Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (33 page)

Barb
had no problem with that news though. Becky looked a bit troubled, but Eve hid
it, herself. It was bad to let that kind of being sneak into your life, but it
wasn’t like you got a choice in the matter, if it was going to happen.

Finally,
after a bit, Eve went on, knowing that she was supposed to.

“So,
you remember Zack? Keeley’s boyfriend?”

“Sure.
Um, we went out a few times. They weren’t exclusive.”

Eve
nodded, having heard about that from Keeley herself, and later Zack. Greater
Demons did what they wanted, after all. It wasn’t that big of a shock that Zack
would be cool enough to see that Becky was worth spending time with.

“So,
he’s one. Um, Keeley and Darla too. Both of them. Keeley’s dad is The Mind
Taker.”

Becky
made a face then.

“Um,
Charles Thompson, or Dan Carmichael?”

It
was Fram who had the answer there, “Dan. His real name is Finias. He should be
around here in a few days, if you want to visit with him? He dropped a line the
other night. Anyway, that’s about it. There are a few other people that you
know that aren’t Human though. Rebekah the Manthori, but you know that one.
Clara the caterer and her son? Hsreth. Which is… Well, they’re good beings to
have around. I always meant to get one as a slave, but they’re hard to find and
harder to catch. In high demand, you know? Your old boyfriend, Kyle? He’s…
Well, you need to figure
that
one out for yourself. It will be funny! I
wish I could be there for that, but I actually have to get back to my store.
Oh, Lisa doesn’t know about me yet. Let’s keep it that way for a while? I
really don’t need her melting down and locking herself in a closet saying the
wrong spell to make me go away. It would embarrass her. Later, after we get out
of bed?”

Standing
without saying anything else, he leaned over and kissed Becky on the cheek.

“I
missed you, by the way. We really should get together sometime, and really chat
about things. There’s a lot that I could teach you.” He grinned and bustled
away, like only a person pretending to be a cardigan wearing Mage could.

Without
shedding any light at all on the real problem that they were facing. If, and it
was a real part of things, it was actually her problem.

Iron
Hand had been ready to attack, and the target was probably going to be a bunch
of hapless and helpless Humans again. That seemed more like the dry cleaners
than anything else. A thing set up to get on the news, and make Vampires look
bad. Who benefited from that though?

Someone
that…

The
thing there was that, while she could see that it had to be someone that wanted
to make trouble, how they were planning to profit from it was just outside of
anything she could really see.

It
was damned frustrating, though she didn’t let it show. She just didn’t have
enough information, and possibly wasn’t really involved, when it came right
down to it. The others, Lenore, and Bey, they were the ones that needed to
handle this kind of thing, not some girl that could barely figure out whether
she was supposed to suck the blood, or blow bubbles in it.

Smiling
at that thought, she stood, and started to clean, talking to Barb and Becky the
whole time. Vampires came in, but that night they were all well behaved and
didn’t try to drink her friend. A few did try to get her number however, and
one of them, a woman that looked about fifteen, but moved like she was older,
got her autograph.

When
the teen Vamp left, Eve shook her head.

“Am
I the only Vampire that doesn’t mainline movies all the time?”

Barb
let her head move side to side, but didn’t answer out loud, but Becky grinned,
and looked awfully humble. It was acting, but then, what wasn’t?

“I’ve
gotten lucky, a few times. The current project is different for me, being the
first series that I’ll be in. HBO, so ten episodes, if it doesn’t fail
horribly. I’ll be nude a lot, so I can’t have any of the ice cream here.”

Eve
nodded at that, and ended up speaking in unison with Barb.

“Frozen
yogurt.” They all chuckled, which was friendly sounding, and happy.

After
a few seconds of counter wiping, Eve asked a fairly normal sounding question.
“It’s a series? That’s a pretty big deal, isn’t it? Maggie said it was a movie.
Then, she’s so old that they might seem like the same thing to her. The really
ancient Vampires tend to not be up on the new things like that all the time.
She’s pretty good that way. So, I don’t know for certain.”

Instead
of really answering, her old pal stood and stretched, then sat back down.

“Yep.
I’ve got this, and a horror movie coming out in a few months. We already finished
post on that one. Then I need to do a rom-com or drama, so I don’t end up being
typecast. You know, I should totally get you two in for the show. Real Vampires
have to have a place, right? We shoot during the day... Barb, you said that you
can do that kind of thing? Stay up?”

Eve
was about to beg off herself, but the other Vampire actually seemed excited
about the prospect.

“I
can
. Eve can too, but she’s under orders not to be a camera whore. She’s…
Um, kind of a cop now, I guess. For the Council? At least she’s working with
The Bey. So no getting famous for her. I, on the other hand, can totally go,
and be there for you. An on set advisor? Or even do the humiliating nude scenes
you don’t want? One great thing about being undead, no sagging at all. I’m
serious about that, too. I look better naked now than when I died.” She looked
ready to back that up, by flashing someone, but Eve just agreed with her. It
was pretty much just the truth.

She
was about to suggest they go and visit with Zack, so that Kaitlyn could get her
surprise of being Kyle, Becky’s old flame, out of the way.

“What
we should do is…”

There
was something wrong, and it got her to shut up fast. A sense of presence, and
darkness, that tried to smother the world. That’s what it felt like to her, at
any rate. Holding things together, getting that no one else seemed to be
feeling the same thing, she tried to act like a normal person. “We should get
you out of here, both of you. Something’s
coming
.”

Those
words tried to run through her head for a while.
Something is coming.
Something is coming
. It went on for a while like an echo. She stood up, her
face moving from blank, to fierce. Probably scared too. For a moment she
wondered if her old buddy Balthius was going to visit, since his power could
feel a bit like that too, but fear Demon or not, he wouldn’t have made the far
side of the mall explode. She didn’t think so, anyway.

“
Fuck
.
Barb, get Becky out.
Run
. I’ll go, and be an idiot, moving toward the
danger instead of away.”

She
moved then, into white hot agony. It was so familiar and strong that she didn’t
notice that she was on fire until she was halfway to the woman that stood in
the open area that once held the nail shop.

She
wanted to hope that the Korean ladies had all gone home already, but they
stayed open until nine each night and it was just at that moment hitting that
number, she thought. Diving to the floor, she rolled, trying to smother the
flames. They hurt, but Eve didn’t let herself slow much. They died instantly,
so she hopped back up, only to catch fire again.

The
woman that was standing there pointed at her, but lost track when she made
sudden changes in direction.

It
wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, of course, if the person standing there
wasn’t a friend of hers.

Maggie.

That
just made sense though, didn’t
it? The ancient Vampire had to have some kind of ability that would make her
into a big deal. The Council wasn’t made up of wimps, after all and the rumor
was that hundreds of years before, she’d been on it.

It
was tough, but Eve dodged, going one way, then the other, as fast as she could.
She rolled at times, and pushed off the ground with one hand, propelling
herself in a flip through the air. Before she could land she was on fire again.
That required more rolling. It was hard to move forward at all then, and when
she tried to stand, her left leg was gone below the knee. Seared off, smoke
billowing away from where it was supposed to be.

That
meant the rest of her was burning before she even had her balance, effectively
stopped in place, barely able to roll away once she fell. One by one, her limbs
were taken, cremated away. She didn’t scream, not having any air in her lungs,
but she truly wanted to.

She
was still using those things after all, and it was terrifying to have them be
gone like that.

As
she lay there, a moment later, unable to do anything to protect herself at all,
Eve glanced up. The nerdy looking Council mouthpiece moved on her, slowly.

The
ancient Vampire grinned, looking… Incredibly sane and normal, as she hovered
over her.

“There
you are. I was looking all over for you, or someone. I hadn’t intended to be
quite this dramatic about this part, but you’re rather quick. Sorry to be such
a pain, since we’re so tight, but I need you to take a message for me. Please
tell the Council that I’m taking over from them, and that their services will
no longer be required? I had planned to be a bit more circumspect about the
whole thing, I swear that, by the way, but my other messenger was killed
earlier. Or, rather,
I
killed him, but you were doing too good of a job
by far, holding him the way you were. A few moments longer and I think you
might have even broken the compulsion
I
had on him. That’s hard to do,
since it’s one of my skills. That would have messed with things too much, which
is why I had to take him out. So, pass that along for me? Please?” The worst
part of the whole thing was that the obviously insane woman, who’d just taken
away her arms and legs, leaving only blackened stumps, sounded like she was
actually
asking
.

Politely.

Controlling
herself, and damping the pain as best she could, drawing on the energy from her
links to get that done, Eve snorted. Softly. It got the other Vampire to move
in. The one that she’d
liked
, and thought of as a friend.

Then,
she’d already had that lesson, trust no one.
Ever
.

It
was a thing that Maggie needed to remember, too, it seemed, because she
actually moved closer. Within what would have been arms reach, if she had arms
anymore. Fighting a sneer, Eve focused.

Trying
to grab at the woman with compulsion was going to be kind of expected, and
she’d just kind of said she was particularly good at that kind of thing, so she
didn’t bother with that one. Instead she nodded, and imagined trying to reach
into the other lady’s brain, grabbing a little piece of the soft flesh there
and pulling with her telekinesis, just as hard as she could. Nothing seemed to
happen, so she bought some time while she tried again, by speaking.

“Or,
and this is just an idea for next time, the old fashioned, but still respected,
art of
letter
writing? Bet you hadn’t thought of that one. See, if you
would have just
asked
first, I could have saved you loads of trouble.
Also, why in fucks sake would you
want
to take over for the Council? For
that matter, if you went to them and suggested it, don’t you think they might
let you onto the thing? Or even just take over if you want to do all the work
for them?” The whole while, looking up in to the slightly pale, but well made
up face, Eve used her mind to grab and pull, finally trying to target the
brainstem. It might grow back, sure, but even the dead needed that in order to
move around.

Not
that it seemed like it was doing anything. She kind of wondered where the
others were, when she realized that help wasn’t going to be coming any time
soon. Zack was actually there, just watching her, and if Fram was around, she
couldn’t tell where he was. No one else ran out to see what was going on, or to
help fight either, probably because it was a Vampire thing.

You
didn’t get involved if you didn’t need to. It was pretty much a rule of the
place. So, she was on her own.

Maggie
nodded, except that her head was kind of spasming, rather than doing it
smoothly, like she was losing control of herself. It was about freaking time
that something started to show.

“A
thought.” That was what she was trying to say, but it came out slurred and
wrong. After a second, she got the idea though, and gave a wicked looking half
grin. Only part of her normally friendly face was responding however.

“I
shee. Very good. Well, as you said, der
ist
more than one way to send a
message.” She pointed again, and the whole world erupted into even more pain.
Her middle was on fire, and she was, Eve thought, burning away altogether.

There
wasn’t a lot else to do, so she kept to her pattern, grabbing and plucking,
pulling as hard as possible with her tiny mind powers. Finally, about to go
out, probably for the last time, she targeted the other woman’s right eye.
There was a gasp, one that wasn’t quite a scream, and the flames stopped.