Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (16 page)

Eve shrugged.

“Don’t mind me, I was just having
a flashback to when I was a kid. That still happens, so, you know, I have to
beat that, somehow. Anyway, he was just shooting at you, the embassy was
incidental. That may still be enough to have him killed, but we can probably
let Althea handle this one. She’s his boss, and he broke Human law here, too.
He’s a cop though, so I doubt that it will be more than a free vacation, but
asking that he be locked in a little box for this is probably over the top.
Still, maybe you should go, and chat with Edom in the back? See if you can get
Bacconni something more interesting than instant death?”

Nikki went, her face firm and set
for an argument, so Eve did her part, and cleaned up the remaining mess, then
called several local glass shops and set up an appointment for the next day to
have the window fixed. It wasn’t going to cost that much, luckily. Enough to
have the Detective feeling upset about it, but if he didn’t understand that
people were gently discussing having him killed, right in front of him, then he
was too stupid to be left alive in a position of power.

For all that no one had come to
see what the shooting was all about, they also didn’t trickle down later, even
for their normal treats, or to visit. On the good side it let Eve get the place
ready for the day, even as Lenore stood there, off to the side, looking lost
and a bit lonely.

Finally Eve snorted at her.

“Listening to what the new guy is
doing about this?” It was her job, after all. More to the point, it was Ed’s to
fix this, and hers to make sure it happened correctly, now. She had nine other
embassies to look after though, and this was one of the best of them, if Eve
had the idea right. She’d never even thought about it before, but something
caught her attention just after she dumped one of the soft serve machines, so
that she could restart the base.

“Hey… You getting this promotion,
it’s because of what we all did here, isn’t it? Cormack and Barb, I mean?” Eve
was ready to explain more, but Lenore simply smiled at her. It was a soft and
gentle thing though, that seemed almost proud.

“Exactly, Eve. Edom as well.
We’re the only location in the world to have five daylight Vampires in one
place. That doesn’t even count Nicole, David or Ginger, who I think will all do
well that way now. The only single group of undying that’s larger is the
Council. So it makes sense both to part the group out, and to spread the skill
around. I have to say,
I
look good right now. You and Edom as well, but
success is often credited to those above you, even if they had little enough to
do with it. It’s why Vaughn is being promoted as well. Not that he isn’t worthy
of it, in his own right.” She still seemed happy about it, which was either
well and truly faked, or the very rare genuine thing poking its head through
the mask of being dead.

Either way, it was good to see.

Then, without knowing exactly why
she was doing it, Eve moved to the front counter phone, dug the paper that Zack
had given her out of her front jeans pocket, and dialed the number there. She
didn’t feel like there was compulsion involved, but it wasn’t a conscious
decision either.

On the third ring it picked up,
the voice on the other end of the line sounding friendly, and fatherly. Not in
a creepy way though. Like one of those guys from an old program that didn’t
fuck their kids at night when the wife had gone to bed.

“Miss Benson? So good to hear
from you. The Line Walker told me that you might be calling, about a project
that I need to have seen to?”

“Cleric. That’s right. I don’t
know that I can help, not knowing what it’s all about. I was wondering if I
could get some information about that?” Again, she didn’t know why she was
saying what she was, and it even sounded different than she normally did. More
polite, and cultured. She tried to say fuck, or to throw in another curse word,
but nothing came out. It just stuck in her throat, feeling like she’d swallowed
sandpaper, and couldn’t throw it up.

“Certainly! May I visit you
there, in your workplace? It won’t take long, but I have some pictures to go
along with the speech I have ready. It’s somewhat involved, but I think it’s
within your abilities to accomplish, and the kind of thing that a Vampire like
you can endorse, morally.”

What that meant, she didn’t know.
Did he think she was a being of absolute evil? That was possible, but was it
true? She didn’t feel all that bad. Sure, she’d killed a lot of people, but
they
were the bad ones. At least they’d been trying to kill her first, or those
around her, which made it self-defense.

“Sure. I’ll be here until dark.
Then I’m supposed to get out of the way so the night guy doesn’t have to worry
about babysitting me. We can meet down at Zack’s book store, if you want?”

She was ready to negotiate the
day and time, when there was a pop on the phone and the line cut.

“Hello? Cleric? Um… I don’t know
if you can hear me, but the line seems have dropped out. I guess I’ll try
calling back?” The phone, a cream colored handset, was hung up with a soft
click, just as an older looking gentleman came through the front door.

Holding a small briefcase that
looked to be made of hemp, if she had that kind of thing down. It was beige,
and seemed both soft and strong. The man had gold wire rimmed glasses, and gave
away who he was instantly, being dressed like a Catholic priest.

He didn’t even pretend not to be
him, moving to one of the tables. The one closest to where Lenore was just
standing, in fact.

The other Vampire stared, then
bowed a bit.

“Cleric. So nice to see you
again.”

“Lenore! Wonderful to see you as
well. I’ve just come to beg aid from Eve here. I need some beings handled, and
my government sources, while potentially able enough, are moving too slowly.
Here, Miss Benson, let me show you…” Then he laid out building plans, glossy
photos, and a large, thick manila colored file folder on the yellow table top.
Then the man, looking like a fifty year old priest, more than anything else,
waved at the information and sat.

She moved in across from him,
feeling a bit wary.

“So, what’s all this?” She
glanced at things, but it didn’t make a lot of sense, not at first glance. One
of the pictures was turned to face her, which helped. It was some kind of
lizard woman.

“Several large laboratories in
the United States have been working together to build a stronger version of
humanity, for some time. Genetics research, drug treatment protocols, and even
machine and computer implants. It’s most exciting, actually. Here though, in
this bio-research lab in California, they created something rather dangerous.
Neo-dracanoids.”

Eve could see that name working
out for them. The woman in the picture was all white, but had scales. She was
on two feet, but had a large tail, and if the picture was correct, seemed to be
growing wings out of her back. Her eyes were a lovely gem green though, and she
had bumps that corresponded to breasts, if without nipples, as well as soft
features.

“Okay. I don’t see the problem
yet? Are we suppose to hate them for being different?” She looked at The Cleric
directly, but he smiled back at her, lovingly. It was a bit weird, so she
looked away.

“No. If it was merely a
difference in size and shape, I would have let the project go onward, and not
bothered with it. Diversity is good for Humans, even though it’s also a great
stress for them. The issue here is a simple one however, the neo-dracanoids can
pass their differences through bites, and enjoy dining on Human flesh. It’s an
imperfect process, and takes a lot of time to take hold of a person, but it
would eventually, cause the deaths of thousands of people, if left unchecked. I
wish to hire you, Miss Benson, to stop it now, before that takes place.” The
man pushed his glasses up, the lenses distorting his face a little, as if they
were real.

Eve looked at the pictures again,
taking all of them one by one, then, without asking anything else, examined the
file, and the building plans. The written part was the most useful for her,
since it had notes from a lab-tech, outlining what had been going on with the
eight subjects they had. They’d started with three, two women and a man, but
they really did crave Human flesh, so had bitten people. Not everyone had survived
that either.

After nearly half an hour of
reading, she realized that Lenore had gone behind the counter, and was helping
someone, and that the people in the back had walked past. Gregor, The Cleric,
just sat there, watching her.

Finally, she sighed and sat up a
bit straighter.

“So, you want me to kill them
all, before they can spread?” It was the kind of thing that she could do, Eve
knew. The creatures were strong and fast, having sharp claws and teeth, but
they seemed a bit simple minded, and that was compared to a Human, not even a standard
Vampire. Plus, if the papers were right, Vampires shouldn’t be able to catch
the dragon virus thing, since their blood didn’t really pump, and there was
nothing living to change inside of them.

The man, the Greater Demon,
across the table from her shook his head.

“Not exactly. What I’d like you
to do is go to this location, inject the Neo-dracanoids with a compound that
one of my facilities has created, and then make certain they do not harm anyone
for at least five days. The people at the facility will work with you, but I’d
rather not risk this getting out. Having people go into the cages to try and do
this, who might be affected, is less than optimal. They could, if you weren’t
available, and of course, I could do it myself, but it will work better to have
this handled by one of your people right now. I’ll pay, of course.”

Eve looked at the papers, and
then shrugged.

“It will take a few days to get
there. I think. If Ginger is coming with me. She
isn’t
fast, really.
Immune to this kind of thing though, it looks like, so that won’t hurt. I could
go in tonight though, and do the first bit, and come back during the day
tomorrow? It… That’s a lot of work.” Mainly that she was making for herself,
but it was probably the best plan, so she nodded. “Can you have the stuff I’ll
need waiting for me? I’ll get the directions, and head out as soon as they can
be ready for me. As for payment…” She didn’t remember what the stuff she needed
to try and get was called.

Luckily, Gregor did. It was
pretty clear that someone had briefed him on what was needed.

“I’ll trade you two kilograms of
uniform nano-aligned graphene sheeting, built for spintronics applications.
Plus share some information about the things happening around here? I don’t
have all of it, but there are some things that have come to my attention that
may aid you? Or not. The others are responsible for most of it, but it won’t
hurt for you to know what things to avoid, if possible. Is that enough?”

Eve shrugged, then decided to
negotiate, if poorly. All the Greater Demons did that, from what she’d seen. If
she wanted their respect, she’d need to be at least kind of similar to what
they expected.

“I’d like a bit more, so that I
can feel good about how I took you to the cleaners. Any suggestions that way?”

The man actually reached out and
patted her hand. There was a tingle, like she expected, but it was warmer,
somehow. Different than what the Greater Demons did.

When he pulled back, the man
nodded.

“I could, possibly, see that a
certain real estate agent in Iowa learns to not be a bigot?”

“Without harming her? Physically
or mentally?”

“Yes. She won’t even know that it
happened, her mind will simply start to become more open over the coming
months. So the two Kilos of graphene sheeting, the information to be named
later, by me, and a powerful, but not harmful lesson for your friend?”

She nearly blurted out deal, but
didn’t, simply giving a single nod. He might be an angle, underneath it all,
but he was
pretending
to be a Greater Demon, so doing that kind of thing
might give him away, if anyone was watching them.

“For my part, I’ll go to this
facility, give the neo-dracanoids the needed shots, and then make sure no one
is contaminated for five days. If the people there will actually work with me,
then it will be easier.”

“They will. Believe it or not,
they’re actually decent people, in the main. A bit adventurous, but that isn’t
a sin, rumors aside. So, that settled, I should be making my leave. I have a
few things to make ready for your arrival. Call it fifteen minutes?”

She could make the trip in that
time, but shook her head.

“Nope. I have to work here until
at least six. Plus I need to find someone to watch Ginger… Unless…” She looked
behind the counter, and then tried to count things off in her head. It was
risky but they could do it, possibly. “Lenore, would you watch the shop for me?
That way Ginger and I can run down now. It will take forever, but if we leave
right away, and she doesn’t wimp out too much, we should get in about six or
so?”

Lenore actually laughed, and
shook her head.

“Or I could just watch her? She’s
my daughter, after all. I’ve done it before.”