Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (42 page)

When it got to Maggie, Darla
waved at her, and then to Fram.

“No arms or legs left?” The
suggestion required Zack jumping in, before Fram could really fight and
knocking him out, since the Greater Demon was starting to understand that
something weird was going on. The room filled with the scent of charred Fram,
and there was a wave of white smoke, which would probably make everyone else
feel hungry. Well, not the Vampires, but the rest of them.

Maggie looked vindicated however,
and Darla
didn’t
turn back time.

“There. Now, Fram, think about
this while you heal yourself. You came into the territory of another of us, and
killed,
without
permission. Your chosen weapon damaged a valuable
Vampire, removing her from her work, for nearly two weeks. We pass judgment on you
for this.”

Without seeming like he was in
any real pain, the Greater Demon on the floor rolled his eyes at Darla, and
then looked at Eve.

“You promised no tricks in this.”

Finias cleared his throat.

“She didn’t allow any, either,
Bold. Her part was taken care of when the link to Maggie was broken. The rest
of this is now new and different. You had no agreement for safe passage from
this place. It was a bit of an oversight on your part. Now, tell us, how did a
failure of a being like yourself manage to capture an ancient master Vampire in
the first place? I’ve been a bit curious about that, to tell the truth. No one
else seems to know.”

Fram stared at everyone, but let
his gaze linger on Finias, as if
he’d
been the one behind it all. Eve
wasn’t really certain, but
she
kind of suspected it was a combination of
Zack and Darla. It was part of Fram’s insanity, she understood. He didn’t think
that Zack was really his equal, so refused to think of him that way. It might
even be true, but it still left him with gaps in what he thought could happen.
She could see it, so it must be kind of plain to everyone.

Fram just seemed a bit like he
was annoyed for a few moments.

“You know, it was actually pretty
simple. I got the idea from The Mistress of Souls, to tell the truth. Working
with her truly broadened my horizons.” He glanced at Keels and winked. “Not
being able to do what
she
can, I realized that there were ways around
that, if I were clever. So I presented myself as Marcus, the harmless doof, for
months before I tried anything. Then I asked her to coffee and suggested a simple
wager between us. Based on the outcome of the game campaign that was going on
at the time. It was pretty clear that the Vampires were going to win, so I bet
her that the Mages would take it all in the end.” He looked around the room,
then shrugged.

The Greater Demons all seemed to
get the whole thing, just from that, but she didn’t. Fram, his pretty face red
now, from the burns he’d suffered, glanced her way, and went on. Sounding
perfectly fine. Like nothing could touch him.

“Marcus the Mage had all that
money, so I bet a hundred thousand on it, against her being my slave for a
week. I even stipulated that there would be no sex involved, just some nude
housecleaning.
Maybe
with a bit of groping, since I wanted it to seem
real. She agreed, because even if she lost, it wouldn’t have been that big of a
deal to her.” He smiled then and looked, using just his eyes over at her. “Then
I rigged the game so she
lost
. When I reminded her of the bet, she was a
good loser, and agreed to be my slave, even shaking on it. It was enough to
seal the deal without too much of a fight. I mean, she honestly was agreeing to
it, so her mind barely struggled as the hooks set in.”

Eve got it then.

She’d wondered about that one a
bit too, but now it was pretty clear how it had happened. Maggie had thought
that Mark was
just
a Mage, and not a real threat, so let herself be led
into a situation where her defenses were nearly all the way down. Then she ended
up being trapped in a way that even Greater Demons would have found hard to
break. Luckily she had some friends to help her out.

Eve looked at the others, and
then shrugged.

“Right. So, Fram, what’s a steady
stream of food worth to you?”

He sighed, and looked at the
others, then shook his head.

“Like that’s going to be allowed?
I know that this isn’t going to go well for me. Demon trap? Torture? Draining,
and cross contamination?” His focus went back to Darla, who waved him back to
Eve for some reason.

“That’s up to Eve. I think the
offer was meant as a way to reestablish peace between us all. If I were you,
I’d take it. Being coddled and given treats by Vampire is far better than what
Zack had in mind for you, I can assure you of that. The Snowflake seems to have
acted first however. Unless you intend to fight her over this, Zack?” She
looked intrigued by the idea, rather than like she was being silly.

Bey looked stiff, and as if he
didn’t know what to do, but Zack was, in the end, one of the nicest Greater
Demons.

He just winked at Eve.

“We can let her take care of it.
I expect a loss payment for each of the people you killed in my territory,
Fram. Did you really think I’d let that happen and do nothing?”

“Yeah, I really did. You let
Warren rape your Mages and your Human toy, even though you
had
to know I
was controlling him and his friends at the time. Did you think I wouldn’t know
you knew?”

“Well, you are kind of blind to
certain things, so, yes. My mistake, I see. I should have just killed you
myself, instead of letting things play out to find what you had planned. Now,
get out of my shop. If you do anything, to anyone, in my territory without
permission again, I won’t warn you. Do you understand?”

Fram sneered a bit, as if he
wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.

“Oh, do you
really
think
you can take me in a fight?”

Finias chuckled then, and shook
his Dan Carmichael head.

“He’s killed you three times so
far today, and had you brought back each time, without you knowing about it. I
wouldn’t push anyone in the room that way, Bold. If you could get past your
blind spots… But you won’t, will you?” He seemed annoyed by it, almost
disgusted.

Finally without bothering to
answer either of the men, he looked at Eve.

“Food and feeding? All I can
eat?”

“Sure. Within the limits of what
we can properly make. You don’t get a choice, but it will have calories, and we
won’t spit in it. I’ll even get people to hold it for you, until you can grow
some arms for it. As soon as that’s done, it’s over. What’s that worth to you?”

Making a face, he sighed and
shook his head.

“Ten million?”

Eve grinned and let her eyes
roll.

“Good start. Ten million for each
of the Vampires at the store, and another ten for Lyn, since she’s acting as my
mentor.”

Fram made a face that seemed
incredulous then.

“
What
?”

It was Finias that answered, his
voice made droll.

“I know. It’s amazing, isn’t it?
You
had one though, and I think that Eve will be at least as good of a Greater
Demon as you ever were. Oh, she isn’t one of us, make no mistake there, but she
has the basic prerequisites. So I suggested Lyn to her. Even if she fails, I
think you might not want to create problems for her, for a good long while.”

Fram seemed troubled then, but
finally let out a puff of air. It was slightly huffy sounding, but he grinned
up at Eve.

“I can see it. Some new kind of
Vampire then? One that might finally challenge us lowly apex predators? Well,
it’s about freaking time. In case you haven’t noticed, Greater Demons are
mainly assholes. I mean, you probably think
I’m
bad, but outside of the
ones in this room, and a few others, like The Smith, and maybe The Forgiven,
you’re looking at a group of monsters worse than you can possibly imagine. Oh,
we clean up all right, in the main, but don’t let that fool you. It might do us
good to have someone that can kick our butts into shape. Or, you know, it might
destroy all of reality. Either way, I’m in. So, what’s next?”

He looked at Eve, who shrugged.

“Right. Well, from now on you and
Keeley are dating, so she can help me get you to the back of the yogurt shop.
Really, you should try to get with Zack, too. He’s pissed at you right now, so
that probably won’t be happening. Then we need to get that whole thing set up
for Keeley. Oh, um, do you agree not to attack her, or any of her people or
friends, if she agrees not to do the same to you, or enslave you again? No
tricks or loopholes, or using your superior intellect to get around my feeble
Vampire brain.” She added the last in a rush, but other than grinning, Fram
didn’t act too much like she was a moron.

“Just like that? Do you agree to
that, Mistress of Souls?”

Keeley looked at him, her face
considering. Really, she could do anything, couldn’t she? Eve wondered for a
moment if Fram was about to become her slave again, but she nodded.

“Yes. We can do that.”

It was, it seemed, settled.

Except for the other six Greater
Demons that wanted her dead. If that was the correct number. That it might be a
bit harder to deal with all of them
wasn’t
a thing that Eve’s little
brain couldn’t understand, however. No one else had mentioned that Fram’s
assessment wasn’t correct, about the others of their kind, had they? They
hadn’t even added in a big list of names.

She thought The Cleric might be
safe enough, but he wasn’t really a Greater Demon, was he? Fram probably didn’t
know that, so it meant what? That he thought the Angel was a bad-ass, too? Or
he was a lot more vicious than he’d seemed the one time they’d worked together?
She didn’t bring it up, even if Zack and Keeley seemed to know all about it.
The others wouldn’t, and if Bey or Maggie knew, they weren’t chatting about it.

“Come on then. Keels?” She didn’t
invite the others, but Lyn moved along with them, as did Maggie and Bey. They
both seemed happier suddenly, even if Eve had kind of volunteered the use of
their embassy as a Greater Demon hospital.

She did the carrying, the very
warm body cradled in her arms, as she went through the mall, just walking
along, even though regular Humans were out and shopping, given the time of day.
She smiled at a little boy who stared, wide eyed at Fram.

“Did that hurt?” There was
innocence to the words, and the kid’s mother, or at least the dark haired woman
that was watching him, however that worked out, tried to pull him away. He was
little, and it seemed that even The Bold wasn’t going to be a dick to a four
year old.

“It sure did. She did it, with
her mind powers.” He moved his head at Maggie, and smiled. “I made her do the
same thing to Eve, the girl carrying me, a while back, using my own mind
powers, so this is my punishment. You should be really careful about what you
do to people, since
your
arms and legs wouldn’t grow back as easily as
mine. The best thing to do is what your parents tell you, since they won’t let
Maggie babysit you.” He winked, and then went on, even as the woman with the
kid looked horribly embarrassed. “Not that
Mags
here would hurt you. You
seem like a good guy. It’s just a thing to keep in mind, in case you ever have
something like that come up.”

He chuckled a bit as the boy was
pulled away, and explained once the two people, regular Humans, or possibly
Mages, as far as Eve could tell, got out of earshot.

“Kids. That one will have
nightmares about me and Maggie for
years
now. I bet they never shop here
again either. Serves you all right, carrying me like this through the mall,
right out in the open. What were you thinking?”

She cleared her throat.

“That people know that not
everyone is Human now, and if the police come we can just tell them that you’re
going to grow those back?” It was true though, she really hadn’t considered how
regular people might view the whole thing, had she?

Lyn had moved right along the
whole time, but everyone else had stopped, so Eve hurried to catch up, since
David would need instructions.

It was, after all, waffle cone
practice time.

Keeley waved at him, inside the
door, and moved to the counter, slapping down several hundred dollar bills.

“I’d like one of everything. I’ll
be in the back, chatting with everyone?”

He looked annoyed, since that
meant more work, but Eve cleared her throat at him.

“Actually, we’re both going to
need to make things. I’ll show you the new waffle cone stuff. You’ll want some
of that, too, Keeley. I… need someone to feed Fram here.” It would be wrong to
ask Maggie to do it, considering everything that had gone on, being enslaved by
him and all that. Bey would probably find a way to kill him, and leave him dead,
too, if left alone too long with him. Maybe not though. The ancient Vampire was
a pretty reasonable guy, after all.

It was settled in the back
without her asking anyone, when Keels moved in along side of him, right away,
and started barking orders to David.