“It seemed far-fetched but he promised me irrefutable evidence and witness statements in addition to his own,” the woman pouted, squaring her shoulders.
Apparently, she showed her teeth when on the defensive.
“And this additional evidence is what exactly? Am I about to be pelted with garlic? I can fetch some from the kitchen should you have forgotten to come adequately equipped?” Lucian went to stand as if he were about to run the suggested errand.
“No need,” Kyle stepped back and folded his arms over his chest, smugly.
“Kitty Kat, why don’t you come on down here and join us. I know you're here somewhere,” he called out to the great room.
Silence was his only reply.
Lucian cursed and his blood boiled with rage. He was planning on using Katherine in another of his hair-brained schemes.
“If you’re requesting Katherine join us, as she prefers to be addressed, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. She is no longer here,” Lucian replied after a beat, mindful to keep his tone disinterested.
“Bullshit. She’s here. We had a deal and my girl always comes through for her old man.”
“I assure you she left, I released her from our contract last night,” Lucian continued, “what deal did she supposedly strike with you exactly?”
“So the young woman you said had been bitten by this guy, was your daughter?!” The journalist cut in incredulously, “and you signed her up for a contract to stay here with him?”
“It was a foolish bargain, I grant you. Needless to say, keeping someone here against their will was not something I could abide by. As for being bitten by a vampire during her stay here?” Lucian shook his head and chuckled, “I can assure you that hasn’t happened. You’ll be pleased to know the woman in question is perfectly safe and unharmed.”
It was a slight bending of the truth. He had bitten her, but it hadn’t happened at Tumbricane. Thankfully he had found the willpower to stop himself when Katherine had said ‘no’ the night before, but it had taken a great effort on his part. That was partly why he had sent her away. He didn’t trust himself around her.
Lucian forced down the memory of her exquisite taste on his tongue. He cursed himself for not having drunk a couple of pouches of blood after they had arrived back at Tumbricane. He needed to keep his cravings at bay, especially so soon after having tasted her. Just the memory of it made his skin itch in an uncomfortable demand for more of the drugging nectar.
“Then where is she? Why didn’t she answer my calls?”
“Perhaps she has grown tired of your scams and manipulation?” Lucian shrugged.
“You’ve got her here, you bloodsucking bastard, probably locked up in a dungeon,” Kyle continued, becoming agitated.
“I promise you, I don’t have a dungeon on the estate,” Lucian sighed, “you’re welcome to search for her, should you wish, but she’s not here,” Lucian waved a tired hand in the air and with his mind, summoned all the doors along the balustrades to open in unison.
The journalist’s eyes went wide and she spun around to take in the sight. Kyle himself backed up a few paces and swallowed hard. Lucian smirked to himself. He was bored with entertaining his unwanted visitors, but he felt inclined to play with them a little before he cleared their memories and sent them on their way.
“You see,” Kyle hissed at the journalist, “he’s not human. He’s a vampire.”
Lucian took the opportunity while they were distracted looking upwards to appear behind them in a moment of blinding speed.
“Alright, you caught me,” he said, his voice laced with humour.
The duo jumped and spun to face him, the journalist’s dark skin becoming instantly pale.
“Now, how do you propose we proceed?” He flashed a little fang, for good measure.
“You won’t scare me that easily.”
Kyle flustered with his coat and drew out a pair of sunglasses, hurriedly putting them on, and a water gun. Lucian frowned at the absurd man. The water pistol posed no threat but the sunglasses would affectively block his ability to look into the man’s eyes.
“We’ve been recording you the whole time, haven’t we Brianna? We’ve got all your stunts on camera”
The journalist simply stammered and took further shaking steps backwards, away from Lucian. He cast a quick scrutinizing gaze over her and indeed saw the top of her phone poking out of her denim jacket pocket.
“So it’s time to pay up, or the whole world is going to know what you are and hunt you down,” Kyle continued, waving the water pistol about in front of him.
Lucian cocked an unimpressed brow and simply walked forward until the gun pressed into his chest.
“Holy water, I presume? Sorry to disappoint you but that won’t have any effect.”
Kyle pulled the trigger and frustration blossomed across his face when Lucian merely stood there with a soggy shirt.
“Fine,” he snarled angrily, “let’s see how you cope with the real deal,” he tossed the water pistol aside and drew out a loaded gun.
Lucian cursed to himself. While a bullet wouldn’t kill him, it would injure him severely.
“Kyle, I think you should put the gun down,” The journalist pitched in with a slow and careful voice, “this has already gone too far.”
“I’m not leaving until I get what I came for,” Kyle snapped, “pay up bloodsucker or I’ll shoot you and expose you and your kind to the world.”
Lucian opened his mouth to reply only to be cut off by the noisy sound of a car pulling up outside. Kyle looked nervously towards the door, while Lucian sucked in a breath. He knew those footsteps. His heart suddenly hammered in his chest.
Why had she come back?
Katherine burst through the doors and took in the scene. Her face turned from concern to a mask of pure fury. Her eyes met Lucian’s for a moment searching them for reassurance before she
