Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (12 page)

“I’m
good for a few days still. Over a week. I hope so at least. As for a cute boy…
Well, hinting aside earlier, I haven’t felt so much as a tingle down there for
a few days. Less than fun, but…”

She was
going to say that she’d live, but really, that ship had sailed.

“No big
thing. It won’t stop you from
doing
anything. So, are you going to try
and stay up all the time now? That’s a big deal. Once you get it, and go all
day once, it should get easier each time. I say try it. Your goal
isn’t
to be another low level Vampire. Besides, if you can take days too, then Lenore
and I can actually go away on vacation sometime. Well worth doing.”

She let
her head bob from side to side. There was truth there.

“Half
the Vampire Council’s debt to you, if I can pull it off? You have to help
though. Come and make sure I don’t doze off or anything. Slap me or whatever
will work?” Super Vampire active drugs? If that was a thing, she wanted in.
Staying up had been brutally hard. Like actual torture, for big parts of it.
Even if it got a bit easier…

Zack
nodded.

“Half
their debt to me. It really will get easier for you. I think that getting
through this next day will be about as hard, but after that? You should be able
to halve the difficulty every day or two. Fifteen days, and you’ll be past the
need to sleep and probably able to walk in the sun without it being much of an
issue. Hot, and horribly painful, but…” He shrugged, which looked real on him.
He was a master of that kind of thing, seeming Human. “So, torture really. If
you do it though, it will get you a lot closer to where you want to be. In more
than one way.
Also
into a lot more work, but if you were afraid of that
you’d be stripping in Vegas right now, not here, acting as a minor political
official with no training.”

She
nearly held out her hand and said deal, but that would be the last thing she
ever did under her own free will, if she slipped that way. Maybe not with Zack,
because he wasn’t as powerful that way as Keeley was, but it was a good thing
to remember all the time anyway. Don’t make open ended bargains with his kind.
Not even if she liked them.

Darla
had made sure that all her friends knew that one.

The
Greater Demon known as The Technician.

It
wasn’t totally random that she thought of her blonde high school friend either,
since the woman walked in right then, her face bright and happy. It was nearly
like she’d planned the whole thing, which was actually possible, if a bit of
wasted effort.

“Horrible
torture? For who? Plus, stripping? Is that a new hobby for you Zack? We’ll want
to have you shift some of your musculature around. Really, that isn’t a
horrible idea…”

He
nodded, but didn’t say anything, since Darla was teasing him. She was his
mentor in all things Demon though, so if she decided that seeing him in a
g-string was a good thing, then it could very easily be the actual plan for the
next few weeks.

Eve
moved around the counter, her mouth closed, but smiling.

“Darla!
I haven’t seen you in months.” It was true. They’d kind of drifted apart, after
a while.

People
did that after school was done.

The
really hot girl, who’d been the head cheerleader for more than one reason,
hugged her back, then patted her shoulder gently.

“I’ve
seen
you
though. Several times a week. Making sure that I didn’t get in
the way of your experiment. Which is working I see? Zack mentioned that I
should come and see what you’ve managed. It’s pretty impressive, Eve. Now, I
hear that you plan to battle sleep? Or the death of the day, to be more exact.
Zack is right on that one. If you can do it for a while, not giving in, you’ll
be free of the compulsion to die each day. You did it once, so you can do it
again. My guess is that Keeley had a hand in this, so far. This has her written
all over it.”

Eve
sighed, which meant taking a breath first, having forgotten.

“She
did? I… Haven’t seen her for a while.”

If she’d
made a deal or bargain, and didn’t realize it…

Zack
shook his head.

“Then it
would have broken when you died. No, I get it. She showed you how to ‘meditate’
right? By focusing on the sense of what it is you’re trying to hold in mind?”

That was
right, so she nodded, and Darla looked away, holding a hand over her mouth.
Hiding a darling smile.

“She
taught you Demon Magic. Not a lot, and you aren’t very good at it yet, but
enough to help you move past some of the problems of being a youthful Vampire,
if you use it. Clever of her. Humans
can
do it, if they try. Many of the
yogic magical traditions are actually similar. I’d
wondered
how she was
going to do it. Technically you’re not her person to meddle with, but teaching
a simple skill? Hardly a thing anyone would go to war over. Especially since it
makes you more valuable, rather than less.”

War?

“Um, I
think I missed something. Who’d be fighting over me?”

Darla
smiled, which was a slightly wicked thing. Teasing and saucy.

“In this
case, Zack and Keeley. This is Zack’s Territory, and while you had a limited
protection bargain in place as a Human, that went away when you died. So,
you’re no longer tied to me at all. Yes, you were
my
person, until the
other day. Now you’re one of Zack’s, unless you choose to move? If that comes
up, you’re more than welcome to come live in Arizona. I always have need for
good people in my organization. I hear that you’re putting together a massive
power grab already however? Cheap blood to undercut Keeley’s operation? Rebekah
mentioned it the other day. She’s actually very pleased to see you doing so
well, by the way.”

That got
them talking about things, and Zack held up the sheet of paper in his hand.

“Speaking
of which, I need to see about this order. Darla?”

“I’ll
stay here and annoy Eve for a bit? Then we can go work on your new career as a
stripper. I’m thinking you should start out in the gay scene…”

Zack
waved and left, Darla winking at her.

“He’s a
bit hung up on Human notions still. Especially around sex and murder. Now,
focus on what it felt like, back when you were Human, and had just eaten a full
meal. Not the bloating part, the sense of not needing to eat.” It was a weird
thing to say, but her buddy was apparently serious, so she tried her best. It
didn’t instantly wipe out hunger, and when they tried feeling calm and relaxed
it didn’t take out rage either, but both were a bit better.

“Keep
that up. It pulls a bit on the energy links you have, but not very much, since
you aren’t doing it too well yet. As you improve you might need to be careful
to have a full set of links at all times. You should also make yourself feel
alive and awake during the day, and like the sun isn’t burning you. Those will
both be harder, but if you do it well enough it might make a difference. You’re
walking a hard path, Eve. I always expected great things from you, however.”

“You
did? Based on what?”

There
was a slow smile and a look around.

“Why,
the way you killed your mother, of course. It took work to make certain you
didn’t get caught, but you didn’t make the same mistake twice. The others were
handled much better. Hands on, which was strange, for one your age, but it
showed that you weren’t willing to make everyone else do your dirty work. Now
though, you really should, when you can. Oh, stand out and be the best Vampire
you can, but use the heck out of others, too. Carefully, and make sure they
always feel loved, but
do
it. Trust me, people, Vampires and Greater
Demons,
will
use you. Like Zack?”

She
grinned, her face lovely for the move. Perfectly made up and just the right
color for the United States. White with no hint of anything else in her
history. Eve was at least part Latino. She’d never met her mother’s people
though, so didn’t know how much. It showed in her skin though, or had. Now she
was way lighter, she realized.

Being
dead was awesome that way.

Eve made
a considering face, and nodded a few times, trying not to oversell the whole
thing.

“I can
do that. So, want to come help me clean the garage this weekend?”

That got
her hugged again, as if she were being brilliant and clever.

“There
you go! You should offer something that I want, that you don’t care about for
the service though. Friendship, sex, emeralds?”

“Want an
emerald? I have a bunch of them. What I
don’t
have is a garage. I’m kind
of staying with Troy, or was. I guess I’m just going to stay up for a while
now? I should get some clean clothes and a shower, if I’m going to try that.”

Darla
held her hand out, for the free gem. It was
free
after all.

“Except for
the strings attached to it. Not that I have anything to try and use you for
right now. We should have a sleep over, or… Well, not one where we sleep. Maybe
a camping trip? It’s a bit cold out right now.” Making it less than a good
idea.

“Like
we
feel cold? I know though, you should come over for Thanksgiving, in a few days?
At my house? Zack and his Lenore are coming, at six, so you should be free?”

She
tilted her head.

“Almost
no
chance of that happening this year. I have to answer to Edom anyway. Still, I
can work here, and he could go? He’d be a good guy for you to hang with, you
know? Bey, too. Have you met him?”

“I have!
He’s a delightful being. Do you think you can have some of your new blood
product ready by then? We’ll have Human as well, but a good hostess should
strive for variety. I will be recommending you for the Christmas party however.
Finias will want you there for it, especially given all that you’ll have
accomplished by then.

It was
nice to get a vote of confidence, wasn’t it?

She was
tempted to try and keep Darla, but the phone rang, and her friend touched her
arm again.

“We’re
all very pleased this is working out for you, Eve. Don’t forget to use your
meditations. Constantly now. You have a choice to make. Do you merely move past
what others would do, or will you step beyond that, and become something new
and special?” Then in the time it took to walk around the counter, she just
turned and walked out the front door, heading back into the mall.

Eve
grabbed the phone up, doing it a bit too fast. It wasn’t so much that the thing
broke, but it made a slapping sound against her hand. People didn’t do that
kind of thing. Normally. It would look funny, and was a sign that she wasn’t in
the kind of control she wanted to have. Still, she didn’t have the skill to
focus on a feeling of peace while speaking. Not that she knew of.

She
tried anyway.

“Yoghurt
World. Eve Benson speaking. How may I help you?”

It was
going to end up being her new catch phrase she knew. There were worse things to
have to say all the time.

“Fucking
bitch
! I’m going to come there and rape your ass until you bleed out,
you fucking, slut! You cost me the woman I love!”

“Um,
excuse me? Not that it doesn’t sound like a tempting offer, but… Who?”

“Maggie!
They took her, and I know it was you! Those Council stooges told me that the
Vampires did it. That the ambassador there sent them. I’m not going to take
this! She’s
mine
. She loves me, or she should. I… Why did you take her?”
He moved from psychopathic rapist to plaintive little boy in about two
sentences. Not a record, perhaps, but pretty darned good, really.

“Um,
well, you kind of used magic on her, against her will. No one really likes
that. You
are
Marcus right?” She might have that wrong. It could be some
other guy that was mind raping women. If they had that power, there would be
more than one of them around.

“Yeah.
But… It wasn’t like that! I love her. I just… Look, I’m not some great looking
guy, but she likes me. I can tell. So, I.. You know, used what I could. It’s no
different than if I were attractive, or good with words. I have power, and it
isn’t wrong to use it.”

She’d
heard that argument before, actually.

“Except
that backfired didn’t it? You can’t win a woman over by enslaving her mind,
dumbass. Right now the Mages are going to set it up so you can’t do that again,
and… Fuck. Maggie will
probably
kill you. I’ll try to talk her out of
it, but you have to fix yourself. First, from now on, don’t use magic on
anyone. I mean anything at all. If you want to, and that means dead people too,
then call the embassy here and ask them if it’s all right first. Then… We need
to find some way to keep you alive until Maggie calms down.”

“You do?
We do, I mean?”

“Yeah.
So, from now on, you’re my bitch, got it? You do what I tell you and if you
don’t, I won’t help you. In that case, run. I can guarantee you though, doing
this my way will be safer and probably get you a lot more loving than you get
now. Not from
her
, most likely, but if you run right now, you’ll
probably end up a girl. The hard way.”