Page 22 of Kissing Games
‘How?’
‘The router probably needs a reset or the boosters might be down. Come on, I’ll show you.’ He started towards the production offices. ‘When did it stop working?’
‘About five minutes ago.’
They reached an intersection and Charlie opened a cupboard in the wall. The router had gone.Huh?He knew there were boosters throughout the castle, so went to the first one. Gone. He started walking quicker, Valentina jogging to catch up.
‘What is it?’
‘The router and downstairs booster have gone. I’m going to check if the rest are still in place,’ he replied, taking the stairs two at a time.
He searched the whole first floor with Valentina but didn’t find a single one, so moved upwards. As they reached the first attic corridor, he saw a familiar figure crouching down and unplugging a booster from the wall.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Charlie exploded.
Vlad sprang up like an enormous startled spider and kicked the booster behind him.
Charlie turned to Valentina. ‘Why don’t you go back to your room? I’ll come and find you when everything’s back up and running.’
Valentina’s eyes sparkled. ‘Are things about to get ugly?’
His heart flickered into life. ‘I hope so.’
‘Then I’m staying. Seeing someone take down Vlad the Impaler is one of my fantasies,’ she whispered with a grin.
His heart beat faster.
Vlad slammed his door and locked it. Charlie got out his keys, hearing the sound of something large and heavy scraping across the floor inside the room. He unlocked the door and barged in. A pile of boosters and the castle’s Wi-Fi router lay on the bed. A large wardrobe was pulled away from the wall. Vlad peeked his head around the side of it.
‘Let me repeat myself,’ Charlie said slowly. ‘What thefuckare you doing?’
Vlad stepped out from behind the wardrobe. ‘Wi-Fi is non-native EMF and interferes with the ancestral energies of the castle.’
‘Andyouare interfering with the present-day functioning of the castle,’ Charlie replied. ‘How do you think anyone can work around here without it?’
‘They can use Ethernet cables and radios.’
‘How is that going to work with a phone? How am I meant to speak to my family?’ interjected Valentina.
Vlad ignored her. ‘I cannot work in electromagnetic pollution. The spirits concur.’
Charlie took two steps forward and Vlad ducked back behind the wardrobe.
‘Listen up, sunshine. There’s a queue forming of people who can’t wait to kick your sanctimonious arse out of here and, unlucky for you, I’ve just pushed my way to the front. Now, I’m going to take these and put them all back. And if the Wi-Fi signal so much as loses one bar, you and I are going to have a major falling out. Understand?’
Vlad looked coolly back at him, his thin lips pressed shut.
Charlie pulled the edges of the counterpane together, creating a makeshift bag for the router and boosters, and walked out of the room following Valentina.
‘Do you have a key that unlocks every room?’ she whispered as he knelt to plug the first booster back into the corridor wall.
‘Yep, for emergency use.’
‘Is this an emergency?’
He used the excuse of whispering to lean closer to her. ‘If you aren’t happy, then I class that as an emergency.’
She blushed and moved away towards the stairs.
