Willing her petite frame from shaking, Alicia’s words came out through gritted teeth. “Dead.”
“Yer maker is deid? Well afore that, when ye were made, did he no teach ye about what an who we are?” Shuggie had noted the change in the little vampire’s attitude and could guess that she was not made with her willing consent. That angered him, as it always had done. No one should be turned without their express permission, but he kept these thoughts to himself as he listened to her intently.
Lowering her eyes to the ground, Alicia's hand shifted to find the label to the back of her boot, her fingers rubbing the fabric as she spoke. “Her name was Mabel, she advised me of nothing Sir and now she is dead.”
Shuggie looked sadly at her, and tilted her chin up with a finger so that she would look at him. He softened his voice as he spoke. “Then ah’ll no press ye further oan it lass, as ah can tell it upsets ye.” Changing the subject, and his tone, to lighter things he added, “It’s no often ah meet one o’ oor kind - ah’n ahm afraid ma manners are lacking.” Giving a smile he held out his hand. “The name is Hugh MacAndrew o’ the Clan MacAndrew, and it is an honour tae meet ye.”
Giving a small smile as the huge hand was offered to her, Alicia placed her small one to shake their hands. “You are the first I have met Sir, and I must say also what a pleasure it is to meet a male with such wonderful manners. I’m Alicia.”
Her small hand was so delicate as he held it momentarily, Shuggie smiled and nodded. “Aye, we are no the most sociable of beasts. But ah kin tell ye are a youngling,” he said patting her hand, almost fatherly. “No even at yer second century, ah’ll bet? So take some advice frae an ol’ man an be careful who knows yer true identity. Vampires are shunned at best an feared most often - an humans are the least of oor enemies, Alicia. Ne’er let yer guard doon.”
“I’ve survived this long Hugh, don’t you be worrying about me, and I live alone, operate a little modest bookkeeping business that keeps me busy and out of trouble. Sorry if I have kept you from something this evening.”
There was a mischievous glint in her eye that Shuggie had observed, so he gave a short chuckle as he said, “Ah dinnae think ye keep oota trouble aw the time, lass, eh?” Nudging her with his elbow as he continued, “But dinnae be too alone either - eternity is a long time wi’oot friends or love. For loneliness is the biggest killer o’ the vampire. When ye get tae be ma age, ye’ll understand that, youngling.” Standing, Shuggie took Alicia’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Ah hope oor paths cross again, youngling, but the night is drawing in ahn the blasted sun will be appearing,” adding, an old Vampire saying before he flashed back to the base. “May yer nights be long, the blood rich, and the adventures challenging and may the sun ne’er rise til yer in yer death sleep an hour or more.”
With that, Shuggie disappeared, hoping to catch the Commander on his return from his date. He wanted all the details.
****
Jolted from his thoughts of murdering Shuggie by the placing of a wrinkly bony hand upon his upper left thigh, Xavier jumped back almost knocking his seat over.
“Enough is fucking enough,” he snarled, fixing his chair and sitting back down as he raised his hand to call the waiter over for the bill. “I am sorry, Friera, but I have to go. There seems to be a misunderstanding, and communication breakdown.” Passing his credit card to the waiter, he kept his eyes on Friera, making sure she made no further attempts to grope him.
A moment later, the waiter came back to the table, an embarrassed look on his face as he explained that his card had been rejected due to lack of funds, and could he pay in cash. Xavier snatched the card back, glaring at the waiter as he fished out his wallet and all but threw the paper bills at him.
There had to be some mistake. He had thousands of pounds in that one account alone, so the only obvious explanation was the restaurants equipment was faulty.
Arranging a taxi home for Friera, Xavier drove back to the base in his SUV.He wanted to check his bank accounts and satisfy himself that the waiter in the restaurant was just plain incompetent. Then he would kill Shuggie, and then get back to working on the job that they were actually being paid to do.
****
Alicia sat confused for a moment at Hugh’s words about the sun.
“He must have had a bad batch of blood!”
She rose to her feet and headed out the dark park, back over to her viewing point where she saw Commander Prick having an aneurysm as his bank cards were declined.
“Fucking Bingo!”
Alicia laughed as she took the three second trip home from Mexico to London, she was still laughing when she drew a deep bath with half a bottle of cherry scented bubble bath. In fact, Alicia was still laughing her little boots off for the next three days.
The Commander was having issues with his bank accounts. Oh my…what a dilemma to be faced with!
Chapter Twenty Seven
How could she have run into two males from two different spectrums on the manners scale?
The enormous Scottish vampire she ran into when she was watching the horror of date night was so polite, but not in a charming ‘I want to bed you’ way. No Hugh was…like protecting her as a father does to his daughter. Like her own Papa used to do when she was young and mortal.
Well, didn’t that thought dampen her good mood! Her mortal life had been so simple, all she had to worry about back then was her overprotective twin brother Alessandro Jr.
Hugh’s words echoed in her head about not being alone. She didn’t get the chance to say to him that the reason she doesn’t allow anyone to get close is that she’s been there, done that and they all die of old age so why bother?
Wanting to feel close to her Madre, Alicia padded through to her lounge and picked up the journal. She looked for the entries dated 31st October. Their birthday entries made her smile and just for a few moments, she wanted to be with her family
With her head pressed against the cool glass of her London penthouse apartment, her brown eyes started to read.
‘Dear my beloved thoughts,
Tonight is October 31st, 1880, my bambinos tenth birthday and tonight we held a celebration for them.
Our home was full of people, law enforcement figures mingling with founding Mafia families along with government officials. Everyone was connected to the crime in one way or another.
I had to giggle to myself when I glanced up to the grand staircase, there was my little angel with such a frown on her face, arms crossed tightly across her chest like she was ready to start a war with anyone that dared approach her.
She despised the beautiful purple gown that Lorenzo had handmade especially for this occasion, it took me over one hour to try and persuade her to wear it. My little angel was always in pink and when I dared to dress in another colour…well it was not a pleasant showdown. Trying to reason with a ten year old who already has a very unique personality of her own that doesn’t understand why little ladies do not wear pants like their twin brother does test one’s patience.
A compromise was met when I allowed her to wear her black leather lace up boots.
After scowling at anyone that dared to wish her a happy birthday it was my darling husband that managed to coax our daughter from the stairs. Her love for her Papa radiated over her face, showing her two dimples as he lifted her into his arms, walked her down to the ballroom and moved them both with grace over the dance floor, Alicia was like a princess in her father’s arms.
That was enough to calm her down and forget about her purple gown she was wearing and she soon ran off to find my little Prince, Alessandro Jnr.
The night was a success, our children being spoiled with lavish gifts and money, the food was wonderful, the champagne was flowing until the last guest left at two am. With both our children exhausted and safely tucked up in their beds, Alessandro called me to his study. The look on his face was grim as I took a seat.
Whilst the party was in full swing, ten of our guests had been robbed of the
ir jewels, family heirlooms that adjourned their necks and fingers, pocket watches, gold snuff boxes and copious amounts of lira were stolen in our very home and under our very eyes.
Alessandro had our security detail working on the guest list, to look for suspects. How appalling that someone came to a children’s birthday celebration and stole in front of our very eyes.
It saddens me that a living being could ruin a child’s day this way.’
Closing the journal, Alicia realised that her tenth birthday had been the night she made her first steal. The thief was never caught that night just as she has never been caught — and as for that Commander Prick? Well, she wasn’t about to let him catch her either!
Chapter Twenty Eight
“I don’t fucking believe this!”
Xavier’s tone was remarkably calm as he checked his bank account — the one he used when working, that is. There were zero funds showing. Nothing paid in, nothing paid out. It had been wiped clean as though it had never been operational. There was only one explanation for this. The Belcastros were fucking with him. A quick check of his offshore accounts proved that three other accounts had been tampered with, not only this one. “Dirty, low life motherfucking scumbag cunts.”
“Date went well then Commander, aye?” Shuggie folded his arms and leaned on the side of the door as he watched the commander at his computer.
Turning slowly to face Shuggie, Xavier’s expression was not amused. “You will keep til later asshole, yeah? Take a look at this.” Turning the screen around so that Shuggie could see it, Xavier added in his head while your eyes are still in your head, fucker. He would neither forget nor forgive the trick Shuggie had played on him with the old woman in the restaurant, but for now this matter took priority.
“Wit the fuck! Dae these Belcastros huv a fucking death wish? Who’s working fur them that could pull aff a stunt like this?” Shuggie mirrored Xavier’s incessant mood as he finally looked up from the screen to face him. “Wit ur ye gonnae dae, Commander?”
“Not sure. Yet. I need to have more to work on before I confront the bastards. So sit your ass down and start finding out when and where they hacked into my accounts, and then do a trace on theirs. They want to wipe out my funds and get me working pro bono? No fucking bueno.”
Xavier lit his seventh cigarette in fifteen minutes, and stared over Shuggie’s shoulder as he started to type. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter Thirty
Snr Belcastro took a long pull from his cigar, then stumped it out on the forehead of the guard who was forced to his knees in front of him.
“I don’t take kindly to incompetence Santiago. You were meant to find out where Commander Raige went, who he spoke with — fuck, I wanted you to find out how many shits he takes and if he washes his damn hands afterwards. But losing him in town? Losing him?” A loud slap resonated in the room as Snr Belcastros hand connected with Santiago’s face.
“If you fuck up again, it won’t be you who I will come after…no, it will be your beautiful wife, and that pretty little daughter of yours who will pay for your mistakes. They would make fine assets to my business arrangement with the Russians, don’t you think?”
A shaken Santiago knew it was futile to beg for mercy when Snr Belcastro was in this mood. Hell, he’d carried out the old man’s dirty work for more years than he cared to admit. But when your family is being threatened, there was no way he would make any more errors in this assignment — which was precisely why this was the motivating technique Snr Belcastro used time and again.
It had a hundred percent success rate.
****
Slipping the god awful looking piece of material (more commonly known as a maid’s outfit) over her body, Alicia tied her hair back into a loose ponytail then to complete the outfit, spilled her feet into the faux leather flats, muttering that imitations would blister her feet as her hand reached for the feather duster.
Security was tight at the mansion all thanks to that arrogant male who dated ‘lions’ so the next best thing was to get close and carry out her forced revision stake out inside the mansion itself — by disguising herself as one of the maids. Of course the Don’s office was off limits…but Alicia had an ace card — her vampire hearing!
She sneezed all the way along the corridor, dust mites irritating her as she carried the foreign object on her hand. There was no way in hell she was actually going to clean anything. She wouldn’t have known how to anyway!
No this was a case of get in, listen and then get out as quickly as she could.
****
All through the day, Shuggie worked in the sun-tight room trying to untangle the web of worms and spyware that the hacker had skilfully weaved to cover their tracks.
“Ah dinnae ken who they huv working fer them but one things fer sure, Commander, they’re fucking good. Giving me a run fer mah money, an there’s no many oot there that kin dae that.”
It was now a matter of personal pride to Shuggie that he hunt down their hacker. No one ever bettered him with computers, and he wasn’t about to concede defeat now.
Chapter Thirty One
Xavier left Shuggie working away as he climbed into his SUV and headed straight for the Belcastro mansion. He wouldn’t confront him about his suspicion that they had stolen his money out of his bank accounts straight away, he needed actual proof before he did that. His intention, however, was to feed Belcastro with some random shit about having various leads on the gang of thieves that were targeting his property and business and to give him some shit about ‘having his best men working on it’. There was no way in hell that he was going to give them the actual Intel he had — that Friera was the head of the gang of thieves.
That little nugget of information would stay between him and Shuggie for the time being.
All the while he would be on a fact finding mission to figure out what the fuck was actually going on and why they would think he, the fuck handsome and feared Commander Xavier Raige, would be an easy target for the Belcastro’s to rip off. He had undertaken this mission on good faith, and he did not respond to dirty tricks and backstabbing well. He never could abide two faced liars.
There was a distinct air of corruption about the mansion, Xavier thought dryly as he was turned away from Snr Belcastro’s office for the third time in succession. The first time, he was told that the Senor was in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed. The second time, a man called ‘Santiago’ was being dragged out of the office by his hair and led away by two of Belcastro guards. This time though, there wasn’t even the attempt at an excuse as to why he wasn’t being allowed access to the old bastard. This only reinforced his suspicions that they were enjoying treating him like their bitch.
Xavier’s mood was already sour, but this was adding insult to injury. Deciding that there was little point in hanging around like a fan girl for Snr Belcastro to step out of his office so that he could confront him, Xavier took a short detour before leaving the mansion.
All he need was five minutes in Snr Belcastro’s private quarters to see if the careless old man had left any incriminating evidence lying around. Nodding to some guards as he passed them on the mezzanine before climbing the stairs to the bedrooms, no one suspected that he was doing anything other than a sweep around to ensure the security systems were fully operational.
****
“Thank you Senorita, I shall take my break now.” Alicia smiled as she headed down the corridor to the staff quarters. Spanish was one of the many languages she could speak fluently. Ten minutes were over quickly and it was time to get back to work. Heading out of the room, she took a slow walk back to the office area of the mansion.
Tossing the feather duster to the ground when she entered the office with a look of disgust on her face. Alicia wasn’t exactly the type that revelled in the act of cleaning, and the sneezing was starting to get on her nerves.
Her interest had been piqued however when she overheard a conversation…the Russians were involved in thi
s somehow. She needed to get back home and check those flash drives again, there had got to be something that she had missed the first time she looked them over.
Turning and leaving the office, she headed down the corridor, paying more attention to the god awful shoes on her feet, she felt herself collide with something hard. “Excuse me….”
Hardly noticing the chambermaid who had bounced off of him and nearly hit the wall, Xavier looked down. “Just watch where you’re going in future, yeah?” He was about to march past her when he took a second glance.
Friera.
It was fucking Friera, right here in person, in the Belcastro mansion bold as fucking brass!
Xavier grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her into the nearest room, talking through gritted teeth. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”
“Ah duck! You stalking me again soldier boy?” Alicia smirked as wriggled in his hold. “You are hurting me, now be a nice prick and let me go… please! Or is it a kiss you’re wanting, since you dragged me into a cupboard?”
Ignoring her comments, Xavier kept a firm grip of her arm, glaring at her. “Planning to rob them in plain sight, were you? You have a set of balls on you, Sweetcheeks, I’ll give you that. Do you have any notion of the amount of shit you are getting yourself into?”
The Heist Page 9
