Thicker Than Blood (Marchwood Vampire Series #2) by Shalini Boland Page B

where the partners’
offices were situated. Once he had Blythe’s address he would be
done here. And then he caught a familiar scent - an odour of fake
respectability and greed that he remembered from before. Well, it
was actually the odour of a certain cologne, but the smell conjured
up the man – Blythe.
    A door lay ahead of him and beyond the door
sat Winston Blythe. Alexandre had to get himself under control or
he might just tear this man limb from limb before he had a chance
to find out where Madison had been taken. He needed to extract
every last piece of information out of the man and that would
require a more-composed Alexandre than the one currently snarling
in the wood-panelled hallway. He breathed in through his nose and
out through his mouth, sliding his fangs back behind his lips with
great difficulty as he collected himself, preparing to deal with
this traitorous snake.
    A few seconds later, he stood in front of a
walnut desk staring at the lawyer.
    Winston Blythe was hand-writing a letter and
hadn’t yet noticed Alexandre. The room was large and opulent, all
polished wood, leather and glass - a gentleman’s office.
    ‘ Writing another of your
mysterious notes I see,’ Alexandre said softly.
    Blythe looked up, shocked for a second
before hastily composing his features.
    ‘ Alexandre, my boy. I’ve
been expecting you. Do sit down won’t you.’
    ‘ I prefer to stand and I
am not ‘your boy’.’
    ‘ Just a figure of speech.
No offence meant I’m sure.’ Blythe set his pen down on the
desk.
    ‘ What game are you up to
this time?’ Alexandre asked.
    ‘ No game. I’m merely
helping to move things along. After our last encounter, you surely
can’t have thought that would be it. No, alas there are people far
more powerful than you or I and they have deemed that things must
be brought to a conclusion.’
    ‘ Things?’
    ‘ Yes. Such as the question
mark hanging over you and the other Marchwood Vampires. You are
inconvenient, that’s all. You must go to Cappadocia and be
accounted for.’
    ‘ Accounted for.
Why?’
    ‘ It is not for me to know
the reason why. I am but a humble servant in all this. A servant to
carry out orders and document history.’
    ‘A servant?’ Alexandre gave a short laugh.
‘That is ridiculous! You may try to deny any responsibility, but
you are more than a servant; you are a facilitator of evil. A
parasite.’
    ‘ That is a little harsh, but I
can see why you might think that. Your view is limited. You look at
the world through a sliver of glass instead of a wide-angled lens.
Alexandre, you are a tiger cub nipping at the heels of kings. They
do not like it. They do not care about your good heart or your lack
of ambition. They will not take the risk. They know you have
eternity to change your character from passive to aggressive. They
want you dealt with now .’
    ‘ But that is nonsense. I
do not nip at anybody’s heels.’
    ‘ Nonsense to you maybe,
but it is the nature of things.’
    ‘ Well then ‘things’ have
to change.’
    ‘ Things already have
changed.’
    Alexandre opened his hands in a gesture
asking for explanation.
    ‘ My clients, my
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth century clients are tigers;
they are kings. But they have recently discovered an
Emperor.’
    ‘ Stop talking in riddles.
For a ‘servant’, you have too great a liking for the dramatic.
Speak plainly for once.’
    ‘ Very well.’ Blythe paused
and Alexandre had to restrain himself from leaping across the desk
and choking the words out of him. Eventually the solicitor
continued. ‘Your Cappadocian vampire is awake. He is over two
thousand years old, the most powerful being ever to walk this
earth, and he demands obedience.’
    Alexandre went cold at the old man’s words.
His worst fears had been realised – the Cappadocian was behind
this.
    Blythe was still talking:
    ‘ The kings have bent their
knees to him. Now he is rounding up the princes.’
    Alexandre’s mouth hung