Chapter 51
“That…didn’t go how I thought it would.” Eon remarked still watching the door. “She wants you … but she doesn’t want to be with you. How exactly are you going to make that work?”
“In time.” Vlad said with a grin as he tossed the folder into the fireplace.
“Time is not your friend.” Eon told him. “People want her dead. Setting her free wasn’t a good idea to begin with.”
“It’s good for her, that’s all that matters.”
“Technically…it’s not!”
“Can the men not keep her safe?”
“They will do their duty, you have no problem on that score.”
“But there’s something bothering you.” Vlad guessed. “Out with it!”
“I was just wondering if keeping men out of her bed will be part of their duties.”
Vlad frowned. That was one of the concessions he wanted from her but if he truly wanted to give her, her freedom, she must be free to choose him as well. “No.” He whispered finally, wishing he could take the word back.
Eon knew him and prodded. “Are you sure? You rarely share your women and only if you’re done with them. And you’re not done with her.”
“It has to be done this way Eon.” Vlad sighed and collapsed in the chair.
“Alright,” Eon conceded. “then we have another matter to discuss.”
“I know.”
“We can’t put it off any longer.” Eon spoke as he paced. “The American has sent his emissary. He will meet you in Germany.”
“I guess he either wants to negotiate or make a threat. And by now he knows my cousin is using him.”
“So, I’m guessing threat. Should I make myself available for this meeting?”
“No.” Vlad decided. “From now own your top priority will be keeping the Czarina and my heir safe. Ensure the men do their jobs. Let them know either one gets a scratch and they’ll be seeing me for retraining.”
Eon nodded. Knowing full well the threat extended to him to. The Prince’s version of boot camp involved surviving the hunt in winter with him and his wolves. No one ever came back.
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Vladimir watched the pudgy man in distaste. He wasn’t a soldier or even a former one. He was an ordinary looking fellow with average height and thinning brown hair you thought harmless until you saw the depraved light in his watery hazel eyes. He listened with half ear as the man made his boss’s displeasure known.
“Your father wasn’t the only powerful man involved in this and these men wouldn’t like evidence walking around flaunting itself in public like that. You kept the girl and we allowed that. After all, all men have needs. Then you married her, publicly I might add, another slap in our face. Now you expose her to the world, are your testing us Your Highness?” The man asked.
“What I do is none of your business…”
“This has everything to do with our business!” He growled then calmed as he threatened. “In Russia, you may be untouchable, but Russia has always been an enemy of the world, in their eyes murder is still murder…”
Which is why he didn’t dare make his little threat there. “And so is slavery and kidnapping.” Vlad countered stepping in his face. “I have the blood of the Boyars and Czars flowing in my veins, no peasant will bring me to heel…”
“And your wife is what?” The man questioned not backing down. “Yet she seems to have done just that. Maybe we sold her for too low a price if her pussy is that…ah…” he gasped the last as Vlad tightened his grip around his throat.
“She is the Czarina. MY Czarina. You peasant! Only speak of her in that respect. As to the other buyer’s concerns I know of them all. And I know of them and I know of your family. I know all about your disgusting business…If anything you should be paying me for my distress for having to touch one such as yourself!” Vlad finalised as he threw him across the room. Then pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his hands. “She is my concern and my concern only. She will keep your little crime quiet to protect the next Czar but not because we fear any weak American, German, Persian, English…”
“I understand.” The man cut him off quickly when he realized Vlad was naming all the countries where his buyers resided.
“Get out of my sight!” Vlad commanded, and the man rushed out. He released the fists he made and exhaled, bringing his emotions back under control. When he had just discovered where Azura’s sellers came from he was afraid they would come for him but after years of collecting all their secrets, he knew them for what they really were. A bunch of sick perverted rich men and women who had more money than morals.
There were also men who were former trained soldiers who use the cover of wars and crime to cover their tracts. Families would be left thinking their loved one was just a victim of war, when in fact they stole them for body parts and sexual pleasures. This particular parasite volunteered at a boy’s club and had used the some of the boys to lure young girls like Azura. His family thought all his wealth came from him being a good salesman in their front operation.
He was VP of Operations in Computerware. It had locations in some form of another in all the buyer’s countries. Under the cover of a normal executive lunch meeting, those monsters bought black market body parts and entertainment using established codes, so they wouldn’t get caught. To become a member, it required a blood initiation, the potential member had to kill a member of their own family. Then you were set for life.
He only knew that because he was offered his father’s position. They thought he killed both Boris and his father and, so he was invited to join. It also required monetary dues to be paid yearly as their lawyer calmly listed and access to the special codes he could use for his purchases. How he was able to sit through that meeting and not kill his cousin’s envoy was beyond him. Maybe it was because of the shock of it all happening so soon after his father’s death. His father was their last Russian client, he was told and if he was not interested, any recommendation of his would be considered.
They made it sound like a job interview. A normal business dealing, done in elegance and luxury. He was simply signing up for a new club, one that was ultra-exclusive, serving only exceptional beings such as himself. The envoy had casually sipped tea in his custom-made designer suit as he laid out all the benefits of joining their little circle. These demons treated people like product on the shelves, not living breathing individuals that had lives and loves ones.
His conversation with the envoy had him wondering, how long was his father a member? And just who did he sacrifice to join? According to Charles and the envoy, the organisation was centuries old with the founding members dating back centuries. Initiation wasn’t as strict then as it is now, but with recording devices and the internet, they wanted to be assured of new members level of commitment.
He had asked the envoy then about his father, but he said that the information was beyond him but once he was a member, he would make it his duty to inform him. Vlad got the impression the man was lying, but something twisted in his gut and told him he didn’t really want to know the answer, so he let it drop.
He had another meeting to attend to. He was going to see the German heiress. Wanting to live longer was her reason for joining and she wanted no part in what was coming. All she asked was that he left her name out and she would not be buying again. His visit wasn’t necessary, but Vlad just wanted to make sure she knew who she was dealing with. And let her know that he had the actions to back up his words.
Once he was done here, he would check in with Azura’s security detail as he did every day. Missing her was like having a ghost limb. He knew she was gone but still felt her presence every day. He missed their daughter too but Azura had promised he was welcome to see her anytime he wanted, and he intended to make good use of his ‘fatherly’ visits.
The issue of the blood sacrifice stayed with him. What had his father sacrifice, he had a feeling he knew who Charles sacrificed but who did his father sacrifice? Was it his mother? Was she really sick? Or did he make her sick? You didn’t have to do the sacrifice until you made your first purchase, so when was his?
The thought of his mother and father refused to leave him. It was a mystery he wanted solved and now he had the means to get the answer. He called Charles.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Came the droll reply on the other end.
“I need to know…what did my father sacrifice?”
For a few minutes, Vlad thought the line went dead then Charles replied. “This is not an answer you want.”
“So, you do know!”
“I’ve already destroyed the recording as is done when a member dies.”
“Just answer the question Charles!”
“You really need to stop that high handed tone of yours! No wonder the girl can’t love you!”
Vlad was onto his game and demanded fiercely. “Stop talking out if your arse and tell me!”
“The boy was going to die anyway…”
The phone fell from Vlad’s hand.
On the floor, Charles’s voice shouted through the phone. “HELLO? VLAD? VLAD! Oh, bugger it!” He cursed then hung up.
Vlad staggered then fell to knees. He had helped him. He had helped his father make his sacrifice. He had helped him kill his own brother.