Page 43 of Hunting My Vampire

I’d already been told in no uncertain terms that I was not welcome there.

Kaya’s friends blamed me for her getting hurt and I understood. I also blamed myself.

I went to tell them about the explosion the night she was admitted to our local hospital.

“How come she’s hurt and you’re not?” the grandmother asked me, suspiciously.

I had fractured my arm and had scratches on my face but these were of course minor compared to what Kaya was going through.

“She knew something was coming,” Tina said. “The last couple of days she’s been restless and agitated. Didn’t sleep.”

She glared at me. “This is your fault!”

Even Princess turned away from me.

“Don’t you dare show up at that hospital,” Tina warned me. “I don’t want to see you anywhere near Kaya, ever again! Filthy blood sucker!”

I left, angrier than I had ever been before.

I had to know who was behind this!

My first suspect was Simon but I was quickly informed that he had been traveling to Hamburg to attend some party. He could’ve ordered the whole thing though; I was not convinced he wasn’t behind it.

The pilot of the private jet told me that he had received a call a few hours before take-off from someone wanting to know if the plane had a destination yet. After he gave the caller the details the person had simply put the phone down.

We tried to trace the call to the airplane but it was a dead end. It was a burner phone, and all that this told me, was that the whole thing was planned.

When I tried to visit Kaya that evening, a big man blocked my way.

“You are not welcome,” he said to me, in a very hostile and aggressive tone of voice.

I recognized him from the auto shop. It was the owner, Fuzz.

“I just want to see if she’s all right,” I said, trying to look past him.

Kaya was still lying with her eyes closed. When I’d called the hospital earlier, I’d been told her condition was unchanged.

“Man, you just never learn, do you?” He gave my chest a hard shove, forcing me to take a few steps back.

Take it easy, I told myself, the man is upset. I didn’t want to lash out at him.

“You motherfuckers think you own the world, ain’t that right? Death follows you every fuckin’ where you go and you just don’t give a shit, do you?! Why would you, dead asshole that you are! But Kaya wasn’t that lucky, was she?!”

I bit my tongue.

“When she wakes up, tell her…”

He interrupted me, “I’m tellin’ her your fucked up ass isn’t coming near her ever again, if I have anything to do with it. Now get out!”

I didn’t want to fight him. He cared about her and was concerned for her.

I retreated, checking on Zoran who was sitting at the entrance of the ward, pretending to be visiting another patient.

“I’ve been watching her,” he said. “Only friends coming to visit, don’t worry.”

But I did worry. I didn’t know if she had been the target of the gas explosion or if it had been me. Perhaps it was both of us.

I knew it wasn’t a good time to take time off work, especially considering the problems I’d been having recently but I couldn’t think of anything else now. I called Max and told him he had to step up and make sure nothing like that happened again. I needed to be able to rely on him. I had not fired him after all and this was his chance to show me his loyalty.

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