Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (21 page)

“Do you
suspect her of being behind this?”

Eve
shrugged, “I hope not? I actually like her, but the lesson of the day is that I
can’t really trust anyone completely. So, I guess I need to check that out?”
She held up her hand, then reached out toward Bey very slowly, until she
touched his sleeve. “Because I hear that
some
silly people get worried
when you suddenly show up. If we send
you
at them, they’d probably try
to run away without explaining anything first. Besides, I get that it’s
tempting to assume that Maggie would have something to do with this, and she
might, but if
I
go in and find that she’s been feeding on people
illegally, I can suggest she buy some of my new product line. If you do it,
then you’ll have to go all Vampire Council on her, right?”

There
was a pause, and then a light nod.

“There
is truth to those words, young Eve. Also danger in what you suggest. Do not
mistake this woman for a being to take lightly. She could have taken true
battle to the Mages had it been her wish. Her power over flame is perhaps the
greatest held by our kind. She chose instead to protect the youthful lout that
abused her, out of goodness, not weakness or lack of ability to make her will
known.”

Clearly.
That had been what Eve had figured to be the case even before she’d known the
woman wasn’t way younger than she really was.

“Plus, let’s
not forget those others. They’re largely unknown right now. I’ll do this
carefully, since, you get the idea, I don’t need to die or end up kidnapped
again. How do you suggest I proceed? I’ll have to clear this with Edom first,
so…” It would need to be a good plan, wouldn’t it?

Sure, he
may say no, but one thing that hanging out with Darla had taught her over the
years, there was no need to put herself front and center most of the time.
Actually, she was about to bow out altogether given that, when Bey gave
her
a small bow.

“There
is much wisdom in this. I will however, go with you, as perhaps will others. If
there is danger, then these beings will perish. If we can, we should seek to
find out why they acted however. Taking you… It makes little sense. Even now,
showing the business acumen and promise that you have thus far, I can find no
way that it would possibly aid anyone. Perhaps to punish Edom, Lenore, or
myself? Again though, I can find no reason for what they did. It was clearly a
thing meant to tempt you to feed unto the death of the child they provided you.
It could be nothing else. Why, however?”

Eve had
no clue, and wasn’t going to pretend that she wouldn’t want Bey along with her,
if she got to have him. It might not mean she was safe, and counting on him
was, as Lenore had pointed out to her rather pointedly, not a great idea, but
she kind of thought that he might well try to keep her alive, if it wasn’t too
much work.

“I know.
I can’t think of any reason why that would be either. If they’re feeders, well,
now
that might make sense. Get me hooked on Human blood right off the
bat, and get me used to killing… Except that’s pretty normal, isn’t it? Half
the Vampires I’ve ever heard talk about it have said that they pretty much
slaughtered the first dozen or so people they tried to feed on. What would
anyone gain from that though? I… guess that it could also be about having the
girl killed? Is she someone special? The kid of a Senator, or rich business
person?”

The
ancient Vampire regarded her closely, but there was a bit of warmth in it, as
if something she was doing pleased him for some reason.

“I do
not believe so. What our people in that area found was that she is of rather
humble station. Her people are workers. Those that make things in factories?
No, this is about something else, I must fear. What, I would love to know.
Perhaps we can have this from the malefactors themselves, if we go carefully
enough?”

Eve
thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

“Yeah.
That would be good. For right now I really don’t want to end up being kidnapped
again, just in case they decide their plan would work better with my brain
smeared all over the ground. Getting away once isn’t the same as me being a
better fighter than the four of them. Or even
one
, if they know I’m
coming, which they would now. Honestly, I should get a gun or something.” She
meant it, but smiled anyway, since as far as she knew only commandos carried
the things day to day. Even for Vampires. Most of the time the need didn’t even
come up really.

When you
could beat up a great ape hand to hand, Human muggers were kind of cute to
consider.

She
started to head out, after making sure they were done, only to find that Bey
was moving along side of her, his face looking relaxed. When they got outside
she looked over at him and felt awkward.

“Um, I
have orders from Edom to run everywhere. I think I’m supposed to work on my
speed and not being noticed. I have a car, but he has it right now, since his
was trashed the other day.” She didn’t know if the elder Vampire knew about
that, but there was a sweet smile at her words.

“Very
good! I was worried that perhaps he was being too gentle with you, since you’re
doing so well in personal discipline. I will run with you? I make a point of
using only that mode of travel myself, whenever possible. If you wish to make
the best use of your personal gift of speed, you must constantly challenge
yourself in that regard. Traveling by other means tends to make people lazy.
There is perhaps, no great harm in that, but if you have orders already, I
highly recommend you do so whenever possible. Those of my line all have the
gift of greater speed. Not all of them use it fully, however.”

Eve took
that in, and got ready to run. Before she did she looked at the man, who was glancing
around carefully, noticing that there were shoppers coming in from the parking
lot. A man and two women, all dressed for the cold a lot better than she was.
Bey looked downright out of place, too. Dapper, in his black suit, but not old
enough for it. He was ancient maybe, but looked like he was a well preserved
forty-something when she bothered to think about it. The lack of hair made him
seem older, but he wasn’t horribly wrinkled or anything.

“So,
does it always hurt when you run?” She was being a bit snarky, she thought,
since it was the kind of thing that probably faded with time, like the pain of
the sun would. She hoped that was the case.

Her
Vampire buddy smiled, very cutely.

“Indeed!
It is agony with each step, when done correctly. The more pain you are willing
to suffer, the greater the speed you may achieve. Come, young Eve. I would see
you do more in this area than others as well. If you are to be hunted as it
seems you may be, and sent into danger at my bidding, I would have you armed as
best one of us may be. That is not with a mere modern weapon.”

She made
a face, took a fake breath she didn’t need, then rolled her eyes over the move.

“Wait, I
should try it with no air, in case I start screaming. It will freak out the
civvies less.”

That got
a single clap, and he waited for her to do that, and get going. She had to
steel her nerve, but tried to focus first. It would hurt. She already
knew
that. Horrible agony was coming.
If
she did it right.

Now it
was just time for her to not let that stop her. The way to power was clear in this
then. That didn’t make it any easier to try it, but after about ten seconds she
used the last bit of air in her lungs to huff a single soft word.

“Go.”
She tried to yell it, but it really didn’t come out as more than a soft
whisper.

That was
a good plan, because she moved directly from standing like a normal person,
minding her own business like a good girl, into pure waves of pain, instantly.
It was enough that she nearly missed a step, but that couldn’t be allowed. She
pushed, as hard as she could, the pain of even trying it ripping into her very
soul, it felt like.

Then, as
she tried to run like a sprinter, she looked over to see Bey
strolling
along beside her. He moved as fast as she did, his face calm and unperturbed.
Relaxed even. It was a thing she knew. He wasn’t showing off, it was that their
speed wasn’t really dependent on the physical action of running. Trying not to
be
too
average, she pushed into the white hot aura of fire that it felt
like she was moving into, and forced herself to walk, keeping pace with the man
beside her.

“Ah,
very good. It often takes a long time for people to realize that one! Now, we
shall increase our efforts?” He moved ahead then. Not too far, however, just
enough that she had to endure even more pain in order to match him. Then he did
it again, several times.

On top
of that they had to weave a pattern in and out of trees and buildings, instead
of just staying on the straight portion of the road, so that people wouldn’t be
able to see them. The whole time, smiling as if he were getting a handjob, the
monster next to her kept going faster. About halfway to Troy’s she noticed that
it was at least as bad as the torture of walking out into the sun had been
earlier.

It was
impossible to do more than that, wasn’t it? To her it seemed like she was
walking though, and the whole trip was taking a long time. Hours perhaps. It
was horrible the whole time, and her friend kept giving her looks like he
wanted even more from her. She gave it, knowing that he was right. If the key to
their speed was being willing to take the punishment it required, and he did
it, all the time, then she could too. At least in theory. In the moment she was
kind
of rethinking that whole gun thing.

When
they got to the front door of Troy’s Bey stopped, and just stood there on the
front stoop, which was brighter than she remembered it being. The paint on it
was gray, and at one time had been red, she could tell, since it was flaking in
places. The inside was actually really nice, but the outside looked like a
regular house for the rather poor neighborhood it was in. The lawn needed to be
mowed, she noticed. Tidied up a bit. There were some leaves in it that could be
taken care of too. She thought all this as she walked up to Bey, who was
clearly waiting for her, his face pleased.

Beaming,
almost.

When she
stopped Eve was incredibly joyful she’d had her idea of not keeping any air in
her lungs. She tried to scream as the pain was released, an actual involuntary
response to the pressure being taken away. Her mouth moved a bit like a fish,
she didn’t doubt. It had hurt before, when she was in the early sun of the day,
and the running, or quick strolling that she’d just done, had been the worst
thing she’d ever felt up to that point in her life. Stopping was worse. A
thousand times so.

If she’d
been able to pass out from pain, she would have, she thought. As it was she
just waited, trying not to breathe until she had control of herself again. Bey
worked the door for her, and he stood aside, holding it, so that she could go
in first. That was probably both him being polite, and an old trick to make
sure he had time to respond to any threat inside a room he was entering. By
having her go first, he could get up to speed if he needed to.

That
meant she needed to be watchful, didn’t it? Taking a breath she held out a hand
before he could come all the way in behind her.

“Let me
check the place out? I’ll be right back.” She got a nod then, and because she
was clearly an insane masochist, she let all the air out of her lungs and
jumped strait into the agony again. It was a painful search, but didn’t take
too long. Troy was in his room, dressing for the night, and the rest of the
place was as empty as it should have been. Unless he had a guest at least. That
kind of thing had calmed down a lot though, over the last year.

Troy
still
had guests in, now and then, but most of the time he just worked, and
occasionally went to parties. It was like he was becoming an adult right in
front of her, or something. Honestly, she kind of wondered if someone had used
coercion on him, to force him to be like that. Before he’d spent a good portion
of his time getting women into bed. Now… Not so much.

For her
though, in the moment, there was one clearly good thing. He’d already used the
shower, meaning she could do the same before she had to be off to the club too.
Glancing at the wall clock, she saw that it was…

Two
minutes after they’d left the mall.

Slowing
again, and waiting a bit for the agony to hit her, which was exactly as bad as
it had been before, she took a breath. Sooner this time. She didn’t sound
ragged though. It was all fake, and she still felt like screaming at the top of
her lungs, but that was, Bey had said, just the cost of using her new speed
like she was. She suddenly got the idea though. He was famous for not using
cars to get around. She’d always thought it was because he was old and didn’t
trust them, but it probably wasn’t that at all. No, he just made himself go
into that pain, over and over, so that he’d never grow used to
not
having it.

How bad
ass was that?

“All
clear. Troy is here, getting ready for work. I should shower. Want to come with
me?” She giggled a bit, and touched his arm, flirting. After all, neither of
them would really be into sex, as far as she knew, and if he was, well, she
wasn’t going to say no, was she?