Hey Mr Bloodsucker, Sucks To Be You

Chapter 29

Dante ~#~

My lunch was dead. I studied her thoughtfully, in her bloodstained top and jeans, hair flopped over her face. It seemed a shame thinking about it, she would've made a very pretty vampire. But her blood had been to die for.

I gave a smug smile and ran a finger under her chin, catching a stray drop of crimson, and turned away. I shouldered the door open, popping my finger in my mouth, and swept up the stairs, thankfully not encountering anyone on my way. I had blood on my clothes, and the last impression I wanted to give was being a messy eater.

There weren't very many people here. Fifteen, maybe, but fifteen was a start. Including the half-starved, bedraggled girl Cappa had Turned. I had found her after I went back to the house to collect Dimitri's ashes, locked in one of the back-rooms practically on the edge of her dusty demise.

I wiped a thumb around my lips, collecting the smudges, and cleaned my fingers. There wasn't much to be done after Halem but to make something for myself, which is what I had chosen to do. Buy a cheap house, Turn a few. Get my act together and make a Clan of my own. And it had worked, so far, and I'd come far in a few months.

"I wonder how Mai is getting on with my little experiement." I mumbled to myself, strolling into my office and pulling my shirt over my head. Rooting around in one of the cupboards, I brought out a fresh white one and buttoned it up halfway, tossing the ruined one into the wastepaper basket. 

"Dante." A loud knock on my door stole my attention and I slid into my desk chair, just in time to see Daniel squeeze through the gap and ease it shut on its hinges behind him.

"Daniel." I raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

Daniel was a century old. He'd been turned like me, but even though I was younger than him he looked up to me like a leader.

"I wanted to talk to you about this new batch you've brought in." He crossed to my desk and tapped a finger on my closed laptop. "Open up the video feed, you'll see what I mean."

I did as he said. I had Turned three more a few weeks ago and was putting them through training. Although from the looks of things it wasn't very successful. We'd set up a make-shift training centre in the basement, just a few dummies and animal blood and things, nothing too high-tech, but even now they seemed to be having trouble adapting.

"You see? Not exactly premium stock." Daniel shook his head.

I glanced up at him. He was leant on my desk with one hand on the table, the other on his hip. Black suit, white shirt, black waistcoat, black hair. He reminded me of Dimitri, and when I'd first seen him I'd thought Dimitri had somehow survived, before we'd made the new one, and had very nearly killed him. It was a wonder he'd come to trust me, but somehow I had managed to convince him to see me as an ally.

He had told me he'd work for me for a while, but so far it seemed he liked it enough here that he'd stayed. Because his position was so fragile, I was careful not to say anything to offend him in case he did decide to leave.

"They'll be fine." I assured him. "They're okay for what I need them for."

I had told Daniel my plans, it was the only way I'd actually managed to get him to trust me. He had been the one with the genius idea behind Mai's walking kryptonite, after all, and had proven himself useful.

"Letting your own personal vendettas get in the way will only complicate things, Dante." Daniel reminded me. "You do this wrong, there'll be consequences."

I scoffed and minimized the video feed, leaving a bloody thumbprint over the mouse button. Daniel raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Sighing, I scrubbed it away and stood up.