Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2)

Eve
Benson: Vampire, Book Two

Dead
and Everything

P.S.
Power

Orange
Cat Publishing

Copyright
2015

The
nighttime was her favorite time. It wasn’t even all that odd. Not for Eve.

Being a
Vampire meant that at night she was lively, energetic,
and
her normal,
fairly awesome self. True there were a few differences, compared to how she’d
been as a Human, but not all that many. She was hungry all the time, for one.
The desire to munch on anyone with the right kind of internal energy was strong
enough to be annoying, almost all the time. Even drinking blood, which was what
she craved, instead of ice cream or pizza, didn’t actually do a lot for her. It
was part of being a predator, she guessed. Like a shark, she always wanted to
feed, even if she was actually fine that way, in reality.

That
wasn’t too different for her though, since she’d practiced being hungry,
starving herself for days at a time, for
years
, before becoming what she
was at the moment. It was a different feeling, but close enough that she didn’t
have
to give in all the time, because she’d already mastered that part
of herself, long ago.

There
was also the anger, of course. She felt that too, just like all the others of
her kind, but to a lot of people it probably seemed like it wasn’t there for
her. That was down to the fact that she’d always been that filled with rage.
Ever since she could remember, even as a tiny child. It had been down to being
a person tied to pure hate, or giving into fear and self-loathing. She’d picked
rage as her go-to response, early on. Being a rape victim so very many times
could do that to a person. That or break them down, and force them to be
constantly afraid of everything.

Except
that she wasn’t that. She hadn’t been for a long time.

Oh,
she’d
been
raped. A lot in her life. That was a thing outside of her
control and power, or had been. Eve Benson wasn’t a victim though. Not inside.
No matter what people did to her body, or what names they called her, she was a
being to be reckoned with.

Inside.
Where it counted.

Tonight
though she was working behind the counter of a frozen yogurt shop, all alone,
for the first time. At least the first one that was planned. It was a sign, of
course. Both her maker, Edom, and her work boss, Lenore, had felt that she was
ready to take on some real responsibility.

Given
that she’d only become a Vampire a few weeks before, that was a huge thing. Most
of her kind weren’t allowed to be alone at all for the first few years. Not
without being locked away, to protect the rest of the world from their awesome
rage filled hissy fits. Eve had managed not to do that, for the most part, so
was being rewarded. With work.

She
grinned, trying not to seem like a bitch to the woman that walked in. She
didn’t know her at all, but that didn’t mean the woman wasn’t just as worthy of
respect as anyone else.

“Good
evening, what can I do for you tonight?” She said it with a chipper and polite
voice, one that fit her look. She seemed like an ex-high school cheerleader,
complete with her short and sporty black hair and trim waistline. All the
starving to get ready for being dead had been handy that way. Now she pretty
much wouldn’t change in appearance for a long time, she didn’t think.

So she
was going to be kind of hot, until the styles changed on her. They would
eventually, as long as she survived long enough. Someday being kind of plump
would be trendy, and she’d look poor and like she had health issues. Until
then, she was the bomb though.

The
other woman was a Vampire. It wasn’t hard to tell, since she came in with fangs
out, and eyes pure blood red, with no black or whites to be seen. It was a
solid thing, and a really cool effect. It also meant the woman was about to
attack someone, more likely than not. Eve got ready for it, and wasn’t too
shocked when a fist banged against the counter. Hard enough to leave a crack in
the stone surface. That got her to wince, since she’d be the one to have to fix
it, no doubt. If not pay for it out of pocket. She hoped that one wasn’t the
case, since short of violence, there had been no real way to stop it from
happening. Vampires were quick, as a rule, and she’d been ready to block a
punch, not protect the furnishings.

“I…
Need…
Blood
!” The woman, who was kind of short, and very white, had warm
looking gloves on, and a nice coat that looked warm enough for the late
November weather. It was less than a week before Thanksgiving, and if this lady
hadn’t been freaking out, she would have looked right to be in a grocery store,
getting a turkey.

Instead
she was there, ready to break things and probably kill someone, in order to get
at what she wanted.

Eve
nodded, not letting herself show any other expression. It wasn’t that hard,
since being dead had turned not moving at all into her default condition. It
took skill, and a lot of practice, to seem like a real Human. Only the oldest,
and best, could really pull the move off.

“Human
or animal? We have both.”

She
expected to be growled at, and told to get the good stuff, but the lady just
shook, in rage and hunger.

“Difference?”

It was
an odd thing for her to be asking, really. Eve smiled then, trying not to seem
bitchy, and moved to the little silver fridge where both kinds were kept, and
pulled a four ounce bottle of the new stuff. It was cow blood, and the energy
gotten from it, the links set up to the still living animals wasn’t as smooth
as the Human kind. It had more of them though, and cows would last a lot longer
against a harder drain than people would. They were simply larger. It was a
trade off though. The fine quality of the energy against the raw amount.

“Here.
Try it.”

The
woman didn’t wait, or ask for it to be warmed to body temperature, just
throwing the whole thing back in two or three big swallows. Then she stood
there, holding the clear glass bottle, which was slightly stained red inside,
and took a deep breath.

That
way, she could talk. When her eyes opened she looked much better, and managed
to smile.

“Oh…
That’s not too bad. A good number of links. How much for it? I know that the
going rate for Human is one-forty right now, this has more links in it…”

Also,
they were to cows. It made a difference, which the woman wasn’t mentioning,
probably to be polite. Eve winked.

“Well,
that
one was a free sample. Normally it will run about five dollars per serving like
that. Maybe ten. We’re still working on getting things set up. There will be
other flavors though. That was vanilla, but there’s going to be a chocolate and
cinnamon as well. Maybe pumpkin spice, for the holidays?” She tried to seem
professional, since this woman hadn’t thrown the bottle of it back in her face,
or complained that it was animal blood. Some had. Not so much the physical
attack portion yet, but the complaints were pretty common.

Funnily
enough, the older the Vampire was, the less they whined about things like that.
It probably meant that this lady wasn’t the newest kid on the block.

“Really?
Well,
that’s
competitive. I should probably buy in now, before it hits
the market and everyone is trying to do it. Would you know who to contact about
that kind of thing?” It was a sudden change, but nice enough to hear. Not
everyone had the same interests though, so Eve had to wonder what her real plan
was.

Trust no
one. It had been one of the first things anyone had taught her as a Vampire.

“Marissa,
from the Council? I have a number for her, if you’re interested? There are also
jobs involved, if you’re available? Mainly setting up distribution points, and
advertising things. That kind of stuff.” She didn’t want to be rude, but they
needed good people. Of course if this woman went into a rage every time she got
a little peckish, it wasn’t a good fit, but that didn’t seem too likely.

“That
would be good. Thank you. I’m Linda, by the way. Are you new here? I thought I
knew all the personnel working at the embassy. I make it my business to stay
informed. Are you, perhaps, part of the…
Thing
that fool Rich Swerlin is
pulling?” Her eyes started to glaze over with red again, but she fought that
back, and no fangs came out.

Eve
tilted her head, just a tiny bit, trying to look concerned.

“I’m
new, yes. Edom is my maker? I haven’t heard about Mr. Swerlin doing anything in
particular, is it… No, I have nothing. Is it all right for me to know?” It
might not be. Vampires could be closed lipped about things, but if this lady
was running that close to rage over it, the thing might not be too secret.

“You
haven’t heard? Well, you know that he’s out, right? Told the world that he’s
one of us?” She looked pale, even with the blood and energy inside of her.

“Sure,
everyone knows that.” She’d known about it from her friend Keeley, who was kind
of Richard Swerlin’s buddy too.

The
woman in front of her, who looked too cute and feisty to be an undead killer,
nodded.

“We all
do, but the Humans don’t believe it. Or
didn’t
. The fool went on
national television earlier and demonstrated all of it for the cameras! There
were medical tests, and feats of strength and power. On a
national
news
program. Now, instead of laughing at him like they should be, the major
channels are showing the results back to back. This could bring the Human world
down upon us all!”

Eve
could kind of see that. Humans
were
kind of dickheads that way. Some of
them at least. She took a breath and tried to act calm.

“Or,
well, it isn’t
most
of them we need to worry about. Most people won’t
give a flying fuck if we’re dead or not. Not unless they know one of us. Just
the religious people, and the ones that want to play Vampire hunter, for real.
We’re going to need rules about dealing with them, or a lot of morons are going
to end up dead. Probably Rich, too. That fool.” She smiled and then shrugged.
“Well, fuck? We’ll deal with it though. My bet is that most of the people won’t
remember it by next week anyway.”

That was
how Humans were. Even the ones that were smart and open minded kind of had a
tendency to forget about anything supernatural. She’d been like that when she
was alive, and the fact was that Eve had been soaking in that kind of thing for
years first. Ma and Pa Kettle in the heartland weren’t that likely to be able
to take it all in.

Not
unless the news people kept going on about it, and didn’t stop. Then some of
them might well be able to remember it all, eventually. It would become normal
for them, and people weren’t stupid, they just had a block in place about
things that were too different from what they expected.

Nodding,
she got out a small pot of warm water, and started getting some of the animal
blood going. Linda looked at her funny, right until the first ten other Vamps
got there. There were several kinds, too, but most of them didn’t need to be
placated by feeding. A few did, and they got free samples. It was her product
line after all.

One of
them, a tall and skinny Manthori Vampire stared at her pretty hard. It was
enough that Linda moved back, fearing a fight was about to take place. The guy
was red eyed, but not freaking out, she didn’t think. Manthori were like that
all the time. Their teeth didn’t retract either, and all they had were fangs.
So Eve smiled, looking up at him. She recognized him after all. He’d helped to
kidnap her once. It was one of the first things that she’d seen, and smelled,
as a Vampire. This time his hands weren’t burning though, so it probably wasn’t
about a fight.

“Hey
Lars. Come to help calm the masses down? I’d say we should all call Richard
Swerlin and ask him what the fuck he was thinking, but I’m pretty sure we can
guess. It looks like we’re all coming out, doesn’t it? So, stay calm and
remember that the new animal blood is
way
cheaper than the other kind.
Here, if you need to eat, try some. It’s free right now. Later you’ll pay, but
less than ten bucks a bottle. The goal is to get it in for five. It will be a
few months before we’re in major production, but the people
here
won’t
have any issues that way. Not even if I have to get a farm and bleed the cows
myself, so stay calm. It isn’t
illegal
to be a Vampire. It won’t be
either. We’re all so nice, and friendly, after all.”

That
line got a dry chuckle, but people came up for some free food, and she started
to make a few treats as well. At first no one else got it, but a slow, yet
steady, stream of people started by. This was, potentially, a lot bigger of a
deal than just being about the Vampires after all. If the Humans turned on
them, then a lot of other groups could be sucked into the fighting, too.

The
Shifters came in first, represented by their second in command, Calley Hale.
She was a Bat, and they all had a specific look to them. Twitchy, pug nosed and
with thick glasses. Also rust red short hair. It was a thing that marked their
kind as different and left them looking a bit like skinny versions of those old
troll dolls from the eighties. At least she hadn’t seen anything different so
far. They were all tiny too. A lot of shifters were, depending on their animal
form. Rabbits and Bats were small at least, and Fox people weren’t huge. The
rest varied more.