Dead Certain (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 3) by P. S. Power Page A

before dark, so news of it may spread, and
my people flee, for their lives.”
    Eve could see that. It wasn’t
even a horrible plan, really. She decided to keep it on the back burner, and
then got Bohdan to take them to a small office with a phone in it, and had him
negotiate the system, so that they ended up in contact with Marissa. She was
the one member of the Council that Bohdan could just call up, after all.
    The phone was handed to Eve
before it picked up, presented as if it might just be the instrument of his own
death.
    “Hello? This is Marissa.” The
words were in English, so Eve switched up, speaking that way herself. It was a
relief, after, the last few days of stumbling to find the right words all the
time.
    “Hey. This is Eve. Benson? I’m in
Moscow, and have Bohdan here. He’s given up, and is calling off the rebellion.
That being the case, we need to know what’s allowed for that? We could open up
an animal blood business here, if you want? He’s going to return all the cash
that was taken, and I’m planning to kill any of his people that attacked
Council holdings directly. Is there anything else that you there want done?”
She didn’t know if any of that would even make sense, but after a few moments,
the mellow tenor spoke, gently.
    “You have him there? Is he well?
Intact? Things didn’t go well between us last we spoke.”
    Eve looked at the other Vampires,
who were standing there and listening, and made a face she hoped would be
considering.
    “Eh, well, we didn’t have to
rough him up or anything. Not yet. I just need to know what’s needed here. I’m
way overstepping my job, but Nikki kind of botched things on this end for me,
so that’s my excuse this week. Not too bad to save though. Unless you want
everyone dead here? That will be harder now, since they kind of know that we’re
here.”
    That made sense to her, at any
rate, and Marissa seemed to get the basic idea.
    “I need to speak to the others,
may we call you back at this number?” That required actually giving it to her,
but that was fine, it seemed. It was still early in the day, which meant that
they weren’t going to be attacked by an army of Vampire rebels yet.
    No, that would come later, when
darkness fell.
    Almost certainly, too. No one
would just march in to go to their deaths, and the Council was filled with
beings that were kind of harsh that way, Eve knew. Not that she didn’t get it.
She really did. Vampires spent hundreds of years being assholes, and it was a
hard habit for most of them to break. The best did it, over time, but it could
take centuries to master, and even then it was always easier for them to give
in to anger and rage, rather than to be logical and detached.
    They weren’t all that slow
though, and called back at about three in the afternoon. For her part, she just
stood there, making Nikki pace the whole time, as Bohdan looked on, confused.
Finally she explained it to him.
    “She’s under orders to learn to
be up all day. Being a bit soft, and lazy, she’s avoided doing that. It’s
easier to bear the sun, if you stay in motion. I don’t know why, but it’s true.”
    That got a nod, and the much
older Vampire seemed to stop and think for a bit.
    “That is a fact. I think that it
has to do with the nerves of the body being used for other tasks. Not that we,
the dead, use nerves for the perception of pain directly, it is an analog
however, for whatever magical system keeps us going.”
    It made some sense to her, so she
filed that away, as the phone first chirped, then rang.
    She answered it, speaking in
English, and hoping it wasn’t a phone solicitor.
    “Eve Benson here.”
    “Ah! Young Eve! I was told that
you and Nicole have broken this rebellion without me? They now seek to deal
with the Council, as is moral and correct?” It was Bey, and he actually sounded
happy enough about the whole thing.
    “Pretty much. There’s some cleanup
needed here, and all that. Some money to be