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Tyler's eyes snapped open and he sat up gasping. His eyes frantically searched the room, as he tried to calm his breathing. Slowly he breathed out, feeling his power burning just beneath his skin. Faint pain pulsed through his body. It took him a moment before he could gain control over his power again. In the back of his mind, he could hear the NightDemon laughing, chuckling at him, taunting him.
He clenching his hands into fists, pressing them against his eyes. They felt like sandpaper. He was so tired, barely able to sleep the last few weeks. Ever since he started with university, he'd been swamped with studies, learning to run the business and then his NightAngel work. There was barely time for anything else.
Worst of all was the nightmares that started up, along with sharp pains that shot through him at times.
Shaking his head, he slowly got up from the desk and headed over the library. He moved slowly, pulled a book from one of the shelves and sat down in the chair next to the fire place.
Tyler felt his eyes close and shook himself awake, pinching the bridge of his nose. A sharp pain shot through his back, making him groan, driving away the sleep completely. Slowly he rubbed a hand over his eyes, until he saw another galaxy dancing in front of his vision.
He was in so much trouble. Everything was piling up and he could feel his body slowly breaking down. If he weren't careful, he'd burn out. He was playing with fire, not giving his body time to rest or recover. If he broke down, it wouldn't be a pleasant sight. Going without sleep for so long, pushed him to his breaking point.
Slowly he closed the book, pressing his hand against his head. There was a slight pounding starting against his scull.
"Hey Tyler!"
Tyler flinched slightly, quickly looked up, blinking at the boy that stood in the door. He slowly got to his feet, keeping one hand on the chair's back.
"River?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at the boy "What do you want?"
The boy's eyes narrowed as he glared at him for a moment before folding his hands behind his head, a slow smirk forming on his face. "One of your friends are at the door" he said, slyly "They looked annoyed, so you might want to hurry up"
"Friend?" Tyler asked, confused "What are you talking about? I don't have friends"
"Well this one said, she's your friend. So apparently you do have friends"
"She?"
All he could think about was that Danielle ended up drawing the short straw to come check up on him.
"Yeah, it's a girl, dumbass" River said sarcastically "That's normally what it means when you say she"
Tyler shot him a flat, annoyed looked as he walked over to the boy. He moved carefully, fighting against the dizziness. "Go be sarcastic somewhere else, you brat" he muttered, smacking River lightly against the head.
"So who is she?" River asked with a wide grin.
"How should I know?" Tyler growled at him "I don't who's here"
River snorted. "Well I'm surprised" he said "I didn't think that you even knew how to talk to a girl, other than scaring them away with your..."
"River..." Tyler growled again, warningly.
The boy laughed and jumped out of Tyler's reach. "Ha! See! You have the social skills of a duck" he taunted, before sticking out his tongue at Tyler.
Tyler's eyes narrowed at the boy. "I'm going to strangle you" he hissed and shot forward, tackling the boy to the ground. River let out a startled scream as he tried to scramble away from Tyler.
"ARTHUR! ARTHUR!" River screamed "TYLER'S TRYING TO KILL ME! HELP ME!"
Tyler hissed, clamming his hand over River's mouth. He moved careful, not to hurt the boy. Even now, he was still afraid that he'd lose control over his strength and hurt others.
"River..." he growled in the boy's ear "I swear I'm going to rip you apart"
"Master Tyler" a calm voice said, above the two's struggling and Tyler looked, smiling innocently at the old man.
"Arthur" he said, looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Arthur help me!" River managed to say before Tyler managed to silence him again.
The old man gave the two a flat, unamused looked. "Master Tyler" he said calmly "I'm going to have to request that you let go of Master River, he still has homework to do" River groaned loudly and Tyler growled at him to make him shut up "Miss Victoria is waiting for you at the door, Master Tyler"
Tyler stopped struggling, frowned, glanced down at River, narrowed his eyes at the boy before he sighed and slightly let go of him. River quickly scrambling away from him.
"Fine..." he muttered under his breath, carefully sitting up, crossing his arms as watched a smirking River jump to his feet.
"SUCKER!" River screamed as he made his getaway.
Tyler glanced at Arthur, before smiling slightly and shrugged. "He's loud and annoying" he said "But has a good heart"
Arthur nodded and held out a hand to Tyler, helping him onto his feet. "And so do you, Master Tyler, despite what you try convincing yourself of"
"You're a good man, Arthur" Tyler said, clapping the man on the shoulder as he stepped pass him "Thank you"
***
Tyler closed the door behind him and turned to the girl that stood on the porch.
"Tyler?"
He nodded slightly at her, pulling on his bangs a bit over his eyes. "What are you doing here, Vic?" he asked, jamming his hands into his jacket pocket, eying a string of hair that fell a bit longer than the others. He should have asked Arthur to trim it shorter.
"You forgot, didn't you?" she asked, frowning slightly at him "Professor Miller gave us a project to do for Friday. On the business development in the European countries"
For a moment Tyler just stared at her with confusion, before he nodded slightly. "Oh yeah..." he muttered, rubbing his hand over his eyes "Sorry about that"
"Are you alright?"
"Where do you want to work?" Tyler asked, ignoring the girl's question.
Vic sighed. "At the university, the business school's library" she said "It's quiet there and I already reserved a study room for us"
Tyler just nodded. "Do you want me to drive us?" he asked "Or did you come with your car?"
"I drove, my car's in the driveway, so we can just take mine" she said smiling at him "I'll come drop you off when we're done. So Arthur can get a little break from you"
Tyler snorted and gave her a slight smile. "It's his job to take care of me" he said as they started walking to Vic's car "And River's at home, so he has his hands full. He's appreciate the thought"
The drive to the campus library was quiet.
Tyler sat resting his head against the window, staring outside the entire time. Every now and then his eyes would flicker close, but the slightest bump in the road would jolt him awake again. One hand clenched and relaxed as he fought to stay awake.
Vic watched him out of the corner of her eye the entire time. When she parked the car, she turned to him.
"Tyler" she said "What is going on with you?"
Tyler startled, his eyes snapping open and he slowly sat up. With a hiss he pressed his hand against his forehead, tilting his head toward Vic, so he could look at her.
"I'm fin..." he started, but Vic just lifted her hand, stopping him from continuing.
"Don't lie to me, Tyler. I know you" she said "And I'm not blind, I can see there's something wrong. You look like a ghost, like you haven't slept in days. So what is going on?"
Tyler turned his head away, refusing to say anything.
Vic sighed, wringing her hands together. "Tyler..." she started, paused, looked down at her hands and bit her lip "Look I don't know... I don't know what's going on with you, but if you... If you ever need someone to talk to... I'm sorry, but I don't know how to talk to you about this"
"Then don't" Tyler grumbled. His voice sounded tired, a slight edge to it.
"NO!" Vic snapped, completely turning towards him "I get it. You don't like us and don't trust us. You've made that quite clear a lot of times in the past. But for once in your life, trust ME. I'm not talking about Jack, Alley and the others, just me. Tell me what's going on with you, I want to help... I want to help you"
Tyler froze, before tilting his head slightly so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye. "Why?"
For a moment Vic just stared at him. Relieve rushed through her. He was listening to her, for the moment he was listening and not shutting her out like he always did with everyone.
"Because I like you" she finally said "You're smart, intelligent. And when you're not being and sarcastic asshole, you're quite funny when you allow others to see it. Kind with people, but a bit to straight forward. I've seen you with River. You treat him kindly, protect him and do anything you can for him. So I want to help, because I don't want you to suffer alone"
Tyler pressed the heal of his hand against his forehead. "Stop it, Vic" he said quietly "I get it, so you can stop now"
"Then tell me what's going on with you"
"I'm fine..."
"No, you are not" Vic said quietly "You aren't sleeping, are you? I've watched you while we were driving. Every time it looks like you're about to fall asleep, you fight against it. So what is going on?"
Tyler pulled one leg up against his chest, resting his head on his knee. "I'm so tired" he said quietly "I... don't want to... cannot fall asleep"
"What do you mean?"
He sighed and sat back, staring up at the roof. "I'm afraid, I guess"
Silence followed.
"I don't understand" Vic said "What do you mean?"
Tyler looked at her, smiling slightly. "Did you know that the NightAngel has a demon?" he asked, eyes studying her "The thing is pretty messed up. It eats you from the inside, that's why the NightAngel never last very long. The demon kills them, takes over, drain their lifeforce and stuff like that"
"I didn't know..."
"No one knows..." Tyler said "I didn't even know. Arthur had to tell me about it, but then I read up on it on my own. It's a nasty business. There's an entire library in the mansion filled with books about stuff like that"
"Tyler... I'm sorry"
He shook his head. "Don't be" he said, staring back up at the car ceiling "I've gotten over it. I knew I wouldn't last very long from the start"
"Is that why you're not sleeping?"
Tyler laughed and shook his head. "No... maybe... It's something like that" he said "It's almost like if I go to sleep, that bloody demon would take over. Don't know if it's possible, but I'm still terrified of it happening"
Vic studied him for a moment before she nodded. "Afraid of sleeping?" she asked quietly.
He chuckled, but it sounded tired. "Sounds stupid, doesn't it?" he asked.
"It's not" Vic said seriously "This is something that's bothering you so much that you cannot even sleep. So it's not unreasonable. It's affect you and that's not stupid"
Tyler closed his eyes, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Thank you, Vic"