Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (43 page)

It was cute, but Eve understood.
She was the one that told them they were dating now, and since it was better
than going to war, or really, almost anything else that could happen, her
friend was just trying to go with it, like it was real.

Brilliant, actually. Even if they
didn’t bone, being nice was a lot better option than bickering would be, for
the health of their new treaty. The last thing they wanted was for Greater
Demons to sit around searching for loopholes.

Fram feeding wasn’t fun, but Eve
took a turn every few hours, and was surprised to find that the whole thing was
actually done, three days later. She felt like a wimp now, given that. Of
course she’d had to regrow things using only energy, which was harder than
solid food was. That was what she was telling herself anyway. It made her feel
a bit better about her slow performance.

Keeley stayed the whole time, and
chatted with her and the others, as if they were old friends. Felicia more or
less was, but Keeley really seemed to get along well with Ginger, too. Bey had
decided that everyone was staying there, to care for Fram, until further
notice.

Eve didn’t comment on it, but it
was pretty clear that a certain Greater Demon would be making an effort to get
together with Ginger later. Probably in some kind of business arrangement,
since that was the kind of thing Keeley did for fun. Fram ate, mostly, and was
friendly enough when his mouth was clear of frozen foods.

It was great practice as far as
making the new product went, and the man gave them feedback on the waffle cones,
and new treat ideas, and how to fine tune things. Eve made a point of taking
notes.

Lyn actually came back, but it
wasn’t until the third day, just after the other Greater Demons left that she
walked in with a container of blood from the front. It had been warmed, and was
the animal kind, in one of the heavy ceramic mugs they used for it.

“Here. I want you to make an
attempt at holding four more links. When you have them, we’ll start working on
some magical practice. Small things at first, but that will grow in time.” Her
face was blank, and watchful, as if Eve would say no, or throw a fit. It was a
thing that she should have done already, so she wasn’t going to be a bitch
about it now.

“Good idea.” She did it, closing
her eyes and trying not to let things slip. It was really all she could manage
focusing on four things at once. That meant she ended up just sitting there, on
the floor by the sofa, for about three hours, before she felt like she could
open her eyes and not lose the things.

Energy was rushing into her, and
had no place to go, which she pointed out, waving her right hand a bit.

“So, I should do something? I’m
not used to this.”

The other new links had evened
out, after a week or so, and she’d kind of incorporated the extra energy. This
was just pressing into her, making the new links slippery.

“Emotions first. It’s a valuable
thing to learn, controlling that kind of thing. Try to remember feeling calm
and peaceful.
Imagine
it, if no clear memory presents itself. When you
have it, add a trickle of power to it, and slowly increase that, until you feel
only peace inside yourself.”

It was a bit harder than it
sounded, but not too much, being similar to the meditations that she’d done
before with Keeley. After a few minutes, she felt blank, and calm. No anger
stirred inside of her, which left her feeling a bit empty, but good.

“Now, do the same for hunger.
Remove the last of it that you feel. Hold both things at once, by mixing them
together, into one. It will take less energy to hold in your mind that way.”

That was harder, but happened.
Then after holding it for a while, Lyn smiled.

“That’s a good start for the day.
Hold those, and try not to let them slip. It may not seem like a large thing,”

Eve smiled.

“No hunger and no rage? Not a big
thing? You’ve never been a Vampire before, have you?”

“Oddly enough, I have, and
do
understand your point. So, hold these, while increasing your focus on your
work. You need to make certain the new product list is created, and added to
the menu, I’d think. Prices, and getting pictures of things for the walls. It
spurs appetite, and let’s people know what you offer. All of your locations should
have that. For now, just working out the best options will be a good enough
place to begin.”

The woman didn’t exactly ride her
the whole time, but after a few hours of work, discussion and holding the new
links and feelings, Lyn did something new, and made her find another new link,
from the blood that she’d already had. Then another, when she actually managed
it. That took magic, too, since it wasn’t a normal gift of hers. Not that she
knew about anyway.

At five Lyn left, since, as she
pointed out, she had a husband to see to. That reminded Eve that she had a
boyfriend now. One that hadn’t gotten in touch with her for several days. She’d
have been pissed, but literally couldn’t feel that way at the moment. Plus,
she’d worked the entire time, and not walking into a room filled with Greater
Demons had probably been suggested to him by a dozen people, or more. Including
some Demons, she didn’t doubt.

So, after Lyn left, she headed
down to the bookstore, wondering if he wanted to see her or not? Saying they
were dating wasn’t exactly the same as doing it. Eve knew that one, from past
experience. Well, it wasn’t like she loved him or anything, so if he didn’t
want to do that with her, that was fine. It might hurt a bit, but she’d live.

He was in the store, and looked
harried, running from place to place, shoving books onto the shelves, then
running, an actual trot, up to the front desk.

He saw her, and went white.

“Fudge. Eve, I can explain. This
is all Hiram’s fault!” He rang up three people in a row, smiling and trying to
seem normal, even with his bloodshot and glassy eyes, before turning back to
her, coming around the counter, and giving her a big hug. He smelled a bit, and
looked exhausted.

“Hiram?”

“Yeah. The jerkwad went and
robbed a
bank
. Then got Zack to take him to some other land, or world,
where they’re both working on a deal or scam. I don’t know what it is. The
girls are useless. I mean, I love them all, don’t get me wrong, but every time
they come out on the floor they get taken into the back room, to have sex.
Worse, Zack’s gone and when people come in to go places they keep looking at me
like
I
should get them there. It wouldn’t be so bad, but I haven’t slept
in days now.” He yawned, but gave a laugh and slapped his own face a few times.
He had a beard, so it hid the not shaving part of things, and his breath was
minty fresh, meaning someone had given him a toothbrush. The Alede would be
good that way, but they
should
have let him get a shower, at the very
least.

“Ah. Well, I can help out with
the Node transfers not at all, but I can run this place. I
think
I
remember how, at least. Go get some sleep, and dream about how awesome a
girlfriend I am. You understand me, disregard the fact that I was gone for
several days. I was working the whole time too, so we have
that
in
common, being career driven. Make sure to remind Zack he owes you, when he gets
in. Otherwise he’ll probably forget. Make him blow you, or something.” She
grinned, then shrugged at him. “Or at least give you a bonus. Though that would
be kind of hot. If you do that first one, let me watch?”

“Yeah. Sure thing. So, you know,
you think I should get overtime?”

“At the very least. Go home and
get cleaned up. I need to be back at work in the morning, since Ginger is in
Iowa right now. She got to run out yesterday. Which reminds me, I need to call
her, to make sure she’ll be in for the trainee meeting tomorrow night.”

He nodded, and looked ready to
fall down, but headed out, as if she had a right to tell him to do that. Sleep
deprivation could do that to Humans. It made them pretty suggestible.

After twenty minutes, Kaitlyn
came out of the back, with two guys, both of who looked about the right age to
be dating her, so twenty or so, and seemed well satisfied enough. They smiled
at Eve, but neither one of them stopped to buy anything.

Kait waved happily.

“Eve! I haven’t seen you in forever.
Where’s Ben? I hear you two are an item now? Lucky you. He’s really great. I
kind of wish…” She looked away, then turned back and smiled. “Screw it, can I
join you? Both of you? I can’t
really
be his girlfriend, but I
want
that, too. A relationship that’s more than just sucking and licking. I mean, I
want to do that as well, and kind of have to, being what I am, but this place
is really shaping up that way. Short of working in a whore house, I doubt I
could be better fed. Do you think that would be okay? Or shouldn’t I ask? It’s
new with you two… And I guess that answers my question, huh?”

“Maybe? I don’t know what I’m
doing either, so we couldn’t ruin it any more that way, working together. Do
you want me to ask about it?”

“You’d do that? That would be
nice. Thank you! I should do something for you. We could go to the back?” It
was the Alede way, offering sex like that. Honestly, if the UPS guy delivered a
package in a timely fashion, she would have given him a quickie, just to be
polite. They fed off of sex, but enjoyed it too. It was win-win, all the way
around.

“Except that I don’t really need
that kind of thing anymore. I can do it, but it would be kind of wasted effort.
I could do you, and at least you could enjoy it, but the other way around, not
so much.”

“Oh, right. I forgot. That sounds
horrible, by the way. So.”

“Working for a bit would be a
good present? At least doing what you can. Who else is here? I can hear that
someone is busy, in the second reading room, but… Roberta?”

“Yep. I know, we should all have
been pitching in more. Poor Ben. Zack did say he wouldn’t be too long. A few
days, I think? That was… A few days ago, so any time now.”

“Hey, great. Well, let’s get this
place arranged as well as we can. It isn’t an embassy, so if we have to, we can
lock up at nine.”

Kaitlyn might have seemed a
little hyper just then, thanks to all the sex, but she was far from stupid, and
knew what day it was, so shook her head.

“No can do. Order night. The new
books will be here any minute. I can do that part, if you handle the front?”

She nodded, and started to shelve
the remaining books on the carts, since they’d all be needed soon. She cheated
a bit, using greater than normal speed. She had to be careful not to damage the
books or shelves, but it meant she was able to get it all done, in about ten
minutes, without looking too strange.

About six the stacks of boxes
started coming in through the front. There was only the one driver doing the
deliveries, and they could have let him in the back, but this was the pattern
it seemed like for some reason.

It all had to be accounted for,
but Kait did all that, then vanished with the guy for a bit. Just to be polite,
no doubt. He seemed happy enough to have done his job, when he left.

Then the succubus actually went
to the back and started to open the boxes, bringing out full wooden carts for
Eve to get into the right places. It wasn’t hard work, and she did it faster
than normal, but people came in constantly, leaving poor Roberta looking slightly
disheveled, instead of red haired, and like she was about to star in a movie.
Eve barely got to see her.

At about eight, she came out with
a woman that had gotten in under the radar. She was hot, and familiar, being
The Lover. That she’d come to visit and stop for sex first kind of felt about
right, really.

At the counter, the woman just
exuded sex, catching attention even with the better looking succubus right
beside her.

“Snowflake. I fear I wasn’t able
to bring as many of the others to the table as I’d hoped. Did the information
about The Mind Taker work out for you?”

“It
did
. Really well, too.
We got Tarsus in, and Finias back, so that’s forty mil off, right there.
That’s…” She felt silly, but counted people off on her fingers, ticking each as
she said the name. “The Librarian, The Bold, The Vile, The Lover, The Ferryman,
of course… that leaves two. Which is less than great, but a start. If you want
in, The Bold already set up a good plan for it with me.” She went over the
whole thing, which had the sexy Greater Demon lick her lips.

“
Really
? I can call The
Mistress of Souls about it, to make certain it’s all as it seems?”

“That’s a good idea, actually.”

She smiled.

“I also have The Cartographer in
with us. I fear he isn’t willing to part with cash or gold for it, but he is
offering the equivalent in maps? They’re quite worth it, but I don’t know if
you have a personal need for that kind of thing. He works Node paths, for the
most part. You don’t walk the Nodes, do you?” It was said conversationally, as
if that were just the kind of thing that everyone did.

“Not yet. Still, it could come in
handy at some point. So would that be one left, in the old plan?”

“Oh, no. He isn’t in on that. I
just mentioned it to him, and he
does
like the idea of not being
enslaved. I can’t give you the names of the others, but I did recommend you to
them. I also made sure they know that it would be poor form to kill you, until
after the treaty is set for the rest of us.”