Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (27 page)

Eve
got that he was trying to push her, to see if she’d get scared. The fact was
though, that while she might not be able to beat a Greater Demon in a fight,
she
might
just be able to take him out, anyway. Demon Traps could work,
she’d heard tell, and even if it meant dying, she might be able to get
something like a magical nuke from Darla, and get him that way. Oh, she’d die,
too, but not alone.

That
was powerful enough, for a starting point, wasn’t it? She wanted to not be
abused in life. If she had to die in order to make that happen, then it was
good enough, in the end. Unlike most people, she’d become a Vampire for the
power, not the eternal life it promised.

Fram
straightened, and gave a nod, like he’d been reading her mind. Because of
course he had been. She’d have been trying to do the same thing if it were a
trick she could pull off, so why wouldn’t he?

“Not
bad. Here I’d been planning to cheat you out of that dough, too, because you
can’t back up a credible threat against me. I guess I better rethink that one?
Well, I expect a Christmas present next year then, if you have that kind of
cash lying around. I’ll go call that in. Let me see… That should do it for now.
I’ll write down an analysis of this stuff, and leave a paper over there on the
front counter, when I go for the day?”

She
got the idea that she was being dismissed. Eve
also
couldn’t blame the
guy. She was being more than a bit of a pain in the ass for him that day.
Figuring out who he might be, and she didn’t think for a minute that him
admitting it meant she was
right
, then making arrangements with him… Or
her
,
as the case turned out to be. That was one of the really strange things about
Greater Demons. They’d lie to you, but they didn’t really
lie
. They just
told you
parts
of the truth and got you to make mistakes that way,
rather than saying something that wasn’t the case. Most of the time, as far as
she knew.

For
instance, this being hadn’t
told
her the he was Fram, just let her
think
that. She got the idea.

Also,
they didn’t actually break their deals or arrangements, not if you acted in
good faith with them. Oh, you’d probably lose out in whatever the game was, in
the long term, but they didn’t just say they’d do one thing then go against
that directly. That was against the rules, she thought. They’d actually do a
lot
to keep their words, when it came down to it. It was the exact opposite of
honorable behavior however.

They
were the world’s oldest rules lawyers, and would use and abuse you to their own
ends, pretty much whenever they wanted. It meant that she’d probably just made
fifty errors that could be exploited, even if she didn’t know what they were.

Still,
as long as this being didn’t plan on killing or harming her, or her friends, then
she’d deal as far as it went. Not at the cost of her own soul, but given that
she literally couldn’t stop all of her information being stripped away every
time one of them tapped her in the slightest, she was actually getting well ahead
of things. Even if it was basically just a truce. Of course the next time
Lenore gave Zack a kiss on the cheek, he was going to know all about it. As
Fram, if that’s who Mark really was, had pointed out though, it wasn’t
her
job to protect him from his own kind.

Once
back in the store, she got a single piece of paper and wrote down a word on it.
Marmalade. She’d never been able to stand that stuff herself, which apparently
was a snooty form of bigotry, but Greater Demons had a tendency to be right, as
far as almost anything went. So if he said coconut and that crap was a taste
sensation, then it probably was.

Lenore
looked a tiny bit upset when Eve noticed her, what with her blood red eyes and
the protruding fang teeth, but she didn’t try to jump Eve for being too trusting.

Eve
just said what she was thinking out loud.

“We
can’t trust any of that. You understand that, don’t you? Right now, you should
probably take Zack a treat. Don’t, you know,
say
anything about all
this. Actually, here, I want to use him as a tester too, anyway. Let me try the
chocolate caramel, on the new avocado base, with him. There needs to be a
crunchy aspect. Um, slivered almonds?”

They
agreed on a light dusting of those, on the upper layer, along with a green
colored cherry, just for variety. Her boss made her own, so they could have any
color they wanted. Green was a good one around Christmas, paired with brilliant
red, but the purple ones were the prettiest.

Blue
just seemed unhealthy.

The
Vampire ambassador left at a quick walk, holding the large treat on a tray, as
Mark watched her from the window, shaking his head slowly.

Eve
mouthed words at him, since she didn’t want to broadcast things to the whole
mall.

“What?
We aren’t
telling
him.
We
can’t control Greater Demon magic.”

Mark
answered out loud, so that she could hear her. It was a muttered thing though,
and a bit bitter sounding.

“If
I didn’t know better, I’d think that
you
were one of us, too. Normal
beings aren’t this annoying. I’ve seen you with The Mistress of Souls, so I
know you aren’t her… No, wait,
I’ve
got it, you’re really just
that
big of a cunt. Well, if I end up being run out of town, I blame you. I have
things to do here, you know. See if you get any information from me when you
can’t find me for fifty years. Hmph.” He even crossed his arms, and glared at
her, which all seemed a bit more playful than she really would have expected.

The
thing there was that she
did
know that things were going on, and whoever
Marcus was knew she had access to that kind of data. Probably enough to actually
work things out, if she were say, five times smarter than she actually was.

She
tried to look surprised, and started making more things to eat for the gym
people.

Then
she mouthed more words at the former fatbeard.

“I’m
not even in that league, but come on, what are the odds that
I’m
not
being played by you? Hello,
Greater Demon
…”

That
got a grin, even as Zack walked from the back of the shop, holding something
sharp looking in his right hand. It glinted in a nice silver color, with hints
of energy coming off of it. That was mainly purple, and she didn’t think that
most people would have been able to see it. Not the Human ones anyway.

That
led to a conversation, and both men leaving through the back, to go to a very different
place, through the Node. Eve listened to them chatting about it.

It
turned out that the only surprise there was that
both
of them were back
a minute later, and Zack walked out the front, toward his own store, passing
Lenore on the way. The boss Vamp was headed back, looking mildly concerned, but
less so than Eve would have thought. Except it made sense, given that Zack was
back already. That meant it either wasn’t a huge threat, or that he’d won.

He
spoke out loud, but was far enough down the way that Eve had to focus to hear the
words.

“It
really
is
Fram. Keep an eye on him for me? He wouldn’t say why he was
here, just that it involved watching me and wasn’t harmful to me or my personal
interests. That could mean a lot, so we need to be ready. It wasn’t a lie
though, I don’t think. I could run him off, but he swears that it isn’t a bad
thing. I don’t trust it, but there’s no benefit to him trying to challenge me
directly. Right now everyone thinks that he’s of much higher status than I am
anyway, and that’s his thing. Looking good with the others. Going after me
wouldn’t do that for him, and there’s always a small chance that he could lose,
which would make him look bad. He’ll want to avoid that, for a long time.”

Eve
nodded, knowing that it wasn’t actually addressed to her. Lenore was the one in
charge of that kind of thing, and the only reason for Eve to be involved was
the same one that had let her guess at it being
Fram
in the first place.
She’d known him for about a year, and they’d hung out. In a way, she was about
as close to him as she was almost any of the other Greater Demons except Keeley
and Zack. Darla was her buddy, so there was that, but she’d never slept with
her. Or Fram.

Not
that she knew about, at any rate. They were great at shape shifting though,
which Mark had reminded her of without even trying.

That
basically gave her a lot of perspective on things, didn’t it? Her part in all
of this, well, it wasn’t over yet, since there had been a lot of things in the
last half year that had gone on, and knowing that it really was a Greater Demon
behind it all would be nice, after a fashion. Not that she could do anything
about it, but understanding that would let her step back and be free of the
subconscious idea that she, personally, was supposed to
try
and do
something about it.

Which
was silly anyway. She was, no matter how great and awesome she felt about
herself, still a baby Vampire. One that had managed to get on the bad side of
one of the Council already. By being so great at her new job, true, but still
that was a major fail right there, she knew. A thing that a wiser Vampire would
have managed
not
to do. It wasn’t like it would have been really hard to
pull off.

Not
before. Eve should have kept her mouth shut, and all her actions as meaningless
and small as possible. It would have been enough to just manage to not be angry
and in everyone’s face all the time, wouldn’t it?

Now
she’d have to deal with the fallout of having called attention to herself.
Worse, people had kind of warned her not to do it, more than once and she
hadn’t really paid attention to that advice, even though it was good, and Eve
could see the benefit of it.

For
the moment though, she finished the day, cleaning and then going over all the
forms in the office again. Without being told, because she had to keep busy and
there was no television there. Even if there was, she doubted that Lenore, an ancient
being from a time when no one had that kind of thing, would have let her waste
any real amount of time with it.

On
the good side she had a very tired Cormack to entertain herself with. That was
less fun and more work, but Lenore seemed happy enough with them, when the man
started to wake up, at about seven. She stayed late and everything, even though
there wasn’t enough work for three people. When Cormack was back to normal, the
boss clapped several times.

Eve
recognized the move as one that Bey made when he was very well pleased with
something.

“Perfect!
Very good work, both of you. Now, Cormack was on the schedule for tonight… But
I don’t want to push you too hard.” She looked worried, but Eve shrugged.

“No
big thing. I can work tonight, and he can stay and make sure I don’t screw it
up. Walk around and visit people, or whatever, while I do the stuff here? Then
we can keep on with staying awake, tomorrow.”

Lenore
turned to ignore Eve, and look only at Cormack, who nodded.

“That
sounds fair. I feel normal now. Good even, thanks to that bloody orb being
down. That gets better doesn’t it?”

Eve
shrugged, but Lenore shook her head.

“Not
really. It’s a constant torment. Being willing to weather that sort of pain,
day after day, is a big part of why other Vampires tend to be impressed with
those that can manage it. If you’re both certain? It’s a hard schedule, but a
temporary one. If you can do this, I’ll start the paperwork for getting you an
embassy position, Cormack. One of your own, or at least get you in as an
assistant?”

He
seemed slightly sheepish, but Eve smiled.

“He
can do it. This is the hardest part, by far.” She winked at him, and then
looked back at her boss.

“I
mean trying to let me do a full night shift, kind of alone. Not that it should
be too hard, since I’ve done it before, but you never know. We should get him a
stick so he can hit me if I mess up too much.” She was kidding. Honestly, she
expected at least a polite chuckle, or a gentle grin from the others.

Lenore
just went to the supply closet and unscrewed the top from a mop handle, and
gave it to him. Her face was deadly serious the whole time, too.

“That
should do it. Well, since you both are doing my whole job for me, I’ll be back
in the morning. If you need me, call. I expect that, but only if a real
emergency takes place?”

There
was a considering look from Cormack, his slightly average face finally nodding.

“Aye.
We should be fine. I’ll stand back and let the lass run the embassy alone, and
make sure the shop is cared for? Unless you can do both?
Then
I’ll just
be at loose ends. Still, that’s the job, if you’re truly up for it?”

After
Lenore left, Eve kind of expected something big to happen, just to mess with
her. It was the kind of paranoid feeling that never really left anymore, she
realized. It was, no doubt, part of her, and had been for a long time. A
pessimistic sense that things were going to always be a little bit off. Just a
little wrong, and if she didn’t notice it in time, it would rise up and bite
her on the ass.