Page 67 of Hunting My Vampire

“Oh, I think you know,” Da Salle said, coming closer, slowly. “But I’ve had enough of your games. I kept you around, to keep tabs on Kaya but you’re becoming annoying.”

“The board…”

“Oh, please!” Da Salle became irritated. “The board is fine, nobody knows anything of your hair-brained schemes!”

“But…” I thought of how he had become Max van Patten and wondered how long that had been the case.

“When I spoke to Max earlier?”

Da Salle laughed. “Yes, not him, obviously. Glad to see you’re catching on. Not so stupid after all! Now, it’s time to get back to the city.” Da Salle looked at his watch. “Almost time forKaya to set her plan into motion. We don’t want to be late for that!”

I tried to get away but he was too fast for me, pinning me down and tying me up with silver wire, which burned into my skin with searing pain.

“I am sorry about this,” he said, sounding genuinely sorry. “But it will be over soon enough. I just need you to distract Kaya, then I’ll put both of you out of your misery.”

“It’s… all… about her?” I was struggling to speak due to the pain. Da Salle easily dragged me to the boot of his car.

“Of course! The only thing that can stop the Waná?ca is the sho’qa’i,”

“The what?”

“The Waná?ca? The beast or the bear.”

Da Salle told me he had gotten rid of every Native American medicine man or woman over the past fifty years to ensure there was no one able to stop him. Once he transitioned as a vampire, he started taking extra drugs to make himself even stronger and more indefensible.

“I am going to do to the country what I did in New York,” he said. “It is going to be the finest empire in the world. The richest, the most prosperous and the most fabulous!”

“What about the humans?”

“What about them?” Da Salle shrugged. “If we left it to them, our world would become uninhabitable in ten years! The atmosphere would be unbreathable and the earth would be barren. The world is heading for extinction anyway!”

He banged the boot closed and we drove off.

I found myself growing weaker and I must have lost consciousness because suddenly the car stopped and the boot was opened.

Da Salle appeared with a camera and a flash went off.

“Smile for the camera!”

Then he slammed the boot shut again.

I heard him talking to others and they walked off.

I had to get out of here and warn Kaya somehow.

The silver was burning into my skin but I was able to loosen the hold on my wrists and ease my hands out. Opening the boot was less problematic, a good couple of kicks did the trick. I clambered out of the car and saw I was in a parking lot, presumably in his building, the Skyline.

I went over to the elevator and saw the numbers going up all the way to the top. I figured that was where he was heading.

I pressed the elevator number and waited for it to come down. When it opened, it was filled with guards and I was unprepared for the fight that ensued. My head was still jumbled and my limbs were slow but I managed to grab one of their handguns and shoot them, even though I took a few hits as well.

These were mortals though. The shots killed them, while my injuries were less severe. I had a bullet in my shoulder and another had passed through my right arm. It was painful but hardly lethal. I gathered the guns and dragged the men out of the elevator, then headed up.

It opened at one of the top floors. The place was empty and looked like a gym. Two men were lying on the floor. They appeared to have been shot. I could feel Kaya’s presence as well as an urgency that meant something was happening to her.She was in danger. When I heard the shot I was on the other end of the room inspecting the weights section. I ran over in the direction of the gunshot sound as Da Salle came from the bathroom. There was blood on his shirt and he seemed to be limping but he was walking.

He stopped when he saw me.

“You, again,” he said drily. “I was just about to finish you off.”

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