Damn it all! Where was it?!
Sakaer had thrown his whole apartment into complete and total disarray looking for the flash drive. The flash drive that he had intended on destroying tonight. He never took it off his person. It was always zipped up in the inside pocket of his coat and he wore that thing everywhere even went through all the trouble of putting an illusion on it to make it look like a variety of jackets so he would not stick out like a sore thumb.
He never took it out and he never went anywhere without the coat. That left the people he had come in contact with.
The only people he came in contact with were mostly dead and the only people who would have gotten close enough to him to take it were the people he had had skin to skin contact with were Rita and... Carmilla.
Hell's teeth! Carmilla took the flash drive! Sakaer wasted no time teleporting to her den. Carmilla like most criminal leaders in the city, who went either big or went home, had this thing out for the Delezes, that he did not understand, and since the only two surviving members of the family were as black as they were, not to mention practically had no monetary worth, they were useless. So instead they set their sights, claws and guns on someone who did, the crowned heir. And that would be Samuel O. Princeton.
Carmilla was more than capable of using the video on that flash drive as blackmail, if she was feeling up for games. But if she was not, there was nothing stopping her from releasing it for the entire fucking world to see. Sakaer did not care about Princeton, he cared about his lily, who thanks to that mangy mongrel was in her current position in the first place.
Walking in, he grabbed the first slave saw by the neck and hoisted him in the air. The pitcher he was holding fell to the polish floor, lemon water, spreading across the shiny surface and soaking into the carpet. The feeble thing struggled and clawed at his arms. “Where is your mistress?” Sakaer growled.
“What do you want with the mistress?” The slave choked out. The slave was no doubtedly a human one.
“You ask a lot of questions for a slave that is about to die.” he snarled. He squeezed, not paying attention to the amount of strength he used. The slave's neck broke with Sakaer's fingers imbedded in it, crimson flowing up his arm and onto the soft Persian carpets beneath his feet. He dropped the body with a thud, the mass leaving his fingers courtesy of gravity and continued on his way.
The next slave was much looser with the information he required. He killed him too. Dead men tell no tales after all.
Sakaer burst into the Carmilla's luxurious study, the room as luxurious and decadent as the test if her den with murder on his mind. Her murder.
“Why have you come barging into my home like you are Lord and master?” she asked as she looked through documents and scrolls from behind the gleaming oak desk.
He did not have time for this! “Carmilla, where is it?” he asked, unable to keep the growl out of his sentence.
“Where is what, cousin?” she asked feigning innocence. She did not even look up from the paper in her hands.
He gritted his teeth and his eyes blazed silver. “You know exactly what I am looking for, so cut the crap and tell me where it is!”
She looked at him then, her dull red eyes looking straight on into his silver ones. “If you are talking about that flash drive, you are wasting your time. It has not been in my possession for the past three weeks or so. I am not really sure, you know how bad I am with human time.”
Three weeks ago. She had taken it away from him three weeks ago?! No, she had not taken it away three weeks ago, it was longer than that.
When had she– Memory came sweeping through him and showed him when and where and common sense fixed in the pieces. It had been the time she held onto him after feeding from that human, right after that be went to see his lily. She must have slipped her hands in the coat, unzipped the pocket, taken the flash drive and put every thing else back in place.
He should have known something was up. She gave up too quickly. Practically without be even a fight. Carmilla never gave up. Not that easily.
She has taken the flash drive with such precision and skill that he had not even noticed or had any doubts until this evening. How could he have been do careless? How could he have been so stupid?
Carmilla laughed. A light laughter that carried through the study and made his black blood boil. “It was so easy to take it from you.” she said. “Like stealing a child their crib in the middle of the night. It is because of her that you are so sloppy.”
There was an edge to her voice on the last sentence.
Sakaer clenched his bloodied fists tightly. Every curse known in and out hell at the tip of his tongue.
“Just goes to show that you still need several more years of training and a wealth more of experiences before you can even think to compete or compare with me, dearest cousin.” she said and went back to the work on her desk. Sakaer cringed at the title.
“Where is the flash drive now Carmilla?” he asked wanting to get what he came for and just leave.
Again Carmilla did not spare him her eyes or so much as the barest of glances. Once upon a time, such shows of indifference from her would have crushed him but now he just wanted to punch her face in. “I really wish I could answer that question but I am as clueless as you are.” she confessed.
He grew desperate, something in the pit of his stomach waa telling him something bad had happened. “Who did you give it to?”
She focused on the documents in her hand, glancing through them, sorting as she replied. “I gave it to the Mayor. Or should I say the late ex Mayor Allison.”
His eyes widened. Everything going up and down around him. Allison hated Princeton just the same as any other criminal leader in the city, maybe even more so than half the latter. He died two weeks ago and even at that he might have hidden the flash drive or given it to someone else to use within the three days it took the leech to die. “You jest!”
“I am afraid I am not, cousin. Your guess is as good as mine on the whereabouts of that little piece of hardware.” she replied bored.
******
The instant Rita arrived back home she went to lie down. Her head felt like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. She asked Alice to bring her something smooth to drink while she got her pills and swallowed them.
Though she did not want it to, her mind wandered to what happened in the bakery. To Marisol's actions. She had said, the word human with such contempt and disgust. After what happened with the bomb incident and finding out the cause. Rita guessed some of Alvas' supernatural population thought the same way. It was kind of scary to think about. And she wondered if Marisol was not the only one who held such thoughts among her staff.
Alice brought her mango juice, said she was not sure if caffeine was the best idea considering her headache. Rita thanked her and told her to go.
Three sips in, her phone dinged. The screen coming to life. She took it from the nightstand and opened it. It was an email from Samuel.
She opened the email and it read:
|| Good afternoon, Rita. This email is to inform you that after the duration of your recovery time is over, you are still required to work till the contract is null and void. Since, my office at the headquarters will not be ready in that time, You will be doing your respective duties from my residence.
Your house keys and the company car recovery are in progress. I have the details here with me.
How are you doing?
And from one workaholic to another, get some rest. Some real rest. We are really in for it.
Also, stay away from your phone for a while.
Signed
Samuel.||
Uuggghhh! Work. The thought of all those numbers made her head spin. Painfully. Like she was in a smoothie blender or something. Wait a minute. How did he know she had gotten a new phone?
And did she read that right? Did he say she would be doing her job...from his house?!