, in looks.
Not that it meant anything. Opening the door, he shook his head.
"Line Walker. Is this..." He had to focus to get the name of Rebekah's friend that was coming in. It was clear that, even being normal looking and standing out in the full sun it was kind of clear that this man lacked the life force needed to make him essentially yummy to Tyler. That meant he was dead, most likely. Probably a Vampire, since he'd never met anyone that was dead and not one of those. Just him. "Um, Jonas?"
The man stuck his right hand out very professionally. The move was returned, since Tyler had limped to the door, not really needing his cane any more.
He had a nice enough face. It wasn't that he was a great looking guy, in particular, if they were going to use television actors as the standard for that kind of thing. Almost everyone did, so it was probably fair enough. The man had very clear skin, which the dead tended to, and was lean enough to be attractive. That and symmetry was about what men had going for them that way. At least until wearing makeup became a thing for dudes.
"That's right! I didn't know that anyone would know who I was."
"Tyler. Call me Ty. Come on in? Rebekah isn't around."
That got Zack to smile.
"We know that one, we were just out jogging along with the new group. They are not a quick bunch. What they are however, is still awake and stumbling around under the full burning light of day. It's kind of impressive. You'll be glad to know that your group is doing well. Evan is struggling a bit, but
no worse than Eve or Ginger did on their turn. Rebekah will probably be set in a few days. She's over two hundred, so... Scotty is younger but also doing better than the rest."
Tyler gestured for them to come in, smiling a little.
"Cool. I didn't know that I was going to get reports about it. Are you going to come in to observe each day, or do I need to grill Eve for the info?"
That got him pointed at as Zack moved into the living room. There was a happy expression to go with the move.
"That one. Unless you want to trade for it? It seems a bit too small to be worth your while that way, to be honest." Zack glanced at the Vampire man, who was one of the new kind that went out in the sun and didn't have fangs, and explained. "Tyler isn't a Greater Demon. More or less he's... I guess kind of an avatar of The Rotted. More than a slave, but animated by her power."
That was a different way of thinking of the whole thing than Tyler had considered before. Much nicer than meat puppet. That always sounded a bit dirty.
"Is that why..." He nearly didn't say it, but Zack had mentioned him having gotten the water to trickle into the cave for the boy somehow. At the time it had seemed like prayer had worked, and that God was on his side, but so far everyone had assured him that it didn't work that way. "The thing in the cave?"
There was a pause, and a considering look.
Zack started to nod, just a tiny bit.
"That... Actually makes a lot of sense. It would explain it nicely. You should try to learn how to use magic. The Greater Demon kind. Anne can hook you up that way I bet. You'll want to work that out with her though, since I'm betting that she's the one you'll be getting your power from, at first."
He gestured to the chairs and sofas.
"Have a seat? I wasn't really doing anything, just watching the news be mishandled in order to control the minds of the masses."
Both of the others chuckled a bit. Jonas winked.
"Part of my job is skewing those media perceptions. I'm an aide for Richard Swerlin. It's a real enough thing. About seventy percent of what we call news is just people making stuff up and lying to influence what other people are thinking." He didn't seem too happy about it.
There was a slightly awkward pause then. It was the part of meeting any new person that was kind of hard for him, Tyler knew. That moment when he was comfortable enough to accept that the person with him seemed all right, and that he didn't think he was going to have to fight them, but when he didn't know enough to select the next topic of conversation safely.
Jonas was Rebekah's boyfriend, he thought. Still, bringing her up might make the guy feel threatened, since Tyler was living with her. True in a giant mansion that was big enough for everyone to have their own space, but what if the man didn't get that? What if that kind of thing was threatening to his ego or just bugged him?
So Ty went to having a guest over one-oh-one.
"Would you like something to eat? We have blood." He turned to Zack and grinned. "I was going to make some grilled cheese, and more tomato soup. Would you like some?"
The Greater Demon made a considering face.
"Sounds good. Do you have a cook yet?"
"Nope! I did get some new people in, but I don't know if they can cook. They're busy cleaning up right now. The lady seems like she might know her way around the kitchen. I need to have them killed." Before he could even go on with that one, the Greater Demon nodded.
"Slaves? I know that Darla has a machine that can do that for you. You can kill them, and have them brought back really safely. Other than that... Well, I could do it, with healing. It's a bit risky with Humans, but I've done it on a few that have worked. Eve might be able to as well, and she won't bargain with you half as hard as the rest of us. I suppose you could get Anne to do it for you too, but her preferred way of doing things would just have them enslaved again." It was a lot of data, and helpful, even if it was given as casual conversation.
"I haven't even had a chance to go over that yet. A guy showed up with them on my doorstep and didn't want them anymore. That was how I took it. Anyway, food." He moved toward the kitchen, which had the other two following along with him, since they were a gang now, it seemed.
Zack helped with the food, and Jonas was more than willing to get his own blood, warming it in a pan of water to the temperature he enjoyed. The interesting thing was the amount of food that the Demon came up with. He didn't make a small pan of soup, but gallons of the stuff, in a giant thing that was either meant for canning or designed to steam things. Now it held all the tomato soup in the house.
Then he got out a griddle and started eight sandwiches at one time. That wasn't the end of it though, since he got ready to make about twenty-four more than that. Tyler looked at it, and raised an eyebrow, which got the Demon to shrug.
"I need to eat more than most people, and you should start doing that. Right now you're a net drain on Anne. She told me how she built a power exchange into your system, even though you aren't alive. If you can get enough food in you, that should help her out a lot. Then it won't be as big of a deal when you learn to use magic. See, free advice. Just because we're friends, and coworkers. Keep that one in mind later, when I ask you to do overtime, instead of kicking back with your band friends."
That was probably a good plan. It was kind of clear that being awake twenty-four hours a day, while a nifty power, also meant that he needed to keep busy. In the moment though he did that by helping flip grilled cheese and stirring the giant pot of tasty smelling soup.
After they were a little past halfway done, and Jonas was sipping his body temperature blood from a large white mug there was a bit of noise from the kitchen door. Tina stood there, with a huge, forced, smile on her face.
"Sir? We've cleaned the house. What do you wish us to do next?"
He pointed at the food, and smiled. The woman wasn't skin and bone, but it was clear that she could probably use lunch.
"You and Darren should get something to eat. Then a nap or something? Go hang out in the hot tub for half an hour or so?" It was hard to suggest fun and relaxing things, he realized. Mainly because he didn't do things like that himself very much.
The funny thing was that Zack, who looked about half Japanese, hooded his eyelids a bit, and spun in place to look at the lady in the doorway.
His words were a bit cryptic.
"I see. So, it was Goethe that stopped by? I should have checked that one." Then he turned back to the food. His words had been a little strained and cold sounding. Like he really didn't care for the other Greater Demon, on a personal level.
For her part Tina seemed really happy to hear that working all the time wasn't the goal of her being there. Not that she was actually pleased. It was all fake. Then, his interactions with Demons hadn't been that bad compared to most. Sure one of them had caused him to cut his own head off, but even that wasn't too traumatic for him. It had been a choice for him. One made under duress, but still his own action.
These people, Tina and Darren, they probably hadn't had any chance to do something like that themselves.
Rather than talk about it all, Zack just made up four plates of food. There were more crackers too, and the big bowls of soup were placed on the table efficiently. Zack was acting strange however, and looked away from Tina more often than was normal.
Still, he didn't seem angry at the woman after a moment, his voice becoming kind.
"You should call Darren. I need to eat."
The lady left the room to do it, as the food was dished up. Jonas didn't help with that part, but did sit with them, not bothered by the fact that he wasn't getting any of the wonderful smelling grilled cheese. It was all just about perfect looking, too. It wasn't just piled on the plates, but was placed there with care and concern for appearance. While all the same, it had the feel of being served at a restaurant, rather than what Ty had been thinking of.
There was no real conversation during the meal, except for Zack giving about half the remaining food to Tyler, and w
aving at it a few times.
"Eat more. It will help."
The two new people just looked at their single servings of food, and ate mechanically. It was oddly stressed seeming. Tyler could see what Tina and Darren were thinking. At least he figured that it would be about trauma and lives that were crippling to the spirit. Zack however just didn't add up. He was acting like he was annoyed by them being there, for all that he was being nice, and making sure they had enough to eat.
At the end of the meal he got up, and took their plates and bowls.
"Tyler and I have this part. Why don't you do what he suggested and go take a restful nap for a while? That's what you want them to do, isn't it Ty?" It was leading and that one he got, right off the bat.
He was the boss of them, by order of their Greater Demon lord. So his word was law to them, at the moment. Zack patted the man on the back, and winced, getting his entire life's story from him. Hard or not, he did the same with Tina a moment later. There was another cringe. It was big enough that Jonas noticed it, too.
That couldn't be a good thing. What would make a Demon react like that? It had to be awful on a level that Tyler probably didn't want to know about.
"That sounds good. Let's get you some bedrooms? On the third floor I think. Here... I'll take you up." They all went again, but it didn't take long. He really wasn't limping as much as he had been before either, and that let him speed up a lot. It seemed like the food was helping.
He was going to need more to eat, or so it seemed.
That meant getting access to food that he didn't have to pay for, because for all he was living in a great house and had three jobs, the funds hadn't been pouring in yet.
"Hey, I have a paycheck coming, don't I?" He asked a bit blankly as they made their way back to the kitchen.
He got a smile though, and a nod.
"You do. Thinking about how to pay for all of this? I'll cover my part. You need to do the same, since this all belongs to Keeley. Not that she'd force the issue, but you're kind of in a weird place, as far as Greater Demons go. I mean, you clearly aren't one of us. In a way though, it's a bit like I said. You're part of The Rotted, after a fashion. The Clerk. So going with our rules will help to keep you safe. That means paying your own way, and making sure that you don't offer any of us food for free."