Page 42 of Hunting My Vampire

“But that was the price we paid for life.”

Jack had told me his family had not been fighting on behalf of the older vampires who had been wiped out by the bomb blast. They had been in favor of peace negotiations, and his father had been in France at the time, one of the representatives of the more liberal branch of vampires. But there were many left who didn’t agree with the new world order, he told me. Of the older families, many had elected not to fight in the war, sitting it out in private enclaves across the world.

These were the dangerous families, who were loyal to no-one but themselves and would kill their own kin if it suited their purposes.

Like Simon, I thought, thinking again of his serpentine eyes, glittering with evil as he smiled at me.

But then Jack came back, all eager to go away for the weekend.

I’d never been to Martha’s Vineyard, not to mention, a ride on a private jet plane.

Even though I wasn’t one for dressing up or indulging in luxuries, I allowed myself to be picked up in the limousine. Jack was in high spirits, clearly enjoying himself. We hadn’t seen each other in a few days and I liked seeing him again.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, his voice husky.

“I know,” I said, winking at him and he pretended to grab and tickle me. We were in good spirits all the way there, where a car waited to pick us up from the airport and take us to a huge mansion on the edge of the ocean.

“This is yours?” I asked, my mouth hanging open. It was a palace and much nicer than his castle, actually. Clover Castle was all stone and dark corridors, where this house was light and airy, inviting the sun and sea air into every room.

“It belonged to my mother’s family,” Jack said. “I bought it from them and fixed it up. I haven’t had much time to come here or anyone to come with me, to be honest.”

He pulled me close and as he kissed me, I felt my fears melt away. There was something about being in his arms. I felt safe with him, even though I would never have told him that. For the first time in my life, I was with someone who was probably stronger than me. A real match for me.

That evening, a car took us to a romantic restaurant on the pier of one of the scenic coastal villages. The maître d’ took us to the best table in the room, with a view over the ocean. It wasbreathtaking. I had never been in a restaurant like this, never had anyone want to take me anywhere special like this before.

I had a dress on for the occasion, which was unusual for me, and high heels that I could barely walk in. But the look on Jack’s face when he saw me, more than made up for it.

It was only for a few hours anyway.

It would have been the perfect evening. It could have been.

But then something happened that I should have been prepared for, something that almost cost me my life. We were waiting for dessert, when I saw a movement from the corner of my eye.

“What is it?” Jack asked, noticing my behavior.

I got up to take a look, I thought I had seen something suspicious. Jack followed me to the front of the restaurant and just as I stepped outside, seeing someone running away; a huge blast ripped through the restaurant, shattering the entire structure. The impact threw me across the pier and the last thing I remembered seeing, was a white crow, circling overhead.

Chapter 18

Jack

The explosion flattened the restaurant, killing six people and injuring twenty-four. Almost everyone at the restaurant suffered some kind of injury. Kaya and I had been outside when the blast happened, but the impact had caused her to hit her head against the pier. She was taken to the hospital with most of the injured and after some wrangling with the local doctors, I had her flown to Hawston.

Even though her head injury was not deemed severe, she was given sedatives to allow doctors to evaluate the situation once the swelling had gone down. The fear was that some of her old injuries could have been aggravated.

I had not known the extent of how badly she’d been injured before.

I was wracked with guilt, seeing her lying in the hospital.

She had been jumpy all weekend, not really wanting to go away, as if she’d known something might happen. I’d been trying to get her to forget about everything, as if our romance was more important than anything.

The last thing she’d said had been to draw my attention to a suspicious movement outside. She’d gone to investigate and I followed her. I was annoyed by the interruption, it felt to me like she wouldn’t, or couldn’t simply relax and enjoy the evening.

Now, it seemed she had been right to be concerned.

I summoned every member of the castle security team and told them to find out who was behind that blast. Initial reports indicated a gas explosion but it was not accidental.

I sent two men to Martha’s Vineyard to follow the police and try to find out more information from there. I told Zoran to watch over Kaya in hospital but discreetly.

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