Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (25 page)

The
biggest part of things though was that when she touched him there was no
tingling. That didn’t mean he
wasn’t
a Greater Demon, but it was a good
sign that he was actually what he seemed to be. So, just a regular Human guy. A
tasty one, that she could actually date, apparently. One that when some other
people were disrespectful to her went and found Mages to
curse
them for
her. That was pretty progressive for a guy that hadn’t known that such things
were even real a half year before, wasn’t it? Okay, so he wouldn’t have exactly
been her type, before, back when she was alive, being a bit geeky and a little
less than perfect looking, but now that she was the new her, it seemed like a
lot of other things might just be more important than those things. Being
interesting and a stand up person were both more important to her now, and Ben
was that, for sure.

When
she was done, having used Zack’s office for both things, since she wasn’t a
succubus it hadn’t occurred to her to use a reading room, even if they were all
empty, she found herself at a loss again.

So…

She
nodded to herself.

The
thing to do in a case like that was to make her own entertainment. In this case
she decided to try and design a new treat for the shop. She left directly from
the bookstore, and headed over to the WinCo, jogging over. She wouldn’t be able
to get too much, since she had to carry it back, and with fresh things that
could mean crushing them if she had too much with her at once. Still, she had a
nice full load of things by six-thirty, and put them away in the various places
around the store that wouldn’t have them out on the counter for too long.
Lenore wouldn’t like that, she didn’t think.

At
seven in the morning, when the other woman came in, Cormack was in the back,
fielding phone calls, since that was his job for the day. Eve, however, was
trying to basically turn sweetened coconut into a flour like powder. It was
harder to do than it seemed like it should be, but the grainy texture of the
normal product turned a lot of people off. What she was going for was a solid
base for a sweet, but smooth topping. A sauce, basically.

Lenore
bustled in, looked at her, and then at what she was doing. It was close to
being a stare. There was no comment on it all, and she went directly to the
back. After about half an hour Cormack stumbled out, looking like he was
halfway to drunk, since the sun was already coming up.

“Well,
I’m off now. Time to hit the soft pillows of relief and die for the day.” He
smiled at her, and staggered a bit, but she shook her head at him.

“No.
It’s really about
time
for you to stop being a pussy. Yay! Fight it and
keep your ass up for the day, why don’t you? Lenore and I will take turns
helping you. It’s a lot easier if you keep moving. So you know,
do
things. Start on the windows and work your way back, then… I don’t know, go
over and do the same with the Mage embassy? That, or head down to the Gym and
take them some treats? Those guys are never too full to have a bit more, I
bet.” She smiled, not knowing what his reaction would be.

There
was a pained groan.

“
Bitch
.
I knew it was coming, but I figured that you’d at least wait for a while after
getting out of that hell cage. A week or two? You know, normal people don’t go
around being a constant pain in the ass all the time, don’t you?” There was a
grin to go with it, even though it was kind of clear that he was also being at
least partially serious too.

Oddly
enough, that reminded her to warm up a mug of animal blood, and drink it all.
She had to use her card for it, but got six new links, and made sure to drop
the one that she’d picked up to Ben. She hadn’t fed off of him directly, using
blood, but no one would be able to tell that was the case if there was an
investigation, would they? It left her with enough links, though all of them
were to cows. Which, if she were going to think about it, was no worse than
eating a few hamburgers. Better in a lot of ways, being that she was leaving
all the animals alive and well.

Given
that fact, she could practically start a Vampire version of PETA. Except, in
hers
they wouldn’t be idiots half the time. It would all just be nude calendars,
that and pictures of puppies and baby animals. There was no one on the planet
that she wanted to talk to that didn’t like puppies and kittens, was there?

After
finishing with that, Cormack actually getting back to work without more of a
fight, trying to stay up like a grown-up, and not whining about it anymore, she
got back to work.

What
she really wanted to create was something that was kind of like the center of
mounds bar, only not grainy in texture. It took three tries to get something
close enough to move to the next part, which involved making a special batch of
the base product. It was just a little sweeter than what Lenore normally had
them make up. She used the second machine, which normally had either chocolate
or strawberry in it, but this time it was coconut flavored. If anyone wanted a
soft serve chocolate cup…

Well,
then she was probably going to be in trouble, wasn’t she?

Still,
instead of beating her down at eleven when Cormack went over to help Mark
straighten and clean the Candle shop, Lenore actually just
asked
about
the new activity. It was kind of nice, since she seemed curious, rather than
upset about things being disrupted, like Eve had kind of suspected she might
be.

Eve
shrugged.

“It’s
a coconut base product, with a new kind of topping. It’s all a bit white
though, especially with the whipped cream on it. I need someone to taste it for
me, too. The idea is to have it be smooth though. Not too grainy, you know? I’m
not sure it’s enough yet. If this doesn’t work then coconut milk might. I can
put a cherry on it, to break up the pale sameness, but… I don’t know, it’s a
bit standard. A little too plain looking.” She glanced at the machine, filled
with a nice creamy base, which was just about set up enough for her to try
making a product out of it.

Lenore
moved in and did it instead, first playing with it, testing it for consistency
with a spoon, and to Eve’s surprise, after making a dish of it and decorating
it, taking a bite. She played it around her mouth for a bit, then got a cup of
water and rinsed, then spit into the silver deep sink.

“Not
bad. Perhaps a bit bland for Human palates? Have you considered something that
can act as a contrasting undertone? Pineapple is traditional, but as you just
stated, a bit
too
much so. We don’t want to get boring. You should make
up a few things, and see what works? If you’re going to taste them yourself, I
have to remind you to rinse
very
well. Otherwise you’ll pay for it
later. Also… things will be sharper, and more intense for you. If it seems
right for one of us, it will basically have no flavor for a Human.”

Eve
nodded, and felt like taking notes, but didn’t. It was the kind of thing she
needed to know however.

Otherwise
she could mess up and… Be known as a Vampire? She was pretty open about it, to
be honest, so that wasn’t going to matter much, was it?

She
grinned then.

“I
should make some things up and take them to my dad. It would mean running in
daylight, but… Well, I won’t get better at doing that by being lazy, will I?
Tomorrow though? Unless I get busy. I’m not trying to get out of doing my work,
but you know, I should make a point of keeping up with people, if I can.”

That
meant getting with her other friends too, she knew.

Rebekah,
Hally, Gary, and even Becky Hoader, if she could get in touch with her. She’d
gone off and become an actress. Eve hadn’t been following her career, but had
heard she was doing well enough. Actually in real movies, and all that kind of
thing. She had a new name though, that she worked under. If Eve was going to
drop her a line, she needed to learn what that was. They hadn’t been really
close or anything, but were old friends from school, and had even done things
outside of that, which was enough not to let her get
too
far away.

Eve
had to focus on what she was doing though, if she wanted to get it right. The
first thing that was needed was to go and make sure that Cormack wasn’t
actually going to sit down. He was about to fall down, it sounded like, so she
headed over. It was part of her current project after all, and she
had
mentioned trying to help him with it in the past.

The
Vampire was standing, but had stopped moving, and his eyes were closing and opening,
the pattern getting slower each time. She ran in clapping at him, yelling.

“Cormack!
Don’t lose it! Here, um… Run!” This required her to pull him along, and really
didn’t go faster than a quick, Human level, jog. Still, he did it, and after a
bit, they were outside. The man cursed as the sun hit him.

“I’m
burning
!” It woke him up though, so she didn’t let him pull back and go
inside.

“No,
you
aren’t
. It just feels like it. Tough it out and don’t give in. Keep
running. We can try going faster?” He did, but she noticed something, a thing
that had slipped past her before, even if there were signs of it all over the
place.

Cormack
wasn’t very fast.

Oh,
he could do better than he
had
been, and probably hit something like
forty miles an hour, but it wasn’t the kind of speed that she had. Not even
close. It wasn’t even the kind of thing that Barb could do, if she really
applied herself. At first she thought that it was because he was being a pussy,
and not really trying… which she
fully
understood.

She
wouldn’t have managed a real run the first day she’d stayed up either. That the
man wasn’t stumbling around and acting half drunk the whole time was amazing,
given that, now that she considered it fully. She kind of had. It had truly
been
days
after the beginning one for her, before she’d managed that
kind of thing, now that she thought about it, and that hadn’t taken place in
daylight. Cormack was older than she was, and not a wimp though.

So
that meant this was really about something else, didn’t it?

“Wait,
you don’t have super speed?” All of Bey’s line did, but he nodded at her, still
wearing his Yoghurt World apron as they scrambled around outside the mall, on
the outer perimeter of it, using the sidewalk as a running track. They kept
going, as the Vampire next to her nodded.

“Argh.
That’s right. I’m from Lisle’s line. We’re stronger than most, but not as fast
as those of The Bey. Funny, but picking up cars just doesn’t come up that often.”

She
hadn’t known that at all. Not even who Lisle was. Not asking, she pushed him
anyway, since to at least a small extent, being willing to face pain was the
point of what they were doing.

“Avoiding
the agony of the day, that’s
why
Vampires all go dormant. Make it so you
aren’t afraid of the pain, and you can beat it. From now on, don’t let yourself
escape it. After a bit your subconscious mind won’t even make you feel tired
anymore. It won’t take too long for you to learn it.” Probably longer than it
had for Eve to get the same thing, but she hadn’t gotten into bad habits first.

They
ran then, and then walked for a bit, since being outside really sucked. That
held until nearly two, keeping the man moving fast enough that he didn’t go
down the whole time. After that she had him go inside, but kept him with her,
working alongside of him, so that they could go and run at need. It
was
needed, but she was able to pass the time with Marcus, of all people, since it
was pretty clear that he was both bored, and had been doing a lot of work on
himself while she’d been locked away.

He
was dressed in a brown suit, but it was nice material and he’d clearly had it
tailored, which made a big difference in how anything fit. The shoes were
black, and his tie a bright red. The beard that she’d gotten used to had been
neatly trimmed, and while it made him look older than the twenty-five or so he
was, that was all to the good. His hair had been cut, too, and honestly, he’d
lost enough weight to move from fatbeard to business cutie already. If he lost
another forty pounds, or so, he’d probably move all the way into being good
looking. Cute enough for real life.

True,
his nose was a bit too snubbed for that, and his face a bit too weak around the
chin, but not everyone had to be ready for television, did they?

Eve
stopped at the front desk and nodded at him.

“Marcus.
Looking good, I see. Keep this up and we’ll have to go out one of these days.
Do something fun.” She didn’t mean anything by it, but he rolled his eyes at
her.

“Sure.
By that you mean making fun of me for being fat and ugly some more? I’m doing
my best. I know that it isn’t enough. No one else thinks so either, so at least
there’s that, right?”

She
took her own turn rolling her eyes.

“
Annnd
you killed the mood. Stop being so down on yourself, dumbass. It takes time for
people to see you for who you really are, and longer than that to turn yourself
into someone hot enough for all the pretty girls to want. I was just
complimenting
you though, so really, chill out on the self-hate, will you? You’re doing well.
Keep going. Still hitting the gym? It shows.”