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

she could, and
find out a lot more about any weaknesses he might have first. Eve knew how to
fight, but it would probably come down to powers, not skill, that way.
    It did
when you were dealing at a certain level of raw strength or speed.
    Did he
have any special psychic powers? For that matter, did she ? The idea
wasn’t impossible, but other than trying a bit of compulsion on a drunk guy
once, on her very first day, she really hadn’t done anything like that yet. It
had all been about work, to tell the truth. That, and running fast. These
things needed to be known before she went for him.
    Lenore
gave her a considering look, instead of telling her she was being stupid,
which, naturally, she really was. Making threats against someone that could
kill you and get away with it was really dumb. Especially in the press. Even if
it had been meant as hyperbole.
    “I
honestly don’t think that Mr. Swerlin will survive long enough for you to
extract your pound of flesh. It would be interesting to see, however. You
should suggest the concept to him when you reach him?” There was a long look at
the phone, as if to explain it all.
    She got
on the thing, and was redialing for the seventeenth time when the local
television news crew came. The reporter was a younger woman, who didn’t seem
experienced if her body carriage and the fact that Eve didn’t recognize her at
all counted. Probably the girl that the others at the station were willing to
throw away, if the whole thing turned out to be a massive joke or game. That,
or they believed it and sent in the nervous young brunette as a Human sacrifice
to placate them?
    Yummy.
    The
phone picked up right then, so Eve held up her hand, getting the news people
not to speak for a bit.
    “Representative
Swerlin’s office, this is Jonas, may I help you?”
    “Hi, Jonas.
I need to talk to Richard, if that’s doable? This is Eve Benson, from the
Vancouver local area?” She nearly said embassy, but no one else had yet,
including Jonas, that she knew of. Doing that would be announcing that there
were other things in the world, at least to the intelligent people out
there. That wasn’t needed yet. It was probably coming, but for the moment,
there was no need to risk anyone else, or their families.
     “Uh…
He’s in a meeting right now, may I take a message?”
    “Interrupt
him. Otherwise I’m going to have to run from here to Maine. That would take a
while so, how about you help me out? Also, is Keeley there? I left a message
for her, but she hasn’t gotten back to me. That’s kind of rude, but what can we
do? She only jumps to my calls every other Thursday.” It was name dropping, but
it also worked.
    After
all, even though she’d met Jonas a few times, at parties and with Rebekah, he
didn’t recognize her name, did he? There were probably more Eve’s in his world
than her, and she wasn’t a Human anymore. The few times they’d met in person,
she had been.
    “She was
here. I think she’s left. Could… You hold? I’ll try to get the Representative.
I can’t promise anything. He’s… The Bey is here .”
    “Oh?
Good. Tell him I said hi? Bey is my buddy.”
    She was
on camera, so smiled, knowing that a lot of people might see it, eventually.
Lenore came out and spoke to the woman in the background, distracting the
camera crew.
    It was,
again, the fault of Jonas. The snitch. Eve caught enough of the conversation
going on to get that part of things.
    The
phone picked up, almost thirty seconds later.
    “Hello?
I’m a bit busy at the moment, if this can wait?” It was a very stressed out
sounding Richard Swerlin, and it was pretty clear that Jonas hadn’t actually
told him that she was on the line. Otherwise he wouldn’t have answered at all,
most likely. She was just some regular Vampire girl, after all. He didn’t even
know that she was hot, and if he did, it might not make a big difference to
him.
    He had
like four wives after all, and probably no sex drive, however