Killing Sunlight

CHAPTER TWO | Saved From Solitude

The basement office's only windows sat at the top of one of its concrete walls. Grates barred the glass but allowed enough daylight to stave off cabin fever, though that was of no consequence; he was comfortable in his own company. He couldn't deny that he sometimes got lonely, but the occasions were so rare that they weren't noteworthy. He simply wasn't sociable enough to rectify it. Besides, he kept himself busy with his one true passion: work.

These days, he greeted the chill that came with complete isolation as an old friend. That day was no different. He was too consumed with paperwork to crave company. He hadn't even noticed the time, yet he'd been awake for forty-odd hours. Work was only interrupted for moments of contemplation, cigarette breaks, and to refill the jug of water he kept on the corner of his desk. Without tearing his eyes from his laptop's screen, he attempted to pour himself a fresh glass. He would listen to how the water trickled up the musical scale towards fullness, but when the final high notes never arrived, he glared at the empty jug in his hand, disappointed—his glass was half full.

"Perhaps it's time for whiskey instead, then," he grumbled, checking his wristwatch. Nearly eight P.M. was an acceptable time to start drinking the evening away.

As the brown liquor sang its way into the rock glass, he pondered whether he ought to be concerned about his talking to himself becoming a more regular habit.

"Maybe it's madness? Perhaps I'm finally 'old' and gone senile?" He took a swig of his liquor.

"Maybe I should get a dog? At least then, I'd have something to talk to." Aloud thoughts continued to stream past his lips.

Sucking his teeth, he replied, "No, I suppose you're right. It'd just be something else to look after."

His dark eyes surveyed the confined office of his living quarters. The small room was just the tip of the iceberg compared to the vast Compound beyond. As the facilities Overseer, he looked after a great deal of things already without complicating his life with daydreams of companionship. For one, the welfare of all its many residents and accompanying politics, and two, the management of the ground's maintenance and logistics. Both were mammoth tasks that left him barely any time left on the clock to run his private company, REDford.

The Compound was the last bid to save Vampires from slaughter by their current adversary: Mortals, a species by whom they were vastly outnumbered. After centuries of prevailing traditional predator/prey relations, the tables had turned—the mouse had finally bared its teeth to the cat.

Vampires had once confidently infiltrated every sector of the Mortal world, but since the Mortal-Mythical-World War, which had raged since 2008, all Vampires that'd been in positions of influence had been strategically weeded out and eliminated. From politicians, military personnel, corporate businesspeople, and on down the economic chain, every 'threat' had been neutralised by genocide.

The generous sum of money he'd invested into the International Vampiric Government's 'compassionate' scheme had brought him his position. Still, the deal he'd struck with the IVG to oversee the project felt like he'd bargained away a piece of his soul. Money aside, though, as his race's staple food provider, he was an extremely valuable asset to the Coven. If he failed, he'd end up with a lot of blood on his hands, and although that prospect sounded ironically delicious, he wanted the haven to prosper because, behind the scenes, the stakes were much higher. He was the keeper of a secret.

His mentor was the only other person to be privy to the reason he'd wanted sole control over the Compound. He wasn't running the Compound project as racially exclusive as his coven leader or council elders would've liked. If his deception were discovered, he'd undoubtedly be handed a death sentence. However, with the council's eyes focused elsewhere and their trust in him greater than ever, they hadn't sent anyone other than Magnus Va Rossa to conduct their audits. With Magnus in on the deal, all they had to do was keep their story straight and their reports tidy.