Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (31 page)

It
was clear he was a lot less than happy with the outcome. She was too, come to
that. That didn’t stop her from moving in and ending the lives of the burning
and screaming things that got past Nikki though. Near the end four of the
Vamplings engaged the red headed and pierced Vampire Proctor at once, using
their numbers to hold her, while the others tried to run past.

Eve
found a fairly clear patch of air and took a breath. Then she yelled.

“Wait!
If you have enough of a brain to stop, drop and roll, we
might
be able
to save you. Do it now!” They were burning, after all. Only two of them did it
however. A woman who was already burned into barely seeming like a person at
all, and a small man in a jean jacket.

She
let them live, though she did hear Bey caution them that they needed to sit on
the ground and not move, if they wished to continue doing so. The others were
busily trying to pull Nikki toward the burning building, with Lenore holding
her right hand on Edom’s arm, to get him to
not
help the other woman. It
was ridiculous of course, and Eve stopped and stared at her for a moment. The
grin on her face as her own sister, her real life, came from the same mother,
sibling
,
was about to die was nearly joyous.

Eve
moved in and punched the young, but apparently clever, Vampires. None of them
survived, since after the first two went down Nikki pushed them away and
started to do some fast moving of her own.

“Thanks.
At least
one
of you isn’t an asshole.”

Lenore
looked around and instead of denying it, smiled. It was creepy, but she seemed
to be enjoying herself.

“Yes.
Eve is delightfully friendly that way. She did just steal away my chance to be
free of you though, so she’ll have to be punished. Perhaps locked in a box for
a year? Or… Oh, I know! She can guide you through staying up all day. She’s
managed this successfully with several others now.” There was a wicked bit of
laughter in her words, as if she knew that none of that was going to be
happening, but Bey, standing back, folded his hands, his friendly smile giving
way to a much calmer expression.

“I
agree. It is past time for you to join the world of the true adult, Nicole. You
sleep the days away, like a raw child, untrained and unready for your duty.
Not
,”
his voice actually went sharp, and he turned slightly to glare at Lenore.
Actually giving her a look that Eve associated with the one he gave beings that
were about to die for the final time. “That this is a punishment for my
protégé. The fact is that she’s had more success in this area than any other
Vampire in history. I think perhaps it is part of her true talents. Bringing
out the strength in others, as she has. Nicole, from this point until you learn
to walk the day, unending, you are to report to Eve each day she is available.
Is that understood?”

Then,
almost as if he’d forgotten himself, the ancient being turned to Eve, and gave
a small bow. “That is if you have time for such a task? I do not wish to
presume.”

She
nodded, and tried to smile a bit. Really, what else did she have to do? Work
all the time? Nikki could stay with her for that. It would be harder if Lenore
was around all the time, she didn’t doubt. The woman
really
didn’t like
her sister. It was, if she’d heard right, mainly over silly bullshit, too, from
back when they were both alive.

“We
can do that, if you want, Nikki? It’s a pain, but not that big of a deal after
the first few days. We’ll just have to work out… Well, I do have some things to
do. Barb can help with that?” She glanced at Edom, who looked at Lenore, who
actually snorted. It was less derisive than it probably could have been. Not
that it was easy to tell, since she was acting like a bitch at the moment.

“Agreed.
If Nicole is going to actually do something useful and not act like a little
bint for once, I suppose that Barbara could be part of this. What do you have
in mind for her, Eve? Not that I don’t trust you, but it’s best to make
certain, at each step.”

There
was the tone of a lesson in that, but Eve already got that one, didn’t she? Go
into that room for a piece of candy… and you were
going
to end up with a
cock inside you.
Every
single time. After a while it hit home that there
was no such thing as a good surprise.

“Hanging
out with Becky… With Krista Hall?
I’m
supposed to do it, and will, but
she might be better for the job.” Eve turned to Nikki and shrugged. “She’s an
actress, who’s in town to learn how to be a Vampire for a coming role. We were
friends in high school. She’s… I think that she might be one of The
Technician’s slaves, but I don’t know that for certain, so try not to mention
that kind of thing too much, if you talk to her?”

That
got some rapid blinking, but the Proctor finally just nodded, agreeing. Looking
at Bey, and then her, as if she were in charge of anything for real?

The
woman with her punk clothing, and silver piercings on her face, finally moved
to stand near her.

“I
guess the orders have come down, then. So, what’s your secret to keeping people
from dying during the day? Anal plugs, and electro shock?”

Bey
glared again suddenly, but Eve smiled, and shook her head.

“Nope.
You really just need to
try
. Well, running, and work. Keeping busy
helps. It will only take a week or two and then you should be set on your own.
Maybe three, but it isn’t some huge deal. You’ll wake up each night, too, so
even though it will hurt most of the day, it won’t be
all
the time. You
can still do your other job and all that, so it won’t be a big disruption to
your life. I mean, other than the horrid pain all day, but what’s a bit of
burning between friends?” She managed to say it in a charming enough manner,
though every Vampire that was old enough knew what she was talking about. The
sun freaking hurt, and that wouldn’t go away.

Ever,
apparently.

They
had to leave a bit after that, pulling back a ways into the trees, since night
time or not, the fire department came, and tried to put the blaze out. They
were needed, just in case anything was left alive inside and tried to feed on
the hapless men in their yellow and red reflective fire gear. They did look
tasty. Eve smiled though, and winked at Nikki, looking at them.

“There
was a time when I would have thought they looked delicious for totally
different reasons, you know?”

“Yeah.
When I was a girl that kind of thing was improper, and not admitted to, but I
really did enjoy it. Most often with my little sister’s boyfriends. I can’t
help it if I’m the pretty one, can I?” She was saying it loudly enough that
Lenore started to move, going fast. Bey caught her by the arm, and shook his
head.

“Girls!
We will not have strife between you any longer. If you…” He sighed, and then
looked away. “I have been too kind to you both. For far too long, allowing your
bickering to go on. Eve, if they continue on this course, you have my leave to
kill them.”

Lenore
froze, and glared at her, but Nikki laughed a bit.

“That
seems like a death sentence for her, father. I hear your words and will obey,
but is it right to set such a heavy burden on one so very young?”

Edom
cleared his throat, and then smiled at the punkish looking woman.

“It
might be, but notice that
Lenore
didn’t try to claim that she couldn’t
be touched? The Bey
didn’t
claim Eve as his protégé as a joke, Nik.
Maybe you could beat her in a straight up fight, but given that, you have to
know that isn’t what was just ordered. Think about it.”

Eve
got it, since it was probably the only way that it would work. She’d need to be
sneaky about it, and ambush either of the women, if they needed to be killed.

Lenore
gave her sister a snotty look then.

“Indeed,
Nicole. Eve is a most capable young woman. Perhaps you’ll test her for us? I’m
certain that it will be instructive.”

Eve
threw her hands up, and sighed, shaking her head.

“Come
on guys, we’re all friends here, so don’t make me have to kill you both. I
don’t know if I
can
do it, votes of confidence aside, but… I get what
Bey is saying. Let the past go already and stop acting like you’re little kids.
I never had a brother or sister, myself. I hope that if I did, I would have
gotten along with them, at least eventually. You two… Well, how many Vampires
get to have
anyone
from their Human life like this? It’s a good thing,
but you have to work to make it happen. I get that you don’t want to, but…
Well, I don’t really get
why
.”

She
looked from one to the other, and then turned to watch the men working on the
fire. How they were getting water was interesting since they had a tanker truck
filled with the stuff there, with another coming already. There were no
hydrants out there, after all. The blaze was going up well too, and they
weren’t really trying to stop it, just control where the flames got to. The
world was damp though, which should help to keep it from spreading.

Quietly,
she kept talking.

“Maybe
you can let things go now? A few stolen boyfriends, a little gang rape, and
murdering your dog, these things are small enough to let go of, given the time
you’ve both had, aren’t they?”

Nikki
made a face, but nodded, being the sensible one on this set of issues, it
seemed.

“It
didn’t even have the rape or pets involved. I guess I can do my part. Then, it
really hasn’t been about
me
for a long time, has it, Lenore?”

Whatever
that meant wasn’t explained, but the other woman faked a sigh and then nodded.

“I
too, will try to do my part. We’ll have this done then. I suppose that we’re
required to shake hands now?”

They
didn’t move, and Eve didn’t suggest they do anything at all. Instead they stood
there, waiting for day to break, staring at the licking flames of gold. It was
brilliant and intense, the heat still felt even from where they stood,
chatting. Nothing stirred from inside, and none of the firefighters had to do
anything more than their job controlling the blaze.

As
the sun rose, the five of them went back to the mall. Running, since that was
how they’d gotten there in the first place. They had to go slower than she
would have liked, since Nikki wasn’t all that fast. Not compared to the rest of
them. About halfway back to the store, Eve dropped in alongside of her.

 “Push
into the pain. It’s hard right now, with the sun up, but it will help later,
facing it now. Make sure to let all the air out of your lungs first though, so
the screaming won’t be too loud when we stop. Ready to run for real?” That got
a nod, which seemed a little sad for some reason.

Probably
because the other woman wasn’t as big of a fan of pain as Eve was. Given that
she hated the stuff, that was probably a sign that Nikki’s aversion to it was
pretty intense. They
were
able to speed up though. It was still less
than half speed, but the others seemed satisfied with the effort.

The
thing was, when they stopped, the other Vampire, who was well past old enough
to know better,
whined
about it.

“Ouch!
God that
hurts
! They make cars for a reason. So I don’t have to do
things like this. Let’s get inside, hurry!”

Eve
had to hold in a growl, and then shook her head.

“Nope.
Let’s run some laps first, for a few hours. Follow me.” She took off, letting
her own breath out, and then proceeded to push Nikki for a lot longer than a
few hours, not stopping, even as full noon came and they burned under the sun
that was directly above them.

Even
past that, she didn’t stop, risking taking breaths every now and again to
remind the other Vampire to keep her speed up. When Eve did try to stop, the
other woman kept whining, so she kept her going. It wasn’t that she wanted to
be mean, but rather that they were going so slowly that it seemed nearly
criminal to complain about it. Nikki actually let herself move as if it were
hard, after a while, even though the energy flowing to her was strong and
active the whole time.

Finally,
hours later, Barb came out, and started to run with them. It was a bit before
twilight came, but the Vampire woman was willing to go faster than she had before,
probably trying not to look like a moody little bitch. Eve knew that she
couldn’t afford to seem grumpy though, and refrained from using any motivating
slaps to keep the Proctor going.

When
night came, she stopped though, and held up a hand, keeping the others from
speaking at all.

“Not
too bad. Tomorrow we
won’t
have any complaints though, and it will be
harder
.
We’ll be going inside. Where Lenore is. Meet me here at seven?”

Nikki
looked away, her face almost innocent seeming, even if decorated to make her
seem tough.

“Yeah.
I have to. I can’t believe we just did that. It’s insane, running in the light
like that, you know that, don’t you? I mean, no one does that.”