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

sides that were a shiny brass
color.
    No one was going to give her a
chance to back out though, since Eve was supposed to keep her awake from then
on, and had to be with her for that to happen. They’d started once already, and
she wasn’t going to do the first day over again, now that they had a good start
going for the second time.
    So they ran. Walking really, and
while it was a bit uncomfortable, she kept them going at a steady pace. It was
dark out when they left, or nearly so, and that veil of darkness was following
them as they traveled, heading the direction they were. They didn’t go very
fast though, only about half what Eve could really have managed, if she were
alone. That made the whole thing worse, since it took longer to finish up.
    When they finally got to the
coast of Alaska, which was still white with snow where the map took them, Nikki
stopped, then screamed into the early morning light.
    “ Fuuuuck! ” It wasn’t
exactly directed at her, so there was that, for once.
    Eve smiled, waited a beat, and
took a deep breath.
    “We need to find a boat or
something, and then get across before it gets light out. Unless you’re up to
swimming?” It was about ninety miles, but she wasn’t all that great in the
water herself. She could keep her head above the surface, maybe, but it seemed
like a bit much to ask for.
    Nikki glared at her, but pointed
down the rocky coast, to where a small boat sat, away from the beach a good
way. It meant running down and stealing it, but no one came to stop them, so
they were in the water, paddling fast, before she noticed the leak. Eve pushed
herself into pain then, and propelled them through the water like they had an
engine in the back. It worked well enough, especially once Nikki got it and
started to bail the cold salt water out with her hands.
    In a way it was harder than
running would have been, since she didn’t really know what she was doing at
first. It took hours to get across too, and was daylight when it happened.
Still, they weren’t met on the beach when they got there, even though they did
see people.
    Instead, they just waved, hid the
boat in some bushes, and started to run again. That part was way harder, since
they had to hide a thousand times before they got anywhere near their
destination. Nikki kept trying to take breaks too, signaling to Eve that she
couldn’t take anymore. That wasn’t true though, so after the first few times
she simply ignored the other Vampire, pushing faster when she tried to wave to
her, as if she were urging her on.
    It still took forever, compared
to what they could have done, but they made it. Two full days, and nights,
later, they were there, looking for the right house in a small town that held a
few thousand of them. They were all mainly big places, ones that held lots of
no doubt tasty people. Still, she thought they had the right location, finally,
and Nicole agreed, pointing out the numbers on the houses helpfully.
    People on the street looked at them
funny, but no one attacked them or called the cops, so that was a good sign,
Eve thought. They all just looked a bit bitter and frowned, except for some of
the men, who seemed a lot more pleased to see them than the others did. They
didn’t have time to stop for a date though, so Eve waved to them, and kept
Nikki moving to their destination, which was a large blue painted door in the
side of a gray house that had at least three stories.
    She moved to it and knocked,
hoping she was close to the right place. It was dark out, which wasn’t a
hardship for them, but would make it look wrong if they had to pound on too
many doors, looking for the right place.
    After a minute the door opened,
and a woman, who looked to be about thirty, was wearing a plain blue dress and
was as dead as they were, saw them and made a rather annoyed sound.
    “You are from Council?” The
English was accented and stilted, so she nodded and switched to Russian. It was
the language of the place