Finally dead eve benson.., p.9
Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1), page 9
Lenore spoke then, her voice a bit calmer. A lot, really. She suddenly seemed almost pleased.
“That would be lovely, thank you dear. We need to use our people on this, or else these brats will just ruin the vehicles again. I have some people for that. In the blue book, on the top of my desk? You’ll want Franklin hauling services. I don’t think that we can move these children before they wake for the evening. We’ll tie them up however. I saw some good, stout looking, rope in the corner.”
She got the location, which wasn’t a real address, and called it in. The man on the phone acted like being asked to haul six angry tied up people, and a bunch of others, was perfectly normal. Not that it wasn’t going to cost. Two thousand dollars, for a few hours work. It wasn’t that steady she was willing to bet, or else she would have considered going and doing that kind of thing for a living. On the great side, the man didn’t require payment up front, so she wouldn’t have to drain most of her own money for the trip herself.
It didn’t get anyone in right away though, since most of the people that could handle the duty were actually gone, in the truck with the baby Vampires. Except Barb, and when she got up, it was pretty clear that she’d be needed to watch the club. It was Friday night after all, and at least one of them needed to be there. True, most of the time nothing happened that the bouncers and bar staff couldn’t handle, and Troy was good at his managing job, but weird stuff was going down suddenly, and that meant someone was going to be needed there, just in case.
Edom called and told her that, his voice… nearly scared. It wasn’t like him at all, but she got the idea. She was an unpredictable newbie, and going to get people killed when she flew off the handle, at any moment. Except that she was doing all right so far. Oh, she felt like she really could do that. Lose it and go ape-shit on someone, but she hadn’t. And wouldn’t.
“I can hold things down here. Just, you know, I want backing, if I screw up. When, I mean. I’ll try to keep the death toll down. Barb is solid too, and so is Troy. We can handle this end for a while. Get those kids taken care of, while I’m still managing to sound like I’m not one of them.” She meant it to be funny, and it did get a laugh.
From Nicole, the Proctor, who was clearly just getting up for the day.
Wimp.
“We should be in about ten? Maybe a bit later than that.” Then the phone started to die, since batteries weren’t infinite.
Edom called out, hearing it taking place.
“Be good!”
Then no one spoke anymore, leaving her in charge again. Still.
Almost as if he’d been waiting for her to hang up the phone, Zack walked in then, his face passive.
She didn’t make him ask though.
“Baby Vamp pickup. The new kids trashed all the cars, so Lenore, Edom and Nicole, along with Cormack and some others, all got stuck sleeping in a barn all day. They should be back in about six hours or so. Provided nothing goes wrong. Want a snack?” Greater Demons liked to eat, after all. Loved, was probably closer to the truth. “Or we could fuck? I need to stay close to the phone, but if you want…”
He actually smiled then and shook his head.
“I’m good on that second one, but I could use some food. I have an account here?”
Which she knew. Actually, he got anything he wanted for free. It was a slow way to pay off the Vampire Council’s debts to him, but it was a way. Really, if she could get him to lower that, it would be worth a lot, as far as cred with that level of Vampires went, she was willing to bet. Still, other than blowing him without using her teeth too much, she was at a loss as to what she could offer him. He was pretty much already going to get that for free too, so there didn’t seem to be a lot she could offer left.
He wanted one, of everything, and then got picky about how she made them. Not too bad though, since they’d played that game before. She was actually all right at building the things offered there. She’d read Lenore’s notebook and everything.
“Better. Hey, do you need to order some things for that blood you want to make up? I kind of noticed that you didn’t go home, so if I can get a list, I can order it for you?”
There was no talk about her paying for it either, since he probably didn’t care about the few hundred dollars even next day shipping would cost for it.
“That would be great. Here, let me write it all down. I memorized it. Keeley made me. Not that it took yelling and a guilt trip. I’m not that stupid.” When a super genius tells you that you’ll need to know something, it makes sense to actually try, right?
He got the list and the number for the butcher that she’d been courting and went to set that all up, but reached into his pocket first, and put a little bag on the counter. It was made of black velvet and clanked a bit.
“Three hundred grams of cut emeralds. Not the highest quality, but large enough to be interesting. Do you need anything? Blood? A cute stock boy from a local store?”
She was starving, but that wasn’t new. So she shook her head.
“I’m good for a few days still. Over a week. I hope so at least. As for a cute boy… Well, hinting aside earlier, I haven’t felt so much as a tingle down there for a few days. Less than fun, but…”
She was going to say that she’d live, but really, that ship had sailed.
“No big thing. It won’t stop you from doing anything. So, are you going to try and stay up all the time now? That’s a big deal. Once you get it, and go all day once, it should get easier each time. I say try it. Your goal isn’t to be another low level Vampire. Besides, if you can take days too, then Lenore and I can actually go away on vacation sometime. Well worth doing.”
She let her head bob from side to side. There was truth there.
“Half the Vampire Council’s debt to you, if I can pull it off? You have to help though. Come and make sure I don’t doze off or anything. Slap me or whatever will work?” Super Vampire active drugs? If that was a thing, she wanted in. Staying up had been brutally hard. Like actual torture, for big parts of it. Even if it got a bit easier…
Zack nodded.
“Half their debt to me. It really will get easier for you. I think that getting through this next day will be about as hard, but after that? You should be able to halve the difficulty every day or two. Fifteen days, and you’ll be past the need to sleep and probably able to walk in the sun without it being much of an issue. Hot, and horribly painful, but…” He shrugged, which looked real on him. He was a master of that kind of thing, seeming Human. “So, torture really. If you do it though, it will get you a lot closer to where you want to be. In more than one way. Also into a lot more work, but if you were afraid of that you’d be stripping in Vegas right now, not here, acting as a minor political official with no training.”
She nearly held out her hand and said deal, but that would be the last thing she ever did under her own free will, if she slipped that way. Maybe not with Zack, because he wasn’t as powerful that way as Keeley was, but it was a good thing to remember all the time anyway. Don’t make open ended bargains with his kind. Not even if she liked them.
Darla had made sure that all her friends knew that one.
The Greater Demon known as The Technician.
It wasn’t totally random that she thought of her blonde high school friend either, since the woman walked in right then, her face bright and happy. It was nearly like she’d planned the whole thing, which was actually possible, if a bit of wasted effort.
“Horrible torture? For who? Plus, stripping? Is that a new hobby for you Zack? We’ll want to have you shift some of your musculature around. Really, that isn’t a horrible idea…”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything, since Darla was teasing him. She was his mentor in all things Demon though, so if she decided that seeing him in a g-string was a good thing, then it could very easily be the actual plan for the next few weeks.
Eve moved around the counter, her mouth closed, but smiling.
“Darla! I haven’t seen you in months.” It was true. They’d kind of drifted apart, after a while.
People did that after school was done.
The really hot girl, who’d been the head cheerleader for more than one reason, hugged her back, then patted her shoulder gently.
“I’ve seen you though. Several times a week. Making sure that I didn’t get in the way of your experiment. Which is working I see? Zack mentioned that I should come and see what you’ve managed. It’s pretty impressive, Eve. Now, I hear that you plan to battle sleep? Or the death of the day, to be more exact. Zack is right on that one. If you can do it for a while, not giving in, you’ll be free of the compulsion to die each day. You did it once, so you can do it again. My guess is that Keeley had a hand in this, so far. This has her written all over it.”
Eve sighed, which meant taking a breath first, having forgotten.
“She did? I… Haven’t seen her for a while.”
If she’d made a deal or bargain, and didn’t realize it…
Zack shook his head.
“Then it would have broken when you died. No, I get it. She showed you how to ‘meditate’ right? By focusing on the sense of what it is you’re trying to hold in mind?”
That was right, so she nodded, and Darla looked away, holding a hand over her mouth. Hiding a darling smile.
“She taught you Demon Magic. Not a lot, and you aren’t very good at it yet, but enough to help you move past some of the problems of being a youthful Vampire, if you use it. Clever of her. Humans can do it, if they try. Many of the yogic magical traditions are actually similar. I’d wondered how she was going to do it. Technically you’re not her person to meddle with, but teaching a simple skill? Hardly a thing anyone would go to war over. Especially since it makes you more valuable, rather than less.”
War?
“Um, I think I missed something. Who’d be fighting over me?”
Darla smiled, which was a slightly wicked thing. Teasing and saucy.
“In this case, Zack and Keeley. This is Zack’s Territory, and while you had a limited protection bargain in place as a Human, that went away when you died. So, you’re no longer tied to me at all. Yes, you were my person, until the other day. Now you’re one of Zack’s, unless you choose to move? If that comes up, you’re more than welcome to come live in Arizona. I always have need for good people in my organization. I hear that you’re putting together a massive power grab already however? Cheap blood to undercut Keeley’s operation? Rebekah mentioned it the other day. She’s actually very pleased to see you doing so well, by the way.”
That got them talking about things, and Zack held up the sheet of paper in his hand.
“Speaking of which, I need to see about this order. Darla?”
“I’ll stay here and annoy Eve for a bit? Then we can go work on your new career as a stripper. I’m thinking you should start out in the gay scene…”
Zack waved and left, Darla winking at her.
“He’s a bit hung up on Human notions still. Especially around sex and murder. Now, focus on what it felt like, back when you were Human, and had just eaten a full meal. Not the bloating part, the sense of not needing to eat.” It was a weird thing to say, but her buddy was apparently serious, so she tried her best. It didn’t instantly wipe out hunger, and when they tried feeling calm and relaxed it didn’t take out rage either, but both were a bit better.
“Keep that up. It pulls a bit on the energy links you have, but not very much, since you aren’t doing it too well yet. As you improve you might need to be careful to have a full set of links at all times. You should also make yourself feel alive and awake during the day, and like the sun isn’t burning you. Those will both be harder, but if you do it well enough it might make a difference. You’re walking a hard path, Eve. I always expected great things from you, however.”
“You did? Based on what?”
There was a slow smile and a look around.
“Why, the way you killed your mother, of course. It took work to make certain you didn’t get caught, but you didn’t make the same mistake twice. The others were handled much better. Hands on, which was strange, for one your age, but it showed that you weren’t willing to make everyone else do your dirty work. Now though, you really should, when you can. Oh, stand out and be the best Vampire you can, but use the heck out of others, too. Carefully, and make sure they always feel loved, but do it. Trust me, people, Vampires and Greater Demons, will use you. Like Zack?”
She grinned, her face lovely for the move. Perfectly made up and just the right color for the United States. White with no hint of anything else in her history. Eve was at least part Latino. She’d never met her mother’s people though, so didn’t know how much. It showed in her skin though, or had. Now she was way lighter, she realized.
Being dead was awesome that way.
Eve made a considering face, and nodded a few times, trying not to oversell the whole thing.
“I can do that. So, want to come help me clean the garage this weekend?”
That got her hugged again, as if she were being brilliant and clever.
“There you go! You should offer something that I want, that you don’t care about for the service though. Friendship, sex, emeralds?”
“Want an emerald? I have a bunch of them. What I don’t have is a garage. I’m kind of staying with Troy, or was. I guess I’m just going to stay up for a while now? I should get some clean clothes and a shower, if I’m going to try that.”
Darla held her hand out, for the free gem. It was free after all.
“Except for the strings attached to it. Not that I have anything to try and use you for right now. We should have a sleep over, or… Well, not one where we sleep. Maybe a camping trip? It’s a bit cold out right now.” Making it less than a good idea.
“Like we feel cold? I know though, you should come over for Thanksgiving, in a few days? At my house? Zack and his Lenore are coming, at six, so you should be free?”
She tilted her head.
“Almost no chance of that happening this year. I have to answer to Edom anyway. Still, I can work here, and he could go? He’d be a good guy for you to hang with, you know? Bey, too. Have you met him?”
“I have! He’s a delightful being. Do you think you can have some of your new blood product ready by then? We’ll have Human as well, but a good hostess should strive for variety. I will be recommending you for the Christmas party however. Finias will want you there for it, especially given all that you’ll have accomplished by then.
It was nice to get a vote of confidence, wasn’t it?
She was tempted to try and keep Darla, but the phone rang, and her friend touched her arm again.
“We’re all very pleased this is working out for you, Eve. Don’t forget to use your meditations. Constantly now. You have a choice to make. Do you merely move past what others would do, or will you step beyond that, and become something new and special?” Then in the time it took to walk around the counter, she just turned and walked out the front door, heading back into the mall.
Eve grabbed the phone up, doing it a bit too fast. It wasn’t so much that the thing broke, but it made a slapping sound against her hand. People didn’t do that kind of thing. Normally. It would look funny, and was a sign that she wasn’t in the kind of control she wanted to have. Still, she didn’t have the skill to focus on a feeling of peace while speaking. Not that she knew of.
She tried anyway.
“Yoghurt World. Eve Benson speaking. How may I help you?”
It was going to end up being her new catch phrase she knew. There were worse things to have to say all the time.
“Fucking bitch! I’m going to come there and rape your ass until you bleed out, you fucking, slut! You cost me the woman I love!”
“Um, excuse me? Not that it doesn’t sound like a tempting offer, but… Who?”
“Maggie! They took her, and I know it was you! Those Council stooges told me that the Vampires did it. That the ambassador there sent them. I’m not going to take this! She’s mine. She loves me, or she should. I… Why did you take her?” He moved from psychopathic rapist to plaintive little boy in about two sentences. Not a record, perhaps, but pretty darned good, really.
“Um, well, you kind of used magic on her, against her will. No one really likes that. You are Marcus right?” She might have that wrong. It could be some other guy that was mind raping women. If they had that power, there would be more than one of them around.
“Yeah. But… It wasn’t like that! I love her. I just… Look, I’m not some great looking guy, but she likes me. I can tell. So, I.. You know, used what I could. It’s no different than if I were attractive, or good with words. I have power, and it isn’t wrong to use it.”
She’d heard that argument before, actually.
“Except that backfired didn’t it? You can’t win a woman over by enslaving her mind, dumbass. Right now the Mages are going to set it up so you can’t do that again, and… Fuck. Maggie will probably kill you. I’ll try to talk her out of it, but you have to fix yourself. First, from now on, don’t use magic on anyone. I mean anything at all. If you want to, and that means dead people too, then call the embassy here and ask them if it’s all right first. Then… We need to find some way to keep you alive until Maggie calms down.”
“You do? We do, I mean?”
“Yeah. So, from now on, you’re my bitch, got it? You do what I tell you and if you don’t, I won’t help you. In that case, run. I can guarantee you though, doing this my way will be safer and probably get you a lot more loving than you get now. Not from her, most likely, but if you run right now, you’ll probably end up a girl. The hard way.”
