Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) Read online

  “She was here. I think she’s left. Could… You hold? I’ll try to get the Representative. I can’t promise anything. He’s… The Bey is here.”

  “Oh? Good. Tell him I said hi? Bey is my buddy.”

  She was on camera, so smiled, knowing that a lot of people might see it, eventually. Lenore came out and spoke to the woman in the background, distracting the camera crew.

  It was, again, the fault of Jonas. The snitch. Eve caught enough of the conversation going on to get that part of things.

  The phone picked up, almost thirty seconds later.

  “Hello? I’m a bit busy at the moment, if this can wait?” It was a very stressed out sounding Richard Swerlin, and it was pretty clear that Jonas hadn’t actually told him that she was on the line. Otherwise he wouldn’t have answered at all, most likely. She was just some regular Vampire girl, after all. He didn’t even know that she was hot, and if he did, it might not make a big difference to him.

  He had like four wives after all, and probably no sex drive, however that one worked out. Unless he did have a sex drive? If so, that was a cool special power, but not that useful in a fight, most likely. She didn’t know that for certain, so asked, which got the man to go silent for a second.

  “Sorry, I do… Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, because I’m planning to come and kick your ass, and if that’s your special ability, then I need to know that. This is Eve Benson? The animal blood Vampire?”

  There was movement on the other side and a pleasant inhalation. Bey.

  “Miss Benson! Excellent. I was considering the end of Mr. Swerlin here, but if you have plans for him? I’m sure I could hold my hand for a brief time while the rest of my fellows decide what to do with him.”

  She smiled, as Lenore looked over at her.

  “Sounds good. For now though, I wanted to make sure that Rich knew to tell everyone about how religious we all are? I’m having people look into this for other reasons. There’s a news crew here, talking to Lenore, so I can’t say too much, but we probably shouldn’t kill him yet. Anyway, Rich, what the fuck? Not a lot of warning here. Why did you do this?”

  There was a slow intake of air, and slower words.

  “Well, I simply thought it was time for us to enter the larger world. Your new product was part of that decision. Vampires are part of the world, and we deserve to be heard from, don’t you think? On top of that, some of our kind act like they’re not beholden to the laws of the land we all live in. Yes, we have the Council, but how many people, our kind, would actually stand to punishment for their wrongdoing, if it were a civil matter?”

  She didn’t know, probably not a lot.

  “I guess what I want to know is; did you plan this out on your own, or did someone else make you do it? Would you know the difference if that happened?”

  Bey spoke then, his voice a bit tight.

  “Miss Thompson says that she does think someone might have tampered with him. It was also his own plan. I think we can see that there is more than one thing needed to be addressed here.”

  She nodded, knowing that no one would get that except Lenore.

  “Got it. Okay, well, get on the line and tell everyone about how religious and God fearing most of us are? I’ll try to get with Marissa, since we need to be able to show that we can feed all our people without being a danger to people’s livestock or pets. I really wish we had a few more years to get ready for this.”

  Bey made a soft sound in the back of his throat, which was probably him stifling a chuckle at her. She got that one. After all, here she was sixteen full days into being undead and already acting like she was the queen bee of the whole blood sucking hive. It was funny, and hopefully cute, to the right people. Otherwise she was just going to seem like the yappy puppy. The one that would hump your pant leg if you looked away too long.

  He spoke though, his voice calm.

  “Very well. If we need to chastise Mr. Swerlin officially, shall I send for you? It was, clearly, a failure on his part not to bring you in, since you two are in business together, if loosely. It seems that he has failed many of us here. I’ll pass the word to the others on the Council about that, in case they need your aid?”

  She didn’t get what he meant, but she was in on the idea of applying a spanking to a certain politician.

  “I’m in, if you want me to be. Again, push the religious angle, and how we’re a lot like everyone else. This is going to ruin Christmas for a lot of people this year. Thanksgiving, too.” She was planning to have a big dinner there at the mall with the other people orphaned by their jobs for the day. Now… Well, she’d probably have to sit in the shop, with the door closed, ready to shoot people trying to burn it down. What great fun.

  Luckily, Swerlin spoke then, his voice professional sounding.

  “Good. You see about the increase in low cost food stuffs and I’ll remember to push the religious and family values portion of things. Nice to know that you’re in this with us, Miss Benson.”

  Then he hung up, before she could work up to having Bey kill him for her. That he might have actually done it, got her to smile. He did like her, and they really were friendly enough. He was sweet, after all. When he wasn’t executing people wholesale.

  Lenore was the one that had to handle the rest of the news people that came, including the live coverage later in the day. Eve had to sneak out, and do the map run she had planned, but that didn’t happen until hours later, when Linda brought the thing back. That got her served with the bill for the counter, though it was only an estimate.

  “If you can find someone to do the work cheaper, with good quality, we can do that too. I just got three estimates, and this is the lowest.”

  “Yes.” She did not seem happy to be handed the piece of paper, but she took it, and gave the other one over. There were people watching, so they did it carefully, and in the back room. “Is there any news?”

  Eve had a lot, actually, which got the lady in front of her to go wide eyed.

  “The Bey is holding Richard Swerlin… for you?”

  Eve winked, “well, you know, if the Council wants anything done. I don’t know how real that is, but it’s a good sign that they’re listening to us and trying to get things done. I kind of expected a lot of things to be done behind closed doors, you know?”

  There was a nod, and the woman waved a bit.

  “Same time tomorrow?”

  “Should be. Unless things change. If so, I’ll call first. Otherwise showing up for the map is good. We may be adding things. I don’t know. We might even just get to drop it in a day or two, if nothing happens.” As the day turned to night she kind of expected there to be more problems, rather than less, but she wasn’t certain that most Vamps would have any problems at all, since they were hidden and Jonas had nicely pointed a big finger right at them.

  That meant they were going to need a lot more blood, didn’t it? Everyone that had been trying to make do on the local fauna, and other people’s pets were going to need something different suddenly. It was actually great for business, unless people just ran away from their lives trying to get away from the news.

  Eve watched Linda leave, which was done at Human speeds, and avoiding the camera as carefully as possible without actually pulling a mask into place first. They were set up at the front, outside of the shop itself, so that they could use the sign as a backdrop.

  Eve cleaned, since that’s what they did in their down time. That, and answer the phone.

  No one called, so that distraction wasn’t available. Eve took the time to start a new yogurt culture. No one noticed, or cared at least, if they did. Nothing happened, until noon, when a rather grumpy looking Edom came in. The cameras were gone, thankfully, so it was just the pain of being awake that did it. He was more or less used to it though, so he’d probably make it all right.

  Lenore smiled at him as he walked in, which got her glared at.

  “Why are you so happy? This is the worst time of day.”
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br />   There was a winsome smile, which Eve copied, getting her glared at too.

  The boss explained though, and did a good job of it.

  “I’m faking it, of course. I always do, at this hour.”

  Eve nodded, but didn’t add that she was doing the same thing. Ed knew that already. She could tell, because his body language shifted and he did the same, his teeth practically glowing in his dark face. It made them all look unreasonably happy. Cheery and like they were ready for anything.

  They weren’t of course. Well, there was a bit that they were. For instance, people in the mall avoided them like they were plague carriers for a bit. They didn’t even look in as they walked by. Not even Zack came down, and Lenore was his girlfriend. Of course there was the fact that most of them didn’t come to the shop most of the time, but some of them would be hiding, she didn’t doubt.

  The Shifters could pass, but the Trollienkeine were essentially bigfoot. If they were looked at too closely, people might make a connection there. It wouldn’t be too hard if you were already looking for things like that.

  The real trouble though started at dusk though. The first group set up in the mall itself, since it was cold outside, and started walking up and down the way, holding signs and chanting.

  “Out with the devil.” The signs the fifteen or so people were far more helpful, letting everyone know that God, personally, disliked people with fangs, and wanted them all to burn in hell for all eternity. Because, Eve knew, that was a thing that had ever come up in whatever religion these people had going on? Most of them probably still didn’t think that Vampires were real, so it was just an excuse to get some exercise. It was good to know, of course, since Eve would have never known where to go otherwise.

  The fiery pit was apparently the right destination for people like her.

  She grinned, and tried not to take their stupidity personally. Not even the silly pictures on the signs that were supposed to be fangs. That was all she was after all, right? A nice set of nice chompers? They could have at least bothered to draw a set of tits under half the pics, couldn’t they? So much for equality.

  It got a strange response from the others at the mall, since several of them worked their way down toward the Vampire and Mage end of the mall. None of them were armed, openly, but they all walked in a group, with Calley Hale, the Bat shifter, and her assorted peeps in the lead. They were, as Eve knew, pretty Human looking as far as the people there went. It might just throw the protestors off.

  For a moment she was hoping that they’d all come out to the public, and start changing in the center of the mall, but instead they rather boringly just all walked in, and started ordering things. They paid too, showing their support, but she rang them all up with mall employee discounts. That was all they did, but the numbers had suddenly changed, so instead of fifteen people kind of intimidating three, there were suddenly twelve fit and large people inside, looking out at fifteen or so lumpy mouth breathers. If it came down to a fight, it was kind of clear to everyone who was going to win. Not that it shouldn’t have been in the first place.

  The second thing happened not too long after that. It presented itself first with a teen girl, who wasn’t all that cute, but did have a nice, gothy look to her. Black make-up and heavy mascara. When she got to the counter her eyes went very wide, and she looked over at Edom like he was made of something good to eat. He was, but the girl might have been sixteen, Eve thought. That was legal, but not inside what Ed would have normally been willing to date.

  The girl spoke to her though.

  “Is this really where the Vampires are?”

  Eve sighed, then nodded.

  “Yep. This is the place. How can we help you today?”

  There was a happy sound, but a slightly scared look on her youthful face.

  “Can I be a Vampire too? I mean, is there like, an application form?”

  Eve shook her head, but forced a happy expression. The kid was just curious, which was a good thing, in life, over all. A thing to be nurtured. Even if it was going to be a huge pain in the ass at the moment.

  “It doesn’t really work that way. I…”

  She stopped, because there was a crowd at the door. Most of them were young, and all of them were Human. They smelled lovely, but she had to shake her head.

  Waving to them, she closed her eyes.

  “Did you all come to try and become Vampires?” Not all of them said yes, thankfully, but better than half did. She looked over at Edom, who sighed.

  “We need to tell them something. Do you want to go, or should I?”

  “Me, I guess, but… Back me up? They look like they might be edgy and ready to fight.”

  They didn’t, but you never really knew.

  Chapter four

  The crowd was not happy with her statement, which informed them that, in order to get in as a Vampire, they’d need to complete a battery of tests, undergo extensive training that was harder than any Navy SEAL or Green Beret had to put up with and pass psychological tests. That was to show they were well balanced in mind, as well as body.

  In short, she lied her ass off, trying to drive them all away.

  “Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you have to be a superman to start with, but there are so many people applying suddenly that it would be stupid of us to accept anyone that wasn’t really serious about it. We need people that are willing to help other people, too, so if you want to fast track on this, come in over the next few days, and we’ll find someplace for you to volunteer in the community. Not the Vampire one, your own. If you aren’t willing to help out regular people now, then you can’t handle helping them when you’re constantly angry and hungry all the time.” Then she covered that part, not holding back at all about what it was like.

  Edom smiled the whole time, and then described the pain that the sun was causing him at the moment. Earlier in the day, at least. Eve was feeling good now, since night had fallen. It was like a soft cloth being rubbed over her whole body compared to high noon.

  “So, if you can handle being tortured every day, and working all night, we’re interested in talking to you. Come back later though, since we need to get things freed up here for the Vampires that are going to be coming in. No one was really ready for Richard Swerlin to tell all of you about us so firmly, and with that much proof. Honestly, you shouldn’t be able to even hold the idea of us being real in your minds, but it looks like this time it’s sticking with a lot of you. So… See you in a few days? I can’t recommend hanging around right now to watch things either. Some of us will be on edge, so…” He was at a loss for words, but Eve had this one. She was used to working with the public after all.

  “So, take a hint? One of the things we’ll be looking for are people that can get along and who will follow even the directions they don’t understand. If you can’t do that now, you won’t be a good time investment as a Vamp.” Then she looked at them silently, until most of them started to go away. The ones that stayed, well, they were the ones that had come to gawk, weren’t they? That, and try to kill themselves a Vampire.

  True that was only the one man, who very slowly and obviously pulled a small firearm out, and aimed it at Edom, who stepped out of the way smoothly. That meant the bullets were aimed at an older woman who’d been looking into the shop window, and been behind him. Eve moved fast, getting her body in the way just in time to get hit three times. It rocked her back, and hurt, but there was that nice detachment sense of things that made it just annoying to her, not so distracting she couldn’t function.

  She started toward the foolish chubby man, and calmed herself as she did it, so that he wouldn’t simply die there, in that very moment. Carefully she wrapped her right palm over the black gun, which really wasn’t a big thing, and managed to tuck her hand under the hammer as it started to trigger again. Fall? Whichever. It stopped it from firing and gave her a few seconds to use her other hand to take the man’s finger out of the trigger housing, so that she didn’
t just rip it off.

  That could happen during disarms like the one she was using, twisting the weapon toward him fast, so he couldn’t aim properly. Even people with regular strength could cause the gun to go off and cut a finger off doing it.

  Once she had the thing it was tempting to follow up by crushing his skull with the back of it, since she was more than a little pissed, having been shot like that. It seemed fair, to her at any rate. Instead she forced her fangs back, and took a breath, which hurt. She was healing from the damage, and the bullets would kick out as she did, she thought, but there was still damage, and Eve knew it would take a bit for her to heal from it. Not like losing a limb or something, but enough to waste her time and worse, ruin her clothing.

  “What the hell? That wasn’t very nice.” There was screaming, and half the people had run away, even as a bunch of others moved toward them. One of the protestors came too, pulling a large silver handgun from a holster in the back of his pants. He was older, and seemed to be angry, but he didn’t aim at her, Eve noticed. No, he pointed the weapon at Ed, until the woman that had nearly been killed by mistake pointed at the gunman.

  “He tried to kill me! That girl jumped in the way, we need an ambulance!” That the lady was worried about her was nice, but Eve waved it away, readying a lie about it only being a flesh wound, or not her blood, when she remembered that everyone there knew what she was.

  “I’m fine. I’ll heal in a few minutes. We probably need to get with the police however. I mean, going around shooting people? That’s kind of a shitty thing to do, isn’t it? I’m very disappointed in you, sir.” She glared at him and then shook her head. “I mean, going off half cocked like that? You didn’t even take time to research us first. Plus, you also tried to shoot the black man first? That’s sort of racist isn’t it?” She looked over at the gun toting protestor, and raised an eyebrow.

  He didn’t get that she meant him too at all, because if he did, if the man had that kind of introspection and self-awareness, then he most likely wouldn’t have been there in the first place.