Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (4 page)

“Well,
fuck
, Eve. That’s
pretty darned good for a Vampire. On your own, too? No one helped you at all?
Wow. I’m impressed. Okay, I doubt my tender flesh will thrill you either,
though I
am
looking pretty hot these days. Um… How about this, I have
some contacts in Russia, who
just
so happen to know the name of the
specific Vampire that’s getting ready to take his fellows in that area into rebellion
against the Council. Your folks don’t know who it is precisely yet either, so
the name has value. You and your boyfriend Bey can go and handle that, and it
should be worth, what? Three weeks? Twenty-one days of reprieve from death, for
myself, or Maggie? That won’t cover any of my other servants, but you aren’t
planning on a terror campaign, are you?” His voice didn’t even go dark at the
end. There was no threat implied, and it was asked like a genuine question.
Like he was interested in knowing the answer, and trusted her to simply tell
him what her plans were. Because, she remembered, they had an actual agreement
to share information, didn’t they?

So she did. It wasn’t like she
was going to lose anything by him knowing that she
hadn’t
turned into an
insane vengeance monster. She looked at the wall across from her, which was
very clean, and matched the color scheme of the place, being an orange like
shade.

“Nope. It never even crossed my
mind. I’m taking Maggie from you, one way or the other, and there may be some
pain coming your way for screwing with me,
if
I can manage it. You
killed some people here too, using her like you did. Maybe not on purpose, but still,
it happened, and you knew to plan for that kind of thing. That’s… I guess
that’s between you and Zack, since none of them were my people, exactly. I’m
not
happy about it, but that isn’t anything for us to go at it about. So, if the
information you give me checks out, you get twenty-one days. Then we meet, and
work out how to best do this? Or do you want me to sneak up on you and pretend
I can do anything other than smuggle in a secret weapon? It would be better for
me
if you just helped out. Probably safer for everyone. Plus if I have
to shove a nuke up your ass, it would be easier if we lubed you up first.”

She expected an evil laugh, or
something. What she got was a pleasant voice. A calm one that sounded like they
were talking about meeting for coffee, not death.

“That sounds fine. A name for
you, and a real meeting at the end, with no tricks or traps involved after
twenty-one days where you don’t go after Maggie or myself. During that time
neither of us will go after you either. Fair?”

“Yes. As long as you don’t send
anyone else to do it. Or anything. I’ll fight for my life, or my friends’
lives, no matter what we say right now.”

“Understood. I won’t use any
loopholes in this. I simply need the time. Fine, then. We’ll move forward with
this. I’m happy to hear that you’re doing better so soon, by the way. I’ve been
worried about you. I stopped myself, of course, but it actually happened three
times since you were injured. That’s a lot, for me.”

“Um, thanks? So, that name?”

She had to write it down, but got
a lot more than just the strange Russian sounding name that probably meant John
Smith, or the equivalent. Eve was
also
given the name of the man’s
co-conspirators, an outline of their plan, which was pretty basic, and the
addresses of several of their secret hiding places. They meant nothing to her,
and she probably spelled the names wrong, not knowing the Cyrillic alphabet
yet, but it was a starting place. She even got some numbers for Vamps in the
right area that weren’t in with the bad guy.

Bohdan Constantine. It did sound
like a great evil bad guy name, at least to her.

Once they were off the line, Eve
was kind of conflicted by the whole idea. Maggie had nearly killed her, and she
wanted her dead for it. That was fair and right, wasn’t it? Zack had made it
seem like she could, and more to the point
should
, save her though, and
even Fram had been nearly helpful about the whole thing. Sure, he wanted to get
his plan finished, but there was no way
Eve
was going to stop him, and
his friends anyway. If anyone could, it wasn’t going to be
her
.

Still, wouldn’t revenge be
better?

After a moment, she had to shake
her head, the empty store silent, except for the hum of the machines. That
probably meant Lenore had been listening in from the back. That could end up
with her being beaten, for daring to think she was more clever than a Greater
Demon, or for risking herself to save a friend that had probably been a Demon’s
slave the entire time they’d known each other.

The woman stirred, but didn’t
come out, so if she was shocked or angered, it wasn’t going to come in a
rushing and insane attack at that moment.

In fact, it was pretty clear that
the phone was being picked up then, in the back, and a few moments later a
female voice spoke.

Maggie.

Eve listened closely, and heard
the ancient Vampire sound very nearly friendly.

“Burgerville, fourth plain, how
may I help you today?” That news got Eve to blink. It was the old job that
Maggie had been working, before she’d gone off to be the mouthpiece for the
Council.

That she was working there again,
or possibly
still
, was fascinating. It probably wasn’t that she needed
the money, after all. Then, twenty-four hours a day was a lot of time to fill.
It could just be that she liked to keep busy.

Lenore cleared her throat.

“Maggie. Would you happen to know
where Bey is right now? We have some new information, on the difficulties in
Russia? Eve got it for us. From the Demon Fram? Amazingly, she isn’t plotting
your instant death. She’s
also
already fully healed from her little
adventure already. I knew that you’d want to hear about that, first thing.”

Okay, so the ambassador was being
a bit catty sounding, but Maggie actually made a real happy sound, her voice
very nearly thrilled seeming. It was strange and annoying, since Eve kind of
still wanted to be pissed at her. Arms and legs, burnt to carbon, with not even
the bones left. That was worth being upset over, wasn’t it?

“Oh, thank
goodness
! I’m
surprised that she’s taking it so well, though I guess I shouldn’t be too taken
aback by the idea. If someone had done that to me, I’d be less than pleased,
myself. It’s good to know that I didn’t hurt her too much to bear. She just
kept coming at me so fast. I really didn’t have a lot of choice at the time,
since it was use fire, or die.”

Eve snorted, but spoke from the
front space, knowing that the other woman would hear her.

“Right. I’ve got a thing set up
with Fram, for the next three weeks. A truce. After that we’re going to kill
one of you. We have a meeting scheduled for it.” She stopped there, a bit of anger
in her tone. She got how it would sound, and looked toward the back, wondering
what the response would be.

Maggie just coughed. It wasn’t
real, but it seemed like it. She was just so damned good at faking things like
that.

“
That’s
different. Only
one of us? Why not both? I don’t suppose that it’s going to be the
other
one in the collection that goes, will it? Well, I’ve had a long life. I can’t
complain about the measure I’ve been given that way, if it must come to the part
where it ends now.”

Eve rolled her eyes.

“I know, that
does
sound
pretty fair, doesn’t it? But nooo,
I
have to set it up so we just kill
one of you, and bring you back, so the slave link thing will be broken between
you. I’ll be calling some friends of mine in on that part, so that we can make
sure it works. You owe me though. Big time. Like
huge,
beyond anyone’s
ability to imagine. I’m not just talking helping me move, or clean the garage,
big either, so remember that when Christmas comes for the next few decades.”

That got a laugh, at least, and a
promise to do that.

“Thank you, Eve. I know that I
don’t deserve it. Things truly didn’t go as planned.”

It didn’t have anything to do
with what was deserved though, did it? Eve was still pissed at the other
Vampire, but she held her tongue on the topic.

Bey however, it turned out, was
in
the burger joint where Maggie worked as the manager. Just sitting there
listening to them natter on about silly things like life, and death. She heard
him say he was coming, a gentle whisper in the background of a sea of voices.
The place must be good, she realized, since it was still very early in the day.
Places that sucked didn’t have very big breakfast rushes.

The phone clicked shortly after
that, being hung up, before Lenore started making the next call. That was to
Eve’s buddy and business partner, it turned out. Marissa Constantine. The last
name was the reason why, too.

This time Eve kept her lips
closed, and just eavesdropped like a good minion. Taking a clean and damp
cloth, wringing it out carefully in the silver metal sink, she started to wipe
the whole room down. It was what they were supposed to do when they ran out of
other things.

It was a very polite call, with
Lenore kissing so much ass to start with that Eve could
hear
her lips
starting to chap, even from the other room. Not that it wasn’t a good idea to
be polite to people on the Council in general, but it was so over the top that
the hermaphrodite on the other end finally cut through things, her voice
slightly amused.

“Lenore, dear, what’s the
real
issue here? Not that I don’t appreciate the compliments, but you don’t normally
connect with me just to go on about my many virtues. That means you either want
something, or have news that you fear might enrage me. Which is it?”

There was a soft sigh from the
next room.

“The second one, I’m sorry to say.
It seems that we may have located the source of the rebellion in Russia. If our
information can be trusted, and it seems likely that it may be rather good,
then it’s coming from Bohdan. I thought to call you first, before we take any
action. I know that the Council has ordered this dealt with, as soon as
possible, but there is, perhaps room to wiggle things a bit?”

“Ah. I see the problem then. Bohdan.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in several years. A child of mine, from about,
oh… What century is this?” The question wasn’t a joke, so Lenore told her it
was early in the twenty-first, not letting any sense of humor come into it.

“So, six centuries ago? Surly he’s
old enough by now to know better than to challenge power lightly. An
intellectual, rather than a fighter, but never one to be too happy being led by
others. One always thinks that those we know will remain as we left them, but
it’s never the case, is it? I don’t suppose that a warning might be sent first?
To inform him that he should alter his path, before we send the might of the
Council after him?”

Eve had a tiny problem with that
one, herself, since it would let the man know that they were coming, which could
well mean getting his forces together, and ready, first. To her surprise
though, Lenore sounded positive about the idea. Like it was a brilliant plan,
actually.

Even Bey, who walked through the
door about then, from the front, nodded, as if he’d been listening to the whole
thing. That probably wasn’t possible though, given how far he’d just had to run
to get there. Even at his level of speed and power, walking places took time.
Like a half minute, but still, it was a real thing.

Without stopping to even nod at
her, the small, hairless man in the black suit, moved straight to the back, and
took over the conversation.

“We shall see that done then.
Perhaps it would be best if the message of warning came from you, his maker,
personally? I don’t doubt the others will allow that to be done. Such a thing,
coming from you, will probably end all problems there. If not, then we will
have to do more, of course. It will sadden my heart to pain you so, but I
cannot see another way. This is the wrong time for us to allow open discord
amongst our people. Now that the Humans are aware of us again, we must needs be
careful.”

“I know, old friend. I’ll do that
now. It may take me some time to find the correct number, it really has been
about a decade, if not longer, since my child and I spoke. Time flies, and we
all grow careless, as it does.”

Eve actually had one for the man,
on the note pad in her hand. She walked to the back, moving quickly, but
stopping at the door, so no one would hit her. Then, without speaking, she
pointed to the number next to the name on the yellow legal pad. Bey could use
it, or not, if he wanted.

“Oh? It seems we have that
information already to hand. Very good then. Thank you, Miss Benson. Marissa,
if you’d be so kind as to tell us what we need to do? We’ll stand by, waiting
for you to call on us, or more hopefully, to tell us we need do nothing.”

The phone hung up then, and Eve
waited, not knowing what would happen next.

It was hugging, as it turned out.
The real kind. The tiny bald man actually picked her up and squealed happily
while he did it.