Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) Page 11

  “Well, sidekick girl, do you have any ideas? I’m tapped. It’s pretty clear that Brian wasn’t himself, the whole time. Even his last name, Smith… How phony does that sound?”

  Ginger stared at her, hard, for a bit. No hint of red came to her eyes though, so it was probably fake, Eve decided. Still she waited, to see what the girl was going to say.

  “I’m the sidekick? I don’t think so. I’ve been a Vampire like, five times longer than you have. I did the math on it earlier. That means I’m the boss. Doesn’t it?” She seemed uncertain suddenly, but Eve just looked at her and then made a considering face.

  “Well, if you can come up with a plan, and control yourself at the same time, then… Yes? If you can’t then no, but why not? That is the traditional way of doing things. What do you suggest then? Boss.” She didn’t smile, or seem playful about it, which got the other girl to grin. Just a bit.

  “About time I get a minion. Unfortunately, I picked the bossy one. Slim pickings, so what could I do? There’s only one person around that I outrank.” She put her hands out, and looked pretty cute about it. Then winced, waiting for the backhand that didn’t come.

  “Too true. Well, I need to go and find out which Greater Demon was faking being Brian at the club…” She stopped, and then looked at the front of the shop, her mind going to the place across the way. Where Fram had been hiding the whole time, practically, right under her nose. Putting himself in place, at her orders, on the second or third day that she was a Vampire.

  Using Maggie, his slave, to do it.

  That didn’t mean he was Brian though, did it? The very idea that the guy hadn’t been a regular person was hard to buy. He was just so good at it.

  It fit though. Not that Brian had been a demon, but that no one had seen him hurt. They’d gotten calls, first saying a car accident had happened, from the hospital, then later from the police, claiming that he’d been beaten to death.

  Without waiting Eve settled behind Lenore’s old desk, and used the phone, to call Althea Sims. The Police Chief. She didn’t even think about it, looking up her home number, since the woman didn’t have to sleep, and it wasn’t that late yet, but she also didn’t have to work twenty-four hours a day either.

  Suddenly that sounded like kind of a sweet gig.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Althea? This is Eve Benson.”

  There was a dead silence for a long time, stretching out almost to the point where Eve was about to ask if she was still there. The woman sounded fierce, but like she was hiding fear.

  “The Bey’s protégée? May I ask why you’re calling? Is there a problem?”

  Next to her, listening closely, Ginger looked freaked suddenly. It was the protégée thing, but she hadn’t responded like that with Bey in the room with her…

  Because, Lenore had been right there, to protect her? Then it might have been the crack she’d made about picking the bossy one to be her minion. Some Vampires might have had an issue with that kind of thing.

  Winking at the other girl, she cleared her throat a little.

  “Nothing like that, just your buddy, Eve. I was wondering, there was a death reported to us, a few months ago. Brian Smith. He was a bouncer at the Terran 2 LA? I’m supposed to look into it, but I hit a wall. It’s like he never existed. I was wondering if you could check your files? The police ones, I mean, not personal ones, unless you have that kind of thing? Any help would be great, because otherwise I’m kind of stuck.”

  “One of my people called you about it?”

  “I think they spoke to Edom, but yeah.”

  They had to exchange more information, but the woman assured her that she’d get back to her with that information, just as soon as possible.

  “I can send that by in the morning? I’d rather not come in, personally, if that’s all the same. I understand you might have some hard feelings toward my maker, and given my position here, I can’t afford to die right now.” There was a lot of tension in the words, as if she was really afraid that she’d be targeted for retaliation. By Eve.

  Like she wasn’t the sweetest fucking Vampire ever? It pissed her off, but she grinned, and let her heart settle a bit, the rage dying a little with a bit of focus.

  “That works. I’m not holding too big of a grudge. Not the kind where I’d go after innocent law enforcement over it, anyway. That would be great though, thanks.”

  There was a doubting tone, and a grunt, then the phone went dead.

  Ginger actually took a step back.

  “I didn’t know that. You’re The Bey’s second? What are you?”

  “I’m your best friend, didn’t you notice how I had your back all day? Now, I think that’s about what we can do for now, and we’re supposed to leave David alone, and not do all his work for him, so, what do you think we should do?” She was the one that wanted to be the boss, after all.

  “Um, we could, um, have something to eat? I normally have something about now. Only once a day though. I used to need more, but Lenore put me on a diet.”

  Eve nodded, “Because she’s smart. Vampires don’t really need to drink blood every day, it just feels like it. I only need to eat every week or so. Even then it’s just to give the links a rest. Why don’t we skip out today, and have something in a few? The hunger won’t get any worse, not having anything, I promise.”

  “Oh… That sounds like something I don’t want to do. That’s kind of the thing here though, isn’t it? I have to be your slave, or else everyone will leave me again.”

  “Slave? Why say that? You’re in charge, like you just pointed out. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be a wimp, that’s all. If you want to get some animal blood, we can do that. I have my card with me.” She waited, and felt a sense of reward when the light haired vampire glared at her.

  “Thanks. If I do then I’m a failing, but it’s all my choice, is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yep. Good catch there. Great actually. Learning through shame. I’m thinking of writing a book on the topic. We could try running, if you want? Back to Ed’s? I don’t know what he has planned for the night, but he tends to keep the orgies to a minimum, so it shouldn’t be too big of a problem. I live there. He never said I couldn’t have people over.” It had never come up, to be truthful. That probably showed how horribly boring she’d gotten, since she’d stopped having sex all the time.

  “I guess. Does he have cable? Lenore let us get that, a few years ago. I have some shows that I DVR.”

  “Um, no. That’s kind of shocking, to hear about Lenore. I bet it was Zack’s idea.”

  “Oh. Still, it will take hours to get there, unless you have a car?’

  “Edom is using mine. He needs to get a new one soon. Still, we can get there in a few minutes, even if you’re painfully slow. You’re a day walking hard ass now, Ginger. You can use your super speed now. It will hurt, but no worse than jogging in daylight, under the full sun. Come on, it will be fun. Or, what’s the opposite of fun? That, but it will be good practice. Try to walk, and do what I do.”

  It didn’t go well, and really did take about half an hour to get there. Mainly because Ginger kept stopping, trying to catch her breath. Eve just stood there, not doing anything at all, waiting for her to realize that she didn’t need to do that anymore. It took a few tries, but the last five miles were done in one trip, the girl screaming on the doorstep.

  At least she looked mortified over it. Eve didn’t even have to wait before speaking, since it hadn’t been a hard trip at all.

  “Well… That wasn’t even close to what you can really do. Here, let’s get a shower, and then we’ll head back. When we do it right the whole trip should take about five minutes.” Even for the Vampire next to her. It would take a while for her to realize that though.

  When she grabbed her clothes, Ginger came with her, which was a bit strange. Then, without asking if it was all right, she climbed under the warm stream of water that Eve had going. She just stood there though, with the mottle
d glass door open. Waiting for Eve to join her. It was weird, since there was no way that the other girl was going to get any more turned on by it than she was, but she did it. Then tried not to jump as Ginger started to soap her back for her.

  “I’ve never… Done anything with a girl before.” The words were tentative, almost frightened, but the cool hands were ranging all over her back. It felt nice enough, but again, held the sex appeal of washing dishes for her.

  “I have. Not a lot, but I wasn’t suggesting anything, when I said we should take a shower. I meant I should, and figured I’d be alone. Not that it’s a big deal, but I wasn’t thinking…”

  The girl nodded, her hair getting even wetter as she stood there, blocking most of the falling water. Taking the good spot. The scamp.

  “I know, but, I’m in charge, and you have to do what I say. Unless, you know, I’m told I can’t by someone over me. No one said that, so… Um, you should go down on me. Eh… Now?” She was trying to act in charge, and it was pretty cute, really. Eve thought about it for a bit, then washed the other girl, from head to toe, and did the same to herself, before getting on her knees. Her senses were way too keen to bother trying this, if the other Vampire wasn’t going to be morning fresh.

  She was kept there, working for a while, until Ginger wanted to try it on her, experimenting. It felt interesting, but the thrill that would have made it worthwhile for her just didn’t come. It was contact, but not pleasure inducing.

  Over the course of an hour, the other girl inserted fingers into each of her holes, and asked for Eve to do the same, to do things with her tongue, and then she did them back. It was about curiosity though, and she went along with it. They had the time, so why not? Halfway through, Eve started suggesting things though.

  “Moan a little. Make sure you keep breathing, and a few of the inhalations should be sharp. Like this.” She mimicked what she meant, which would be good enough for low rent porn, and fool about ninety percent of guys. Women would be harder that way, since they both needed to control their faces better for that to work. It ended up being a lesson in faking orgasms and sex noises, while breathing and blinking correctly.

  Then they got dressed, and ran back to the mall. Slowly again. They did the same trip several times after that, pushing harder on each one, however, until it only took about ten minutes. The other girl just couldn’t get herself to take more pain than that yet.

  When they got back to the mall, at about six-thirty in the morning, the sun starting to poke over the edge of the world, feeling like cigarette on her face, Ginger looked scared.

  “Um… Don’t tell anyone. About what I made you do? I’ll be beaten for it. I shouldn’t have, but everyone else has had power over me, for so long, I wanted to try, and…” She seemed to feel miserable about it, but Eve shook her head.

  “Nope. We don’t hide shit. Powerful people don’t have to, not really. Besides, you did it right, and didn’t force me, so no one will care. Go in and own it. You wanted to try it, and so we did. I didn’t put you through the wall, you noticed that, right? We’re both single and old enough, and you didn’t bite me, so, I think we don’t have anything to worry about.” She walked in then, smiling, since there were at least ten people in the place that would have heard her.

  “But… Lenore never let David do anything with me. We had to hide it.”

  “Did you? If you’d asked her, she wouldn’t have stopped you, I bet. She just didn’t want Dave to give you a bunch of bad habits, most likely.” It might have been something else though. It was a thing that she’d noticed. Ginger really seemed to like David a lot.

  Too much for just some guy that had kind of abused her sexually for a few years, and been a bit distant otherwise.

  Squinting, she tried to look at the energy links, to see if there was one from David to the other girl, but if that was a thing, she couldn’t tell. If the local Proctor had found her, that meant that the girl had to be from the area. There were only about seventy or so Vampires in southern Washington, and a lot fewer that were of the Bey line.

  True, Bey had been through over the years, but he would have kept the girl with him, and done his duty to her properly, no matter how hard it was. Edom was in the same boat. If he’d turned the girl, well, it wouldn’t have been done by accident, or in a panic, but he would have kept her, even if it meant leaving his entire world behind to do it.

  Lenore, Nikki, Bey, Edom, Barb, and now her. It could be Barbara, but she would have stood up too, most likely. It explained why Lenore had taken the girl though, didn’t it? It pretty much had to be one of her own children that had done it. Edom only had her, so if it wasn’t him…

  On the good side, it meant that Lenore thought highly enough of her sister to simply accept that she wouldn’t have dumped her own problem on her like that, didn’t it?

  So, really, Ginger had to be David’s. Barb would have tried to be there for the girl, far more obviously, if it had been her.

  Part of her wanted to think of David sticking his dick inside the girl he made a Vampire as sick, but that wasn’t the way it worked. That Edom hadn’t done that with her really had to do with the fact that neither of them really wanted to, she was willing to bet. With Dave, it might be that he’d been using it as a way to draw closer to the girl that he’d turned, and then realized he couldn’t take care of, being a fuck up himself.

  Not that he really was, he was just young.

  Not that brilliant either, though not an idiot.

  Still, it was daylight, and today the dark haired Vampire behind the counter seemed very nearly fine, so she waved to Ginger.

  “Go running? None of that slow stuff anymore, and no stopping. Come back at about one. Then Nikki will spell one of you. Whoever is less of a little girl about it.” She smiled, and stared at David, as if saying it would be the other one. It was meant to be funny, and he did manage a grin, though his voice was a bit rough.

  “You think I’m a woman?”

  “Nope. I think that you’re all man, baby. A slow, kind of lazy, man. So run, and I’ll do the things here with Nikki. Who should be in soon.” She’d better, since Edom was supposed to be working in the back, not making frosty treats. He could, in a pinch, and would do it well, having had the job for a long time, but he shouldn’t have to.

  Oddly enough, when he came in, he wasn’t alone. Lenore was with him, and had paperwork for Eve to arrange.

  “For that house? You’ll need to go to the bank, when it opens to start the process and get the wire transfer information for the holding company. I spoke to a rather interesting woman on the phone, Sheila? She seems rather… Convinced that Vampires are the new evil in the world.” There was a sour look on her face, which oddly made Eve feel better about the whole thing. “Was sure to remind her that we’ve been around for quite a long time. It didn’t seem to make her feel any better.

  “I noticed that, when we met the other day. Still, what can we do about it, except for letting her know that it isn’t true, and go on with our lives?”

  “Cheat her out of most of her commission?”

  That sounded good to her, and wasn’t too hard to manage, for someone like Lenore. She’d actually done that before. They could start by hiring their own agent in the area, who would get half of the percentage after they said the word. It was one of the things that being old had taught her, over the years.

  That, and how to stay on topic. Luckily she was working on the project with her, or Eve would have forgotten, even as Cormack geared up to move to Iowa. Leaving him hanging on the other end, not only without a place to stay, which they still needed to arrange for him, as a temporary measure, but also with no house for several extra weeks or months.

  First though, the offer would have to be accepted. That could be sped up, since she was doing it in cash up front, and paying the asking price for it. Hearing that made Lenore wince, since it was, she assured her, too high.

  Eve understood the idea, but shrugged.

  “Also a gi
ft. I don’t have a lot of wiggle room, if it gets turned down. It might anyway, if the bigoted anti-Vampire real estate agent has her way. Giving the seller what she wants might get around that though.”

  “I know. It just hurts my heart, seeing you pay the full price like that. Well, we can go to the bank, you do use a local one, don’t you?”

  She did. In fact, it was the one on the edge of the mall parking lot, so Lenore offered to go with her.

  “Not that you need to have your hand held, but I’m actually at loose ends, myself. Edom is more than a match for the job here, and Vaughn won’t be leaving his spot for another few weeks. It’s strange. I haven’t had time to myself like this for… I’d say years, but the truth is closer to the better part of a century, really. Oh, a few days, here and there, but nearly a month? I wonder if my sanity will hold?”

  Eve didn’t know the answer, but knew enough not to nod her head.

  “Well, as soon as they open, let’s go and see about getting it all done?”

  That seemed to be a good enough answer, thankfully.

  Chapter eight

  It turned out that setting up a wire transfer wasn’t all that simple. It wasn’t hard to do the actual thing, but what Eve needed to get first, was just proof that she had the money in the bank. The teller, a very sweet, slightly older, woman whose name plate said she was Gloria, gasped softly when she pulled up the information, printed out a receipt, and passed it over the counter to her.

  At first Eve was afraid that the amount of cash was too low or something, but there was no way the teller would have known that. It wasn’t that though. It was just that she had five million and change in her checking account. Glancing at it, Lenore rolled her eyes.

  “You should at least get a savings account, and put most of it in there. Otherwise a crafty person might take it all, and then you’d be stuck with nothing.”