Blue Blood (Blue Wolf Book 5) by Brad Magnarella

Author:Brad Magnarella [Magnarella, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Croftverse Publishing
Published: 2020-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

20

“This needs to make sense,” I said. “And fast.”

We were in a sitting room, Sarah and I on a vintage couch opposite Vasha, who lowered herself onto a leather chair. A fire crackled in a hearth, drying out the large room with its old rugs and dark oil paintings, but my gaze kept returning to the vampire. He stood peering out a leaded glass window, hands clasped behind his back in an aristocratic pose. His was the figure I’d glimpsed on our arrival the night before.

And he was our damned client. I wondered if that was what Purdy had been hinting at when he said I’d find the client “challenging to work with.” Insurance, in case I learned the full story.

“I am sorry for the deception,” Vasha said. “But, yes, he is Master Munteanu, and he is the one who hired you.”

“Then who was the man with the shaved chin?” I asked.

“A stage actor,” she replied. “Jacques and I handle all of Master Munteanu’s business, but when someone must see him face to face, we hire Roland and tell him what to say. It has worked this way for many years. Master Munteanu can have an … unsettling effect. And we were told you don’t like their kind.”

“We don’t like killers,” I said.

Sarah cleared her throat. “He governs the province and operates the winery?”

“Yes.” Vasha glanced over at him and lowered her voice. “But lately he has not been doing much of either. He does not act in the same way as before. It comes and goes, but it is his mind, I believe.”

I’d thought something was off about the vampire. His shows of puzzlement, for one. Also the way in which we’d arrived here. After drawing the stake from his heart, I’d stood back with my weapon as his wound closed. He recovered, leaping to his feet in search of his attacker. But Vasha moved between us and spoke sternly in Romanian. He looked from her to me with his solid black eye, then barked something into the catacombs. The paralyzed spawn returned to sudden motion. They recovered the remains of those we’d gunned down and retreated up into the ceiling, closing the trapdoors behind them. At Vasha’s command, the vampire had then followed her upstairs by way of a staircase in the immense wine cellar. We were currently on one of the Chateau’s upper levels.

The vampire turned from the window and said something to Vasha in Romanian.

Vasha replied, then looked back at us apologetically. “He asked who you were. He is forgetting.”

I stared, still trying to make sense of him. A senile vampire?

“The Trow was the one to order his death, yes?” Vasha said.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “During our outing this morning, a wight life-drained our teammate. Yoofi, the one Jacques was asking about earlier. The drivers had mentioned a healer last night, so I carried Yoofi down to Palanca, hoping she could help him. Long story short, she agreed, but this was the deal.”

“A trow bargain,” Vasha said ominously.

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