Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2) (20 page)

The meal itself was nice, and
they spoke of nothing all that important the whole time. After that, Keeley
sent Calley off to bed, since the Bat girl had been up all night, and being a
living being needed to sleep. Not that she got a lot, since she needed to be
back at work at four. Even that was missing half a day for the girl.

She yawned, stretched and shook
her head a bit.

"I can stay up. I don't want
to leave you two alone." It was kind of blunt, but didn't sound mean. More
like she didn't want to abandon her guest. Rather than thinking that Keeley
would kidnap him, or take his head off and hide it so that he couldn't do
anything.

For a horrible moment he had to
wonder if that was a thing that would work. Most people, if you cut their head
off, would be dead. Being dead already, would that do anything to him? Or, and
he was kind of worried that this was the truth, would he just sit there, unable
to speak or move, but still being alive the whole time. It was a freaky idea
that he didn't want to mention out loud, just in case it was real.

Keeley started to clean up the
remains of the food.

"Don't worry. I won't be
here long. I just need to work out a schedule with the boss here. Go ahead.
He'll be fine, I promise."

The Bat got out of the room then,
looking back, and seeming like she didn't trust the Greater Demon in her kitchen.
Still, Keeley was cleaning, and not complaining about it. Free labor was a good
thing, after all.

When they were alone, with Calley
listening from her own room, no doubt, a thing that everyone knew, Keels sighed
at him.

"I get it, but it isn't
needed. I really won't hurt you. Either of you. It would mean war with Zack and
Anne. Possibly Darla, too. I don't think that your friend here understands just
how protected she really is. Seriously, just having Troy Lopez come after me
would be annoying enough to leave her alone." She sounded really serious,
but smiled, not letting it come into her voice.

Like it was a real thing, as far
as Calley went, but for him, on his side, it was a joke. A complicated double
message, meant to influence two separate people in different ways. That was
probably why she got to be a Greater Demon, and he didn't. The idea should have
made his head hurt.

Touching his arm, she locked eyes
with him.

"So, what's the plan? We're
heading out after you get off work tomorrow? Friday morning, I mean? It's a
little slow off the mark, but we're just going to set up a shop and do some
renovations? I can do that. You're really doing all right however?"

It was a complex thing, so he
nodded. She already knew all the answers after all.

"That soul reading thing you
all do is handy, isn't it?"

"Ooohh. That's a good name
for it. Soul reading. Mind if I use that? To answer your question, yes. It's
incredibly useful. Also a pain in the rear, all the time. I mean, how well do
you ever really want to know someone? Most people are kind of gross, if you
examine them too closely.
Sure
, I know what your secret plans are, but
also how often you pick your nose and eat it, as well as what you think about
while masturbating. Not that I judge, but really, there's a lot of that I could
do without. Not that you, personally are that bad. No nose work going on, for
instance. Or handling yourself in freaky ways. Vacuum cleaner love is
way
more common than you would think."

He could see that. All of it. In
a way it was good to know. Not just how it worked, but that he wasn't all that
horrible inside.

No one wanted to be the worst
person ever.

"Can you meet me at
two-thirty Friday morning at Hartley and Co.? Zack is supposed to take us to
the Yoghurt World, so I don't have to be carried like a baby the whole
way."

That got a nod, and a touch that
was probably not needed. There was a kiss, on the cheek, after that.

"Sounds good. Efficient too,
getting that part set up. It makes it seem like you're actually someone
important. Not everyone could have pulled that off.  I'll see you then."

Then she left directly, using the
front door.

That left him kind of hanging, he
realized. Not that anyone owed him constant entertainment, but he wasn't tired,
and no computer had magically shown up in his room. That being the case, he
thought about cleaning the house up. For about half a second. Then it occurred
to him that a certain Bat girl
might
just be bothered by that kind of
thing while she tried to nap. Even moving around could be enough to do that.

So, he changed into running
clothes, and went out for a jog. He didn't push things, but covered a lot of
ground. It didn't feel like anything, but it did let him think for a while. The
steady thrum of his own feet against the pavement and cement of the sidewalk
was calming. Normal, and a thing that he was so experienced with that it didn't
require thought on his part.

Leaving time to consider things.

The thing there was that he
didn't have anything he really needed to go over. It was a shock to him. Oh,
someone was coming after the people around him, but he was probably safe enough
that way. Even most of
them
were, really. Yes, things had taken place,
but everyone he cared about was still alive.

Unharmed even.

So, all he needed to do for that
was make sure he did his part. That being the case, he decided that what he
really needed to focus on was getting laid more often. Oh, sure, he'd been with
three women in the last three weeks, which was the entirety of his sexual
history, and really looking up given that factor. Still, he was eighteen,
living away from home and kind of in a polyamorous relationship. For him to not
take that chance to experience things would be
stupid
.

That being the case, he wondered
who he should ask out next. Also, when he was going to get the time for it. No
one really came to mind, so after a few hours of running around, he went back
home, showered quickly and dressed for work. Then, even though it was way too
early for that kind of thing, he went to the mall. This time though, Ty headed
to the other end of the place. Where the Mage embassy was.

He still was supposed to try and
find some more workers for the place. When he went in, Vivian was busy
cleaning, her blocky form not holding still at any point.

"Hey Viv. Need help?"
It was sad, but he was so bored that sweeping a candle shop was better than
what he had been doing, which wasn't much.

"Mr. Gartner? I suppose...
What do you want to do? I was going to check the inventory..." It was
leading, but a thing to do, and neither of them had a real clue how to do it,
so it was pretty funny, by the time they were done. The counting was
monotonous, but not hard really. The place just wasn't that big, so it was
mainly done by the time Lisa came out of the back, near six.

"Tyler? I didn't know you
were coming in. Did Eve send you?"

"Nope. I'm just fun that
way. I got bored. Don't worry, you can pay me for it. Trade something."
Given the Eve centric conversations and what she'd suggested that payment be,
he shrugged. "Spells, or something? I need to learn about what you Mages
can do really. Just for my other job."

Rather than act like he was going
to hold her down and have his way with her in exchange for inventory, which
he'd kind of feared would be her reaction, she smiled.

"We can do that. I have some
books that might help. At my place. I can bring them in tomorrow?"

"Thanks! I need to get going
now. Order night. Part one. I think we get more help this week, so that part is
cool. Anyway, I'm still trying to find people for you. I
had
been going
to suggest Will, but he sort of helped
kidnap
me this morning. I
hate
that, as a rule. Plus, I try not to suggest that evil people be given jobs with
my friends."

Vivian made a face, and looked
down at the front counter, which she'd moved behind.

"So, you don't think I'm
evil? Good to know."

He smiled at her.

"Of course
you
aren't. I didn't think Will was. Maybe he isn't. I just kind of expected him
not to help the same people that caused problems before. He might just be
locked in place, mentally, and not be able to see the right way to go yet. I
don't know. I should probably talk to him, and see what the hell is going on
there. I guess if he isn't that bad, I can suggest him to you? If nothing else
you two can beat him up if he gives me anymore problems." That was fair.

Though, really it wasn't. Vivian
would be able to kill the man without even trying, and while Lisa was kind of
thin, Will probably couldn't bring himself to hit her back, so it wouldn't be a
good thing that way either. Funny though, and given he wasn't that pleased with
the Human guy he was willing to have it done for him.

On the other hand, talking to
people was one of the first things to do, if you wanted to fix problems. Given
that it was part of his job, he sighed, and wondered how to set that up. Not
just with Will, but all of those people that had tried to hurt his friends.

Calley was right there. Feminists
didn't generally go around attacking people with bombs and guns. Not that he
knew of. Oh, a few probably did, but was that what they were looking at here?
Then again, most problems that hate groups had were probably just the actions
of a few. It only took one man in a white sheet to get a whole group labeled as
a hate organization.

Should feminists get a free ride
that way?

More to the real point, should
he, Tyler, make a big effort to reach out to the people that had attacked
him
.
It didn't seem fair, since it was probably going to be a bit like an African
American having to face down the Aryan Nation. Except for the part where
everyone in the world would think that a black guy doing that was badass and
hard as nails, and
he'd
be looked at as being mean.

That was enough to get him to
back away from the topic, actually. It was simply true that he, being male,
wasn't going to be allowed to fix things, since the people that had attacked
him were going to be seen as women first. Not criminals.

A man that had stabbed him, or
tried to kidnap him, or even better done the same to a woman, would be seen for
what they had done first and foremost. Ty was willing to bet that the women
that had tried to kidnap him would be treated as a joke. Even the cops had kind
of thought that. Even while admitting that had he fought for his freedom,
he'd
be going off to jail, at least for the day. Given that, why should he even
bother to try?

That night was, thankfully, very
quiet. In fact the next one was as well. The books came in, and everyone showed
up to work, including the Alede, who after making sure they had enough energy
to keep going, actually turned people away. More or less. They weren't perfect
about it, but it was so much better than normal that Tyler nearly wanted to
cry, seeing them try that hard.

Kait was leading them to it, and
there was a bit of peer pressure being used to get it done. Possibly with
disapproving looks from the curly headed woman. It worked though, and each
night they were able to get everything done between ten and midnight. In fact,
he was able to get the whole place looking clean and straight by two in the
morning, when he got off work on the second day.

Zack, being what he was, knew
that he was on tap to get everyone into place, and had made a point of going to
check things out for them. Just to look for attacks or ambush first. Eve was
already there, having left the day before, but had waited for him to get there
before getting on with her own tasks.

At two-twenty Keeley rolled
through the door, holding a suitcase in her left hand and wearing a back pack.
It was rugged looking, and seemed kind of like it would be good for camping.
Her clothing had that kind of feeling to it too. That was a good point.

Tyler had just kind of assumed
that he'd be working full time, so he'd packed a few changes of clothing, and
some toiletries. Zack never seemed to sleep, but Tyler didn't
know
that
he didn't. Maybe the other Greater Demon was different, or had other plans. She
waved at him with her free hand, and smiled at Zack warmly.

"Line Walker. Clerk."
It was a joke, after a fashion, but the woman looked at him when she said it.

So he answered the same way.

"Mistress of Souls. I think
we have a few minutes. I'm excited, aren't you? Constant work, in a strange
place... It seems thrilling, doesn't it?" He faked a bit of excitement,
and got the same in return.

"It does! There will be
singing, dancing... Cleaning, and making treats. It will be awesome. Like a
sleepover, with no sleeping."

Of course.

Zack smiled at the byplay, and
gestured toward the owl room door.

"Let's leave through here.
I'll go through first again, and if it's safe come back for you both. Not that
I think there will be a problem. Not with Eve on the other side."

It really wasn't, it seemed,
since once in the other room Zack walked into the node, or at least the center
of the room where there was a circle inlaid into the floor. There were strange
sigils or writing all the way around the outer edge of the thing. The Line
Walker vanished, then came back about ten seconds later.