by T. R. Lester
He fed from her that night and each week since.
He started gathering necessities for his blood bank after their meeting. She chose the people he would need, people who had a blackened soul as she did, and he concentrated on the equipment. Within two months, he was collecting his first human subjects.
His first buyers were from a coven in Atlanta called Coven of Knight, named for its founder, Tariq Knight. Vampires covens are made up of only the strigoi. The seraphic ones have no need for covens as they receive blood from devoted humans and have no need for a coven.
After he secured his first buyers, he received inquiries from other strigoi covens around the area and started selling to them. Over the last eight years, the clientele and demand for blood had grown so large that he was forced to start looking for a building that was in better shape and could hold more humans and equipment.
Neal got to the entrance of the blood room, the room where the collection process occurred, placed his hand on a hand scanner to allow him entrance and walked in. He had approximately twenty-five humans at the present time. He needed more. Of those he had, ten had almost reached the end of their lives. He didn’t know how the doctor did it. He only cared that his blood supply never stopped.
He looked around to see two nurses watching the monitors. They were there alone.
“Where is the doctor?” Neal asked.
“He went home. Everything is running smoothly, so he decided to leave for a bit.” A nurse said.
Neal nodded and went to a small room that he had set up as an office. He unlocked the door and went to sit at his desk and turned the computer on. He searched for the park murder to see if there was any new information on it. He knew, without a doubt, that if he didn’t do something soon with Grace, she would discover him. He knew she was an excellent agent and she wouldn’t stop until the killer was found. He couldn’t allow that. He had plans that he would not let anyone interfere in and he intended on keeping them.
“Soon Grace. Soon you will either be my partner or my next guest. And I will enjoy watching you wilt away to nothing.” Neal whispers.
His cell phone rings. Taking it out, he sees that Francine is calling. Taking a deep breath, he answers.
“What Francine?”
“Well, that’s no way to answer when I call.”
“What do you want?”
“Did you get that moron, Lucas Cane?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you do with him?”
“That’s not your concern Francine.”
“Yes, it is my concern. I have as much in this shit as you do. Grace knows him and is now aware of what he is. Do you think she’s just going to let that go and forget about it?”
“I’ll handle Grace Chandler. She is not your concern. Do you understand me?”
“Don’t you talk to me like that Neal. She will not let this rest until she finds who killed that girl. You are ignorant and stupid for killing her in the first place. How could you be so stupid? You knew what would happen to her. You knew she would die. You risked this whole operation to do something you knew was impossible. You can’t sire children, you know that.”
“Francine, you are walking a very thin line. This is my operation. One I have worked on for years, even before you came along.”
“And I have helped you in every way you have asked me to. I refuse to let your desire to sire children interfere with what we have struggled to build. I don’t give a damn if it is your operation, I am a part of it. So, watch your step and remember that I can put an end to your little dream.”
“Is that a threat? I don’t do well with threats Francine.”
“Take it as you please. I don’t do well with idiots who try to expose me in a situation that would imprison me for the rest of my life.”
“You would do well to watch what you say to me. You are not indispensable. I can find someone else to help me. Remember that.”
Francine hung up.
Neal sat for a moment to let his rage dwindle. He knew he had made a major mistake when he took the human but he wanted offspring and had to make an attempt.
“I think I may need to find a place in my blood room just for you Francine.” Neal says to himself.
Chapter 13
Draven wakes early, ready to meet Grace Chandler. Or was he? He’d been watching over her for a few years, but never thought he would meet her. Was he ready?
“I may as well be ready.”
He chooses a pair of stone washed Levi 501 jeans, an Egara green checked, button down, cotton shirt, and his favorite charcoal gray Red Wing chukkas. He steps back to take a look in the mirror.
“Not too bad.” He thinks.
Leaving the bedroom, he heads into the kitchen, goes to the refrigerator and takes out a bag of blood. Cold blood is not the best, but since he has no donor, it will have to do.
Extending his fangs, he rips the bag and starts to drink. Letting his mind drift, he thinks back to the first time he saw the beautiful Grace Chandler.
He had gone to the bank to withdraw some money. Being a vampire, and having lived over 500 years, he’s accumulated more money than he can spend. As he walked out of the bank, he saw a law enforcement car pull up and a woman, that almost took his breath, flung the door open, jumped out and ran down the small alley that was between the bank and a department store. She had her gun in hand and was shouting at someone to stop. Draven looked around but didn’t see anyone at the time. Grace ran into the alley and shouted stop again. Suddenly, he heard a grunt, like the air being knocked out of someone, then a young boy who looked to be around nineteen or so, came running from the alley right in front of Draven. As the boy approached, Draven stuck his hand out and caught the boy around his neck, plucking him from the air as if he were picking an apple from the tree. The boy’s wide eyes stared at Draven and began kicking his legs. Draven applied a small amount of pressure, just enough to show the unruly brat that he meant business, and the boy’s face started turning red. When he saw Grace come from the alley rubbing her chest, he squeezed a little harder, irate that the boy had caused her harm.
As she neared him, he released the boy, not wanting her to think he was trying to kill him.
“Are you alright?” He asked her.
“Yes. How did you catch him?”
“He actually ran right into my hand. I was exiting the bank as he ran by.”
Grace nodded and turned to the boy.
“You’re an idiot Bryan. All you had to do was stop. Now you’ve got resisting arrest added to you.”
“That’s why I didn’t stop. I knew you would take me in.”
Grace shook her head and handcuffed the boy. Leading him to her car and pushing him in, she looked back to Draven.
“Thank you.”
He nodded and turned to leave.
“That was a few years ago Grace Chandler. I wonder if you will remember me?”
Actually, it was six years earlier, and she had been the center of his attention since then. There was just something about the female that attracted him.
Snapping out of his reverie, he finished the blood and put the bag in the trash.
Walking back to his living room, he picked up a new pack that he had gotten just for his first day of work, grabbed his cell phone, jacket, car keys and headed out the front door. He knew his car would draw attention, but he really didn’t have a choice. He had been meaning to look into buying a car that was less obvious but hadn’t gotten around to it.
He walked around the side of the house to the garage and pulled the door up.
He got in the car, started it, put his seat belt on and put the car in reverse. Backing out slowly, he noticed his neighbor, the only one that could see his house, staring over the fence at him. Her name was Mrs. Ripley, an older woman, probably in her late sixties. She was that nosey neighbor you hear about. Draven wondered if she ever slept as she was always trying to watch him.
He let his window down and put his hand out to wave at
her. He could see her face turn red and she disappeared from the fence. She had to be standing on a ladder or something in order to look over it.
He backed out and into the area he turned around in and headed out his drive.
He had memorized all the information Gideon had put in his file. Gideon gave him a few details of the murder Grace was working on too.
The drive into town was about twenty minutes. When he arrived at the department, he parked away from other cars and got out, pack in hand, and locked his car.
There were a few others entering the building as he did and they greeted him with a southern “Hello.”
Draven had spent years learning how to mimic a southern accent. He had practiced for hours on end all the slang and southern tones that everyone used. He had wanted to blend in, and with his Romanian accent, that would have been difficult.
He entered the building and walked over to a room that had a sign hanging above the doorway that read, “Break Room.”
He was the only one in there. He took a seat and waited for Grace to come in.
As he was waiting, Francine Bates strolled in and glanced his way. Hoping she would not stop and chat with him, he looked away. It hadn’t helped. She came walking over to him with a huge fake smile on her face.
“Hello Mr. Bratu. Are you ready for your first day?”
“I am, yes.”
“That’s good. Grace should be here shortly. Would you like to come to my office and wait?”
“Thanks, but I can wait here. It’s no problem.”
Draven did not want to go to the woman’s office. She gave him a feeling of uneasiness. There was something about her, he just couldn’t figure it out yet.
“Well, alright then. Maybe I’ll see you later.”
She walked away and down the hall he had been down the day before.
“I really hope you don’t.” He said to himself.
He waited for another fifteen minutes and saw numerous people coming and going. He had been early, but now it was 8:00 am.
As he looked up from his watch, he saw her walking up the steps to enter the building.
He stood and waited for her to come in.
Grace walked into the waiting room and saw only one man in there. She was startled when she first saw him. He was stunning if you could put that label on a man.
She walked over to him and asked, “Are you Draven Bratu?”
“I am. And you must be Grace Chandler.” He said, holding his hand out.
Grace took his hand and gave it a quick shake.
“Come with me. You’ll have your own office soon, but for the time being, you’ll be in mine.”
“Lead the way.” He told her.
He knew where her office was as he had seen it the day before. Grace walked down the hall and Draven followed behind, mesmerized by her beauty.
“Snap out of it fool.” He said under his breath.
Grace took her key and unlocked the office door. Walking in and going behind her desk, she motioned at a chair for him to sit in.
“Did Director Bates give you any details about cases I’m working on?”
“Not really. She just mentioned a murder case but didn’t go into details.”
Grace pulled the file on Emily Kessler from her desk drawer.
“This is all the information I’ve collected so far. The coroner’s report is also in there. I have a few other details in my pack that I can show you after you read over the file. I haven’t had any new leads.”
Draven took the folder from Grace and opened it. The first thing he saw were the photos of the female. Trying to control his rage, he looked back at Grace.
“I’ll read over it. Do I have time now?”
“Sure. Maybe not the whole file, but I’ve added a summary on the front page that goes over the scene and some of the things found.”
“Thanks.”
Draven read over the summary Grace had added and saw details of the wounds, the mark above her breast and the tattoo. When he got down to the state that the body was in when she was found, and the protruding umbilical cord, he had to close his eyes and seethe for a moment to control his outburst.
“She was badly tortured. She suffered a great deal before her death and I want to find this bastard and make him suffer as she did.”
“She did. And we will find the one responsible.”
“I do hope so. He needs to be taken off the street to prevent this from happening again.”
“I agree.”
“I also have been given the task of finding our head director. He seems to be missing. No one has seen or talked to him in three days now.”
“Do you have any leads at all?”
Grace gives her head a slight shake.
Grace goes into the details of her attack at Lucas Cane’s home, how he is a vampire now, and how he tried to kill her.
“He called me the night he disappeared. He was going out to the park to check on a vehicle that was left there that the techs did not bring in with them. He was supposed to call me back, but he never did. He’s always been sort of creepy to me.”
“Creepy?”
“Yeah. Creepy, as in strange. He’s always staring at me when he thinks I’m not aware or looking at him. He has no friends and just being in the same room with him makes my skin crawl. It’s hard to explain.”
“Did you suspect him of being involved in this murder?”
Grace paused for a moment.
“Not until he tried to kill me.” She tells Draven.
“And now?” Draven asks.
“It’s a possibility.”
“So, you go to his house to look for him and he attacks you?” Draven asks.
“Yes. He was… like a wild animal intent on killing. At first, I didn’t know what was wrong with him, so I tried to talk to him, to calm him down. Then, I saw those canines, and he lunged at me. That’s when I figured out he was a vampire and I tried to get the hell out.”
“Are you aware of the types of vampires?”
“My friend, Gideon, told me. He told me all he knew about the strigoi and the seraphic ones.”
“Alright. So, you know that Lucas Cane is now a strigoi, right?”
“I do.”
Draven nods.
“He will need to be killed. He can’t be allowed to roam the streets draining people.”
“I know.”
“How about we go back to his house and see if he’s still there, then we head over to the head director’s home to check it out. We may be able to find something at his house that will tell us his whereabouts.”
“Sounds good to me.” Grace says.
“So, you’ve had experience with vampires? I mean, you seem to know a lot about them.”
“I have. At my previous job that seemed to be all we dealt with. It was as if they had a coven on every corner. Now I wonder if all of them were from here or out of town.”
“Probably out of towners. We haven’t had a vampire problem here in years. I mean, yes, a few here and there, but not that many.” Grace says.
“Well, let’s go find Cane and get him off the street, then we’ll check on Director Tanner.”
“We can go in my car as I’m sure you don’t have one issued to you yet.” Grace said with a smile.
“You’re right on that.” Draven says.
Grace grabs her pack and stands. Draven stands and walks over to the door, opens it, and waves Grace through. It had been a long time since she had seen an actual gentleman in the department. Most of the other men would let the door close in a woman’s face.
“Thanks.”
Grace and Draven walk back up the hall and exit the building. She motions to her car and they walk over and get in.
“I could use some coffee. How about you?” Grace asks him.
“I’m not really a coffee drinker, but feel free to get you a cup.”
“What? Are you kidding me? Who doesn’t drink coffee?” Grace asked, with a shocked look on her face.
“You don’t know what you’re missing Mr. Bratu.”
“Please, call me Draven.”
“And you can call me Grace.”
“Deal.” Draven tells her.
Grace pulls out from the lot into the road and heads to Lucas Cane’s house, with only a small amount of fear coursing through her now.
Chapter 14
When they reach Cane’s house, his car was sitting in the drive.
“I hope he’s not here again.” Grace says to Draven.
“We’ll be alright.”
They exit the car. Grace reaches into her shoulder holster to pull her gun out. Her last visit here taught her to be on her toes.
“I’ll go around to the back. You stay here at the front.” Draven tells her.
Grace nods.
Draven makes his way around the side of the house as Grace walks closer to the porch. She notices a broken window on the right side of the door. It wasn’t broken when she was here the day before.
Grace slowly walks up the steps that lead to the porch. The front door is ajar. It appears to have been kicked in as the door jamb is broken and the frame is hanging in places.
Taking the tip of her boot, Grace slowly pushes the door open. It swings back and drops slightly due to the top hinge being broken.
Squeezing in through the door, Grace peers into the living room. The room is in disarray, as if someone had been tossing furniture about. Taking a step in, Grace hears footsteps in the kitchen. As she raises her gun, she sees Draven look around the kitchen door way.
Sighing, Grace makes her way over to him.
“Anything?” She asks.