The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  There was nothing in it for either of them, not that he could see. Before he could even pull the offer back she laughed.

  "We can charge for it. That's not bad. I'll split the profits with you. Twenty-eighty? That isn't really fair, since there are some five hundred and thirty Greater Demons that could do my part in it. I'll be putting up the starting funds for the facilities and training people to get the rest of it done. Doctors and all that. Or are we doing this openly? That would allow us to do it faster and cut out a lot of the need to string things out. They could come in on Thursday night, and be done on Friday by noon. How often can you do what you just did? Ten times a day?"

  He tilted his head, and then shook it.

  "As many as you need? It doesn't take much more than some concentration on my part. How about you?"

  She smiled, which was a big, vulpine looking thing. In fact it was nearly scary seeming.

  "About the same. That, and some orders for each person. It doesn't even just have to be drugs. We can fix pretty much anything. Help with weight loss, and all that. Anything that people want to have changed about themselves. All right. Now, are we hiding this or not?"

  He shook his head.

  "No? I mean, my plan is to make it cheap enough that Greater Demons can come to me if they want it done. I'm not going to go and break all their slaves free if they don't want it, so fighting with me won't be worth it. Really, it should be a net loss for them, right? If I'm there to work for them, cheap, then messing with me otherwise would be a poor idea." He was a bit shaky on that part, but tried to fake confidence.

  Keeley glanced at Jasmine and then nodded.

  "That sounds about right. After the thing with The Storm, well, when it's learned about, a lot of the others will be worried about what you really are. You aren't a Demon. I think the best presentation would be to suggest that you're a powerful necromancer. It's... Honestly that's about the case. Have you tried bringing the dead back yet?"

  He made a face, then shook his head.

  "No. I'm animating myself, so I know I can do it, but it's a lot of work, and I can't see how it would benefit anyone. Real Vampires, or even zombies are kind of living. I'm very different than that, and I don't think that I could really repeat the process for anyone. Lucy probably could, eventually." He didn't know if it was all her work that had made him, or if it was his doing. Probably a bit of both.

  After all, he was just a Human. A dead one that had taken years of care to become whatever he was now.

  Keeley seemed happy enough with that, and touched his arm, tickling him with energy. That got her to wink at him.

  "Very good. Necromancer then. People, even Greater Demons, will feel more comfortable if they can name you. Let's do this? I need to set some things up. Let's see... Oh, are you willing to break slave links without telling the slave about it?" She moved and put her hand on Jasmine's arm, and then nodded at Ty again. "It doesn't feel like anything, so that can be done if they don't know about it."

  That made sense. He had no clue how many slaves would be living without knowing how oppressed they were. Then, Tyler had gone sixteen years that way, so it was possible that it was a lot more common than he knew about.

  "Sure. I have no problem with that."

  That got a smile, and another pat on the arm. This time, as the tendrils came at him, the sucking bit of life energy that was so apparent to him now, he killed them off, scattering the power they held. It wasn't destroyed, after all, just disorganized. It still worked.

  The Mistress of Souls laughed and shook her head.

  "Careful there. If you keep them from knowing what you really are, they'll think you're one of us. That wouldn't go well. No one can fight a half dozen of us. Not alone. You need friends. Luckily you have a good start. Zack, Darla, Anne, I hear you even know that Keeley bitch?" She winked then, but explained. "Sorry, I shouldn't do that to you. I was just being funny at my own expense, not saying that I'm not me. You need to work on ways to test that kind of thing."

  Which was true, no doubt, but he had no clue how to get that done. It was probably going to change from one Demon to the next.

  He stood for a few seconds, and then looked at Jasmine.

  "Oh, hey, are you coming to the party next Friday? It's at my house. You can meet the band. Living Proof? It will be fun. Probably a few famous people will be there and all that." The woman seemed to be scared for some reason though, and she looked at Keeley, who smiled and nodded for her.

  "If you want to, Jasmine? It really should be fun."

  That got a nod, but the woman took a breath and looked at him. Instead of smiling at him and saying that sounded like fun, or even that she was busy, her words were very different.

  "What do I owe you? For getting me free?"

  Keeley looked at him, and seemed to get that he was stuck, not really understanding the situation.

  "Ah. To me you provided a useful service. A convenience. To her you rescued her from lifelong enslavement. I do see how that might make an impression. Are you asking for anything though? I'll bet she'll do anything you want. Anything."

  The idea was to tempt him with sex, but he shook his head. He wasn't filled with life like a real man his age. There was a desire for the pleasure of sex, but he finally understood that it wasn't really a drive for him. Just training.

  He'd grown up in a world that told him that men wanted sex all the time, so he had, in order to seem Human. He wasn't that. Not exactly. Yes, it was still fun, and he could do it whenever he wanted, physically, but it wasn't real. It was him making it seem like he was like everyone else. Nothing more. He wasn't trying to procreate, since that wasn't a thing for him. It couldn't be. Not in any normal fashion.

  So even as Jasmine nodded slightly, he shook his head.

  "Nope. You're free. That's all. It was paid for by the person that caused the debt. That's balance, right? Or in this case you benefited from a free sample, but hey, that counts. So, come to the party or not. Go live someplace else, or stay here and get Keeley to pay you well for whatever it is you do. Or, if you want, get in early on this new business idea. It probably pays more than doing housework, if that's what you do here. Someone has to do the work though, so why not you?"

  Rather than shut him down, Keeley gave her a considering look. She seemed like a girl who was barely twenty, and was pretty enough that she could have been in movies, but somehow it still worked for her. There was no sense of command however.

  Jasmine shook her head.

  "I don't know if I would be good at that kind of thing. I'm not that smart. That was why I got into drugs in the first place. It seemed better than fixing my problems. Easier. Until Keeley made me do the right thing, I always took the easiest path." She seemed pretty certain of that, too.

  He shrugged.

  "I wouldn't undersell yourself, but if that's the case, then you know best. Still, if you change your mind, let us know? If you try and fail... Well, then we'll get someone else, but it won't hurt you." The truth was he didn't care that much. It was nice to give her a chance, but the truth was, his part was done now. She was free, and that was all he could do for her.

  The rest was going to be her own doing.

  Keeley, not even bothering to read him, steered him toward the door a bit forcefully, taking his arm and pulling enough to actually make him move. It seemed cute and friendly though, which it really shouldn't have. She was being bossy, and physically domineering. It should have come across as hostile, and hard. There was smiling though, and her body moved close to him, bumping him with her hip as she walked. Everything about her contradicted what she was doing so totally it made his mind stop working for a moment.

  Like it would have if she were flirting with him, which, after a fashion, to her own ends, she was.

  After a bit, near the door, he chuckled.

  "Or just tell me to leave? It seems easier."

  "Oh, sure. But if I do that and you take it the wrong way, then there are hard feelings. This way y
ou leave, but the worst you feel on the far end is that I might want to take you to bed. I don't, but it isn't a personal thing. I'm just busy. For that matter, I don't suppose you could free up a few people for me? I'll call in a list later? There might be some travel involved. Unless you can do this at a distance? In that case... Hide it. Always. Don't even try it, if you don't have to. That would scare the others too much."

  She let go of him and moved away a bit. A slight twinge hit him, not being wanted that way, but he pulled up a calm concept and let it go almost instantly. It wasn't magic, but it worked, and that was enough. It did help that she wasn't Human either. That meant she was going to have different likes, dislikes, and drives than most. Maybe.

  Okay, he could tell when he was rationalizing, and let that go, too.

  "As long as it fits into my schedule? I need to focus on the Coalition, and the band. On top of that I need to go and check on some people. Lisa Weise and that gang. My mom. I've hardly seen her in weeks, and there's been some major stuff going on. That kind of thing. We need to plan out the holidays and all that. I'd say that I was going to be spending them with Ginger and Calley, but I kind of think that Steve has stolen them both away already. Probably because he actually gives them the attention they want. I'm kind of a bad boyfriend that way."

  Keeley gave him a look that was nearly ridiculous seeming then.

  "Then fix it? For one thing, Steve isn't any better that way than you are, he's just less busy and a bit of a pig. He has no problem walking up to a woman and just asking for sex. That works with Calley, but Ginger is just making sure she isn't insulting your friends. I wouldn't assume that means she's moving on yet. For one thing, she's a Vampire, and that means her people would be at a certain level of risk, if she took up with a regular Human. If any of the other Vamps come for you, unwanted, or to harm you, they'll end up dead. She doesn't get that consciously yet, but it's what will happen. With Steve she'd have to be ready to lose him, or fight. Not that it would come up that much, but it's a risk if she ever crosses anyone. Eventually we all end up pissing someone off, don't we? So, for her, you're nearly perfect. Kind, gentle, polite and so powerful that even Bey wouldn't try for you now. A good enough person that he knows he doesn't have to, which is pretty rare."

  A thing that he was going to keep quiet for a while, though it was pretty clear that was more than doable for him.

  Killing a living person that way would take some work, but might happen if Ty applied himself well enough. He could hit them with death until their body just gave up on them. They could and did, generate life energy, but it could be overwhelmed with enough effort. It would be a lot easier to just shoot them.

  Vampires...

  If he cut their lines of power, which wouldn't be any harder than severing a slave line at all, he could hit them with a wave of darkness and they would simply go down. They didn't have the reservoir of energy that would make a living thing more immune to him. Ty's rough guess was that they would not love to hear about that. Then, they didn't need to.

  Sure, he could take them out, but he wouldn't. Not unless he was pushed into it by a specific one of them. He had a weapon that was hard to beat by a certain kind of person, but if he had a gun it wouldn't be that different, would it? There was no reason to go around hurting anyone, if he could help it.

  Even if he wanted to take the whole "Being of Death" thing to heart. After all, everything living would be dead in the end. There was no hurry as far as he could tell. No matter who he'd met, so far at least, it seemed that they were finite beings. Maybe not God, or possibly the Angels, but really, he didn't even know that for certain.

  So it wasn't like he had some death based goals or anything. Still, there was truth to the idea that Vampires weren't going to be that big of a threat to him in particular.

  "I'll talk to them? I mean, Calley was always herself. She didn't claim that she was in anything for the long haul. In fact, I remember her saying that wouldn't be the case. It just isn't her way. Ginger... Honestly, she doesn't even like sex, you know? What do I bring to the table that way?"

  Keeley nodded and closed the door. He decided to take that to mean he needed to go and figure that out on his own, rather than bothering her with his whining.

  Not that he had been, but when men asked questions about life, most women weren't going to be able to understand that they weren't complaining. Not all the time.

  Lucy had mentioned that to him, when he was younger, more than once. A lot of what he knew about ladies came from her. It wasn't all nice, either. Tyler was willing to bet that a lot of it was honest, however. She hadn't lied to him, and her tips had been kind of useful. Like being certain he didn't get a girl pregnant too young. Oh, sure, that had been about hiding what he really was, but it was a good things for regular guys to keep in mind.

  For a moment he felt a pang of worry about Steve, of all people. Then he relaxed. As far as Ty knew, none of the girls he'd been sleeping with could get pregnant by him. Well, except Calley, which he'd never thought about before. She was alive, after all.

  Using the raw concept of time distortion, not adding magic to it, not wanting to waste Lucy's effort and energy that way, he walked home. It was closer than he would have thought, being only about five miles away. It was coming into being evening, so it wasn't that hard to see everyone finally coming back home. That they'd stayed all day to work showed how important they thought it was.

  Then, that was the case. Honestly, they needed to get with the government, and get a Human rep in too. Maybe one from each country? That was too much. A team from around the world of, maybe five people, to speak for Humanity? That seemed closer to the right thing to try at first.

  On the good side, he knew someone that he could bother about things like that.

  At the front door he called out.

  "Hey everyone, I'm home. Calley, can I talk to you for a bit? It's about sex."

  Upstairs! The concept hit him like it had been projected on purpose. She was home at least. He could feel her energy when he tried. Alive and powerful, but leaking more than a Human would. That was probably why she had to eat more than a regular person would.

  When he found her, she as naked, and in the shower.

  "In here!" It was helpful of her, since it let him know where she was, in relation to the running water. More to the point, that she wanted him to go in, which he wouldn't have without knowing that.

  "Hey honey!" He sighed, faking it up a bit for effect, so she could hear him doing it. Her ears were really good though, so he didn't oversell it. "What do you do for birth control? I mean, I know that you can't get pregnant by me, but Steve is a Human, and you have other friends, so..."

  There was no immediate answer, but when it came the voice wasn't upset.

  "Aren't you coming in?"

  He looked down and realized that it probably wouldn't hurt. He had clean clothing in the other room even, in the closet. Without speaking he got naked, and pulled the heavy glass door out. It was metal framed, and solid, but the wavery glass was kind of hard to see through.

  With a few thoughts he used a bit of energy to make himself erect, since that was no doubt what she wanted him there for. That and washing her back. Both were good things though, so he didn't mind.

  She was really washing though, and scrubbed pretty well, so he did the same.

  "You know, I never asked, how is your sense of smell?" It was a different topic, but she smiled at him, looking funny without her glasses. Cute. Like she was sleepy, rather than half blind.

  "Pretty good. I mean, I can't track a person just by scent, but I can tell what you ate for lunch, and that you were with The Mistress of Souls not too long ago. Not having sex either. Which is good. She's so hot I couldn't compete that way."

  Tyler could have said a thousand things, but just smiled and shook his head a bit. The warm steam in the shower smelled like girl soap and shampoo at the moment. He didn't feel the heat, but he got what was happening anyway. That air was sl
ightly foggy even.

  "No, she really isn't. Not enough that you couldn't compete. I always feel nervous around her. Not in a good way either. I think it's that Lucy told me not to be too interested in the supernaturally good looking girls a while back. So I'm really not. You know the Alede and all that? Keeley is on the edge there really. She nearly isn't Human looking. Now, Eve is pretty hot, but even there she's not better than you are, just a bit more..."

  There was a small, miffed sound then.

  "A bit better looking?"

  He grinned, not taking the bait.

  "I was going to go with a bit more standard looking. Average really. Yes, she had perfect skin, and hair, but that's Vampire camouflage, nothing else. Not special like you. Or Ginger, though she's a bit more in that average range too, really. Both of them could model with the right makeup. Your freckles would show through. Other than that you'd be in that same zone. No blemishes, lean, and with an interesting nose. African looking, but on a white girl, which really works out pretty well." Then he let that settle for a bit. It was all true, but he could see six ways for it to explode on him.

  Instead he got a hug.

  "Not bad. A lot of people think that Bats are ugly. Like troll dolls, really. With glasses, more often than not. Then those sold pretty well when I was a kid, so I never took it as an insult. Funny, but no man ever said I was too ugly to suck his cock, you know? Or tried to slip a bag over my head. A few did turn the lights off, but that was probably to hide their own body." She gave Ty a damp hug then. And laid the side of her face against his chest.

  That meant all the water was hitting him either in the face, since she was just that short, or on her back. Her right hand found him about then, and she encircled him, then started to move a bit. It felt nice, even though he couldn't feel if she were warm or not. The water was the same way.