Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (9 page)

“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.

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.