Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (19 page)

Moments
later, after Zack was gone, leaving her with five of the clear glass bottles
filled with blood, Maggie Sims walked in. She looked
just
as adorkable as
the day before. Almost enough to get her own television show or movie
franchise. The only difference was that now Eve knew to look for signs that it
was all an act. That she wasn’t a
real
geek girl at all, and was just
pretending to be one to get boys. Or at least their blood.

She
smiled at Lenore, then waved a bit to Eve.

“Hi! I
was in here the other day, I don’t know if you’d remember me…”

Eve
crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out a bit.
She
could do dorky and
cute too.

“Of
course I do! Hey, you should try this. It’s animal blood, but the price per
unit will be a lot lower than for the Human kind. The stabilizing compound is
based on the same formula, with a touch of vanilla. That makes it gourmet,
instead of just the cheap alternative to the good stuff. That’s the theory
anyway.” She kept talking the product up, while she set a pan of water to
simmering and warmed one of the bottles. Then she presented it in a ceramic mug
with both hands, as if it were the finest of Human.

A little
skeptically, the apparently ancient Vampire drank, tasting it carefully, and
finally giving it a considering nod.

“It’s
still not the same, but the flavor and texture
are
good. The links are
all solid, and seem healthy. Cow or horse? I could see buying some for my
fridge at home. How much per serving?”

Lenore
moved in a bit, her eyes twinkling.

“The
plan at this time is for five dollars per bottle. It has a shelf life of two
weeks, from time of harvest, and will have at least ten links per serving. This
batch has twenty, I hear, but that won’t be standard. No one needs that much,
but this one is being shared with several individuals, so it was deemed the
wiser course, so that none of the providers, the cows, will be left being over
taxed by the drain. We take care of our links, so that the quality will always
be high.”

“Really?
That’s impressive. For that price I might be willing to consider making the
change. If I can find it in stores. Will it be available here? Why go so low,
dollar wise?”

Eve
shrugged, taking a slow breath, trying to make it seem like she was alive. The
others were better at it, she knew, but that was no excuse not to keep trying.

“Richard
Swerlin made a bargain with me. I get the price down, and he has to shill it
for us.
If
it doesn’t suck. Zack is out making the deliveries to the key
people right now. Richard, Marissa, Alice. Bey probably, since he’s in town
here. Some other people. He didn’t say who.”

That got
a nod, and the woman didn’t try to pretend that she hadn’t known who Bey was at
least. Then, she didn’t really mention that at all, changing the topic pretty
handily.

“Yes,
Bey. I accidently mentioned him being here to Althea. I hear that she came and
bugged you and Edom at your club last night? She was just worried. I don’t want
you to think that I was sending her to spy on you, or anything like that?”

Lenore
stiffened a bit, but Maggie didn’t, and Eve snorted. Then she grinned, because
she’d
totally
nailed it. Then, snorting had
always
been fake for
her, so it wasn’t that amazing, was it? Years of practice counted, even if they
happened when you were alive. That probably gave her an edge as for most of her
expressions then, since she’d faked almost everything for years.

“I hear
that
.
Why bother spying when you can just come and ask? That was all she really did
though. In case it comes up,
you
asked her to look into increased police
patrols, since there’s been some sketchy things on the fringes of that group
lately. People threatening others, and that kind of thing. Bums trying for free
Vampire pussy or whatever would freak the kids there out. I’m supposed to be
loosely linked to that too, so I need to get some cupcakes for it or something,
the next time it’s going to happen.”

Maggie
actually seemed pleased by that.

“Yay! I
get to bring a friend. A
hot
one too. You
do
know that you won’t
be left alone all evening though, don’t you? It’s a good place to collect
blood, or used to be. I’ve been buying all mine like a good little Council
stooge for years now. I don’t even feed off of Fred, which makes the whole
thing where I’m pretending not to be a real Vampire a lot easier to sell, in
case you need to borrow the trick. I
should
tell him, but the honest
truth is, he’s too closed minded to accept that anything else exists. I do like
him, but I’m probably going to have to break up with him soon.”

It was a
lot of information to give some person that she hadn’t really met before, but
if they were going to be friends, it made sense that they shared that kind of
thing, didn’t it?

“Hey, do
you have plans for Thanksgiving? We’re doing up a thing here. Pot luck. Turkey,
cranberry sauce, Chinese food, and a few types of blood, if I can swing it. We’re
just going to hold it out in the mall, if we can. Everyone is invited, but so
far it’s just going to be the lonely people too low on the pole at each place
around here to get the day off. Me, Warren from the Mage embassy, and if you
come,
you
. Probably Hiram from Hartley and Co. I’ll ask around, so there
will be some people there. Most of them won’t have a clue about it as a
holiday, but it’s a free meal, right?”

There
was a strange sense to the room then, and Lenore went very still. Almost corpse
like.

Blinking
Eve tilted her head. It took a few seconds to get the idea though.

“I’d
invite
you
, but I’m pretty sure that Darla is going to ask you and Zack
to her place for dinner. Actually, I
know
it’s going to happen, since
she mentioned it when I told her I was planning to work the holiday here. She’s
too good of a cook to deny you that. Zack anyway. Plus, if I did that she’d
move her whole party here, and while that would be awesome for me, having all
my buddies around, I don’t think everyone else would be all that happy with
it.”

That got
Lenore to make a face, which was, Eve supposed, meant to be wry.

“I
understand. I was afraid that I was being left out. It would be rude to do
that, especially to my face like this.” There was coldness to it, and Eve moved
slowly, going over to her where they both stood behind the counter, to give her
a hug. The other woman was cold, but managed to embrace her back. It even
looked real enough. Then, really, they were supposed to be dating, weren’t
they?

To that
end she kissed her on the cheek.

Then she
turned to Maggie, holding her mind as still as possible.

“See?
It’s going to be
so
great that people already feel bad about not being
invited! I couldn’t pay for better advertising than that.”

She
didn’t let go of Lenore, not wanting to really insult her. It did go to show
that she needed to learn to be more careful didn’t she? Even if it had been
fake, and she didn’t
really
want to come, her asking Maggie first in
front of her had given her an opening. A way she could have attacked, if she
was trying to find a reason for that kind of action. It was a good lesson,
meant that way or not.

“You
know… That sounds nice. We don’t really do anything for that one, since it’s
kind of a recent invention, and we don’t eat food. Can I bring some friends? Althea
might want to come?” That was asked questioningly, but Eve got the general
idea.

Unless
it
wasn’t
about Zack, and she was just asking if it was okay for the
po-po to come along. They could all end the meal with a big bowl of ganja after
all. Which wouldn’t be a problem, since they were in a state where that was
legal, even for the cops. That reminded her of something however, and she
smiled.

“I
should see if my parents can come up? It won’t be a huge thing, but it’s a good
idea. My dad and Althea can network. He’s a police chief, too.”

That got
an eager smile.

“Really?
I didn’t know there were any other Vampires holding that particular office in
the U.S. When did your maker get the position?”

Lenore
let her eyes open a bit, feigning surprise, then she covered her mouth, which
was cute, but
also
a bit catty.

Eve
shook her head tightly at her.

“Don’t
be like that. Just because
I’m
nailing this whole Vampire thing, more or
less, that doesn’t mean you should be mean to my new friend.
Our
new
friend, if you don’t ruin it. Grrr.” The growl came out fake sounding, and she
smiled following it, not even seeming moody. There was no sudden acceleration
toward a wall either, thankfully. It had been a bit of a risk, but Lenore just
sighed.

“Fine,
killjoy. The joke here is that she means her
real
father. The Human that
sired her, and her step-mother. Eve has only been one of us for a few days.
Four now? She made certain to train herself before crossing, and that effort
seems to be paying off, handsomely. I was worse behaved after nearly twenty
years than she is now. I lacked her feeding discipline until nearly a hundred.
In four days, she’s eaten only three times, and one of those was the young girl
presented to her for the taking on first waking. A girl that she saved from her
captors, and more to the point,
didn’t
eat from directly. You licked a
knife to form the link, didn’t you?”

She
nodded, and Maggie seemed disbelieving.

“Four
days? I know that Bey mentioned something like that, but I’d thought he was
using a turn of phrase, or perhaps joking with me. Time can run strangely when
you get old enough. I honestly thought you must be close to two hundred, Eve.
No wonder The Bey was so pleased with how you handled things! What would you
have done if I’d said that I wanted Marcus to be killed, or maimed for what
he’d done?”

“Killed
him, or set him up for torture? I worked with him today, and he’s a whining
little bitch of a man. I
think
we can help him though. I was supposed to
get him a make-over today, but I got too busy. I’d ask you to help with that,
but honestly, I think he
really
loves you. It would be too much like
saying that what he’d done was all right. Really, I should see if Keeley will
come help with that. She’s better at cutting hair than I am. I can bribe her
with free treats from here, right? We need to use up the rest of the vanilla
frozen anyway and start a new batch. I got the culture going and it should be
ready soon.”

She
glanced at Lenore, who shrugged.

“Make
sure she knows exactly what the payment is first?”

“Natch.
Not that she wouldn’t do it just to come hang out. I should be getting some
time off, soon I think.”

The
Ambassador waved at her and explained.

“Just to
keep you in the loop, Zack, the one she has running errands like a hireling, is
my boyfriend. The Line Walker. Darla, whose party I might be invited to, is The
Technician, and Keeley of haircut fame is The Mistress of Souls. On the good
side, I can almost guarantee that they won’t be at the little party put
together here. I believe that Althea is seeking to avoid The Line Walker? Not
that I don’t understand why. She should try to smooth things over there
however. He’s actually a reasonable person, most of the time.”

Maggie
gave Eve the strangest look, but didn’t speak for a long time.

“I can
pass the word on that to her? What do you suggest she do, to make things right?
Offer her soul?” It wasn’t said mockingly,
or
with derision.

Eve
shook her head anyway, making the move a bit bigger than she normally would
have gone with it, before.

“Nope.
Zack won’t take it anyway. He doesn’t allow slavery around him. I’m probably
pushing it with Marcus, actually, making him run all those errands, but
that’s
about helping him learn, so maybe it will be all right. No, really, I’d suggest
something like a jelly of the month club. Greater Demons
all
love food.
They may be incredibly wealthy, and master chefs, but they always seem to need
more of it. Speaking of which, I should see about that myself. Send muffin
baskets, or maybe pie. Is that a thing? Pie of the month club? I need to Google
this stuff.”

There was
a smile then, and Maggie chuckled.

“You
think that Demons can be bought off with jam and cakes?”

Eve
shrugged, getting the skepticism.

“No. I
think that they’ll like it though. The thing is, Zack probably won’t need to be
bought off. The gesture and her coming around to visit with him, without
suggesting he be killed will probably be enough to repair things, if she wants
it to be. If she feels uncertain of it, I’ll go and set it up for her? She
seemed like a good enough Vampire, when we met. She’s in public service and
doesn’t have to be, and the cops here aren’t all corrupt, or anything, from
what I’ve heard. I think she and Zack might actually have a lot in common, in
the end.”