Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (11 page)

Lisa
screwed her face up and then shook her head a little.

“Not
really. Our way of handling things like this is basically to use a spell to
prevent a person from doing that kind of thing again. Horrible pain if they
try, that kind of thing. We should set that up, I suppose. Even if your people
kill him later. Um… You did mention that. Are you a Vampire now? I didn’t know
that it was coming this soon.”

Tiredly
she opened her mouth and pointed, then slowly extended her teeth. The yummy
smelling and no doubt tasty, Mage didn’t even jump back. She really wasn’t in
danger, since Eve doubted she could have caught her in a foot race just then.
Then, just as slowly, she popped them back into place.

“That’s
me, Eve the new Vampire girl. I think… This… Being left here, is hazing.” She
managed a tired grin, and sold it pretty well. “You know, how they tell you that
it’s all about exciting beatings and being locked in a coffin, but then just
make you answer the phone all day? That sounds like a thing, doesn’t it?”

Lisa
didn’t laugh.

“For
them? It just might. Well, good luck. You can do it.” Then she left, as if talking
to her
wasn’t
what was keeping Eve going?

It was
hardly fair.

By noon
Eve was actually convinced that either all of the Vampires she knew had gone
out and died, or they were
actually
doing some of that hazing. Just in
case, she held off on hating them just yet, because it was really a lot more
likely that they’d run into actual trouble than that they were risking having
corpse her found in their otherwise empty store.

It was
all she could do to hang on, the phantom sun burning her. It didn’t do physical
damage, but it felt like she was standing under a magnifying glass, after a while.
The tight beam of the mighty orb above trying to make like she was an ant.
Moving actually helped, a little bit. Like the bright bit of hatred had to try
and track her. She kept herself as busy as she could manage, which didn’t do a
lot. When people came in, she made things for them, and managed to take money,
she thought. That she wasn’t totally certain of that was probably a sign that
she was more than a little out of it. The strange thing there was that, inside,
she was a lot more clear than the outside was. Observing herself screw up and
say goofy things, fighting for control.

Thankfully,
at about four, the intensity of the light from outside, a thing which wasn’t
able to touch her at all, started to die down. Not totally, but it was clear
that nighttime was coming. That meant she was nearly coherent when Alice,from
the Australian node, called in.

Their
second in command over there.

“Lenore?
This is Alice, I was hoping to set up a node transfer for Ambassador Bisbee?
The Crolosect? It’s willing to pay in emeralds, so I don’t think we have to
incur any more debt on this one. I was just hoping to use your contacts there?”

Eve
nearly growled at the stupid Vampire woman. Like it was
hard
to just
call up Zack? He was incredibly sweet, for a Greater Demon. It was that part
that got her to sigh. Alice could have also given her a chance to speak first,
couldn’t she?

“Hi
Alice. Eve Benson here? I’m not Mr. Hartley’s girlfriend, but I think I can set
that up for you, if the amount of emeralds is enough. What’s being offered?”

There
was a pause, then the woman, who had to be smart enough to hold her rather
important job, just moved on, as if working with Eve just made sense. They’d
spoken before after all, and it wasn’t a secret that Eve knew who Zack was.
Heck, they’d
lived
together for a while. That kind of thing was popular
gossip in the Vampire world, she was willing to bet.

“Um,
five kilos. Well,
six,
but I get a percentage. They’re rather pretty,
but I suppose I could part with a few of them for you, out of my portion? Call
it a hundred grams?”

Because
that was fair? Eve had barely gotten through her math classes, but she’d
done
it, and even paid attention to basic measurements. Anger tried to rise in her,
as hunger beat into her body suddenly. Glancing at the silver side of the
smaller of the two frozen yogurt machines, she saw that her fangs were out and
that she’d gone into the full solid red eyed thing that Vampires did.

She
looked
hot
.

Smiling,
she took a breath, knowing that the woman was setting her up for negotiations,
not trying to cheat her. Starting low was just a way to set the field. Everyone
knew that. Poor people did at least, and she’d lived long enough that way to
know the basics.

Her goal
wasn’t just money though, she needed power too.

“Hmmm.
Tell you what. I have a new business starting in a few weeks or months. The
time frame isn’t set yet. We have a way of making animal blood taste decent.
Kind of like the new packaged Human? It will be a lot cheaper. About five to
ten dollars American per serving. Richard Swerlin set that part up, the low
cost. Marissa from the Council is actually running it, but if you don’t mind
shilling our product down there, and in New Zealand, I think I could go and beg
what you want from Zack. I’ll probably have to take it up the ass in order to
get this done, so, you know, I want some of the pretties too. Half a kilo. I
value my behind.” She was lying, but Alice didn’t know that, did she?

No,
she
just didn’t care about Eve’s ability to sit, apparently.

“Two-hundred
fifty grams, but I’ll look at this product, if it’s as good as all that. I
won’t promise to sell it, without making sure it’s quality first.”

Eve
frowned, her last nerve just about ready to snap, but there was still that
little sense of detachment inside. It saved her. Somehow.

“Three
hundred, and I’ll send along a sample for you in a couple of days? If you don’t
like it, you don’t have to touch it. If you do, and you want to help out, you
won’t get paid, but I’ll make sure that Marissa knows who you are as something
other
than a person to screw over, come accounting time?”

There
was silence, but the woman decided not to take it as a threat, which was good.
Eve hadn’t meant it that way.

“I think
we can work together. Do I just send the emeralds along with The Line Walker,
or…”

“That
will work. Let me call this in. I’m actually here alone at the moment.” It
would have been scary, but she wasn’t feeling too bad anymore. Actually she
felt… good.

Hungry,
and pissed at being left alone to suffer all day, but her links to the energy
sources, the people that were helping her stay alive, were still strong enough.
She let go of the upset feelings and got off the phone.

As she’d
figured, Zack had no problem at all with doing the pickup for that kind of
payment, even if she was being ridiculously over compensated for her side of it
at the same time. She just told him about it, since bothering to lie to him was
a waste of time. He’d
know
, and honestly, that was the kind of thing
that weak people did. The strong owned their actions, right or wrong. If she
wanted to be powerful, she needed not to lie. That meant backing everything up
directly, which would eventually be harder, probably, but it was something to
think about.

She did
call Lenore after that though, since Edom didn’t answer his phone.

The
woman picked up, her voice a bit annoyed.

“
Yes
?”

“Just
checking in, to make sure everyone is alive? Oh, this is Eve?”

There
was a pause, then a whisper that she heard perfectly.

“Ed?
It’s Eve? She’s… awake already?”

That got
her to roll her eyes.

“
Already
?
I didn’t go down at all. Bravely mumbling at people, and scaring all the best
customers away, no doubt. Or… at least making them think I do drugs. I actually
think I gave a lot of stuff away. You’re all good though?”

Edom
joined the conversation then, chuckling.

“Yes.
Both of our cars were destroyed by the youngsters, so we had to have everyone
hold up in a barn about two hundred miles from there. Everyone else with us
went down for the day.” His voice was rich and powerful sounding, mellow at the
same time. “I tried to call, but I don’t have coverage out here, it seems.
Lenore is on a different plan. I might just switch. I take it there were no
problems?”

She
paused for a few seconds.

“Not
really. Staying up
sucked
, I won’t lie about it, and I felt a bit ready
to snap at some fools earlier, even though they were actually being pretty
normal, but I didn’t. We had one thing, a Mage kidnapped a Vampire woman. Lisa
and her team got her out. We need to deal with the guy though. I set up a
transfer for Zack and made some product here. I also didn’t get to a computer,
which kind of sucks. I need to get some things ordered ASAP. I’ll deal though.
You all seem to have the shorter end of the stick. Do you want me to charter a
bus or something? Send someone to you?”

Lenore
spoke then, her voice a bit calmer. A lot, really. She suddenly seemed almost
pleased.

“That
would be
lovely
, thank you dear. We need to use our people on this, or
else these brats will just ruin the vehicles again. I have some people for
that. In the blue book, on the top of my desk? You’ll want Franklin hauling
services. I don’t think that we can move these children before they wake for
the evening. We’ll tie them up however. I saw some good, stout looking, rope in
the corner.”

She got
the location, which wasn’t a real address, and called it in. The man on the
phone acted like being asked to haul six angry tied up people, and a bunch of
others, was perfectly normal. Not that it wasn’t going to cost. Two thousand
dollars, for a few hours work. It wasn’t that steady she was willing to bet, or
else she would have considered going and doing that kind of thing for a living.
On the great side, the man didn’t require payment up front, so she wouldn’t
have to drain most of her own money for the trip herself.

It
didn’t get anyone in right away though, since most of the people that could
handle the duty were actually gone, in the truck with the baby Vampires. Except
Barb, and when she got up, it was pretty clear that she’d be needed to watch
the club. It was Friday night after all, and at least one of them needed to be
there. True, most of the time nothing happened that the bouncers and bar staff
couldn’t handle, and Troy was good at his managing job, but weird stuff was
going down suddenly, and that meant someone was going to be needed there, just
in case.

Edom
called and told her that, his voice… nearly scared. It wasn’t like him at all,
but she got the idea.
She
was an unpredictable newbie, and going to get
people killed when she flew off the handle, at any moment. Except that she was
doing all right so far. Oh, she felt like she really
could
do that. Lose
it and go ape-shit on someone, but she hadn’t. And
wouldn’t
.

“I can
hold things down here. Just, you know, I want backing, if I screw up. When, I
mean. I’ll try to keep the death toll down. Barb is solid too, and so is Troy.
We can handle this end for a while. Get those kids taken care of, while I’m
still managing to sound like I’m not one of them.” She meant it to be funny,
and it did get a laugh.

From
Nicole, the Proctor, who was
clearly
just getting up for the day.

Wimp.

“We
should be in about ten? Maybe a bit later than that.” Then the phone started to
die, since batteries weren’t infinite.

Edom
called out, hearing it taking place.

“Be
good!”

Then no
one spoke anymore, leaving her in charge again. Still.

Almost
as if he’d been waiting for her to hang up the phone, Zack walked in then, his
face passive.

She
didn’t make him ask though.

“Baby
Vamp pickup. The new kids trashed all the cars, so Lenore, Edom and Nicole,
along with Cormack and some others, all got stuck sleeping in a barn all day.
They should be back in about six hours or so. Provided nothing goes wrong. Want
a snack?” Greater Demons liked to eat, after all.
Loved
, was probably
closer to the truth. “Or we could fuck? I need to stay close to the phone, but
if you want…”

He
actually smiled then and shook his head.

“I’m
good on that second one, but I could use some food. I have an account here?”

Which
she knew. Actually, he got anything he wanted for free. It was a slow way to
pay off the Vampire Council’s debts to him, but it was
a
way. Really, if
she could get him to lower that, it would be worth a lot, as far as cred with
that level of Vampires went, she was willing to bet. Still, other than blowing
him without using her teeth too much, she was at a loss as to what she could
offer him. He was pretty much already going to get that for free too, so there
didn’t seem to be a lot she could offer left.

He
wanted one, of everything, and then got picky about how she made them. Not too
bad though, since they’d played that game before. She was actually all right at
building the things offered there. She’d read Lenore’s notebook and everything.

“Better.
Hey, do you need to order some things for that blood you want to make up? I
kind of noticed that you didn’t go home, so if I can get a list, I can order it
for you?”

There
was no talk about her paying for it either, since he probably didn’t care about
the few hundred dollars even next day shipping would cost for it.

“That
would be great. Here, let me write it all down. I memorized it. Keeley made me.
Not that it took yelling and a guilt trip. I’m not that stupid.” When a super
genius tells you that you’ll need to know something, it makes sense to actually
try, right?

He got
the list and the number for the butcher that she’d been courting and went to
set that all up, but reached into his pocket first, and put a little bag on the
counter. It was made of black velvet and clanked a bit.

“Three
hundred grams of cut emeralds. Not the highest quality, but large enough to be
interesting. Do you need anything? Blood? A cute stock boy from a local store?”

She was
starving, but that wasn’t new. So she shook her head.