The Eyes of Death Book 1 - The Taru

Chapter 2

Laniery Holdings 8:00 am

I hate this. I hate relocating, having to move my stuff, new identity, faking my death, passing the estate to myself through a series of numbered companies. Bah I've done it countless times and it still sucks. To make things worse, five of my seven donors could not follow me so I was left with only two. I was old, 523 years old last February to be exact, so I did not need to feed as much as most vampires. But still, two was not enough, I could hurt them even if I heal them with my blood. There was simply a limit to what they could give, magic or no magic.

All this because some stupid rogues had invaded one of my territories and caused havoc. I had been forced by the council of elders to relocate early. My master being on the council, had let this go through without even a word. He owed me one for this.

*I need to find more donors fast* I thought to myself

But at least I was in a good position to do it. I had purchased a new company full of promising young professionals. Some may think that a vampire can feed on the first human that comes around, but this could not be further from the truth.

For one feeding on diseased blood, in the off chance that my body does not kill the disease, then I would become a carrier. Also, I do not feed on the old, the wounded or the sick for several reasons. Past the disease issue, the quality of their blood is affected, they can not sustain me as efficiently as it should. The amount of life force contained in this kind of blood is insufficient at best. Third and foremost, is those humans affected by the Taint.

Yuk! I should not think about that I thought to myself, holding a gag reflex.

"Are you ok Miss Laniery, you seem unwell?"

"Yes of course, lets go on." at that we stepped on the elevator.

Stupid sycophants. I had bought this little company because it was efficient, needed an influx of funds which I had plenty of and was not too big that it would attract unwanted attention. They were just on the outskirts of town with little lighting around the office, which would also come in handy if I was ever in a feeding emergency. Perfect hunting grounds.

But the directing staff, they were insufferable. They had been following me with their nose up their ass all morning, making sure that I would miss everything that was wrong within the company.

This was so terribly wrong, no company could progress by hiding its flaws. But I was used to this, these morons were not the first to do it and certainly not the last. They were in for a very nasty surprise and a pink slip. I hate those type of people.

"... and this floor is the centre of our operations."

He waved at the large group of people in front of me.

Of course, I had spaced out again from boredom. I nodded, faking listening. What I really wanted was to see the real operations. And any probable donors on staff. I needed them pronto.

Not only could I trust my donors with my secrets, but also they made excellent leaders for my various branches, leaders I could trust. So today I needed to find five lucky winners who would see their lives changed forever.

I looked at my sycophant followers,

"You may leave now."

They looked stunned like they had been caught doing something wrong, which they were actually now that I thought about it.

"But Miss..." I did not let them finish their sentence

"LEAVE! NOW!"

I hated to repeat myself. They apologized and went back in the elevator. The staff looked at me as I approached.

"Relax people and continue working."

I looked around opening all my senses. This was a trick taught to me by my master, which only the eldest of vampires knew about. It let me get so much information about a human being, that I could gather more information then any DNA or blood test ever could. Just a quick look around would tell me all I needed to know, age, health etc. Seven candidates were present. Not bad for a small group of thirty five people.

I approached the on floor supervisor and told him to leave for a long a coffee break, which he did promptly.

First off a tall blonde in the front row.

"Hi there, what's your name?"

She smelled good, was good looking and had just the right spark of untapped genius in her eye. She would be a great asset for my operations and my food supply.

She hesitated, so I smiled "What's your name darling ?"

"Sandi m'am"

"How old are you?"

"26 last Thursday m'am."

"Perfect, you can continue your work. Thank you!" I smiled at her. She definitely fit the bill, B negative blood and still a virgin. A fact I am sure no one here was aware of. I giggled to myself.

Suddenly a door opened and a small brunette came out, visibly fuming for some reason. I listened in. The Director of operations, if the tag on his office door was correct, came out of the office following her, also flustered.

"Tali come back over here this instant."

That guy was not only smelling like last years undone laundry, but he had the Taint all over him. He would have to go fast. The girl named Tali turned around, anger flashing on her young face, it was actually quite amusing.

"What for? You hate my ideas, you hate my work and you expect me to take the blame for work I haven't done? You had my work retouched by Sally so how about you blame her."

I almost laughed out loud at that one, she stormed to her desk fuming. The director tried to follow her but I intervened.

"What is happening here?" I asked.

The man looked at me as if I was a cockroach.

"Who do you think your are? No one ever told you to mind your own business?"

"Your BOSS!" I said flatly

The colour drained from his face, which was an improvement in fact.

"You are... Miss Laniery. I am so sorry, I was trying to coach one of my architects".

He was visibly lying, I could smell is fear and his hormonal levels were also up the roof. Disgusting pig he had made a pass at her. I was now extremely angry for some reason.

"What is you name?"

"Norm Lancaster ma'am."

"Well Norm, you're fired!"

His jaw dropped to somewhere in the neighbourhood of his knees.

"I will make sure proper paperwork is forwarded to you". At that he sprinted out of the office.

"If anyone disagrees with my methods, take your personal belongings and head to HR."

No one left their desks of course, as I expected.

I approached the girl named Tali who seemed to try and calm herself. Then it occurred to me, she had no presence to my senses, none whatsoever. It was next to impossible for a human to do this, it required extremely powerful shields far beyond their power.

This girl was gonna be interesting indeed.