Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) (30 page)

This Vampire had never even
suggested they hug more often. She totally would, of course, but it was nice
that he didn’t act like her real value to him was her body.

“Who with? That boy you mentioned
last night? Ben?”

“Yep. I asked him out. It’s a
thing now, women doing that part. I think it means I’m supposed to pay too, but
you know, if you want the honey, you gots to have the money. I do, so it shouldn’t
be a problem. Oh, can I ride in a car for that part? It’s just to a movie, and
I know that I need to keep working on my speed, so doing that all the time
isn’t in the cards, but…”

Giving her a solid look, her
master nodded.

“Just this
once
. You
should make up for it by doing a long distance speed run though. I don’t want
you to get soft, like me. Riding in cars with boys… The next thing you know
you’ll come back holding his hand, and telling me that you’re both in trouble…
Though, in the Vampire world that will just mean wanting to turn him into one
of us.” He gave her a hard look though and squinted. “Just so you know, the
tradition is that your maker would then kill the other person, and lock you in
a box until you learned not to be so sentimental. That goes for you too Ginger.
We’re not going to have any unplanned makings out of
either
of you.” He
wagged a brown finger, the pale blue shirt rubbing a bit.

Then, as the cufflinks, which
were gold and black, twinkled in the light, he winked at them both.

“Not that you two would be a
problem that way. Not running the Human conversion training like you are. How
is that going, anyway? We should probably work up a report for the Council on
it. Not that they’ll care yet, until it works or fails in the first batch.
Keeping them up on things won’t hurt though.”

Ginger, still scrubbing like she
was afraid the smell would come back, spoke about it for a while, going over
everything.

“The punch-line is that we’re
having the first real meeting next week, where they’ll get their first tasks,
hints and a lecture. We need someplace a bit better than a booth or two here
for that, I think. Can we rent someplace?”

Eve didn’t know, but Edom had an
idea, which wasn’t too bad, really.

“Do it at the club? We have
chairs and tables, and you can be alone while it takes place. As long as you do
it early in the day, and don’t trash the room too much, it shouldn’t be a
problem. Do the first meeting here, so you can hand out a map to the next one?”

That settled, Eve waved and
walked out, ready to go to Felicia’s hotel, or even to Sparks, to get her, if
she’d taken off. She was, however, busily running laps around the outer
sidewalk of Westfield. Under the cloudy sky, but the sun was still burning her
as she did it. There she was though, not giving in. Largely on her own, too. If
she could have cried, tears would have been streaming down her pale cheeks as
she grinned about it.

Smiling instead, Eve jogged up
alongside of her.

“Hello! Ginger, Zack and Edom
cleaned the place up, and I scrubbed myself for a long time, so I should be
fine. Not too stinky to be around, I hope. I’m going to trash these poor socks
though.” She hadn’t remembered that she was barefoot, until then. It didn’t
hurt, and her feet felt fine enough. The other Vampire glanced down and winced.

“I hate this stuff. I was working
away, minding my own business, and even running an entire
city
. I’m not
that old, so it was kind of a big deal, you know? Sparks isn’t New York maybe,
but we followed the rules and no one really had too many problems. Then one day
this girl moves in, and the next thing I know, she’s taken over the whole
thing.” There was no letting up in the running, though she did spare a glance
for the socks. They really weren’t going to last long. She had another pair of
shoes, back home, and her white ones in the supply closet there at the shop.

Well, Ed had suggested she do a
long fast trip, hadn’t he? No better way than using magic shoes that wouldn’t
let her slow down. Really, she probably should have been doing that all along.
It was a bit wimpy of her to not use them, wasn’t it? Darla had made them for
her, as a special present, and they probably were worth more than anyone could
have paid for.

Felicia needed to talk though, it
was clear, so Eve listened, and just kept going.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it
isn’t one of the really bad Greater Demons. I mean, so far Keeley has been
almost nice. Hard, sometimes, and unforgiving, but she doesn’t eat people for
fun, or because it’s handy, and has only tortured a few people into doing what
she wants. I kind of wish I was back running the place for the Vampires myself
though. Don’t tell her I said that. Not that she doesn’t know. I just don’t
want to start a fight.”

They padded along for a while
more, and finally Eve slapped the other undead woman on the arm just hard
enough for her to notice.

“You’re good doing this. Good
thinking by the way. Keeping yourself moving is a big part of getting this
done. You’re going to make it. In two weeks you’ll be up and around all day,
every day, and that part, resisting going down, won’t even be an issue anymore.”

Felicia smiled at that, her face
a bit darker somehow than the look should have allowed. It was a subtle use of
the eyes, Eve thought. Hooding the lids just enough to make the smile fierce,
if only a little.

“I know. Then I’ll be a
real
master Vampire, won’t I? Because The Mistress of Souls decided I should be. I
guess I shouldn’t complain. She could have insisted I do donkey shows, or
killed babies for her amusement. This is a funny place here though, isn’t it?
You have what, five of them, right here? Master Vamps, I mean. I only ever met
four of them myself, before I came here. In
seventy
years. Doing this
will make me something special. Even if you train a hundred more like this, it
still will. I guess I’m lucky that I know someone that can get me in early. How
did… I mean, if it’s all right to ask, how did you and Keeley meet? Or is that…
Is that how you got your power to do this?” She gestured, as if the ability she
was talking about was allowing her to walk in the daylight and live, instead of
facing the small death.

“Nothing like that. I’m not a slave,
or anything. There was no bargain or deal for it. Though, in a way, Keels did
have a lot to do with how things turned out. She helped me learn to meditate,
and really worked on that with me for several years. I think just because she
likes me though. We went to high school together. We were kind of in the same
clique, I guess. Her sister, Darla, The Technician? Anyway, she was the head
cheerleader, and got me into that, then about a year later, Keeley came to school
with us. So, I guess we met in a normal enough way. If anything like that can
be called regular. I mean, I know, who goes to school with Greater Demons? We
had
four
of them though. Speaking of which, I need to go, and make some
calls about that, just to make sure I don’t mess up killing one of them in a
few days.”

That got a laugh, like it was a joke.
She was pretty certain Felicia would know enough to get that it wasn’t. The
other Vampire kept running, and Eve headed inside, like she’d promised.

After grabbing a clean apron and
getting behind the counter, she waved at Ginger to go and do whatever it was
she wanted.

“I have this here. Go. Go. Do
whatever it is that makes you happy. Sit in the park and seduce boys, or
whatever.”

“That’s a plan, I suppose. I wish
I had some money. I could use some new clothes. I haven’t been shopping in
about three years. Lenore took me.” She didn’t seem down about it, just a bit
wistful.

Eve thought for a second, then
pulled her bank card out.

“The PIN is three-three-six-two.
Get what you want. I need my card back later though, so make sure you don’t
lose it?”

Ginger froze, and then shook her
head.

“I didn’t mean that you had to
get things for me. I’d feel bad. I don’t want to spend it all.”

Eve was about to explain the whole
thing to her, when Edom came out from the back, holding an envelope. It was
white and thick enough to be interesting.

“Here you go. Your pay, so far.
That way you won’t accidently enrage Eve by losing her valuable card. You
should get an account, too, someplace. We can make time for that later though.
Right now, why not get that shopping done? You’ll need things to wear in Iowa.”

Ginger might have looked very
young, but she understood what was being said. She was going to be sent off, in
a few days most likely, in order to sharpen her yogurt making skills. Because
that
was pretty high on the Vampire skill set, wasn’t it? Then, supporting an
embassy, doing it because she could stay up all day, kind of
was
a big
deal. Normally that job was only given to the oldest Vampire willing to do the
work.

She snagged the envelope, and
opened it, her eyes going wide, then tucked it away, as if fearing theft. She
didn’t even go to the back, handing her apron directly to Eve, along with her
bank card, and then, at the door, actually ran so fast she flickered a little
through the glass.

Ed winked at her.

“Normally she wouldn’t get paid
this early, but she really should have some new clothing. You too, by the way.
Nothing wrong with what you’re wearing, if you’re manning the counter here, or
even doing janitorial at the club, but you might want to pick up some nicer
things, as well. For business meetings, press work, and of course, for when you
go to kill people for the Council. You need to make a statement, when it comes
time for that.” He smoothed his pant leg, which got her to realize that he
almost always wore nice things. She looked like a college girl, compared to
him.

A poor one with no fashion sense.

Which, to be honest, she didn’t
really
have. Thinking back, she remembered high school, where she hadn’t had money for
clothing at all, and had relied on Darla to lend her things, and even
buy
them, on occasion. Now
she
had a sense of style. A really high level and
refined one.

After Ed went into the back,
almost on a whim, Eve picked up the cream colored handset, which needed to be
scrubbed down, having some finger prints on it, and dialed Darla’s number by
memory. It picked up on the third ring, and a rather older sounding woman
spoke, her voice firm, but not nasty.

“This is Gibson. Go.”

It took about half a second for
her to process that information. Mrs. Gibson was technically Darla’s
Grandmother. Played by Darla, if the situation wasn’t the other way around. The
point was that they were both the same person. Except that if Mrs. Gibson
answered like that, and didn’t use her name, it meant…

Eve didn’t really know, did she?

It was probably that there was
someone listening in, or possibly with Mrs. Gibson, that didn’t know all about
Greater Demons, and shouldn’t. A Human business partner, or employee, maybe?

“Mrs. Gibson? This is Eve Benson?
I’m a friend of Darla’s. You know, the one that shamed you all by becoming a
Vampire? I was wondering if she was around? I’m putting together a shopping
trip, and realized that I left all my taste in clothing with her. An oversight
on my part, but you know, you get busy, and one thing leads to another… Things
get left in the sofa cushions…”

There was a pause and a wet Human
sounding intake of breath.

“Benson… You’re related to Chief
Benson? The girl with the catering job? I think we’ve met a few times. I’m
afraid I don’t know where Darla
is
. She mentioned not being back for a
few weeks, but didn’t tell me what she was doing, exactly. I’m at work at the
moment, but could we meet this evening? Perhaps you can help me work out where
she might have gotten to? Call it eight or nine? At her house. You know where
that is?”

She had to check to make sure it
was the old one, and not something new, because Eve really wasn’t certain Darla
hadn’t moved to a better place by now, or possibly had a second house, but made
arrangements to come in at eight. It was a very weird way to set up a meeting,
but if Darla felt that observed, then it might be important not to give it all
away.

There was no need for her to
really worry though, even if it felt off. Darla wasn’t just a big girl, she was
a
Greater Demon
. A few things might give her problems, but if Mrs.
Gibson was there, it probably came down to some kind of trick
she
was
pulling. That, or just not wanting to change back right then. It took her some
time to do that, after all. Half a day, or so.

Going clothes shopping with the
older version was probably out though, and not just because it would look like
she was hanging with her grandmother. That part might actually have been cool,
for all she knew. She’d never done that before. If she had grandparents on
either side of the family, no one had ever mentioned it.

Mrs. Gibson was the owner of one
of the largest tech firms in the U.S. Cortechs. Eve Benson
might
know
her granddaughter well enough for a meeting or two to slide, but the tabloids
might just pick up on the idea that there was something wrong, if they were
going out together. Getting together to discuss where Darla had gone was a
better plan. The woman had raised her granddaughter after all, as far as the
press knew, so it was natural for her to be concerned, now and then.