by P. S. Power
“Thanks!” She didn’t explain anything, since he’d already know anyway. It was what his kind did.
The rest of the day went about like normal, though Lenore left early, so that she could get her hair done, of all things. It grew, being well fed and having constant energy like she did, so it was a real enough thing. Thinking about it, Eve wondered if she should get her own done soon? It was past her collar now, and while letting it grow out a little wasn’t a horrible thing, it didn’t actually have a style to it at the moment. It was just straight, with a tiny bit of wave to it that made it harder to care for.
Edom and Bey both stayed however, as if they needed that many people to watch the shop. Not that Bey did that part of things. He mainly just sat in the back, muttering to her constantly. In Russian.
At about six she headed into the back and just spoke with him, until she heard Barb and Edom talking to someone in the front area.
“Hi! I’m Krista? I was told by your rep, Maggie, to show up here today for some lessons? I have the right place, don’t I?” She sounded an odd combination of confident and uncertainty.
Eve stood, and patted Bey on the knee, since she was claiming him as hers. If he got that, the tiny man with his big ears, and eyes, didn’t react to it. Not even to throw her hand off and tell her to stop being fresh with him.
“That’s my cue, I guess.” She started out into the front, not knowing what to expect at all.
The first thing Eve noticed was a bit different to tell the truth. At least it defeated her secret expectations rather handily. This Krista Hall person had come alone, and not with six people standing around her for protection. That was either very brave, or rather foolish of her. Not that they were a threat, being the cool and collected Vampires they were all the time. Edom was busily shaking her hand, over the counter, and reassuring the woman, who was about Eve’s own age, and nearly as thin, that it was, indeed, the right place.
“I think that Eve is going to be working with you?” His toothy grin sparkled a bit, which wasn’t lost on the woman. At least she didn’t let go of his hand very quickly.
Which was a bit less shy that way, than Eve remembered her being, back in Arizona.
It was enough of a shock that she paused for about five seconds, going totally still. Then she smiled, almost feeling it for once. Walking up silently, she cleared her throat, just so she wouldn’t make the other girl scream. She did not handle being startled that well, or at least didn’t use to be great at that kind of thing.
“Becky?” She said the single word happily, which got the actress to spin in place, her face a bit baffled for a second.
She looked different, the face leaner for one thing, and the body a good bit harder. Fit, rather than too butch looking. She wore make-up, but it made her seem like a regular girl, ready for the day. A cute one, and maybe even a person that was movie ready, but it didn’t totally hide her old buddy.
“Eve? Oh, my, God! Eve!” There was a tackling hug then. The kind that spoke of realizing that you missed someone, even if you hadn’t known that yourself until that very moment.
Everyone else just stood there for a bit, even Bey, who had worked his way out into the shop to see the reunion. They all smiled, but Barb managed to seem a bit baffled after a minute or so. She really was a lot better about faking emotions and expressions than Eve. Not just a little bit, either.
“So… You know Krista Hall? Like personally? I thought you didn’t have a clue who she was?”
Eve shrugged, and looked directly into Becky’s eyes.
“It’s a new name? Becky was one of the gang, back in high school. I really didn’t know that you were famous now though. Darla mentioned that you were acting, and doing okay. Zack too. He works here, at the mall I mean. Actually, it’s practically a reunion… Though… yeah, well, some of the things are different. So, how have you been?” It was the kind of thing you asked, wasn’t it?
Becky grinned, “not too bad. You know, no Oscars yet, but I’ve been in a few high budget things, and managed to score this current project, which is the first Vampire piece since they came out. Swerlin and the others. What are you doing here?”
Eve blinked, but realized that seeing someone from the past might just throw her old friend off. She hadn’t known about the rest of them either, had she? So there were going to be more than a few surprises.
“I’m a Vampire. Now. Not back in school. You got that Rebekah was a real Vampire, right?”
There was a slow nod, but she seemed nearly confused.
“Yeah. I… It’s hard, learning that someone you knew was different like that. I keep forgetting that it’s all real, you know? And, um, you? You look different than her though, so, what does that mean? Is she just that much older than you are?”
Eve gestured to one of the booths, the yellow seat gleaming, and the top spotless.
“Come on, let’s sit. That’s actually a decent question.”
To her surprise, Edom stayed behind the counter, but Barb, who was clearly about to gush all over Becky, like a true fangirl, managed to sit right next to her. It was cute, and the actress smiled, getting the general idea. So she was famous enough that people sometimes knew who she was, it seemed.
Going on, Eve tried to keep her face pleasant.
“There are six different kinds of Vampires that we know of. Maybe more than that, but if so, the others don’t advertize. Rebekah is a Manthori. All of us here are Classics. Here, I’ll show you my teeth and cool red eyes, if you promise not to scream too loud?”
There was a wide eyed nod, and only a small, half laughing, squeak when she popped her teeth down with a click. They went away after about half a minute, since other than being intimidating, or getting at the blood she needed from a living creature, the things were just kind of in the way all the time when they were down.
After that, she laid out what she knew about the different kinds of Vampire, and finally went silent, after Becky had pulled a small pad from her bag, a brown and rather plain looking thing, and started taking notes. It was strange, but also what she was there for.
To learn all about Vampires.
They were quietly discussing things related to that topic, when the rather angry seeming Vamp man came in. He was a Classic too, and should have been able to pass, but was wearing dirty clothing, and smelled bad enough that Becky wrinkled her nose and looked away. Worse, the creepy Vampire, who was clearly too young to be out on his own, was barely able to keep from attacking the Human woman.
Dumping a crumpled wad of bills on the counter, he growled at Edom.
“I need twenty of those fucking animal blood bottles. Now! I don’t have all night.” Then he shifted around, agitated, looking over his shoulder at Becky every few seconds.
Thankfully, when he lost it, and started his rush, Barb was in the way, blocking easy access to the tasty seeming, juice filled mortal with her own body. Eve was on him before he touched either of her friends, pushing into white hot pain to do it. The real trick was all in keeping the Vampire alive, while not letting him go. That took some grappling skills.
Finally she decided that breaking his arms and legs would work for a bit, to get that done. She did the legs first, stomping them, as Bey stood back and watched. The ancient being held his right hand out toward Edom, getting him to stop and not help her out, for some reason.
Then he spoke, his voice very friendly sounding, considering the screaming coming from Becky.
“You have something in mind, other than death by torture, Miss Benson?”
She smiled, and nodded.
“Yep. No one buys twenty bottles of blood at one time. That means that there are more of him at home, doesn’t it? He’s young, too. He looks like he’s used to living rough, which… Well, that could mean a build up, right? Of Vampires.” She glanced at Becky, who still seemed scared, and explained. “Sometimes people do that in order to soften up a target. They throw half wild baby Vamps at their objective for a while first, and then move in f
or the kill, after wearing their enemy down for a while. Only right now no one should be making more, at least in this area. The word went out on that.” She grinned and looked over at Bey. “By that I mean that I made up a new rule, saying that we had paperwork for it, so anyone that wanted to try it out needed to apply with us here, and then get training. I don’t recall Bunky here being in the classes for that.”
The ancient being gave her a soft, slow nod.
“I do recall hearing that discussed in the Council, yes. It was ratified by a unanimous vote. Even your friend Gene, The Burning One, agreed that it was a most sensible plan given the current environment, so it is indeed the law now. Your plan for this one then?”
She took a deep breath, then swallowed.
“We could compel him, then follow him back to wherever he needs to make his delivery?” It was that, or torture, since she doubted that the still thrashing man was going to be intimidated by them. They could hurt him horribly though, which might change his mind. Other than that however, he was too enraged to believe that they’d do anything to him.
Barb was wisely staying right in front of Becky, which was brilliant of her, since a broken leg managed to lash out in that direction, followed by another lunge. Both were blocked by Barbara, who was totally still otherwise. Waiting to see what was going to happen.
Edom moved in, but Bey stopped him from trying to compel the younger Vampire.
“Miss Benson, if you would?”
Edom made a face, but moved back.
“She hasn’t had a lot of practice yet…”
Which was, she knew, Bey’s point. Snapping her fingers almost directly in the squirming Vampire’s face, she tried to focus. That part was fine, but he refused to make eye contact. Either getting what she had planned, or more likely, just being too angry to go along with the woman that had just broken his arms and legs. They’d heal though, and were already starting to make little snapping and clicking sounds, moving back into place. She didn’t have much longer, if they didn’t want to do it all again.
“Hey, look at me, and I’ll get you some free blood.” It was meant to shock him in to glancing at her, but he looked at Becky instead, as if that was the special treat she was promising.
After about six seconds of this it grew old, so she just bobbed her head in between the Human woman, and the hungry baby Vampire. That worked, and he went still, and didn’t blink, after that. Caught by her gaze and the power of her mind. There was a strong buzzing then, a thing that she tried to increase the power of as much as she could.
“Stay calm now. You’re on our side, and that means you respond with total discipline at all times, from now on, and do what we say, even if not compelled, too. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The voice was a bit blank, but that was fine.
“Great. Good job. Now, you must have a bunch of friends that need that blood, so after you have a cup of it, we’ll help you make a delivery. How does that sound? We won’t leave them hanging, or anything.”
“That… Yeah. Morten will like that. He sent me out to get this, since I have the best control so far.” There was a bit of pride in those words, and Eve had to hide a wince. This was the best they had? That didn’t bode well, did it?
“That’s good then. A good choice, sending you. Say, what’s your name?”
“Eric.”
“Hi, Eric. I’m Eve. Like I said, you’re with us now. Edom, would you get that blood for us? For our new friend here?” She might be compelling him, but making friends had to be easier than having him fighting her with all his will, didn’t it? If nothing else, it seemed more polite, and they had a Human right there, listening in. Taking notes, in fact, now that she’d calmed down a bit.
Edom, being incredibly awesome, didn’t act like getting that blood ready was beneath him. In fact he did it all so quickly, and efficiently that Eve nearly missed the baskets that were being put together to carry it all.
Eric drank from the ceramic cup he was offered, but did it slowly. With control. That nearly got her to blink, but even when he looked away, the link didn’t drop. The sense of buzzing in her head did try to drop out, but she focused on it, not letting that happen, which seemed to work, even without the eye contact.
When he was done, they still had to wait, since it took about twenty minutes for his legs to heal enough to walk on them safely. Then Eve noticed a different problem.
“We can’t take you with us on this Becky. It’s dangerous, but I…” Then she snapped her fingers. “Right! This isn’t my job. We have a Proctor for this kind of thing. I think the number for her is in the blue book?” She looked at Edom, who smiled at her, his face beaming.
“I believe that’s right. Why don’t you go and make that call, while the rest of us work out what to do here?”
It was a plan, and she agreed to it. After all, wrangling an army of baby Vampires wasn’t her job, was it? Besides, she had guests in now, and just running off would be more than a little rude.
That decided, she went and called in the Vamp catcher.
Chapter seventeen
It was raining that night. Earlier it had been fine, but that was never a real promise as to what would be happening later in Vancouver, Washington. Eve was standing in some bushes, sighing, as they all surrounded the house. It was isolated, thank God, since it was also filled with mainly wild baby Vampires. Not just twenty of them, either. Those were just the ones that weren’t being starved, to send them into a feeding frenzy in a few days.
Eric didn’t know when the big attack was supposed to take place, but he knew, for certain, that Morten had something in mind. It was all the bald man would talk about, practically. Eve got that part, that he was both without hair, and the same Vampire that had set people on the club all those months ago, just by hearing what was going on inside.
She didn’t bother to tell anyone else what she’d figured out about it, since they already had a plan. Nikki the Proctor for the area, had orders to try and take all the Vampires alive if possible. That probably wouldn’t be happening, since there were too many of them for that. Nearly fifty, from the smell of it. The place reeked, and it was noisy inside, since that many upset and angry undead could have that kind of effect. Not that either of those things was a good enough reason to skip out on showering.
Not being a mighty hunter herself, Eve still couldn’t help but think that having their Human prey not notice they were coming from half a mile away might be a good idea. Still, it wasn’t her call, since the insane sounding balding Vampire inside was in charge of that.
They only had six Vampires on their side, Barb not being there at all, since she’d gone to stay with Becky at her hotel room, in order to keep filling her in on all the secret Vampire lore she could think of. Why Eve was there instead she didn’t really know. Except that she was, most likely, a better fighter than the other woman.
That, or less of an investment, if things went wrong? Either way it made a certain amount of sense, though Lenore came, looking primped and well coifed, as well as made up for a date. She didn’t seem upset to be out doing this though, so it was either pretty good acting on her part, or she hadn’t really had plans of note for the evening.
Edom was on the far side of the place, the bond between them strong suddenly. It was probably a response to danger, or concern on his part, for her. That was sweet, if it was the case. Her real dad, Roy, hadn’t always been there for her, so she didn’t really expect a lot from anyone that way. Not that he was evil or anything. Just… Well, he’d been an alcoholic at one point. Eve didn’t know all of it, but she kind of thought that Darla had fixed that for him, by making him her personal slave.
They’d never spoken about the subject, since Eve wasn’t really certain that she wanted to know the answer. After all, what if it was just the case? If Darla had used enslavement to make Roy a better person, who loved his job and did it well, then maybe it was for the best?
There was a gentle whisper, t
he single word that was the only signal they were going to be given to attack the stronghold. It wasn’t that large of a place, so her part in the whole thing was to make a hole in the wall, for the others to run through, if she could manage it. It wasn’t actually a fighting position, but she’d likely be hurt, since she was supposed to slam into the thing as hard as she could, as soon as Bey gave the word.
“Egg.” It was an odd choice, but they were going after beings that all had superior hearing, so the idea was to not set them on edge too soon. Saying almost anything else, including go, or now, might get attention.
That word might too, but it would baffle anyone hearing it for a while, or at least that was the plan. It worked better than she’d have thought, she noticed. At least as she threw herself at her best speed, right at the windowless and poorly pained exterior wall of the place. Eve covered her head with her forearms, the pain of running slipping at the last moment, as she jumped against the thing, hoping that it wasn’t as sturdy as it looked. It pretty much exploded, carrying her behind a wave of materials that destroyed everyone that had been in the front room.
It really did hurt, but she was used to that by now, so managed to recover quickly enough, landing on her feet. Bey was there already, moving through the hole first. He picked his way in, but moved so quickly that no one in the room would have really noticed him, if they’d been alive still. A few probably were, but of the fifteen or more unwashed bodied that had been sitting there, watching television of all things, didn’t move. At least the flat screen that used to be there, before it kind of got hit twenty or thirty times by flying bits of wood, was sparking, and everyone had been facing it.
She was on her feet though, which hadn’t been expected, she guessed. Sure, she was injured, and pulled some shards from her body in various places, but managed to follow Bey as he left the room, just as the others were getting there.
The ancient Vampire was wicked fast, compared to her, but she tried to keep up, since the more bodies they had there, the more likely they’d be able to keep everyone alive. More or less. Some of them weren’t going to make it, she knew. For instance, most of the clever ones that had gone for weapons already were just having their heads vaporized. It made the room around Bey filled with a red mist, but she managed to disarm a few of them. That required picking up a knife and cutting hands off, for most of them, including her buddy from the club.