Page 40 of Hunting My Vampire

“Why?”

I didn’t know how to tell her my fears about Simon. But she knew what was happening at work, that I was in trouble at work.

“Simon is not just another vampire, is he?” she asked.

I had to tell her something.

“No, and he’s not my brother either. I guess the closest he would be as a relative is an uncle.”

She described his visit and his words. “It felt threatening,” she said. “I’m not the kind of person who scares easily but I felt a little something.”

“Won’t you come with me to Austin? I can have you flown in later?” I said quickly. “Get out of town for a day or two? I’ll book us a nice hotel?”

“No,” she said. “I have to look after Princess. Tina has a medical procedure, and she can’t mind her tonight.” She went on, “I’ll be fine, Jack, he’s left town now, hasn’t he?”

But I knew it wasn’t beyond Simon to get someone else to do his dirty work for him. I was convinced that was what was going on with Natania.

“I’m going to ask Zoran to stay outside your house tonight.”

“That’s really not necessary,” she said, a note of annoyance creeping into her voice now.

“Then do it for Princess, not for yourself,” I said.

“Oh, that’s clever,” she said, laughing. “All right, for Princess but be careful in Austin.”

I loved the fact that she sounded worried about me. This was a big step in the right direction for us, making me feel like we may have a future after all.

It also gave me the confidence I needed to be ruthless.

Chapter 17

Kaya

I dreamed of the white crows again that night.

The next morning, I stopped by the supermarket and waited for an opportunity to speak to Tamara.

“I need to get my hands on some occillite,” I said in a low voice, leaning over to ensure that only she heard. The store was empty but you never knew. “I have an uber vampire threatening me and my weapons aren’t going to be enough!”

Tamara’s eyes widened.

“If you really don’t know where that guy is who came back with you, you’ve got to help me get in touch with someone who has the stuff!”

Tamara bit her lip, then nodded.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

I couldn’t shake my nervousness all day.

I had the feeling the crows had been sent to warn me and I kept looking over my shoulder, checking behind me, jumpy as all getout. For the first time in weeks, I thought of the medicine man’s words; the ones that had confused me so. About me having a mission and having work to do. What was he talking about? I knew it meant something but not what it could be.

In the late afternoon, Jack called me, triumphant.

“I did it!” he said.

He had managed to win over the board. He was able to show how one of the board members, Dominique Le Bruin, had conspired with Natania to hack into his email and frame him. Le Bruin had not shown up for the board meeting and was later found in her bathtub, drowned. In a suicide note found at herhouse, she apologized for the hack, saying that she’d made a mistake and couldn’t face up to it.

“I don’t think she acted alone, though,” he mused. “She wasn’t the sort of person to have come up with this by herself. I can’t see the motive. I need to dig deeper.”

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