Life Blood's Vengeance

Kicking a Lawyer were it Hurts

Once Jacob has escorted Officer Warner out of the room the other voices I had heard come into the room. They are Catherine and Samuel and they look very peeved at me and Jacob gets clipped on his shoulder roughly by Samuel as he exits the room. Samuel is the first one to start the argument, which is a first in a decade, “What in the world do you think you were doing?! You know the danger and you still went to dinner with those numb skulls who don’t know the first thing about fighting or protecting anyone!” He fumes like a bull about to charge and tightens his hands into fist to keep from hurting himself or others. His face is bright and angry red, and it looks like he has gotten no sleep. Catherine looks like she is on the verge of crying or causing mass murder in the streets of Atlanta. You can never tell with her as she is always more deadly when she quiet. She has her head down, but her eyes are glassy. The family resemblance between the brother and sister is never more clear at the moment as their chins as set in the same mulish expression and their eyes set wide apart are wide and watching their victim, me, squirm. They knew I knew better, but I needed the freedom.

So much for being a mature and responsible 240 year old vampire, right now I felt like a child who had drank too much blood and was now in trouble with Mom and Uncle. Samuel sternly demanded, “Answer me Anita! What were you thinking? You could have been killed and you knew the danger of going out as a target when you know all that is going on.” Catherine looks up at me and motions for me to answer the question. I would get no help from Maman.

I act like it does not matter and shrug off the tone Samuel is using on me, the same one Maman said he used on my cousins when they were alive, “I know how to protect myself. I am not a little girl anymore and I don’t need to be watched over.” Maman looks angrier and starts to point her finger at me to tell me off, but I interrupt her. I continue quickly and sternly, “I needed food and I needed to meet with the guys about the results from the board meeting. I was doing my job and taking care of matters. I might have had some wine to relax. How was I to know I was being followed. At least we now know that is the case.” Samuel has a dumb stuck look in his eyes as he realizes the truth of what I said.

I am being followed, that is the only reason why anyone might have known I was going to Benedict’s and when. This means that we either have a spy in the company who is telling someone of my whereabouts or they are watching me in some other way like a Private Investigator, government agent, or hit man. My person bet was on a hit man. Call me paranoid, but I have lived long enough to realize that my intuition was most of the time right. Just because you might be paranoid, does not mean someone isn’t after you.

Samuel panics and grabs Maman’s arms, “Lock the doors and call security. We need to see who follows us. They might be following us as well. We need to watch and get out of here armed. Get to the safe house and lose their tracks. We need to be heavily armed. Go get everything, we leave in an hour.” Oh no I just the crazy person out and now he would attempt to take over every portion of my life leaving it impossible for me to take care of the public issues, kicking Jacob’s butt into the next century for calling them and everything else he has done in the last 12 hours or take a nice long pampering shower.

Speaking of which I needed to get moving to the shower to feel a little less dirty. I hear Maman leave the room, her cellphone already to her ear speaking in rapid, frantic and authoritative French. Samuel is by the curtains peeking out of them as if he was hunting the streets for the malevolent demon who had attempted to steal his treasure. I slowly get up and sneak to the open bathroom door and slam it shut, locking it quickly. We can’t leave if they can’t get me out of the bathroom right? I hear Samuel give a startled shout and come to the door as I quickly strip down to nothing. I rip and tear my clothes in my rush as not having clothes will also be another way to slow their plans.

I turn the water in the gleaming white marble shower on and start to go through the complementary spa products available in small travel sizes. Once the water is steaming and to my liking I step under the stream ignoring the ranting French man pounding the door to the bathroom. I like the products I have available, especially the shampoo. The shampoo smells minty and lush with some other floral scent. I will have to see if I can get a bigger bottle from the lobby for my use at home. I squeeze the whole bottle onto my thick, long reddish locks as the water gushes and ripples down my olive skin. The water pounds and bounces off, massaging my body as I take my time lathering and cleaning the days of dirt from my hair.

Slowly I become clean again and the pounding has long stopped as I imagine them sulking like sour lemons at their foiled plan to get me to go into hiding as soon as possible. The hotel was most accommodating as they had complimentary razors, deodorant, thick cotton towels, hair drier and a nice hairbrush for me to use. After more than 45 minutes of a shower and making myself presentable once more to the world I walk out into the bedroom to two very grumpy old vampires who are glaring at me. Instead I smile back and motion toward the towel covering my otherwise naked body, “I needed to take care of my hygiene and my clothes did not make it. Do you have a clean outfit for me including undergarments?” I hear my uncle groan and swear without taking a breath to stop in between. He is swearing at the family tendency toward stubbornness and aristocratic self-indulgence.

Maman rolls her eyes and walks out of the room in temper and Samuel soon follows as I sit on the side of the bed and turn on the television. The television will be white noise for my true purpose, a blistering phone call to Jacob about sticking the overprotective relations on me. I pick up my cell phone from the bedside table and see that there is a low battery so I will have to make this phone call effective. Not to mention that I also have 10 missed phone calls from various top-level employees of Life Blood, no doubt asking if I am alright and if I will solve their existential crisis that they created, hopefully in that order.

I dial his number and it rings about six times before Jacob’s bitchy assistant answers. “Parkson Law Firm, how may I direct your call?”

I answer politely, “Hi Andera this is Anita Renquist of Life Blood and I am a client. I need to speak with Jacob as soon as possible.” I hear a pause and muffled voice before I hear her annoying and nasal tone come on the line again.

“Mr. Jacob is not available to take your call right now Miss Renquist, but can I put you down for a meeting next week?” I roll my eyes and I try to not snap the phone in my hand.

I take a deep breath and calmly and politely explain, “Andrea, I need to speak with Jacob today. I was shot last night and if he won’t get to back to me today I will personally make sure that Jacob won’t see the family at the estate for two weeks. Do we understand each other.”

Not long after I hear Jacob answer the phone in a deep rumble of a growl, “What did you mean by that? You know the estate is everything to me. What did you want that badly to anger me to that degree?”

Thank goodness I know what will get him to spill the beans of his knowledge and growl right back, “Why in the world did you tell Maman and Samuel what happen? Where did my pastries go? And most importantly what were you think when you dumped me at the hotel after being shot without explaining a darn thing that happened last night!?”

I hear him make a grumpy noise with the effect of a “Hurumph! I will have you know I am busy too. Not only that not a single thank you for saving your life or dealing with the police for you. I told Catherine and Samuel because why would have had my heads for not telling them when they heard the news. Two, your beloved pastries are still intact with the exception of three as I was hungry and did not think you would begrudge me a pastry for saving your life. How many Samuel ate in his worry I can’t say, but last I checked you had three left including a Danish and a donut. Three, I have a life once again and thought that dumping you at the hotel was the best way to preserve my life instead of dumping you at the hospital which who would have liked even less. Now I will come by and see you today at Life Blood at 7 pm. Samuel explained that you had planned to stay there until your problem, which I should have been informed of by the way is taken care of!”

I bark back as I hear the suite door open, “Are you done? We have matters to discuss in person. Bring your saber to Life Blood tonight you will need it.”

Jacob gasps in outrage, “Are you serious? You ungrateful little kitten! Fine if you want to duel out your anger for having me save your life then do so, but don’t blame me if you get your can whooped tonight.”

“You have yourself a fight sir. Life Blood. 3rd Floor. My Office. Sharp.” I hang up and feel like throwing my phone across the room. How dare he call me ungrateful. I have people I hide, protect and take are of and I can’t be exposed or they might be. He should understand and while I consider him a good friend, he crossed the line in dumping me at the hotel with a tenacious set of guards and all without telling me anything that is happening about the publicity, the company issues that would happen from having their CEO shot, and what was happening with the police after I made my statement.

Not knowing what was going on meant I could not do any sort of damage control and it was driving me insane. Does he not realize that Samuel and Catherine were already worried and that as such this new development would make them want to hide me in bubble wrap so that I would never have any freedom for the next century. God I am frustrated even if I realize their actions are out of care and concern.

I hear the bedroom door open and Maman walks in with a department store bag that says Lola’s and throws it hard on to the bed. “Get dressed. If you won’t listen and do stupid things like taking a shower when we need to escape we will do it your way. However he will be behind you every step whether you like it or not.” She slammed the door back behind her and I take a look at the bag and growl disgustedly. What is the point of being an adult if you are guarded like a two year old.

I look inside the Lola’s bag half expecting a onesie and a bib, what I find instead are a pair of deep purple slacks in my size, undergarments including panty hose and a light lavender dress top with no sleeves. Mom must have picked these out as she is obsessed with the color as to her it is significant of royalty. I dress quickly and grab the black strappy heels that are four inches tall from the bottom of the bag. While not practical for a quick get a way, they were a great way to make sure your daughter does not evade you or your watch. She knows having me in these heels for the most part will keep me behind my office, in my chair with my shoes off of my feet.

Much to Catherine’s pleasure her choice of footwear for me did exactly that. Once I hobbled my way out of the Omni with my new bottle of shampoo and body wash from their spa and the one pastry that Samuel, Catherine or Jacob had not taken. While everyone had taken their favorite I was left with a jelly donut what was a little stale as someone had accidently left the box open. To say I was displeased about my treats being eaten while I was injured was an understatement. We did not even have breakfast at the Omni, which was well known for their quality of the fare they offered. After the long car ride through downtown with several evasive and round about methods of questionable driving I was driven to Life Blood and escorted on each side by my guard dogs.

Samuel was armed with a pistol and a wicked looking knife. Catherine was armed with her enhanced vampire senses to know of evil intentions in our surrounding area as well as her keen tracking skills. I was out of the plain black sedan where yet another one of the guards from the estate and Lucy’s husband were going to park the car and change the plates to remain undetected. It might have been 11am and fashionably late for work, but once Catherine, Samuel and I were dropped off at the public front doors of Life Blood. I still had my cast on at my mother’s insistence of keeping up appearances I was shot.

The most annoying day of my life in my recent memory ensued. Everyone in the front lobby stopped and stared as I walked in with my guards who were giving death glares to everyone. A dozen people who were chatting turned toward me and went dead silent. They then rushed toward me asking about the shooting, if I was alright and if I know anything about why it happened. They were so aggressive that Samuel had to push them out of the way just to sign in at the front desk. Some of them were pushing recording devices into my face as my mother shouted “No comment.” I was quickly let through and we were all scowling as we walked to the bank of elevators.

We still were stared at but with the dark threat written on Samuel’s face no one approached us. However, they were whispering about us to their friends and we could here some of the comments thanks to our increased hearing ability. For the most part the comments were, “I heard the drive by shooter did not injure anyone else.” and “One of the security guys that works here at night was being questioned this morning my Theodore himself, I heard he was supposedly there. Do you think he knows anything?” At least Theodore was doing his job to think about Mark, the guy that had driven me. I had not forgotten about him, I just had too much to deal with this morning thus far, however it was strange no one had mentioned him to me all morning.

I enter my key in for the 3rd floor and ride the elevator to see Mrs. Lucy and how nuclear her worry had reached. The minute she say me get off the elevator she looked at my cast and started crying at her desk. My Maman quickly went over to console her and whisper for her to get a cup of tea and take a long lunch. This seems vastly annoying as I wanted to spend time with Lucy and she was not as nearly as restrictive as Maman could be. Lucy nods and grabs her bag, coming over to me she exclaims how worried she was and that she loves me, “I don’t know what I would do without you miss. Please don’t ever get yourself hurt again. What will my baby ever do without her Godmother!” I pat her back and hug her gently. Lucy is such a kind soul and she sobs on my shoulder. After a while she stops and breathes as she collects herself.

She brightens a bit and says, “You know what? Let me bring you your favorite from La Crane, you know that little Latino place? What do you think?” I laugh and agree. I hear the elevator open behind me and Lucy squeals, “Nate, you are here. I did not know who were coming to see me at work. I love you so much. You won’t believe it, Anita was on the news last night and..”

“Honey. Breathe, everything is okay and we can talk about it at lunch.” He leads her to the elevator as she rambles on at full speed and gives he gives her a full lovers kiss as the elevators open. Nate was the perfect mate for Lucy. They had found the love I had not. I was jealous.

I walk to my office door and badge in with the intention of locking Maman and Samuel out. I had no luck, as Samuel opened the door for me and let themselves in. I walk over and see the new mountain of paper work and 1,000 plus e-mails once I turn on my computer including de-briefs from Theodore about results from the points we covered last night, the extent of the public spectacle including requests for interviews with me, requests from the Atlanta police department, requests from HR to meet with me about the Jackson case, and a note from seemingly every staff member asking if they should talk to the press if they were approached.

I set the meetings I need to for next week except for Theodore and HR who I will meet with on Friday and work through each correspondence. All this while trying to ignore the fighting between Maman and Samuel that always happens when they are in a room together for more than 30 minutes. Before long I have been working for six hours, Lucy has forgotten to get me a lunch as she was wrapped up in Nate and getting the press to leave me alone and I had been hearing constant nonsensical arguments about which kind of cheese is better for pasta dishes for the last 30 minutes.

I had a massive headache from dealing with everyone and Jacob was coming by for his blood letting in one hour. It was almost time to extract information and I had to get rid of Maman and Samuel, as well as get some pain killers in my system. I pretend to stretch and yawn, “I am so hungry and I have not had anything beyond one stale donut. Do we have anything here?” They look at each other and realize they forgot all about food, as if now they realize they are hungry too. We also have not had any blood in the last 12 hours, while not the worst case we have had by any means it was not ideal especially as I would still be healing a little bit from being shot and as a vampire you can’t stop using skills like improved eyesight and hearing constantly, which naturally drain your energy.

The turn to each other and declare, “We will get pizza and we will get the blood ordered from the blood bank.” They have found a way to keep me here in my chair working. I could just scream in frustration at the moment. I had been dealing with communication and people all day, however I could not even get to the issues I most needed to address including attempting to contact the Russian Intelligence officers to get a hold of Shirmski. I see Samuel open his screen on his cell phone and start placing the order for 3 extra-large pizza’s one a white cheese, the other a Tuscan chicken wood fired with tomato’s for Maman and Deluxe with extra cheese. With my gnawing hunger about to be taken care of with the amazing dish that is pizza I try to reach for the silver lining of the day to tamper down my building temper as the saber duel with Jacob ticks closer.

One good item that was dealt with was informing the local U.S government agents of the cyber attack and they were going to be sending an officer tomorrow to do a preliminary investigation of our hardware and servers to see the extent of the damage. I had communicated with Theodore via e-mail as well as copied the board members and all managers that the cyber crimes Federal Bureau of Investigation would be arriving to go over the systems and to be available for questioning.

Tomorrow every manager who worked at Life Blood would be here for a 10am meeting and I would be running the majority of the presentation. I would be sharing the extent of the damage and the protocols we have taken to protect everyone’s information, including offering them Life Lock policies for one year. While expensive at 11 dollars a month for each employee, it would be worth not being sued for not protecting our clients and employees’. The employee’s would be told to cooperate with the authorities fully, but to not disclose personal, sensitive or restricted projects that we are working on for the CDC unless they have the proper security clearance.

I would be informing them to not speak with the media about any incident regarding the cyber incident or the medical information of any employee. They would be informed that if they did so their employment at Life Blood would be reviewed and depending on the severity they would be terminated. The exposing of any employee’s medical information was a punishable crime to the U.S government any way under OSHA, so the rule was really just a reminder of what they should be doing anyway.

As for the pesky document of all the former C.E.O’s, in other words me dressed as a man or a woman through the decades with a few little differences between the information, it was destroyed from all known records. My work device would be released to FBI as of tomorrow during their visit and Jackson once found would be questioned at length. According to the most recent report from the Atlanta Police Officer Waran, Jackson was not at home and was not seen by his neighbors in the last 12 hours as he had been released by Life police custody only a few hours before the shooting at Benedict’s.

The problem was that he had been released by the magistrate on low bail only hours after being in custody, as he had not been considered a public risk, was a first time offender and that the accusation of embezzlement was considered a white collar crime. The police had taken the recorded interview with Jackson around the close of business yesterday and had agreed with Officer Warner that no verbal physical threat had been made so he had been released with only a charge of attempted embezzlement and an attempt at blackmail. So while I had been sitting a my desk last night waiting for the dinner meeting time to roll around Jackson had been getting released.

Jackson was now the top suspect in the shooting at Benedict’s as he was not at his residence. Jackson was now considered a person of interest and would be questioned heavily about the shooting as that little fact about Jackson being released only a few hours before the shooting of his blackmail victim and that he had now disappeared had made the evening report on the local news. I had a Jacob to thank at least a little for that as he had released a statement to them. The police department now had a bit of an embarrassing situation of their hands and had now released a more generic statement about what happened last night.

I would as tell the group of managers the public reason of what had happened to me last night, as they had actually come up with a good excuse to cover up the fact that another vampire might be after me. That instead I was shot in a drive by shooting by an unknown assailant and that everyone needed to be vigilant, safe and use the group method of getting to their car. Security as a whole would be increased and all offices on the ground floor were to have their windows and curtains drawn at all times. We would as a facility also post educational and mandatory active shooter training.

My top concern was the health and safety of my staff and as such I felt that the accomplishments made today regarding them were noteworthy. I keep working through my large pile of work that was now at least less of a mountain and sooner than I thought 30 minutes has passed and Samuel is headed downstairs to get the pizza and the blood delivery from the night shift security guard Mark I would have to interview tonight about the incident at Benedict’s. I stopped working and exited my office to the board room and laid my head down on my hands. My torso laying flat of the table, my exhaustion showing up when I need it the least. I had not even realized when Lucy had left or had the chance to tell her goodnight, so much for being a great boss.

Samuel comes back quickly and we eat straight out of the box like heathens and have a bag of blood each. I glance at the clock and mentally swear in my head, it’s 20 minutes till 7pm and Jacob would be talking through the elevator doors any moment fight ready and probably wanting a slice of my pizza.

How right I was, sometimes I wish I did not know people so well. Jacob walked past the board room door with two sabers in hand while Maman was having her last slice and he turned and saw the boxes with a wide smile and with a quicker pace badged in a grabbed my last two slices as a younger brother would. He did look tried and a little care worn with his hair messy and his suit unbuttoned, however the mischief in his eyes showed he was far more ready for the duel than I the challenger was. Maman asked as the nosy woman often does, “Son, why are you carrying two sabers with you? What would you need those for here?”

He replied in a deadpan and sarcastic tone, “Well Maman I sorry to inform you that your daughter is not wise and challenged me to a duel over the thief of her precious pastries.” Maman looked shocked and looked between the two of us and her eyes grew wide as I all of a sudden had an all consuming interest into the state of my fingernails. She let out a rambunctious and naughty chuckle, “Well my dear boy I should thank you richly as you have just brought us great entertainment for tonight. Brother dear would you like to show these infants how it is done like a master. I promise to trounce you well.”

Samuel forgets his pizza box and takes one of the sabers from Jacob and weighs it carefully, “No I think sister dear it will be you who will know defeat at my mighty weapon.” Maman takes the remaining weapon from Jacob as he looks vastly disappointed he will not get a first turn. He then looks at me and shakes his head as Maman and Samuel make their way to the elevator area and Lucy’s desk that has plenty of open space. All the while they trash talk each other, my mother calling my Samuel, “ An ineffectual and unthreatening eunuch who would not know an impressive weapon from a cunt.” With those closing words the board room door closes loudly behind them.