The difference wasn’t a small one either.
She’d thought to keep him for
questioning, but gave that up as he spun in place, and hit her so hard she flew
away. It hurt, and things broke in her face where the knuckles impacted, but
she didn’t let that slow her down, moving in and just hitting him in the head,
using blinding speed, like she should have the first time.
That was what she got for trying
to be all fancy like she had. Bey had told her that if she had to fight, she
was just supposed to kill them, hadn’t he?
There was still mist in the air
when the room went quiet. It was a pleasant smell, filled with iron, and salt. Eve
just took a moment to enjoy that part of things, then waited for the others to
say something.
It was Iryna who went first. It
made sense, given it was her place.
“So… You come to see the sights
and learn our language?” It was addressed to Nikki, who the woman seemed to
like better, for some reason. It was probably the Vodka drinking thing. Eve
should have done that too, but just couldn’t have stomached the stuff.
“That’s right. Tourism is a hobby
of ours.”
Eve looked around, and then
shrugged.
“So, those shovels?”
She was worried, for a bit, that
they might have some problems getting rid of the bodies in secret. It was bad
enough that the Vampires would be missing, but if it was known that they’d just
killed them all, when they were trying to make their collections, it was going
to kind of be a big giveaway. Not that it wasn’t anyway.
As she’d been thinking though,
she wasn’t going to let them beat or rape her just for her cover. It
wasn’t like she had years invested in the thing. On the good side, Iryna just
smiled, made a single phone call, and then waited as a half dozen local
Vampires came.
Eve tried to be polite, even as
she got ready to execute them all, if they were on the wrong side. It was a
motley group, with a very old looking man leading them. He was like the long
fingered type of Vampire, but bowed to her and Nikki a tiny bit, his humped
shoulders making him seem mild and small. There were also two Manthori women,
both of whom were just a bit taller than she was, and three Classics. That was
a man and two women.
The interesting thing was that all of them were married. Including Iryna.
Nikki explained that part to her,
since the words had come in a bit too fast for her to get all of them. They
were there to help though, and would be taking the bodies out of town, to their
secret burial ground. The police didn’t check there, by agreement. They weren’t
bribed into doing that, as much as willing to let a lot of things go unnoticed,
as long as the family there was willing to throw in a few criminals every now
and then. The worst ones that the law had problems dealing with.
In all it seemed like a pretty
sensible arrangement. The cops got rid of people that were too powerful to
prosecute, and these people could just drive to the place they buried those
that got in their way, using an old gray truck, and not have to worry about
being hassled.
The two men in the group moved
then, to get tarps, and seemed surprised when Eve moved to help them load the
bodies on the tan things. The sheeting was made of plastic, and seemed pretty
much like the ones that she’d used in the states. It might have been a
different part of the world, but they all seemed to be living in the same
century. That was strange, since a part of her mind had been thinking of them
as a little backwards. Quaint, after a fashion. Having an embassy in a big old
house, and an ambassador that wore dowdy dresses. That was just her being a
moron though, and thankfully she’d figured that out before running her mouth
about it.
The older looking man, who didn’t
give a name, looked at her, and then waved at her hands.
“You did this?” He spoke in
English. He had an accent, but it was very proper sounding to her. British,
rather than anything else. Refined seeming, which was
She’d thought to keep him for
questioning, but gave that up as he spun in place, and hit her so hard she flew
away. It hurt, and things broke in her face where the knuckles impacted, but
she didn’t let that slow her down, moving in and just hitting him in the head,
using blinding speed, like she should have the first time.
That was what she got for trying
to be all fancy like she had. Bey had told her that if she had to fight, she
was just supposed to kill them, hadn’t he?
There was still mist in the air
when the room went quiet. It was a pleasant smell, filled with iron, and salt. Eve
just took a moment to enjoy that part of things, then waited for the others to
say something.
It was Iryna who went first. It
made sense, given it was her place.
“So… You come to see the sights
and learn our language?” It was addressed to Nikki, who the woman seemed to
like better, for some reason. It was probably the Vodka drinking thing. Eve
should have done that too, but just couldn’t have stomached the stuff.
“That’s right. Tourism is a hobby
of ours.”
Eve looked around, and then
shrugged.
“So, those shovels?”
She was worried, for a bit, that
they might have some problems getting rid of the bodies in secret. It was bad
enough that the Vampires would be missing, but if it was known that they’d just
killed them all, when they were trying to make their collections, it was going
to kind of be a big giveaway. Not that it wasn’t anyway.
As she’d been thinking though,
she wasn’t going to let them beat or rape her just for her cover. It
wasn’t like she had years invested in the thing. On the good side, Iryna just
smiled, made a single phone call, and then waited as a half dozen local
Vampires came.
Eve tried to be polite, even as
she got ready to execute them all, if they were on the wrong side. It was a
motley group, with a very old looking man leading them. He was like the long
fingered type of Vampire, but bowed to her and Nikki a tiny bit, his humped
shoulders making him seem mild and small. There were also two Manthori women,
both of whom were just a bit taller than she was, and three Classics. That was
a man and two women.
The interesting thing was that all of them were married. Including Iryna.
Nikki explained that part to her,
since the words had come in a bit too fast for her to get all of them. They
were there to help though, and would be taking the bodies out of town, to their
secret burial ground. The police didn’t check there, by agreement. They weren’t
bribed into doing that, as much as willing to let a lot of things go unnoticed,
as long as the family there was willing to throw in a few criminals every now
and then. The worst ones that the law had problems dealing with.
In all it seemed like a pretty
sensible arrangement. The cops got rid of people that were too powerful to
prosecute, and these people could just drive to the place they buried those
that got in their way, using an old gray truck, and not have to worry about
being hassled.
The two men in the group moved
then, to get tarps, and seemed surprised when Eve moved to help them load the
bodies on the tan things. The sheeting was made of plastic, and seemed pretty
much like the ones that she’d used in the states. It might have been a
different part of the world, but they all seemed to be living in the same
century. That was strange, since a part of her mind had been thinking of them
as a little backwards. Quaint, after a fashion. Having an embassy in a big old
house, and an ambassador that wore dowdy dresses. That was just her being a
moron though, and thankfully she’d figured that out before running her mouth
about it.
The older looking man, who didn’t
give a name, looked at her, and then waved at her hands.
“You did this?” He spoke in
English. He had an accent, but it was very proper sounding to her. British,
rather than anything else. Refined seeming, which was
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