Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

relaxed. He was looking right at him
though, so Tyler shook his head.
    "No thanks. I kind of
left the house without any money. Besides, I try to only eat fruits and
vegetables." Before he could add in that he didn't mean any offense, and
that it was just a fitness thing, the man smiled at him.
    "I can make you a fruit salad?
You aren't allergic to anything, are you?"
    "Shellfish? If you put that
on a fruit salad though, then no one should eat it."
    It got a polite chuckle at least.
    "Good point. Now, why not
take a seat. I notice you have a wound there? Do you need some help with
that?"
    Eve and Ginger both popped out of
the back, and the younger girl explained it for him, which was nice of her. He
just wasn't great with new people. He liked them, he just didn't have an easy
time knowing what to say about it.
    "Tara was attacked by a
group of Vampires near sunrise. Tyler saw it happening and fought them all. By himself .
One of them stabbed him in the arm. Then they tried to escape, once they
realized they couldn't win, but he caught them all. I was going to help,
but Eve and I got there just in time to see that he wasn't going to lose. We
didn't want to insult him by jumping in when he was doing so well. He might
have taken it the wrong way, and beaten us up too." It didn't make a lot
of sense, but Eve joined in, her fresh face happier now, for some reason.
    "No shit, Edom. Then the
cops came and started giving us crap, even though the whole thing had already
been called in. It was a timing issue, I think. You know, instead of Althea
Sims trying to jerk us around? They shot Ginger, and then-"
    The girl, the youthful looking
one, though who knew how old she really was, waved at Tyler.
    "Then we told them that Ty
here works for us. I did. Just to stop the hassles."
    That got a bowl of fruit salad
pushed across the counter. More to the point it was a really large wax paper
half cup thing. Filled to the brim with fresh things. No oysters or anything,
so using his good hand he took it, and then tried to find the forks. They
actually had them, on each table, next to the spoons and knives. All of them
were plastic, but it was kind of handy.
    The man behind the counter seemed
impressed for some reason.
    "That's not bad. There are
five back there, you fought them all?"
    He nodded as he tucked a half
strawberry in his mouth. It let him stall for time for a few seconds while he
thought.
    "If we can call that
fighting. I should have died, but I got lucky. The time of day,
mainly."
    That got the man, Edom, to stare
at him for a bit, then look over at Eve. Something passed between them, but it
was hard to tell just what that might be.
    The Vampire woman made a bit of a
face, then shook her head, ever so slightly.
    "He's what he seems .
Understood? Delicious and sexy. We should see if he wants to go down to Zack's
for a bit. Having him look out for Tyler might keep these bozos off his
back. They aren't going to like the fact that he spanked them like little kids.
Not that he can't do it again. It was skill , not just luck. Still, day
after day of endless fights might wear him down. Or, possibly, annoy him enough
that he blames all of us for it. We should stop that train before it
starts."
    That got the good looking man,
probably also a Vampire, though there was no way to tell from the outside, to
look away for a bit, like he was thinking.
    "Not a horrible plan. You
mentioned that Zack needs help anyway? Especially on nights. Maybe you should
take our new friend over and see if that's a thing that can happen?" The
man shrugged. "Zack's a great guy. No one wants to mess with him. So if he
agrees, that might prevent you from becoming... Annoyed , as Eve
mentioned."
    She watched him eat then, and no
one spoke for a long time, until the last bite, a piece of fresh banana, was in
his mouth. Then the long haired girl, who looked a bit like she had something
slightly darker than Norwegians in her ancestry, flowed to her feet, and took
his little