Finally Dead (Eve Benson: Vampire Book 1) by P. S. Power

Otherwise Hiram won’t be getting any sleep at
all.”
    She
waved, since it was something to do. Plus, making sure she was on Zack’s good
side really wouldn’t hurt anything, would it? Now all she had to do was make a
list and make sure she didn’t drop any of her commitments. Hopefully Lenore
would lend her some paper for that. A pen too.
    Bey took
her hand again on the way back, but didn’t say anything to her at all, as they
headed back to the shop. It wasn’t until they were inside that he smiled, which
got everyone else to seem unusually relieved. Even Lenore.
    Zack’s
Vampire girlfriend. Eve tensed, and let her shoulders slump a bit.
    “Oh…
hey… I kind of just promised Zack that I’d have sex with him whenever he
wanted. Schedule permitting, I mean. Is that going to be an issue for you? I
could try to renegotiate, if it is…” That would be hard though, and Bey
clapped, happily.
    “Nonsense!
It was brilliant negotiation! A part of her new business, which means
that he’ll back the plan with both funds and effort, which will lend safety to
the project. Marissa is in as well, so it will be low enough work for young Eve
here. If Lenore was worried about competition in the bedroom, she wouldn’t be
connected to a Greater Demon.”
    Thankfully,
the woman, who was attractive, but no more so than Eve was really, smiled, and
seemed to mean it.
    “Indeed,
Eve. I may have to use you myself, to make certain you know who the boss is,
but I promise I’ll be gentle enough. Only a light beating, now and then, along with
the rest of it.”
    It was a
rape threat, but Eve didn’t think she really meant it. Oh, there might be sex, but that was all. After all, she was in politics and that meant she was
a lot more careful about things like that than most were. Plus, while Eve was
new and young, she had friends that might take exception to that kind of thing.
Not kinky Vampire sex, but if she were truly harmed, it would be a problem.
    Then
again, she’d made her own bed, and climbed into it, in exchange for power.
These others had done their part, so the rest was up to her.
    If that
meant taking a few beatings… Well, it simply would , eventually. No one
had told her that Vampires were all sweetness and light. In fact, she’d been
warned, by everyone she knew, more than once, that they were often brutal and
cold. Bloody minded, too. So, when you got down to it, the kind of person she
wanted to be.
    Eve
shrugged then, but made eye contact with Lenore.
    “Well, we can date, too? If Edom is all right with it, I mean? That way you won’t have to
actually beat me, right?”
    After a
few rather confused seconds, she shrugged back.
    “I… Guess
that sounds right to me? I’ve never had anyone just suggest that before, to be
honest. It…Seems nearly correct to me? I’ll run it past Zachary, and see if he
agrees as well.”
    It was
about the best deal she was going to get, so she smiled about it.
    There
were worse things to do with her time than go out with a pretty girl, after
all.

Chapter
five
     
    Eve
wasn’t really expected to start work just yet. Everyone was most impressed that
she was willing to do anything at all, other than running around yelling at
people, and trying to take over the whole world. That, Lenore said, seeming
like she was joking, really was what most new Vampires did for the first six
months or so.
    Barb
nodded at that, and then grinned.
    “We can
skip that part though, if you want? I think the point here is that other than
beating you and locking you in a closet, no one really has too many plans for
you yet. Really, you shouldn’t be able to walk around in public like you have
been. Even around us . If anyone wants my take on what we should do with
you…” She stopped dead, and glanced over at Edom and then Lenore. After a
moment Bey waved for her to go on, with a little smile curling his lips. “What?
People actually want to hear what I have to say? That’s a first. Well, I
think that we