Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (32 page)

Eve jumped when the gasp came,
hours of hopeless feeling work later. It was wet, raspy and pained, but after
half a minute the other person did it again, then started to breathe, all on
their own.

“Food…” It wasn’t a demand, but
Eve knew that one. Greater Demons needed a lot of energy to get things done,
most of the time. Healing was no exception. If they couldn’t get it, their life
would be pretty hard.

“Not until you tell me how to
open the Demon trap. Tell me that, and help me get Darla free, and I’ll get you
that food. Not until.”

She really expected a big
argument, but the old woman complied, instantly.

“Touch center. Add power.”

Eve thought she could do that,
but it also had to be a trap, didn’t it?

“Fine, I’m using your hand
though. Are you sure you want me to do that?”

“Do it.” The words were barely
able to be heard, since the throat and neck were still a pretty big mess.

She didn’t touch anything with
her hands, using her telekinetic powers to wrap the medallion up and float the
thing gently into the Demon’s left hand. It took a bit to get the right kind of
energy to flow in, since it needed silver magical energy, not pink life energy,
but by imagining it well enough, she got a line of it to flare into being a few
minutes later. Then the room exploded. There was a roar that she felt against
her skin, like the rushing of air out of a decompressing airplane in a movie,
and a flash of light that left her blind.

It wasn’t until her gaze cleared
that she could see that Darla, looking handily like a twenty-two year old
blonde hottie instead of her own grandmother, was standing there, holding a
super bomb in her right hand. She looked more than a little pissed.

“All right, Ferryman, who put you
up to this?” She moved in a bit, but froze, as Eve hopped back.

“Darla? I sort of killed whoever
this is, and then saved them. I promised to get them some food, if they helped
me get you back? It seems right, unless, you know you aren’t you? They were
claiming
to be Finias. Someone claiming to be The Librarian came and told me you were
missing, at work. So… That’s as about up to speed as I can get you, if, you
know, you’re you?”

That all made sense, didn’t it?

Darla smirked, looking at the
being on the ground, and the faint trace of blood around them.

“You brought him back from the
dead, without using the Geordis? Not bad. Too good, really, for a Vampire. Who
are you, really?”

Eve rolled her eyes.

“Eve. Your friend? Practically
your
best
friend in the whole world? I just figured out how to do a
little magic. It isn’t nearly as cool as it sounds, it took me
hours
. I…
Probably can’t prove that, but we can get him some food, while we wait for you
to work out that I’m really me? If, you know, you aren’t going to just kill
me?”

That got a glance at the floor,
and a headshake.

“No. I mean, we can get some
food. Let’s bring it out here? I don’t want to make a mess inside. I’ll get
some things.” Then she walked away, her legs flashing in their blue jeans. She
had a long sleeved button up on, which for her was lacking in flare. Then, Eve
had seen her wearing it before, when she was doing yard work, or tinkering in
her workshop, so it wasn’t impossible if she’d been waylaid at home.

She could have even been in a
lace teddy and hose, and not been outside the realm of what was possible that
way. It might pay off to pay attention though.

There was no cooked food brought
out, just bottles of things, which Darla opened herself, the doomsday device
not being with her. Why it had been in the first, place, Eve didn’t know. One
Demon, no matter how bad-assed, probably wasn’t that big of a threat to The
Technician. She made stuff, for fun, so she’d have a lot of other ways to
protect herself, right? Eve had seen a few things that were probably exactly that,
over the years, not realizing it.

Copper disks, and glass tubes,
bits of crystal and wire, turned into what looked like art, and things with
strange inlaid patterns. The house, her friend’s whole life, was filled with
the stuff.

For the moment, rather than
explain anything, the blonde Demon poured what seemed to be vegetable oil down
the prone body’s throat. Carefully, so they wouldn’t choke, too much. Then
without speaking, she switched to syrup. Pure maple from the smell of it. The
good kind, which at least was a nod to quality. There was a container of milk,
followed by a smaller container of cream. When that was done, there was a
switch to a new container of clear golden oil.

Then, looking up like she was
amused, rather than annoyed with the whole thing, Darla smiled at Eve.

“So, you found The Cart Wright
here, The Ferryman, and worked out that it wasn’t The Mind Taker, and killed
him?” She actually chuckled then, sounding slightly wicked. “Notice, Ferryman,
she also brought you
back
. I think you owe her, rather much, don’t you?
What is our leaving you alive worth to you?”

There was a glare from the
ground, and the woman that looked all wrong for the time being, her neck still
mostly a mess, having a lot of damage there, kept drinking. Darla didn’t stop
pouring things in either, not even to wait for a reply.

When that finally happened, the
flow of oil coming to an end, while Darla moved to get more food, the creature,
whoever they were, locked eyes with her.

“I was bested by a mere Vampire?
Kill me now, so the shame doesn’t rip the fabric of space and time in two. I
can’t believe this.”

Eve had to agree with that
assessment.

“Yeah. If it helps, I’ve only
been at this Vampire thing for a bit less than a year. Do you want me to rip
your head off again? I get it. That really would be a horrible thing to have
known about you. They might change your name to ‘The Headless’, and tell the
story at all the cool parties, when people get drunk and can pretend it wasn’t
part of the original plan. The thing there, is that I really don’t think a
Greater Demon would care about things like that. Well,
Fram
, but you
aren’t him, so how about this…”

She was about to suggest he tell
them what was up, in exchange for getting to leave, eventually, when Darla
chipped in.

“Two hundred million, going to
Eve, for saving you. Plus three large favors, to be decided by her, later.”

There was an insane look then,
but the Demon on the floor directed it at Darla, which was nice and didn’t seem
to bother her in the slightest.

“Three hundred million, one small
favor. To be agreed upon as not being too much at the time, by me.”

“Three hundred-fifty million. Two
favors, one large, one small. You don’t get to
choose
, but neither can
be fatal to you, or lead indirectly to your death. If Eve allows, we can also
make it so neither one will be in perpetuity.” She looked at Eve then and let
one eyebrow go up. “So, if you want you
could
keep him as a slave, but
only for a period of time. The normal one for such servitude is one hundred
years and a day.”

There was a rather upset moan,
but the Cart Wright, or Ferryman, whoever that was, finally gave a small nod,
then gasped in pain, since that had to hurt.

“Agreed.”

There was more food for a while,
all still very moist, though a bit of it was solid. Bread soaked in honey, for
instance, so that it wouldn’t be too hard to swallow. An hour later, a whole
lot of the damage was simply gone, and Darla moved back.

“Now, please explain why you
invaded my home, and attacked me, with the others? Clearly to drive me into
that trap, but what was the reasoning behind it?”

There had been others, which, Eve
decided, would explain why she’d gone for a weapon that would take out
everything like that. The trip to the garage then would have been what? Her
trying to get enough distance to activate the thing?

If so, then Eve had nearly died
that day, already. For real. So had everyone she knew, more or less.

Sounding a lot better, if not
good, The Ferryman, tried to sit up, only to find a foot on the older and
slightly busty chest. Darla was doing it, her face hard.

“No, either you give me that, or
I’ll kill you, right here and now. You’re still too weak to stop me. So, tell
me the plan here. Why come for me?”

There was a sigh.

“Fine, it isn’t that big of a
thing. We wanted to, as you pointed out, drive you into that trap. The idea was
to hold you for a few weeks, so that the others could finish their plan.”

Darla looked normal, but Eve felt
the pieces slip into place, which was nice, even if she wasn’t right. It felt like
she was finally catching on a little. She probably wasn’t, she knew.

“You’re trying to take out
Keeley? The idea was to get to Zack and Darla, and hold them back while the
rest of you went for The Mistress of Souls? Finias too then, I bet.”

Darla looked at her, and nodded.

“Are you
sure
you’re not
just faking being Eve? She’s bright, but that’s sharp thinking. More than I
would have expected yet. Probably right, too, given what I know.” There was a
slight grinding motion of a shoe on the Ferryman’s chest then, though no sign
that it was causing pain or distress. “Is this what the whole thing over the
last year has been about then? Driving the others, the Vampires, Shifters and
Mages, out into the open, as a distraction so you could all move against Keeley?”

Rather than deny it, there was a
soft chuckle, and the Ferryman closed his blue eyes.

“She’s a threat, the likes of
which we’ve never seen before, in all of history. One child, barely old enough
to stand, took out three of the strongest of us, without even risking herself
in the slightest. She could do that to anyone.
Anyone
, Technician! Yes,
we can see that she isn’t a big threat to most of us right now, but what will
she be in ten years? What of ten thousand? Can one being hold that much power
in potential, the ability to have her own army of Greater Demons, as well as a
million other creatures, and not use it? We know the answer to that one, don’t
we? Power, in the end is always used.
Always
.”

Eve snorted, getting both of them
to look at her.

“No shit. Then this is like a bad
movie plot, isn’t it? You all feel scared of her, so gang up to take her out,
which forces her to start grabbing up slaves and minions that can handle you,
making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. How about this, you guys back the fuck
off, and I’ll go have a chat with her about it? You know, like reasonable
people do?
After
I kill Fram, I mean. You can set that up, letting the
rest of your duffus pals know that you all need to tuck the stupid plans back
into your jeans, and go home. How many of you are in on it? Don’t try to tell
me it’s everyone, since
most
of them wouldn’t be that ridiculous.” She
felt like punctuating it with a kick, but didn’t.

She was a good Vampire after all,
and not a thug.

The Ferryman looked at The
Technician, and frowned. It was a hard look that distorted the slightly soft
granny like visage. The wrinkles on the skin didn’t match up with the move at
all, causing it to seem alien and strange. Eve couldn’t tell if that was all
about her knowing that this wasn’t the real Mrs. Gibson, or not, in the end.
She watched, and listened to the being, in case he attacked instead of going
along with them. Darla didn’t seem scared of that, but it was something that
seemed pretty normal to think about to her.

The Ferryman looked her way too,
clearly thinking of her as a potential danger. Now.

“There are seven of us in on it.
I
can’t
give names, since that would force hands, and we have an
agreement put together, already, to prevent that sort of thing. I’ll drop out,
as a sign of good faith. Perhaps
you
could arrange a situation for me,
and The Mistress of Souls, Snowflake? One where she will refrain from taking my
freedom with her powers, and I will… You see,
that’s
the problem. The
fly in the ointment, for us all. There is nothing I have that she couldn’t just
take from me, is there? Not my goods, or lands, not my slaves or even my life.
Thus far, none of us can protect ourselves from her ability, and that, frankly,
cannot be allowed to continue. Do you have a magical fix for that one, White
Death?”

Eve thought for a bit, ignoring
the names, and spoke softly.

“Friendship?”

“Like
anyone
cares about
that? What do you think we are? Bronies?”

“Okay, that’s a point, I’ll see
what I can set up though. Have the others call me, if they want their name
added? If I get a good agreement, they have to honor it though. Not sight
unseen, or unheard, or whatever, but no tricky… You know… No trying to play
with things.” She explained with a hand wave.

The thing was, he
did
know. Darla got it too.

No
Demon
tricks could be
allowed, because otherwise the thing wasn’t going to work at all.