Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) (28 page)

She
sold blood. That was all. Mainly her animal blood, too, which had cute little
labels on the bottles now, almost like it was a fine wine, rather than cow
plasma. Vampires came in, but not all
that
many, to be honest. Twenty
maybe, from eight at night until four in the morning. Then it dropped off hard,
and Cormack started to act a bit sleepy again.

That
set up another round of babysitting, going the other way, but it was a good
enough thing to do.

The
biggest surprise that she got however, was that
Barb
came in too. She
seemed really exhausted, and about to fall down, but she was there at seven,
with Lenore.

Growling,
at
Eve
, for some reason.

“I
hate you, and wish you were never born!” Her eyes were red, but Eve didn’t feel
all that threatened. The woman was just too sleepy seeming.

“Yeah,
I get that. Got orders to stay up all day?”

“
Yes
.”
It was said with an honest to goodness pout, which probably meant that the dark
haired and slightly long faced woman was doing better than she seemed
outwardly. It took skill to pull that kind of thing off.

Eve
knew that she needed to practice that kind of face herself. It could come up,
right? Eventually she’d want a diamond ring from some guy she was dating, and
it just wasn’t in her to use withholding sex to get things from people.

The
boss was there to work though, and so, it seemed was Eve. She was on
wakefulness duty, which meant trying to keep the others up and moving all day
long. It wasn’t that hard really, though Barb did tend to try and snap at her a
lot.

Fram
came over at about noon, and waved at her, staring at Barb and Cormack, then
nodding.

“Oooh!
I
get it, this way you can all hold secret daytime orgies.
Hot
.
I’m invited, right?” He still looked like a slightly reformed chubby gamer, and
that, it turned out, was his actual point in visiting. It wasn’t
really
just to make fun of them. “Anyway, Maggie called earlier and wanted to know if
you’d be willing to make the next game? We’re kind of putting it all on the
table and telling everyone about… Well, everything they can handle. A bit more
than that really, but if any set of Humans can hack knowing about everything,
it will be the group. Total geeks, which means smart,
and
able to
understand a bit more than normal. It will be fun. Specifically, I think she
wants
you
to cater it.” There was a playful double handed pointing at
her, his face a lot more charming than it had ever been as plain old Marcus.
The others seemed not to get that though, seeing what they expected to.

Eve
shrugged.

“Are
you paying for it?”

That
got a snort. It wasn’t really derisive though, more like a slightly pleased
thing.

“Fuck
that. I just sent three million to your account. Significantly more than thirty
thousand, I think you’ll notice? Remember,
unlimited
blowjobs for the
rest of my life… Either of you want the same deal? Just, you know, make sure
you hold the teeth back? I’ll go to five mil each, if you do anal too.”

Eve
held out her hand, and narrowed her eyes at him, but spoke to the others.

“If
you pull that kind of thing on Zack’s territory, without his permission, it
could be… Annoying. I’m a bit surprised there wasn’t a problem already that way,
what with the Warren thing. Do you
have
permission?” She didn’t tell the
others that this was Fram, like she’d promised, but if he was going to threaten
to hurt her friends by making a deal with them, turning them into slaves…

The
Greater Demon shrugged.

“Turn
of phrase, only. I’m
not
The Mistress of Souls, to grab people up with
the merest hint of a thought like that. Though, of course, you’re correct.” He
shrugged then getting baffled looks from the others, then surprised her a bit,
just laying the whole thing out. “Eve here caught on to me, yesterday. I’m the
Greater Demon Fram. The Bold. I know, my legend proceeds me, and you all
tremble at my might, yadda-yadda. We bet that she couldn’t guess who I was. She
got it in
one
try, which I blame on The Technician. If she would have
hidden who she was well enough, then Eve would have never met The Mistress of
Souls, and I probably wouldn’t have ended up… Well, not my most shining moment.
Anyway, are you coming, and can I put you down for bringing the eats? If not I
need to find someone else to do it, or actually get a cute little apron of my
own to wear. Something in red and white checks would look good.” He wiped his
hands down his front as if to illustrate what he meant. It was kind of a
ridiculous idea, though as far as she knew Fram was probably as good a cook and
baker as there was. Greater Demons all ate far too much not to know how to do
that sort of thing.

Eve
had to think, and then find out what day of the week it was. The meetings were
always on Wednesday, but she was just lost, as far as time went. Honestly, it
was time to get a calendar. She had three days to get things ready, if she were
doing it. It would be a bit hard, if she was keeping the two Vampires with her moving
until they were good on their own, all day long, but after a bit, she nodded.

“I’ll
get with Mags on it. Hey, can we use your truck again for that?”

“Sure.
As long as you kick in for gas.”

That
got her to roll her eyes. The guy was rich, and as even a half assed Greater
Demon, he probably had the net worth of a small, or possible not that tiny,
country.

“Fine,
I’ll give you ten bucks for it. That means you have to help set up too, though.
Loading and unloading.”

“All
right. Well, let me know what I need to do for that. Right now I have to get
back and hide who I am from Lisa. She’s
not
wild about Greater Demons
for some weird reason. Plus there’s that little thing with the other Mages that
she might be upset about. We really need to get on a good propaganda agenda
soon. That thing The Cleric set up
really
hurt the image.” Then, without
explaining that part of things, or that he meant Christianity, he turned and
left, almost running back to his own store, since, as she could hear, the phone
was ringing.

As
the others cleaned and Lenore used the phone in the office for real, and
important, business, Eve dialed Maggie Sims cell from memory, using the counter
phone. There was a new granite top that was smooth and a bit darker than the
old one. Replaced while strange men masturbated over her face, no doubt.

When
the thing picked up, on the second ring, Eve smiled. It showed in the voice, or
so she’d heard.

“Hi!
Eve Benson here. Marcus asked me to cater the game next week? Or, to be more
exact, said that you asked him to ask me?”

There
was a long sigh, but the voice sounded incredibly warm.

“That’s…
Kind of true. I actually asked
him
to see about refreshments. Still, it
can’t hurt to pull out the stops on this. The Council decided that we’re going
to use Vancouver as our test zone, since Bey has been working from there so
much lately. That way we can fight sensibly if it comes to it. Just make the
right people vanish and all that, rather than making a mess. I’ll be in town
for it, being that
someone
put me in as one of the Council mouth pieces
for North America. The plan is to have all the Vampires that were attending the
games come out all at once, to show that we’re all wonderful, good, and
delightfully wholesome. There
will
be cameras, so keep that in mind?
We’ll want things to look nice enough, and put on a bit of a show.”

Eve
had just assumed that everyone there would have already found out everything.
Ben knew, and it wasn’t a secret anymore. Wasn’t it kind of his job to explain
it all to everyone?

Honestly,
it never really had been all that hidden. It was just that the Humans kept
forgetting about things that were too new and different, and trying to tell
them you were a Vampire or shifter would just have them thinking you were
crazy, most of the time.

Really,
they probably still were thinking that, to be honest about the whole thing.
She’d
lived
that part of things, and it really was hard to remember to
take it all seriously, even when you saw and felt things that defied
explanation daily. Actually, that was when it got hardest. It was
easier
to remember that Rebekah, the funny looking pale girl, was a Vampire, once you
got used to her looks, than to understand that you really just went through a
hole in space and time, for instance.

“Got
it. Are the other groups doing the same thing?”

“I…
Haven’t actually asked about that. I can run it by the Council, and see if
they’d like that? Then you can call around and ask.
I’d
do it, but
believe it or not, I’m actually busy, running around and doing things with the
media. I have a meeting with Krista Hall later. About a movie roll that she’s
doing in a few months, I think. She’ll be playing a Vampire, and the goal is to
not
offend everyone in the community for once. I think it’s darling of
her to ask about it, don’t you? No one else has yet.”

Eve
tried for noncommittal, and it came out sounding a bit bored.

“Meh.
I don’t know who that is, so I can’t say much. It
does
sound pretty cool
of her though.
Smart
, too. Before when they made a hash out of Vampire
characters it was like the racists in the south going around in black face.
Wrong, but you
kind
of knew that they didn’t really mean it all the time,
they were just raised that way and didn’t know better. Now it would be like the
neighbors doing it, just to spite you. On purpose.” That made sense in her
head, and for some reason Maggie got it, or at least acted like she did.

“Exactly
what I was thinking. Great then. I’ll send her to you, if she needs tips or
help with her role? You’ll have more in common with her, being from the same
era, and all that.”

Eve
chuckled, but didn’t duck out. How often was she going to meet famous people,
if
this Krista chick was one of them? It seemed likely enough, or else Maggie
wouldn’t have said the name like Eve was supposed to know who it would belong
to.

“Sure,
I can introduce her to the wonderful world of making treats, and doing
paperwork! Soon she’ll be ready to tackle the
real
life of a Vampire
public servant!”

That
got a laugh, before the phone hung up.

For
three days, and two nights, Eve went from one task to the next, without a lot
of waiting in between times. She had help, at least at night, since Barb and
Cormack took turns working on the setup for the event with her. It was indoors,
and to her utter shock, Marcus had actually given her the three million dollars
he’d mentioned for some reason. Well, she got that it was all about buying her
affection… But for the time being it was working.

Nothing
said I love you like a butt load of money, did it?

That
she knew better, on some level, was nearly as interesting as the fact that she
only cared a tiny bit. It was impressive, and she knew that the trick was going
to work no matter what she thought about it. Even if she gave it all back, the
fact that it had taken place kind of already had impacted her. Now, when she
thought of the Greater Demon Fram, it was the second thing that came to mind.
The other one was that he was actually a girl, even though that wasn’t
technically correct. He’d been pretending to be one when they’d known each other
before, that was all.

Instead
of Marcus the Mage he’d been a hot cheerleader called Barb.

That
was fine really, though. This way they didn’t have to have a Barb one, and a
Barb two. Her Barb, the Vampire, could stay who she was and Mark could be
himself. That, or Fram. Not that she got a say in the matter.

The
point was, that by the time of the evening presentation, her ad hoc team had
things around, and in place, and the Mages and Shifters were also sending
representatives for the affair. There were going to be cameras, and news crews,
but the actual point of the thing was to show how well they could all get
along. Also that they had, and
could
keep, Human friends, and that it
was a real thing that they all wanted.

Eve
didn’t know who all was going to be there, but it was decently cool seeming,
when she saw the early portion of the turnout. Most of the gamer Vamps were
there, which meant Lars and Tara, both looking Human, at least to start with.
That was a disguise, and Eve broke the compulsion by changing the sense of
buzzing in her head a bit, seeing them as they really looked, which was more
interesting, being chalk white and filled with rows of fangs like they were.
Also Lamont, the Human looking New Vampire, as well as his girlfriend, Leslie.
She was a Classic, like Eve was, though not from the same line, most likely.
Old enough to be up before true twilight though. Rounding that out, for their
team, was Maggie Sims, who was there early, and actually helped get things set
up.

Ancient
or not, lazy wasn’t part of her deal.

Barb
was there, since she was one of the co-authors of the game they’d all been
playing. That, and Eve, though she was mainly there just to cater the whole
thing.

It
looked all right, she thought. A bit more official than she’d really planned
for it to be, and they were serving a whole meal, along with a killer dessert
cart set up, because she wanted to impress people. It was funny, because she
could tell at a glance who knew what was going on and who didn’t. The Vampires
were all dressed in very nice, but modern clothing, for instance.

The
Shifters that were there were all people she’d seen, but didn’t know by name,
except Calley Hale. She was dressed up nicely too, but was a new face to almost
everyone else. The Mages, well, they were all in robes. Matching ones. It would
mark them as being ready for ceremonial magic, which could have been taken as a
threat. Except that Todd, the brother of the Mage boy that had tried to take
over Lyn Hartley’s mind and had been executed for it, came over to stand by her
right away, as soon as he got there. He was in his own all white robe, and
looked kind of cute, in a slightly girly and young fashion. That was down to
the dress like thing he had on though, and wasn’t really about him.

“Hey.”
His voice was subdued, but given that he probably blamed her for his brother
being killed, that probably made sense.

She
nodded at him, and made her voice friendlier than he had.

“Hi,
Todd.” She smiled, and tried to seem pleasant, but didn’t know if that was the
right thing to do or not. The Mage boy looked away, then back, his face serious
the whole time.

He
wasn’t exactly good looking, but managed to be thin, and from the layers of
silver coming off of him, he was either stronger than she’d thought before, or
had been practicing enough that it showed, even to someone like her. Not all
the others there had that going on, so it could have been some kind of
protective thing, or even a spell designed to attack her.

Nothing
happened though, so she just waited, smiling and trying to keep working,
getting the silver carts filled for the servers. They were all working, too,
which had been a brilliant idea, she realized now. She’d contacted a service
and simply hired them for the night. It meant getting them all matching
uniforms, but that was the kind of thing that made an event really special.

Stopping
suddenly, she held up a hand, to get Todd to not speak, and called out past his
shoulder.

“Sara?
You’ll need the salad trays first.” People were going to be served what they
wanted at the tables. There were only about a hundred and twenty people that
could come, unless others worked their way in, trying to grab hold of some of
the advertisement that being on television could hold for a body. Not that it
was going to be that great, as far as things like that went. Some news
coverage, but that wouldn’t get anyone noticed unless they did something
incredibly stupid. Like start a fight.

Not
that it was her problem. She was just there to serve food.

That
reminded her to start warming the bottles of blood. They could be kept at the
right temperature for a while. There were several different types, one for each
course that was being put together.

Then,
just before Todd could turn to leave, she turned back to him.

“Sorry.
Now, what can I get for you? Something to drink? Or…” She leaned in, and
winked. The kid was too young for her, being only about fifteen or so, but she
didn’t really care about laws all that much and he was old enough. “I could get
with you after this? Maybe we could do something fun?”

That
got a soft smile, since average looking or not, he was bright enough to
understand the tone of voice being used. He shook his head though.

“My
parents wanted me to ask you over for dinner, if I saw you. They… You know.” He
looked down, so didn’t see her wince.

“They…
Want me dead, for not saving Tim? I… I know it isn’t a good excuse, but I
couldn’t really stop Zack. I mean, physically. I’m fast, but that punch was…”
She tried not to sound over awed by it, since she was probably closing in on
being a good percentage of that fast herself. It wasn’t teleportation, but in a
fight she was darned quick. It wasn’t
enough
, but it was a good start.

Todd
tensed, and then sighed, loudly.

“Nah.
They… They both know that. They want to thank you, for getting me out alive.
Robert Millhouse told them what you did for me. Darryl, too.” He didn’t ask
twice though, and she got that one.

It
was awkward for the kid, since he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Let’s
not do that, if it’s all the same? I mean, it would be hard to look them in the
eye if I’m giving you handjobs before I come over, right?”

That
got a nod that was a lot more confident than she would have thought, coming
from someone that young. “Not a bad reason. I’ll let them know you said that?
They’ll probably think it’s funny, except for the part where they’ll
also
ground me for six months to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

That
got her to grin, a toothy thing that came with a wink. She was going for saucy,
but didn’t know if the move made it.

“All
right. I won’t tease you about that anymore. I’m… That situation was messed up.
If you need to talk about it or anything, you know where to reach me?”

It
turned out that he did, since Mark had given him the number of the Yoghurt
World, just in case he wanted to ask her about anything. That had been before
he’d been outed as Fram, which still wasn’t common knowledge, for some reason.
Probably thanks to the fact that a lot of people understood that Lisa would
freak out, once she put the whole thing about Warren together, and might try to
fight the Greater Demon over it. She couldn’t win, but that wouldn’t stop her
from dying to take a good shot at it. No one wanted that though. Including
Fram, it seemed. So no one was actually putting the story around, even though a
lot of them probably knew about it. Calley for instance, heard everything. She
was a Bat Shifter, so that just made sense. If she knew, then her people all
did, to prevent trouble.

They
parted then, a slightly older girl from the gaming collective waving to him,
indicating that he should go and sit by her. The girl was old enough that it
was a bit spotty, her wanting Todd to be right by her like that. Then again,
Eve had only been half kidding about jerking him off, since how else was she
going to apologize for letting his brother be killed? So it wasn’t like she
could judge, was it?

It
occurred to her, not for the first time in her life, that she might just be a
bit broken, in matters involving sex and relationships. Just a tad.

The
rest of the evening didn’t go perfectly, but it was pretty darn close, through
the meal, and dessert, which was her part of things. The rest was up to Maggie
and the others. It was interesting, after a fashion. Maggie waited until everyone
was nicely fed and full, then headed to the front of the room, where there was
a microphone set up.

“Hi
everybody!” She waved and her slightly nerd girl persona showed through the
nice wire rimmed glasses she was wearing at the moment. Even with the perfect
makeup, it showed through. Her grin was slightly nervous looking.

After
a moment, not knowing why exactly, Eve waved back.

“Hi,
Maggie!” That got about half the room to do the same, and the rest to laugh,
except for a few who looked at the cameras, questioning.

“By
now, you all get the Node Rulez is a bit more than a game by this point, don’t
you?” People were nodding at that, so she smiled. “Great! That will save a lot
of time. So, most of the things in those books are actually real. The thing is,
a few of the people here, ones that you’ve been playing with for the last two
years, are a bit different. Mages, Shifters and of course, Vampires. So, this
is really just about letting you all know how well connected, and cool, you
actually are. And here your parents all thought you were wasting your time,
didn’t they?”

The
room was dead silent for a while, as she looked around, not bothered by
anything, it seemed. After about thirty seconds, she worked into a much more
official sounding speech, then finally waved at people in different places in
the room.

“So,
Vampires, Mages, and Shifters… You can see where each group is in the room? Why
don’t we all mix and mingle for a while? Don’t be shy, just go and ask whatever
horribly embarrassing questions you have for people?”

That
one got a laugh, and no one moved for a while, since gamers weren’t all social
butterflies, but eventually it did happen, with a few of the younger people
moving toward the Mages, in their awesomely dorky robes. That got some of them
to do small demonstrations, which was kind of neat to see, since they were
being flashy on purpose for once. It meant a lot of bangs, some pretty lights,
and a few objects moving across the room suddenly.

The
Shifters went next, stripping down first, which made the whole thing a bit less
family friendly, at least until they changed. There were no duplicates as to
who was what kind of animal, and Ang wasn’t there, so they weren’t all crushed
by a fantastic Dragon, which worked for her, even if she would kind of like to
see that.

The
Vampires went last, oddly enough, though as soon as Lars let his compulsion
illusion go, a bunch of people went over to Tara. She was small, and always
nice, if a little bossy. Now, looking like a miniature Manthori, which was darling
to see, a bunch of people headed her way. Ben was one of them, which got Eve to
feel slightly jealous. After all, the woman was so exotic that no one could
really compete with her, wasn’t she?

Eve
headed that way, just in time for a guy that she didn’t know to put two and two
together and point at Tara.

“Hey!
You’re like Rebekah, the singer? Do you know her?”

Tara
made a face and then shook her head.

“No,
I’ve not had the pleasure. You’re a Human though, so do you know Tina
Gabrielle? I always wanted to meet her.”

The
guy got the idea, so shook his head.

“Nope.
The closest I am to anyone famous is Maggie Sims. I keep seeing her on TV. We
should get her autograph or something. I don’t really know any other Vampires.
Well, except for you guys, but that doesn’t count. You’re all boring, and hang
out in a club that has
me
in it.”

Eve
grinned, getting the idea.