by P. S. Power
They were the world’s oldest rules lawyers, and would use and abuse you to their own ends, pretty much whenever they wanted. It meant that she’d probably just made fifty errors that could be exploited, even if she didn’t know what they were.
Still, as long as this being didn’t plan on killing or harming her, or her friends, then she’d deal as far as it went. Not at the cost of her own soul, but given that she literally couldn’t stop all of her information being stripped away every time one of them tapped her in the slightest, she was actually getting well ahead of things. Even if it was basically just a truce. Of course the next time Lenore gave Zack a kiss on the cheek, he was going to know all about it. As Fram, if that’s who Mark really was, had pointed out though, it wasn’t her job to protect him from his own kind.
Once back in the store, she got a single piece of paper and wrote down a word on it. Marmalade. She’d never been able to stand that stuff herself, which apparently was a snooty form of bigotry, but Greater Demons had a tendency to be right, as far as almost anything went. So if he said coconut and that crap was a taste sensation, then it probably was.
Lenore looked a tiny bit upset when Eve noticed her, what with her blood red eyes and the protruding fang teeth, but she didn’t try to jump Eve for being too trusting.
Eve just said what she was thinking out loud.
“We can’t trust any of that. You understand that, don’t you? Right now, you should probably take Zack a treat. Don’t, you know, say anything about all this. Actually, here, I want to use him as a tester too, anyway. Let me try the chocolate caramel, on the new avocado base, with him. There needs to be a crunchy aspect. Um, slivered almonds?”
They agreed on a light dusting of those, on the upper layer, along with a green colored cherry, just for variety. Her boss made her own, so they could have any color they wanted. Green was a good one around Christmas, paired with brilliant red, but the purple ones were the prettiest.
Blue just seemed unhealthy.
The Vampire ambassador left at a quick walk, holding the large treat on a tray, as Mark watched her from the window, shaking his head slowly.
Eve mouthed words at him, since she didn’t want to broadcast things to the whole mall.
“What? We aren’t telling him. We can’t control Greater Demon magic.”
Mark answered out loud, so that she could hear her. It was a muttered thing though, and a bit bitter sounding.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you were one of us, too. Normal beings aren’t this annoying. I’ve seen you with The Mistress of Souls, so I know you aren’t her… No, wait, I’ve got it, you’re really just that big of a cunt. Well, if I end up being run out of town, I blame you. I have things to do here, you know. See if you get any information from me when you can’t find me for fifty years. Hmph.” He even crossed his arms, and glared at her, which all seemed a bit more playful than she really would have expected.
The thing there was that she did know that things were going on, and whoever Marcus was knew she had access to that kind of data. Probably enough to actually work things out, if she were say, five times smarter than she actually was.
She tried to look surprised, and started making more things to eat for the gym people.
Then she mouthed more words at the former fatbeard.
“I’m not even in that league, but come on, what are the odds that I’m not being played by you? Hello, Greater Demon…”
That got a grin, even as Zack walked from the back of the shop, holding something sharp looking in his right hand. It glinted in a nice silver color, with hints of energy coming off of it. That was mainly purple, and she didn’t think that most people would have been able to see it. Not the Human ones anyway.
That led to a conversation, and both men leaving through the back, to go to a very different place, through the Node. Eve listened to them chatting about it.
It turned out that the only surprise there was that both of them were back a minute later, and Zack walked out the front, toward his own store, passing Lenore on the way. The boss Vamp was headed back, looking mildly concerned, but less so than Eve would have thought. Except it made sense, given that Zack was back already. That meant it either wasn’t a huge threat, or that he’d won.
He spoke out loud, but was far enough down the way that Eve had to focus to hear the words.
“It really is Fram. Keep an eye on him for me? He wouldn’t say why he was here, just that it involved watching me and wasn’t harmful to me or my personal interests. That could mean a lot, so we need to be ready. It wasn’t a lie though, I don’t think. I could run him off, but he swears that it isn’t a bad thing. I don’t trust it, but there’s no benefit to him trying to challenge me directly. Right now everyone thinks that he’s of much higher status than I am anyway, and that’s his thing. Looking good with the others. Going after me wouldn’t do that for him, and there’s always a small chance that he could lose, which would make him look bad. He’ll want to avoid that, for a long time.”
Eve nodded, knowing that it wasn’t actually addressed to her. Lenore was the one in charge of that kind of thing, and the only reason for Eve to be involved was the same one that had let her guess at it being Fram in the first place. She’d known him for about a year, and they’d hung out. In a way, she was about as close to him as she was almost any of the other Greater Demons except Keeley and Zack. Darla was her buddy, so there was that, but she’d never slept with her. Or Fram.
Not that she knew about, at any rate. They were great at shape shifting though, which Mark had reminded her of without even trying.
That basically gave her a lot of perspective on things, didn’t it? Her part in all of this, well, it wasn’t over yet, since there had been a lot of things in the last half year that had gone on, and knowing that it really was a Greater Demon behind it all would be nice, after a fashion. Not that she could do anything about it, but understanding that would let her step back and be free of the subconscious idea that she, personally, was supposed to try and do something about it.
Which was silly anyway. She was, no matter how great and awesome she felt about herself, still a baby Vampire. One that had managed to get on the bad side of one of the Council already. By being so great at her new job, true, but still that was a major fail right there, she knew. A thing that a wiser Vampire would have managed not to do. It wasn’t like it would have been really hard to pull off.
Not before. Eve should have kept her mouth shut, and all her actions as meaningless and small as possible. It would have been enough to just manage to not be angry and in everyone’s face all the time, wouldn’t it?
Now she’d have to deal with the fallout of having called attention to herself. Worse, people had kind of warned her not to do it, more than once and she hadn’t really paid attention to that advice, even though it was good, and Eve could see the benefit of it.
For the moment though, she finished the day, cleaning and then going over all the forms in the office again. Without being told, because she had to keep busy and there was no television there. Even if there was, she doubted that Lenore, an ancient being from a time when no one had that kind of thing, would have let her waste any real amount of time with it.
On the good side she had a very tired Cormack to entertain herself with. That was less fun and more work, but Lenore seemed happy enough with them, when the man started to wake up, at about seven. She stayed late and everything, even though there wasn’t enough work for three people. When Cormack was back to normal, the boss clapped several times.
Eve recognized the move as one that Bey made when he was very well pleased with something.
“Perfect! Very good work, both of you. Now, Cormack was on the schedule for tonight… But I don’t want to push you too hard.” She looked worried, but Eve shrugged.
“No big thing. I can work tonight, and he can stay and make sure I don’t screw it up. Walk around and visit people, or whatever, while I do the stuff here? Then we can keep on
with staying awake, tomorrow.”
Lenore turned to ignore Eve, and look only at Cormack, who nodded.
“That sounds fair. I feel normal now. Good even, thanks to that bloody orb being down. That gets better doesn’t it?”
Eve shrugged, but Lenore shook her head.
“Not really. It’s a constant torment. Being willing to weather that sort of pain, day after day, is a big part of why other Vampires tend to be impressed with those that can manage it. If you’re both certain? It’s a hard schedule, but a temporary one. If you can do this, I’ll start the paperwork for getting you an embassy position, Cormack. One of your own, or at least get you in as an assistant?”
He seemed slightly sheepish, but Eve smiled.
“He can do it. This is the hardest part, by far.” She winked at him, and then looked back at her boss.
“I mean trying to let me do a full night shift, kind of alone. Not that it should be too hard, since I’ve done it before, but you never know. We should get him a stick so he can hit me if I mess up too much.” She was kidding. Honestly, she expected at least a polite chuckle, or a gentle grin from the others.
Lenore just went to the supply closet and unscrewed the top from a mop handle, and gave it to him. Her face was deadly serious the whole time, too.
“That should do it. Well, since you both are doing my whole job for me, I’ll be back in the morning. If you need me, call. I expect that, but only if a real emergency takes place?”
There was a considering look from Cormack, his slightly average face finally nodding.
“Aye. We should be fine. I’ll stand back and let the lass run the embassy alone, and make sure the shop is cared for? Unless you can do both? Then I’ll just be at loose ends. Still, that’s the job, if you’re truly up for it?”
After Lenore left, Eve kind of expected something big to happen, just to mess with her. It was the kind of paranoid feeling that never really left anymore, she realized. It was, no doubt, part of her, and had been for a long time. A pessimistic sense that things were going to always be a little bit off. Just a little wrong, and if she didn’t notice it in time, it would rise up and bite her on the ass.
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.<
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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.
