Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (46 page)

“Too bad. I actually liked Bob.
Nice, sensible guy. It’s a shame to hear about him passing.”

“Yeah. I feel bad for his wife.
We need to do something for her. I don’t know what. I mean, do you take a
casserole in a case like this?”

Ed it seemed, didn’t know either.

Still, he offered to go with her,
when nine o’clock rolled around and Lisa got in. Part of her wanted to say no,
and to go and tell her alone, but Lisa knew Edom, and having the extra friendly
face there wasn’t going to hurt, was it?

It felt awkward though, going
over for that reason. She hadn’t been great about palling around with Lisa for
a while, being so busy all the time. She really needed to make more room in her
life for other people. There was always just so much to do.

She was there now however, which
was a place to start, if a crummy one.

“Um, hey, Lisa.” Eve spoke first,
not knowing what to say. The other woman, looking a bit better now, was
standing in the back of the store, her face pleasant seeming. Almost like she
was pleased to see them. For a moment it felt like it was too much, as if
speaking the words would be too hard.

“Oh, hey, what’s up?”

“Ah.” Eve made herself go on, all
in a rush. “It’s Bob. Millhouse? It turns out that he was killed, and replaced
by a Greater Demon, about five or six years ago. The Mimic. We just found out
this morning. He tried to kill The Mistress of Souls, so she took him as a
slave. We can have proof delivered for that, for you and your people.”

Rather than scream, the dirty
blonde Mage just gave them a forlorn look. Then fat tears fell down her face.

“Oh. I… I’ll call, and tell
people. This…”

There were no words for it. Eve
knew that. It was funny, because a few hours before she would have said,
without being ironic at all, that she’d been the one messed with the most over
the last few years, in this plot that was ultimately about killing Keeley. It
occurred to her now that it really wasn’t the case.

Sure, she’d been locked in a box,
and
kind
of set up in a couple of ways, but in the end she was a
powerful being, turned from a regular Human girl into a force that no one in
their right mind would mess with. She might not be pristine and untouched, but
her life was good. She had friends, and even a boyfriend, for the first time in
her life. She possibly even had an Alede, who could be either a boyfriend or a
girlfriend, at need, so how neat was that?

Yes, she’d end up messing that
up, because she was as savvy in relationships as she was in auto mechanics, but
at the moment she had everything. A family, that even if they weren’t close,
didn’t
hate
her. A maker that loved her, and was proud of her, she
thought. He’d come with her to deliver the bad news to Lisa, at least, which
was way more solid than she’d ever really expected of anyone else.

Eve was even rich now.
Loaded
in fact, if any of the funds from the other Greater Demons had come through. In
a lot of ways as this all ended, she was fine, and maybe even close to perfect.
Even important to other people, thanks to the training set up she had going. So
she didn’t have any worries, or even problems, of note left.

Oh, sure, no sex drive, but she
was kind of willing to bet that she could do that one too, using magic now.
Sooner or later it would be fixed, she was certain.

Lisa though, had been hammered,
over and over.

She was alone in the world, for
the most part. No lovers, very few friends, and her work life kind of sucked.
Everyone had vanished over time, leaving her all alone. Except Todd the Intern.
She’d been raped, tens of times at least, by a man she’d trusted, too. Now all
she had left was…

Really, Eve didn’t know at all.

It wasn’t fair, was it?

“I’m going to come put some time
in with you, if it’s all right with Ed? We won’t leave you alone. You have a
lot of people here. Hey, I’m even kind of learning a bit of magic, from Lyn
Hartley? You know, I bet she’d be willing to come and work here, to help out?
Maybe we can get her husband in too?”

Lisa sniffed, but nodded.

“That would be good. I could use
some friendly faces. Poor…
Everyone
, really. Thanks Eve. Edom. It’s
strange isn’t it? Things like this happening, and my best friends turning out
to be a bunch of Vampires? What’s next?” She laughed a bit, but it was really
sad, and hidden in a sob.

Eve didn’t know, but moved in and
hugged the other woman.

“Something different? Maybe even
something better?”

It wasn’t the kind of thing that
would make her happy to hear, but it was good enough to get Lisa to rally. The
previous years had left her tough, rather than broken. They all were, in the
end, weren’t they?

Lyn and Brad came, a very short
time later, given they lived in Wisconsin, and the little thing where the woman
was a Demon was glossed over, for the time being. Eve got back to her own shop,
at about four, so was there when Barb came at six. She was working all night,
so that David could get some time off. Like a regular person.

Just when she was about to head
back home, thinking everything she had to do was over, Ben came in, along with
Kait. With Ginger pushing in almost right behind them, there for the meeting
that would start soon.

It was a thing that Eve had
forgotten about, so she made a point of increasing the energy to her memory.

They were going to have a few
more people than they’d thought, so while they were there at the shop, for the
first one, after that she was holding them at the club, she decided. The space
was larger, and a bit more private during the day.

It was odd enough, seeing them
all, that Barb tilted her head.

Especially when both of them
kissed Eve.

“Hey, what’s this now? Everyone
else getting kisses, and poor Barb left all alone. That’s hardly fair.”

Ginger giggled and ran around the
counter, then planted one on her cheek. “
There
.”

Looking at the other two, she
smiled, and glanced at Ben.

“Are you going to do the Vampire
training, too? That would be good. I can get you into the program, if you want?
It
might
mean getting me a discount on books, but we can work it out.”
She tried to look savvy, but her young face couldn’t really pull it off.

Ben shrugged.

“That’s a thing? I guess I could
do it. If nothing else I can learn more about Vampires, since I’m dating one.”

Kaitlyn nodded.

“Good plan. Can I sit in, too?
Really we should hold classes for the public, for all the groups. You Vampires
can go first.” She said it like it was a good thing.

Eve rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine. But when the general
public realizes that being a Vampire is all making treats and doing paperwork,
I’m going to blame you guys.”

Barb looked away, seeing Troy
coming through the front door. Early. The look on her face was very nearly
happy, too.

Oh, they weren’t all doing
perfectly, but things were better than Eve would have ever thought they would
be.

Even better, they were looking
up.

You couldn’t beat that, could
you?

Eve smiled after applying her new,
and wickedly intelligent, brain to the task. The answer was pretty clear after
all.

No, you really couldn’t.

Other
Books by P.S. Power from Orange Cat Publishing:

If you
enjoyed these books, why not find out the rest of the story?

Keeley
Thompson:

Follow
this interesting tale of a young girl who discovers she’s something much
different than she was ever led to believe. Keeley isn’t just a straight A
student, as she learns from the head Cheerleader of her new school. No, she’s a
Greater Demon, and that means that reality will never be the same again.

Demon
Girl

Keelzebub

Mistress
of Souls

Demon
Trap

Demon
Bait

Other
Places
(Zack
Hartley in the Eve Benson continuity)

Zack is
insane, and knows it. It’s not hard to figure that out when your own mirror
talks to you, and tells you to get off your butt and go get a job before you
starve to death. Worse, when you can see the holes in the world, and walk
through them, it become pretty hard to separate what’s real, from what might
just be in your own head.

If he
can pull it off, it will be a miracle.

Shortcuts

Road
Blocks

Detours

Other
books in the same universe:

Christmas
of the Vampire
(Richard Swerlin stand alone)

When a
young girl is in trouble, having been taken captive by a Greater Demon, she
reaches out to the only beings she knows of that might be able to help her.

Santa
Claus, and Richard Swerlin, America’s only openly vampire politician.

Now
Richard has to not only save five year old Macy from Ma’at, The Puzzler, but
save the spirit of Christmas itself!

To do
that, he’s going to need a bit of help, which will mean making some deals with
things even darker than the Greater Demon that has Santa and Macy.

Because
only one thing in existence can beat a Greater Demon. One of their own kind.

Friendzoned
(Becky Hoader, before she
becomes the famous actress, Krista Hall! Warning, this book is a young adult
coming of age tale, not fantasy.)

Becky
has loved Mitch for years, but he barely even seems to notice her. A bit over
weight, and kind of boring, she turns to her new friends, Darla, Keeley, Hally
and Eve, to help her finally get out of the friend zone. If they can at all.

Pick
them up today! Otherwise you might miss out on some of the greatest new stories
around. No one wants to do that. Seriously, it would be miserable. So save on
all that, and make sure that you're included in this amazing set of tales.