Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (36 page)

“That’s true. It’s absolutely
within what happened. But, Eve, you killed him, in a fair fight. Then brought
him back from the
dead
, using your own healing powers.
Then
forced him to help you get Darla out of the trap. That’s a bit of a better
story than the one you told.” He looked at Bey and shrugged, his thin shoulders
expressive, under the deep blue pullover sweater he was wearing that day. “It’s
a
better
story than it
sounds
like, too. I won’t tell it all, so
she can keep seeming mysterious and aloof. Let’s just say, don’t piss Eve off,
apparently.” He slapped her on the back, like she’d made a home run, or the
winning goal. Eve knew the difference, having cheered at various kinds of
sporting events for years.

Everyone else was going to ask
questions she bet, so she got ready for them, only to find Lenore nicely
changing the subject.

“So, Ginger, I hear that
you’re
being sent in as a specialist to help Cormack, and his new people? That’s
advanced. When I left you were just a child, now…” She grinned, but Felicia
spoke, out of turn or not.

“
Now
she’s a master
Vampire. I was planning to invite her to move to my territory, since we could
use someone that powerful, but she’s already working with the new training
program here, for the Council?”

Eve hadn’t mentioned that to
anyone, but Bey beamed, and nodded like it had been well discussed already.

“We have heard such. The first
group has already been selected for training, as well. That, was
much
faster than we’d expected. It will take four to five years of initial work?” He
glanced at Eve first, then Ginger, including her in it, as if that were only
natural. Which it was, since she was going to be sharing the work of running
the whole thing.

Eve smiled at him, since he was
her favorite. She wasn’t going to tell the others that, but it was true.

“Right. We won’t have to hold
their hands constantly though. Weekly meetings for the first few years, while
they go off on their own the rest of the time, and either show they’re willing
to fight for this, or not. Things might become more intense, later on when they
get closer to becoming one of us, but for now it won’t be that hard, I don’t
think.”

He was on the Council, so it
wouldn’t hurt for him to know the plan.

“Very good. And you, Ginger,
you’re planning to reunite with your family? I know that Miss Benson wanted to
make sure you could handle being around emotional Humans first, before you do
that. How do you assess her abilities there, Eve?”

It was a big change, and Ginger
looked shocked out of her gourd, but when she stared back at Eve, there was no
fear in her blue eyes. No red either. It was a good sign that she was ready,
wasn’t it?

“Well, I think we should send a
few people with her, just in case there’s a melt down from her family, but
she’s
not going to have a problem. It should be up to you though, Ginger. Do you want
to do that, or not? Would it be easier for your family to know that you’re
undead, than to not know at all?” She’d watched enough crime dramas to know
that a lot of parents would rather be given the truth, rather than just have
had a kid vanish one day. It wasn’t her call though.

The girl let her chin come up.

“Could I do that? Meet with them?
I don’t want to scare them, but they aren’t stupid people. They’ll get that
it’s better for me to be alive than not, and that moving around counts for that,
at least enough. Lenore, will you go with me? And… Do you think Barb would? I’d
love Cormack to as well, but he’s so busy right now. That Node location… It’s
really a hard job.”

Bey clapped once.

“It will be as you request. I
will attend as well, if that suits? As a representative of the Council, since
we have to answer for your parent’s child being taken from them.”

Ginger nodded, a bit somberly.

“Yes, sir. That would be fine.
Thank you. All of you. I never thought I could go home. I was told that
couldn’t happen. Now, I don’t need to live with them, but I can visit maybe? Let
them know I’m all right?”

Eve stood up, knowing that she
should have tears in her eyes but not even being able to fake it. So she smiled
instead.

“Great. I’m on front counter
then? Unless you want to take the day off Ed? I think I can handle things here,
as long as the world doesn’t melt down, in which case I can call? I have a date
at nine, remember, but other than that, I’m free all day. Every day, mostly.
Really, I need another hobby.”

She really expected Ed to laugh,
since she was being silly, but Bey hugged her again, bowed to Lenore and Edom,
then almost as if an afterthought, he did the same with Ginger.

“That is a good plan. Our local
ambassador
should
be there as well. Lenore, dear, do you have the needed
numbers for the telecommunications devices?” She didn’t, but Ginger did unless
they’d changed, so she and Felicia took that bit of interplay as a good enough
reason to get out of the room, so they wouldn’t disturb things. Eve resisted
the urge to eavesdrop though, just happy that Ginger had a family that she
cared enough for to want to reunite with.

David left, not even going to get
a coat, if he had one. Leaving through the front, sulking a bit. His look at
the back was telling, but if you didn’t know the whole story, or as much as she
did anyway, then it would probably just seem a bit like he was pissed the
others were holding his jacket hostage, having a Bey back there to guard it
like they did.

Felicia didn’t notice, but also
didn’t work there, so she started to sit, and then threw her hands up.

“This really would be better back
home. We could paint the club. Scrub the floors. We run a decent place, but it
could still use it. That, or go in and check the day staff at the blood
donation center. Here, I just get to run around outside all day. It works, but
I’m not really getting much done, am I? I can’t even call my people, since
they’re all asleep still. I should write a book or something, if I’m going to
have all this free time.” She looked happy though, not frustrated. Not annoyed
about the lack of things to do, or the sun starting to burn her, even through
the room and the ground above.

It took Eve a bit, but finally
she shrugged.

“Let’s try something new? We can
see if Lenore will give us the use of her waffle cone machine and work out some
recipes? You’ll have to run and do all the shopping for it, but I can pay. It
will be fun. Hilarious too, I bet.”

She wasn’t all that serious, so
felt a slight sense of unreality when Ginger ran out, looking just a tiny bit
manic.

“We can’t really call yet, since
my parents will just be getting up. I can go get the machine, and be back in…
Call it half an hour?”

It sounded about right, so Eve
shrugged, not
trying
to be a pain about the whole thing, but knowing
Ginger was still not pushing herself like she needed to. Especially if people
were going to start treating her like a master Vampire.

“Ten minutes? I know you can do
it. It will hurt, but it isn’t that far, and you’re freaking
Ginger
. As
in,
The
Ginger the Vampire! You don’t give up, and don’t give in.
Felicia, can you go down to the book store, and start looking up some recipes
for it? Really, just ask Carla in the back, and take good notes. She’s in the
café. Hsreth. So pay attention to what she says on the topic.” It was a bit
bossy, but she prevented herself from telling her she could do it, because she
was The Felicia. “Go! I’m timing you!”

She got to work, too, and cleaned
the place up while she waited. It wasn’t ten minutes for either of them to come
back, but Ginger won, or would have if it was a race. She came back at twelve
minutes, her eyes looking wild, and not breathing. Because she was smart.

Eve nodded at her, but spoke out
loud so the others in the back could hear about it.

“Not bad. That’s at least twice
as fast as before. Get ready, since we’re doing the whole trip out to Iowa at
double
that
. Remind me to work in another fighting lesson, too.” She kept
working the whole time, until Felicia got there. The neat part of the whole
thing was that they actually had everything they needed to make the recommended
batter. It was a little bit more complicated than what Eve was used to doing,
but between the three of them they managed to work out how to make the flat
rounds, and then turn them into cone shapes. Thankfully they had a little metal
form for that in the box the silver waffle maker was in.

When they had ten of them ready,
she and Ginger took turns making first basic and then more complex soft serve
dishes with them. They didn’t have a carrier for the things, so just handed
them out to anyone that passed, and wanted one. It was early still, so most
people didn’t, for some strange reason. They didn’t stop though, Felicia
putting on an apron and trying her own hand at it, after the others called
Ginger away, to go, right then, to her parent’s house.

Eve could just hope that it would
go well for her. The idea was nerve racking. That was one of those things that
amazed her, since the truth was, her worry for her little buddy was worse than
the idea of Greater Demons trying to attack. Not that it wasn’t a real danger.
It was, except that so far, for some reason, that type had pretty much left her
in one piece.

Who knew what the girl’s parents
might do to her? Throw her out for being different? Yell at her for not calling
sooner? Blaming all her new people, for letting it happen in the first place?
That one would even be fair, so what could they do? So she worried, more
concerned for Ginger than she was anyone else at the moment.

That meant she didn’t really get
that anything was wrong when the wide hipped and big eyed woman came in. She
had dark tan skin, and full red lips, but everything was
just
off of
perfect. She was a little too old, pushing thirty, for ideal loveliness. Her
breasts were just a bit too large. Not enough to make it a noticeable thing,
but for all she was casting lust into the air, this wasn’t an Alede. Sure, they
could do that too, but this skirted, black haired, beauty was just a tiny bit
too normal to be one of them.

There was no way she was a Human
though. Not if she could just stand there, making Eve wonder if she was getting
wet. Even when she was Human herself, this lady wouldn’t have been enough to
make
that
happen, but here it was. Being projected at her, overwhelming
the fact that she didn’t have a libido anymore.

So, no, not normal.

Eve grinned, and handed her a
cone of vanilla frozen with a single line of thickened strawberry swirled into
it. Topped with a little light whipped, and a single handmade maraschino
cherry.

The lady took it, her face
pleased seeming.

“For me?”

Eve winked.

“You can pay for it, don’t worry.
I won’t insult you that way. I take it you either came to kill me, or get in on
the thing I’m setting up for the others? I have agreement from The Mistress of
Souls, if you do. It will cost, one hundred million, and that probably won’t be
the only expenditure. That’s just for my part in this. It’s worth it though.”
She didn’t bother to think, just staying relaxed, and ready to move, if it came
to it.

Rather than a fight, the feeling
of being turned on ramped up, a lot. Eve didn’t bother to fight it, but
couldn’t see how it was going to help the woman.

After a minute, looking
expectant, and seeing her just stand there, the Greater Demon put her hand out,
to try and touch her. She moved back, just one step.

“Nope. You can buy in, and trust
me, or not. Just like anyone else.”

“Very well.” The woman pouted at
her, and did it so well Eve wanted to take notes. She was even better at it
than Barb. “How about eighty million? I could trade some
other
things,
to make up the difference?” She licked her lips, suggestively, but Eve saw the
trap there, if not several of them, stacked up in one offer.

“Hmm, tempting, but
no
.
Though if you can talk at least one of the others in your little gang to do it
too, I’ll give you a discount. Ten million off for each you bring us? Just for
the truce. They have to mean it though. No fair bringing them just as a
coupon.” Large, Demon shaped things that would really be hard for older ladies
to tuck into their handbags.

There was a subtle touch to her
own chest, the Demon’s right nipple hardening under her loose, multicolored
blouse. A whole lot of cleavage was showing, which she actually heaved in Eve’s
direction. She’d heard of that, as a joke, but had never known anyone that
could pull it off, and not seem ridiculous. Until now.

“Twenty million off, for each I
bring in?”

Eve thought about it, and
realized that even if she ended up paying out of pocket for it, that might be
worthwhile.

“As long as they aren’t in on it
already? That’s The Ferryman, and The Vile. You know, the one you were
pretending to be yesterday? What was with that anyway? Ginger is going to have
nightmares about the people she killed coming back, for decades. Hardly fair.”