Finally dead eve benson.., p.22
Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1), page 22
That was the kind of thing that she really shouldn’t have to be told not to do, wasn’t it? Mind your own business was not only the code of the street, but every single book she’d ever read that wasn’t a romance. Those tended to have busybody behavior work out pretty well in the end.
Still, she took the books and handled them carefully as she left, running as fast as she could, or rather walking with a level of speed that made her want to scream. Literally. Eve went faster anyway, regardless of that.
What Zack had done… She wasn’t really going to be able to do that anytime soon. Even if she could that didn’t mean she’d be the equal of a Greater Demon in a fight, but being slow wasn’t going to help her either.
She knew what she had to be willing to do in order to make it all work, didn’t she?
Pain. She had to embrace it, and accept that the price of safety in her world was going to require that of her. Forever. To have real power, the kind that set her apart from others, she had to understand that and live it, all the time. That was fine. She could do it. Bey did, and had for longer than she’d probably ever know about. She stopped on Troy’s doorstep though, since she didn’t really want the door to explode when she went in. Then, after stepping inside carefully, she searched the whole house, to find it empty on the top levels, but containing a handy Bey in the basement, where he had a nice room laid out. There was a lot of wood in it, and the whole place was spotlessly clean all the time.
There was even a nice sofa.
“Ah! Miss Benson. Is all well?”
She made a face, and hefted the books.
“There might be some trouble, but probably not for us. A Mage boy tried to take over the mind of… Well, Lyn? Zack’s adopted grandmother? Except she’s not the Mage she pretends to be. Actually she’s a Greater Demon, too. I don’t have a title for her, but she doesn’t seem to care, as long as we all are going with her current act. That isn’t common knowledge, but he mentioned it to me, so it was all basically handled as a Mage thing, except…” She told him the whole story, not sparing her stupid involvement in it. Thankfully he understood that she was kind of tricked into it, Darla trying to be helpful.
“It is not all bad, perhaps. No, the blame will fall on The Line Walker alone for it, as he no doubt intended. Leaving you to be the hero who saved the others from death at his hands. It was clever, but that is to be expected. The best course now will be to wait and see what comes of this. Be careful, but that is just the way of life for our kind. Now, I have news for you? I made a trip, earlier, and spoke to Maggie Sims. She claims that she knows nothing in particular of this mixed group that kidnapped you. Oh, she believes she knows who they are, but not why they would do such a thing. I’m inclined to believe her. Then, I may be biased.” Almost as if trying to taunt her, he remained silent on the matter.
She made a loopy face, and rolled her hands in the air.
“Because?”
“Ah… Well, once, long ago, she and I were married. Indeed, she is the one that turned me from a man into one of the undead. My maker. She has changed her look, and name, but I knew her as soon as I saw her the other day. It was very hard for me to not kill that boy who had sought to abuse her. I do, however, know how easy it is to love her. I’d been thinking of seeking her out for a while now, if she still lived. I am heartened to find that to be the case. That does not mean she is on our side in this however. I think that is the case, and her story seems to track with that, but if she were to wish to fool us, then we would be hard pressed to know of it until it was too late.”
Eve tried to process all of the information, and couldn’t really. The slightly hippie seeming gamer geek girl was that old? More ancient than Bey?
“How did she let Marcus get the drop on her then?”
There was a cute smile then, and Bey stood, pacing a bit.
“Truly, I do not know. I wonder, perhaps, if she were faking the whole time? To allow him to do what he would with her? Then when the Mages came to free her, well, she needed to make it all seem real, to protect her current identity. She did seem rather to desire he be left alive however. It could merely be that she was bored, or loves him even?”
“Marcus? The fatbeard?”
“Truly, stranger things have happened in history. Perhaps she even seeks to groom him for an unlife? He does seem to have some promise. Notice how he manages to survive so far? That takes some skill with our kind. Also, if it does not show my own ignorance, what is a fatbeard? I don’t recognize the terminology.”
She blinked, and then nodded. It was kind of a specialty term, one that she’d gotten from Keeley, who knew a lot more about the world of gamers than she did.
“There’s a look that a certain kind of gamer gets. Chubby, but with a full beard from just not giving a damn. They all tend to use a similar voice too, for some reason. It’s kind of a mean description, but it also fits. I probably shouldn’t call him things like that. He sort of ticks me off though, you know? Well, it would be easier if I didn’t have to go up against Maggie, so at least there might be that. I actually sort of like her. I figure that means she’ll end up being behind it all?”
Bey shrugged, which looked pretty real but wasn’t the sort of thing she associated with him. Then, being as old as he was, he didn’t normally have to admit he just didn’t know something. Because he simply did.
“That is likely. The chances of her being here, at this time, with such things going on, and her not knowing about them, are small. It is not impossible however, and she did state that it wasn’t her plan, nor did she request that I step to the side of anything she is doing here. Would she if she had complicated plans? I know not. I have not seen her in nearly a thousand years. Truly, were it not for the bond we share, I would not even have known it to be her, she has altered herself so much.”
That was news to her. Did she have a bond like that with Edom? She tried to feel it, but if it was there, she couldn’t yet. Maybe it got stronger over time?
Eve held the books tightly for a few seconds, trying to work everything out, and finally just had to look away. It sort of made sense, didn’t it? After a fashion.
“Does everyone know each other in the Vampire world?”
“No?” The big eared man smiled at her, stopping to turn and look directly into her eyes. “Remember though, that there are perhaps thirty beings of great age of our kind in all of existence. Most of the truly aged do not interact with others. Or if they do, it is done most carefully, without the rest of us knowing of it. I have only rarely met any of them, and my wife is perhaps the oldest of those. Not the most aged in existence, I don’t believe, but who the others are, I do not know. Many go mad, after long enough. Great time influences us all differently.”
“Ah. That makes sense. Well, I’ll try not to step on her toes then? Hopefully she isn’t in on this… Whatever it is. Kidnapping scheme? I wonder though, could it be related to the attempted robbery earlier? That was strange, wasn’t it? I mean, Cormack would have taken those four out, if I wasn’t there. Or Zack would have. Even if they didn’t know to be afraid of Cormack. If they thought it was me there, well, shouldn’t they have waited?” It didn’t really make sense, but the man nodded.
“There is great truth to what you say, young Eve. Their actions were those of beings driven to desperation, not those of sane individuals. Though if that were the case, why did they not simply go hunting? None of our kind is so far from that sort of thing, to forget the skills. More than half of us still get our blood that way, and that’s only on the Council itself. I would not seek to end the existence of those youngsters for simply surviving, even if the rules do not allow it. So, why would they take the risk?”
She didn’t know. Hunting for blood was a lot easier, she was willing to bet, than trying to steal from them. Even if they’d each just found some guy and offered to blow him, then nicked his leg a little, it would be enough to get a link going. Or capture a deer, or sneak up on some farmer’s cows. That wasn’t as tasty, but would leave them all alive. Heck, the thing with the animals was even legal.
“It’s almost like someone is trying to start shit with us.” She waved a hand, embarrassed at her language, even though Bey didn’t react to her words. “I mean, the two things I know about, taking me on my first day, and then an attack on the place I work… Well, it isn’t about me. It can’t benefit anyone either. Greater Demons could set that up, but would it be worth it? Old enough Vampires could compel the younger ones to do stupid things too, and I guess that a strong Mage might, too. Really, I’m kind of wondering if it all comes back to the game thing, in the park?” She hefted the books, then sighed. “I need to read these things. Right now though I have to get off to the club. I’m on security for the night. That, and toilet cleaning duties, to keep me humble.”
She set them down on the coffee table, and wondered if she could get a chance to read them at work the next day. It would be hard, with the sun overhead, and the lethargy, but she might get some time for it, if she were careful. As it was she had to dart out, going upstairs to shower again. She smelled like blood, from the haze of it that had come from Tim’s exploded head.
It was a cool trick, but had kind of coated everything in the room at the same time.
Once she had new clothing on, or rather old things that were the last of what she owned that was clean, she tried to force herself to get to the club even faster than she’d moved back to Troy’s house. It wasn’t fun, but she scouted the whole perimeter, and was able to find the three people watching the club, thanks to that. She’d stayed on the ground at first, but caught the scent of people above her when a downdraft helped her out. It was a bit random, and there was luck involved, but she wouldn’t have thought to check the rooftops of buildings around them otherwise. It was another lesson then. Be thorough all the time.
Edom and Troy were both in, sitting in the office, when she stopped moving fast. She gasped, since it really hurt worse to stop than any other part of the whole thing.
“Ed!” She tried not to sound breathless, as Troy jumped, yelling a bit, and Edom stood suddenly.
“What?”
“Watchers, outside, on the buildings around us. Three of them. That I noticed at least. Humans I think. They have guns though. Rifles. Not really fancy ones either. With scopes, but no remote shooting gear.” She didn’t know if that kind of thing would make sense to Edom, but Troy nodded, getting the idea. The best snipers didn’t touch their weapons, since little body movements could mess up the shot. Instead they basically used remote control setups on tripods. It had been in a videogame that they’d played together at one point.
These people didn’t have that going on for them. Just hunting rifles.
Rather than call her a liar, or suggest her imagination was too big, Ed just moved toward the door.
“Show me?”
Nodding she turned and started jogging away, not wanting to go full speed inside if she didn’t need to. So far it had worked well enough, but hitting the front door, or Brian, who was on it already in his blue club jacket, too hard would be a poor plan. She kind of liked him, even if he was a bit bad at his job. Letting snipers get set up like that… It would probably be a crushing blow to his ego, wouldn’t it?
He gave her a funny look when she jogged past him, with Edom directly on her heels.
“Get inside. There are shooters around us.” She muttered the words, doing it slow enough to make sense. The instant she turned to look at Edom, she moved, going as hard into the pain as she could. It burned, and tried to make the night glow white to her eyes. That was an illusion, a thing inside her head, but it was hard to set aside.
Her maker kept up with her, walking like she was doing. Still moving at speeds that would nearly be too fast to see. If it wasn’t for the horrible suck of using her power, she would have considered becoming a super hero. Vamp girl. She could wear fishnet stockings and pasties on her nipples. It wouldn’t go with the running shoes she had though, so Eve decided not to bother with the idea. Maybe next Halloween? Slutty superhero? That sounded like a costume, didn’t it? Empowering and demeaning at the same time. Who wouldn’t love that? She pushed harder, since going slow wouldn’t help them at all.
The fun part was getting up on the top of the buildings though. For once, she meant that fun in an honest to god joyful fashion, which would have made her smile if not for the rest of it. All she did there was move at the side of the things, and run up them, She couldn’t go up forever, but with a bit of clever climbing she got to the third story of the first one without any problem. She knew she could do all of them, since she’d just done it a few minutes before.
There was a man set up, looking ready to shoot Brian, who was just starting to go inside. He barely moved though, and the finger was slowly tightening on the trigger. Looking at it, she took a breath, schooling herself first, so she wouldn’t scream in agony. It worked, though she didn’t sound conversational like Bey had managed earlier. The day before now? She liked not needing to sleep, or would when it got less horrible to bear, but she was seriously losing track of time.
“I need a calendar.” She glanced at Edom, who stared at her, but didn’t seem to think she was being sane. “Can you stop this one? I’ll get the other two?” There was a nod, and he moved in on the man’s back.
He was thin, but kind of hot. Human though, like she’d thought. That, or a Mage, pretending to be one, but if that was the case, he wouldn’t be using a gun, most likely. This kind of thing could get you killed, where fighting with magic at a distance was a lot safer. It was the way she would have done it, if it were up to her, and she were the Mage.
Moving faster than before she moved to the edge of the roof and then jumped the hundred and twenty feet to the next one she wanted. It was a bit like flying, since she felt like she was going slowly, regardless of what anyone else would see. The wind pressed against her front, almost lifting her into the air. She actually overshot a bit, and nearly went over the whole place, but managed to set a foot down just in time to prevent that. This building was a brick five story with a flat top to it. There was some kind to gritty paper tile on it, which meant it had nice traction. The woman that was getting ready to shoot wasn’t actively trying yet. That meant Eve could afford to slow down, so that when she slapped the woman in the back of the head it wouldn’t kill her. It did make her face meet with the metal of the weapons eyepiece. It had a wooden handle on it. The stock, she thought it was called.
That was kind of old fashioned, but a bullet could still kill people.
Especially Humans that had dressed to dance, not get into a gun battle. A few patrons had already started to arrive, too.
Grabbing the weapon, she broke it, then hastily patted the shooter down, taking the knife she had, which was about seven inches long and straight, and breaking both the rifle, and it, before moving to the next attacker. That one didn’t go as well, since he moved at the last second, and her fist crushed his skull, rather than just knocking him out.
Talk about sloppy. She’d wanted to question them all. Now there would only be two of them.
They also had to remove a body too. Bodies, since it turned out that Edom had a choice of either killing his man or letting Brian die. It was better to not have the shot go off, since that would attract attention and give their club a bad reputation. Of course, Eve realized suddenly that she didn’t know how she knew that to be the case. Ed didn’t call out or anything, she just understood what had happened. Even better, she knew that she was supposed to use her speed to carry the dead man she’d made to her car, which was parked on the far side of the club. Ed would get there first, and then both bodies would be put in the trunk. She winced at the idea, but didn’t have a better plan.
A tarp would have been nice though. Thinking about it, she wondered if they’d have one inside the club? She didn’t have time to go looking for it. Especially not trying to carry a body at the same time. If it was hard to avoid detection just running, it was even more difficult to do it carrying a person that outweighed you by at least fifty pounds. She knew the drill though now, and ran, moving into as much pain as she could take, then striving for more. Edom did beat her there. He’d also clearly gotten himself inside, and gotten a brown tarp to line her car trunk with.
That, of course, was why she loved him. He was the best Vampire master ever. Clearly. It didn’t take long to get the trunk open and put both bodies in. The hard part, she bet was doing it slowly enough that her trunk lid wasn’t ripped off. That or body parts. These guys were still fresh enough to be messy, if they weren’t careful.
As soon as it was done, she looked at her dark friend and smiled.
“I have a live one. On the roof. What should we do with her?” She was speaking very fast, but her mentor was able to pick it all up.
“My office. Don’t be seen.”
That was harder than it sounded like, since she had to go in the front door, to the alley in the back, where she took the trash out, then push the heavy metal door open, and dash to get the woman from across the street where she’d been set up and get her back before it closed.
Thank God the woman wasn’t chubby. That would have slowed her down too much, Eve was certain. No, she was more of a regular looking woman. Not all that old, as soon as she got her inside where she could easily see her, under the lights of the office. Troy was still there too, having never left.
Edom closed the door, and helped to get the unconscious lady into one of the wooden chairs.
“She’s still breathing, and her pupils don’t look blown. My guess is that she’ll wake up in a few seconds. Troy, do you have anything we can tie her up with?”
Even if he didn’t really get what was going on, he knew enough not to ask questions yet, and went to find something. What he came back with, less than fifteen seconds later, was Barb, and a full silvery roll of duct tape. The ugly silver kind. It was the other Vampire who did the honors though, using the stuff liberally to hold the woman in place. A thin piece was placed over her mouth, to prevent screaming.
