Page 21 of Shift in the Blood
I nearly ran into Neville coming out of my office. He had a desk and computer there as well. He took one look at me and smiled. “I don’t have to ask how it went. It’s all over you.”
“We need to make sure that Maxim Popov never even thinks about her again, much less comes near her. Or her sister, Carina Manning.”
Neville went all business, following my mood. “Got it. How big of a message do you want to send?”
“I want to send it with my kind.” My voice was harsh. “He doesn’t seem like the kind who takes any other hint than one that’s glaringly obvious. Scare the shit out of him.”
“Wow. I haven’t seen you this pissed since someone tried to buy up Le Subdray.”
I nodded. Le Subdray was my village. Small, mostly farmers even now. South of Borges in the central Loire Valley. I didn’t go back, but I owned the land where my father’s cottage stood. It was a farm. I’d had a memorial to Timotheé Laferriere built, and a center for the arts to support artists in the region. I liked to think that the center would have pleased my father. I had no desire to return, but I wanted it to reflect the man who’d once lived here.
Self-centered? That’s what I’d told Clara, and it was one hundred percent true. Who else but a nostalgic vampire would buy up an entire village to commemorate a man and his son who lived there four hundred years ago.
There was no guilt in me for this decision. I’d made life better for the residents.
Vampires turned to a number of philanthropic measures to relieve boredom and guilt. Not that we spoke of the guilt. Not ever. It was part of the price of being who and what we were.
Back to more pleasant matters. I grinned, feeling the rise of anticipation of besting an enemy. He didn’t know it, but Popov was my enemy.
He’d know soon enough, and he would either stand down or I’d end him. It was that simple.
Neville’s face was a study. “Boss, I hate to look incompetent, but who do I call? We haven’t gone this direction before.”
“Oh. You’re right.” I considered. “Let me make a call, and then I’ll get you connected.”
We walked into the office together. Just as there were human groups of criminals, we had the same in the vampire world.
Ten minutes later, I had Neville in touch with Larson, the guy who made things happen in this area. Neville grinned as I went back to my desk. I needed to look up the whole patronage thing, make sure there was nothing I was missing now that I was an active participant in the Ouroboros society.
Some searching in my emails—how had I gotten onto this many email lists?—found one of their newsletters.
Okay. Here it was. I needed to let the head of the Society know. Oh. I didn’t like that. I read the section of the newsletter again. I didn’t need to let them know who my Chosen was. Only that I had one. I could live with that.
I found the email for the head of the Society, and sent an email.
“Boss? You want in on this?” Neville stood in front of my desk, anticipation rolling off him.
“I do, indeed,” I said. I wanted to see his face. “What’s the timeline?”
“It’s tonight.”
“Excellent. I want to show Clara around. She needs to pick her room, her studio…” I wasn’t sure what else she’d need. “And I need you to set up accounts for her all the places I have accounts.”
“Got it. Limits?”
I shook my head. If I had my way, eventually we would be more than patron and Chosen. But it might take some time, and I was willing to wait. To build something.
My heart began to beat wildly. I stopped, assessing what might be wrong. She was here. She was safe.
“No. No limits. Now excuse me.”
Neville said something but I didn’t hear him as I sped from the office. I made it to Clara’s room in record time. Knocking on the door and waiting for her response was painful.
“Come in.” Her voice was higher than normal.
“Are you all right?”
Her face was red, and I could see the tracks of tears along one cheek. Her eyes were bright with tears that had yet to fall. “What happened?”
