Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (14 page)

Humans
did things like that. For once it was kind of working out for her, so she just
kept going, and faking a smile until morning came.

She
nearly stopped breathing, when she realized what was happening out in the mall,
in front of the Yoghurt World. It was, she knew, one of those things that
wouldn’t make sense to most people, even if they saw it. Not for what it really
was.

Marcus,
from across the way, had come into work early. By nearly a whole hour. Okay,
that was so strange as to be nearly bizarre, but it was who was walking with
him that got Eve to move from her place behind the counter. She smiled, and
didn’t rush anyone, but there, surrounding her fatbeard, was…

Everyone
.

All her
friends.

Darla,
Keeley, Hally and Gary. The old gang.

When she
walked out, Marcus looked at her a bit sheepishly, and then waved at everyone,
as if she wouldn’t know who they were.

“These
folks needed to get into the mall, so I said they could come wait at the candle
shop. I know that it isn’t exactly inside the rules, but…” He was drowned out
by squealing, as Hally and Gary both rushed at her. Too fast, but also in slow
motion.

Eve
picked Gary up first, and spun him in a circle as if he didn’t weigh nearly
sixty percent more than she did, then did the same with Hally. They both
smelled incredible, and she had to pull back after a second, but she winked at
the redheaded and lightly freckled girl. She could have passed herself off as
an actress, though that wasn’t what she was doing, Eve didn’t think. Really,
she wasn’t perfectly certain what Hally was getting up to now. She was kind of
dating Keels, but other than that, they hadn’t really had a chance to talk in
forever.

Gary,
who was still fit, and looked lean and like working out was just a daily part
of his life, glanced over at Marcus, as if he didn’t want to speak in front of
the stranger.

Eve got
that. Back home, when they were in school, almost no one actually knew about
things being strange in the world. Just to survive they’d had to make sure they
didn’t talk to the wrong people about things.

“Let’s
go into my place here? The Vampire embassy.” She waved at Mark, gesturing for
him to come too, since it was pretty early yet. “This is Marcus Aralias. Yes,
he really calls himself that, and no, it wasn’t the name his innocent, and no
doubt very normal, parents gave him. He’s a Mage. Number three over in their
embassy across the way. Come on.”

She got
them all into the shining and brightly colored space easily enough, though Hally
was looking at the new guy closely. Suspiciously, to tell the truth. That was
different, for her. She was pretty much the world’s most trusting person. At
least she had been. Now, she seemed different.

Pretty,
and confident, but also like she knew things that regular people just didn’t.
Her clothing was, Eve noticed, very nice. Businessy, rather than sexy, like she
worked for a corporation, not whatever it was that she really did. She had on a
navy blue jacket and skirt, and a string of pearls that made her seem straight
from the nineteen fifties. Her face was young though, barely changed from when
they were in high school. If it was different at all.

Gary was
the one that had changed. There were lines around his eyes now, and he seemed
tense, for all he was smiling hugely.

Both of
them were still human enough to be lunch though. She would have worried more
about that, but the burning pain of the sun would mean that most of the younger
Vampires would be down for the day already. No one would mistake her buddies
for a snack. Not if they had the discipline to come in that early. A thing
proven when Linda walked through the door, to get the watch map. The woman
smiled at everyone, and waved at Eve, but only spoke to Lenore. She was in her
normal long tweed looking coat with the soft brown leather gloves that were all
Eve had seen her in so far.

Rather
than explain, even to Lenore, who actually got who most of the people were, she
smiled and reached out to touch Keels on the arm.

It got a
bit of a
look
from Hally. So Eve stuck out her tongue, and giggled. It
was a thing they did, or used to. The whole group laughed at it, other than the
baffled seeming Mark.

He was
the one that seemed out of place, really. The rest of them were all really
attractive. Uncommonly so, to be honest. Like people that belonged on a
television program.

“So, did
you all come to see me before the Council calls for my death for being a pain
in the ass last night?”

Darla,
shining, radiant and blonde, nodded.

“About
like that. My sources inside that level of your political structure have the
odds at fifty-fifty right now. My guess is that they won’t actually vote to
kill you outright, since then you could legally fight. That’s a great thing
about your new culture. No one expects you to just
let
yourself be
killed. So they’ll probably try for something a bit less obvious. Starvation,
as you’ve already worked out.” How she knew that, Eve didn’t understand, but
Keels nodded.

There
was a clever smirk on her face though, not a sad look or anything.

“Not
that they can do that. You know how to beat it. You have the basic information
anyway. Do that, and very few beings will be able to do a lot to you. Anyway,
you’re going to miss Christmas, so we came to you! We don’t have forever, since
some of us actually have to work, if you can buy that one?” She glanced at Mark
and winked. “Not
me
, but Hally and Gary. Darla, too. She owns Cortechs?”

That got
the chubby guy to nod, and sit up straighter. It was cute, and looked almost
like he was going to try and hit on the Greater Demon, but his self-esteem was
too low for that kind of thing, so he rubbed at his fuzzy face.

“The
tech firm? That’s big. Do the rest of you own major corporations, too?” He
smiled, as if he were making a joke.

Eve got
the idea, he figured that Darla, who looked like an eighteen year old,
ultra-hot, cheerleader, was just making that up. More to the point, the model
looking Keeley
was
, for her.

Feeling
almost peaceful and happy, even knowing that doom was going to fall on top of
her, she rolled her eyes at the fatbeard.

“Seriously?
You won the Powerball, and you don’t think that anyone else could have a cool
job? Gary owns his own garage, right?” She looked at him, basically making that
part up, but he nodded.

“Going
on two years now. Which is why I have to get back soon. I just wanted to see
you, in case…” He looked hard suddenly. His voice went low. “In case you don’t
make it. It’s stupid, but I guess someone on that Council thing wants you dead?
If so, I don’t think they’re going to survive very long.”

That,
oddly enough, got a nod from Hally, who was about as non-violent as anyone
could be, and still know that Vampires, Demons and all that were real.

“No
doubt. I would have asked Bal to take care of it already, but Keels said that
we should hold off. That you have this one? I… All you did was save those
people!”

Keeley
smiled, and shifted just a bit, which caused Mark, who was across the table
from her to sit up straighter. Probably since she was rubbing her foot up his
leg. Eve could hear the action taking place, but she didn’t call the other girl
on it. Not directly.

The
Greater Demon spoke smoothly though.

“I get
the basic idea, to tell the truth. Eve had to act, but she did it so openly
that the whole world is focused on her right now. If her Council lets her go
without being punished, it will seem to everyone that they’re claiming they can
kill with impunity. They can, of course, but unlike some organizations, they’re
actually clever enough to keep that kind of thing relatively secret from the
average Vamp. Worse, at the moment they have to show the Human world that there
are forces at play, to keep their kind in check. Eve did half their job for
them, killing those rogues, but now they need to show that even those with power
are held to tight standards. More so than the regular police, in particular.”
Her foot moved higher and Mark went wide eyed.

Eve
shook her head a bit, since it wasn’t her job to keep him from getting lucky.

“I get
the basic idea. I just wish they weren’t going to do it in a way that would
almost assure that I had to die. My guess is that they’ll order me locked up
for three or four months? Enough to kill me, but not so much that it will flat
out look like a death sentence?”

Keels
smiled, and nodded, her face just slightly wicked. That was probably about
whatever she was doing that was making Marcus turn that color of red. His round
cheeks were flushed, and a bit of sweat was forming on his brow.

“That
is
what I would do, if I were them. Something almost has to be done along those
lines. The trick here is to take back part of the power from them, publically.
Announce that you’re doing it on your own, since that will cut them off, before
they can really push you into something lethal. Not that it will be.” She stood
up, which got Mark to sink three inches in his seat, though he looked a little
disappointed rather than relieved.

“Lenore?
Could you set that up for us? A press release, I think? That Eve will be going
into a punishment lockdown voluntarily, for the crime of having taken those
lives? Six months.” She said it like that length of time was final, but then
turned and looked at Eve, spreading her hands in the air delicately. “There are
other reasons for that. You won’t die,
if
you manage things correctly.
It will probably drive you a bit insane, but so would a month or two. I’m sure
that you’ll be fine, if you plan for it. Better than if you were forced into a
box, kicking and screaming.”

Lenore
looked angry, but left the room, and after a moment there was speaking on the
phone. Eve made herself ignore it, since she was nearly certain that Keeley was
going to get her killed. It might even be her point. Though if that was the
case, wouldn’t she just do it? Eve really couldn’t stop her from doing it, she
didn’t think. No one could, except another Greater Demon.

There
was one there, but Darla just nodded, her pert nose wrinkling a little.

“That’s
dangerous though, Keels.” Looking at Hally and then Gary, she shrugged. It was
a gentle and subtle movement that made her breasts rise and fall enough that Mark
noticed her doing it. Which was, no doubt, the goal. “Eve
can
do this.
Most Vampires couldn’t. She might die, trying, but if she doesn’t then it will
mark her as being far more powerful than she might want to be known as this
soon. On the good side, it will give things six months to calm down.”

Hally
looked annoyed, and then shook her head, as Keeley walked behind the counter
and started to make things for herself. Correctly, even though as far as Eve
knew she’d never done that kind of work before. After a few minutes of silence
she came back with a tray that was loaded with treats and set half of them in
front of Darla, then started eating.

Marcus
grinned at the move.

“Where
did you get your tapeworms? You’re both so skinny. I feel like a cow sitting
here, to tell the truth.” He smiled though, which got Keeley to nod at him.

“We’re
both Greater Demons.” There was a gesture with a red plastic spoon, one of the
very long handled ones. “She’s The Technician, which you should know, having
met before. Several times. You aren’t a Human, so forgetting that, or blocking
it out is pretty lame.
I’m
The Mistress of Souls. I’ll be watching you
and Ben for Eve while she’s gone, so no one can screw with you too much. We can
work on weight loss if you want? First we need to trim that beard and hair.
We’ll do that later. Right now, why don’t you go and set your store up for the
day?”

There
was a panicked look on his face, and he nearly had to jump over both Gary and
Darla to get out, both of them getting a face full of his behind as he did it.
Then he scurried off, as if he hardly noticed having done it.

Darla
grinned.

“There
we go, Gary. Finally you get a piece of ass you can appreciate.”

Gary
tilted his head a little and sighed.

“Yeah.
Wendy is all right, but you know, I’m not attracted to her. The kids need two
parents, and after everything that happened to her…” This was a thing that Eve
didn’t know about at all, Keeley gestured at her covertly, as if to let her
know that holding her tongue was the right thing to do there. Gary shook his
head slowly, and then forced a smile of his own. It seemed pretty sad.

Then, he
knew about loss, and hard times, didn’t he? They all did, after a fashion.

Darla
stood up, and held a hand out for Hally.

“You two
need to come with me, I think. Sorry to eat and run, Eve, but this really was a
last minute thing. Here, let me cover the bill. My half anyway.” She pulled
cash for it, and didn’t wait to be rung up. There was more than was needed for
the treats she had, but only by about ten cents. Then she moved in and hugged
Eve closely, her lips almost to her ear. She whispered, so softly that even
another Vampire probably wouldn’t have been able to hear it, if they’d been
standing right there.