Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) Read Free Page B

parking lot a few minutes later. Less than that, since everything still
seemed to be crawling around her all the time.
    She
needed a phone.
    It took
a while to track one down, but she found one. An honest to God payphone ,
and managed to pan-handle enough change to make a call. A short one.
    The
voice that picked up was familiar, since she’d called the Vampire embassy for
the area. A place where she used to work, part time. Yoghurt World. It was a
cover, but someone had to actually make the treats, which used to be her day
job. That,and answering the phones. She knew how to be polite, and about the
people that worked there, so why not?
    “How may
I help you today?” That was the way things always got answered at night, to
avoid confusion. During the day they announced themselves as Yoghurt World, in
case it was a supplier or someone looking for work.
    “Hey
Barb. This is Eve? I was kidnapped, by some feeders I think, and managed to
escape. I’m in Spokane, Washington?
    “Eve!
Edom is freaking out. Where are you? Stay there, and um… Try not to kill
people? You must be starving.”
    She
wasn’t, not really.
    “No, I
have a link set up. The girl I was supposed to kill. She’s in the
hospital. Just a cut on her arm. One of the kidnappers did it, not me. I’m
outside a grocery store.” She had to get the street corner names, but was told
to wait there.
    It took
a while, since the call ended suddenly, without her having change for more, so
she sat in the car. No one bothered her, though a man stared at her pretty hard
after a while. He looked to be homeless, and smelled more than a little, even
from across the street. Like piss and vomit, mixed with body odor. He was, she
knew, the sort of person that she once would have been afraid of. Now she
didn’t feel that way at all.
    Oh, he
was drunk, and partially aroused, sexually. It was clear his attention was on
her too, which would have made her leery, not long before. Now she knew that if
he tried anything, she could stop him. Dead , if she wanted to. It was a
nice feeling.
    That
was, after all, why she’d become a Vampire in the first place. To make sure no
one could hurt her again. Not easily. It was also why she’d trained so hard for
the last four years. Nearly five now, really.
    So that
when she became one of them, the undead, she’d start out more powerful than
most did. In control of herself, and able to fight. Not just flail around like
a young woman was supposed to do. She’d even taken lessons for that, which had
already paid off, she realized. Not ten minutes after she woke up dead, she’d
had to fight already.
    Even
better, she’d won . True, that had a lot to do with the element of
surprise, and the fact that she’d acted in a way no one had probably thought
she could, she was willing to bet, but it had worked, which was enough for the
first day.
    The
drunk street man finally stumbled over, and rapped on the window. She both
heard and smelled him coming without even looking up. He favored his right leg,
which had a sore on it, near the knee. She could tell, somehow .
    “Hey,
baby. You want spend some time wit me?”
    She
looked at him, and shook her head.
    “Nope!
I’m too busy for the time being. Thanks for the offer though. I’d take you up
on it, if I wasn’t waiting on people to show up.” Well, if he smelled
better. It wasn’t about his looks, even though he was kind of ugly. She didn’t
judge people that way.
    Unlike
before, she didn’t get turned on though, which could be the disgust she felt,
but she thought it might be that her sex drive was actually shutting down. All
she felt for the man was a desire to drink his blood. That feeling was decently
strong, but not allowed. As in actually against the law. Vampire law, but
still, that was a real thing for her now, wasn’t it?
    The day
before, if she’d broken their laws or rules, she would have been fine. They
just didn’t count for a Human. Now, that night, the world brilliant and