by P. S. Power
Darla grinned.
“There we go, Gary. Finally you get a piece of ass you can appreciate.”
Gary tilted his head a little and sighed.
“Yeah. Wendy is all right, but you know, I’m not attracted to her. The kids need two parents, and after everything that happened to her…” This was a thing that Eve didn’t know about at all, Keeley gestured at her covertly, as if to let her know that holding her tongue was the right thing to do there. Gary shook his head slowly, and then forced a smile of his own. It seemed pretty sad.
Then, he knew about loss, and hard times, didn’t he? They all did, after a fashion.
Darla stood up, and held a hand out for Hally.
“You two need to come with me, I think. Sorry to eat and run, Eve, but this really was a last minute thing. Here, let me cover the bill. My half anyway.” She pulled cash for it, and didn’t wait to be rung up. There was more than was needed for the treats she had, but only by about ten cents. Then she moved in and hugged Eve closely, her lips almost to her ear. She whispered, so softly that even another Vampire probably wouldn’t have been able to hear it, if they’d been standing right there.
“Don’t die. It’s about magic. The whole thing is. That and intrigue, like always. You can do this.” Then she kissed her cheek, gently, as if that had been all she was doing. Hally held her longer, and Gary harder, but in the end they both walked out, seeming like they knew she was just going to die. That it was already the end of Eve.
She could see that one. It was wrong, but until she proved it, no one else would know that for certain.
That left her with Keeley, who stole the treats that Darla hadn’t eaten instantly.
“You get the idea? You have links, and those cows won’t be dying for the next six months, so if you use meditation to keep the links strong and open the whole time, you’ll be fine, energy wise. You have the skills you need for it. If those get lost, it’s going to be harder for you, but you should be able to find old links too, eventually. You’ll always need blood to form them in the first place, but that’s being a Vampire.” She grinned and reached out to touch Eve, her hand dropping below the table to rest on her leg. There was a spot of warmth that came through her jeans.
Keeley didn’t make any effort to do anything sexy though. It was the wrong time and would have been lost on Eve at the moment anyway.
Eve thought she had the idea. Making a face she shrugged.
“We’ll see if I can actually do that I guess. I’m scared. I hate being alone, you know?”
That got a nod.
“I do. That can’t be allowed to stop you now however. You’re getting close to what you need to be, and this is the only way that it will happen in time. In a way, this is nearly perfect, because, let me tell you, I was scrambling to try and find a way to convince everyone that we had to lock you up like this for half a year, otherwise.” She seemed perfectly normal about what she was saying, but Eve went wide eyed.
“Wait… Keeley, you did not set that up last night, did you? Some kind of misguided Greater Demon crap? If you did…”
Well, she wouldn’t be doing much about it, and couldn’t but Keeley was shaking her head no anyway.
“Not at all. I swear. By the pattern my guess is that whomever set that one up is the same person that influenced Richard into coming out like he did. The sad part there is that you’re going to miss the other groups doing the same in the next few months. Be ready for that, when you get out of the box. If you think things are a bit out of place right now, wait until the Human world finds out about the rest of it. I blame Zack for that though. Not that he’s behind it, but writing books with all the information presented like he did… Well, he was manipulated, too, most likely. Plus, on the good side, you won’t be able to kill poor Richard for six whole months. I’d send him into hiding, but he has a re-election to win.” Then, because of her nature, she shut up and started to stuff food into her face.
It was a good enough excuse not to talk.
Eve was about to interrupt her anyway, when Bey came in. He wasn’t alone, and was dressed in a black robe. It was kind of creepy looking. So were the rest of the Vampires that were with him. Eve knew some of them, being that they were the Council. Marissa, Gene, Harland… To her surprise, four other beings that she’d never seen before were there as well. One of them was a rather short bat looking creature, who saw her looking and bowed. A Therion. Next to her, and Eve was nearly certain on the gender, though she didn’t know how that made any sense, was a rather strange looking woman.
She had no hair, and a very large nose, but the most incredible part of her whole aspect was her fingers and hands. They were so long they didn’t look real, except that the woman kept moving them nervously. For her part she looked away from Eve, who stood up.
The other two Vampires just looked like people, except that both were a bit different. One of them looked Chinese and had hopped over, which was a bit flea like, and the other was a dark brown and had teeth that looked filed to points.
Keeley got up too, still eating, as Lenore walked out of the back, her eyes going huge.
That didn’t keep her from speaking however.
“Eve asked that I announce her voluntary punishment to the press. I was unaware that the whole council would be coming here. Actually, I was unaware that any of you would be coming. I take it that Edom is dead then, Bey? Otherwise he’d be here, to protect his daughter.”
That got Eve to feel panic for a second, but the tiny bald man shook his head.
“Nothing so severe. I distracted him with an errand out of state for the day. Now, you say that Miss Benson has stolen the march on us? How so?”
Gene interrupted, his face calm, but his youthful voice pissy.
“We must not allow this child to escape from our ruling, Bey. Even you admitted that we needed to show the world that no one is above the law, even if they were acting for the greater good when they committed their crime. She’s to be locked away for six weeks. With no blood. Publically, in a glass case, so that all may see her torment.”
That got several of the others there to look away from her, which Eve got suddenly.
It was one thing to make her suffer, another to do it in a way that would humiliate her like that. Put on display, so that other people could make fun of her? That was… Well, it was rude, really. She got the basic idea however. It was set up so that if she died, everyone would know that it was just part of her punishment, and that she’d failed to survive, rather than being secretly killed.
She felt a flare of anger, but made it go away, focusing like she’d been taught. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to be soon.
“I’m going in for six months. Though, Gene, when I get out, I think that you and I should have a talk about not being a pain in the ass? What the fuck is with that anyway? I haven’t done anything but play by the rules. Being afraid of me isn’t a good enough reason to embarrass me in public like this.”
That got several different reactions. There was a hissed word that sounded like no from the Therion, who shook her head firmly. Bey seemed to go totally blank, and Gene looked confused.
The strange lady with the long fingers and big nose spoke, her words oddly considering.
“I understand. Very well, young mother. If you survive this, I will stand ready to speak with you, and answer if I am allowed. Most interesting. Is this Demon your pet then?” She glanced at Keeley, and smiled. It was creepy, but seemed genuine. “I always wanted one of those. Perhaps we could speak sometime as well?”
That started a conversation that went on for a while, but was actually polite, considering that the elder Vampire was insinuating that anyone could ever really control a Greater Demon.
Eve rolled her eyes, and looked at Bey.
“So, where’s this humiliation box? Outside, in a desert?”
Gene glared at her, then grinned.
“I suggested that, but no, it’s in a deep cave. The public can come in to see you
though. Try not to make faces. Not that it will matter. Six months… You won’t survive it.”
That got Keeley to smile.
“Oh? I have one hundred million dollars that says she will. We could, say, put that up against your freedom? If she lives, without aid from any other being, then you get the money. If she dies, without anyone from outside harming her in any way, or undermining her, I get your soul for all eternity? Deal?”
Eve cleared her throat.
“I wouldn’t say anything, Gene. She’s The Mistress of Souls. Even saying no might be enough to have you grabbed up. Notice how she did that one backwards to make you mess up? No, we’ll just have a nice long talk, later. A real one. We should go now I guess. Shall we jog over?”
It was daylight, and they were all wearing robes, but the cave set up was an artificial thing, and more like a concrete bunker, so it wasn’t that far away. About twenty miles, on a private farm. It still took several hours to get there, since they were riding in a bus. It was a big silver thing, with blue letters on the side, and comfortable looking seats. She ran, outside of it, next to Bey, who looked grim. He explained things to her as they moved though, his voice low.
Zack had been hired to get them in for the big production. Because that made good economic sense. Bey didn’t like that portion at all. Or the part where she was being punished for doing the right thing. He understood the politics of it, but seemed shocked that she understood it, for some reason.
“Truly? You do not hate us to the point of death for this? Many would have turned on us when we arrived to punish them for doing no more than we would have ordered them to, had we the time to do such. None of the Council feel that you were in the wrong. Know that. This is a political move. One that we do not all agree with, but enough see the wisdom in it that the whole must enforce it.” They were moving very slowly, since the bus had to go the speed limit. They were on the side of the freeway, walking along almost as if it were a pilgrimage, not her going off to a humiliating death.
“Yeah, I get the idea. It’s like with the Human cops. People hate that they get to kill and just walk away from it, even when they’re wrong. Except that we’re too powerful for that kind of thing to really work for us. If I seem to get off without anything, but a slap on the wrist, or worse a pat on the back, then everyone would know that we held ourselves above the law. Not that we don’t, but…”
“That is our thinking on the matter. Six months however… Can you survive that? If you were anyone else I would, as The Burning One has suggested, think you were merely to die. Half of our own number would, in the same situation. We are old, as a group. Strong. Perhaps not stronger than you, young Eve?”
She shrugged.
“There might be a way. I figured it out last night. As for how long this is, Keeley set that up. To get me out of the way, I think. That or force me to learn something. I could still die though, if I mess it up. We need to watch that. She might be protecting me, or it might be something else. She thinks that whoever was behind this is going after the other groups now, so be ready for that, just in case.”
There was a nod, and no more than a few words after that, even when they got to the prison. The fake cave, with its open front.
One that already had cameras set up already. News crews, and all that, waiting for her to get there, to be punished as harshly as Vampire law allowed. Nearly so, in any case. They could have just killed her, but that would be worse than letting her go, she realized. This way she had a chance, no matter how slim, to survive.
In front of the bunker, set up to block the doorway was an older looking man, who was wearing a nice gray suit, standing next to a rather bland looking Maggie Sims. Eve didn’t wave to her, but they did lock eyes.
The man cleared his throat, and moved as if public speaking was a thing he’d always done. His steel gray hair was nicely combed, but his face held lines and wrinkles that most Vampires wouldn’t have had. This was their mouthpiece, she knew. The one that she’d suggested.
“We of Vampire kind are an old race. One that has weathered the ravages of time in secret. We have our own laws and rules, that we, each of us, must live within, as well as the rules of the culture in which we exist at the moment. Last night a horrible crime was committed, or nearly so. Vampires, set on a crowd of innocent Humans. This young lady, Eve Benson, protected them, by killing most of those attackers. By Human law it was both self-defense and that of another, so has been deemed a lawful action. We are not here to debate that. The full Council of Vampire kind has come here this day, to demonstrate that we do not allow our kind to kill lightly.” There was a pause, and then the man looked at Eve directly, his eyes made to look sad. “This isn’t a fair thing. No one should think that. Nor is it a thing that even the council has ordered. Miss Benson is voluntarily going into a casket, on display, for a time of six months.”
There should have been a gasp, but the news people didn’t get what that meant, not really. It was completely lame of them, Eve thought. Not that she was going to correct them. That would be worse than them not understanding it on their own.
They were in three lines, set up to capture the whole thing. Aiming cameras like they were shoulder fired rockets that was all they cared about really. Getting the unique story, which would get them viewers and keep the money rolling in. They didn’t even call out questions to her. Then, the mature looking man was speaking, so they paid attention. Exactly like they were supposed to.
“Understand, this is… We, the Council, asks… No, we beg you to reconsider, Miss Benson. No one can survive such a thing. Very few at least. Perhaps some lesser amount of time, or… Perhaps if we allow the public to vote on what should happen to you? This is… Very extreme.”
Whoever the man was he did gravitas better than anyone she’d ever heard of. The words could have sounded phony, but even she kind of believed them.
Knowing that she could really use that as an out, she walked toward the array of microphones. Taking a deep breath she moved in behind the things, as the man actually let her. She wasn’t dressed for it really, just being in jeans and a red t-shirt, but she looked at the people standing there. On the left hand side there were eight figures in black robes. Behind her stood Maggie and the suited guy. None of her people were there at all, except Bey.
The men and women with their cameras all stared at her, as if waiting for something huge and worth some airtime.
She sighed a bit.
“This is a sign, not a punishment. An ordeal, not something to amuse others. I was forced to kill last night, and to do so without Council or government sanction. Even if the law allows it, and it is allowed by both sets of rules, people need to understand that we, Vampire kind, won’t allow any death to come without a cost. So, I’m going into a box, possibly to my death, to prove that point. We should do that now. Six months. I’ll see you on the other side of that.” If she lived.
That part went without saying.
Then she walked in, under her own power, to where the glass box sat. Like a coffin. Bubbled glass thick, to prevent her from getting up. She climbed, in and lie flat, like sleeping beauty, then as the lid closed on her and everyone left the cavernous space, she waited.
Chapter nine
“Fuuuck!” Eve got the whole thing about six hours later. That it had taken her that long was probably due to how subtle the work that had been done on her really was. The magic, no doubt. It was, she guessed, but didn’t really know for certain, Keeley’s work.
For some reason, her friend, the Greater Demon, had suckered her, if not using outright control, into the box she was in. The six inch thick glass was too much for her to break out of, too. There was no fresh air in the box, but she didn’t need to breathe, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Still, she wasn’t getting out, not on her own. Not unless she learned to be a lot better with magic, or to increase her strength a whole lot.
It made her angry beyond reason, but she didn’t let herself show it. There was a camera on her after al
l, watching her constantly. Streaming live, she’d been told. If it had sound she was going to look bad already, so she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes, then closed them. She had work to do, and didn’t really know how much time she was going to get. The very first thing she needed to make sure of was that her energy links were strong and stayed that way. They were, so she focused on feeling each one, and causing them to feel strong. It might not be enough, long term, but as far as she could tell, it was working.
Then, well, she was going to be there for a long time. What she needed, if she had enough energy to live on already, was some way to pass the time. Since practicing her running was probably out, she decided to work on meditation and magic.
The first thing she needed to do then was…
Actually, she was at a complete loss. Being that she didn’t have anything else to do, she tried to make herself feel both calm and not hungry. Then she held it, until she got so bored she kind of wanted to die, rather than go on.
She didn’t know how much time was passing, but it did not go fast.
She redoubled her efforts, then did it again. Over and over again. That lasted until she felt the sun going down. For the first time.
Eve realized something then. She really hadn’t gotten just how hard this was going to be. Which, she knew, was down to what someone else had gotten her to do. Possibly what they’d gotten the Council to do too. After all, what were the odds that anyone would protest the club to start with? Anyone that knew it was linked to Vampires would have kept that quiet. That, or put the info online flat out. Instead they’d gotten them to the right place to meet up with truck loads of Vampires? That had to be set up too, but why?
Edom was important, but he hadn’t been there at the time. No, it was just her and Barb, as far as people that could have fought. There was no reason to think that they’d be able to win either. If she’d been what she was supposed to, a girl that was newly undead and largely untrained… Well, in that case she wouldn’t have been there at all. It would have just been Barb.