Finally dead eve benson.., p.2
Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1), page 2
It could just be a residual effect of having just turned, however. That had been a thing that several people had hinted at. If it was, then that part wasn’t going to last very long.
After a few minutes of fleeing for their lives, the girl calmed down enough to speak, and not just whimper gently. It was better. Easier to deal with. Less attractive.
“Where are we going?”
Eve didn’t really know where they were. The road didn’t have lights, and she was driving with the headlights off, which she remedied, since the other drivers she might pass would need to be able to see her too. There were woods on either side of them. All evergreens, which probably meant they weren’t too far away from where she’d died the day before.
Still in Washington, or possibly Oregon.
“I have no clue. Right now I’m just trying to get away from those people. How long did they have you?” She was distracting the girl, or trying to. It didn’t really matter how long they’d had her though. Not at the moment. It wouldn’t, unless they could get away.
The car was floored however, and had a half tank of gas. The winding road wasn’t hard to follow, since it all seemed to be moving in slow motion to her still. The speedometer said they were going one-ten, but it felt like they were crawling along at about twenty to her.
“Three days? They said they were going to kill me. That they were going to drink my blood and rape me. No one did that though. I… don’t think. I, there was something. That man… he said that… I can’t remember. It was a different man, I think. The first one. He was tall and skinny, but… I don’t know, it’s like I can’t remember him.”
Eve got the idea. One of the men had probably had sex with her, and then compelled her not to remember it. That would make her easier to keep in line. Not that she’d present a big problem for anyone. She was too out of shape, and mentally weak, to put up a very good fight. Trying probably would have just had her beaten until she couldn’t anymore.
It was just as well she didn’t know what had happened to her, of course, if that was the case. If you had to be raped, not knowing it had happened was better. Both had happened to her before, so Eve was kind of an expert on the topic.
After a few more minutes of driving they hit a freeway, and she slowed down to nearly traffic speed. The sign said she wasn’t too far from Spokane. That was hours away from Vancouver, which meant that those others had to have collected her no more than hours before. That morning, most likely. The New Vamp had probably done it, while Edom slept. That type started out being able to day walk. It was really their main power. They were stronger than a Human, but not too much so. They could compel people, but only a bit.
They could pass as a regular person though, not having fangs at all, and stay up all day, starting in their first week or so. She’d go down as soon as the sun came up, most likely, and would for centuries, more or less.
By following signs, she got them both to a hospital, which she thought might be a mistake, since there would be a lot of blood there, but the girl’s scent overwhelmed that for her. So did the disinfectant. It reeked, and made her want to hold her nose, but she didn’t do that. It would be too strange and give her away as being weird. The nurse came over to them as they walked in, her blue outfit looking casual, compared to what Eve had expected. Scrubs, like on T.V. Not an all white uniform with a funny hat.
“What happened here?” The woman, who was about fifty, and had a long face with enough wrinkles to show she didn’t smile that often, looked at the girl directly.
Eve considered trying to compel her, but shook her head a bit instead. She didn’t actually know how to do that, did she? It involved making eye contact, and concentrating on the other person as hard as you could, but she’d never done it. So she told the truth.
“We were kidnapped. Some freaks that said they were vampires? We got away, and came right here. I don’t know how bad she’s hurt. We need the police.” That was what normal people did, wasn’t it? Her dad was the Chief in their town, which had given her some small bit of insight into that kind of mind set.
It wouldn’t matter if these people were real Vampires, because they’d avoid the cops, if they could. Sending the boys in blue in would just protect this girl. Not because they could save her directly, but because killing cops would get attention, and that could have the Council on their ass.
The kid gave her name to the nurse, when asked. Eve hadn’t even thought about doing that, being too caught up in her own little drama, being undead and all that.
“Lindsey. Lindsey Stanton.” Then she started crying, but was taken to a little curtained area that had a bed.
She had help, so Eve decided to get out of there, in order to avoid any hassles.
On the way out the nurse looked at her funny.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to move the car I stole from the kidnappers. I’m blocking the ambulance bay.” She sounded a bit too aggressive, so made herself smile. It was the wrong reaction set, but the woman didn’t try to tackle her. That meant she was out of the parking lot a few minutes later. Less than that, since everything still seemed to be crawling around her all the time.
She needed a phone.
It took a while to track one down, but she found one. An honest to God payphone, and managed to pan-handle enough change to make a call. A short one.
The voice that picked up was familiar, since she’d called the Vampire embassy for the area. A place where she used to work, part time. Yoghurt World. It was a cover, but someone had to actually make the treats, which used to be her day job. That,and answering the phones. She knew how to be polite, and about the people that worked there, so why not?
“How may I help you today?” That was the way things always got answered at night, to avoid confusion. During the day they announced themselves as Yoghurt World, in case it was a supplier or someone looking for work.
“Hey Barb. This is Eve? I was kidnapped, by some feeders I think, and managed to escape. I’m in Spokane, Washington?
“Eve! Edom is freaking out. Where are you? Stay there, and um… Try not to kill people? You must be starving.”
She wasn’t, not really.
“No, I have a link set up. The girl I was supposed to kill. She’s in the hospital. Just a cut on her arm. One of the kidnappers did it, not me. I’m outside a grocery store.” She had to get the street corner names, but was told to wait there.
It took a while, since the call ended suddenly, without her having change for more, so she sat in the car. No one bothered her, though a man stared at her pretty hard after a while. He looked to be homeless, and smelled more than a little, even from across the street. Like piss and vomit, mixed with body odor. He was, she knew, the sort of person that she once would have been afraid of. Now she didn’t feel that way at all.
Oh, he was drunk, and partially aroused, sexually. It was clear his attention was on her too, which would have made her leery, not long before. Now she knew that if he tried anything, she could stop him. Dead, if she wanted to. It was a nice feeling.
That was, after all, why she’d become a Vampire in the first place. To make sure no one could hurt her again. Not easily. It was also why she’d trained so hard for the last four years. Nearly five now, really.
So that when she became one of them, the undead, she’d start out more powerful than most did. In control of herself, and able to fight. Not just flail around like a young woman was supposed to do. She’d even taken lessons for that, which had already paid off, she realized. Not ten minutes after she woke up dead, she’d had to fight already.
Even better, she’d won. True, that had a lot to do with the element of surprise, and the fact that she’d acted in a way no one had probably thought she could, she was willing to bet, but it had worked, which was enough for the first day.
The drunk street man finally stumbled over, and rapped on the window. She both heard and smelled him coming without even looking up. He favored his right leg, which had a sore on it, near the knee. She could tell, somehow.
“Hey, baby. You want spend some time wit me?”
She looked at him, and shook her head.
“Nope! I’m too busy for the time being. Thanks for the offer though. I’d take you up on it, if I wasn’t waiting on people to show up.” Well, if he smelled better. It wasn’t about his looks, even though he was kind of ugly. She didn’t judge people that way.
Unlike before, she didn’t get turned on though, which could be the disgust she felt, but she thought it might be that her sex drive was actually shutting down. All she felt for the man was a desire to drink his blood. That feeling was decently strong, but not allowed. As in actually against the law. Vampire law, but still, that was a real thing for her now, wasn’t it?
The day before, if she’d broken their laws or rules, she would have been fine. They just didn’t count for a Human. Now, that night, the world brilliant and shining around her, the man outside the car she’d stolen frowning a bit, there was a whole new set of things for her to keep in mind. Luckily she knew them all, and the basics weren’t all that different from what they always had been.
Don’t drink from Humans. If you had to kill anyone, make sure you didn’t get caught. Pay your taxes in a timely fashion. That was really about it. It wasn’t like a movie where they were required to keep their kind a secret or anything either. That one took care of itself for the most part. She could tell anyone she wanted all about what she was now. No one would really believe her, but she could do it, if she wanted.
The only thing that would really set anyone off would be if she somehow managed to get onto television and prove that she was real, in front of the whole world. Even that might not do anything though. A lot of people had tried. It never actually worked though. Humans just couldn’t handle the truth.
The drunk man stared at her.
“Fucking bitch. You’re all the same. No love fer Tim, is there? Can’t even get a handjob. Stuck up assholes.” He grumbled and hit her window. Not hard enough to break it, but enough that a woman coming out of the store saw it and looked scared. That was bad, since she might well call the cops in, trying to help.
They were in a parking lot, a public place, and the store was still open since it wasn’t all that late. Before nine, still.
Eve looked at the man, and smiled, then concentrated as hard as she could when he locked eyes with her. It wouldn’t hurt to try and compel him, after all. If it failed, then she could always just… She didn’t really know, but didn’t care either.
“No. I just gave you a handjob, remember? It felt really nice, and now you’re going to go and take a walk. You won’t come back this way for a few days. You should go away now, before anyone realizes what we just did here.” She didn’t whisper the words, and didn’t really think anything was going to happen, but the man stood up a bit straighter, and grinned. He was missing two of his upper teeth, near the front.
“Thanks. I should take off.” Then, looking at her over his shoulder, he gave a little wave and did exactly that. He walked away with a will, a bit of a spring in his step. He didn’t even seem half as drunk anymore, either.
The other woman looked at her again, but seemed relieved that the man was leaving, and climbed into her own vehicle, not making eye contact with her. That was normal, though. The place was busy enough that she didn’t have to feel like she was the only person that could, or would, help Eve out. So she didn’t, just leaving after that.
No one got there for hours, but by one in the morning Edom pulled in, his red sports car purring practically.
He moved to her quickly, his black skin glowing with the pink of life energy. He had a solid core of the stuff, that was brighter than the other Vampires she’d seen earlier.
Getting out of the yellow muscle car, she smiled at him.
“There you are. Do you want to go back and burn a house down? There were at least four of them there. I got away, naturally, because I’m pretty nifty, but I don’t think I killed any of them.”
He stopped, going still enough that she could sense the waves of activity that most people had all the time just cease.
“Eve. Are you all right? You have burns…”
She looked down and shrugged. Her once nice leather jacket was ruined. A sudden urge to kill some people overcame her, but she fought it back. That was the kind of thing she had to do now, she knew. Rage was a part of the Vampire experience. You either dealt with it yourself, or you were dealt with. Normally by being beaten so hard that your fear of pain would overcome the anger. It was easier to make yourself take control, or at least that was the theory she’d been working on so far.
“A Manthori with fire powers. I healed. Honestly, I barely noticed it. I guess that means I’m all tough and junk?” She smiled, and was a bit shocked to find herself being hugged. The Vampire wasn’t really the huggy sort, as far as she knew.
Then, she didn’t smell like food now, so maybe it was that?
Eve could sort of understand how that might work, now.
Her master smiled at her, his face happy, suddenly.
“Now, I think we might well want to have a chat with these people. Can you get us back to them?”
It wasn’t straightforward, but after half an hour of driving around, she realized that she really could.
It was going to be interesting, she decided.
Chapter two
As it turned out, she was totally wrong.
Eve had thought they’d be going back to find the four evil feeders and possibly get a chance to dispense a little, and more permanent, justice. They’d kidnapped her after all, and to her mind that meant they deserved to at least have their heads cut off.
“Well, darn.” She actually felt a little worked up about it, but faked a smile. No one had insisted that she had to be perfect, but going around acting like she was about to attack everyone wouldn’t fly.
Edom actually grinned at her however.
“Darned, indeed. There were four of them, and a Human?”
She nodded, having gone over that already.
“A girl. The New Vamp cut her with a knife. A Bowie I think. I lost it somewhere in the fight. That, or while I was running. I licked the blood off of it to form a link to the girl. It helped.” She didn’t go into how much she’d wanted to drink the girl dry. Ed knew that, no doubt.
Been there, done that, and mastered the feeling. That was why he could work in politics now. Not all the older Vampires could do that, even if they were otherwise powerful.
Instead he nodded at her, as they poked around.
“Good plan. Well, we should be getting back. Can you hold out on what you had?”
Making a face, she shrugged.
“Yeah. I know that I can. I don’t feel like it’s possible, but there’s enough energy. I should get something else too, so I don’t accidently drain the girl.” That could be a real problem if you only fed on a single source. If she tried to do too much, say lifting up a car for a while, the life energy that powered it would have to come from somewhere. The fact was though, even though it would be hard, she could just sit around almost indefinitely. That didn’t take much energy at all, and as long as she didn’t exert too much effort, Eve could hold out for months.
If she mastered herself well enough, she’d eventually not need to eat much at all. The oldest and most powerful Vampires hardly had to, she knew. That wasn’t her, not yet.
It would be though.
“I can hold out.”
Edom looked at her strangely, but nodded.
“I think you can. You did well, tonight. If you can hang on, until we get back, I’ll give you a reward.”
She wondered what that would be. Probably sex, though she really didn’t feel like it would be much of a prize now. That was too bad, because for a while there she’d kind of hoped that she was going to be the special Vampire that still had a sex drive. It had been one of her favorite things, while alive. A way to connect to people, without making a lot of real effort. Now she was going to have to actually be nice, and do things for people, or at least make a solid go of being friendly.
She grinned.
“Well, is it a job at your club? I wouldn’t put me in at the embassy for a while, but maybe doing something like cleaning, after hours? I do a mean job with a mop, and you can only dream about what I can manage with a sponge.”
The man looked over at her, then pointed toward his car, not bothering to burn the place down or anything.
“Not a horrible plan. I want to test you first, though. If you can handle being around a crowd, we can work something out. Most can’t, at first. Normally for a while.” It was just the truth.
Honestly, from what Eve had been told, no one managed it, at least for the first five years or so. Not if they were a Classic Vampire, like her. The New Vamps could pull that off a lot faster, she’d been told. So could the flyers from South America. The problem there was that they all looked like giant bats. They were sweet though, and even tempered. Blood drinking aside. Most of them lived off of animal blood.
So, she was doing pretty well so far.
“I trained for this. Well, you know, you helped with it.” She felt a little annoyed, since he clearly didn’t believe she was really ready, but buried that. It wouldn’t help anything, acting like a brat. Besides, if she couldn’t control that feeling, then she wasn’t ready.
Edom nodded though. His voice was rich, and carried undertones of humor, for some reason. It was a good voice, she realized. Back when she’d been alive she’d actually gotten wet, just listening to him, more than once.
“I know. It seems to be working, too. That doesn’t mean we can’t be careful though. In the last two hundred years I’ve never even heard of anyone doing what you have to get ready, as a Human. If this works we may have to set up a real program to help train people. Bey will be pleased.”
