“That’s right. Set that up if you can? Otherwise Hiram won’t be getting any sleep at all.”

  She waved, since it was something to do. Plus, making sure she was on Zack’s good side really wouldn’t hurt anything, would it? Now all she had to do was make a list and make sure she didn’t drop any of her commitments. Hopefully Lenore would lend her some paper for that. A pen too.

  Bey took her hand again on the way back, but didn’t say anything to her at all, as they headed back to the shop. It wasn’t until they were inside that he smiled, which got everyone else to seem unusually relieved. Even Lenore.

  Zack’s Vampire girlfriend. Eve tensed, and let her shoulders slump a bit.

  “Oh… hey… I kind of just promised Zack that I’d have sex with him whenever he wanted. Schedule permitting, I mean. Is that going to be an issue for you? I could try to renegotiate, if it is…” That would be hard though, and Bey clapped, happily.

  “Nonsense! It was brilliant negotiation! A part of her new business, which means that he’ll back the plan with both funds and effort, which will lend safety to the project. Marissa is in as well, so it will be low enough work for young Eve here. If Lenore was worried about competition in the bedroom, she wouldn’t be connected to a Greater Demon.”

  Thankfully, the woman, who was attractive, but no more so than Eve was really, smiled, and seemed to mean it.

  “Indeed, Eve. I may have to use you myself, to make certain you know who the boss is, but I promise I’ll be gentle enough. Only a light beating, now and then, along with the rest of it.”

  It was a rape threat, but Eve didn’t think she really meant it. Oh, there might be sex, but that was all. After all, she was in politics and that meant she was a lot more careful about things like that than most were. Plus, while Eve was new and young, she had friends that might take exception to that kind of thing. Not kinky Vampire sex, but if she were truly harmed, it would be a problem.

  Then again, she’d made her own bed, and climbed into it, in exchange for power. These others had done their part, so the rest was up to her.

  If that meant taking a few beatings… Well, it simply would, eventually. No one had told her that Vampires were all sweetness and light. In fact, she’d been warned, by everyone she knew, more than once, that they were often brutal and cold. Bloody minded, too. So, when you got down to it, the kind of person she wanted to be.

  Eve shrugged then, but made eye contact with Lenore.

  “Well, we can date, too? If Edom is all right with it, I mean? That way you won’t have to actually beat me, right?”

  After a few rather confused seconds, she shrugged back.

  “I… Guess that sounds right to me? I’ve never had anyone just suggest that before, to be honest. It…Seems nearly correct to me? I’ll run it past Zachary, and see if he agrees as well.”

  It was about the best deal she was going to get, so she smiled about it.

  There were worse things to do with her time than go out with a pretty girl, after all.

  Chapter five

  Eve wasn’t really expected to start work just yet. Everyone was most impressed that she was willing to do anything at all, other than running around yelling at people, and trying to take over the whole world. That, Lenore said, seeming like she was joking, really was what most new Vampires did for the first six months or so.

  Barb nodded at that, and then grinned.

  “We can skip that part though, if you want? I think the point here is that other than beating you and locking you in a closet, no one really has too many plans for you yet. Really, you shouldn’t be able to walk around in public like you have been. Even around us. If anyone wants my take on what we should do with you…” She stopped dead, and glanced over at Edom and then Lenore. After a moment Bey waved for her to go on, with a little smile curling his lips. “What? People actually want to hear what I have to say? That’s a first. Well, I think that we should go to the club. I’m not supposed to work tonight, but we can get there early and clean up, then get out before anyone else comes in. Unless you need us to track down those bad guys? The ones that tried to steal Eve?” This was spoken to Bey, directly, which was bold for Barb. She looked nervous, after the words came out, but the tiny man patted her arm gently.

  “This sounds like a wondrous plan. If they attack you, you and Miss Benson can take them in for us? Attempt to leave them alive, for questioning? I shall be away to Edom’s domicile, to try and collect what information about them I can. If that is all right with you? I promise not to invade your privacy more than needed for my research into this question.”

  Ed gave a small bow, and passed his house keys over, along with the address.

  “Do whatever you need to find them. I’m pretty sure that nothing there will shock you too much.”

  Then, without her being able to track it at all, Bey was simply gone from the shop.

  It was freaking impressive, Eve knew. The kind of thing that made him incredibly dangerous, even to other Vampires. It was said that he could punch so fast that he could make people’s heads explode, and not even get his hand bloody. It wasn’t the kind of thing that she was going to be able to match any time soon. No, if she had to fight, being armed would be a good idea.

  “Oh! Zack asked if I could help out on the night shift at the book store next week? Just shelving probably. Not dealing with the public a lot or anything too hard.” It could come up, but even there, at a place open all the time, things slowed down enough at night that the real business pretty much stopped after a while.

  It seemed like Edom was about to say no, but tilted his head instead.

  “I think you might be ready for that. We need to test your resolve more, first, to make sure you’re strong enough for it. If you can do it though, I see no reason why you shouldn’t. If he pays you, then it’s less I have to spend to keep you in blood.”

  Which was a good point, “I need to get to a computer too, before I sleep for the day. To get the things I need to put some samples together.”

  It was odd to her too, because honestly, Eve had figured her first days would be spent doing… Vampire stuff. Learning to hunt, and not kill. Just possibly being locked up, to keep her mighty rage from causing her to go on a killing spree.

  That part was there. Even just standing there, thinking about using a computer made her want to punt the thing through a wall. It was a powerful anger, but… Well, she’d always lived with that, hadn’t she? Maybe not as bad all the time, but it had been close for years. The meditation had made it a bit easier to live with herself, but yeah, she’s pretty much always wanted to hurt people. It could be why she was able to handle things now. That, and the self starvation she’d undergone for years.

  Smiling, trying to keep her mouth shut, Eve waited to be told what to do, rather than just running off impulsively. Edom would let her know what he wanted done after all, and that was the deal she’d made. For at least fifty years she had to be ready to hop to whatever her master told her. Including the stupid stuff, and things that annoyed her. At times he’d do that just to piss her off, so she could get used to working under varied levels of stress.

  He’d flat out told her that, several times.

  This time he just gave her a close look and then glanced at his watch.

  “You can go over the shop here, and then get to Troy’s before morning. I’ll drive you, since you don’t have your car here.”

  It was a bit clingier than what Barb had just mentioned, but Eve nodded.

  “Sure. Let me start in the front here?” It didn’t sound all that subservient, but she was offering to do what had been said, immediately, which for that day seemed to be good enough. No one seemed to think Ed was being too soft on her, at least.

  Rather than growl at her conversational tone, he winked.

  “Good plan. I’ll be taking off as soon as my relief gets here, but then come back. So, are you up to helping out here for the night? Just clean, unless something comes up. Then try to stay out of it, unless asked to help. Understood? No matter what, don’t let yourself get to close to any Humans.”

  It made sense to her, so she locked eyes with her new boss and smiled.

  “Will do. Who’s on tonight?”

  That it turned out was Cormack, who wasn’t the oldest or strongest Vampire in the world, but he was stable enough to keep an eye on her, which should be fine as long as she was actually useful, and not being a pain in the ass like everyone expected her to be.

  The others cleared out, with both Barb and Bey looking back at her, though the tiny man smiled warmly and clasped his hands just outside the door.

  “I have the utmost faith in you, Miss Benson.” Then he left, vanishing into the mall, walking like a totally normal person.

  That got her to blink. He’d been gone already, and managed to come back without her noticing it? That was power, there.

  Edom didn’t have to wait long, after the others got out of the place, because at about midnight the new shift came. Without bothering to explain the situation, her muscular and dark skinned buddy took off the girly white and green apron and he moved to the back closet, where his very nicely cut gray suit jacket was. Out of all of them he was the best dressed Vampire, most of the time. Bey wore suits, but they were all old and functional. Lenore had dresses on, but they were serviceable, not grand things.

  Her new Vampire master looked good.

  It occurred to her however, as she watched him leave, that looking at his butt was doing nothing for her. Sighing, she smiled at Cormack. He also had a suit on, but it was clearly a standard issue, black, off the rack, thing, and after a few moments he was back out front, wearing a Yoghurt World apron that was white and green. It was kind of fabulous, but he didn’t seem out of place wearing it. He looked to be in his early thirties, and had slightly curly hair.

  There was no gray, and his face held no lines except right around the eyes. She just kept cleaning, moving at a normal Human speed, so that it wouldn’t call attention to them, if anyone was watching.

  “Eve girl! I wasn’t thinking to see you for a long time, or more. Is Mr. Edom grooming you for my job then? I’d best hustle and find a new place if that’s the situation.” There was a bit of playfulness in his voice, until he looked at her closely and tilted his head. “Oh… My. You’re working here? I…”

  She smiled, and kept moving, lifting the corner of the large and very heavy silver frozen treat machine, so that she could get under the plastic feet. Lenore would check her work and while it was totally clean already, she could tell if there was residual moisture in places like that.

  “Yep! I’m not getting your job though. Ed mentioned testing me, so I think he’s probably standing outside, waiting for me to have some kind of issue. I won’t though. I should be done with the cleaning in about forty minutes, then…” Well, she could do it over again, but like she’d just thought, the place was clean.

  Cormack fake blinked at her for a while, then cleared his throat. It was decently well done, though the timing was a bit off. It was hard to put her finger on, but she decided to pay attention to it, since mastering things like that was important. Keeping that in mind, she faked a yawn, covering it with a fist.

  “Oh, sorry. Well, you know, night shift. I can help out though, as long as it isn’t anything too advanced? I’m supposed to avoid regular peeps, and all that.”

  There was a slow nod, and a hand held up, as he moved to the phone. Just before it rang. That had always impressed her before, but this time she heard the chirp that came before the ring by a tenth of a second.

  Eve got back to work. She didn’t know that Edom was watching, but she had a job to do, and it was better than dwelling on the constant and burning hunger that was inside her. It really didn’t get any worse, at least. Also, she didn’t think her will power was being worn down. That had happened with hunger when she was Human. A lot really. For the first day it was fine. She’d feel a bit sick, and hungry, but that wasn’t a huge issue. The second and third day weren’t all that bad, but she’d get tired, and after a while her will would wear away, until she ate. With practice she learned to do better than that, but it had been hard to manage at first.

  So far, this really felt like the first day. Then, as far as she knew, it was. Doing the math, she worked out that she’d gotten her links set up well within twenty-four hours before.

  So it might get harder, as time went on. That was a thing to watch for.

  There was no sound when the new Vampire walked into the room. Just a sense of cool air, and a slight scent of jasmine. It was a bit out of place, since the redheaded girl, and it was a total dye job, had more of a punk look to her. A leather jacket, kind of like the one that had been burnt the day before, a pierced nose stud in on the left side, and crystalline green eyes.

  Cormack was still speaking on the phone, so the girl, who was probably hundreds of years older than she was, for all they looked nearly the same age, flowed over to her.

  “I’m the Proctor for this area. Nicole. I found a nest of babies that some ass-hat made and abandoned. Six of them. I can kill them all, but the new protocols say we’re supposed to try and save them if we can. So, I could use some help? We have about…” She pretended to look at a watch she wasn’t wearing and grinned, her fangs showing a bit as her eyes went a little red in the colored portion. “About six minutes before they start killing people. So, come on. We don’t have time to chat about it.” The woman took her arm, and started pulling a little, as if that made any kind of sense at all? You didn’t yank Vampires around, did you? Not even if you were old and tough.

  Especially not then. The older a Vampire got, the better able they were to handle themselves, in the main. That meant being in control and not so impulsive.

  She didn’t pull back though, since it would probably be less than a great plan.

  “Um…” She was tempted to follow along, impulsively, but shook her head a little. “We need to get a team up for this. Fast, apparently. Um… Ed? Are you out there listening to this?” She didn’t know that for certain, but half a second later he was standing in front of her, his suit looking just as good as it had when he’d left not too long before.

  “I am, as you guessed. That isn’t a bad call, getting a team together. So, who do you think we can get in for this? Baby Vamps can be wild. It’s pretty much their defining trait.”

  She let herself nod at that.

  “Yeah. I hear we’re all a bunch of pricks.” Then she let the left corner of her mouth come up, knowing she was being a wise ass. “Um, well, if you can trust me here, I can take over for a while, and Cormack can go? You too? Then… Let me call Zack and see if he wants in on it? That whole thing is one of his projects isn’t it?”

  That got a slow nod from Ed, and Nicole winced at the casual use of Zack’s name.

  “I’m not sure we should get the Line Walker in on this one. We owe him too much already. More to the point, I do, personally. We could use a few more bodies, but this isn’t something we can’t handle. The truth is, the last time this kind of thing came up, Bey suggested that I be put in as his sex slave for the next few hundred years. Bey likes me, too, so you can imagine what that really means. Let’s not compound that.”

  Eve could kind of see that one, really. Zack had mentioned how bad the Vampires wanted to clear their debts. To him. The trouble was that she just didn’t know all that many Vampires, personally. She’d interviewed quiet a few, but that didn’t mean she could send them out as shock troops.

  Eve shrugged, making herself do it, and took a deep breath.

  “Well, Lenore then? And Bey, if you need him. He’s kind of busy though, unless this is related to the people that took me last night?”

  The punk looking Vampire winced, and shook her head.

  “Not Bey. The Ambassador… Well, she hates my guts, because I was always the pretty one, but we can try that. Someone else want to do the honors? We’ll just start sniping at each other if I call her.”

  Edom, being a prince, got out his phone, and promptly handed it off to Eve. Because, she knew, that was her lot in life now. Sighing, making a show of it being a huge and put upon thing, she dialed the number for Lenore’s cell from memory. It came up before she finished, letting her just hit send.

  “Yes?” The voice wasn’t terse at least.

  “Hey Lenore. It’s Eve, your favorite newb. It looks like we have a situation developing? Someone brought over a bunch of kids and then just left them. Six, I think. The local Proctor is putting a team together for it, and I’m going to man the shop here. Would you be available for that, or at least know a few people that would be? There seems to be a real time limit on this one.”

  There was a low growl, but it was soft enough that Eve didn’t think it would carry into the room.

  “So much for an evening off. I have a few people that I can bring in for this. Where do we meet? I want to get this done as soon as possible.”

  She nodded at that. Daytime was coming and while Lenore was old enough she didn’t have to sleep, her people probably would need to.

  “Nicole? We have a team, but where do you want them.”

  She spoke the directions and then hurried out, with the men, leaving Eve all alone.

  “Mwa-ha-ha! Eve’s in charge now, bitches!”

  The entire place was dead silent, except for the hum of the florescent lights. She got to work and finished her cleaning, finishing just in time for the phone to ring.

  “Yoghurt World, this is Eve, how may I help you?”

  There was a slow inhalation.

  “Hello? Is this… the Vampire Embassy?”

  “That’s right, how may I help you today?” The voice was a man’s, but there was a slow quality to it. A damp tone that spoke of being a Human being. Not that she could really put her finger on it.

  “Uh… I was told to call you? My friend, my girlfriend, Maggie, she’s been worried that someone was following her. She told me that if she disappeared, that it wasn’t on purpose, and that she wasn’t just leaving me or anything. That could be a set up, a way to vanish without having to actually say goodbye, but she gave me a number to call, so it seems pretty serious. People don’t do things like that as a joke, do they? Though, Vampires… So, it’s not real, right?”

 

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