The Living and the Dead (Tyler G Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  That meant Ginger had to suddenly go silent when the cell picked up.

  "Lenore? This is me, Ginger? I kind of have interesting news? You know Tyler? Yes, were still dating. Noooo, it isn't that, though I'll ask later. I'd say no, if I were him, but, well, you'll see."

  Then there was polite listening for a while. As if they were just carrying on a conversation. After a bit she covered the mouthpiece of the cell, which wasn't going to keep a Vampire from hearing anything, so was probably just an old Human habit left over.

  "She wants to know if she and Zack are invited to the party on Friday? Or, more to the point, she wants me to wrangle an invitation?"

  Rebekah smiled, which seemed genuine and showed a lot of her fang like pointy teeth.

  "That sounds good. Seven o'clock, here?"

  They held a conversation over the covered phone, at a distance, since Bekah was across the room, sitting on her part of the good sofa. Okay, it was no better than anyplace else to sit, but the other end of it was where he plunked himself down, since normal people didn't stand forever. Even though it didn't bother him to do that.

  Since it wasn't that hard to get into one of their parties it seemed, they ended up with spaces for several others by the time it was all done and over.

  Then, as Lenore was about to get off the phone, Ginger laughed.

  "Hey, I called you. I have real news? Though I'm sure the party thing is pretty big, too."

  Rolling her eyes a bit, she waited, and made little talking gestures with her hand, which after a bit got a sudden laugh from Rebekah and Scotty.

  Ginger too.

  "I know you can hear me do that. So, Tyler learned how to power himself, and how to do some other magic? It's really different than what we've seen. So, one of the things he can do is break slave links. Greater Demon slave links. Yes. We tested him on one of Keeley's slaves. Steve York? It seems to work really well... Not. They're going into business together, using their abilities. She'll enslave people and get them to fix their problems, then he'll undo it. A kind of ultra-compulsion. I... Don't know. That might work. We could do something similar. You can ask at the party? I'm not one of The Mistress of Souls gal pals or anything, like you."

  They got off the phone a bit later, as Calley came down the stairs, holding her own phone to the side of her head. Hers was a bright pink thing, that looked like it fit her, but wasn't all that professional.

  "Jahn Samson, and his son. Party? Tim, the older one? He's trying to get into the Coalition offices as an Intern. Do you have a program for that?" She smiled at him, like it was funny or something. The guy was young, but that was about the right level of things.

  Intern.

  "I want a written application letter. List out what skills you bring to the table, and you'll need to be willing to work with everyone. We can talk about it? Friday. Have the paperwork in hand. I think that means you can get into the party anyway. Are you going to bring your dad? You don't have to, but he can come, since he knows you. Tell him to be cool. It's a party." He smiled, but couldn't hear the reply, but Calley smiled and nodded.

  "Yes. That was a party invitation, for both of you. I think he's serious about the internship, if you want it. Unpaid, of course, and you still have to go to school and battle camp, but we can work out the rest of it. You don't need a vacation for a few years. You're young, so you'll deal." It was nearly firm sounding in tone, but her face nearly beamed.

  When she hung up, after having told them the correct information as to when to be there and all that, Calley took a deep breath.

  "Whew. That was..." She ran over to Ty and gave him a big hug. "I love you. I really do. You managed to not invite Magda Samson. It would make Tim look bad if she came, too. His dad is there to represent him, not the Shifter Nation. Which makes sense. Magda may be a trained medic, but she sucks. Her bedside manner is weak, I hear. Plus, a medic?" She laughed, like that was an insult.

  Steve looked at her funny, and shook his head.

  "What's wrong with that? That's a good job. People get hurt, and need help."

  She stopped her snarky laughing, and nodded.

  "Right. Shifters, we heal when we change. So really we don't need more than a few pressure bandages to buy the slow ones time to do that. It's like... I don't know the Human military equivalent. It isn't a real job for us. Worse, she refuses to touch Humans. The ones that might actually need her medical care? She's kind of a waste of space, and everyone knows it, except for her."

  That was basically her own first lady, who, as far as Tyler knew, really was about that bad. Not that he had a personal issue there. Zack kind of did for some reason. Still, Greater Demon or not, he hadn't killed her, so the issue probably wasn't too serious.

  Then, slowly as the night progressed, other people started calling. Not for him. None of them wanted to talk to him in particular. They wanted to talk about him. Even Steve got a call. That one was from his sister, Hally. On the nice side, it had nothing to do with anything except for him not being a slave anymore and if he was angry at her, or Keeley, over it.

  Not surprisingly, he kind of was.

  "She... She used me. For years, sis. She made me love her! I would have died for her, and she... She played with me, like a toy. I... Yeah, I don't really know what to do right now. My friend Tyler is going to get you free, if you're a slave. We should go away. I... Maybe Zack will help us? He's a Demon, but kind of cool."

  For her part, she didn't think she was enslaved at all, but did mention that she'd come to the party, so Ty could check on that for them. Keeley had told her that she should. Or, if the girl could be trusted, asked her to come, to reassure her little brother.

  Which was exactly what she would have been told if she were a slave, at least if she didn't know it.

  Ginger moved over to him, clicking off her own phone, clearly eavesdropping shamelessly. Not that she could really help it given her hearing.

  She waved the cell, indicating her last call.

  "Eve said that she wanted to bring Lisa Weise as her date. Something about a threesome? That's a coup. Lisa hardly sleeps with anyone these days. I don't think she was serious though, just asking if Lisa was okay to come. Representing the Mages, since she's the one that has enough clout to speak for them that has any kind of an in with you."

  "Oh? I should have had her down already. I wonder if we can bribe Zack to pick people up? I don't have enough points built up with him for that. Oooh. That reminds me. I have a call to make."

  He'd forgotten about it, but Tarsus, The Librarian was working to find a way for him to break the slave link with his mom.

  Ty went to his room, or started to, then headed outside. He dialed without thinking, doing it on purpose, since the Greater Demon wasn't exactly a pal of his. Even talking to one of that sort was a risk. The kind of thing he needed to get used to, it seemed.

  When it picked up, the man on the other side spoke first.

  "Clerk. How are you faring?"

  "Librarian. I'm doing well. I called to invite you to a party? This coming Friday. I worked out how to power myself and can break slave links, so people are talking."

  "You can? I see. Yes. That falls into line with one of the methods I was going to suggest. Entropic energy. You've worked out how to break the link with your mother?"

  "You mean stealing life from the world, allowing hundreds to die in the process, at least eventually, and then flooding the new link that forms from The Rotted with death energy? Yeah. An Angel mentioned that to me. Or, actually what he said was that I shouldn't just steal life from the world, and I figured out the rest. So, I know how to break the link, and can, but doing that would cost others more than I'm willing to risk."

  There was silence, for a long time.

  "I... Recall them now. It's very disconcerting. I was wrong about reality for so very long that I can't help but think I'm actually mad now. Anyway, I'd be charmed to come to your party. Tell me, can you undo the work of The Mistress of Souls? Her efforts should
be the firmest of us all. If that could be done... Well, then several things in the world will be very different, won't they?"

  "It isn't even hard. It might be annoying to some of your people, but all I can do that way is break the lines. I'm thinking of selling my services for that, if you want in? If you have a slave that you want to free, come to me and I'll make you a good deal, that kind of thing? I'm hoping that going merchant with it will keep anyone from thinking that I'm going to come for them in the night, and um, free their slaves." He spoke in a slightly funny voice, going for humor, but that was ignored, and the man on the line laughed a bit. It was done so well that Ty knew it wasn't about his little joke.

  "Oh? Have you considered insurance? Say a bargain so that if one of us is enslaved, say by The Mistress of Souls, that you'll free us from her? I have to imagine that would go over very well. I recently tried to have her killed, myself and several others of our kind, to prevent her eventual rise to control of the entire world. You might well be able to do that without destroying it all, however. I think that several others might wish to be involved in this? May I pass the word about this for you?"

  "Sure, but don't make any promises for me. I don't want to harm my bargaining position." The guy should get that. He'd told him once that he'd actually invented haggling after all.

  "Naturally. Still, perhaps a small group of interested parties? All ones that will be suitable for your event? Let's call it five? There will be no problems. Not with my people. If there are, I'll handle them myself."

  That sounded fine to him, so he agreed, and felt the line of intent coming for him. To try and make him into a slave, over the phone line. That was kind of neat, but it wasn't going to work anyway, which The Librarian knew, no doubt. So it was a test. Could he actually do it being what was in question.

  Tyler shut it down, and chuckled.

  "Try it again. Do your very best."

  This time the bolt of light that came from around the world was nearly visible. It was intense, powerful, and locked down so fast and hard that there was an honest to goodness giggle from the man.

  "All right. I'm convinced. Are you willing to allow the others to attempt this with you as well? If so, I think many people will be very pleased to meet you, Clerk."

  That sounded fine to him, truth be told.

  Chapter nineteen

  Oddly enough, nothing much happened over the rest of the weekend.

  Oh, people did call to set up meetings, but the vast majority of them did it through the Coalition offices. That worked for him, since it meant that Fram was able to field the calls from Greater Demons for him. That was interesting, since he was charging them several million apiece just to get a seat at the table with Tyler. Apparently they were splitting that money.

  The Greater Demon, who was still Ricard, the good looking Human man, when Ty walked through the door explained all that.

  "If we don't charge them at each step they'll try to walk all over us. So, you get the idea. If you want we can use your half for the budget here?"

  He nodded.

  "That sounds reasonable. Your half, too. Don't claim to me you need the money. Besides, you covering part of the expenses for the Coalition will look good. You Greater Demons have a bit of a bad reputation, in case you haven't noticed? Not that you have to be the one to do that part, but..." He shrugged and smiled at the guy.

  The fact was, if no one ever stepped up and tried to change their image, it just wasn't going to happen. That might have been fine for that kind of person. It could be that Demons wanted to be feared all the time. Still, jockeying for position in the public mind couldn't hurt Fram. He could get in place as the nice Demon that could be trusted. That was a role that no one had yet, so it might actually work really well for him.

  Tyler went on, as he got a rather annoyed look from his assistant.

  "I mean, there's a lot of room for one of you to step forward and be the spokesperson. Who are we going to get, Zack? He's the nicest of you, but no one seems to really respect him. Too young or something? Keeley? Half of you want her dead. Allison? Lucy? No, as far as I can tell it has to be you or Tarsus." Tyler doubted that he could push The Librarian around.

  Fram however, was easier that way.

  "Hmmm. You'll announce that I provided the funds? Maybe hold a banquet in my name?"

  He shook his head.

  "You get a plaque. We can hold a press conference though, and explain it all. I have to learn to make that kind of thing though, since we aren't going to waste money on things like that. That never made sense to me, spending fifty thousand dollars to thank people for giving you sixty-thousand."

  That got a funny look that was meant to make him feel bad for withholding the laudations.

  Tyler rolled his eyes.

  "I don't suppose anyone called with something normal, did they?"

  That got a sound from the good looking assistant, who brushed his fine light colored hair from his forehead.

  "Yes, actually. A date has been set for the cult trial? Jameson Blythe's group. That will take about three months out of your life, over all. You'll need to go and talk with people, give eighty more depositions, and practice giving your testimony, even though you aren't supposed to do that. It's your job here. You have to seem credible in court. Also, the Remembrance Ambassador would like your help in killing the Elth Ambassador? I told him that I'd see what I could work out, but that we normally didn't allow the murder of people like that here."

  Tyler nodded. "No, but we should look into it, even if it isn't really our job. Also, we should get with Richard Swerlin and see if he can set up a Human representative to have an office here. Maybe an international thing?"

  "Got it. I can do that next. Here's the schedule for the rest of the day." A paper came across the Greater Demon's desk, which had most of the half hour blocks for the day filled with different names, whom he assumed would be meetings, though several of them had phone numbers for him to call.

  Including, in ten minutes, where he was supposed to get with Karen, from the Jeff Smears Program. To be on the air, live, about...

  That part was left off the sheet.

  "Okay, I need to go and set this one up. Any clue what they want to do for this one? I hope it's a sex tape. I haven't done one though, so probably not."

  Fram grinned at him then.

  "Well, we can do that. You, me... Maybe get your friend Calley in on it too? I'd say we get Darla, since she's always in for a good time, but lately she looks a bit young for that. It will be fun. We can... Set that up for the week after next? For release after the trials, of course, and your band's first album... Oohhh. I know, we can get Rebekah in on it too. People would pay for nudie pics of her. I'll call her and ask, while you're on the air." It was kind of clear that the guy was joking.

  Or not.

  Karen informed him that the show was actually about the upcoming album, and they had some tracks from it already. Hally York had set that up for him. It was a good plan, but he would have loved some time to get ready for it.

  By holding some concepts carefully the whole time, he got through it all, and asked the radio woman out. That came as a shock to her, but it shouldn't have. She was a nice person, after all. That was the kind of woman that Tyler liked best. Oh, sure, there were women around that might have been a bit better looking, but that wasn't where the worth of a person was. Karen had competence going for her, and an open mind. After all, she knew that he had two other girlfriends.

  He did talk up the supposed sex tape to come, however.

  "We're trying to get the whole band in on it. If you have any recommendations for it, let me know, and I'll ask if that person wants in on it."

  It was kind of cute, because Jeff himself blurted out a name instantly.

  "Eve Benson. I would totally watch that. I..."

  The man just stopped dead, for about five seconds. Ty filled the dead air with fake panic.

  "Jeff? Jeff? Oh, gosh, I think he had a stroke at the idea
of Eve Benson nude."

  It was funny enough, thanks to his delivery, that people on the other end of the line broke up, which let them change the topic to the Coalition of Nations. That actually got more people interested than anything else, even though a few did call in to mention that the music was good.

  Mainly crediting Rebekah, who was the lead singer on the two tracks they had. It was a good point too, since she rocked on those, even though they probably wouldn't be the ones that hit the top one hundred songs. Those were being held back for the big release in five months.

  It was going to take a while to get everything done, but it would turn out.

  Keeley had already started the new slave training thing, though she called it magical reconditioning. He was due on Friday afternoon to meet everyone at the clinic in Sparks. They already had fifty people signed up, mainly to get rid of drug problems. Not all of them were there voluntarily, but stripping people of their right to kill themselves was the kind of thing he could get behind.

  Apparently he was an asshole that way.

  In all honesty, Tyler kind of figured that the next attack would come at Friday's party. There would be Greater Demons there, and The Storm could use that as a way to get her cronies into place. What were the odds that it wasn't a set up? The thing there was that the Greater Demon was smart, for all she wanted to bother with him.

  So, when the attack came, it was overwhelming, coming from three directions at one time. The Demons were unfamiliar to him, though one of them was The Storm herself, it was clear. The parking lot nearly flooded under the high winds and deluge that appeared. It was her signature move after all.

  His bet was that the one standing in the middle was probably her. She looked like Will the feminist, though that could be a trick. The one on the right was bulky, in a muscular way, and a good looking black man. If he'd been walking down the street he would have gotten attention for several things, but being a Greater Demon wasn't one of them.

  The smaller one, the only one to look like a woman at the moment, hit him fast, from the left. So hard that he was thrown through the air about a hundred feet. Tyler had to repair his body twice from that. The first time in the air as he moved, also holding the concept of time distortion he needed at the same time, and then again when he hit, not sticking the landing he needed very well. His feet did touch the ground first, and stuck in place, but both legs broke with a deafening crack. That was his fault, for not controlling his momentum correctly.