Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (12 page)

There
was an inarticulate howl as the enemy leader started toward the line of
protestors.

Eve
screamed herself, moving so fast she couldn’t help it, still having air in her
lungs.

Then,
without hesitating, she killed all the other Vampires, except one. The leader.

She
didn’t
kill
him. He just wished she did.

The
thing that Eve knew, that no one else watching got, was that she wasn’t out of
control when she committed the deranged seeming actions. Vampires straight up
died, true. It was pure murder, and she didn’t actually know that it was
strictly legal, given everything. Worse, she’d claimed that she spoke for the
Council, which was going to cause problems later, she didn’t doubt. She managed
to make their heads vaporize pretty nicely, however, so it seemed pretty
official. Not as well as say, Zack or Bey could manage, but the Vamps were
dead, by the time they got most of the way to the line of scared and screaming
regular people.

The sick
part, and it
was
gross, was what she’d done to the big bald guy that was
in charge. Eve had kicked and punched his arms and legs. They were still
attached, but useless now. It was enough damage that the being screamed as he
laid on the ground, the asphalt under him sticky with black and red blood. Not
a lot of it, since her kind didn’t bleed like Humans did, but enough to make a
mess.

“Guess who’s
cleaning
that
up?” She muttered it to herself, and noticed that her
teeth were in the way. It was hard to get her fangs to pull back, since
everything in her being cried out for her to finish the job and kill the man on
the ground. It was the screaming that did that, not just her own anger. That
was what Eve was going with for the moment. Killing him would be very sweet,
but she needed someone to give her information.

Barb ran
out of the bar, moving slowly enough that Eve didn’t lash out at her, her black
shirt and jeans looking suddenly out of place, with the headless bodies all
over the parking lot like they were. Most of the protestors and patrons just
stood there, too. Watching. Waiting for something else to happen. A lot of
them, on both sides, had recorded things on cell phones. Because that would go
over well on the news later, she didn’t doubt.

“
Fudge
.”
She said the word in a low tone, glancing at Barb, and then Troy, who’d been
inside, hiding from the wall of undead that had come for them all. Like a sane
and reasonable person. “I’m so going to prison now, aren’t I? If not with the
Humans then being locked in a box by the Council. We really do not need this
kind of crud right now.” She was kind of pleased that she managed to keep her
words so clean. It was harder than it probably seemed like, since she wasn’t
moving at all. That made it seem like she wasn’t affected by what had just
happened, or the screams of the healing Vampire on the ground.

She
really
wanted him to shut the fuck up. It was tempting to go over and take care of
that right then, since she was probably going to be dead anyway.

That was
what she was thinking three minutes later when Edom and Bey got there. She
hadn’t even known that her ancient friend was back in town. Wincing as he and
her maker surveyed the damage, she took a deep breath and spoke loudly, so that
all the microphones on the cameras would pick her up.

“It was
some kind of a set up. These Human protestors seemed to be working with those
Vampires, even if they didn’t know it. They were going to be killed, to make
all Vampires look bad. Still, there’s no reason they should have thought of
this as one of
our
businesses. Anyway, I told them to back off, but they
decided to attack anyway. I didn’t know how guilty the protestors were, and
don’t yet, so I killed them, the attackers. I
did
warn them first. They
were rushing in when I did it.” She swallowed, and shook her head a bit, trying
to recall exactly what she’d said. It would be on the net the next day, no
doubt, so she needed to get things as close as possible, or people would claim
she was lying. The real trouble was that she just didn’t remember it much.
There had been a kind of haze, and then she was killing. “I
think
I sort
of told them that the Council wouldn’t allow this… and that I was acting for
them.”

That was
dangerous, since she had about the same right to act for the Vampire world
Council as she did for the U.S. Government. She was roughly a citizen of both,
but that was about it, as far as power went. To her surprise, Bey nodded, his
face very serious.

“There
will be an investigation, into all portions of this. For the moment, I believe
that we need to engage the local law enforcement body, and attempt to keep them
alive. Are you capable of that, Miss Benson? Perhaps it would be best if we
removed you from the area, for their safety?” His words were gentle, and Edom
glared at him, as if they were going to have an argument over something.

Eve
shook her head, having seen enough television programs to know what would
really be happening. The cops would come and arrest her, since there were all
those dead bodies. Even if she were allowed to go free later, since it was
self-defense, she was pretty much going to spend the night in the slam. It
would be great fun, no doubt. Most likely being beaten the whole time.

“I’m
good. Ed, could you see about getting me a lawyer? I don’t know how I’m going
to pay for it.” She turned to the people in the crowd and called out. “Hey, did
anyone get all that on camera? If so, I could use the footage, or whatever. I
think I was acting to protect myself, and these other people. I was afraid for
my life. Terrified. There were so many of them.” She faked a sob, and moved in
to hug Ed, who played into it all nicely.

Bey
looked confused, but Barb, who also watched television, understood what was
going on.

“Right,
because the rules for self-defense are based on being afraid for your own life.
Well, twelve Vampires coming at you at once like that should count. It’s like a
small army doing it. There really was no other choice. If the police had been
here, they would have just died. So would everyone else, most likely. The trick
here is how much separation is there between Vampire law and that in the local
area? In the past we just hid things, but being out now… That means what?” She
sounded philosophical, but Troy had an answer.

A pretty
practical one.

“For
right now? It means that we do both. These Vamps
had
to be stopped to
protect the public, and all of us here. Including these protestors, who might
be in on the whole thing.” That got a sound of outrage now that they realized
they were going to be blamed for it, too.

Eve
ignored them, still holding on to Edom.

Troy
looked at Bey.

“So, you
probably need to have all the Vampires follow the local laws,
and
the
Vampire ones. Killing is generally illegal, but like Barb said, the cops can’t
handle something like this. The army would be hard pressed in something like
this.”

It was
about to be an issue, she knew, since the night was lighting up, and the
screaming that she’d started to block out, along with the panicked buzz of the
crowd, was offset by pretty flashing red and blue lights. It was dark enough
that the world suddenly seemed pretty for it. Like Christmas.

Which,
if she wasn’t spending it in prison, would probably be spent in a little box.
Things were really far too tense for her to have done something like that in
public. Oh, she couldn’t think of anything else to do that would have worked,
but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be bitched out for messing up. Someone had to
take the fall for this, and she was the one standing there, literally red
handed.

Moving
back, she realized that she’d just destroyed Ed’s nice suit. That nearly made
her growl at herself. Being a bitch, even about her own failures, wasn’t going
to aid anyone though, so she moved away from everyone else, and started calling
out orders.

“Okay,
no one can leave, but I need you, all the regular people, to kind of head over
to the right side of the parking lot? That way if the police start shooting
they won’t be able to hit you as easily.” Then, before the first car even
pulled in, she walked away from everyone else, got on her knees and put her
hands up over her head.

Which
meant that the asshole driving the first car nearly hit her, swerving at the
last moment, and came out of the vehicle with his weapon drawn, looking ready
to soil himself.

“Freeze!
Everyone! Get on the ground, on your belly!” He kicked Eve, who fell over, but
was waving the weapon at… The entire world, it seemed like. His buddies were
just about as specific, which meant it was dangerously close to be a totally
different kind of blood bath.

After
all, neither Edom, or Bey, were going to be kneeling that day. Laying on their
stomachs was even
less
likely to happen. On the good side, or perhaps
bad, the men in blue tried to control the whole crowd that way. It meant that
something very strange took place then. Dangerously so.

Half the
conservative Christian protestors pulled guns. It didn’t matter if they were
men or women, they aimed them at everyone too, or pointed them up into the air,
but it was enough to get the cops to freak out. No one had fired yet though,
just screamed about dropping things then.

Eve, who
was pretty close to bullet proof, finally rolled her eyes, when this had gone
on for over two minutes. When a lull finally came, she called out, from the
ground, her face in a puddle of Vampire black goo.

“Um, not
to be too big of a bitch here, but shouldn’t we all kind of back up here?
Clearly no one wants to shoot, which is a good thing. So why don’t you all put
the weapons away? This is about a group of Vampires attacking, which makes it a
Council issue. We just need to talk about that, and question the screaming man
over there, before he heals all the way.” It seemed like a good plan to her,
but of course, no one even seemed to notice that she said anything. She tried
again, a few times, but the situation went on, until the Police Chief, Althea
Sims, showed up in person.

The
woman was wearing a business skirt and matching jacket, and even if it was
about eight in the evening, since it had taken a long time for things to get to
that point, she looked pretty fresh and ready for the day. In this light she
seemed to be in her late forties, but she was at least a few hundred years old,
or more. The woman didn’t sleep, so she pretty much had to be. Then, Eve didn’t
either, so maybe that wasn’t the best way to tell things like that?

She
walked over to the scene, like she was Rambo, not even caring that anyone had a
weapon. She didn’t have one out, her empty hands showing that one clearly.

The
Chief seemed nearly amused by the whole thing, even with the line of headless
bodies on the ground.

“I don’t
suppose anyone is feeling clear headed enough to tell me what this cluster is
all about?”

Eve
cleared her throat, her face feeling sticky on the right cheek.

“There
was a set up protest, Christians I think, and then a group of attacking
Vampires. We don’t know who set it all up, but have that guy there, who was
their leader. I left him alive for questioning. We should have a lot of this on
camera though, so… Can anyone get that for the Chief? That will help explain a
lot.”

Bey
moved in then, his face a bit blank, and not smiling, as Althea turned two
complete shades whiter.

“I think
that we have some confusion, as to what portion of this is to be handled by the
Vampires, and what the local police are in charge of? I for one, think we would
be best served by not escalating things at this point. Your officers are both
in danger, and threatening patrons of this establishment. Innocent ones that
have done nothing more wrong than to seek a bit of revelry and merriment. I’m
certain that even those that sought to speak against Vampire kind are merely
tense and misguided. Would it be allowed for everyone to place their weapons
away now?” He asked the question loudly, and smiled when the woman nodded.

“That
sounds like a plan. You heard the man, everyone put your sidearms away. You
people, too, please.” Then she ignored them all, and walked over to Eve. “I
notice that you’re the only one on the ground. Any reason for that?”

Sighing,
she held her place.

“Yes. It
had to be done, but I killed those Vampires. Under Council rules it’s
allowable, and needed under the law, but I know that I may have to go to prison
for it. I’m still saying it was both self-defense and my job, as, erm, Vampire
law enforcement, stopping them.” Because why not lie about that? It was what
she’d been doing, wasn’t it? “Vampires can’t be stopped by Human beings very
easily, so we have to police our own. Even if that means taking the
consequences of our actions. So, you know, if I have to be arrested, I’m going
peacefully.”

It was
funny, because everyone put their weapons away and stood there, listening to
her, as a young woman walked over, with her hands up, a cell phone in the right
hand, facing outward.

“I have
it all on my phone. Here? You shouldn’t arrest her… I think she saved us. All
of us. Even the protestors.” The woman sounded young, and was dressed to get
laid, or at least make people think she wanted to, but she also seemed a bit
slow.

Not
stupid really, but the low end of average that had to make life just a little
harder for some people all the time. At least she was cute enough to never have
to work all that hard. Not everyone got that lucky in life.