Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (4 page)

“Yep.
That’s my guess. Well, I’m working things here, with Lenore. You have a job, at
about three, checking on some different locations. Do you want me to add the
club to that watch list?” She had to explain it then, but he didn’t seem too
worried yet. It wasn’t like the place was called Club Owned By Vampires, or
anything like that, was it?

They
made the arrangements for that, and she let drop that Bey thought he needed to
be up all day from then on. He wasn’t pleased to hear it, maybe, but also
didn’t bother to argue the point with her. She got that part though. The sun
hurt, and by being dead all day you could hide from it.

Even
inside, on the bottom level of the mall, Eve could feel the thing searing her
already. It was early still too, by noon that giant life giving orb would be
like facing
real
torture. As far as anyone had told her that part never
got better either. The New Vampires, the Human looking ones that didn’t have as
many other powers didn’t feel it at all. That let them be up all day from the
very start. Then,
she
was doing that too, so while it was a cool trick,
it wasn’t one that couldn’t be beat. It would be nice not to suffer each day,
but what was a little bit of horrible pain?

Ed had
been getting by on only a few hours of rest per day for a long time, too. That
was kind of impressive, really. It meant he was old and tough as all get out,
really. Anyone willing to basically put up with being punished each day in
order to stay awake and work as a public servant
had
to be. It was part
of why very few Vampires screwed with the Council, Eve knew. All of their
people tended to be kind of bad ass, and even if you were too, it didn’t pay to
push people that had a group of other hard cases on speed dial.

“I’ll be
in then. We need to make sure we have all our plans in order. Can you fill
Lenore in?”

“Got it.
I’ll do that now.”

Not that
she needed to, since the other Vampire had been listening to them both. Eve had
been ignoring her conversations, since she didn’t really need to know about it
yet, but bits and pieces had been coming across. Their section head, Vaun, was
on with her, and hadn’t heard much about what was going on yet either. He’d
been on with Harland, the Manthori Vampire on the Council, and the man had told
him very little of actual value. It sounded like no one knew anything more than
they did yet, to be honest.

She spoke
out loud, even though she was in the other room, just as soon as Ed hung up.

“You got
all that, Lenore?”

The
voice that spoke was directed at her, but said only one word, since she was on
with someone else.

“Yes.”

So she
tried calling The Mind Stealer back and was a bit surprised when the phone
didn’t pick up. Instead an older man suddenly stood in front of her, stepping
out of nothingness. He was very thin, wearing a rather battered trench coat,
and had a five inch long, thin and wispy, chin beard. It came to a point at the
bottom and managed to look affable, rather than demonic and creepy. His eyes
were a deep and brilliant green, and his face was covered with wrinkles.

She
nearly jumped, on seeing him appear like he did, since it was either a sign of
speed that she couldn’t beat at all, or of teleportation. Like Zack and Keeley
did. Darla too, which meant it was probably a Greater Demon thing. Hanging up,
she got a large cup and made up a peanut butter parfait, and handed it over.

“We can
use my employee discount for it. Finias, The Mind Taker, isn’t it?”

The man
smiled at her and accepted the treat, pulling a five dollar bill from his
jacket pocket. Eve was playing fast and loose with the rules, she knew.
Greater
Demons
weren’t supposed to feed others of their kind without charging them
for it. Food from anyone else was always fair game, but she was making a point.
Claiming that
she
was the equal to the being in front of her. On paper,
or in a moral sense, at least.
Not
that she could beat him in a fight.

That he
simply paid like that…

She
blinked. It probably meant he was at least willing to play along with her. She
noticed that for all he looked like a homeless person, he didn’t smell like
one. No, his scent was rich and slightly earthy, but fresh. It reminded her of
trees. Pine and cedar, but not in an overpowering way. He didn’t seem all that
Human though, lacking the pink energy that existed in all of the beings she
could feed on. He could fake it, no doubt, but wasn’t at the moment.

“So that
I don’t decide on a delicious Finias snack, and have to be killed for it?”

The man,
who hadn’t spoken yet, smiled at her and winked charmingly.

“I was
rather more worried about the
others
around here. I was told that you
are rather controlled for one of your kind? You called, about the Swerlin
matter? It’s most interesting, but so far I have no particular news about it. I
also haven’t been investigating in any concentrated fashion, simply checking
with a few people, casually. I came to see if you wanted to start an open
arrangement? We can meet and talk about what we find out?” There was no sense
that he was trying to trap her into a bargain or anything. At the moment.

She
grinned, not meaning it. Of all the Greater Demons she knew, this one was the
scariest. Oh, Ann would kill her, and bring her back to life as a zombie, then
kill her again, just for the laughs, but Finias could do more than that. If he
could read minds, he could take them over as well. If it was as she suspected,
then someone was doing
exactly
that. Probably using the Mages. She
didn’t have any proof of that, but Warren and his Mage buddies, people that
she’d killed a week before, had been doing that to everyone they thought they
could get away with. Taking Vampires, other Mages,
and
some beings from
other groups, for different reasons. Warren, who had been something like the
third in command at the Mage embassy, had used that to rape her and his two
bosses, over and over again.

She was
kind of used to that sort of thing, so it wasn’t bugging her that much, but
Lisa and poor Bob had been having a tough time of it for a few days as it hit
them. Warren had been powerful enough, but really, it came down to the fact
that no one actually expected a trusted coworker to basically ruffie them at
work and do them up the ass. No one at the embassy had been on guard against
that kind of thing, had they? It had never even occurred to her, and she kind
of expected most guys to at least try and force her to do things with them.
Warren had seemed so gay the whole time. It had caused her to let her guard
down, even if that was stupid of her. Homosexual didn’t mean weak, after all.

She
nodded though.

“Without
any kind of…
Thing
, and you know what I mean, I can do that. That has to
count for things you get from my mind, too, and only as it relates to this
thing with Swerlin, or matters around it that are real, even if I’m not smart
enough to see them. I mean, I want the info, but…” She floundered for a bit,
trying to be clear about it all. That was important, with his kind.

The old
looking man smiled.

“We can
do that. I won’t fool or trick you, Eve of the Vampires. If we must ever go
head to head, I will send you a note first, and openly proclaim things?”

“So I
can get my affairs in order? Good plan. Thanks for thinking of me.” She smiled
though, and the ancient Demon bowed a bit.

“An
arrangement then? I’ll be back as I may. Not soon, most likely. Not in this
form. I need to find some of the others and see what they’re trying to hide.
Keeley was my prime suspect, given Richard’s involvement, but she honestly
seems to be innocent in this.” He held out a hand, drawing her attention to his
face, which affected a surprised look. “I know,
I
was shocked too. I was
nearly certain it would be her.”

Then he
ate for a bit, just standing there, while she rang him up and made sure he got
to use her discount. It was really good, making a thing that would have
normally taken most of the bill he’d handed over take less than twenty percent
of it. That was probably because most of the people that worked there didn’t
eat food, so all that was needed was to cover costs.

He
tossed the cup and spoon when it was empty, used a napkin and then paused by
the door. It was, she guessed, time for him to say something cryptic to her, or
to give some kind of warning to keep her in her place. She was ready for it, as
long as it didn’t make too big of a mess or blast her through a wall. She hoped
so at any rate.

He just
looked at her for a bit, and then shrugged, like Zack always did. It was on
purpose, probably, meant to put her mind at ease.

“I
suggest that you abuse your relationship with my daughter, Keeley, as far as
learning to resist compulsion. I know that Zack recommended
me
, but that
would require some greater sacrifice from you, in return. She’ll do roughly the
same level of work, and won’t feel a need to be even half as greedy about it
all. If you can’t figure it out on your own, that is. I think you might, if you
apply yourself. It would be a foolish person that underestimates you, Eve
Benson.”

Then he
vanished, right from there, without moving.

It was
an awesome trick. Not a thing that she could learn though, Eve didn’t think.
Line walking was a big deal, and not a thing that Vampires did without vast
amounts of deaths in secret ceremonies. That was the rumor that she’d heard.

Without
waiting, she tried to call Keels then. The phone stayed cold under her touch,
but there was no answer. That could mean anything, but wasn’t a great sign. She
left a message, asking her buddy to get in touch when she had the time. It
wouldn’t be happening before then, so asking for it was a waste of time and
effort.

After
that, she was able to clean up for a while, though the place was shining
already. Then, not having anything to do, she called around to get estimates on
a new counter top. It was a nice thing, an inch of solid marble, that was
nearly solid white with a few lines of darker colors through it. The whole
thing was in two pieces, she realized, and as she found on the phone,
expensive. The cheapest one they could get would need to be cut still and would
take nearly three weeks to be put in. Wincing she set that up, since there was
no yelling from the back for her not to.

Then…
She was kind of stuck for things to do. At nine-thirty she saw Lisa slowly come
up to the front of her shop across the way. The red door had glass in the
center, so she could see who it was, and the lights had just come on. The sign
got flipped, but it was pretty clear that the woman wasn’t really having a high
energy day.

Finding
out you were a rape victim, and worse, that it had been done to you by someone
you trusted and even liked, yeah, that could do it.

Eve
tilted her head, and got back on the phone. It was a thing that she’d thought
about, but hadn’t done anything with before that.

Marcus,
a Mage that had been mind-controlled into raping a Vampire woman, Maggie Sims,
using magic to do that portion of things, hadn’t been in since he’d been
cleared of wrong doing. That made sense to her, since he’d been wrongly
accused, after a fashion. The Vampires, and even Maggie, all seemed to be fine
with that, as far as it went. If you were compelled to compel another person,
it wasn’t your fault, was it?

She was
too, in regards to punishment for crimes done. The fatbeard was in the clear
that way. Still, he was a freaking Mage, wasn’t he?

The
phone rang in her hand.

“Hello?”
The voice sounded exhausted, or like he’d been asleep. The lazy piece of crap.

She made
herself smile and almost meant it.

“Hey
Mark. I noticed that you weren’t over at Candles and More? Get your fat ass in
here, or I’m going to find you and shove a frosty treat up your ass. I mean
that, too. It sounds all kinky now, but… Well, okay, it would still be kind of
kinky, still you get the idea. Cold and sticky. Get off your butt. You have
half an hour to get in here.”

There
was a sound that seemed like a shuddering intake of air instead of a solid and
frightened gasp. Probably because he wasn’t really certain she meant it about
the anal penetration with a frozen delight. She
didn’t
of course. She
wasn’t a rapist, after all. It was what would scare her into complying though,
so she figured that it might work for him.

His
voice was baffled then, and youthful sounding. The man wasn’t old, she didn’t
think. About twenty-five, give or take.

“I… Kind
of thought that after I was cleared, I… No one said anything but…”

She
cleared her throat at him, forcefully.

“Yeah.
You aren’t being punished anymore. That would be stupid. The thing there is
that both your Mage ambassadors have been
raped
, Mark. That’s hard to
take if you aren’t used to it. Their third in command is dead, and that means
they have a backup team of exactly
one
person to pull up the slack while
they recover. Now, are you going to do your civic duty, or what? It isn’t like
you’re horribly busy anyway. I’d go do it myself, but there’s a bit of a mess
going on at the moment.”