Hunting My Vampire (Immortal Vampire #3)

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.

I’d already been told in no uncertain terms that I was not welcome there.

Kaya’s friends blamed me for her getting hurt and I understood. I also blamed myself.

I went to tell them about the explosion the night she was admitted to our local hospital.

“How come she’s hurt and you’re not?” the grandmother asked me, suspiciously.

I had fractured my arm and had scratches on my face but these were of course minor compared to what Kaya was going through.

“She knew something was coming,” Tina said. “The last couple of days she’s been restless and agitated. Didn’t sleep.”

She glared at me. “This is your fault!”

Even Princess turned away from me.

“Don’t you dare show up at that hospital,” Tina warned me. “I don’t want to see you anywhere near Kaya, ever again! Filthy blood sucker!”

I left, angrier than I had ever been before.

I had to know who was behind this!

My first suspect was Simon but I was quickly informed that he had been traveling to Hamburg to attend some party. He could’ve ordered the whole thing though; I was not convinced he wasn’t behind it.

The pilot of the private jet told me that he had received a call a few hours before take-off from someone wanting to know if the plane had a destination yet. After he gave the caller the details the person had simply put the phone down.

We tried to trace the call to the airplane but it was a dead end. It was a burner phone, and all that this told me, was that the whole thing was planned.

When I tried to visit Kaya that evening, a big man blocked my way.

“You are not welcome,” he said to me, in a very hostile and aggressive tone of voice.

I recognized him from the auto shop. It was the owner, Fuzz.

“I just want to see if she’s all right,” I said, trying to look past him.

Kaya was still lying with her eyes closed. When I’d called the hospital earlier, I’d been told her condition was unchanged.

“Man, you just never learn, do you?” He gave my chest a hard shove, forcing me to take a few steps back.

Take it easy, I told myself, the man is upset. I didn’t want to lash out at him.

“You motherfuckers think you own the world, ain’t that right? Death follows you every fuckin’ where you go and you just don’t give a shit, do you?! Why would you, dead asshole that you are! But Kaya wasn’t that lucky, was she?!”

I bit my tongue.

“When she wakes up, tell her…”

He interrupted me, “I’m tellin’ her your fucked up ass isn’t coming near her ever again, if I have anything to do with it. Now get out!”

I didn’t want to fight him. He cared about her and was concerned for her.

I retreated, checking on Zoran who was sitting at the entrance of the ward, pretending to be visiting another patient.

“I’ve been watching her,” he said. “Only friends coming to visit, don’t worry.”

But I did worry. I didn’t know if she had been the target of the gas explosion or if it had been me. Perhaps it was both of us.

I knew it wasn’t a good time to take time off work, especially considering the problems I’d been having recently but I couldn’t think of anything else now. I called Max and told him he had to step up and make sure nothing like that happened again. I needed to be able to rely on him. I had not fired him after all and this was his chance to show me his loyalty.

“You can rely on me,” he assured me. He told me of some tensions on the board following Dominique’s death and how he’d been looking into the whole hacking situation.

“Did you find out anything new?” I wanted to know.

“Not as such… but I have to say, Mr. Montenegro has been acting strangely.”

I knew Max didn’t like to gossip and speculate. If he was bringing this to me, he must have serious concerns.”

“In Austin, after the board meeting, I overheard him talking to someone on the phone, discussing a meeting. When I asked him about it afterwards, he denied it.” He paused, “But I checked his calendar, he had changed his flight to go to New York that night.”

“How were you able to access his schedule?”

Max sounded uncomfortable. “I pulled some strings. His assistant… owes me a favor.”

“Well done!” I approved of such renegade actions of course. I realized that Max felt guilty about the whole hacking drama, he must have known I was thinking of replacing him. Perhaps this would incentivize him to work harder for me. In which case, the whole situation could be turned to my advantage.

He went on, “I’ve been trying to figure out what his interest might be in New York. Considering that our business is prohibited from operating there, it doesn’t make much sense. But as you know, the entertainment sector of our business has somehow been given licenses to operate.”

“How?”

Max hesitated, “He has some understanding with the city. Mayor Frank Vargas has a lot of power there.”

“Enough to sway the old families?” I couldn’t quite see it.

“Perhaps Mr. Montenegro was helping him, somehow?” he said.

“It seems both he and Mr. Beaufort are able to travel and do business in New York. I have also heard that Mrs. Ulrika Beaufort was at a party on 5th Avenue.”

“Keep digging,” I told Max. I didn’t like the sound of this but I had another appointment.

I headed out to a ranch in Pennsylvania, where I knew Natania had gone to spend some time with her family. I had not spoken to her since I had fired her following the hacking scandal.

I had heard that her father had been paralyzed after the incident and was now confined to a wheelchair. The parents were living on a farm, which was being run by Natania’s brother.

It was near Allentown, a scenic area of rolling green farmlands and picturesque trees dotting the landscape. I struggled to see Natania here though, with her tailored suits and painted nails.

I drove up to the house, parking the Lambo under the tree.

I gave her a few minutes to notice my arrival, then I got out and slowly approached the house. I didn’t want to make her family uncomfortable but I also needed answers.

As I thought she would, Natania came out to greet me. She wasn’t exactly friendly but not unfriendly either.

“What are you doing here?” she asked me, her arms folded across her chest.

She wasn’t wearing make-up and was dressed simply in jeans but she looked good. Natania was the kind of girl who would always look good no matter what she wore.

I asked after her parents and she said her father was improving slowly. I told her about the gas explosion and she said she was sorry to hear about us getting hurt.

Then she said, “But what has this got to do with me?”

“I want you to think about who could be behind this. You must have some idea, some feeling about the forces at work here?”

I could see her struggling with her feelings.

“Natania, I need your help here. Someone is trying to kill me, destroy me. Don’t you have any idea where it is coming from?”

I felt sure that underneath it all, she was loyal to me and I was proven right.

She bit her lip.

“There was one thing that was strange,” she said. “You know, after Mrs. Le Bruin told me to send that email and I told her that you would find out and kill her…”

“Yes?”

“She said… it didn’t matter. That she was dead anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s just it, I didn’t know what she meant. But when I thought about it, I realized that she meant she was just like me, being used like a pawn by someone.”

I had suspected as much.

“She wasn’t behind the attack on my father though,” Natania added. “My mother said the people who had kidnapped them and beaten my father had told them it wasn’t personal. That they were only collateral damage in an ancient war.”

“The men told them that?” I felt a sudden rush of energy.

Natania nodded. “Does that mean anything to you?”

I barely had time to thank her, squeezing her arm and telling her I would send money to help with her dad’s rehabilitation.

I jumped in the Lambo and drove home at the speed of light.

I thought I knew exactly who my enemy was.

It was all starting to make sense to me now.