Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3)
Page 35
The three Greater Demons didn’t try to run, each one doing something different. Bob waved his hands, and started to vanish, in a way that was different than walking the lines or going into a Node. The big minotaur guy raised both hands and roared, which made the air glow green, and the sparkling baby-doll woman jumped forward to try and hug Keeley.
She stopped though after a second. Then Bob did the same, freezing.
The roaring stopped after another second too, and Keeley crossed her arms.
“No one think, or move. You can’t struggle against me, ever. You can’t plot escape, or work against me in any way, shape or form. Do you understand?”
As one, all three of the beings spoke, their voices soft.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Good. Well, that’s done then. Thank you, for the distraction Eve.” She spoke to her new slaves for a while, making sure they couldn’t really do anything except what she told them. She was thorough, but not perfect, even though Eve doubted anyone would escape her too easily. When that was done, she turned to Darla and gestured at the ceramic looking sculpture Eve was still holding.
“What does it really do?”
Her sister smiled and took it back, “it’s a solar transposition bomb, exactly as Eve just said. The only thing she got wrong is that it wouldn’t transport my friends here anywhere. Just me. The rest of you would have died, if it had been activated. You knew that though, didn’t you Eve?”
She actually had, but didn’t mention it, just trying to think about what to do next.
“So, the rest of you are going to leave now? I actually need to get to work. Some of us have day jobs, you know?”
Everyone seemed to find that a good enough idea.
Keeley sent her new minions off on errands to keep them busy. So Eve let David go home. Felicia came, and sat in a booth near Keels, with Darla across from them, next to Zack. Finias was in a booth across from Lyn, and Tarsus had been smart enough to take off already, along with Fram. He at least waved to them all when he walked away.
Eve got to work, glad that the shop hadn’t been ruined, and not thinking of anything in particular. Finias wasn’t called the Mind Taker because he loved him some brain pudding, after all. As if to prove the point, he looked at her, and chuckled at the idea.
Then he spoke, answering a question that no one had asked.
“Your friend Bob died years ago, Zack. Before you saved his wife from cancer. He killed, and ate him. His wife is still enslaved to the Mimic, so we’ll want to break that for her, if we can. I’d suggest killing her, like we did with Fram, if you don’t mind helping with that, Darla? Zack can pay for it, since he has an investment there already.”
There was a sour look, from the half Japanese looking guy, who was with her behind the counter, making stuff. He nodded though.
“Yeah. That sounds about right. On the good side things around here should be back to normal now. Or for some of us, back to a normal we never knew. A lot of things around here have been a little off for so long I’m not even certain I know what to expect now.”
Lyn slapped the table in front of her, which was yellow, but very clean.
“Something better. It’s about time. Now, why don’t we get out of here, before the ambassador comes? Eve, you can clean up things here for us. I’ll be back later tonight for a while, so we can work on increasing the number of links you have.” She moved to the door, but flared with power and vanished, right outside of it.
Finias looked at her, and stood up.
“I’m having a party, in a month or so, I’d love it if you could come, Eve?”
“That might be fun. Let me know when to be there?” She didn’t say she would go, since the less she had to do with certain Greater Demons the better off she might well be.
Finias knew that, and seemed happy anyway.
“I’ll send you an invitation. Now, I’d best be off. I left a roast on.”
That left her, Zack, Keeley, Darla and Felicia there, the Greater Demons all eating, since they always did. They didn’t say much, and when their treats were done, about the same time Edom came in, they all got up to leave.
Zack made a gesture toward him.
“Um, we found out that the Mage Ambassador, Bob Millhouse, was killed and had his place taken by a Greater Demon several years ago. We handled it, and he won’t be back, but Lisa doesn’t know yet. Eve is going to tell her, when she gets in, and handle that side of things, with the Mage Council. Keeley took him as a slave, so it should be fixed, for now. I’d do it, but Lisa will freak if I tell her about this. As it stands, no one has told her about Fram yet, so… Yeah, that won’t go over well. She’s going to end up thinking everyone she knows is a Demon. That will have to be handled carefully.”
“What?”
The whole thing, or the story Edom was going to get from these others, wasn’t too far from the truth. A few things had been left out, but mainly for time. No mention had been made of Tarsus in particular, for instance. There was no mention of Lyn Hartley being a Greater Demon, either. How she was going to explain her being around all the time, Eve didn’t really know.
Finally, she decided to go with the one that they’d been using. It was all a less than clever trick to let her spy on Zack. Without actually spying. Because grandma.
It was a bit thin, but most people wouldn’t even think to ask about it in the first place.
The others talked, while she cleaned, and when they finally left, Ed came and stood by her for a bit, his face a bit bemused.
“Too bad. I actually liked Bob. Nice, sensible guy. It’s a shame to hear about him passing.”
“Yeah. I feel bad for his wife. We need to do something for her. I don’t know what. I mean, do you take a casserole in a case like this?”
Ed it seemed, didn’t know either.
Still, he offered to go with her, when nine o’clock rolled around and Lisa got in. Part of her wanted to say no, and to go and tell her alone, but Lisa knew Edom, and having the extra friendly face there wasn’t going to hurt, was it?
It felt awkward though, going over for that reason. She hadn’t been great about palling around with Lisa for a while, being so busy all the time. She really needed to make more room in her life for other people. There was always just so much to do.
She was there now however, which was a place to start, if a crummy one.
“Um, hey, Lisa.” Eve spoke first, not knowing what to say. The other woman, looking a bit better now, was standing in the back of the store, her face pleasant seeming. Almost like she was pleased to see them. For a moment it felt like it was too much, as if speaking the words would be too hard.
“Oh, hey, what’s up?”
“Ah.” Eve made herself go on, all in a rush. “It’s Bob. Millhouse? It turns out that he was killed, and replaced by a Greater Demon, about five or six years ago. The Mimic. We just found out this morning. He tried to kill The Mistress of Souls, so she took him as a slave. We can have proof delivered for that, for you and your people.”
Rather than scream, the dirty blonde Mage just gave them a forlorn look. Then fat tears fell down her face.
“Oh. I… I’ll call, and tell people. This…”
There were no words for it. Eve knew that. It was funny, because a few hours before she would have said, without being ironic at all, that she’d been the one messed with the most over the last few years, in this plot that was ultimately about killing Keeley. It occurred to her now that it really wasn’t the case.
Sure, she’d been locked in a box, and kind of set up in a couple of ways, but in the end she was a powerful being, turned from a regular Human girl into a force that no one in their right mind would mess with. She might not be pristine and untouched, but her life was good. She had friends, and even a boyfriend, for the first time in her life. She possibly even had an Alede, who could be either a boyfriend or a girlfriend, at need, so how neat was that?
Yes, she’d end up messing that up, because she was as savvy in
relationships as she was in auto mechanics, but at the moment she had everything. A family, that even if they weren’t close, didn’t hate her. A maker that loved her, and was proud of her, she thought. He’d come with her to deliver the bad news to Lisa, at least, which was way more solid than she’d ever really expected of anyone else.
Eve was even rich now. Loaded in fact, if any of the funds from the other Greater Demons had come through. In a lot of ways as this all ended, she was fine, and maybe even close to perfect. Even important to other people, thanks to the training set up she had going. So she didn’t have any worries, or even problems, of note left.
Oh, sure, no sex drive, but she was kind of willing to bet that she could do that one too, using magic now. Sooner or later it would be fixed, she was certain.
Lisa though, had been hammered, over and over.
She was alone in the world, for the most part. No lovers, very few friends, and her work life kind of sucked. Everyone had vanished over time, leaving her all alone. Except Todd the Intern. She’d been raped, tens of times at least, by a man she’d trusted, too. Now all she had left was…
Really, Eve didn’t know at all.
It wasn’t fair, was it?
“I’m going to come put some time in with you, if it’s all right with Ed? We won’t leave you alone. You have a lot of people here. Hey, I’m even kind of learning a bit of magic, from Lyn Hartley? You know, I bet she’d be willing to come and work here, to help out? Maybe we can get her husband in too?”
Lisa sniffed, but nodded.
“That would be good. I could use some friendly faces. Poor… Everyone, really. Thanks Eve. Edom. It’s strange isn’t it? Things like this happening, and my best friends turning out to be a bunch of Vampires? What’s next?” She laughed a bit, but it was really sad, and hidden in a sob.
Eve didn’t know, but moved in and hugged the other woman.
“Something different? Maybe even something better?”
It wasn’t the kind of thing that would make her happy to hear, but it was good enough to get Lisa to rally. The previous years had left her tough, rather than broken. They all were, in the end, weren’t they?
Lyn and Brad came, a very short time later, given they lived in Wisconsin, and the little thing where the woman was a Demon was glossed over, for the time being. Eve got back to her own shop, at about four, so was there when Barb came at six. She was working all night, so that David could get some time off. Like a regular person.
Just when she was about to head back home, thinking everything she had to do was over, Ben came in, along with Kait. With Ginger pushing in almost right behind them, there for the meeting that would start soon.
It was a thing that Eve had forgotten about, so she made a point of increasing the energy to her memory.
They were going to have a few more people than they’d thought, so while they were there at the shop, for the first one, after that she was holding them at the club, she decided. The space was larger, and a bit more private during the day.
It was odd enough, seeing them all, that Barb tilted her head.
Especially when both of them kissed Eve.
“Hey, what’s this now? Everyone else getting kisses, and poor Barb left all alone. That’s hardly fair.”
Ginger giggled and ran around the counter, then planted one on her cheek. “There.”
Looking at the other two, she smiled, and glanced at Ben.
“Are you going to do the Vampire training, too? That would be good. I can get you into the program, if you want? It might mean getting me a discount on books, but we can work it out.” She tried to look savvy, but her young face couldn’t really pull it off.
Ben shrugged.
“That’s a thing? I guess I could do it. If nothing else I can learn more about Vampires, since I’m dating one.”
Kaitlyn nodded.
“Good plan. Can I sit in, too? Really we should hold classes for the public, for all the groups. You Vampires can go first.” She said it like it was a good thing.
Eve rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. But when the general public realizes that being a Vampire is all making treats and doing paperwork, I’m going to blame you guys.”
Barb looked away, seeing Troy coming through the front door. Early. The look on her face was very nearly happy, too.
Oh, they weren’t all doing perfectly, but things were better than Eve would have ever thought they would be.
Even better, they were looking up.
You couldn’t beat that, could you?
Eve smiled after applying her new, and wickedly intelligent, brain to the task. The answer was pretty clear after all.
No, you really couldn’t.
Other Books by P.S. Power from Orange Cat Publishing:
If you enjoyed these books, why not find out the rest of the story?
Keeley Thompson:
Follow this interesting tale of a young girl who discovers she’s something much different than she was ever led to believe. Keeley isn’t just a straight A student, as she learns from the head Cheerleader of her new school. No, she’s a Greater Demon, and that means that reality will never be the same again.
Demon Girl
Keelzebub
Mistress of Souls
Demon Trap
Demon Bait
Other Places (Zack Hartley in the Eve Benson continuity)
Zack is insane, and knows it. It’s not hard to figure that out when your own mirror talks to you, and tells you to get off your butt and go get a job before you starve to death. Worse, when you can see the holes in the world, and walk through them, it become pretty hard to separate what’s real, from what might just be in your own head.
If he can pull it off, it will be a miracle.
Shortcuts
Road Blocks
Detours
Other books in the same universe:
Christmas of the Vampire (Richard Swerlin stand alone)
When a young girl is in trouble, having been taken captive by a Greater Demon, she reaches out to the only beings she knows of that might be able to help her.
Santa Claus, and Richard Swerlin, America’s only openly vampire politician.
Now Richard has to not only save five year old Macy from Ma’at, The Puzzler, but save the spirit of Christmas itself!
To do that, he’s going to need a bit of help, which will mean making some deals with things even darker than the Greater Demon that has Santa and Macy.
Because only one thing in existence can beat a Greater Demon. One of their own kind.
Friendzoned (Becky Hoader, before she becomes the famous actress, Krista Hall! Warning, this book is a young adult coming of age tale, not fantasy.)
Becky has loved Mitch for years, but he barely even seems to notice her. A bit over weight, and kind of boring, she turns to her new friends, Darla, Keeley, Hally and Eve, to help her finally get out of the friend zone. If they can at all.
Pick them up today! Otherwise you might miss out on some of the greatest new stories around. No one wants to do that. Seriously, it would be miserable. So save on all that, and make sure that you're included in this amazing set of tales.
Table of Contents
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four“Fuuuck
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Chapter ten
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Chapter thirteen
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
Other Books by P.S. Power from Orange Cat Publishing:
P. S. Power, Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3)