Delarossa (The Hadley Caro Series Book 1)

by R M Taylor

  “He knows I’m going out, I even said I would be trying to kiss a vampire tonight and he just laughed. So, we’re good, now show me your dress!” Althea sat on the bed and waited. “Do you think it would hurt to snog a vampire? You know with the fangs and that”

  “Ha! I dunno, I suppose it depends on how sharp they are and how hard a snog you give! But they don’t have their fangs out all the time, they retract, the pics on that website showed the coven leader smiling and hers weren’t visible. So, I guess they could kiss without them being down.” Lucy opened her wardrobe to get the dress out for tonight, aware her cheeks had gone red due to thoughts of last night’s dream.

  After much oohing and ahhing of the dresses, they were ready and suitably tipsy for the night out. Althea had styled Lucy’s hair with loose curls, so along with the new outfit Lucy felt good, she hadn’t gotten dressed up like this is a long time and when she looked in the mirror she was impressed, she was gorgeous, damn Allie had good skills.

  Chapter 13

  “What the actual hell is this??” Aris was outraged, he flung the letter onto the table. Lina had been issued a challenge for territory, a group of vampires wanted to relocate and were demanding Lina scaled down her coven to allow two covens to exist side by side as in other cities. They even offered to take people into their coven to even the numbers, how generous. Challenges tend to issue if covens are overpopulated or the resident coven are not contributing enough to the local economy. Or, if the locals had complained too many times for whatever reason. There were expectations that covens benefit the areas they live in by creating jobs through businesses and by many donations to local organisations to strengthen their city.

  It was a way to ensure their presence was accepted and appreciated by the city officials and the residents. Crime was tightly controlled; exacting standards of conduct and etiquette were expected so that the coven reputation was always good. It had been that way for over 100 years. Apart from rare occasions when there were run ins with the law and disputes with residents, the coven had been the best in the country and rated as such. Any vampire or shifter unable to keep to the rules would eventually be asked to leave but given plenty of opportunity to change before it got to that stage. Lina was fair and forgiving to a point. Her primary concern was for the coven members, if something caused a threat to them she would move swiftly to resolve it.

  “We have to consider their request; the High Court requires us to cooperate with procedure. Technically the idea of 2 covens sharing territory is safer than 1 coven. A large coven is potentially vulnerable, and much more difficult to manage than 2 smaller ones. On paper it makes sense.” Lina tried to rationalise the challenge and put it in perspective, but they could hear her annoyance in her tone of voice.

  “So, who would need to leave our coven? Would people be forced? Some people have lived here since this coven started, if we can’t figure the logistics what are the options?” Will asked while reading the letter Lina had received.

  “I don’t know, all I do know is that the High Court is considering their right to acquire, which means we have to consider it with seriousness too. Even these days vampires have many enemies, the slayers are still highly active despite the denial from the High Court. There are still problems with religious groups employing them to eradicate covens. Our territory is rich, it has many valuable assets and a relatively low ratio of shifters to human. We have to consider their demands.” Lina exhaled in frustration. “We need to get the whole coven’s input, but I need a rough plan of action before then. What are your thoughts?” Lina asked.

  “It’s bullshit, they can’t force us, can’t we pay them off? Like a good-will gesture to help them get their coven started elsewhere, legally can they make us downsize?” Aris scowled, the coven was not going to like this.

  “It would be likely that if we refuse the High Court may cap our numbers and enforce a restriction on new members. If they do that it might mean penalties if any of our coven have children, the families may be forced to move out of our territory.” Will said.

  “Do they want their own coven, or just to live in this city? They could join us, how many of them are there?” Aris asked.

  “22 Of them, mix of males and females. They want their own coven in the city, but it does not say if they are already established elsewhere. They have traditional values, most of the members on their council are older, the potential leader is over 300 years old. His name is withheld, but he’s likely to be hard core, old fashioned and stuck in his ways, they usually are. He is also likely to be extremely wealthy, so money is not what he wants. He likely would not join us, he would find that idea insulting, these older vampires are all the same, inflated egos, and they usually feel entitled to whatever they want due to their age. Age is such a status symbol. There would be no way he would live under my leadership, I may be a decent age, but the older ones tend to still view a female leader as lesser” Lina said sombrely.

  “Ok, so how many vampires are allowed in the city in total now, how close to maximum are we?” Aris asked.

  “At the moment, we’re at 92 residents in our coven since Audrey and Willow left to go travelling, the maximum for the area is 160, but as the human population grows that will increase too. So, in theory they could certainly relocate here, but their argument is they should have half of the allowance. So, they would want 80 people and 80 for us. We would need to lose 12 people. Then there would be no room for growth. Ultimately it will come to a head sooner rather than later when families grow, even with our slower reproduction rate. We have increased on average ten percent per year since we founded the coven. We already must ask permission before we change a person. Any children born would threaten the families, they would be forced to leave to keep their family together. It was an issue that was in the pipeline anyway, we knew that we would have to face it eventually, if we carry on increasing ten percent per year we would be at maximum in 5 or 6 years” Lina shook her head slightly.

  “It depends on the city population, if more humans move here the more coven members we will be allowed” She hated politics, and it had surprised her that forming her own coven had increased the politics she had to deal with, rather than reduce it.

  “I doubt any of our members would want to join their coven, the leader would not be well received if he is as rigid and formal as he may be” Will said.

  “What will happen if they win their right to territory? If we expand and exceed the numbers what will the penalties be?” Aris asked.

  “I do not know, but there will be resentment with our members if this coven succeeds. It will lead to fighting I can see it, especially with the younger ones, you know how they are any threat to us they will be quick to retaliate. Humans may get injured or killed, it would be disastrous for us, to our reputation in the community. Humans do not know there would be 2 covens, they would group us as one and assume the vampires are causing the problems willingly and aiming at humans. We would become targets, it would end in bloodshed, it has happened before to other covens” Lina looked at the letter again, sadness showing in her expression.

  “So, what do we do? Tell the coven and then what? Expect everyone to draw straws to decide who will leave the city or join the other coven?” Aris asked.

  “Maybe we can explain the situation, and then suggest the options. Maybe then give everyone a few days to think and then regroup to talk again, we could relocate the families to a building outside of the city maybe? One more suitable to families? Many have businesses online or not actually physically located in the city, so they could relocate in theory” Will said.

  “I think that may be the way to go if the families are happy with it. In the meantime, things go on as usual. We will need to do an audit of absolutely everything, so we can write a report justifying our numbers and our importance to the city,” Lina said. “We can’t give anyone ammunition to accuse us of anything. I know two families who have expressed interest in moving to the outskirts of the city for a quieter life. We c
an examine possible locations, we need to map population levels and proximity to other vampires”

  “Ok, we need to keep this quiet, if the media get wind there will be all sorts in the news. There’s been enough negativity in the past we don’t need this to attract violence from anti vampire nutters” Aris said. “We need to amp up security of the building, we don’t want to be vulnerable to attack while this is going on. Fuck’s sake like we need all this! We have enough dissention between our older and younger members over usual mundane stuff, you throw this in the mix then you know there will be fights” Aris shook his head.

  “Agreed, and if that is made known we have some unrest it will just add to the case for the other coven. I will send a message to the rest of the council, make a meeting time for tomorrow night. We will pitch the audit as a regular report to the High Court, routine and nothing to worry about. Can you get your information on the club Aris? Will, we will need yours from the restaurants too, all info on income and profit, taxes, employees, account numbers and all the rest” Lina said.

  “No problem” Aris and Will said simultaneously.

  Chapter 14

  After the meeting Aris went to work feeling annoyed and frustrated. He and his coven mate Joseph ran the nightclub Pulse in the West End of the city. It was near the best hotels and the high-end restaurants on this side, so did great business all year round. They opened the club 10 years previously and it had grown in popularity and profit increased year on year. The bar side was high end with designer decor, with a gourmet trendy restaurant connected to one side. Upstairs to the restaurant there was also private rooms for donors and vampires as well as a vampire exclusive bar. It was a classy club with a good reputation with humans as well as supernaturals. He parked his Mercedes in his spot and entered the building to find his Bar Manager Melissa organising things behind the bar.

  “Evening, Melissa” Aris called as he walked across.

  “Evening, Mr Landon” She replied. “We have a problem I’m afraid, last night we had a break in, they didn’t seem to have taken anything, but the bar was trashed pretty bad, in here and in the restaurant. I had to call Kathy, Stacy and the others in early to help clear up. We’re just about there now but the damage will cost several thousand in lost alcohol and damages. I called the police they said they would stop by as soon as possible but since it’s a Saturday and there were no injuries to anyone it may be a while. We took photos though just in case, but the CCTV is not clear enough to discern any accurate features, I don’t think they will get any useful information from it, and we couldn’t pinpoint a scent either, the club has no many since so many people go through here, finding a trace of scent was impossible in that much of a mix” Melissa said.

  “Thanks Melissa, don’t worry about it, it’s a minor inconvenience really. I suspect the police will be more concerned with serious crime tonight and I don’t have the energy to care about a couple of grands worth of damage that we can easily replace, but we will need a new security system with accurate CCTV, we may need it in the future” Aris said with a sigh.

  “Everything ok?” Melissa asked, she knew a lot about vampires and his coven, and was even dating a coven member last year for a while. A new security system should not be needed, this was a known vampire bar, the threat of retaliation from a vampire was enough to put most people off any funny business. Angering a vampire was not a clever idea, even with laws and repercussions to deter vampires from retaliation, their ability to influence others and their superior strength made it easy to avoid the consequences.

  “Some drama going on in the coven, but hopefully things will work out, just bureaucratic crap” Aris smiled “Is Joseph in yet?”

  “Not yet, but I messaged both of you about 15 mins ago, you probably got it while driving so he won’t be long either I expect” Melissa said.

  “Ok great, I’ll be in the office then” He smiled and walked to the elevator that was situated between the bathrooms and the kitchen towards the back of the room. Aris exited the elevator on the first floor, as the shiny black doors opened he saw one of his employees bent over his desk through the glass wall of the office. Frowning in confusion he sped into his office, giving the employee a fright. She jumped and squealed in surprise. In her hand was freshly printed sheets. Rounding the desk, he looked at what she had printed to find it was the monthly finance report detailing income and expenditure as well as reams of sensitive employee information. Grabbing the sheets from the startled woman, he delved through to see what else had been printed. A whole list of staff members’ details as well as pass codes and passwords, bank details, addresses, licenses, even copies of photo ID, His personal details, Joseph’s, and copies of personal emails.

  “What the hell is this Stacy? Why have you printed this and how the hell did you get access to my computer? Why would you need this?” Aris asked, consciously controlling his temper since he was already in no mind to deal with this shit.

  “I..I..was just…. I’m sorry Mr Landon, I’m so sorry, I guessed your password, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t say no, this man is threatening me and Kathy, he said he would hurt Kathy if I didn’t get this information. She’s human, I can take care of myself, I’m a shifter, but Kathy is human, and I can’t let her get hurt, she’s my best friend. He’s already beat her once for disobeying him. She refused to do it last week and she only just started walking again two days ago. He will kill her next time I know it!! Even in my wolf form I might not be able to protect her, I’m not an enforcer in my pack, I have no fighting experience. One of us had to get the information, so I tried. I thought you would be dealing with the problems downstairs for a while. I’m so sorry” Stacy’s eyes overflowed with tears as she spilled her confession.

  She was soon sobbing, and Aris was unsure whether he should hug her, tell her off, or both. Taking a deep breath, he told her to sit in the chair in front of the desk. He could hear her heart racing so fast he was worried she would have a heart attack. After he put the sheets in his desk drawer and mentally chastising himself for the crappy password, qwerty123 was obviously way too easy, he crossed to the bar at the back of the office and poured them both a drink each. Handing her a double Nolet’s Reserve Gin over ice he sat on the other chair in front of her and downed his in one.

  “Okay, from the start Stacy, who is the guy and why does he want this information?” Aris took a deliberate slow breath as he waited her response.

  “The guy is called John, Kathy met him in the club a few weeks ago. He seemed nice and we hung out a lot that first week, he was really interested in the club, and I assumed he wanted a job, so we told him to come in and speak to Melissa. After a few weeks of this and hanging around the club when we were working we started getting a little creeped by him. He was seen by Lizzy and Nathan outside their houses. It was like he was tracking us all. Eventually he just right out told Kathy last week that she had to get this information. She refused and then after work last Saturday he followed her home and gave her a beating of her life. She was badly hurt, broken ribs, cheek bone and wrist, and really bruised all over, I wasn’t working that night, so I didn’t travel home with her, she was left with huge bruises everywhere Mr Landon, she could hardly walk.

  Someone found her, and they called an ambulance, I didn’t find out till the next day when I woke, and she wasn’t home. I rang the hospitals and found her” Stacy took a big breath and pushed on “So, when this guy came to our apartment the other night and threatened us again, we called the police. Turns out he must know someone high up as they didn’t arrest him, they took him in and he was out the same day!! He kept turning up, we kept ringing the police, they kept bringing him in, he kept getting let out. We complained but it did no good, they didn’t even have records of him being there. Yesterday I got home, and he had left photos of dead bodies with Kathy’s photo used as their faces. Like photoshopped them or something, just to freak us out. Next came photos of us shopping and walking to work, like he was stalking us, and he wanted us to know he was
watching. We’re terrified, he seems to enjoy our fear, every time we talked to him he seemed amused the sick bastard. I didn’t know what to do the police won’t do anything, they don’t even seem to remember us when we call!!” Stacy resumed sobbing as Aris processed the information.

  The guy was a vamp. How else would he dodge the police and get away with all of this? Vampires could wipe memories and compel others if they had the gift, and most did. The question was who the guy was and who was he working for. As he was mulling, the elevator pinged, and the doors opened to reveal Joseph, talking on his phone. When he saw Stacy crying he abruptly ended the call.

  “What the hell? What’s wrong Stacy??” Joseph was at her side in a second, his arm around her, pulling her in for a hug.

  “Aris what happened? Why is she crying?” Joseph asked as he glared at Aris, obviously expecting he was the cause of the tears. Like he was that much of a bastard.

  “Kathy and Stacy have been harassed by a man named John, who I suspect is a vampire. He hurt Kathy last week, gave her a beating and he escalated this week with further threats if they didn’t get information about the club” Aris retrieved the sheets from the desk drawer and showed Joseph.

  “It’s ok Stacy, calm down sweetheart we’re not angry, you could have told us, we would have helped you. You are our friend as well as our employee” Joseph said while rubbing her back. Joseph had much better interpersonal skills than he did, Aris just couldn’t be arsed with the effort, he was polite and friendly, and that was enough as far as he was concerned. He was very wary of any kind of closeness with women because of past experiences and deliberately kept his distance. Short term fuck buddies and casual one nighters were as far as he got. He called down to Melissa and asked her to send Kathy up. Then, he called two more staff members and offered them double time if they could come in to cover shifts. They girls were in no state to be working, they needed to calm down and de-stress.