Page 63 of Hunting My Vampire

I would deal with the Gustafson family later.

The Gustafson clan could be a problem, but I would take care of them. I told Zoran to get more men to protect the castle and to add additional cameras to the peripheral areas. I didn’t know what Da Salle was planning and if he was thinking about finding me here, I wanted to be prepared.

After the castle was clean and tidy again, the bodies removed, I had some blood to replenish my system. I actually asked for ethically sourced human blood this time, as I could feel my system lagging. I needed as much strength as possible. All of this was stressful.

I worried about Kaya and what she was walking into.

I had no idea where she was, but I could feel that she was far away. I had gotten her message and while it reassured me in terms of our feelings, I was by no means certain that she was up to this fight.

The fact that Da Salle was building himself up into some kind of super being was deeply worrying.

My phone rang.

It was Marcello. I had not spoken to him in some time, mindful of his compromised situation but it would be good to get a lay of the land.

“Ah, Jack, good to hear your voice. You had me worried!”

“Oh?”

“I spoke to Van Patten yesterday, he said you had some private issue that needed dealing with? Nothing serious, I hope?”

He was fishing, I thought, trying to find out what was going on.

“Some personal business, that’s all.”

“Of course, yes. I was wondering if you had a chance to look at that proposal that Martin had about the merger in South America?”

“Not yet, no. But I don’t think it’s the time to think about mergers. We need to calm the markets. I think we’ll be taking a hit in Europe due to the floods. I have asked for a report on cost estimates for rebuilding the hotels in the Mediterranean.”

“But the revenue coming in from the entertainment sector outside New York this quarter is significant. It does paint a different picture, don’t you think?”

I didn’t comment on that. I wasn’t going to be pulled in on the New York situation.

There was silence on the line.

“Are you quite all right?” Marcello suddenly asked.

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“You sound… a little different,” he said.

“Mmm…” I said, as if I found his comments interesting. “I have to go, is there anything else?”

“Eh… no… I suppose not.”

It occurred to me that he had not expected me to be alive.

He had called to check if everything had gone according to plan with their execution of me. My entire board had been turned against me.

I told the guards to search the rooms for anything suspicious, and to sweep for listening devices and anything out of the ordinary. Including the garages and cars.

I went into my father’s study and switched on the light.

I never came in here.

It was always the place where my father had worked. My office, on the other end of the castle in my own quarters, had been where I had worked ever since I needed a desk and my own computer.

My father’s study had huge bookshelves and deep carpets, leather sofas and a fireplace, that right now, was cold and dark. My father had liked a fire, even though he could not get physical comfort from it.

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