Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) (22 page)

“That
would be most pleasant. I fear that I need to go and speak to some people
however. Perhaps another time?”

She
couldn’t tell if he were just putting her off or not, but nodded, since it was
polite either way. She actually just wanted to get clean anyway.

“Sure.
Let me know if I’m supposed to do anything to help with the investigation?”

There
was a nod, and a serious look then.

“I will
do so, Miss Benson. Until later?” He touched her arm lightly, and then simply
vanished.

It was
impressive, since honestly, even as a Vampire she couldn’t really see him
leave. That meant she had a lot to learn about speed, didn’t it?

That
however, could come after she knocked the last twenty-four hours off of her
under some warm water.

With
that thought she got some of her last remaining clean clothes that would be
suitable for her new job and got to it. After all, the vomit wouldn’t mop
itself.

Even
though Troy left first, she beat him to the club by ten minutes, so waited for
him to get there, going over the parking lot since she had the time. She did
the work like a normal person, so when the others got there, the bouncers and
wait staff, she was outside still. The place was technically open already, but
there was no one but a few bartenders inside, working away at whatever it was
that kind of person did.

She’d
actually done a decent job the night before, and other than a few more condoms
that had magically appeared during the day somehow, the whole thing was clean.
Well, that and cigarette butts, but those things practically bred, so she
wasn’t going to count that against anyone.

Barb got
there, pulling up in an older model car. One that had probably been new about
fifteen years before. That fit her job though, because a club waitress wouldn’t
be pulling up in Porsche, would she? Even
her
coming in without a car at
all kind of made sense. No one even called her on it. That was the kind of
thing that poor girls had to do. Bum rides and take busses.

Her
Vampire buddy smiled and bounced over to her, as Eve waved to her.

“Hey! We
didn’t get to hang yesterday. Tonight won’t be nearly as bad here. I heard
about the thing in number three last night. That sounded pretty bad. It should
be a lot more laid back tonight. We really probably don’t need you,
specifically, but that isn’t my call. I’m sure we can find things to keep you
busy. I know, you can blow all the bouncers.” She grinned at that, since Eve
was
way
too new for that kind of thing.

Even if
she could pull it off without biting them, she was
still
too fresh to
the club for that kind of thing. Besides, the janitorial staff didn’t do things
like that, she didn’t think.

“Nope.
They’ll have to at least learn my name first. I’ll just have to scrub the place
down, or I don’t know what to do. That’s up to Troy to let me know, isn’t it?”

“Sure…
But he’s also a Human, Eve. You really should be kept busy for now, and
distracted. He doesn’t actually know that. As a manager he’d probably send you
home and give you the day off, since we really
won’t
need you. As your
friend, well, that makes it
worse
. I know, we can start you learning to
wait too? Have you do a bit of everything, if you can handle it? If not, you
know to get out, right? Just run if you have to, rather than go after someone?”

She
did
know that, but it didn’t hurt to have a refresher course. It was almost like
Barb was really trying to look out for her or something. That reminded her not
to trust her though, in case she’d been sent by Lenore to jump her when she let
her guard down, or trick her into doing something uncomfortable to remind her
not to be too open and loving. Like blowing bouncers when she wasn’t ready for
that kind of thing?

“I can
do that. If Troy’s cool with it. Edom might not be though, so I should call him
first, if he doesn’t show up. I haven’t seen him all day.” It was weird, but
she kind of missed him.

For some
reason she’d thought that having him as her master and maker would mean that
they were together a lot at first. Instead she’d been around Lenore more so
far. Even that had only been about half the time that she’d figured on.

It was,
hopefully, a sign that she was just doing that well. Her training seemed to be
paying off so far, and maybe that was just going to make a difference? Barb
lived with Lenore, but she didn’t hang around the woman all the time, did she?
No, of course not, because
she
didn’t need to have her hand held all the
time. Could it be that she was simply in the same place already?

That
would be a wonderful thing, if it was true. No one would trust that though, and
they shouldn’t. Probably not for years. So, regardless of what else was going
on, she needed to make the effort to keep in touch with Ed and do what he said.
To that end she walked into the club, knowing that she wasn’t really dressed as
nicely as Barb was. Waitressing didn’t require a tight t-shirt and go-go shorts
there, but the other woman was in all black, and looked good. Made up, and like
she might just be ready to take a turn on the dance floor, if no one else was
looking too hard. She was in black
jeans
, not a dress, after all.

Eve
looked plainer than that. She didn’t have anything on her face, except some lip
gloss. That left her very pale and with pink lips that were kissibly sweet, but
didn’t really pop that much. Her skin was flawless, since that was a perk of
not being alive, but she could use a little more color to her cheeks if she
were going to be doing more than clean up trash that day.

Her blue
jacket was warm looking, but underneath it she just had a red t-shirt on. She didn’t
even have a bra under that, since she wasn’t going to sag or anything. It
hadn’t even been a consideration when she’d left home. She was big enough that
way to get a pleasant amount of attention, but not so huge that her Vampire
nature couldn’t handle things. Fighting gravity over the long haul and all
that. A C cup. She probably would have been a D, except that she’d always kept
herself slim, and had starved part of the size off over the last few years.

Thinking
of that reminded her to be hungry, which didn’t really go away she noticed. On
the good side though, there was no feeling of sickness over it. She
wanted
blood, but that was all. There was a gentle ache inside her, but it wasn’t
burning or anything, just a constant reminder that she had needs still.
Stronger in a way than hunger had been even after three days without food as a
Human, but the rest of it not being there made it easier to deal with.

Eve,
being a trouble maker apparently, went into the manager’s office, and used the
phone there. To call Edom, so she doubted that anyone would have that big of an
issue with it. She half wondered if he’d pick up, or if she were supposed to be
more independent than that now.

“Edom
here.” His voice sounded professional enough. Not hurried or upset.

“Hey Ed.
It’s me, Eve. I’m at T2LA. Barb mentioned that Troy may not have enough for me
to do tonight? I know to repaint the flame things later, and that the paint is
coming now, but until then, what do you want me to do? Barb said she’d train me
to do waitressing things?”

There
was a pause, and then a low chuckle.

“Good
plan. I’m looking into the Eastern Washington concerns tonight. It’s a bit of a
trip. Is Troy there?”

“Not
yet. We left at the same time, but…” She focused, and heard his voice, blocking
almost everything else in the club out. The loud music had just started, even
if there weren’t any people inside the place yet. “Wait, he just got here. Do
you want me to get him?”

“Thanks.”

She took
the phone with her and ambushed Troy inside the door, where he was chatting
with Barb, who was touching his arm like she owned him. Since they didn’t have
sex regularly or anything, the occasional hummer aside, that was a bit rich,
but who was she to complain? The man was her bud, but for the time being she
couldn’t take part in one of his favorite things. Sex. It wouldn’t be safe
enough for him, and the first time she tried that it wouldn’t be with anyone
Human that she
liked
. After all, if she slipped and bit them, or worse,
killed them, she didn’t want to carry that kind of guilt around with her.

“Hey
boss man. Edom on the phone.” She didn’t say why, not really knowing. It wasn’t
as if she couldn’t listen in anyway, which she did, as she made sure that all
the trash cans in the place were empty. There were two cans in the restrooms
that weren’t so she fixed that as she eavesdropped, using her powers. Which
was, she realized, both creepy,
and
incredibly cool.

It was
pretty boring stuff though. Troy was basically just being left in charge for
about a week, and Ed suggested that Eve be set up to learn the ropes there.
Waiting tables, between her other, real work.

“That
way we can use her for backup later, if it comes to it. She’s new, so we need
to keep her busy. If Barb suddenly starts to kick her ass though, back her up?
Don’t close with Eve, but make sure no one else does either. She’s dangerous
right now.”

It
seemed a bit like he wasn’t giving her a strong vote of confidence really, but
then, she knew that he
couldn’t
. Except, he was.

He’d
gone out of town, trusting her to handle things, with no more than Barb there
to watch her. She wouldn’t be letting him down, she decided. Not that it was in
the plans otherwise, but it felt important suddenly to do an extra good job.
Make daddy proud, and all that.

He also
didn’t beat the horse once it was down and Troy was savvy enough to not have to
go into all the ins and outs about why a young Vampire like her might not be
reliable. He may not be one of them, but he’d been around for years and it was
pretty clear that Edom was grooming him for later too. If so, and that was
going to be a thing, she should get with him and suggest that he try the same
program of things she’d done. The meditation and starving himself to build
discipline. Maybe some kind of shock training too, to get him used to horrible
pain? Now she kind of wished that she’d had that first, too.

Eve went
over the whole place again, and wiped a big portion of it down before the doors
were opened, and then blinked to herself, standing near the back hallway.
People came, but the night before it had been packed with lovely and delicious
bodies. Tonight there were about twenty people, most of them a lot more sedate
than the night before. Two couples danced, and most of the others actually just
sat at the round tables. Chatting.

Barb
waved her over, as she stood near the other two waitresses. The night before
there had been two guys too, all in black pullover shirts. Tonight it looked
like there were just the three women there, all dressed nearly the same. The
other two were Humans, and seemed professional enough, but were just regular
people as far as she could tell. Filled with life, and pink energy, but without
any links that would say they were being fed upon. So, it was pretty clear to
her, the staff there was off limits for that kind of thing. She’d known that,
since it was illegal to do that kind of thing unless you were in a relationship
with the person, but no one had specifically told her that these people were
off limits.

“Tammy,
Christa, this is Eve. She’s Edom’s…” There was a panicked half moment there,
since they’d never really gone over what she was supposed to be to the man.
They weren’t lovers, though that would have been the easy thing to claim. She
shrugged though, being used to lying about things.

“Step-sister.
His dad married my mom two years ago. I needed a job, so he got me in here.
That’s where the nepotism ends though. Actually, he kind of told me that I was
going to be everyone’s little bitch for the first year, if I last that long. He
doesn’t really like me, but he wants to get on my mom’s good side, I think. So,
I get to clean the restrooms here, and scrub the floors each night.”

Troy
walked up behind her, and draped a black shirt over her shoulder.

“That’s
about what I was told, too. Eve is also going to be cross training in all the
departments. You get her first though. Don’t be shy about making her do all
your work. Ed told me that she has to give you all her tips. He really
is
trying to put her through the wringer. Tomorrow she’s on
security
, so…”

The
other ladies seemed to be sympathetic, rather than edgy about possibly losing
their jobs to the new kid. Then, they weren’t, were they? It was why she was
going to be giving them her tips, no doubt. So that they knew that she wasn’t
Edom’s new favorite?

Which
was the story
she
just set up, she reminded herself. It made sense, and
was a better cover than claiming they were in love and looking to get married.
This way Barb could bitch her out, and maybe even kick her ass if it was needed
to save a life, without it seeming strange that she still had a job there the
next day. This way it would seem like Eve was always in the wrong, but that was
fine.

Troy
winked at her.

“Go
ahead and change into that. You can use my office.” He stayed there, but
waited, to see her when she came back. She understood that one, since it was
pretty clear that he’d handed her that particular shirt on purpose. It was
nearly three sizes too small, and instead of hanging on her like a normal
garment, it stretched over her chest and showed
very
clearly that she
wasn’t wearing anything underneath it. There were three buttons near the top of
the front, but she left them all undone, to give herself the extra room.
Hopefully it looked hot, since otherwise it was just annoying.

Thankfully
she didn’t have to breathe. Christa, the redhead that looked to be in her late
thirties and like she might just have a drinking problem made a teasing face.

“Woo-hoo!
That should get you some tips. Good, you can start by shadowing me. It isn’t
hard working here. We don’t do food, so it’s all about getting the drink orders
right. I have those seven tables. Come on.” The woman walked away, confidently,
so Eve followed. It really wasn’t all that hard, though she could tell that
this was probably the easiest time to learn the ropes possible.