by P. S. Power
Glen looked around too.
"Can we see where the party will be held? That will allow me to work up some strategies for keeping people out of the areas of the house they don't belong. Not that we really will. This place is too large for that. Is there a dungeon or anything like that? We can lock it up tight. The wine cellar, too." He didn't seem to be kidding about any of that, but Tyler was a bit curious.
"You know, I haven't really looked around yet? I have a room, but I don't need to sleep. I don't get tired or anything, so I've been working most of the time. It's kind of what I do. I'm in the band here, but also work at a bookstore. With Palma? She's a Hsreth too. Nice woman."
Glen seemed pleased to hear that, for some reason.
"A cousin of mine, after a fashion. We're all related, so that isn't surprising. Clara is my mother. We should poke around then, to see if we really need to hide anything?"
That was more fun than it sounded like at first. On the first floor there were several big rooms, all of which, except the kitchen, were good for guests, Clara let him know. At least with some decoration and moving just a bit of furniture. Her gaze had shifted though, from being happy to be there into an intense work mode. It wasn't exactly Human.
Fierce came to mind, if that could be used in regards to party planning. Her movements sped up, as they found different things. On the second floor there was a large recreation room, that had pool tables, various large games, like what a bar might have, and interestingly enough, an actual bar along the back wall. Fully stocked.
The woman nodded at it.
"We'll need a second tender then." Turning to Ty she winked. "We have several people with us, sleeping in the Van. Like you, we don't need rest. Not much. There's plenty of space here however, we can block off the stairs past this point?" It was a question, so he just nodded, as if he had a right to make that kind of thing up.
If it was a problem, then they just wouldn't do that. There would be four bathrooms available, which both Hsreth informed him would be needed, if people were drinking and doing drugs. Which given the nature of their guest list, would be happening.
She walked away then, not explaining that part. Glen moved slower and did that bit.
"Greater Demons, several high ranking officials including politicians, and about fifty movie and television stars. All coming in for tonight. We really should have given people more notice, but when The Mistress of Souls throws a party, people come. I'd say, or else, but she really isn't that bad, for one of her kind. I used to be her slave." He said the words softly, like he was trying to not be overheard.
Ty tilted his head.
"Used to?"
There was a strange look then. One that seemed to say a thousand things at once. Not all of them good or happy, but enough of them were that it wasn't horrified seeming.
"She died, and in death released us. Then was brought back, by The Line Walker. I believe he killed her. I don't know the specifics there. When she came back though, even though none have managed to stand against her powers, she let us go. All of us that were her slaves. Truly. She doesn't even demand that we give her our labor or goods now, to this day. She asked us to come here and do this, and is paying the full rate for it. A Greater Demon!"
Tyler sighed and looked away, but nodded.
"I'm a slave. To The Rotted? Only I don't think that will work, her dying like that. She raised me..." That got him to grin, since it was funny sounding. "From the dead, but I meant she's basically my mom. Her power is keeping me alive. If that goes..." He shuddered, thinking of death, and darkness, but Glen went wide eyed.
"Aye. Then the only thing that would keep you alive would be the eating of flesh. Your own kind. Do you have to do that now?" The tone was academic, as if he wasn't really worried too much about the idea.
Then, thinking about it for a moment Ty realized that he really didn't crave the man in front of him. Oh, he was cute in an older, square fashion, but there was not subconscious desire to rip hunks of flesh from his bones. He did feel that toward Steve though, he had to admit. Then he suppressed that thought, hard.
"Nope. I kind of feel it, I guess. I... Didn't know that would keep me alive. I'd let myself die first. For that matter, I don't eat meat. Vegetarian. I do dairy, but not eggs. I mean, baked into things, but not just to eat? In case that's too close to something that would trigger me into eating people."
The Hsreth smiled at him, and patted his shoulder to get him to leave the recreation space.
"I'll make note of that. I'm certain we can have appropriate options for you. We'd have to, with the people coming later. Blood, and some other things as well."
Then, since they were moving into the right spaces, they started straight into moving furniture. It was a bit of work for the Hsreth to keep up with him, but they had things arranged by the time Clara came to look for them. She only changed six things, out of the twenty they'd done. Those were minor adjustments to help control the flow of traffic in the room. Then Glen had to vanish into the kitchen, as the house was invaded by people that all started into work pretty well, after using the bathrooms.
He'd never thought about it, but he really could tell who the Humans were. They all looked tasty. There were no Vampires here, but one of the men was something else, Tyler thought. Tilting his head as the man walked by, he caught the man's eye.
"Um, sorry, not trying to be rude, but... Shifter? Not a kind that I've met before, I don't think?" That might be rude, but the man, who looked a bit Hispanic, and was bone thin, just nodded. He was tall and lanky, but hard looking at the same time.
"Snake. Good catch. Most people can't tell like that."
He nodded, and then told the truth, after a fashion.
"My girlfriend, one of them, is a Bat. Calley Hale? She's the new Ambassador for this area."
The man froze for a bit, then gave a low whistle.
"Fuuuuck. Bat girl's making good? I haven't seen her for years. Not since I went straight. I used to be a thief. Then I stepped on the wrong dick, and figured that getting out while I was still alive was the better part of valor. Not that it was bad for me, but, you know, Greater Demon shit? The Line Walker. Scary mother fucker, let me tell you."
Tyler didn't really see it, but nodded.
"Yeah, I work at his bookstore. Part time now. He should be here tonight. Calley and Ginger, too. Ginger the Vampire?" He said it almost hopefully, but the man just shook his head a bit.
"That's a new one for me. Is she nice? That kind runs hot and cold, but if you met at their embassy in Vancouver she's probably all right. They have good people there. The Mages there don't suck either. I had some trouble once, and they fixed it in my favor. A guy, a Mage, tried to rip me off. Hiram Stone. Now he's a piece of work, let me tell you."
That got him to grin, but the Snake fellow had to get back to work, since he was actually there to do things like that. It kind of left him at loose ends. So, not knowing what else to do, for the first time in a while he just sat down and watched the news. There wasn't much going on, but just about the time he was going to be bored out of his gourd, his cell phone rang.
"Hello? Tyler Gartner, Coalition of Nations, how may I help you?" He tried for formal, since a lot of people that called him up were stressed out already.
"Tyler? This is Karen Hart? I don't know if you'd remember me, from the Jeff Smears program? Um... There's an emergency? We, our in studio guest, he kind of took Rochelle hostage in the other room, and we're barricaded in the booth? I called the police, but the guest, Mr. Michel... He's a Santorin?"
Which meant nothing to him in the slightest. Not even a single glimmer of an idea came to mind for him.. So, looking around the room, he saw that there were several people, and just called that out.
"Anyone know what a Santorin is?" It was a long shot, but the Snake man from earlier popped his head into the room, and nodded.
"Night dwellers. Kind of like shadow people? It would be really odd for one to be out in the daylight. Why?"
That got a nod, and then a disgusted look.
"I hate that guy. Werechickens... Um, unless there are ransom demands, they probably just need to turn the lights down. Unless someone insulted the guy? Santorin are really big on respect. Beyond just the whole please and thank you thing. Bowing, hand shaking, and being kind generally work, so it should be fine in a professional environment. They aren't assholes about it or anything, not that I've ever heard."
That got him to wince.
"And the poor man had to deal with Rochelle. I bet that's it. Still, we can try the lights first. Karen, can you do that part? You said you were blocked in?"
That was the case, but by having her knock on the door, and bowing low, Karen was able to get out, holding a phone to the side of her head the whole time, while Jeff gave everyone a blow by blow over the radio. Because ratings. Even if they died, they were going to take the national time slot that day. Especially then, Ty was willing to bet.
She hit the lights first, and then, very abjectly, started to apologize for anything that they might have done wrong.
"I'm really, really sorry. Seriously. Is there anything you need, or that we can do to make things better for you?" Her voice wasn't scared.
There was a hissing sound that came back, which he couldn't make out.
"I... Could you talk to Mr. Gartner? He's from the Coalition of Nations? That would be better than killing Rochelle, I think?"
Tyler didn't love the dark skinned lady. It wasn't about her looks, which were good, in a slightly older way, but the fact that she'd kind of dissed him the first time they'd met, thinking he didn't look important enough for her. Zack had described it as him not even seeming Human to her, actually. There was a noise as the phone was passed, and a voice, which sounded a lot less like a snake now that it was closer, spoke.
"This is Michel."
"Hello, Michel. I'm Ty Gartner. I understand that you've met Rochelle? Not that I want to make trouble, but I've met her before, too. What did she do?" His voice was very dry, for some reason. Like a high school principal, calling to tell the folks what little Johnny had gotten up to that day.
"It is not her, only the refusal to dim the lights, which is done now. She should have asked, instead of insisting that I stand under the pain producers!"
"That sounds reasonable. I don't suppose we can call it good now however? A little misunderstanding? I'm sure she sees the error of her ways now. Or, well, honestly, I'm not certain of that at all, but having all of you walk away from there is better. Even if it's hard at the moment to see that."
It took a while, but he finally talked the Santorin man down, and while the police did try to shoot him, that didn't seem to annoy him like the lights did. In fact, he pretty much ignored that part of things, though it was clear that the stern yelling was considered rude. That meant Ty had to talk to them too, which, after about fifteen minutes meant that they calmed down enough to understand it was fine, and that them shooting the neighbors through the walls wasn't going to help anything.
Eventually he ended up talking to Jeff and Karen on the air.
"See, just a small misunderstanding. If a Santorin comes over, make sure the lights aren't too bright for them, and be extra polite. From what I can tell it's more about the trying to be good than the specific rules. Glad that's resolved. Now, why not do that interview?"
That was strained, but Jeff managed it, more or less. Tyler was left on the air the whole time, just in case, but Michel rallied, and managed to explain things pretty smoothly. He was, after all, an Ambassador for his people. The one being sent to the new embassy, in Nevada.
On the good part that meant he was able to explain the whole thing to the radio audience, so Tyler didn't have to. The only thing there was that he called out The Mistress of Souls by name. Title at least. It meant that, for the first time Tyler had ever heard about, Greater Demons were being openly discussed.
That might not go over so well, he knew.
Then again, it wasn't his problem. Most people probably wouldn't get who they meant anyway. They'd seen a few Lesser Demons on Television after all, and a ten feet high giant with horns and red skin was kind of Greater seeming. Even if they got that it wasn't the case most people would probably imagine a bigger version of that basic template. They'd be wrong, of course, but it was the way people's minds worked, and he didn't explain the difference.
No, the talk show guest did that part.
Chapter seventeen
His part in getting things ready after that was minimal. Mainly sweeping, which Ty was nearly certain had more with getting him out of the way than it did cleaning the floor. There was a tiny bit of dust however, so he kept after the project like it was real, doing all the rooms that didn't need to be vacuumed. Then he did that, finding a machine in a back room.
At about three Steve was up for the day, followed after a few hours by Rebekah and Scotty. After they had their nightly blood, made up for them by Clara, the Vampires were ready for the night. Steve got a small snack tray, and two of the three got hugs from people. Scotty was the one left out, but he didn't complain about it, happy that the blood was finally the correct temperature. That's what he said anyway.
"I never really get it right. It's always a bit too hot. This is perfect." He beamed at the Hsreth man Glen, who'd done that for them. There was clear flirting in the words, but the other man didn't seem to get it. It was more than just not noticing. Almost like the idea of sexual impulses just weren't a thing for him.
A Human guy might have not wanted the attention, but he would have noticed it. Mainly so he could be creeped out, but it would have been there. Glen just seemed complimented, and moved on. That was probably part of what made him other than Human.
It was okay, too. They were all different, and it was part of his job to accept them. Even the ones he didn't always like as much as he should. That part was hard, but hey, no one said it would be simple. Not even Mike had mentioned that. In fact, he'd seemed to think it was kind of a difficult thing from time to time. Probably to be nice to him about it.
Tyler was good with that if it was the case.
At about seven, people started coming. A man was assigned to the front door, and people were, for the most part, simply let in. They were isolated enough that no one was coming by accident. If the neighbors wanted to sneak in...
Well, he was good with that.
Snapping his fingers he winced.
"We should have invited people from the neighborhood. Well, next time, maybe?"
Rebekah gave him a very funny look, her blood red eyes focused on him, he thought. It was a little hard to tell, but she was oriented his way and there was nothing else around if she wasn't.
"I... Can see that. Not that we have a lot of people around us out here, but if you want to make friends you have to be the one to reach out, as often as not. We really should do that."
Steve didn't seem to care about that, since he was busy looking at the people come in across the room. Several of them nodded in their direction, but both he and Rebekah suddenly started waving, which got a pretty woman to come over. She was sort of familiar, from a movie that he'd seen, but it was the people with her that got his attention.
Eve, Barb, and Zack, followed by Ginger and Calley, along with the bigoted Catherine. Not that it was fair of him to think of her that way. He'd been told she wasn't really that bad, after all.
"Hey!" He started passing out hugs, and just to be a pill made sure that the Washington State Ambassador got one too. It wasn't as good of one as all that, but she didn't sniff at him or act like he smelled, which was better than it might have been.
She didn't get to speak though, since Eve moved in and wrapped him up in her own room temperature arms.
"Krista? This is Tyler Gartner. He's in the band we came to see, but is also the head of the Coalition of Nations. I told you about that?"
The pretty actress s
miled at him, and moved forward, her face looking alert, rather than like she wanted something from him. Given that he didn't have anything for her, that was probably a good thing.
Even given that perception, her words kind of gave the lie to that.
"I was wondering if I could pick your brain? The director of the series I'm in wants to get some different perspectives. It's mainly a Vampire show, but we're adding some of the other groups in, and... There are a lot of them. Eve thought I should talk to you, about who to talk to?" She seemed hopeful about the idea.
"Really, well, a lot of them will be here tonight. After that we can get you in with different groups once the new embassy here is up and going. Or, you know, your director, or whoever is doing that. Though you should talk to Scotty right now. He's got a unique perspective. He was born a Bat Shifter and became a Vampire. It's really rare." Plus the man had been staring, so it was a good way to introduce the two.
Ginger moved over to him again, and held his hand. That got Barb to wrinkle her nose at them.
"That's a little bit too territorial, for a party. I mean, if I can't make out with your boyfriend in the coat closet, what's the point of coming at all?" She was teasing, Tyler could tell.
Ginger didn't challenge her to a fight, just shaking her head a bit.
"I'm not worried about you. You'd just have sex with him, which is fine. Or even you, Krista. No, I have to guard him from Eve." She glared a bit, and it seemed a little too real for the situation.
The other girl didn't even bother to deny it, just nodding.
"Yeah. I'd totally steal him from you if I could. I don't see it working. So far he almost totally ignores me, unless I try to hit him."
He nodded, since it was kind of true. She was too good looking, if he was going to be honest. Ty still felt shy around a lot of women that looked too good. He could talk to them, now, but the feeling was still there, inside.
"Speaking of hitting, we should get together and practice soon. I don't want to get rusty."
