Blood Street

Blood Street Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII

Kristoff arrived at the mansion out of breath.

Heinrich, who had been sitting on a plush leather sofa working on a puzzle, helped him off his feet. "What happened to you?"

Ursula, who had been drying off after swimming in the indoor pool, dropped her towel and approached him. "You look like you ran two marathons."

Kristoff nodded. "I feel like it."

The others gathered around him.

"Where is Magnus?" Kristoff asked. "I must speak with him."

Magnus emerged from the basement. "I'm here."

He took a couple of deep breaths. "Alexei has gotten into big trouble."

Magnus sighed. "What now?"

"I was at the comedy club on South Street with three mortal friends. Afterward, they wanted to go dancing. Always up for a good time, I obliged. We went to the Rock Lobster and then to Club Egypt. The area was crawling with cameras, reporters and police. Nobody would say it too loud, but I heard their whispers. This was the work of the Vampire Killer. I weaved my way inside and asked the bouncers, bartenders and waitresses if they had seen a man who fit Alexei's description. Not surprisingly, they had. He killed two members of the local crime syndicate as well as a law enforcement agent."

Magnus closed his eyes. "Wonderful."

"I imagine it's on the news."

When Heinrich turned on the large, flat screen plasma television, the local news channels were showing live coverage of the massacre.

Magnus trembled with fury. The local gangsters Alexei killed were bad enough, but killing an FBI agent was unacceptable. Alexei's arrogance would lead to their demise.

"He's gone too far," Kristoff said. "He has put us in jeopardy, and I don't want to suffer because he can't control himself."

"Alexei may have his faults, but he is a member of our family," Heinrich said.

"Yes, but unlike our original mortal families, we can pick ours," Kristoff said. "When you do harmful things to your family members, you don't belong."

Magdalena turned toward Kristoff, her lush brown hair whipping him in the face. "Why, because he killed a few mortals? You have killed before."

"In those regrettable incidents I have the good sense to not make the evening news. If we all acted like Alexei, we would have been hunted down and burned in a fiery pyre many moons ago. He lacks respect for our kind."

"You still harbor resentment because of what happened when he first converted you," Ursula said. "You have to get over it."

"What happened between us holds no relevance. I've learned to live with it, but I can't live with his disregard for us."

Magdalena stroked Kristoff's hair. "Our loyalties should be with our own. I'll take any blood drinker, even a stupid, mindless one, over a hundred mortals. They're nice as playthings, don't get me wrong, but they will never equal one of us."

"We have to live among the mortals," Heinrich said. "They outnumber us and their technology gets increasingly more sophisticated, which will enhance their ability to detect and hunt us."