Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (34 page)

Then,
laughing as if it were all a great game, and not a fight to the death, Maggie
Sims, one of the two spokesmen for the Council, ran off.

“Do
deliver that message for me? It would be very helpful, if you would?” It was
called out over her shoulder, Eve thought. She was still on fire, and managed
to flop over, rolling, until the flames died then.

The
funny thing, if it could be called that, was different than she thought it
would be. She didn’t feel like she was dying, or even about to. Not even a tiny
bit. Once the blue and white flames died, she was left there, alive. Helpless,
and charred, but still able to think, speak and move.

No
one came to help her, of course. Not at first. It was one of the Trolleikeine
that came when it happened, a huge wooden paddle in his hands, looking ready to
fight. She
would
have damned him for being that slow, but it hadn’t been
his problem, had it?

“Say,
um, Lars? Could you get me back to the shop? I can’t really walk, at the
moment.” The big being didn’t even hesitate, once he had a direction set up.
She was cradled in his arms like a burnt baby, and carried at a rolling stroll
back to her own place in the scheme of things.

The
next thing she needed to do was, she knew, to get in touch with the right
people. Lenore, Edom, and Bey. Then… Well, if she had a message to deliver, then
she did.

Not
telling them that Maggie had
gone rogue wouldn’t help, would it? That part, well, she didn’t get it really,
to be honest. That the woman was old enough to be strong and hard to beat
wasn’t a mystery, of course, but why she was doing it was.

It
could
be madness, of course. It might even be external control, say by a
Greater Demon. None of that was a known thing to her at the moment, and while
she liked the woman, or
had
, before the blasting off of her favorite
limbs, it could be anything. Lust for power. Seeing something that the others
didn’t, and seeking enough resources to fight it.
Anything
.

It
was a shame then, if that turned out to be the case. Since, after all, Eve was
going to have to kill her, absolutely as soon as she possibly could. Some
things couldn’t just be let go, could they?

Lars,
being a good bigfoot, dropped her in the back of Yoghurt World, and left her
still slightly smoldering and ruined body on the nice leather sofa. She tried
to get him to just drop her in the corner, where she’d no doubt be living for
the next few years while her arms and legs re-grew, but he was too polite for
that.

He
also
had a power lifting gym, that as he explained it, was half ruined,
from the explosion. It made sense once she thought about it, given how things
were situated at that now open end of the mall. Princess Pretty Nail was gone,
which probably meant the gym was ruined too. Hopefully the people there, not
really being plain Humans, had all managed to survive. It was clear the big guy
that had carried her was worried about it all.

“I
must go now, back to my place in the scheme of the world that surrounds us.
Will you be all right here, alone? I could call for aid?” The man was over
seven feet tall, muscular and hairy enough to remind her that his entire group
there had to shave things that she, as a nearly naked Human, never had. Just to
fit in.

Looking
up at the ceiling, she shook her head. Her face hurt, being burned pretty
badly, and she could barely roll over, with her stumps being messed up like
they were, but she’d live. For a raw second she wondered if she’d actually be
able to heal though. The burns had, when she looked down, melted part of her
flesh together in places. Her clothing was all but gone, and had stuck to her
along the right side of her body, too. Her right breast had been protected by
it, somehow, and was mainly intact, but the left was gone, totally.

That
wasn’t a problem though. Oh, it was, actually, since it might well really take
her years to recover all the way, but she would. Her links were untouched, so
she had energy coming in, for instance. Plus, no matter what kind of Vampire
she was thinking about, she couldn’t recall any of them that looked less than
healthy, could she? So either burns like this healed all the way, or killed
them, all the time. She wasn’t fading though, so she was going with the idea
that she’d get better.

It
had to happen, because otherwise she’d have to get someone to kill her. She
wasn’t living like this forever. It just wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m
good. Thanks, Lars. Remind me to give you a handjob when I’m better?”

The
large being made a face, and shook his head a bit.

“I’m
not really into childlike naked people. A weakness, it is, without a doubt, but
mine, it presents.”

She
winked, still having both eyelids by some strange chance. That was kind of
handy. A silver lining, as it were. The world could be made dark, on command
still.

“Fine,
but remember that I made the offer. Go, I’ll be fine here. I just have to work
out how to kill some people… With my mind.”

Rather
than act shocked that she’d say something that bitter sounding, and it really
did sound like that, the giant smiled, fang like teeth of his own suddenly
showing. They were much heavier than her own, of course. Slightly yellow, too,
like tusks, or things that might one day grow into them given enough milk, and
some time.

“Yes.
I saw the battle, where you forced the evil one away from us, even as you were
put to the fire. I saw how her eyes were being ripped from her skull under your
regard. You will seek to finish this? We have lost much here today. Friends and
comrades… Innocents that did not deserve death.”

She
didn’t know who all died, but someone
had
to have.

Her
people, that were, more or less, under her inept and clearly unsatisfactory
protection. It was a stupid thought, so she nodded.

“I’m
not some hero, but I do need to fix some things. Starting with my body. How…
Totally lame is this, anyway?” She waved the remains of a stump, that was a bit
moist on the far end and felt like she was waving it under the bright light of
the sun, even though it was night out. “Get going. You can come back and tell
me what happened later? I’ll get Barb to give you something to eat. Actually…
Well, we’ll fix this.” After all, it was, more or less, a Vampire problem.

Except
that she really doubted it would end there.

She
was left alone for a long time then. There were sounds, and people talking,
even some yelling, but nothing that made her think anyone was fighting again,
yet. Maggie had taken off, and the fire had all been put out. So she lay there,
waiting for the next thing to happen, trying to figure out what she, the
useless lump of a baby Vampire, was going to do about it all.

In
her head she had a little check-list, that she shuffled around a bit. The first
thing she needed to do, well, that one was obvious. She had to get better.
Faster than the years it would normally take. Then she had to work out how she
was going to kill Maggie Sims,
and
the Greater Demons behind her. That
part probably wasn’t sane, but she’d been pushed far enough that in the moment
that kind of thing wasn’t going to impact her all that much.

Focusing,
closing her eyes, she tried to remember what it felt like to have full health.
Real arms and legs, that didn’t hurt, and weren’t on fire. She didn’t kill all
the pain off, trying to use that, and energy she was pulling from her links, to
make herself reform, back into what she was supposed to be.

When
she opened her eyes, a while later, she jumped a bit. More to the point, she
tried to, and then smiled. Mark was standing over her, about five feet away,
just watching her as she lie on the smooth brown sofa. No one else had even
come back into the shop yet. She should probably have tried to get in touch
with Lenore or Edom on the phone, but… No hands. It was going to be tough to
manage that, wasn’t it? Still, she
could
move things with her mind, and
if she were careful that might be possible to manage, without forcing too much
life from the poor animals she was connected to.

That
was a real problem, she knew. Eve was, for a long time, going to need a lot
more energy than she had access to. In that moment however, she had no idea how
to get anything like that, so just looked up at Mark, and smiled.

“So,
Bold… It’s pretty clear that
you’re
behind this. The parts here, at
least. So, how many of the Greater Demons are part of this?” She was blowing
smoke, directly up his ass, but she didn’t let herself even think about that.
She just made the accusation, and knew, on some level, that it had to be right.

Mark
actually giggled. Like a little girl. It was kind of feminine, but also drove
right into insane sounding. Happy though, so she let it pass.

“Damn,
Eve. That’s a good guess, isn’t it? I did promise to share information with
you, but really, you don’t need all of that yet. Besides, this way I can make
you think I’m marginally interesting for a few days, if I play this right,
don’t you think?” He gave her a hopeful look, and then gestured at her body.
“Not bad. Both my slave’s destruction of your body,
and
your use of
magic to rebuild already. If you can keep that up, you won’t be just sitting
around in six weeks. Now, what do you really want to know about all this? Ask
carefully, because I’ll tell you anything except who’s in this with me, but I
think my welcome here is about to be rescinded. The Line Walker won’t be happy
when he figures out what I’ve been up to. Really, by all rights he should have
removed me from his territory when he discovered me, but he’s a bit too kind
and gentle for his own good. Also, he’s just a kid still, which means that
actually
fighting
me over it would be a bit over the top. So, what do
you need to know?”

If
he was actually worried about Zack getting there, and doing anything to him, it
didn’t show on his still round face. Actually, Eve realized, he was cool and
nearly sinister seeming, in that moment.

“Heh.
How much of the stuff was you? The attacks on the club? Why go after Troy
though?”

There
was silence for a bit, as the Greater Demon smiled at her. Then a shrug came.

“Ah.
Good questions. You won’t get all of it. You can’t, lacking too much
information, so that isn’t really your fault, let’s see then. The closest thing
I can tell you that will make sense is that I needed to keep Finias off my
behind for a few weeks, and making him worry that he was under attack did that.
You handled that one well. Really, Eve, you did better than most of us expected
the whole time. I made some money, betting with the others that you’d be the
one to actually stand in our way. They all got confused, thinking you too young,
and raw, to be of use.” He winked, and then gave a tiny chuckle. “So, knowing
you so well, I managed to use you rather nicely. Just to shorthand it all, the
goal is to start a war, between the Vampires and the Humans. The other groups
will be held back for now, but the fear generated by the undead attacking them
at random will cause most of humanity to wake up, and see what
actually
exists. Then I’ll take control, with some help from my compatriots, and lead my
army of willing Human servants to total control of the world.”

She
sneered at him, not having a lot else to do.

“Why?
I mean, the way things have been has worked, hasn’t it? Plus, why go after
Vampires? We’re all so cute, and cuddly. Plus we have these awesome teeth,
which you have to admit, is pretty incredible.” She was trying for flip
sounding, but it came out slightly wet and muddled. That was thanks to the
damage done to her mouth and throat. Her lungs felt fine, since she hadn’t been
burned there, not breathing for the entire fight.

Fram
patted his ample tummy, his light brown button front sweater straining just the
tiniest bit over it.

“The
Line Walker runs the Vampires now. You can’t tell that’s the case, but it’s the
truth. He’s a mere child though, so he can’t really be allowed to do that kind
of thing. I came here to take him down a peg or two. I was going to simply
challenge him, but The Mistress of Souls taught me a lesson, in regards to
that, didn’t she? Taking me as a slave, stripping my will away like she did…
She also told me how to win. To be intelligent and take my own desires out of
the equation, at least enough to see that I’m not getting reality as clearly as
I should in some regards. So far, I have to say, that it’s working.”

She
didn’t get it, and was about to ask him to clarify a few things when he turned
and moved toward the back door.

“Sorry
honey, I have to leave now. Make sure you give the Council that message from
Maggie? I’ll see you soon. When you’re better?” Then, because it made total
sense, he blew her a kiss, and vanished into the air.

Zack
ran into the space, holding a glowing purple knife, which he put away without
waiting, even as he looked at her. There was no sense of shock, but he’d seen
what had happened to her already. She was about to be a bit put out that he
hadn’t helped her out, when he took a deep breath.

“You
smell like barbeque. It’s making me hungry. Can I get something to eat here, do
you think?” Then, as if she’d said
yes
, he turned and moved to the other
room, fixing himself more than one or two things to eat.

She
didn’t bother to yell, just speaking normally. The mall might be noisy, but she
kind of thought that Greater Demons could pretty much do what they wanted when
it came to understanding other people. He’d know what she wanted to say, even
if he couldn’t hear it. She wasn’t totally certain he couldn’t do that too.

“It
was Fram, which you know by now, or you wouldn’t have come in carrying a knife
like that. He mentioned something about a giant war between Humans and
Vampires, so that he can get his insane Greater Demon groove on? You know about
that too though, and that it isn’t just him, or he wouldn’t have told me about
it.” That just made sense. Plus, she
had
to start using her head, since
it was almost all she had left. That, and her kidneys.

Zack
came back, carrying two large containers of froth and caramel. They were made
perfectly, since he knew how to run the shop out front.

“Yeah.
It’s been shaping up for a while now. It isn’t really about him. He’s too
stupid to get the idea that he isn’t really in control of it all. A brilliant
idiot, being pulled and pushed into place by his weaknesses. We… Darla and I,
mainly, but Keeley, too, we’ve been trying to protect all of you from this. I
should have dumped Fram in a demon trap when I first found him here. That was,
two or three years ago now.” He ate several tidy bites of food, doing it
efficiently, and not wincing from brain freeze. “I know, it’s amazing, but I’m
actually
not
that easily fooled. That he thought I would be… Well, I’d
be insulted, but I killed that part of my personality off a while back. Feeling
like that almost always gets in the way of clear thinking.”

Eve
could see that one.

“Great,
so you let me and the others be raped by Warren, so that you wouldn’t give away
that you knew Mark,
Fram
, was behind it all? Then you didn’t tell me
about Maggie for the same reason? Why not help me though, when we were
fighting? You
had
to know that Fram would figure out that you’d draw a
line straight to him. I mean,
I
did, and if the slow girl can get it,
the smart kids all can.” She was trying to be funny, but Zack nodded.