Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2) (13 page)

"Parents, right?"

Ang chuckled a bit, agreeing.

"Besides, I'm nearly certain
that she didn't actually win, Rupert. Tyler handled himself pretty well, and
talked
a Bear in a rage down.
After
taking her weapon away. Still, that is
something to consider, Vivian. How do you plan to pay
him
back? He isn't
an Alede, so sex isn't the answer, I don't think. From what I hear, he gets it
where he wants, and isn't even a player. That's the right term? Player?"
That was addressed to Calley.

"Uh-huh. True, too.
Everyone
wants a piece of Ty. I know, you can work as the coalition rep for us Shifters.
In your spare time. You won't be paid for it. That works, right?"

It kind of did, so he nodded.

"That... Actually sounds
good, if you want to try it? I'll keep things light for the time being though,
if I can. You can type right? And use computers?"

That got a conversation going
that didn't make him sound like a ladies' man, which he really wasn't. Not that
he was going to shout about how he never got any either. There were a lot of
opportunities, and he was, he knew, being kind of picky. Really pretty girls
left him feeling shy and uneasy still, so he kind of ignored them that way. It
was a lot easier to deal with them when he knew he wasn't going to be having
sex. As it was he'd kind of slipped Viv into that mental file too, in order to
handle the fact that she was as cute as she had been when naked. Plain in a lot
of ways too, but still enough to get him going.

Though it
did
occur to him
that Calley and Ang had pushed Vivian into being his assistant or whatever.
Probably so she could do some of that spying that they'd talked about earlier.
Since he was running the  whole thing as being perfectly open so far, she could
probably do a really good job at it. Now he only needed about ten more and
they'd be set.

By the time they were back in
Vancouver it was nearly five in the afternoon. They hadn't dawdled a lot, but
had
stopped at the same little shop, and talked with the Swan that ran it. She was
about sixty, had snow white hair and eyebrows and looked both tiny and
delicate. Like the bird she was. She'd also been very sweet to them all. That
meant they'd stayed longer than they should have to talk to her about things.

Then once they got back, being an
asshole, he took Vivian by the hand, as soon as they got into the back of Brand
Village. Pulling her along a little not asking if she needed anything first,
like a shower, he delivered her to Lisa.

It took a moment for the tired
looking blonde woman to come from the back. Today she was in a sweater that was
also a dress somehow, with a silver and turquoise belt, with white hose peeking
out at the bottom.

"Hey Lisa. This is Vivian.
Your new front person here. Also my assistant, from the Coalition, so if
anything comes up you can get her to handle that part of things.
Mainly
by calling me so you don't have to. Now, if this is good for you both, I need
to head in to work and bother a Demon."

Lisa wrinkled her nose at him.

"You're pushy, aren't
you?" It wasn't unfriendly.

Nodding he started to walk out.

"Kind of. Still, if you
don't like it, you
can
just say no. You just shouldn't."

She glared at him a bit and then
looked over at Vivian.

"Greater Demons. So, Zack is
in for it now? At least there's that."

Ty stopped, getting what she
meant, and then rolling his eyes.

"Right, like I would have
said it that way if
Zack
was the one on tap? I have to call up Tarsus,
who's basically the Greater Demon boss. I'm sure it will go over wonderfully.
Wish me luck?"

He wasn't certain, but as he got
out the front door, he thought, possibly imagined, that two voices actually
did.

Zack wasn't in when Tyler got in
to work. It wasn't a day off for him, but he didn't need to be there until a
bit later, since it was a Sunday. Ben was there, and working away like someone
was going to beat him if he didn't. That wasn't really on the table for him,
just being a regular Human and no one caring that much, but it was nice to see
someone
else trying that hard for once.

Tyler smiled, waved at the
slightly heavy guy, who was on the plush side of normal, but not bad at all,
and moved to see to things himself. On the good side Kait wasn't there, working
the side rooms. After all, Ben was her boyfriend, and unless he liked to see
his lady doing all comers, that had to be hard for him. Even if he was all
right with her nature. It wasn't like she could change it. Plus, last he'd seen
her, the woman had been a dude.

It wasn't a stock night, and the
store didn't look bad at all, so he was able to get to work, and take turns
with Ben making sure the reading rooms were tidy and smelled like something
other than sex parlors. It wasn't that easy to get done, since they were in
close to constant use. At about seven it got really bad that way, so he started
a list again, with paying book buyers getting on it first. Then he called for
help from Pretty Plus across the way. It got three new helpers coming over
quickly, looking like it was another holiday. Sally was one of them, too.

The strange Alede that didn't
even work at the other place.

She waved at him.

"Hi! I was going to ask if I
could work in over here. I'm new to the area, so I haven't really set up a lot
of friends yet. I have a couple, but they are all off with their families for
the weekend." She spoke boldly about it and looked at Ben with a big
smile. "Is your friend on the menu? I know you aren't. Kaitlyn is being
all territorial there, which isn't fair. It isn't like we can't share. She's
getting all that energy every single day, while I starve."

Ty looked at the extra hot woman
and shook his head, not even bothering to crack a smile.

"It isn't perfect for you
that way. Ben is her boyfriend, as in an actual thing. I'm... Kind of a zombie.
You know, undead?" He didn't want to go into the whole thing, but instead
of playing twenty questions the woman just nodded at him.

"I'd heard about that. Well,
that's less than fun. You can have sex though? We could still have a good time...
After I gather some energy for the day. I'm a little tapped right now."

"Nope. I don't have sex with
Alede. You're a bit too intense for a young guy like me. That said, I
bet
we can find you some friends." He didn't mean it in a bad way but the
young looking woman, nearly a girl, frowned at him like he was horrible in some
ineffable fashion that no one had ever noticed before.

"So, you're a racist?"
Her face was almost mean when the words came out.

As a knee jerk reaction he nearly
denied it, but it was kind of true. Thinking about it for a moment, he had to
start nodding then. That didn't make her seem happier.

"I suppose so. I mean, I
like most of you, except that I keep thinking of you all as being lazy, as a
group, which
is
racism. I'm not budging on the sex thing, because
that
one is about avoiding your super powers, to stay mentally free, but the rest I
need to work on. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to fix it." Then
he wrote her name on the list, and started finding people for her. It meant the
back room would be busy for a while, but that was the cost of having all those
extra succubi around.

Sally glared for a bit, and
finally sighed and looked away.

"That's actually probably
smart. Not the racist parts, but the one where you don't have sex with us. It
can ruin men. We're addictive. All women are, but most don't really know it. We
do
, and are a higher powered version of a good thing for men. Women too.
Not that I love not having that control over you. How am I supposed to get you
to do things for me?"

"Ask? I'll generally trade
for things. Work is a good one, too. What is it you need?"

"Just sex right now. Which
you're already helping with. Okay. Well, if I think of anything else I'll let
you know."

Then she found the man that had
signed in under her name, and even though she was dressed in tight yoga pants,
had sandals on and a tight white shirt that made her look a little common
place, the guy, who was about fifty or so, seemed pretty pleased when she
called his name.

For the second time since he'd
been there things suddenly and without reason, got very intense. This time they
had to actually tell people to go away for a few hours, to let the girls there
rest. It was so bad that women and men walked right up to Ben and him, more
than once and asked if they'd be available to do something.

They weren't. It kept going, with
random Alede being called in from the area, including a person that looked
about seventeen, and came in as a boy named Ken. Roberta winced, but
didn't
send the kid away.

"Shift form if you're going
to be here, and be
careful
. If you go rogue on us, then Tyler here will
kill you. Understood? He's the head of the Coalition of Nations, so it's his
job in part to protect regular Humans from us. That's a real thing." It
wasn't a great seeming threat, and really he kind of expected Ken to laugh
about it, but the kid eyed him for a few seconds, then gave a single, sexy nod.

"I hear you. I can do it.
Thanks for letting me try, sir."

It wasn't until the boy walked
away, to change it looked like, though his clothing was no worse than some of
them there, that Roberta explained it for Ben and Ty.

"He's going to shift form.
To Kendra. A little cutie, but really too young to be here. Twelve, I think. Illegal
for a Human, but right at the age where Alede need to start feeding on their
own. It's been hard for him, since he's an orphan, and kind of gets bounced
around. For years he's mainly been feeding off of a stable of pedophiles. He's
starting to look to old for that now, so someone has to teach him the ropes."
The woman, who was familiar, dark haired and alluring enough to be distracting,
even if he had been a man earlier, or possibly because of that, sighed.
"This isn't about foolish Human laws. Kids that age, the Alede ones,
aren't Human. They
have
to eat, and trying to play by your rules that
way is insane. It's dangerous though, too. They
have
to eat, but can go
rogue and start orgy cycles. Those can be deadly to regular people. If it
starts to happen, you really
will
need to end it. Just knock her out, if
you can? It can be hard to resist taking part, but if anyone can do it, you
can. I've never met a Human male that had as much will power as you do when it
comes to resisting my kind."

Tyler felt really uneasy, but
then shrugged. That one was a cultural difference that he couldn't afford to
allow to influence him. Alede were good people, and had their own biological
needs. Telling them that his Human way was the only one they were allowed was
basically saying they had to starve and die. That wasn't a thing he was willing
to do.

Especially right after his
conversation with Sally. She hadn't been wrong, even if the reason she'd spoken
up had to do with sex and not being willing, at first, to let him be himself.
In a way it was the reverse idea really. She was being racist against Human
men, thinking they should
all
be her virtual, or not so make believe,
slave.

At about two in the morning
things died down, the Alede all left, which was a first as far as he knew,
other than the holiday, and people dried up totally. Ben shrugged, stretching,
and moved to slap him on the back.

"Good sales night. We made a
bundle. Well, the store did. If this keeps up we'll have to ask for
raises."

It was just idle talk, but Ty
nodded, since it
had
been pretty good work.

Then because it was time for both
of them to leave, the other man took off. The problem there was that whoever
was supposed to be there to take over just wasn't. There had been a name on the
schedule, but nothing happened. After straitening things up, redoing the
floors, the back room and the side spaces, as well as the front of the cafe, he
had to wonder what was going on. Jogging into the back again he glanced at the
schedule, and saw that the person that was supposed to be there was
Zack
.

Which could have made him mad,
being left there like that again, but he didn't let that happen, just moving
behind the front desk. He didn't need sleep, and while it was kind of boring,
it still paid.

That was what he was doing,
lounging, when Eve walked in, her face a bit sarcastic, even before she spoke.

"Heavy looking counter
there. Do you need help holding it up?"

Instead of letting that get to
him, he nodded.

"Yep. I was supposed to be
done here an hour and a half ago. Zack isn't in yet. I
could
just leave,
but that feels like a cop out. Still, everything is done, so if he wants me to
guard his place for him, he can handle a bit of leaning, don't you think?"
It didn't sound right, as soon as he said it, seeming whiny and lazy.

The attractive Vampire woman
tilted her head at him.

"Sounds fair to me. It
sounded like things were busy earlier. Anyway, Ginger asked me to come and see
if you were ever getting off shift. Do you need something to eat? I can get
something from the food court, or a yogurt?" It seemed nice of her to say,
but it was a little fishy. She wasn't mean, but she'd never volunteered to
do
things for him before either. Other than practice fighting.

Not getting him food, or acting
nice like this. It was suspicious.

"I see. So, what do you
want, Eve? A discount on books? I think I can do that. I bet Zack would let you
read them for free even, if you're careful?" It was an actual rule, and
the girl worked there part time. Mainly on stocking nights, doing the hard work
no one wanted to.

There was a stillness then, a
telling thing that was really out of place for the Vampire. He'd never seen it
on her before, though a few times on Ginger, who wasn't any younger than she
was, but for some reason was a bit less capable. Then again, even given that,
she was a Master Vampire after six years of being undead. Able to stay up all
day, and go out in the sun without screaming.

Eve was younger than that, but
more, somehow.

A Greater Demon, or close enough
to that for going on with.

She was still taken aback for
some reason. After about ten seconds she started breathing again, gasping a
bit, which was just loud enough for him to notice. Focusing on her he smiled,
but waited for her to speak. A denial was likely, but it didn't come.

"Right. I kind of want you
to spend your next days off working at a Yoghurt World. The place is a fucking
disaster area right now. It was trashed in a gang fight about two weeks ago,
and then I had to go in and... Well, they don't have a Vampire staff anymore.
Only two of them survived. One is coming, but Bey asked me to go and act as
their temporary Ambassador. The thing is, I don't get a real staff. I can do
the work, but just having someone there to make some treats and do the
scrubbing will help a lot. So, what do you say?"

He nearly asked what she was
going to pay him for it, then
did
. It was a big deal, and while it might
be important, to her, it also was going to eat up his free time, doing what was
essentially fast food work. It was one of the things that he personally tried
to avoid. Not that it wasn't honest employment. That was silly. It was often
hard, backbreaking and looked down on by the very people coming in for service.
People might not exactly think highly of him working in a bookstore, but they
didn't ridicule him for it, or make fun of him for being there all the time to
make ends meet.

He'd seen how people that worked
in restaurants and fast food were treated.
Mistreated
, more often than
not. That wasn't a fun way to spend his time off, was it?

"So, what are you offering
for it?"

She gave him a look that was a
little closer than he would have liked.

"What do you want? I can
blow you? Or do other things? Money? Flowers? I'm running out of things here.
What's the going rate?"

He shrugged, and smiled a little,
acting like he was feeling sly. That wasn't the truth. He didn't really have
anything he wanted at the moment. Cash was king, since it was useful for other
things later, but it was only fast food work. It sounded like she was planning
to be there the whole time too.

"Well, I worked last night,
and Zack gave me three free full node trips. Two ways for each, to anywhere I
want. A computer, and backup for non-coalition work. It
was
a holiday,
but still..."

She grinned.

"Yeah, but he's also a Greater
Demon. That skews thing. They always charge each other vast sums like that."

Taking a risk, he nodded,
wondering just how hard to kill he really was.