Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (22 page)

He sounded decently positive
about the threat to the woman’s employment, but Eve really couldn’t see how
anyone coming in wouldn’t do just as well as the Humans that had let the place
fall into disgrace like they had. She also realized that she was thinking like
Lenore on the matter. With the exception of the beatings that the elder Vampire
would have been handing out by then.

Making a face that said she knew
her real worth to the people she was with at the moment, Deena screwed up her
little pig like face, and went hard.

“I’m not a Vampire. I bet you
hire someone to take all my shifts. What am I going to do? I
need
this
job, it’s hard to get anything around here. The economy kind of sucks right
now, in case you haven’t noticed?”

Eve had, after a fashion. She’d
done all right, even before she was a Vampire, but a lot of that had to do with
the fact that she had some powerful friends that had been looking out for her.
Plus, she’d worked her ass off. She’d had three jobs really, and hadn’t done
much for entertainment for a long, long time. Asking this person to do the same
seemed mean though. She had a little girl that would need her. One she cared
enough for that she didn’t just leave her in a room alone while she went off to
get high, but had her mother
babysit
, and went to her crappy job,
instead.

“Right. Most Vampires can’t
manage being up during the day. Standing right here, with us, you’re probably
in a room with half of the ones that can in the entire state right now, and two
of us are going to be leaving in a few days. So if you hustle you can do it. We
do need more Vampires here, and if we
can
get one to work days with you,
that would be great, but you can still have a job. If you don’t come in high
all the time, and then keep being lazy, like a certain Jay I won’t name.” She
grinned, not because it was funny, but because that guy so needed to be fired.

Deena nodded, looking a bit sad.
She wasn’t the most brilliant person in the world and knew that, it seemed. The
job didn’t require that though, just hard work and perseverance. The rest would
take care of itself.

Clapping, to get people moving,
they all started to clean and straighten, again. Cormack got sent to the store
for supplies, a bit highhandedly, but with enough humor he did it. Emergency
ones, since the first real food order from their new provider wouldn’t be in
for three days. It meant working out of cans for a lot of things, but the
quality was very much improved by the time dark fell. The place didn’t look
good, but it was clean, and smelled like someone worked there, and actually
cared about their job.

The product was, if not perfect,
then so much better that Eve kind of wondered if she should kick everyone’s
butts the next day, to make sure they didn’t forget how to do things. It would
be overkill, but what was the point of being her if she didn’t get to use her
abilities to make a difference now and then?

On top of everything the entire
place was incredibly
orange
too, which had to have been the cheapest
color that had been available at the time they put the current fixtures and
tables in. Otherwise no one in the world would have chosen it. That seemed to
have been about fifteen to twenty years before. Eve looked at the cracks in the
tables, and nodded at her own assessment. That was really about right, too.
Since they had enough of a budget to not have to actually make a profit, not
fixing things up was just being lazy, in her estimation.

Everything really did look better
though, and at eight, when the first Vampire came in, she stopped in the door
and smiled.

“This looks great! Did the blood
shipment come in yet?” She looked around, but was clearly speaking directly to
Cormack, who shook his head.

“They called and said they’d be
here at about eight-thirty. You mentioned that the problems we’ve been having
with it won’t occur until later?” He glanced at Ginger, and then Deena, who was
still working away, not whining about breaks, since she wanted to be seen as a
good, hard, worker. It was a
brilliant
plan.

The black Vampire woman, who was
fresh faced and slightly better looking than average, if not actually pretty,
went a little wide eyed.

“Yeah. What did the Council rep
say?”

Cormack turned to Ginger and Eve,
his face holding a bit of a smile, and even though there was a glance at Deena,
he didn’t mince words.

“A Manthori group here in the
local area has been coming by weekly and robbing our patrons, taking half of
their food monies. Sandra wasn’t able to do much to stop them, though she’s had
words with them. There tend to be… Fifteen, is that right?”

The darker woman nodded, her
wonderful hair, which was brown but had gold highlights, and individual
ringlets, bobbed a bit.

“It varies, but when the others
get here, they’ll come and shake down the entire line. A few of the people are
old enough that they’ll tell them to go take a flying leap, but it’s getting
bad
.
I didn’t know what to do about it. I’m still not certain.”

The ambassador, who was wearing a
nice white shirt, a real tie and suspenders that were a stately black, cleared
his throat.

“We’re to suggest to them that
they stop doing it. If they don’t, immediately, we have license to kill them
all, as a threat to public safety. We will
not
have a problem with them
past tonight.”

Sandra took a breath that was
nearly a gasp, and Ginger looked scared for a moment. Deena did, too, her eyes
going very wide.

“I… We’re suppose to go and fight
fifteen Vampires?”

The words, as frightened as they
sounded, got Cormack to smile at the chubby woman.

“Exactly, or rather they’ll come
to us, but I take your point. If it won’t offend you, would it be all right if
the rest of us handled this one tonight? I’m sure that we’ll miss your aid, but
it would look better if the Vampires handled things to start with. I’m sure
that you’d make short work of it, of course, but…” He was actually being polite
about it, and not making fun of the girl, though Ginger had to fight not to
smile.

The second in command didn’t
though, she just looked deadly serious.

“Can you work tomorrow, Deena? We
may need the extra help here. I guess things are going to be changing? It
doesn’t smell like a sewer anymore, which I have to say I like.”

“I’m on at three. I could come a
bit early? I think my mom will watch Gina for me, if I ask?”

Cormack winked, his face cheery
enough.

“Perfect. Thank you. Now, I think
we have time to set up in here, for the rush. Things are handled a bit
differently here? Most of the blood products are sold on Wednesday nights,
people getting enough for a week at a time and taking it away with them. I can
see the desire to do that. When the gang gets here, Eve and myself will handle
them. Sandra, can you run sales with Ginger in here? Naturally, if we lose,
then you two should avenge us immediately, or come to our aid, if we start
screaming, and yelling for help.”

Eve nearly laughed then, but
didn’t, since the others seemed scared about what might be coming. It could be
a real threat, if there were that many of them. Especially if they were
disciplined and well organized.

She just went back to cleaning,
until the order got there, at about eight-forty-five. There was a line of
people there, trying to get in first thing, but the blood wouldn’t be sold
until nine. Almost as if they knew all of that, the Manthori crowd got there
just as they started to portion things out, and crowded around inside, blocking
the front counter.

All of them had knives, and black
clothing, which looked sort of hard, given their chalk white skin and rows of
fanglike teeth. The leader, who was, handily enough, the largest one, spoke
loudly, his diction a bit mushy.

“We’re heresh for our tributes.
Come pay, or we will take it, and your lives!” It was pretty dramatic sounding
really. He even waved his large knife in the air several times, to menace the
fifty or so Vampires collected just outside the door. Grumbling, some of them
actually started to comply, rather than fight.

Cormack moved from the back of
the room to the front.

“Sorry, that bit of robbery ends
now
.
I’m Cormack Gillhall, the Ambassador for Iowa. This activity has been deemed
unlawful by the Council, and will end. Instantly. If you choose not to comply,
your lives will be forfeit.” It was a good speech, but for some reason, none of
the people watching were all that impressed.

Nervous was more like it. It
certainly wasn’t a big show of faith in their ability to pass out the white
boxes of blood, without letting people be ripped off, was it?

The large man, who was thin, but
well over seven feet, tried for a menacing laugh.

“I think not, Council fool! We
rule here, not those scum that try to,” he didn’t make it to a pronouncement of
what the leadership did that he didn’t like.

Eve moved in fast, ready for him
to do the same, or try to use a mind power on her, since his kind were all
pretty strong that way, but first his chest and then head exploded when she hit
him. She managed to hop up and get the heads of the two people on either side
of him, and then moved back behind the counter again, standing about where she
had been.

No one yelled or screamed, and
other than a bloody hand, which was a bit black and red, given who’d been hit,
there was no sign who’d done what. The bodies fell, crumpling slowly, the
sticky blood that came out of the holes in their bodies making a mess. It was
probably going to be her job to clean it up, too. It would have made her sigh,
if she’d had any air in her lungs.

After a moment, everyone froze,
except for Cormack, and oddly Ginger.

Eve stayed ready to move, but
didn’t, since there may not be a reason to kill the
entire
troop of
Manthori. Vampires generally had to do what the leaders said, and that might
well change, if the ones in charge shifted around.

Cormack waved at them, his face a
bland study in calm.

“Now, get those bodies out of
here, without being seen, and pass the word. We do
not
have this kind of
thing in our area anymore. The orders have come down for us to integrate into
the Human world. We won’t be doing that as criminals and scum. Do you
understand?” He was speaking directly to the other gang members, one of whom
rushed him.

That was a mistake. Cormack might
not have had Eve’s speed, but like he’d mentioned once, he was a bit stronger
than most. The single punch he used knocked the knife wielding woman back. The
only thing that stopped her was the wall, on the far side of the room. She
screamed, in pain, but didn’t try to get back up.

Ginger, very cutely, moved to the
register.

“Next? I think this is done now.
Can I help you, sir?” Her tone was very, very polite, as she addressed a young
looking fellow in jeans and a t-shirt. He looked very Human, on the outside,
and pulled two fives from his pocket laying them on the counter.

“Two please?”

Eve smiled at him, and then
tilted her head.

“New Vamp? Have you considered
signing up with the Council? We could use a good person on day shift, here. I
don’t know what it pays, but it’s important work.” She had heard what Deena had
said, which seemed to be a real enough thing, since several Vampires in the
line paid attention to her, and not the remaining Manthori gang members.

Cormack caught that too, and
walked forward, addressing the assembled people.

“Day
and
night shifts.
You’d need to be able and willing to work with Humans and other beings, but
we’re putting on nearly a complete staff right now, so it’s a great time to get
your foot in the door, if you’re so inclined? If so, please come see me, I’ll
be right back here. Eve, would you make sure the bodies are disposed of well
enough?”

It took a bit, but some of the
Manthori that remained stared at her, and noticed the bloody right hand. One of
them, who was a male, and looked a bit short for his kind, being only about six
feet tall, tried to compel her, his mind suddenly reaching out to hers,
slamming against her so hard that for half a second she nearly lost herself to
him. She fought then, seizing control of the buzzing in her head, and taking
him instead.

“Stop that. You heard the man.
You’re going to get rid of the bodies, and do it
right
. I don’t care
how, but do it without attracting notice. Understood?” She glared a bit, as the
man that had tried to take her mind and will stopped and then shuddered a bit.

“Yesh. It will be done. Master.”

“Good. Go. Now.” For some reason
that was enough to get the others in line. One of them, who had been at the
back, near the door, looked like a boy, compared to the others. Maybe sixteen
or so. He wasn’t the smallest, in how tall he was, but the kid had an abused
and neglected aspect to him. His clothing was ragged, even though the rest wore
nice, fairly new things. He also held himself with his arms across his body, a
weak, but defensive, position. That he was also the very first one to move when
she ordered it told her a lot about what he was used to in life.