Living Proof (Tyler G Book 2) (5 page)

It didn't hurt, which was nice.
He also didn't go at super speeds. Or, he probably was, kind of.

If he were a marathon runner, he
would have taken some records he bet. Instead he was just barely able to keep up
with the two girls, both of whom could have run there and back dozens, if not
hundreds of times before he got there.

So, it was fast for a Human, but
it wasn't going to impress his girlfriend much. Ginger was just so fast it
baffled the mind, and if he'd heard correctly, Eve was over twice that quick.

That was life though, when you
hung out with Vampires. Really, it was life all over. There was always someone
stronger, tougher, faster or smarter than you were.

The trick was to not let that get
to you, and try your best anyway.

It was still early in the day
when they got to the Fort. The actual events were set up in the large central
park area, about a mile away from the wooden walled structure itself. That was
closer to the Columbia River, which was where they lit off the fireworks. He
knew from previous years that it would be taking place at about ten that night.
When it got dark enough to be impressive.

Then one of the largest such
events in the world would take place. Right there, where he lived.

Eve stopped near where the stands
of food, drinks and some little jewelry stands, were setting up for the day.
The people there glanced at them hopefully, which made some sense. He was
dressed for running, but the girls had on jeans and regular shirts, which meant
they might well have cash on them. For his part, even though he had a good job
now at the bookstore, and had put in some hours, he'd only been paid once, and
almost all of that had gone to Calley.

After all, she did all the food
shopping, as well as owning the place. He got a great deal on the rent, but the
one check hadn't gone that far. True, it seemed that he didn't really need to
eat, and pretty much never had, but he liked it. He got hungry after all.

The gross part there was that he
was nearly certain that what he was hankerin' for was Human flesh. Consciously
that wasn't a thing for him, being that he didn't eat meat. If he was ever told
to get a cannibal snack by his mom though, it was probably going to be really
hard to resist. Hopefully that wouldn't happen. After all, he didn't need food
to survive, just energy from her. It sort of went the other way too, if he ate
real food. She got a bit of energy from it, so to her way of thinking that was
worth doing.

The two Vampire girls got looks
from some of the men around them, and one of them, an older guy with a beard
called out, trying to shame him into buying them things.

"Hey there young man. You
should get your ladies here some flowers. Lovely blossoms for the lovely
blossoms! Only three dollars apiece. A bargain at half the price."

He shook his head, and ignored
the guy. After all, he was too poor for that kind of thing, even if Ginger
looked wistful enough that he kind of wanted to get her something. Eve waved
them on however, then patted him on the back.

The move made him wince.

"I'm a bit damp for that
right now." He always felt slick and a bit dirty until he showered, and
having just thrown himself across town, the long way, he
had
to be a
mess.

It got a chuckle from Eve, who
rubbed at his arm.

"Not in the slightest. Bone
dry, in fact. I bet that's part of what Anne told you to think, before you knew
what you were. You should get it now, since she said you were allowed to
understand now. You don't sweat. Look at yourself."

The vision he had when he looked
down, seeing the sweat soaked shirt he had on, which was red, altered
instantly, in the blink of an eye. It was, as she'd said, totally dry.

"Oh. I... Well, that's
something. I wonder how fast we went."

Ginger put her hand on his back
as the sun beat down on them, and giggled. It sounded strained, and a bit fake.
He didn't really get why.

"You were
slooow
.
That was what, twenty-five miles per hour? I'd make fun of you, but you can't
help it if you're a bit lame like that." She shook her head sadly, making
fun of him in a flirty way. He hoped.

Otherwise she was just being mean
for some reason.

Eve, clearly having mind reading
powers gave him a glance then.

"It's the sun. Being up
during the day hurts our kind of Vampire. Even inside, underground it's like
sticking your body in a blast furnace. Being out like this is pure
agony
.
Really, if you want any of us to be sweetness and light with you, approaching
us at night is the way to go." She started to reach out to him, but got a slightly
pouty growl from Ginger. "See? Honest, I won't steal him from you, even if
he
is
cool. You already said I could hit that, if I wanted, as long as I
didn't take him away. Not that I could. You're
kind
of a big deal. Ging.
We have a booth up there. Troy is setting it up, with Barb."

The names didn't mean much to
him, but he recognized the dark haired Vampire woman, who was wearing a big
straw hat on her head, and black heavy clothing. He'd seen her at Yoghurt World
a few times at least, so assumed she was a Vamp. She had the same kind of fake
smile on her face that Ginger did. Eve... Well, she wasn't smiling, but her
expression seemed more relaxed, like the pain wasn't as big of an issue for
her.

The man with Barb, who he
presumed was Troy, was a good match for the woman. They were both nice looking,
without it being too much. Fit, and toned, without being athletes in
appearance. Probably sevens or so, in looks. He had black hair, or a brown so
deep it was hard to tell the difference, and looked to be in his late twenties.
His skin was a nice light brown color, that went well with his eyes.

In short, though he didn't say it
out loud, Tyler really wouldn't have minded doing them both.
That
was a
thought line to resist, being that he had shorts on. Instead he smiled and
waved at the woman, who seemed to warm a bit seeing who was there.

"Mr. Gartner!
Plus
my
lackeys. Thank goodness. I was just about to have to actually start working so
that Troy wouldn't think he was doing it all himself." She waved at the white
booth set up, which seemed to have a grill behind them, for burgers and hot
dogs, as well as a drinks fountain, and a deep fryer, for a disgusting, but
tempting array of things.

Looking at the sign he winced,
and then shook his head.

"Deep fried Twinkies and
Mars Bars? I'm not sure I want to ask. Oh, um,
hi
!" He looked at
Troy, and tried not to lick his lips. They felt dry, but locking eyes and doing
that would pretty much force the guy to feel uneasy. "I'm Tyler."

Ginger hugged him from the side
and didn't let go. It was close enough that a woman at a different stand
scowled at them. At first he figured that it was about Ginger looking so young,
about fourteen or fifteen, but really, he wasn't that far out of her dating
range, that way. So it wasn't about that. Then he realized that they were
standing in front of a booth that proclaimed them to be Vampires. He wasn't,
and he kind of thought that Troy wouldn't be either, but the others were.

The woman in question was, if her
booth and materials weren't lying, there as part of a church group. They were
mainly selling brightly colored clothing and hats. She scowled at them, but
before she could look away, he waved at her, and smiled. That got the rest of them
to do the same. Caught then, between being a bitch and looking away, or
responding like a normal person, she managed a nod for them.

"Troy Lopez. Don't let Barb
here fool you, she's done
most
of the hard work so far. We could use
some help on set up. That and testing things as they come off the grill? I
don't suppose you can eat food?"

Smiling, he nodded.

"Oddly enough, that's one of
my super powers. No meat."

That got a knowing nod, as the
man got back to work, putting supplies away. "Edom is bringing the rest of
the stuff. He rented a truck. We can use some help carrying it? Many hands
makes light work, I hear tell. Hmm? Hmm?" Wiggling his eyebrows comically
he made eye contact with Eve, who shrugged back.

Her words were pleased in tone.

"Sure. Make
me
do all
the work why don't you? Well, it
was
my idea, so I guess there's a real
point in there somewhere. I can beg Ginger to help too. Maybe, if you offer to
blow him, we can get Ty too? Please?"

That got the man to make a face
and look away for a bit.

"I'd rather not. I'm not
that into guys."

Eve laughed at him, and shook her
head.

"Which is
why
you
need to get over that. I was kidding anyway. I swear, I keep trying to get
people to hook up Tyler, and it just doesn't work. I'd blame you, Ty, but
you're kind of hot, so I'm thinking it
must
be my approach. Anyway,
you'll probably need to be off with some of the other groups, at least part of
the day. The Shifters have a booth around here, doing face painting. There are
some Mages doing baked goods, and magical talismans that actually work. Just
little things. Nothing that should cause any problems."

She glanced at the others, and
then over at Barb directly.

"Tyler is the head of the
new Coalition of Nations. So if anything starts going down involving... Pretty
much
anyone
, we're supposed to dump it on him. Not that we'll have
issues here. Vancouver is one of the good places. Really, Ty, you need your
phone, so you can be on tap for people. Zack will want to know where you are
too, in case you need to go someplace, or get to a computer. Here, you help
Troy, and I'll get your phone. It's in your room next to the whips and
chains?" She let that last bit come out like it was real, but the people
there knew her too well, so it didn't work.

That, or they just assumed that
kind of thing would be normal.

"On top of my dresser you
mean, in my spartan and monk like cell?" He grinned and glanced at the
others. "I haven't done much with the place yet."

Instead of saying anything Eve vanished,
and Barb waved to the left.

"Ed says he's in a yellow
Rider truck? He'd like to move the ice chests first, which will take two
Vampires." Barb looked ready to go, but Ginger waved her back.

"Nah. Tyler and I can do
this. It's only what, a few hundred pounds?" She spoke normally, but
seemed to be listening to a reply. "Four hundred? I can do that alone...
Awkward though, right. No problem, I bet. Here, we're coming." She started
off at a jog that was about as fast as Ty could push himself. Edom, who was
wearing a tight blue cotton shirt, and jeans, smiled at them as they got there.

"Mr. Gartner. Good to see
you. Thanks for the help. I can get most of this, but there are a few things
that having help with will make simpler. Like this beast."

What he pointed at was about the
size of a small car. It was like an ice chest, but the biggest thing like it
he'd ever seen. There were strong looking metal handles on the sides, for
carrying, but the man popped it open to show that it had not only ice, but
meat, cheese and other perishables inside. There was even milk and eggs. A lot
of them. The thing was long, being about ten feet by about four, and filled to
the brim.

So, yeah, it would probably work
best with two people lifting it. Tyler gave it a hard glance, and then shook
his head.

"Right, well, we'll need to
go slow, since I can't see the eggs lasting if we don't coordinate this right.
Let's get to it?"

Ginger, who was stronger than he
was, took the near end, so that she'd be the one to walk down the ramp
backward. The lifting portion didn't hurt, but it was a lot more than two
hundred pounds. He nearly couldn't do it. That probably meant it was closer to
four or five hundred really. True, he wasn't huge, but he could use all of his
strength,
and
didn't have to stop. That made him something like fifty or
sixty percent stronger than he should have been. Maybe more than that. His mom
had told him he was a few times stronger than his size would allow for. She
hadn't called that part a super power, but this chest was packed solid and
heavy enough that it might well mean he was doing a bit better than he thought
that way.

It was really close though, he
thought. A strong man could have lifted more. Maybe even by a lot. Not for as
long though, and while the weight hadn't jerked instantly into place, he didn't
really feel it.

The ramp was a bit slick under
his shoes, but Ginger was able to keep them from sliding, being on the ground
by the time his feet tried to slip on the solid metal runner. Feeling stupid he
realized, almost at the end, that there was a textured strip right next to his
foot the whole time. They didn't drop it, and even though it was about a
quarter of a mile away, they got the thing over to the booth without setting it
down.

That part wasn't even hard. It truly
didn't actually feel like anything to him, and there was no gasping or moaning
from Ginger either. The box was settled into place behind the booth, which
would help keep it out of the sun for part of the day. Edom, smiling the whole
time, walked up, holding a large chest of things on his right shoulder, like a
strong man, or possibly an old time porter.

"Good work. There are a few
more trips..." The words were leading.

Tyler just started walking back.
It wasn't exactly high excitement maybe, but they needed the help, and he was
the one that didn't feel like he was being tortured the whole time. It was
weird, but even though they had a lot more power than he did, Ty had the better
deal that way. Most days you didn't need super strength at all, or hyper-speed.

The sun was
always
there.