Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (23 page)

He was, in short, this group’s
slave. Probably their sex bitch, too. Rebekah had told her that a lot of the
Manthori groups worked that way. Even if they had money enough, the lowest
person in the group could be beaten and raped for fun, and would have to do
most of the hunting and work.

She pointed at him, which got a
large wince, one that had him stumbling back, away from her, in case there was
about to be violence.

“What’s your name?”

“Hank. Ma’am.” His words were
clearer than the leader’s had been, which meant that he either really cared to
be understood, had been around for a long time, or both.

“Fine. You work here now. That
may change in the coming days. Start cleaning the back up. Sandra, will you make
sure Hank knows what to do? He’s your assistant now.” To her shock, the woman
did it, even though she was an assistant ambassador, and Eve was only her.
Barely a yogurt girl even.

Then, she was the one with the
bloody hand, who had the Manthori, the rest of them, carting bodies out through
the back door, to a waiting pickup truck, not half an hour later. They had to
steal shovels, but she ran alongside the vehicle, and made certain they buried
the corpses deep, when they found a nice safe clearing for it.

None of the white haired beings
tried to talk to her, not until the very end of things, when it was time to
leave.

It was a woman who did it, her
voice harsh, but relatively clear.

“What do we do now? We needed
that money to live.”

Eve nodded, then killed her,
doing it so fast that her hand was nearly clean when it was pulled back. That
meant more digging, but at least they were at the right spot.

“The answer, is that you can do
anything you want. As long as it isn’t breaking any laws. Like anyone else.
Come on peeps, this isn’t that hard, Vampires are a known thing in the States,
and the Manthori have celebrities now. One anyway. Fuck, you could use
compulsion like hypnosis, and help people stop smoking and lose weight. Or, you
could dig ditches, like this. Get with Marissa, of the Council, and see about
setting up a local blood farm… There is really no end to what you can do, if
you just apply yourselves and try. Now, let’s get that last body in the ground.
Anyone else have any questions?” It was interesting, but one of the men
actually did, raising his hand, like they were in school.

“Yes?” She pointed at him a bit,
so that he’d know she meant him.

“Who’s in sharge of ush, now? You
killed everyone…”

Eve smiled, and then tilted her
head. More than half of them were still there, plus anyone they left at home,
so he was really kind of being a bit of a bitch about the whole thing.
Wah,
everyone that’s the boss of me is dead, what so ever shall I do?

Telling him to fuck off and die
would probably be a little too hardcore, even for her, so she thought for a
second and said nothing that was even remotely like what she’d been thinking.

“Hank is. I thought that was
clear?
He
works for the Council now, it’s why I got him the job. If any
of you touch him, or treat him without proper respect, I’ll know about it. Do
what he says, from now on.”

None of them seemed that upset
about the idea, but then, if they were, they probably wouldn’t tell
her
about it, would they?

In all it took them three days to
really get the Iowa node up to speed. Even at that, the product was inferior as
far as yogurt went. Eve actually ran all the way back to Vancouver to get a
culture sample for the base, because otherwise they were going to have to use
store bought, which wasn’t nearly as mild. Ginger worked the whole time, without
any complaints at all. It was a nice change, compared to some of the people
she’d been around.

 Eve noticed that she’d started
to integrate the two links that she’d been holding, as well, on top of her
normal eight. At least they didn’t fade the instant she forgot about them
anymore.

On the fourth day she and her
side-kick ran back, making it in twelve hours of actual travel time. It wasn’t
fast, really, but it was an improvement.

That meant they got in just as it
was turning light. The sky was a pretty pink and bright blue, given the clouds
on the horizon, as pain ripped across them both. It was still lovely, even with
that part of things being so powerful.

Inside they found David still
there, but Edom not yet in. Ginger got right to work, cleaning, without needing
to be asked. It was a sign that she was taking control of her own life now, and
doing it really well. For her part, Eve knew that it was time to stop putting
off some of the things that she’d been doing.

First, she called Fram, using
Marcus’s old number, that being the only one she had for him.

“Top o’the mornin’ to you!” The
voice was the same as the last time they’d spoken, but a bit more happy and
glib.

“Hey Fram. I’m just calling to
make sure you remember our date in a few days? I’m planning to have advisors
in, so that I don’t mess things up. No tricks or traps, though. I don’t know
who will be there yet, since I need to ask still. I can call with a list?”

“Oh? That’s nice of you. Yes,
that would be good. If the wrong people are coming, I might need to have you un-invite
them? I don’t particularly want to end up dead, or in a tiny box, and I do
understand that you can’t control all of my people perfectly yet. Really you
need to get on that one. I’m kinda shocked you haven’t fixed that yet. Falling
down on the job already… Tsk. Tsk. They’re only Demons.”

The cream colored hand piece was
suddenly a lot more annoying to her for some reason. She smiled though, and
tried not to hurl the thing to the ground.

“Or, and this is just a thought,
I could survive the year? Hmm? Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

“A point. Still, get me that
list, before I show up? I take it the regulars will want to be there. Zack,
since it’s his territory, even if he is still just a kid. Darla, being that
she’ll want to make sure you treat me right… And Keeley.” There was enough of a
pause, and heat, to the last words that she laughed. Like she was a disease and
not a girl Demon.

“I get that one, but seriously,
you’re going to need to suck that one up and not go after her Fram. I can
understand why you’d want to, but seriously, no other Greater Demon in the
world
cares. To them it was just a thing, and getting taken by her again would be a
sign that you can’t handle yourself. No one has managed to really get around
her yet, so doing that, by not trying to step on her dick, might just be a way
to impress people. Not that you should give a flying fuck about what any
Greater Demons thinks.
I
don’t, and look how well that’s working out for
me?”

There was a long silence then,
and rather than yell at her, or call her names, there was a long and mournful sigh.

“I know. Plus, if a Vampire can
figure out my plan that easily, it can’t be a very good one.”

“Exactly. Plus, that isn’t the
real plan anyway, is it? You have a bunch of them lined up, with that one just
kind of acting as a screen. The Vampire-Human war thing, too, but that one
isn’t yours. Who was that again? The Greater Demon that was pretending to be
Brian Smith? Then they moved on, faking his death, for some reason. It was a
bit dramatic, since they
could
have just quit and claimed to have a
better job. That probably means they wanted someone to figure it out, doesn’t
it? None of you would make a simple mistake like that.”

There was more silence, and then
a laugh.

“Know this, Eve Benson.
Snowflake. I could tell you that, and by our agreement am
required
to,
being asked like that. If I do, then you’d probably be killed for knowing that
information, right now. Do you
really
want to know?
Truuuly
?”

“Don’t call me Snowflake. I guess
not though, if death is the result. Anyway, we’ll meet in, call it five days?
That gives you a bit more time. I’m really cool that way though. We can do it
sooner, if that works for you. I’m easy.” She waited to be called a slut, but
there was just a click.

Then the phone went dead.

Hopefully because someone was
mugging the bastard.

Not that it would be that, but it
was nice to dream. The fucker had killed three innocent people, and influenced
several Mages to do things they never would have on their own. Oh, he probably
hadn’t forced Warren to abuse the people he worked with, but really, once you
gave total power to anyone, what was going to happen? Eve was willing to drop
the blame for that one on the Greater Demon. Even if he wanted to argue the
point, which she doubted would be the case. His kind tended to just assume it was
a good thing when others were miserable, as far as she could tell.

Not that she was trying to be
anti-Demon, or anything like that. She just didn’t think Fram was the good
kind. Even if he wasn’t the worst, either.

She called Darla up next, having
waited far too long between the times she was in touch. Worse, she was calling
up because she
wanted
something. What kind of douche did things like
that?

“Eve?”

She blinked, then looked around.

“That’s magical, how did you know?”

“Caller ID, added to the fact
that no one from that number would be calling me directly, except for you.
They’d ask Zack to intercede for them, if it were an important issue. Otherwise
they’d find some other way to deal with things. Now, what can I do for you
today?”

“Two things. First, can I trade
for some way to kill Fram,
or
Maggie Sims, she’s a Vampire, and an old
one if that makes any difference? I’d prefer taking out Fram, but Zack thinks I
won’t be allowed to leave him dead. Second, when can we get together? We should
have a party or something. Maybe on the Fourth of July?” It sounded good to
her. Her parents could come too, if they wanted. They knew Darla.

Hell, they’d both fucked Darla.
And had for decades. It wasn’t like they’d be the party killers.

There was a soft chuckle, as if
Darla knew what she was thinking.

“I do have the Fourth free. Let
me see… I could let you use, or rather use
for
you, my Geordis. It’s a
localized time machine that separates a discrete area from the time stream and
reverses time for what’s inside. You’d still have to get him to die inside an
enclosed space, and not force him to end up in too many pieces. Do you have any
clue how to do that?” She sounded doubtful.

That got Eve to roll her eyes.

“Yes, I invited him to a meeting,
with you, Zack and Keels, if you want to come, and possibly some others, though
he hasn’t agreed to anyone else yet. You know, to plan how to kill him, as long
as we’re bringing him back to life. I was thinking of choking him to death.
Slowly. That, or burning, but he’d just kill off the pain anyway. So far we’re
set to meet in five days.”

“I can… Make that. It’s
impressive. You actually set up a meeting to kill him? I’d love to hear the
story about how that happened. Now, let me… Do you have anything to trade,
directly? Just to use the device would normally cost a person about a hundred
million dollars, American. I can of course give you a discount, but there has
to be
some
parity.”

Eve froze, going still, since it
actually sounded fair, given that she wanted to kill a Greater Demon then bring
him back to
life
. It was just so much. After a second or two of
wondering if just stabbing him in the eyes enough times at a hospital would
work, she spoke.

“I, uh, have two kilos of pencil
lead for spin class?” That didn’t sound like enough suddenly, but there was a
pleased gasp from the phone in her hand.

“You don’t mean graphene, for
spintronics, do you?”

“
That’s
the one. In
sheets. Is it enough?”

“
Yeesss
. I could throw in
something else, to sweeten the deal a bit? Perhaps you’d like to kill Fram
twice? Or this Maggie,
and
him? It can’t hurt to be prepared after all.”

Eve could see that one, “we’ll
probably just need the one, but we can keep that on the table, just in case it
comes up? Unless you want to help me figure out who else has been messing with
my life? The information I have seems to be saying I need to just drop it, but
that won’t work, if someone is gunning for me. Though, who’d do that? I mean,
who, with the power too, would waste the time and effort. It’s not like I’m not
open to sufficient bribes, after all.”

There was no answer.

Finally Eve sighed, sounding
credibly put upon.

“I hear you. Well, if
all
the Greater Demons are saying it, I guess that’s what I need to settle on then.
So, the Fourth? And I’ll see you at the meeting? I need to get with Zack, too.
He might want to borrow that Geordis thing for the same reason. Fram has some
things to answer for, and no one to really hold his feet to the fire.”

Darla laughed.

“You can remember to call the
time machine a Geordis, but not what graphene is?”

“Well, you now, old habits, and
all that. I still occasionally pretend to be dumber than I really am. It throws
people off. At least that’s the theory.”

There was something close to
mirth coming off of the phone then, and a voice that hadn’t spoken before that.
It was female, and familiar, but in the distance.

“Oh? Keeley wants to know if
you’re up for a guest later today? She’s thinking of bringing a friend for you
to play with.”

“Sounds good. What kind of
friend?”

Darla repeated the words being
said, even though Eve could hear them, now that she was paying attention. “A
Vampire? It will have to be after dark.”

“Got it. I’ll be here, I think,
at the yogurt shop, in Vancouver. Tell her I’ll see her then?”

“Of course. I missed you, Eve.”

“Who wouldn’t? I’m
awesome
.
You probably noticed that though, being so smart and everything. I missed you
two. Both of you.”

The thing there was that
she
really had. Greater Demons only felt what they wanted to. The idea that any of
them would choose to miss
her
, in particular was too strange to credit.

Planning to spend the rest of the
day cleaning and doing work around the shop, or possibly the Candles and More
across the way, was a good idea, but not needed. Lisa had a young helper in,
and even though the boy was a bit young for the work, he was a Mage and looked
to be taking his job relatively seriously. Todd, the brother of the Mage kid
that Zack killed.

He was probably there to plot his
revenge, which was both a bit stupid and also not that far from the likely
truth, once she thought about it for a minute. If she had someone she liked, a
brother or sister, or maybe a dog, and they had been killed, would she just
stand back and do nothing? Even if it was the only sane thing to do?

The real answer surprised her,
because if it were a Greater Demon that did it, she might just have to eat the
death. Then again, Todd wasn’t her. No, he was young, innocent, and probably a
better person by far. Not a killer, for instance. She knew what she was, and
didn’t bother apologizing for it a lot, but that didn’t make it a good thing.

He was working though, and seemed
to be doing a great job of it so far.

That meant she wasn’t needed over
there. Not unless he needed her to jerk him off, or possibly give him a hummer
in the back room. Since that was probably illegal, she decided to skip it for
the time being. If he wanted that, well, in a year or two, or even ten, she’d
still look the same, wouldn’t she?

It really kind of left her at
loose ends, but the truth was, Ginger didn’t need her as far as basic shop
upkeep went. Crowding in with Edom to read paperwork and try to memorize it was
possible, of course, but really, there was something they needed to finally get
going, wasn’t there?

The Vampire in Training Program.

She’d already started on it,
having sorted the applications, so she picked the pile that looked best, having
been typed and filled out by sane seeming people, and started to call them, one
by one. Of the twenty she tried, three weren’t really interested anymore. In
all cases it had come down to them finding a boyfriend or girlfriend. Eve also
had not one, but three parents scream at her about being evil, and trying to
corrupt their children. Those applications all got pulled and marked, though
two of the parents belonged to the same girl. There was enough of a holy
rolling vibe to what they were saying that it really seemed a bit like they might
be abusive people.