/TWO WEEKS LATER/
For once in his life, he backed down all the way. And had every intention of keeping it that way till he could find a way, somewhere somehow to forgive himself and find out who the hell was in possession of the original video. It had been twelve days since the full moon day passed and like the case with Irina and Anthony he had no leads and his search had gone nowhere.
And for a while it worked except everything else had other plans. He and Rita kept bumping into each other so many times and having insanely awkward moments that it was not in the least bit funny anymore. The worst of all had been the elevator incident last week.
Shifting so many times had taken a toll on him and he stumbled into the elevator on his way in. Stumbled right into Rita's breasts. Samuel cringed at the memory. The worst part was he had liked it, being that close to her and her warmth even if it was for less than a minute. The horrified look on that had been on her face made him feel like a some kind of demented pervert. And her eyes maybe he was.
She had caught him staring and groaning a few times and had quietly told him to stop. He had seen how much it frazzled her behind the indifferential mask she always wore. He could not blame his wolf anymore no matter how big or little the influence was.
Samuel sat in his workspace in his apartment going over the reports Xavier and his father sent. Most of it was good, the contract with Velvon was really helping. The only areas that needed working on now were the treaties with the nearby packs and covens. Something he personally needed to be in Astoke for. And then there was the issue with Klaus and Dylan. That also required his presence. He was really running out of patience with those two.
The time and energy he could have been using for more useful and appealing things he wasted on dealing with them. He took off his reading glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. When it came to his mother's cousins, he really did not have the strength. They were just as bad as their own mother. Hard to deal with, demanding, damn annoying and terrible at giving birthday presents.
The pair of them had given him things that ladled his head with suspicion and the urge to tear them to pieices more than usual. One was a land sale agreement from Dylan, he wanted to him to agree to sell his great uncle's home. To pay off a debt he could not clear, no doubt. And from Klaus, he received an engagement ceremony invitation.
The spells they casted on their individual pieces of paper barely took effect. He could feel their power pressing against his mind but he swatted them away like he would a fly and he actually wondered if there were any spells on th at all. He kept checking himself. The fucktards actually thoughts he would actually approve of their requests. Ha! Never going to happen.
And the poor girl that Klaus had taken in order to get those jewels either had no idea or was working with him. Either way he was going to get to the bottom of it.
Samuel took off his glasses and placed them on the table. He walked out of his workroom and into the living where plopped down on the first sofa he got his hands on. He took the remote from the table, switched on the tv and proceeded to scan through channels.
After the deadly fire at Flavio Randazzo's mansion and the followup of deaths that came before and after that. Samuel had kept an eye out and not just for the occasional attempted assassinations.
None of the deaths this month were linked to each other except for how the deceased had been connected. Rowena Dale, Donald Teave, Gerald LeVert, Leah Wor, Flavio Randazzo, Patricia Agah, Slyvester Hale and Yulai Dimitri. Eight people who had connections to each other in one way or the other dead in one month was not a coincidence.
If Max was not in hiding at the moment he would have asked for his say in the matter. His sources told him an expert was responsible. A contract killer with more than a hundred and eighty years of experience.
So the criterias for this expert may fall into were: Dark mage, Demon or vampire. And none of those looked good. There was also the question what this expert had against him. Where they the blackmailer? And what would they do next?
*****
Rita checked her body in the mirror for the umpteenth time to see if her injuries were clearing up. They were but she wished they would heal faster even if the more worse scars were in her mind with no estimated date of even partial recovery. Samuel had already apologized for them but this was not the kind of thing a simple apology and therapy payment could fix. She just felt like staying in her room for a couple of days.
Things at the bakery were going okay, Matthew told her the police had to come and shake down Mrs Hendrix's shop because of reports of shady dealings. Unfortunately, the only thing shady they found were the clothes–if you could call them that–in her private wardrobe in her office, apparently.
But you know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. In this case, the customers Hendrix dumped in favour of NSFW patrons. Business was booming and they had had so many requests for catering that the rest of October and the first few days of November were booked. It was really great news.
A guy named Kalzaar came in one weekend. Biila said he had been a regular for the past three weeks. They chatted for a while and he even got her to exchange phone numbers with him before leaving with his large order.
Now they had been chatting via text and face to face on Friday and the weekend. His full name was Kalzaar Cerrelo, he was a tribrid, worked as a software designer, liked dancing, reading, fishing and lived in the eastern side of town. She once asked why he usually came all the way to Dazzling Confections when there were bigger bakeries in the east side. His simple reply was that he liked the feel of Dazzling Confections and it was a nice way to get away from work for a bit.
A week was not enough to know a person, especially through virtual chats and weekends but so far so good. He seemed interested. She would just have to wait and see what he was interested in. And find out if she was also interested.
****
/24TH OCTOBER 2030/
Today was his birthday. As of Two A.M. this morning he was thirty three years old. His mother had called to wish him a happy birthday, after that was his dad, then his siblings and after that was Xavier and his goofball gamma.
He walked into the office today with more than birthday wishes on his mind. Well, who would not when an assassin had their eye in them as a target and someone somewhere with a very potent chance to completely derail everything he had worked on and give any fucker who wanted a chance at his head a fighting chance.
Samuel had given the video to Sandra, his tech expert for more sensitive projects. They took one look and confirmed the video was not fake. The day he brought it in, they kept trying to downplay the situation. Last night, they called him and confirmed the first and last place the video was sent from.
Flavio Randazzo's mansion.
If the human was still alive, he would have paid him a visit. But he was dead. Burned to a crisp, only after he had had a bullet through his head. Two thoughts warred in his head. On one hand, the entirety of Flavio's mansion was burnt down meaning anything and everything was gone with him.
But then again, the original copy of the video could be in the hands of the person who shot him. And that may or may not be the killer that got to all eight of them.
He walked past Rita's desk, three weeks later and she was still covering up most of her body. Samuel could not explain the amount of guilt eating him up inside. He did not think any amount of apology would make him feel any better, let alone her. She had not disclosed how bad the injuries he had given her were and the physiotherapy doctor he hired for her said she could not disclose anything. The only thing she could say was that it was bad.
At least she no longer flinched whenever he called her name. He had not told her about the video and did not plan to unless he absolutely could not keep it from her any longer.
He had not taken a seat for more than three minutes when the sky started growing dark. Thirty seconds later, it started raining.
****
Two hours later and it was still raining. She had hoped it would only a light shower but she was wrong. If this kept up, she would not be able to get to the bakery in time to help with the party. If it was not cancelled that was. If she could not make it, then Matthew could handle it. She was sure of that.
She felt like she was going to melt, because of the rain they had turned off the air conditioning and turned on the heat. Guaranteed, the heating was not much but she in her woolen turtleneck and long sleeves felt like she was in a pre-heated oven. She did not bring a change of clothes and even if she did, she felt too self conscious to take it off and what would she wear anyway.
The bite marks on her neck were healing but they were not all the way gone. And the last thing she wanted to do was walk around and show them off. But if she did not take this top off she was going to faint.
Suddenly, the air started getting cooler. Rita sighed in relief. And silently thanked whoever turned on the air con even though it was still raining outside. But from cooler it started getting colder..and colder. And colder.