Hunting My Vampire (Immortal Vampire #3)

Chapter 27

Kaya

Da Salle was almost impossible to get to.

Almost.

It took me a while to come up with a plan and it was by no means infallible. In fact, there was a big chance I wouldn’t succeed. I had only two days to execute the plan, if I wanted to act according to the Native American astrological chart.

And I did.

When I came down from the mountain, slightly light-headed from the lack of food and the vast amounts of coffee I’d been drinking, the only person I talked to was Josie.

She had to be my back-up on this.

“You’re right,” she told me as I drove away from the place I’d called home for the first fourteen years of my life, a landscape that had shaped me in more ways than I’d realized.

“If you’re going to do this, you’re going to need help.”

She had accessed Da Salle’s diary and was able to tell me when he was going where. Basically, he would only leave the building where he lived and worked, to go to the airport to fly to Washington on Friday. The two days before that would be the best to get hold of him.

But that meant breaching the Skyline, one of the city’s most impenetrable buildings.

It was over 100 stories tall, with the bottom floors rented out as offices and workspaces. Then there were private apartments and a hotel, which Da Salle used to put up his business associates. The top couple of floors were his private residence with an indoor pool, gym, cinema complex and a golf driving range, as well as a helicopter pad.

He never had to leave the Skyline and rarely did.

Security was tight, there was a whole floor with his private army, who were on standby at all times. In the control room, there were monitors watching every exit and entrance with individual guards scrutinizing them. It would be best to try to confront him outside the building but I couldn’t risk being in too closely confined spaces with him.

Da Salle had a wife called Deborah and two daughters, Crystal and Danielle. They lived with him, each with their own floor. They also worked for him, Crystal was in charge of a construction business, and Danielle ran a fitness and health racket. She was married and had two small children, with their own nannies. My plan was to take the place of one of these nannies, a young woman called Esti. She came in every morning with her own key card and went up to the 70th floor, after which Danielle would take off. Esti looked a bit like me, she had dark hair and a small frame, and Josie had established she was from an immigrant family that was dependent on Da Salle for their residency.

If Da Salle was as powerful as I thought he was, I would not have a large window of opportunity. I would have to strike when I had an opening. I may not make it back alive.

This didn’t bother me. Part of my training had prepared me to live in the moment and focus all my attention on the task at hand, going all in, no matter what the cost was. I had spent my days in the mountains, training and strengthening not only my body, but also my mind. Clarifying my mission and my commitment to the plan. Which was one hundred percent.

There was no room for error and I was prepared to accept that it would take all I had. This was acceptable to me. In many ways, this was what my life had been for, I realized. This was the job I was meant to do. The task I was kept alive for. The white crows had been waiting for me to see this, I was convinced of it.

I drove to New York, stopping outside the city to switch cars and change my appearance. I needed to take precautions. I didn’t know if he was watching me but I had to act like he was. This is why I didn’t take the usual measures. Instead, I went into a parking lot and stole a random car, switching the plates with a car from the workshop in Hawston.

I put up my hair and pulled down a baseball cap, then I drove into the city, ready to keep my head down for any security cameras. I left my phone behind. I had my backpack and, around my neck, the occillite pendant.

On Tuesday night, I arrived in Brooklyn, outside Esti’s parents’ house. I waited for her to exit the subway and convinced her to talk to me in my car. She listened to what I had to say and reacted as I thought she would, with fear and shock. I showed her the money and took my biggest gamble so far.

“You know he has to be stopped.”

And she knew. She bowed her head, tears running down her cheeks.

“Only he will be harmed, I promise you. I won’t hurt the children or anyone else but you will have to help me.”

So, she did.

She gave me her access card and told me how to get in the building, how to act once I was on the 70th floor, she warned me about Da Salle’s head of security, who I may walk into.

The next morning, I entered the Skyline, dressed in clothes that Esti usually wore. My hair was cut shorter like hers. I scanned her ID and smiled at the security the way she always did. All went well as I got into the elevator, when a man got in also, looking at me sideways, saying, “Hola Esti.”

My Spanish is rudimentary at best, but I gave a big smile and said “Hola!” He said something else in Spanish, and I smiled and nodded, making affirmative sounds. He got off on the 50th floor and I made my way to the 70th. The elevator opened on Danielle’s floor. Esti had told me Danielle was often on her way already, I made sure to be a few minutes late, to minimize the amount of time she would have to chat.

“There you are!” The tall, well-groomed woman came tottering towards me on high heels. “She’s real crabby, be warned!” A waft of perfume greeted me as she grabbed a handbag and sunglasses, babbling about baby formula and I went to the baby’s room, seeing the crib and the little girl standing up, holding onto the rails.

She is a cute little thing, I almost thought. Then I remembered she had the monster’s blood in her veins.

Danielle came in, blowing kisses to say goodbye and left. I made sure she was gone, then checked on the housekeeper in the kitchen doing dishes. Then I went back to the nursery, picked the baby up and took the dropper with the sedative from my bag, a few drops is all it took to knock her out right away.

I put her down in her little bed, covered her carefully and made sure she was safe and warm. Then I called out to the housekeeper, “Just popping out to the store, she’s sleeping!” and left before the housekeeper could say anything.

In the elevator, I got the weapons ready, turning my back on the camera. It was just before seven and I went up to the gym, where Da Salle starts his day with a workout. He should be finished by now, I wanted to surprise him if possible. When the elevator door opened, I had my dart guns ready and fired at two men standing right outside. They crumpled right way, incapacitated for at least a few hours. I made my way through the large gym, which was empty.

I ran past the rowing machines and treadmills ignoring the magnificent view of the city. Before I walked into the bathroom, I took the pendant and rubbed the occillite all over my hands and arms, even my face. I heard the sound of a bag being zipped, some words were spoken that I couldn’t make out; I took out my favorite handgun and stepped into the bathroom.

It was filled with steam making it hard to see anything. It threw me for a moment and that was all it took for me to lose the upper hand. As I adjusted to the low visibility, he came at me, throwing me against the tiles. It knocked the wind from me and I slumped to the floor, momentarily stunned.

He came out of the steam, completely naked, grinning like a maniac.

“Kaya, we finally meet! What a pleasure!”

He knew I was coming, I realized.

“God! Do you know how long I have waited for this moment?”

I could only stare at him as he took a towel and started rubbing himself down, taking elaborate care with his prick and making sure I took in the sight of his body. I was too disgusted to pay attention.

“I must say, you are gorgeous. Of course, you were pretty even as a little thing. But tough! Fucking hell, I didn’t realize you would be such a fighter. Even more so than your father! He was a puppy compared to you!”

I was trying to make sense of his words. “Then later, I tried to get to you in Vermont, but the magic was already growing stronger in you, the forces aligning. I knew I had to wait for you to come to me and here you are! Finally!”

I didn’t have a lot of energy to move but I had been prepared for this eventuality. I managed to slide my silver-tipped dagger into my hand, releasing it from the wrist hold. I waited for his attention to slide, as he turned to put on his clothes and summoned all my energy, I pulled myself up and threw the silver letter opener into his back.

He jerked upright and flew around. His face darkened in anger, I saw his eyes turn red, his skin became mottled.

“What?! What have you done? You bitch!” He fell to his knees, but he wasn’t dying, I could see it wasn’t enough. He was too strong for the silver or perhaps not enough had entered his bloodstream. I grabbed hold of the pendant, getting ready to throw it at him, but he held up a hand.

“Wait,” he said, his breath ragged. He fumbled in his pants pocket and held up a phone screen.

“You touch me, he gets it,” he said, bringing up a picture of Jack on his phone. He had been tied up and looked unconscious.

I was shocked and confused by this development.

“Jack?”

Da Salle gave a lopsided smile, contorted by pain. “He came after you, tried to help you, I suppose. Fool. You were the only one who ever stood a chance in stopping me. Did you know that? I have been waiting for the chance to do it for decades and now, here you are. It’s our destiny.”

There was a gun in his hand and he fired it at me before I could grab hold of the pendant. Before my eyes, he transformed into the bear of my dreams, bringing only darkness.