Bound by Night(8)

Or haven’t you noticed that people will practically sell their souls to stay young another fifty years or to heal from serious injuries faster or to be cured of cancer?
We need to focus more fully on medical advancements.
Let someone else handle the tasks that don’t reflect positively on us.”
“Like?”
“Like draining recently deceased humans to package and distribute their blood to vampire supply shops.
Like conditioning and processing newly captured vampires before they’re sent to a training facility.” Nicole might hate vampires, but neutering, defanging, and torturing them until they broke didn’t sit well with her.
“Look, Nicole,” Chuck said, with a deep, long-suffering sigh. “I understand why you want to concentrate company efforts on the research side. I know how hard it is for you to live with your medical condition.”
She ground her teeth at his bullshit soothing tone.
Her ideas for the company were not about her medical issues. Her ideas were about helping people while getting away from the vampire trade. “But?”
Chuck braced his forearms on the desk and leaned closer to the screen, his expression a mask of concern.
“But some Daedalus staff members think that’s why you ordered the deaths of those vampires. To sabotage the company.”
“What?” Her jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me?”
“Come on, sis. Like it’s so ludicrous? You hate vampires.”
“And that’s reason enough to sabotage the company? You honestly believe I’d do that?”
“Of course not.” He jammed his fingers through his two-hundred-dollar haircut, leaving messy grooves.
“I’m just telling you what people are saying.”
The intercom beeped, and the gate guard’s voice droned. “Mr. Altrough is here to see you.”
Dammit. “Let him in.” She was going to need more paper.
Chuck tapped his Montblanc on the notepad. He’d never been able to sit still. Not that she had any room to judge. She had a house and an office full of origami art that spoke volumes about her inability to relax.
“You finally giving Roland a chance?” he asked.
Still irritated by Chuck’s casual revelation that people inside the company believed her capable of such a despicable act, she snapped, “Not on your life.
But he won’t take no for an answer.”
Nicole doubted that Roland Altrough, executive vice president in charge of Daedalus’s Lifeblood Supply division—one of the divisions she wanted gone would ever back off his pursuit of her. At least, not while she was in charge of Daedalus. Maybe there really was a bright side to being ousted from the company.
“Then why are you seeing him tonight?”
“Because besides you, he’s the one person on my side in this mess.”
One pale eyebrow cocked up. “So you think that if
you sleep with Roland, he’ll stay on your side?”
“I’m not sleeping with him. He’s a pig.” A handsome pig but a disgustingly misogynistic creature nonetheless.
Chuck grinned. “Smart girl.” Behind him, a shadow approached, and Nicole’s heart lurched. It was only Jonathan, Chuck’s longtime servant, but she always had the same reaction. Twenty years had passed since her attack, yet she still got jumpy at the sight of a vampire.
As Jonathan placed a glass of bourbon on the desk,
Nicole held her breath. Chuck shifted at the same time as the vampire pulled his hand away, and the glass tipped, sloshing amber liquid onto the papers.
With a snarl, Chuck shoved himself out of his chair and backhanded Jonathan hard enough to send the defanged vampire reeling into the wall.
“You clumsy shit!” When Jonathan scrambled to clean up the mess, Chuck struck him again, and Nicole sat, stunned. Chuck had always had a temper, but she’d never seen him attack anyone like that. Then again, they’d lived oceans apart for two decades, so things could have changed . . . but this much? He’d always been kind to her family’s servants, especially#p#分页标题#e#
Terese, whom he’d sometimes brought extra blood as a treat. “Get the hell out. You can forget your ration this week.”
The vampire’s silver eyes flashed, but whether it was with disappointment or anger, she couldn’t tell.
After Jonathan slipped out of the room, Nicole found her voice.
“That was a little harsh, don’t you think?”
Chuck looked at her as if she’d grown another head. “He’s just a vampire.”
“It was just a spilled drink,” she shot back, still shocked by this side of her brother. How could this be the same person who had smuggled chocolates to
Terese on her birthday? “Don’t you worry that you’re going to push him too far?”