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

should go to the club. I’m not supposed to work tonight, but we
can get there early and clean up, then get out before anyone else comes in.
Unless you need us to track down those bad guys? The ones that tried to steal
Eve?” This was spoken to Bey, directly, which was bold for Barb. She looked
nervous, after the words came out, but the tiny man patted her arm gently.
    “This
sounds like a wondrous plan. If they attack you, you and Miss Benson can take
them in for us? Attempt to leave them alive, for questioning? I shall be away
to Edom’s domicile, to try and collect what information about them I can. If
that is all right with you? I promise not to invade your privacy more than
needed for my research into this question.”
    Ed gave
a small bow, and passed his house keys over, along with the address.
    “Do
whatever you need to find them. I’m pretty sure that nothing there will shock
you too much.”
    Then,
without her being able to track it at all, Bey was simply gone from the shop.
    It was
freaking impressive, Eve knew. The kind of thing that made him incredibly
dangerous, even to other Vampires. It was said that he could punch so fast that
he could make people’s heads explode, and not even get his hand bloody. It
wasn’t the kind of thing that she was going to be able to match any time soon.
No, if she had to fight, being armed would be a good idea.
    “Oh!
Zack asked if I could help out on the night shift at the book store next week?
Just shelving probably. Not dealing with the public a lot or anything too
hard.” It could come up, but even there, at a place open all the time, things
slowed down enough at night that the real business pretty much stopped after a
while.
    It seemed
like Edom was about to say no, but tilted his head instead.
    “I think
you might be ready for that. We need to test your resolve more, first, to make
sure you’re strong enough for it. If you can do it though, I see no reason why
you shouldn’t. If he pays you, then it’s less I have to spend to keep you in
blood.”
    Which
was a good point, “I need to get to a computer too, before I sleep for the day.
To get the things I need to put some samples together.”
    It was
odd to her too, because honestly, Eve had figured her first days would be spent
doing… Vampire stuff. Learning to hunt, and not kill. Just
possibly being locked up, to keep her mighty rage from causing her to go on a
killing spree.
    That
part was there. Even just standing there, thinking about using a
computer made her want to punt the thing through a wall. It was a powerful
anger, but… Well, she’d always lived with that, hadn’t she? Maybe not as
bad all the time, but it had been close for years. The meditation had made it a
bit easier to live with herself, but yeah, she’s pretty much always wanted to
hurt people. It could be why she was able to handle things now. That,
and the self starvation she’d undergone for years.
    Smiling,
trying to keep her mouth shut, Eve waited to be told what to do, rather than
just running off impulsively. Edom would let her know what he wanted done after
all, and that was the deal she’d made. For at least fifty years she had
to be ready to hop to whatever her master told her. Including the stupid stuff,
and things that annoyed her. At times he’d do that just to piss her off,
so she could get used to working under varied levels of stress.
    He’d
flat out told her that, several times.
    This
time he just gave her a close look and then glanced at his watch.
    “You can
go over the shop here, and then get to Troy’s before morning. I’ll drive you,
since you don’t have your car here.”
    It was a
bit clingier than what Barb had just mentioned, but Eve nodded.
    “Sure.
Let me start in the front here?” It didn’t sound all that subservient, but she
was offering to do what had been said, immediately, which for that day seemed
to be good enough. No one seemed to think Ed was being too soft on her, at
least.
    Rather
than