“No, but I can ask around if you’d like.”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate that. They follow a god that they call the ‘True One.’ And something is off about them.”
I told him about the meeting and when I got to the part about someone there taking my blood, he looked positively enraged. He was also interested in the herbs, so I showed him the bag.
“May I?” I passed him the herbs. He sprinkled some out onto his hand, looking them over and even smelling hem. “I don’t recognize a single one of these and that’s saying a lot. Did you recognize them?”
“I hadn’t examined them yet, but by the scent, I recognize Mugwort and Blue Lotus.”
“I’d like to have our lab check these out.”
“We can’t afford to use your lab.”
“It won’t cost you anything.”
Sure it won’t. Yet another thing to be obligated to the man for.
“Actually, since I have to go to Lavinia anyways, I can ask her.”
“Who is she?”
“A resource of mine.”
“And one you aren’t going to talk about. Very well, keep your secrets Marty.”
My wine suddenly froze in my glass and a tinkling laughter followed.
“Gisselle, not nice,” said Lochlan.
More laughter and then my food was frozen.
“I’m sorry. She’s not normally like this. Gisselle can be very mischievous at times.”
“It’s okay. I was nearly done anyways. Thanks for all of this Lochlan. It was sweet.”
I left before I was tempted to show my thanks in other ways.
18
After another morning of frustrating training with Miles, I was finally back at the office. In the middle of sorting through new cases files, my favorite receptionist buzzed me using the announcement system.
“You have a visitor, Marty. Can you please come to the reception desk?” asked Margie.
I stepped into the reception area. When I saw who my visitor was, my mouth fell open in shock. I quickly followed up by pulling my sword free and getting into a battle stance.
“You’re a hard person to track down these days,” purred Xavier, who hovered over me ignoring all sense of propriety and personal space. He breathed in deeply before coughing. Perv.
I pushed him and he moved back slightly. Although, as a vampire, his strength far exceeded mine, so he only moved because he wanted to.
“I fail to see why that’s a problem.”
“Marty, you slay me. That’s no way to greet an old friend.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t greet you with a stake to the heart.”
“As delightful as I find you, alas, I’m here for business and not pleasure.”
“We have very different ideas about what is pleasing. So, I’ll repeat, why are you here and what do I have to do to get rid of you?”
He clutched his chest. “It hurts. How am I to survive such rejection?”
“That’s what I was hoping for — you not surviving.”
“Marty do you need help?” asked Callie, who had come into the reception area.
“I’m just fine. Xavier was about to state his business and leave.”
Callie moved to the other desk, but she was seated, so she was facing us and watching Xavier and me.
“As I was saying, I’m here for business. I’d like to hire you,” said Xavier.
“Not interested in being your blood bag.”
“You’re becoming tedious. I’m here to report an issue with our donors.”
“Donors fall under the jurisdiction of the enforcers.”
“I need discretion and I don’t want this to become a formal investigation.”
“Fine, follow us to the office,” I said.
Now that we were back in the office space, I could begin doing the intake interview. Maybe Callie could take note of what she should be asking and putting into one. The piss-poor description of Mr. Hamm was still fresh in my mind.
“What’s the issue with your donors?”
“They smell and taste bad.”
One of the others in the office coughed to hide what I suspected was a laugh. I barely contained my own laughter. This is absurd. It sounded more like a ploy for Xavier to get more time with me and my delicious, ambrosia-like blood. Was he hoping I’d be convinced to become a donor if I spent more time with him? Nope, not happening.
“That’s sounds unpleasant,” I said, forcing any traces of amusement from my tone.
“You don’t need to make fun of the situation, Marty. Whatever is wrong with them, it’s the equivalent of a person eating poisoned food.”
That got my attention.
“Just how harmful is it to you and your people to drink from these donors?”
“We’ve lost two of our coven in the last week.”
This was serious. Although, I wasn’t a fan of vamps and never would be, whoever was doing this managed to find a new way to kill vampires.
“Okay, how many donors do you have and who has access to them?”
Vamps took very good care of their food sources and were protective of their donors. Donors lived lavish lives and their every need was seen to. Typically, they lived in the manor with the coven, so they were within reach, but also to ensure their safety.
Not being able to protect their own donors and vampires meant that they had a security breach and were at risk from an unknown adversary. Any weakness in the supernatural community was like a shark scenting blood. The weaker ones were taken out. If Xavier’s coven couldn’t contain this thing and solve it, then the Vampire Council would wipe them out.
“The donors tend to stay close to us and rarely leave the premise. If they do, it’s with a cadre of guards.”
“Do you have any idea how their blood is being contaminated or who wants to hurt you or your coven?”
“There’s quite the list of typical suspects, but there are no new threats or enemies.”
“How many of the donors are affected?”
“All twenty of them.”
“With exactly the same condition?”
“Yes, so we’ve brought in some replacements, but it takes time to acclimate new donors. We are rationing for the time being. I don’t think I need to tell you that time is of the essence.”
Bringing in a handful of new donors wasn’t unusual.
