Dead and Everything (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 2) by P. S. Power Page B

Rebekah
was also a famous singer. The lead for the All Vampire Band. Apparently
it hadn’t taken people long to make the connection between the name, which had
been shared openly, and the recent news about Vampires being real. On the good
side, the whole band could just shrug at the world right now. They’d been “out”
the entire time. It wasn’t their fault that no one had really believed them,
was it?
    The
voice on the phone was mellow, and had just a bit of mushiness around the
edges, since the speaker had a full face of fangs, like all Manthori did. As a
Human the distortion was barely noticeable, since Bekah had worked really hard
for a long time to make herself easily understood. Now Eve could hear a
difference, but it still wasn’t too bad.
    “So,
we’re going on in about an hour, and Scotty miscalculated and needs to eat. We
sort of don’t want to point out the Human blood angle right now, given… Well,
the direct threats from the Council, actually. We were told to behave, being
public figures, but there were no actual guidelines as to what to do. Could we
get some of that animal blood? I was told that you might have some there?”
    They
did, but they needed a new batch or two soon. Lenore stood upright, her face
calm, but she turned to look at Eve, and stared into her eyes directly. With no
expression at all, which was maddening.
    She
spoke calmly however.
    “We
can’t have it delivered through regular routes at this time, and sending The
Line Walker for this would be… Insane.”
    There
was a sound of air being sucked in hard, through rows of teeth, but the words
that came were pretty polite. Rebekah always was. She was just a nice being. It
was one of the reasons that she was allowed to be a public figure.
    The
woman was just sweet, and so exotic that most people couldn’t credit her as
being anything but a performer. Her whole band was kind of like that. At least
when well fed.
    “Well… Crud.
I was kind of hoping that you’d ask Zack for us? This is kind of
pressing. I suppose we could try having him sneak off and do a live feeding,
but…”
    They all
knew that one. A Vampire might get away with a live feeding on a Human, and
animals were legal, but it wouldn’t play nearly as well if Scotty, the drummer,
was caught doing it. If that happened, being as high profile as he was, then
the man would probably hurt all Vampires, everywhere, on the third day of them
being a thing in the mind of the public. So, yay.
    It was also just the truth that having a Greater Demon do the work was out, too. The guy
was just a drummer. If asked, the Council probably would have just
suggested they lock the man in a box, rather than let a problem start. He’d be
missed if he didn’t show up though, wouldn’t he?
    Eve
nodded.
    “What’s
the address? I’ll get it there, if I can get a map…
    Lenore
gave her a look that was cold, and then a smile that was freaking insane .
    “Oh? Do
you truly believe you can do that? There is a large difference between moving
quickly between a few miles, and hundreds or thousands. Where are you,
Rebekah?”
    “Um,
right now, at the studio, in Burbank? I can get the numbers for it.” She
started to scramble for that, which had people calling out rapidly. A lot of
them were Human, Eve could tell. There was a slightly wet tone that
non-Vampires had, that Eve had never heard of anyone discussing before she’d
become a Vampire herself. Actually no one had mentioned it since, but she could
tell the difference anyway.
    It took
several minutes for the actual data to come in, and Lenore didn’t move the
whole time. So Eve did, getting a basket of blood ready, taking all the
remaining bottles of the stuff that she had there. All four of them.
    Being
polite enough, at least to people she wasn’t beating or about to, Lenore wrote
the numbers down, and ended the call, after suggesting that Rebekah and her
people make sure Eve was met outside. If she could make it.
    As soon
as the thing,