The last to arrive was Franklin Wilson, the King of South America. His flawless, mocha skin was the result of having an African-American father and a Caucasian mother. With hazel eyes and a huge, beaming smile, he had model looks with a touch of bad boy. He oozed confidence; so much so that he didn’t have a second-in-command. He never felt the need to have one, just an entourage of guards and assistants. He didn’t actually come from South America though; Aidan had turned him in the late 1800s in Northern California. Aidan liked Franklin’s charisma and felt he would be the perfect king for the last remaining territory, South America. Once Aidan had taught him the ropes of being a vampire, he relocated to Rio de Janeiro where he remained for over one hundred years. He took the time to travel across the continent, learn the land and the languages spoken.
Once everyone had settled into their respective rooms, they gathered into the grand parlor to greet each other properly. Amidst the several conversations going on, Emma stepped away from the crowd with Aidan by her side.
“Everyone, may I have your attention, please?” She said as the room went quiet and all eyes turned to her. “I want to welcome all of you to my home, I know it has been a long time since we have all gathered here. Just a gentle reminder, I don’t allow feeding on humans in my town. The people who live here are all like a family, so I don’t want any of that going on. I have a blood dealer that I have purchased from for decades, so there is always a stash here. On that note, Kings and Queens, we’d like for all six of us to go to the kitchen for a glass of blood and discuss the matter at hand.”
Emma, Aidan, Cassie, Thomas, Kumiko, and Franklin all made their way to the kitchen while the rest of their entourages remained in the parlor.
“Zachariah, can you please come with us to the kitchen and pour some blood for our guests?” Emma asked before leaving the room.
When they reached the kitchen, everyone sat on the stools around the floating island as Emma and Zachariah went into the secret refrigerator and pulled out an already-opened jug that was half full. They poured several glasses and popped them into the microwave for thirty seconds before serving them. She set six down in the middle of the island before taking a seat amongst the others, everyone reaching for a glass. Zachariah prepared his tray and began carrying it back to the parlor.
Aidan spoke first, “Kings and Queens, the reason we have called this meeting is because we have some information that you need to be aware of…” Aidan’s speech was abruptly interrupted when Kumiko collapsed onto the floor, her glass shattering as it fell along with her, splattering blood everywhere.
They all scrambled off of their stools and crowded around her body, which was already turning a deathly blue. Her eyes, still wide in shock, stared blankly toward the direction she was laying. She had a small “blood mustache” that she never had a chance to lick off after taking a sip from her glass. She wasn’t just dead, she was completely dead.
“Did anyone else drink the blood?” Aidan asked the group. Everyone responded just by shaking their heads “no” as they stared at Kumiko in disbelief.
“The blood you gave us is from a living weapon!” Cassie accused Emma.
Aidan shook his head, “No, Emma gets her supply from a local funeral home owner. Once a living weapon is dead, their blood can no longer kill us.”
“Oh my gosh,” Emma gasped. “The others in the parlor!”They ran to the parlor, screaming for them not to drink. They feared they would see all of the other vampires dead on the floor, instead they found them sitting around, laughing and chatting, not yet drinking from their glasses that Zachariah had just set down on the coffee table. The Kings and Queens all let out a sigh of relief. During the split second that they ran down the hallway, Emma feared she would find her beloved Zachariah dead.
“Everyone…” Aidan began, searching for the right words to say. He turned toward James, Kumiko’s second-in-command. “James,” he croaked. “You are now the King of Asia.”
Their eyes all widened in disbelief among the gasps of “What?!” and “What happened?”
Aidan solemnly continued, “Somehow, the blood that we poured for ourselves must have been contaminated with the blood of a living weapon. Kumiko took the first sip…and collapsed to her death almost immediately.”
“Kumiko is dead?” James asked, but didn’t sound terribly heartbroken about it.
Emma nodded and added, “We never got a chance to discuss the business at hand, which means you will now be expected to sit in with us.”
As everyone allowed the shock to settle in and Aidan asked some of the assistants to bury Kumiko’s body on the far end of the property, Emma walked over to Zachariah. She pulled him into a tight hug and buried her face into his shoulder.
“For a split moment, I thought you were dead,” she whispered, fighting back tears. She didn’t want to get blood on his shirt. “I couldn’t exist in a world without you in it. You’re my best friend, my partner-in-crime.”
He pulled her tighter, silently reassuring her that he was still there and “alive” so-to-speak. “Maybe we should arrange donors so we can drink straight from the vein for now. It would be unwise to continue drinking the bottled blood for now,” he suggested.
Emma nodded in agreement and knew that “arranging donors” meant to charm humans to be the source of the vampire buffet. Much like Aidan had live-in humans that were heavily charmed to be his all-you-can-drink menu. She gave him one more hug before going back with the Kings and Queen.
“The reason we have brought you all here for a conference is because there has been a major breach of security here. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that Kumiko’s death and the security breach are tied together,” Emma said.
Aidan added, “Last year, Emma had a human boyfriend. We later learned that he was a living weapon.”
The Kings and Queens gasped, shocked that a living weapon had been recently found and happened to be the human companion of the North American Queen.
Franklin asked, “You killed him though, right?”
Emma and Aidan locked eyes, hoping the other would answer. Aidan spoke up first, “No…we did not.”
Cassie stood up, cocked her head and said, “Are you shittin’ me? You let a living weapon keep on living? You going soft on us, Aidan?”
Aidan’s glare turned darker than usual, staring her down until she slowly sat back down in her seat. He ominously growled, “I am not going soft.”
Emma, wanting to ease the tension in the room, continued on before things got ugly with accusations. “My living weapon and I were in love before I knew what he was. Aidan was going to kill him, but the three of us came to an agreement instead. He would live with us here under my protection and in turn, we could use his blood if needed in the case of an attack. Think about it, vampire royalty has never had this kind of weapon before. We have the ultimate one; no battles are needed. He was on our side!”
Thomas asked with sarcasm, “What do you mean ‘was’? Is he no longer on our side? Is he out to get us now?”
Aidan replied, “No, we have reason to believe he was kidnapped. Our first plan-of-action is to question all those who knew what he was. Other than Emma and me, we need to talk to Zachariah, Mackenzie, Vivienne Conrad, and Declan Fitzgerald. After that, we need to question the blood supplier, what’s her name again?” Aidan mindlessly snapped his fingers as he tried to recall her name.
Emma answered, “Patricia Miller of Miller Funeral Home. I doubt she has any involvement in this, but we need to cover all bases since the blood we just served was clearly contaminated.”
James sat silently, overwhelmed by this new responsibility that was being thrown at him. However, he was willing to jump in with both feet to quickly learn what it meant to be a King.
“Alright then,” Cassie said. “Let’s start bringing them in.”
They moved their meeting into the dining room where it was more formal. Emma called on Zachariah first since she had no doubt that he would be cleared quickly. Aidan motioned
for him to sit down on the open chair at the head of the table. There were three Royals on each side of him, which was still intimidating even after being a second-in-command for well over a century.
“Zachariah, when was the last time you saw Todd?” Aidan asked.
“At the premiere. I was with Emma almost the entire time, but I recall seeing Todd mingling throughout the night,” Zachariah calmly answered.
“Who was he mingling with?” Cassie asked.
“I’m assuming they were fans, but, no one out of the ordinary.”
“Did you catch any of their names?” Aidan asked.
“No,” Zachariah lied. “I have no idea who they were.”
“Lastly,” Emma chimed in so she didn’t seem biased. “Have you told anyone outside of our circle about what Todd is?”
Zachariah scanned his eyes to make contact with each vampire in the room and replied with a solid, “No.” After a pause he added, “Todd has become my friend, I would never do anything to jeopardize his safety or betray Emma’s trust.”
“But, weren’t you jealous of Todd for a time?” Aidan asked, remembering Zachariah’s behavior the previous year.
Zachariah admitted, “I was. But, I eventually got over it.”
Aidan, Thomas, Cassie, Franklin, and James all looked at each other skeptically, each of them convinced that Zachariah may have had a reason to get rid of Todd. However, they didn’t believe he would try to kill everyone in the house.
Zachariah noticed their doubt and added with fervor, “I swear, I had nothing to do with any of this!”
The Kings and Queens nodded, dismissing him. He was unsure if he had been completely pardoned and was hopeful that Emma would be able to back him up.
Next they called in Mackenzie who was cleared within one question. Since she wasn’t anywhere near Chicago when Todd went missing, they only asked if she had told anyone that Todd was a living weapon. She replied that she hadn’t and Aidan waved her off to leave the room.
Next they called in Declan who had spent some time with Todd the night he disappeared. He was one of the last people who saw him when they were outside with the fans.
Aidan started the interrogation, “Declan, have you told anyone that Todd was a living weapon? Anyone outside of the circle that already knew?”
“No,” he replied while shaking his head. “Emma’s my Queen and longtime friend, and Todd had become a good friend after we worked together.”
“Tell us about the last time you saw Todd,” Thomas requested.
“He was talking to some girls, I think their names were Kelly and Jenny. I joined their conversation and we went outside where the girls wanted to have a cigarette. They had a couple while we were out there, extending our time to talk. When we came back inside we all went our separate ways; I rejoined Vivienne, Todd went one way, and the girls went another. Shortly after, I spoke with him briefly and razzed him for flirting with someone else with Emma right there, but after we had a few laughs that was the last I had seen of him.”
After a few more questions from the various vampires, Declan was cleared to go and was asked to send in Vivienne. She strolled in, her nervousness lightly veiled with a plastered smile.
“Vivienne, did you ever tell anyone what Todd was?” Aidan asked.
“No, sir,” she replied.
“Tell us about the last time you saw Todd,” James said, wanting to feel as important as he already was. The others were impressed with his bravery to be proactive. Cassie gave him a nod of approval.
“I saw him talk to a couple of girls that were at the premiere, Declan joined them and they all went outside for a bit. Then, when they returned, Declan came back over to me while I was talking with other people and Todd went to mingle, I suppose. I thought nothing of it.”
“Vivienne…you didn’t entirely approve of your best friend being in a relationship with a human, did you?” Aidan asked, which took her by surprise.
“It’s not that I didn’t approve, it’s just that I personally find humans boring. He was a nice enough person though, I didn’t have anything against him.”
The Royals pondered over her response, but didn’t think it was reason enough to continue interrogating her. After a few more questions, they dismissed her much to her relief. She tried to casually walk out of the dining room, but felt like her legs couldn’t carry her fast enough.
“I think our next step would be to visit Patricia Miller at her place of business,” Thomas suggested.
“I don’t believe we should call ahead of time either,” Franklin added. “If she has anything to do with this we don’t want to give her time to prepare.”
“Okay then, let’s go and get this over with,” Emma said as she stood up.
They followed her out the back door to the Escalade and piled in as they set off to pay Miller Funeral Home in Barrington a surprise visit. During the twenty minute ride, they all discussed possibilities of what could have happened to Todd. They also tried to figure out how the drinks got contaminated with living weapon blood.
When they arrived at the funeral home the parking lot was empty. Emma felt a little bad for having to do this to Patricia, but they needed to cover all bases. All six of them got out and walked to the back door where Emma usually did her pickups. They rang the bell and waited for Patricia to answer.
Instead it was Allison who opened the door, who was extremely surprised to see Emma and Aidan along with four other vampires she did not know. Emma’s face was kind, as usual, and Aidan’s softened when he recognized Allison. However, the others were far more intimidating.
“Hi Emma! We weren’t expecting to you tonight, is there a problem?” Allison asked nervously, her eyes darting to each vampire standing in front of her.
“Good evening, Allison,” Emma started cordially. “Unfortunately, there actually is a problem that we need to discuss with Patricia. Is she here?”
“She is, she is working on someone right now. Come on in,” Allison said as she gestured for them to enter.
All six of them went inside and followed Allison down the short hallway to the door that led downstairs to the basement. That was where the embalming room was and where Patricia drained her deceased blood sources. Allison lightly knocked on the door before opening and revealed Patricia doing her job on her latest “client” that came in that night.
“Hi there, Emma!” Patricia exclaimed, pleasantly surprised to see her there. “Who did you bring with you tonight?”
“Patricia, these are the Royals of the world,” Emma responded, continuing to introduce each of them one by one.
Patricia’s bubbly tone changed to a more conservative conversation. She behaved with an air of honor to have them all at her place of business. Emma continued on to explain the situation and what had happened that evening, prompting them to visit the funeral home unexpectedly. She proceeded to assure her that they were not accusing her of any wrongdoing, but had to investigate of what had happened.
Patricia was horrified and humiliated when she heard the news of Kumiko’s sudden death. She promised that there was no way that her resources could have been contaminated. Even if any of her “clients” were living weapons, once they were dead their blood was no longer lethal. She assured them that she had never knowingly met a living weapon before. She allowed them to take a look around the premises, looking for any clues that might indicate a breach of security. However they came up empty-handed, which was good news for Patricia, but bad news for them. The Royals thanked her for her time and began to walk back to the parking lot.
Emma lingered behind to talk to Patricia and Allison for a moment, “I’m sorry we had to do this. I hope you know that I never thought that you had anything to do with the blood being contaminated.”
“I have been doing business with you for decades, and you are the best Queen I could ask for. I totally understand that you had to come by and I am so sorry about what happened to the Queen of Asia,” Patricia answered while taking Emma’s hand.
Emma snickered and scrunched her nose, “I’m sorry to say that I’m not entirely heartbroken about the Queen of Asia! She was kind of a spitfire and not the nicest person to deal with!”
Allison giggled, surprised that the Queen had actually said that out loud.
“You let me know if you find out anything,” Patricia said before Emma walked out the door. “And if there’s anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Will do. My apologies again, Patricia, have a pleasant evening. It was nice seeing you again, Allison!”
Emma got back to the car where the other five Royals waited and jumped into the driver’s seat. They were all feeling a bit down and discouraged that they had no leads and no idea of what was going on. While Emma was concerned about the contaminated blood, she couldn’t get Todd’s safety off of her mind. Her gut feeling was that the two incidents were linked together somehow which was terribly unnerving.
After spending a few days at the Manor and coming up with absolutely no leads, all of their guests decided to head back to their homes. Emma and Zachariah bid each of the Royals goodbye and promised to keep them updated on the situation. Declan and Vivienne were the last to leave, however reluctantly.
“I hate having to leave you during this,” Vivienne said as she held her best friend in an embrace. “But, Declan and I have meetings to attend back home.”
“That’s okay, I understand,” Emma responded before giving Vivienne a kiss on the cheek.
Declan stepped up and pulled Emma into a hug, “We’ll find him, love. He’ll be okay.”
“I hope you’re right,” Emma replied. “I truly hope you’re right.”
The Living Weapon (Davenport Manor Book 2) Page 6