Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) Page 10

  Ginger did it though. Slowly, and with a lot of effort, but she didn’t keep fighting, and after only about five minutes, got her teeth put away. Eve nodded.

  “Like that. Only all the time now. You can help me put together the first class for the new Vampires? You can manage being around Humans, right?”

  There was a slow head shake then, and a muttered word. “No.”

  Lenore looked worried, but Bey clapped, happily.

  “Then you will be soon! These are exciting times in which to exist, are they not? Eve, you will see to Ginger, and that she has the skills needed to take over for Ambassador Gillhall, in his duties here? How long do you think that will take?”

  Eve had no clue, but looked at the young seeming Vampire, and shrugged.

  “Half a year? Staying up won’t take her as long to learn as it did these others, I bet, and after the first few days, she’ll be able to resist people, at least well enough to go crowd surfing. It’s going to take me a while to teach her to fight though. That flailing was slow, and kind of sad, Ginger. Cute, but not everyone will always be stunned by your adorableness.”

  Bey smiled and touched the tiny girl on the arm. She was wearing a t-shirt too, like Eve.

  “Very well, you will be ready inside that time frame then. We cannot coddle our young as we once did, I fear. I would not put you to such a hardship, otherwise, Ginger. You are ready for this growth however. I have great faith in both you, and Miss Benson.” It seemed so genuine that everyone there nodded, even the people she didn’t know.

  Eve moved over and hugged Cormack again.

  “Right, so the rest of you can go and celebrate with the new ambassadors. Ginger and I will hold down the fort here. Dave, you’re coming in tomorrow morning?”

  “Fuck.” It wasn’t much of an agreement, but he nodded, so she did in return.

  “Good. See you then? Now, everyone, go on. Do something fun! We have this, and will call if anything comes up that we can’t handle. Or, you know, if we get bored, or lonely.” She let her eyes go wide, but everyone fake laughed and actually got their coats and went out the front door.

  Eve sighed and turned on Ginger, who winced away, clearly expecting to be beaten, now that everyone else was gone.

  “I’ll go over how to run the place here. For now, I want you to do that, and focus on your breathing. Make sure you really do it, constantly. Have you eaten anything today?”

  There was a nod, that seemed a bit scared, like she was a meany or something? Eve let that go, and simply waved for the other girl to follow, trying to make sure she kept up with her own breathing. Otherwise she was going to look bad, if Ginger noticed any gaps, wasn’t she?

  “Good, first, we need to make sure we always wear our aprons here. Day or night. It marks us as working here, and to the Vampire part of the public, as officials of the Council. We’re going to spend most of our time cleaning. When in doubt, start wiping things down. All the time. It’s boring, but that’s part of the point right now. Learning to cope with boredom, hunger, and anger, are the real goals here. Then pain. If you’re willing to do that, you can be special and strong. If not, well, then you wouldn’t be here, would you? No one chooses to be a Vampire if they don’t want to be strong.”

  The girl shook her head.

  “I didn’t get a choice. I was attacked a few years ago, and turned by someone. I was dumped on Lenore because it was clear that I’m of the Bey line. She took me in, but I’m an orphan. Whoever made me didn’t stick around.” She seemed ashamed of that fact. It was clear in the way she looked at the floor.

  Eve nodded.

  “Good, so you have the speed?”

  “Yes? I’m not very good at it. You saw, earlier? That was as fast as I get, and you just vanished over and over again, when I tried to hit you.”

  Thinking about that, Eve shrugged.

  “We can work on that. It’s boring, running or walking places at those kinds of speed, but it really can be handy. I was in Russia a few days ago, and didn’t have to get on a plane for it. We won’t do that tomorrow though. Soon. Not to there, but someplace neat. The beach, maybe? I haven’t been to the ocean much in my life. Also, do you have parents? I mean, living people, not just Lenore?”

  There was a brief pause, then the girl took the green and white apron, and started to copy Eve as she got hers into place.

  “Sure. I haven’t been in touch with them, because it’s been hard for me to adapt. Lenore thinks that it has to do with how I was born. As a Vampire? I… Frenzied at first. I killed a bunch of people. They almost didn’t keep me around, but the Proctor here put me in a camp, and then found Lenore for me.”

  That was pretty special then, given how the two women felt about each other.

  “Really? Well, we can fix most of that. And by we, I mean you. And by fix, I mean toughen up and be willing not to be a pussy, like David.” She grinned, and the girl did too, but she also looked away then.

  “He let me practice, you know, having sex? It isn’t that hard. Well, I mean he is, but you know, doing it isn’t. I didn’t really do anything, back when I was alive.”

  It was an interesting admission, but the girl stopped breathing after she said the words, and Eve had to remind her to both do that and blink. Then she gently tossed a rag to her.

  “Start at the front, and keep the act going. If a Human walks in, move back away from them. If you have to, lock yourself in the supply closet. You won’t need to though. Just remind yourself that you’ve eaten in the last week, and have plenty of strong energy links. Now, you were telling me what a pervert David has been being?” She grinned about it, changing the subject trying to make certain the girl didn’t get too hung up on the idea of being around people soon. They normally didn’t get Humans in at night, but it could happen, and while Ginger needed a strategy to cope with it, worry wasn’t going to help her.

  The first person through the door though wasn’t a Human at all, being Zack. He looked over at the girl, who clearly recognized him, and smiled.

  “Ginger! Come to take over for Lenore, now that she got that promotion?” It made sense that he’d know about it all. Because his girlfriend would have told him. For a half second Eve wondered how it was going to work, if Lenore was traveling all the time, but then it hit her. Line Walker. This was the one being she knew for certain that could be with his honey whenever they wanted to take the time. Really, most of the other Greater Demons probably could, too. They didn’t seem to have anyone steady though, did they? Not as a group.

  “No, sir. Mr. Line Walker, sir.” The terror nearly cut through the place, and Eve rolled her eyes.

  “Remember your breathing and blinking. Focus on what you’re doing. Concentrate on the motion of the rag, and feel it all. Everything that you’re doing. I’ll help Zack this time, but later you’re going to give him a blowjob.”

  That got the Vampire to turn and stare at her, seeming like she was going to pass out. Zack just laughed though.

  “Don’t worry Ginger, she’s kidding. You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to, sexually, with Eve around. She’s one of the best when it comes to that kind of thing.”

  Eve nodded, and started making some things for Zack to munch on while they talked.

  “Hey, just because you scare her, that doesn’t mean she won’t want the practice. You can pretend to be a Human for her, so that she’ll learn not to attack, you know, while she does you?”

  Standing there, behind the machines, she felt it happen.

  The energy in the room shifted, and the scent, and instead of Zack, the mighty Greater Demon, it felt like a regular, and very healthy, Human man was there. Eve stopped what she was doing and moved around the machine she was getting a stream of vanilla frozen yogurt from, to look at him.

  “Just like that actually. This is perfect. Ginger, why don’t you sit at one of the tables with him, while he eats?”

  The other girl did it, slowly, and looking both scared and a bit like she was about to
frenzy and take the guy out.

  She didn’t though, just sitting there like a good little Vampire girl. For hours, while Eve provided treat after delicious morsel, to keep Zack busy. It worked wonderfully, because by the time morning came, and a few regular people came in, Ginger was well and truly in control of her desire to eat them.

  Scared of them? A bit. But that didn’t matter, as long as they all stayed alive, did it?

  Chapter seven

  Very early, well before the sun tried to come up, Ginger tried to die for the day. That was pretty common for the very young, Eve knew. She just kept the girl moving and working, glad that she finally had a chance to chat with Zack, who’d stayed the entire night with them, more or less. He’d run out a few times, going through the back, to make a transfer, or in at least one case to get even more food.

  As she waited for David and Nikki to get there, and directed Ginger to keep working, like a boss, she sighed, and finally turned to her Greater Demon pal.

  “So, I have this thing with Fram, and Maggie Sims. You know about it?” It was clear that he did, but to her amazement, instead of making a big deal out of it, he just shrugged.

  “Yep. You have that in order. He won’t cheat you, or trick you. You had a problem with him, and came in with an offer that wasn’t going to end up with him losing that much. A slave, possibly, but if you do it right she’ll live. I’d take out Fram, personally. It was his fault. Really, what he was thinking, trying to take you on… Still, that isn’t why I came. Ann was in earlier and wants me to set up some work for you, with The Cleric? That… Um…”

  The Greater Demon stopped, and finally let himself smile a bit.

  “Okay, this is second hand information, but you might be able to remember it. I can, and Keeley is making herself, but none of the rest of us, our kind, can do it. You’re smart though and not a Demon, so it might work. Gregor is an Angel. Just pretending to be a Greater Demon. That doesn’t mean he won’t trick you or anything, but he’s not like the rest of us. So you can deal with him, and he can’t take your soul. I don’t think any of the others are like that, but it could be a thing. Don’t risk it with anyone else though. The Rotted doesn’t know that though, which means that she’s probably using you in this. I think I can see what she has in mind, but for your part, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it.”

  Eve started to feel her mind reel at the news, then nodded. Angels. Well, that made sense. If there were Greater Demons, then why not? Though that might mean that God was real, too, and if that was the case, she was going to be pissed. It was one thing for Zack, her Greater Demon buddy to leave her to be raped for years by a mind controlling Mage, but something very different for God to let that happen.

  Not that she remembered any of that, but it was the spirit of the thing that mattered. She got part of what was going on there now though, since it had been Fram behind it all, and there were others behind, or at least with, him in whatever he had going on. Starting a war. That’s what he’d told her.

  Zack looked away, then reached out to touch her hand.

  “Your helper needs to be reminded to stay awake.” He gestured to Ginger then, so Eve shook her a bit, and blocked the arm that came out, in slow motion, to try and hit her.

  “Keep cleaning! You can do it.”

  The youthful looking Vampire, who was still actually younger than Eve was, went back to work like a zombie. It was like she was on drugs, very nearly.

  Zack started to leave then, going out the front, which had her following and taking his arm, gently.

  “Not so fast. What’s the thing with The Cleric? Do I call him, or something? What does he want done, and do I have the time for it?” She looked back at Ginger, which got Zack to do the same.

  “I don’t know exactly. He has something that Darla wants, which will be several pounds of atomically arranged graphene sheeting. The stuff is hard to come by, but useful, I guess? Gregor has some of it, but they don’t really talk. Darla is a bit of a bigot, when it comes to Christians, and Greg started that whole mess.”

  Eve still didn’t know what to do, but Zack jogged around the counter, patted Ginger on the back firmly, and wrote something down, then fixed himself a large cup of vanilla product.

  “You need to start a new batch soon.” He patted the silver machine like he had Ginger, and walked out eating as he did it.

  She just took him at his word, and called out for her new little Vampire pal to keep going, as she did that, talking to Ginger the whole time.

  “No, don’t sit. Keep wiping things down. Do the tables.” They didn’t need to be done, but she wasn’t really doing much, so it worked out.

  Edom came in, at seven sharp, dressed in one of his nice suits, and carrying a briefcase. Since he was the boss there now. He looked around at the place, and saw what she was doing, then grinned.

  “No problems then?”

  “Nope. Zack came and helped Ginger, so she won’t want to eat people now, all the time. Then he suggested that I help out some other Greater Demon, to get something that Darla wants, which might lead to her helping me keep Maggie Sims alive. The Cleric, which, if I was told correctly, and it isn’t a trick, is the one Greater Demon we can all trust. More or less. It might be worth it. I don’t know. It’s also probably something being set up by The Rotted to help her. So, I don’t know. Anyway, no trouble, embassy wise. Zack sitting there all night didn’t even mess with people coming in to shop for blood, since he seemed like a Human the whole time.” It had been true, which was interesting to watch, since a few of the Vampires that had gone about their business like it was totally normal had met him before. They didn’t respond like that though.

  It was like they noticed him, but couldn’t see what he really was, past the surface of the energy he was presenting.

  Edom moved to the back, and didn’t put an apron on over his clothing, having several people coming to watch the shop out front.

  “Well, be careful. My recommendation is to not get involved, but it would curry some favor with the Council if you could pry Jasmine Transmorguire free like you have planned. It isn’t worth dying to do though. Very few things are.”

  Eve could see that one. It was brilliantly clear to her, actually. She shouldn’t be involved at all, given the normal course of things. She was though, since she was an idiot. That’s why she was babysitting Ginger wasn’t it? Because she’d stepped in when it wasn’t any of her business.

  Still, the girl, zombie at the moment or not, was doing it. It was daylight, if very early still, and here she was, cleaning the same table for ten minutes. It was funny, but it didn’t matter if she was with it or not, as long as she kept moving all day. The rest would come.

  “I hear that. I’ll be as careful as I can. For now, what am I supposed to be doing? I mean, my actual job? Working here on nights?” She could do it, but there was a firm head shake.

  “Not most of the time. David will do all the night shifts, until you have him trained for days, too. Barb is going to split her time, getting mornings off, and working the afternoon portion here, as well as shifts at the clubs. She’ll need to get up to speed on managing the various properties around the state, for the Council. It isn’t that hard. You… Would you look into what happened to Brian, from the club? He was beaten to death, several months ago. We were told that it was a car accident at first, but then the story changed and his body vanished. I haven’t been able to find anything, and it might be that you won’t either, but we should at least try. He was one of our people.”

  Eve could see that. She wasn’t Nancy Drew though, much less Veronica Mars. What the heck was she supposed to do that Edom hadn’t already tried?

  That would take some thinking, but it was also kind of clear that she was being given a make-work project. Edom wanted her to feel like she was contributing, but was holding her back from the real work, or at least too much of it. That was so the others could do their jobs and be in charge, of course, like they were supposed to be. She wa
s younger than the rest of them, which, when she thought about it, had to piss them all off. Barb had told her that much, hadn’t she? Even Ginger was higher up on the pecking order than she was, and here she was, acting like she was the one in charge of everyone’s lives.

  What a bitch.

  She nodded.

  “Sure, I’ll see what I can find with that, and you know, keep the floors clean? Ginger can stay with me for a bit? Since she’s going to be up for a while?”

  That got Edom to seem happy enough, and he went back to his office, while she worked and kept talking to the other girl. David and Nikki both came in, the woman seeming far more chipper than the man was, but both of them were alive and lively enough.

  “Hey, David, can you handle the front here, while the rest of us take a jog around the place?” It was something to do, and seemed to help a lot more than just standing did, which might be a good thing for poor Ginger the newb.

  They alternated then, with the younger Vampire doing all the runs, along with Eve, trading in David and Nikki in an alternating pattern. The girl Vampire sobbed as they moved, and got stared at, since they weren’t going nearly fast enough to keep people from seeing them, but Eve was without mercy, and kept her going through the horrid pain.

  “Don’t give up. Never. Let all your air out and run, now.” That stopped the sound portion of the crying, and unlike Nikki, she didn’t whine about it hurting, even though it did. On the good side, even though the sun was up, Ginger started to rally at about five. By six she was back to normal even.

  Eve hugged her, picking the girl up off the floor and spinning her around once.

  “You did it! That’s awesome. Now, we need to go over the store here once, and then… Get an address, I guess? We have a mystery to solve.”

  It sounded a lot more exciting than the reality of it was.

  Brian, the old bouncer at the club, who’d been beaten to death it seemed, didn’t have an address on record with them. No listing in the phone book either. It didn’t take long to realize that, even though she’d met him, the man had never actually existed. For a second she found herself hoping he was actually a government spy, but standing in the back of the Vampire embassy, as David worked the front section, that didn’t seem too likely. Not even if the CIA had been spying on the undead.