by P. S. Power
Because, naturally, he was using death energy to power it, and needed to feed it with that first, so it could become operative and do that for itself. It still wasn't going to make him move around, even when he had the power for it. Life energy would have done that for him, wanting to be all helpful like it was. But no, he was stuck with crappy death energy that was like a kid with ADD.
Tyler got up and dressed. Then laid on the bed.
"Right, so, I need to do this now I think. It's going to be a fun night. Or... A fun year, if I don't get this correct. That could happen, so try not to freak out. I won't die or anything. I can't, so it isn't an option on the table."
They both looked at him, with expressions of concerns on their faces. That... Well, chances were he wasn't going to do it very soon. After all, it was new, and he was just some guy that had started to learn to do magic a few days before.
The others either got that, or they realized that he felt a little intimidated by the whole thing. It was so hard to do that he kind of figured that failure was going to be in his near future. Several times, most likely, if not hundreds. First though, there was a thing he needed to make certain of. That he could power his brain. Or his thoughts, more likely. It was most likely the case that he didn't really have a working brain in his head. Just like his heart, it would be dead. Not doing anything but being a place holder.
So, he had to find out how that worked. It was right there, inside of him, but made of death, not life the way everyone else did it. When he found it, sitting there, looking into Calley's eyes, then glancing over at Ginger, he nodded. As long as he made sure that part stayed working, having power, he could do it all. Eventually.
"All right, I'm going to grab a different room. I have no clue how long this will take. I'll try to be around though, as soon as I can move again. Wish me luck?"
Ginger nodded, her face somber.
"Much luck. All of it in the world."
Calley took a deep, warm breath, filled with life and power. Just the wrong kind for him. He, Tyler Gartner, was a creature that thrived on death, and had to.
Even if living would be easier for him. That wasn't what he was. The living were a different kind of thing altogether. He found the space he wanted on the fourth floor, near the back. It was, he guessed, supposed to have been the servant's quarters. It wasn't decorated, but did have a twin bed, and a large dresser with four drawers that he didn't need, and a mirror on the top, with a decorative frame around it. Turning off the single light, one that hung down in the middle of the room, he tried to get his mind in order.
A thing that was spread through his entire being. Part of it was outside of his body even. He could feel it tickle and work, creating the concepts that would in turn allow him to make more of them. It was a bit confusing at first, but in the end he understood that he didn't have to hold them all really. Just make them so that they held themselves. Allowing his mind to coax in the needed forces and arrange them, all the time.
Then he settled on the bed, and tried to feel what was going on inside of him. Death was the opposite of what he would have thought. It worked in negative. Backwards from what he believed it should. For hours Tyler just lay there, a thing instead of a person. A body that wasn't alive, and didn't move now.
Because when he threw power and a sense of motion at things, nothing happened. His concepts were different than what he'd seen in everyone else. Even the Vampires moved using the power of the living. It wasn't what he had to do.
Finally he worked something out. Mainly by reminding himself of what normally happened when he moved around. It happened by putting pressure around his entire being, the flesh falling into the unoccupied space, moving away from the energy of destruction and chaos. It was an annoying way to think of things. His new way of being. Same as the old, but now Tyler G. was in charge of it.
It changed everything, when he tried to stand. Not because he didn't move, but because it was so very awkward. Standing up wasn't the set of normal looking and feeling things he'd thought of it being for the most part.
No, he sort of floated up, like an old time movie Vampire, his body rigid. Okay, it was a cool effect, he had to admit that, but it was so freaking odd that it wasn't going to do long term. Worse, before he got all the way up, he lost focus and fell back onto the bed. That got him to laugh. Sort of. Nothing came out, except a strained squeak.
Rather than fret over that, he just practiced until things worked into some semblance of movement. For a long time, he gathered the needed power, then pushed his body around, trying to work out how to make it look right. Then, he failed hard. Not hundreds of times, but thousands. It was complicated, doing things like that. Also, while he could move, a bit like he was a real zombie, it was not smooth, and he really didn't know how to speak yet.
That took breathing, which meant he had to pump air back and forth, pushing his chest in and out, which was doable. Then he constricted the flow in his throat as he moved it out, and managed to moan. It was a low, guttural thing. So, in short, he was a tiny bit of discipline and practice away from being able to call for brains. Not that he wanted that.
The line between himself and Lucy grew thinner over time, until it was the barest thread between them. Connected, a thing that couldn't be broken unless she died, or he lived and then died, but so minor he was pretty much in control of his own being in truth.
For the first time since he died. Meaning that he'd moved up from meat puppet to real slave already.
That he wasn't doing it very well was just the price he had to pay for that kind of freedom. It took him a few minutes, but he finally got himself to think about it philosophically. True, he wasn't perfect, but Lucy was allowing him what freedom she could, like she'd promised. The rest, no matter how hard, was up to him.
Standing, he moved to the door, then, a bit clumsily, he walked down the stairs. He didn't look good doing it, but it was actually really easy to balance, since his body wasn't playing by the rules that others seemed to have to. When he started to topple, he just moved, nearly floating back into place. He couldn't fly that way, which he tried, but he could spin on the toes of one foot, without stopping or doing anything else.
Why that was he didn't know, but he didn't need to be touching the Earth. He wasn't, and the death energy still was coaxed into him easily enough. Well, it was hard work, but he'd gotten to a point where it functioned for him. His power set up worked without him having to control it consciously all the time, finally. Eventually the movement would be the same way. That would take time and practice, but he could feel it happening already. The concept for each thing he needed was there, having been around for years. He just had to activate them again.
Lucy had already done most of the hard work that way, so it wasn't like he had to start from scratch really. Thankfully. Otherwise he really might have taken years, if not decades, to learn to do even what he was at the moment.
When he got down the stairs, no one else was around. That was a bit odd, since it looked to be dark out. The clock said that it was about ten in the evening. Moving like he was going to fall down the whole time, he worked his mouth into a smile, or what he thought might be one, and tottled toward the kitchen. He didn't need to eat, but he thought he could smell something cooking. There was noise too, and voices talking.
Also, he realized with a thought that made him happy, he could smell things. That hadn't been something he was certain about. True, he could before, but that had been Lucy doing all the work. Apparently whatever she'd done to make that happen was permanent.
At the door, as the band, Ginger and Calley turned to look at him, he held up his right hand.
"Hiiiii." It was funny sounding, but better than he thought he would have done.
Ginger waved at him, her face beaming.
"Ha! That wasn't even six hours. How do you feel?" Her gaze seemed to search him, but everyone was patient when he took a while to get the words out.
He tried to make it seem like he wasn't strug
gling however, and got his voice to sound nearly normal. He couldn't walk and do that at the same time, but it really was all coming back to him now.
"Not too bad. Clumsy and slow, but I'm coming back to myself now. The information on how to do it is all still here. I'm doing it all. I mean, I'm still a slave, but Lucy isn't making me talk and move like she used to. So, I am become death. Savior of worlds?" The one he wasn't draining to power himself, at least.
Rebekah grinned, since she was the only one there that understood the paraphrasing of the old quote, for some reason. Calley jumped up and hugged him. He didn't feel it at all, which wasn't great. He didn't mention it. It would be, in the end, a thing that he could learn. After all, he could see and hear, and smell the veggie burgers that Calley and Steve were going to be having.
The bone white Vampire woman smiled at him, showing hundreds of sharp, fang like, teeth. That meant she was really happy, or faking it very hard. Normally she tried to keep her mouth closed.
"The thing there is, can you still sing and play?"
"Right now? No. Give me a week or two, and I should have it all back." Not that he could prove that one. Not yet.
Soon though, he was going to have to make that one reality, or he'd be kicked out of the band. On the good side, he didn't need to eat. Though now he got how he could, and what had to have been happening that way. Inside his being was a small place, in his gut, that took food, and turned it into raw life energy. Or, more to the point, removed the residual life from it, and passed it out to Lucy. It wasn't really a part of him, but rode around in his middle all the time anyway.
"So, a sandwich for me too?" They were Boca patties, but the original kind that Calley could put up with. He liked the fake chicken ones himself, but those were from a different company. The Boca brand sucked for that kind of thing.
Being that he was at the stove, Steve tossed another patty into the already hot pan.
"Here, take mine, I'll have this one. I have to hurry. Keeley is coming over later. We're going to a movie." He said it like it was a special treat, and something real, rather than him just being used by his slave master.
Maybe it was better that way. He didn't think that The Rotted was controlling him anymore, but was that correct? In the end he was never going to know. Not unless she allowed him to. That was a thing that he'd learned from Tina and Darren. No one had cared enough to ever hide what they were from them. There had been no pretense that they were free. It was, he knew, probably better to be ignorant then, if you had to serve like that. No one wanted to be a slave for the rest of their life. He didn't, at any rate.
No, he wanted to have dreams, and goals and hopes.
That he hadn't really yet in life was kind of painfully clear now. Lucy had done everything for him, working his body like a puppet for a decade and a half. Sixteen years. Every jog he'd taken had been her doing that for him. For that matter, every boner he'd had, and all that time in the bathroom when he was younger was actually her doing it all.
So that wasn't going to cause mental problems later. On the good side, he was in charge of himself now. A bit slowly, like he was drugged, but not dead, he moved to the table and settled next to Ginger. That caused him to bump into her, which made her smile, like it wasn't accidental.
Sitting there, he tried to generate a small conceptual thought that would let him feel her. It was no harder than it had been before, but when he tried to add power to it, the death around and within him did nothing. Cheating, he took a tiny bit of life from the room, as a test. That worked, but after a moment he could feel the wrong kind of energy trying to settle into place. It filled the room with darkness that shouldn't be there. Worse than what he was doing to power himself, because he was converting that energy into thought and motion.
When he ate though, Calley getting up to make the food for him, he found two things. The first was that he could taste the food, with a little bit of attention to it. That got a lot of things to snap into place for him, all at once. Also, as soon as food started going in, he could feel it turn to life energy and travel down the thread to Lucy. Wherever she was.
Then, as he chewed carefully, which was easier now, he felt a bit of that power coming back. Hovering outside of himself, above his head. Waiting for him to use for magic, as long as he was careful. So that part worked still. If he ate more, he could send power to his mom, and she could let him use some for magic, if she wanted.
It wasn't what he desired for himself, but he could work with it. More to the point, he was willing to bet that, in a pinch, if she cut him off, he could eat food, and strip the life from it inside of himself. He'd have to use the power instantly, before it moved to her, but it might work to get things done. It was a thing to practice. So was doing it all, magic, with as little power as possible. Not at that moment. Focusing on keeping things going, he nodded.
It was smoother now than before, so he shook his head, just for the practice. Then he smiled, and tried to frown. It got Calley and Steve to stare at him. Feeling a little bit bad he realized something.
"Where's Scotty?"
Ginger put her hand on his arm and squeezed a little. Not too hard.
"He's off with Skalla. Apparently her idea of a date involves killing stuff. So they're hunting rabbits. It sounds romantic." She didn't seem to be joking about it.
"Oh, sure. I can see that. It's pretty different, and a thing that they both might enjoy. Not very fair to the rabbits though, is it?"
That got a laugh. It just wasn't going to be. Maybe if they were going after elephants. People would get all up at arms if they started killing the ones in the zoos, so he wasn't going to mention that one. Because guess who would be called on to fix it if that happened? He knew the answer there already.
Kaitlyn. After all, he wasn't really up for much at the present. If anything came up right now, he'd have to get Lucy to take over again. Hopefully, his doing this wasn't seen as an insult to her. She seemed to be being helpful.
"I should eat more. A lot. Like Zack does. So, I have no plans. We should have a fire in the back yard and roast stuff. There's a metal fire pit out there. I think I have a date with Eve later." He smiled at Ginger, who just nodded, but didn't say anything about it. "To work on magic stuff. I bet we can get her to do something fun first though, if we try hard enough."
Rebekah stood suddenly, and nodded at him.
"I'll do that part. Great idea. We need to make sure we bond more. It will be a while until the band takes off, and I don't want to lose all that momentum. We should have Scotty in too, but I won't begrudge him getting a little bit of love. He deserves it."
Calley gave a head bob.
"Yeah, so does Ambassador Skalla. I would have been doing him more, but he's actually a great-great-uncle of mine. Not close enough to be too creepy, but it still is. Ginger, you should tell him to come to bed with you soon. He can't ask you, even though I know that he likes you. You outrank him, so he can't approach, without that starting a fight?"
That started an interesting talk about Vampire hierarchal dating rules.
Amazingly they didn't actually apply to him all that strongly. He was important, thanks to his job, and kind of considered one of them, as far as the Vamps went. It was the being dead thing. Also why they hadn't offered to pay him for some of the things that had happened. Bey had figured him as one of their people, more or less, from the very start. That was news to him, but it meant that he needed to be more careful, rather than feel like he could get away with doing whatever he wanted.
It was good to know he had people however. He decided to review what he knew about Vamps, when he got a chance.
After he wrote all the new data he was getting right then down.
Chapter fifteen
In all it took him nearly three weeks to really get back to being close to normal. Tyler started running twice daily, toward that end. Fight practice came about that often, too. Once in the morning with Ginger, Scotty and Rebekah, who all took turns making fun of him b
y holding their arms up at shoulder height and moaning when he messed things up by being clumsy. It was kind of funny, he knew. Still, by the end he was winning each time, so the mocking turned back toward the Vampires. Where it belonged, at least for that kind of thing.
The second session each day was with Eve, and was a lot harder. The girl didn't cut him as much slack, and she, for her part, didn't make fun of him. No, when she hit him, things broke, and that meant making himself heal as they kept on going. She also forced him to practice magic daily. Doing it right after meals, so that he would have to take life energy from his food, and use that directly.
That was harder than it sounded like it should be. He didn't have any way to really store that kind of thing, himself, being dead like he was. Living things could, he came to understand, use their own life force, a thing that constantly replenished, for things like that.
He was trying to turn taco's into fireballs, and while the food have been spicy, it wasn't that burning. The thing was though, that it did work. If he managed to eat a really big meal, and started right at the last bite of food, he could pull out tricks for about twenty minutes. Tiny things really, but it was still magic.
"I, am not a very good battery." It sounded funny, and a bit strained, but Eve smiled at him as the light he was making over his right hand, a deep blue thing, flickered and died. It hadn't taken very long at all for the food to run out in his system.
"Nope! Don't let it get to you. We'll figure that part out. Maybe you could... I don't know, sort of gather it from the world around you?" She said it like it was secretly brilliant. Because of course, that hadn't been the first thing that he'd tried for.
