Reese Ch. 08

"I'm sure except that I keep thinking about that young man- the one that tried to get me to go with him to save his child."

"But he was human," Vangie countered.

"Yes but what you must understand is that during that time untainted blood was a rarity. More vampires were made during that time than in any time in history. While it is true that many of them died because of starvation or because no one taught them; many did survive. What if he was one of those that was turned and lived?"

"And you've been playing chess with him all of this time?"

"It's possible," Donatello replied.

"That's quite a stretch," Vangie mused.

"I agree, but nonetheless; it is a possibility. Look at the time, we must prepare for the meeting."

Vangie looked at him. He was nervous again and it had very little to do with the meeting with Emilio.

"What are you thinking?" she asked ignoring the comment about the time.

"We'll finish this conversation later," Donatello replied. "I want to be at the meeting room before Emilio arrives."

An hour later, Donatello was in the room set aside for the meeting. At the last minute Vangie had convinced him that she should be at his side. Now he was wishing that he hadn't given in. He was about to send her away when Emilio walked in without knocking. The two males stared at each other for several minutes before Emilio spoke.

"It has been a long time."

"Not long enough," Donatello replied not standing to greet him. "Let's get this meeting started so that we can be on our way."

Vangie watched the two men and decided that she didn't like Emilio. He felt slimy to her and she didn't like the covert looks that he gave her.

"Keep your damned eyes off of my mate!" Donatello snapped.

"She is very beautiful," Emilio said now looking directly at her. "If you did not want her looked at, you should have left her behind."

Donatello started to stand but Vangie put a hand on his arm. Donatello had been right. She shouldn't have been in the room with them. His focus was on her safety and not what they needed to find out. She would apologize later.

"Please sit down," she said softly. "I must leave. I have things to attend to. I was only keeping Donatello company until you arrived."

He didn't believe her. She could tell but he didn't challenge her either. She felt the muscles in Donatello's arm relax when she said that she had to leave. If he killed Emilio; it would be after the meeting. She kissed Donatello on the cheek and excused herself. Instead of going to the room, she went to the place where she was going to originally hide.

"She really is attractive," Emilio said with a smile. "Does she have family?"

"Tell me what you know," Donatello replied.

"What is this?" Emilio asked. "No offer of refreshment? No exchanging of niceties? Where have you been? Are you still practicing as a doctor?"

"This is not a social call," Donatello snapped. "You would be the last person that I would share refreshments with."

"What is it that you have against me?" Emilio asked genuinely confused. "Until we were turned we had never met. I knew of you because your father cared for my family but our paths had never crossed. So please... tell me how I have offended you. I will not answer any other question until my curiosity is satisfied."

Donatello wanted to kill him information or not but he had made a promise. The only way to get the needed information and to end the meeting was to answer Emilio's question.

"You murdered my beloved and her child."

"I'm sorry, but I murdered no one..."

"Her name was Calandra. Her father was one of the high ranking senators. It was an arranged marriage and you cared nothing for her. You married her in order to save your assets. Don't deny it. Her servants told me the whole story. Even then you lived a life of excesses. You used her as if she was no more than a common street whore. You abused her until her and then the child she bore died. She and I cared for each other but I was not good enough for her. I could not give her the grand house... the finery. I stepped aside instead of taking her away."

"Then the fault is yours," Emilio said as he struggled to recall the name that Donatello had given him. He recalled having a wife. He even recalled her dying along with a child but he couldn't remember her name. "You should have been man enough to fight for her."

Before he knew what was happening, Donatello had him pinned against the wall. His fangs were bared, his face a mere inch away from his.

"Tsk...tsk," he whispered. "Remember that you made a promise to that lovely mate of yours."

"If not for that, you would be dead," Donatello hissed.

"Yes, but the fact remains that you cannot kill me so take your hands off of me and let's move on shall we?"

Donatello's eyes flashed angrily as he dropped Emilio to the floor and walked away. He had decided one thing; Emilio was going to die by the time the gala was over.

"Now," Emilio said when he was sitting. "Let me tell you what I know."

He started with the deaths that occurred before Paolo Rossi.

"I was sure that it was the same person but I had no proof. I also know that Paolo had been warned and had ignored those warnings. After him several others died. All of them were turned at the same time we were and by the same sire. Cristiano Borcelli. The question was and is who this person is. It stands to reason that it is someone from our time."

"I agree," Donatello said. "Do you have any idea of whom?"

"Initially I believed it to be someone of our social standing, but it wasn't long before I changed my mind. If you will recall, times were hard and we stuck together in groups. Now the groups may have fought each other but there was no fighting within the group. All of us lived in different houses with the exception of a few."

"And as time progressed and technology came into being it became easier for us to be tracked," Donatello said.

"That's true but that isn't how I came to be positive that we are being hunted by one person," Emilio replied.

Donatello listened as Emilio told him about a girl that he captured in the woods.

"Her name was...I don't remember nor does it matter. I turned her with the idea of making her my slave. The problem was she refused to drink human blood. She descended into madness with occasional lucidity that occurred only when I tried to get her to feed. She kept mentioning a name that I initially disregarded."

"When did you believe her?" Donatello asked.

"The day that she went to her true death, she looked at me. She was perfectly clear minded. As I said, she had been clear before but only when I tried to get her to feed. This time no such attempt had been made. She told me that he would find and kill me."

"Who?" Donatello asked impatiently.

Emilio looked around as if expecting someone else to be in the room with them. He didn't even want to say the name afraid that the owner of it would appear as if summoned.

"Giovanni Barresi."

Donatello frowned as he tried to remember if the young man from so long ago had given him his name. He didn't think so but a feeling of anxiety filled him as he mulled the name over in his mind.

"I am thinking of not going to the gala," Emilio said. "I have a very bad feeling about it."

"You must attend," Donatello said absently.

"Yes I am aware of this. No one turns down an invitation from Cristiano Borcelli but be honest. You want to disappear as well."

"Yes, but like you I will attend. We must find out what we can about this Giovanni Barresi."

"Do you know something?" Emilio asked.

"I think- although I cannot be sure that this is who I've been playing chess with for the past several years. Part of his screen name is 1437. As my mate points out; that cannot be a coincidence."

"But maybe it is," Emilio replied not believing it.

"No... we find him we find who is looking for us and I'll tell you something else- he's going to be at the gala. Remember- he infiltrated Paolo's party and got away with it. Many of the servants disappeared, he has allies now."

They fell silent and looked at each other. Emilio spoke first.

"I think I'll take my chances and not go to the gala. Who knows? Maybe this person will do us a favor and kill Cristiano."

"Maybe," Donatello agreed, "but I will still hunt you down. Leave before I break my word to my mate."

Emilio was gone in a flash leaving Donatello sitting at the table alone. Vangie joined him a moment later.

"Giovanni Barresi- do you know the name?"

"No but that doesn't mean anything," Donatello replied. "I do have the feeling that he and my chess partner are one and the same. Whether he is the young father that I could not help remains to be seen."

"I agree that he is who we're looking for," Vangie said. "I felt it when he was telling the story about the girl that he turned. The one thing that I do know is that Barresi isn't going to stop until all of you are dead. We need to find him and fast."

*****

Giovanni and Alex sat at the top of the hill looking down at the huge house. They could see servants hustling back and forth carrying out their various duties.

"How many entrances do you count?" Alex asked.

"On the ground- five including the back," Giovanni replied.

"We should have at least two escape routes," Alex replied, "One downstairs and one upstairs just in case he wards the house so that we can't vanish."

He had already thought about that.

"I need you to stay near the escape route," he said. "If it goes to hell get out and I'll find you..."

"The hell with that," Alex said. "If you don't get out then neither am I -so don't go there."

"Alex..."

"I said no."

"Let's go," he said standing up. "We can talk about it after the meeting with Edgar's parents."

*****

The next evening Edgar nervously paced the living room. The meeting with his parents was an hour away. Alex had already called his mother and gone over the rules.

"Remember; if anything happens it will be your fault."

To make her point, she had another package delivered. This one contained the hand of the mannequin that she had taken the finger from. She knew that Jean had gotten the message by her response.

"It's time," Giovanni said when he walked into the room. "Are there any questions?"

****

Jean sat at her desk looking at the severed mannequin hand. Her gaze went from the hand to the phone and back to the hand again. She closed her eyes, picked up the phone and dialed a number before she could change her mind.

"Who in the fuck did you just call?" Lewis demanded from the doorway.