Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (2 page)

Bats
needed to eat a lot though, and could run to low blood sugar if not fed, so she
passed over a caramel swirl without being asked, which had the woman looking
relieved.

“Ah. Met
with treats and a smile. So this is planned? A heads up would have been good,
just for future reference.” She gestured around the room with a red plastic
spoon, indicating the impromptu meeting.

“Sure it
is. Just not by us, here. I’m sure the Council knows all about it. Not that I
can just call them up, but… Here, wait a minute.”

Eve,
after all, had contacts. After a fashion. The first one she called was Keeley
though. They were close enough, even after school had ended, and the girl
was
a Greater Demon. Those people knew stuff, and had their hands in thousands of
pies at once. That it couldn’t be done physically wouldn’t stop them either. It
was one of the reasons everyone feared and hated them. Except that she didn’t.
It was insane, but half of her friends were that sort of being.

The
phone was answered on the first ring, since Keels would have her cell on her.

“Hello?”
There was a slightly dubious tone to her words, which was a bit unusual for
her. Even if it was fake, the girl, a woman now, exuded confidence in the main.
It was what Eve decided to go for in the moment too, not knowing any better.
She kind of did, but seeming worried wouldn’t help anyone and if it came to a
fight, every single being there was older than she was.
Maybe
not
tougher, one on one, but it might be a problem if she had to take on all of
them on at once.

“Hey
buddy! So, Richard Swerlin is pretty much your bitch, right? Is this
you
,
or did he just decide that being undead wasn’t good enough anymore? Going for
the real deal, maybe?” She waited then, since people were looking at her funny.

Listening.

“This
one wasn’t
my
idea. He snuck it right past me. We haven’t talked in
weeks, but… I need to get with him. Tonight. Someone else is clearly behind
this. Can you check on Darla, Finias, Ann and Zack for me? Make sure they’re
not doing it? I don’t want to ruin anything if one of them has a plan. I’ll go
and roust Rich. My bet is that he’s in hiding. If he has half a brain left.”
There was conversation in the background, and from the rate of speed it was
happening at, and the agitated tone, Eve was willing to bet it was a Vampire.
One that she hadn’t met, most likely. No one else would be that panicked over
this yet.

 Keeley
had lots of slaves, and friends, after all. She wasn’t called The Mistress of
Souls because of her plucky jazz horn playing, after all. No, if she wanted a
person, she could just take them as a slave. Pretty much anyone, at any time.
Even over the phone.

That
meant a lot of people just did what she said, without even asking why. Eve
wasn’t like that though. They were real friends. As much as one could be with
an amoral being that could turn her emotions on and off at will.

Eve
grinned, knowing that Keeley would understand what she was thinking, most
likely.

“I’ll
make some calls. You should make sure he gets with the Council, too. It will
probably end in his death, but maybe not? What do I know about things like
that? Maybe he’s too high profile now? That could be the point, I guess…”

There
was a half second pause, “that might well be. If so, he should have contacted
me first. I have my part in this, now. Try to keep everyone there calm? We
don’t need people freaking out. We can save that for later, if it’s really
needed.”

Eve
could see that. It really might not be, even if people realized they were real.

“’Kay.
Talk to you later.”

The rest
of the room had heard the whole thing, but that didn’t mean they understood it
all, did it? She looked out at them and shrugged, then decided to simply
explain.

“The
Mistress of Souls is going to go and check on her boy, Richard. She claims that
it wasn’t her that put him up to this, but she wants me to check with some of
the others of her kind. The Line Walker, of course, who should be down in his
store. Lars, could you go get him? We may need to get his help in this, later.
Linda, you’re up to suck him off as part of the payment, right?” She was
joking, but they were all Vampires there. They knew that you had to do whatever
was needed, at times. So the tiny and rather attractively presented, curly
haired woman, nodded.

“I’ll do
my portion. I take it that you’re up for that, too? I haven’t heard of him
doing men, but he does seem to enjoy sex.”

Eve
shrugged.

“Honestly,
I bet we can trade other things, but if it comes up, it’s good to know we have
some people on tap. I already have a bargain with him for things like that
though, so it probably wouldn’t count for me. Lars?” She waited for him to
protest, but the white being just turned and started to walk out into the mall,
looking like his true self. She almost protested, but then shook her head a
bit, and smiled.

“In for
a penny?”

Linda,
the only one not covertly going for the door, nodded to her, agreeing, it
seemed.

Everyone
seemed at a loss really. They milled in place or sat at the tables. Most of
them in various states of rage. She understood that one, but it was silly. They
were there, and real. People might come for them, but the odds were that most
wouldn’t. Not even if they believed they were real. The danger wasn’t even
really to them, in the main, but to their
Human
neighbors and friends
who might be hurt by accident. Even a weak Vampire could take out a few armed Humans.
The trick there would be making sure no one was burned out of their home during
the day. Most of their kind simply weren’t old enough, or powerful enough, to
stay awake under the burning sun.

It was
rough, but she could do it, and had for almost her entire un-life. So, fifteen
days, as soon as daylight came.

Looking
up, she saw that Lars was back, along with Zack.

He
didn’t make them wait.

“I had
nothing to do with this one. I’ll get with the others for you, so you don’t
have to rile them up. Or at least Ann.” He looked at the room and shrugged.
“The Rotted. She’s insane, so it’s best not to play in her front yard if you
can help it. You can do Darla and Finias though.” Then, oddly, he smiled and
waved to everyone. “Hey, all. Don’t let this one get to you. Eve is on it. I’m
sure it will be all right. That, or it won’t, and then you can all just hide
behind her. She’s good that way.”

It was
overselling, but she understood that he was giving them some kind of hope. The
funny thing there was that they didn’t turn away from it, even if it did come
from a Greater Demon. To a lot of them though, he was
their
Greater
Demon. Which was kind of like claiming a particular lion was your personal pet.
The good one that helped the Vampires out and really didn’t ask for a lot in
return. So far at any rate. Eventually it would come, but until then, it was
worth treating him well. Actually it always would be, since doing anything else
was probably suicide.

She was
about to speak when he kept going.

“For
instance,
she
just won a bet with me, which was for half of the debt
that the Vampire Council owes me. She had to stay up for fifteen days straight
to do it. Not bad, given that this is only her
sixteenth
day now.” He
smiled and clapped, as if it were a happy thing, and a few of the others did it
too, including Linda, who seemed to be impressed.

“You’re
truly that young? I would have never known!”

There
was a happy exclamation from the door then and some light clapping.

Bey. Both
her personal buddy, and the killer of the Vampire Council.

“Most
wondrous, Miss Benson! I fear it may be lost to most how incredible that truly
is, given the current state of things, but that is both a sign of your own
great power and will, and a boon to all Vampires. I have to agree with The Line
Walker however, Miss Benson shall see to your protection for this area. We will
have daytime patrols, for all those who sleep. If you do not need such, or wake
early, please step forward now, to guard the others, if they request such. No
time for dawdling.” He moved toward the counter, looked at the cracks in it and
turned almost instantly to Linda. “You may wish to let Lenore know that you’ll
pay for that? We can forgive the rage, given the situation, but it might be
good not to push her too far.”

There
was a rueful expression on the woman, but she sighed and moved forward,
volunteering to take the first watch.

Eve made
up a list, which had four people on it for their area. Not
Bey
, who was
probably going to be pretty busy, being on the Council and all, but her,
Lenore, Edom and Linda. It probably wouldn’t be a long term thing, thankfully.
No one else there was able to be awake for enough of the day. Edom still tended
to sleep for a few hours, but Bey decided that he was going to stop doing that
now.

It
really didn’t matter if he
could
or not. If Bey ordered it, then it
would be done.

It took
longer to set up the map than anything, since she had to dig one out of the
things in Lenore’s desk, not knowing where it was. Then she had to work out
where everyone lived, and the location of their important Humans. Most of them
didn’t want to share any of that information with her, so it made it simpler.
They had to
offer
some kind of protection, but that didn’t mean anyone
had to take them up on it. Being marked on the map would be a problem if it
fell into the wrong hands, so that was a serious consideration.

So at
the top she wrote,
for a good time call
… No one else thought it was
funny, but Bey smiled and nodded, as if it were a clever way to avoid using the
word
Vampire
. It just made sense not to advertise just yet, especially
since the fallout could be vast, if handled wrong.

Possibly
if it went to plan, as well. To that end, Eve rolled her eyes, looked up at the
ceiling and took a deep breath.

“Right.
Darla first, since I actually know her.”

Helpfully,
Zack, who was still there, smiled and explained to the room.

“The
Technician.”

She
muttered at him, but dialed the number from memory. It was late, being after
midnight now, but Darla wouldn’t be asleep or anything. She didn’t bother with
that either. Like, Zack, Keeley, and now apparently,
her
. Because they
were all incredibly nifty that way.

It
picked up on the third ring, and the voice on the other end sounded happy.

“Hello!
I had nothing to do with it.” That was the very first thing out of her mouth,
so Eve cleared her throat.

“Okay.
Good to know. Any idea who did? Other than Richard Swerlin. Keels is on that
part of things, so I guess we have to wait to find that one out?”

“Yep!”
There was a low, and not at all snarky, laugh. “I have to say, this is ballsy.
It
could
work you know. Fifty years ago, I would have said no, but right
now? If there’s enough noise about it, for long enough, it might do the trick.
Do you want me to help you all round up the Christians? They’re going to be a
pain in the butt over this, and it’s about time someone did something about
them.”

Darla,
while a lovely person in a lot of ways,
really
had a hard-on for anyone
that said they loved Jesus. Now, Eve didn’t think there was any such person,
and God was clearly a myth, but she didn’t want all the people that thought
Christ was their pal to be dead. Darla kind of did. At least she said that kind
of thing a lot.

Eve
shook her head, looking at the worried people in the room.

“Nah.
We’ll just tell them that Demons exist and trot out Balthias and some of his
buddies. That will distract them for a while. Probably give a huge power boost
to Bal, too, so maybe I need to rethink that one. He’s kind of made up of their
thoughts and fears, isn’t he?”

“He is.
Well, it will make for an interesting few months, if nothing else. Did you get
my present? I haven’t noticed a thank you note yet. That’s a bit rude, don’t
you think? I’m almost certain I mentioned how to do that kind of thing to you
before.” She sounded a bit upset about it all, to tell the truth.

“I’ve
used them daily, actually. I wanted to make sure I had something to tell you
about first. It’s horribly painful, but I’m not all that fast yet.” Not that
she was going to admit to the people in front of her. She was probably the
second fastest Vampire in the room, and the third fastest being. Zack won that
one, hands down, and Bey could still vanish in front of her, moving so fast,
but she really doubted that many of the other could keep up anymore.

All it
had cost her was pain even worse than the torture of running full speed in the
sun each day.

“I’ll
fire off a note, just as soon as I remember how to write in cursive. That’s
been a while. Grade school?” She was playing, a bit, but knew that Darla was
right. The gift she’d given her, no matter how much it hurt to use, was
probably worth billions of dollars. Shoes sized to her, that pushed her to move
faster and faster each time she used them. It was clearly about
training
too, not just the sneakers causing her speed to go up. It was more useful than
that by far, since she’d walk away with the increased speed in the end, as long
as she used them enough.