Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2)

by P. S. Power

  “Guess who’s cleaning that up?” She muttered it to herself, and noticed that her teeth were in the way. It was hard to get her fangs to pull back, since everything in her being cried out for her to finish the job and kill the man on the ground. It was the screaming that did that, not just her own anger. That was what Eve was going with for the moment. Killing him would be very sweet, but she needed someone to give her information.

  Barb ran out of the bar, moving slowly enough that Eve didn’t lash out at her, her black shirt and jeans looking suddenly out of place, with the headless bodies all over the parking lot like they were. Most of the protestors and patrons just stood there, too. Watching. Waiting for something else to happen. A lot of them, on both sides, had recorded things on cell phones. Because that would go over well on the news later, she didn’t doubt.

  “Fudge.” She said the word in a low tone, glancing at Barb, and then Troy, who’d been inside, hiding from the wall of undead that had come for them all. Like a sane and reasonable person. “I’m so going to prison now, aren’t I? If not with the Humans then being locked in a box by the Council. We really do not need this kind of crud right now.” She was kind of pleased that she managed to keep her words so clean. It was harder than it probably seemed like, since she wasn’t moving at all. That made it seem like she wasn’t affected by what had just happened, or the screams of the healing Vampire on the ground.

  She really wanted him to shut the fuck up. It was tempting to go over and take care of that right then, since she was probably going to be dead anyway.

  That was what she was thinking three minutes later when Edom and Bey got there. She hadn’t even known that her ancient friend was back in town. Wincing as he and her maker surveyed the damage, she took a deep breath and spoke loudly, so that all the microphones on the cameras would pick her up.

  “It was some kind of a set up. These Human protestors seemed to be working with those Vampires, even if they didn’t know it. They were going to be killed, to make all Vampires look bad. Still, there’s no reason they should have thought of this as one of our businesses. Anyway, I told them to back off, but they decided to attack anyway. I didn’t know how guilty the protestors were, and don’t yet, so I killed them, the attackers. I did warn them first. They were rushing in when I did it.” She swallowed, and shook her head a bit, trying to recall exactly what she’d said. It would be on the net the next day, no doubt, so she needed to get things as close as possible, or people would claim she was lying. The real trouble was that she just didn’t remember it much. There had been a kind of haze, and then she was killing. “I think I sort of told them that the Council wouldn’t allow this… and that I was acting for them.”

  That was dangerous, since she had about the same right to act for the Vampire world Council as she did for the U.S. Government. She was roughly a citizen of both, but that was about it, as far as power went. To her surprise, Bey nodded, his face very serious.

  “There will be an investigation, into all portions of this. For the moment, I believe that we need to engage the local law enforcement body, and attempt to keep them alive. Are you capable of that, Miss Benson? Perhaps it would be best if we removed you from the area, for their safety?” His words were gentle, and Edom glared at him, as if they were going to have an argument over something.

  Eve shook her head, having seen enough television programs to know what would really be happening. The cops would come and arrest her, since there were all those dead bodies. Even if she were allowed to go free later, since it was self-defense, she was pretty much going to spend the night in the slam. It would be great fun, no doubt. Most likely being beaten the whole time.

  “I’m good. Ed, could you see about getting me a lawyer? I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it.” She turned to the people in the crowd and called out. “Hey, did anyone get all that on camera? If so, I could use the footage, or whatever. I think I was acting to protect myself, and these other people. I was afraid for my life. Terrified. There were so many of them.” She faked a sob, and moved in to hug Ed, who played into it all nicely.

  Bey looked confused, but Barb, who also watched television, understood what was going on.

  “Right, because the rules for self-defense are based on being afraid for your own life. Well, twelve Vampires coming at you at once like that should count. It’s like a small army doing it. There really was no other choice. If the police had been here, they would have just died. So would everyone else, most likely. The trick here is how much separation is there between Vampire law and that in the local area? In the past we just hid things, but being out now… That means what?” She sounded philosophical, but Troy had an answer.

  A pretty practical one.

  “For right now? It means that we do both. These Vamps had to be stopped to protect the public, and all of us here. Including these protestors, who might be in on the whole thing.” That got a sound of outrage now that they realized they were going to be blamed for it, too.

  Eve ignored them, still holding on to Edom.

  Troy looked at Bey.

  “So, you probably need to have all the Vampires follow the local laws, and the Vampire ones. Killing is generally illegal, but like Barb said, the cops can’t handle something like this. The army would be hard pressed in something like this.”

  It was about to be an issue, she knew, since the night was lighting up, and the screaming that she’d started to block out, along with the panicked buzz of the crowd, was offset by pretty flashing red and blue lights. It was dark enough that the world suddenly seemed pretty for it. Like Christmas.

  Which, if she wasn’t spending it in prison, would probably be spent in a little box. Things were really far too tense for her to have done something like that in public. Oh, she couldn’t think of anything else to do that would have worked, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be bitched out for messing up. Someone had to take the fall for this, and she was the one standing there, literally red handed.

  Moving back, she realized that she’d just destroyed Ed’s nice suit. That nearly made her growl at herself. Being a bitch, even about her own failures, wasn’t going to aid anyone though, so she moved away from everyone else, and started calling out orders.

  “Okay, no one can leave, but I need you, all the regular people, to kind of head over to the right side of the parking lot? That way if the police start shooting they won’t be able to hit you as easily.” Then, before the first car even pulled in, she walked away from everyone else, got on her knees and put her hands up over her head.

  Which meant that the asshole driving the first car nearly hit her, swerving at the last moment, and came out of the vehicle with his weapon drawn, looking ready to soil himself.

  “Freeze! Everyone! Get on the ground, on your belly!” He kicked Eve, who fell over, but was waving the weapon at… The entire world, it seemed like. His buddies were just about as specific, which meant it was dangerously close to be a totally different kind of blood bath.

  After all, neither Edom, or Bey, were going to be kneeling that day. Laying on their stomachs was even less likely to happen. On the good side, or perhaps bad, the men in blue tried to control the whole crowd that way. It meant that something very strange took place then. Dangerously so.

  Half the conservative Christian protestors pulled guns. It didn’t matter if they were men or women, they aimed them at everyone too, or pointed them up into the air, but it was enough to get the cops to freak out. No one had fired yet though, just screamed about dropping things then.

  Eve, who was pretty close to bullet proof, finally rolled her eyes, when this had gone on for over two minutes. When a lull finally came, she called out, from the ground, her face in a puddle of Vampire black goo.

  “Um, not to be too big of a bitch here, but shouldn’t we all kind of back up here? Clearly no one wants to shoot, which is a good thing. So why don’t you all put the weapons away? This is about a group of Vampires attacking, which makes it a Council issue. We just need
to talk about that, and question the screaming man over there, before he heals all the way.” It seemed like a good plan to her, but of course, no one even seemed to notice that she said anything. She tried again, a few times, but the situation went on, until the Police Chief, Althea Sims, showed up in person.

  The woman was wearing a business skirt and matching jacket, and even if it was about eight in the evening, since it had taken a long time for things to get to that point, she looked pretty fresh and ready for the day. In this light she seemed to be in her late forties, but she was at least a few hundred years old, or more. The woman didn’t sleep, so she pretty much had to be. Then, Eve didn’t either, so maybe that wasn’t the best way to tell things like that?

  She walked over to the scene, like she was Rambo, not even caring that anyone had a weapon. She didn’t have one out, her empty hands showing that one clearly.

  The Chief seemed nearly amused by the whole thing, even with the line of headless bodies on the ground.

  “I don’t suppose anyone is feeling clear headed enough to tell me what this cluster is all about?”

  Eve cleared her throat, her face feeling sticky on the right cheek.

  “There was a set up protest, Christians I think, and then a group of attacking Vampires. We don’t know who set it all up, but have that guy there, who was their leader. I left him alive for questioning. We should have a lot of this on camera though, so… Can anyone get that for the Chief? That will help explain a lot.”

  Bey moved in then, his face a bit blank, and not smiling, as Althea turned two complete shades whiter.

  “I think that we have some confusion, as to what portion of this is to be handled by the Vampires, and what the local police are in charge of? I for one, think we would be best served by not escalating things at this point. Your officers are both in danger, and threatening patrons of this establishment. Innocent ones that have done nothing more wrong than to seek a bit of revelry and merriment. I’m certain that even those that sought to speak against Vampire kind are merely tense and misguided. Would it be allowed for everyone to place their weapons away now?” He asked the question loudly, and smiled when the woman nodded.

  “That sounds like a plan. You heard the man, everyone put your sidearms away. You people, too, please.” Then she ignored them all, and walked over to Eve. “I notice that you’re the only one on the ground. Any reason for that?”

  Sighing, she held her place.

  “Yes. It had to be done, but I killed those Vampires. Under Council rules it’s allowable, and needed under the law, but I know that I may have to go to prison for it. I’m still saying it was both self-defense and my job, as, erm, Vampire law enforcement, stopping them.” Because why not lie about that? It was what she’d been doing, wasn’t it? “Vampires can’t be stopped by Human beings very easily, so we have to police our own. Even if that means taking the consequences of our actions. So, you know, if I have to be arrested, I’m going peacefully.”

  It was funny, because everyone put their weapons away and stood there, listening to her, as a young woman walked over, with her hands up, a cell phone in the right hand, facing outward.

  “I have it all on my phone. Here? You shouldn’t arrest her… I think she saved us. All of us. Even the protestors.” The woman sounded young, and was dressed to get laid, or at least make people think she wanted to, but she also seemed a bit slow.

  Not stupid really, but the low end of average that had to make life just a little harder for some people all the time. At least she was cute enough to never have to work all that hard. Not everyone got that lucky in life.

  The footage, which Eve had to turn her head to see even a bit of, made her seem way more bad ass than she’d figured it would. To her she’d been a bit too hesitant and soft seeming. Scared even, when it all started. The version that showed up had her barking orders at the other Vampires to give up, along with a rather planned sounding little speech about what the Council wasn’t going to allow, and then showed a blur as the other Vampires died.

  Althea watched it twice, and then cleared her throat.

  “I… Think I understand. You may as well get up, Miss Benson. This was clearly an attack on civilians, if nothing else. The truth is we don’t have any way to hold someone that can do what you did there. I trust that you’ll report to prison if that becomes needed? I doubt it will. It’s clear that you took the right action here. These were righteous kills. I’ll need to run this by the DA, of course. Now, we need to go over all of this, and find out what was really going on.”

  That was going to take most of the night, and while the club didn’t open, Ed had the wait-staff and Troy get drinks for everyone that wanted them. Soft drinks only, and water, but it seemed to help keep people’s mood more stable. The very strange thing was that no one was arrested for anything. Not even Eve. That didn’t mean she was in the clear, and she got that, since the District Attorney was the one that would make the call as to if she went to court or not, unless there was a Grand Jury trial about it. She was a bit weak on what would really be going on that way, but it didn’t take too long to get a tentative ruling from the man, who watched the footage of the scene, on the net already, and spoke to Althea about it directly.

  Apparently there was just too much information showing that she had every reason to be acting as she did, even if claiming to be a secret Vampire cop meant nothing to anyone other than her. It had been worth a shot.

  Still, they let her go, after the bodies were packed up. On the bad side they took the bald Vampire, which meant he escaped before they got to the station. He killed six officers at the same time. That did not leave anyone on the force happy, needless to say. Eve either, since they’d lost the man she’d specifically saved to question.

  Bey however took everything in stride, and suggested that, even though it was late, Edom and Troy open the establishment to everyone that wanted entry. About eighty people had ended up standing there all night long, and while the protestors were escaping, walking over to their cars, carrying their rather silly, and in some places, blood stained, signs, not all of the people that had come to the club had left yet.

  It wasn’t all that festive, but a few people came, since there was no real way to salvage the night anymore.

  On the good side she wasn’t spending the day in jail, so that was happy making. For her. Eve washed up as well as she could, inside, the dried Vampire blood making it really hard to get clean. If Human blood was a pain to get out of things, the undead kind just stuck to everything. Clinging on as if trying to paint the world. Even under hot water. By the time she was done scrubbing up in one of the restrooms, number one, she then had to turn around and clean it, since there was crud all over the place inside.

  Then, because dead people had been outside, she did the rest of the club. The parking lot was just going to have to wait, because she was going to need a hose and to have the thing free of cars, and foot traffic for a while. Plus it was still a crime scene and all that, she thought. There was yellow tape left at any rate, and while no police stayed, having better things to do, no doubt, you could tell they’d been there.

  Eve, for her part, tried not to think about what she’d just done for the rest of the night. That meant working, and fighting to keep her mind mellow and clear. Meditation actually helped for once, because she kind of ignored everything else around her.

  That part wasn’t good though. Not with people trying to kill her. Or, to be more exacting, planning to kill people around her. At her place. Her club. Except that it wasn’t that at all. She didn’t own it, and didn’t even have any power or control there. Why would she feel like that? Territorial behavior was a thing for Vampires, but she accepted that Edom ran the place. Didn’t she? He was the boss, after all. Her maker. That just seemed right.

  So why would she feel like those Vampires had been about to hurt her people? She didn’t even know most of them, and the bad guys had been going for the protestors. She certainly didn’t hold any kind of love f
or those a-holes. Keeping them alive had been needed, she could see that, since the bad press of letting them die would be worse than almost anything she could think of. It had been part of someone’s plan to ruin any real chance that they, the Vampires, had to integrate. She couldn’t prove anything, but her bet was that whoever was behind influencing Swerlin had put this together too. Set the situation up, when no one was ready for it, then bring in a bunch of newbie Vamps and set them on a large number of Humans. Good Christians at that, who were just there to…

  Be general pains in the ass.

  That wouldn’t have made any difference in the press if they’d been slaughtered and drained on camera.

  She ran over the whole thing a thousand times, knowing that there would be fallout from it. What she was missing exactly was how it was going to happen. She’d taken out some rogue Vampires, but that probably wasn’t going to get her in trouble. It could, but was she really supposed to let those people die? The answer was no. She knew that, and knew that everyone, even the council, would back her on that one. It just made sense.

  The trick was that she could get a vague sense of a piece of the whole thing being slightly off kilter. It was like the facts were going to be slid around, and used to attack her. By…

  That she had no clue about.

  Some enemy, but it didn’t have to be the ones she knew about. Honestly, she half expected Bey and Edom to lock her in a closet or a box for weeks, to punish her for it anyway. Because she’d made too big of a scene, and that wasn’t really allowed. What she was supposed to do differently she didn’t understand. Could she have done anything at all? Maybe moved so fast that no one had known she was the one doing anything? She very nearly pulled that off, she knew. If she hadn’t made a speech first, and had moved just, say, twice as fast, no one would have known why the attackers had exploded.