Hunting My Vampire (Immortal Vampire #3)

Chapter 28

Jack

Kaya called me after about a week, asking me how much cash I could come up with at a short notice. I told her about the safe at the castle and the stacks of money that had been stored there for centuries. She told me of her plan and I met her with a bag of notes outside Hawston.

She looked better than ever, lean and strong. Her manner was focused, almost distant.

I didn’t ask what she had been doing in the mountains, I could see she had been preparing for the mission.

“I wish you’d let me help,” I said, as I handed over the money.

“It’s easier this way,” she said.

She gave a little smile. “But if you want to help, it would be good to keep Da Salle distracted, give him some work problems or something, so he doesn’t see me coming.”

This aligned perfectly with my own thinking.

I was in the process of dissolving the Topaz Group board, using some fine print in the company bylaws to stake my claim. I had put a plan in place that accused all of the board members of conflict of interest and legal breaches, not acting in the best interests of the company and undermining me. I had sought meetings with the remaining shareholders of the company, of which there was now only one. With Simon and Ulrika gone, the only shareholders were myself and Flora’s granddaughter, Elizabeth, an oncologist in the city, who had very little interest in business. She always supported me in the business no matter what I did. With her backing, I would have the legal backing to kick all of the board members out and if that didn’t get Da Salle’s attention, I’d be surprised.

It felt good to take action. It almost felt like going into battle, although this was a different kind of fight.

Max gave me a call and said he had some papers for me to sign, and asked if he could come to the castle. He came within the hour and I let him in, excited to see my plans coming to fruition.

He parked his car and came towards me.

I noticed that his gait was somehow different.

As I was watching him coming towards me, his outlines started to blur and his shape changed. Right in front of me, he became someone else.

To my shock, the man standing in front of me was far bigger and more muscular.

It was Da Salle.

“Not expecting me, then?” Da Salle said and laughed.

I couldn’t believe he’d mastered the skinwalking skills, which had always belonged to the dark arts, the others.

“What do you want?” I asked, keeping my voice loud and firm.

“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 for Kaya 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 ? ?a is the sho’qa’i,”

“The what?”

“The Waná ? ?a? 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.”

I shot him with one of the guards guns and he simply laughed as if I was a fly.

“Those can’t hurt me anymore,” he laughed and flew over to me, taking out a thin, silver dagger.

He was about to fling it at me when he froze mid-air, his face a mask of horror.

A strange gurgling sound came from his mouth and I watched as his face changed color and started to bubble and melt. He fell to his knees, his arms contorted. Behind him, I saw Kaya, covered in blood, leaning against the doorway.

“Kaya!” I ran towards her, catching her as she fell into my arms. I could see she’d lost a lot of blood and needed medical attention right away.

“Get… that…” she pointed at the occillite pendant that had rolled away from Da Salle. It had burnt into his back like acid, dissolving everything in its wake. I took a towel and covered my hand, as protection to pick up the pendant by the leather strap.

“Scared of a little stone?” Kaya smiled weakly at me, taking the stone from me.

Then she asked, “Is he… gone?”

I smiled, “It’s over. You did it.”

“You helped though,” she said, hobbling over to me, holding her side. “Clearly, I’m no longer a one-man band.”

I managed to carry her to the elevator. We made our way down to the parking lot and I hotwired Da Salle’s car, driving right through the boom and dodging his army’s bullets as they rained down on us.

I knew we wouldn’t be able to get out of the city without help.

Glancing over at Kaya, I was shocked to see that she had lost consciousness.

“Kaya, Kaya!” I kept shaking her arm but she didn’t wake up.

I didn’t have much time.

I called Elizabeth and asked her to help me.

“I’m a cancer specialist!” she said, horrified. “Did you say she’s been shot? She needs a trauma physician.”

“She has just defeated the biggest cancer of our time,” I said. “But I think it has spread all over the city. We can’t risk going to any of the hospitals around here. Please, help us.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Of course, I’ll text you an address.”

“Hurry!” I said and ended the call.