Calling Sirous to him, he was glad that he was able to let him know what was going on.The very fact that he’d been implicated in a lot of the deaths by the humans notwithstanding, he was not on his list.Sirous figured that once he killed the people who had tried to hijack his car, he would drink from them while they were dying.He couldn’t collect on their policies if they lived, so by drinking from them while they were near death, he would ensure that they didn’t make it to another carjacking.And since he did it all over the United States, it was difficult for any one police officer to be able to put two and two together to get a scam.
“I have enough to prove that he’s doing it now, but I’m going to have the faeries watching him.Not that I want another death, but as soon as he takes out a policy on someone, then I’m going to bring him in for questioning.I’ll have him by the end of the week for sure.”Sirous thanked him for looking so deeply into it.“That’s what gives our kind such a bad name.All this could have been avoided if the council would have gotten off their asses and killed him before now.I mean, he’s been doing this for the last three decades or so.Someone should have caught him at it well before now.”
“I agree.I’ll help you in any way that you need me to do.”He asked him if he knew of anyone who could serve on the council board.“I don’t off the top of my head, but I’ll keep that in mind.I don’t want it.I’ve only just found my mate, and that sounds like it would take up too much of my time.”
“It would.Especially with the backlog they have now.”He told his good friend how they were only doing the easy cases.“I should remove their heads and be done with it.I do wonder if the faeries would be any good at it?It’s something to think about, isn’t it?”
“I should think they’d be happy to have the job.”Brew was warming to the idea the longer he talked to Sirous.“I can look into that for you.They’d have it all done in about a week if you were to have them start on them now.”
“I’m going to ask someone if they can do it.You look into it as well.”He was mentally rubbing his hands together, thinking of a way that they could get it finished up.“Yes, I think that this will be the best way to rid ourselves of the council we have now and have things up to date too.”
~*~
Ruby had been playing the victim for so long that he was getting sick of it.He wanted to branch out and become a king, but knew that once he did that, he’d never have any time to make any money whenhe wanted.He’d be on display all the time, and that wouldn’t get him a lick of work done.He liked playing the role he thought that he’d been born to.
Standing in line to collect on his latest victim, someone that he barely knew but had needed money, he thought about how he’d perfected the plan that he’d been working on since he’d been carjacked once a long time ago.The man had been desperate to get to the hospital to see his wife give birth to his child that he’d nearly killed Ruby when he’d tossed him out of the car to take it.That didn’t end well for the man, and sadly, he never got to see his newborn baby being born or anything to do with his life.Ruby had broken his neck when he’d taken his car.
It had been too easy for him to just take out the policies on the people that he claimed had wronged him.Sometimes it was just too easy for him to make the kind of money that he did.He’d thought about writing a book on the way to do it, but then that would guarantee two things.He’d get caught, and there would be so many people doing it that it wouldn’t work as well as it was right now.Besides, he was just too lazy to write anything down other than his name on policies, and that was the truth of the matter.Being lazy had its advantages as well.He never had to work very hard at anything.
Collecting on the latest victim, he nearly left without making sure that he deposited just enough to keep his account open.The bank wouldn’t cash his checks without an account at the bank, so he had to spend some of his winnings—just what he called his new scam—in the bank.
He hated to save the account and have it stay open, but it was the only way that he could get what he wanted and still be able to have some fun.And fun he did have too.This latest scam was netting him over a million dollars a month, so long as he was careful.
He made sure that his victims weren’t that close to each other.He’d been all over the United States playing his scam, and so far, he’d never been caught.He supposed that it was because he was smarter than the average person and knew how to make it work.He’d been doing this particular scam for the past three decades, and so far, no one was the wiser.Then there was the council.
A stupider trio of people that he’d ever met.They would actually tell him when they were going to keep an eye on him because he’d told them that was a rule.It had been a chance that he took with them, and so far it had worked.Not only did they tell him when they were looking into what he’d been up to, but they would tell him when they were finished.Like he thought, they were too stupid to hold such a high office for the amount of work they had to be doing.
“Ruby James Frank?”He told the little faerie that was his name.“My name is Winter, I’m a faerie to the king of vampires.He wishes to see you.Now.”
He found himself in a different place than he’d been before.Looking around, he couldn’t believe that he was in a home.The man standing in front of him didn’t look happy.Well, neither was he.But he wasn’t going to say anything to get himself into trouble.There was no reason for him to be taken from his day to come here.
“What is the meaning of this?I was going to be finding myself some work today and—”
“Do shut up before I make it so that you can’t talk at all.”The man had a lot of nerve, but Ruby decided that he’d let him hang himself by trying to talk terribly to him.He wasn’t used to people treating him with such disdain.“Now, I’m going to talk to you about your killing humans for profit.You’ve been taking out policies on them and then killing them for the past thirty years.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.You’ll have to explain.”He told him how he’d been watching him for the past several weeks and had found his information to be true.“Watching over me?You can’t do that unless you notify me of it.I know the rules.”
“So do I, and there is no such rule regarding warning you when you’re going to be observed.”He knew there wasn’t, but didn’t know that the man would know too.“Also, you’ve been seen taking money from the dying so that you can profit that way as well.There are plenty of rules that say that you cannot steal from humans while they lie dying.Especially when you’re the one who caused their deaths.What do you have to say about that?”
“Who are you to say such slanderous things about me?”He told him who he was.“I don’t know anything about you being king of vampires.You’re making that up.”
“It was felt by all vampires the day that I was chosen to do the job.You would have been told who I was and that I was going to rule from now on.”He said there must have been something wrong with him that day, and he’d not known about it.“Lies will get you nowhere, Ruby Frank.But you will manage to piss me off even more.You’ll be sentenced directly unless you have a good reason for what you’ve done to the human race.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”He’d gotten away with that before and thought that this man was just stupid enough to believe him.But if his face was any indication, he wasn’t buying it.“Look, there’s been a misunderstanding about this.I’ll just go back to where I was if you’d allow it and not do this thing again.I’ll even find myself a respectable job and work for the money that I need.”
“You will be killed on the spot where you stand now.”He saw the large claw-like hand reach out for him, and he couldn’t move.Instead of slicing through his body as he had assumed that he would, he simply pushed his long nails into his flesh and let him bleed.“You will suffer with this wound for all time until such time that you die.I have spoken.”
He found himself where he’d been before and weaker than he’d ever been in his life.As he was trying to walk back to his lair, he stumbled twice and nearly fell.This was ridiculous.Why was he being treated this way all of a sudden when he’d gotten by with so much before?He was going to have to appeal to the council and see what they had to say.He’d been talking to the three of them for decades, and he’d been able to get by with a great deal.Now, all of a sudden, he was in trouble with the king of his kind.
“Damn it, this wasn’t fair.”He wasn’t ready to quit his profit-making deal.It was too much money to just give up on a whim of some man claiming to be King.“I’m not going to bleed to death either.That’s just a stupid notion.He can’t just say something and have it happen.”
But he had a feeling that was just what was going to happen was just as he’d been told.He had too much to do in this life for it to be taken right now.He was going to have to do something before he died unfairly.
He’d always been weak in the first place.He knew that it was because he’d been drinking from the dying, but he saw no reason to let all that good blood go to waste.Plus, since losing his ability to use shadows, it was keeping him from drinking from humans when he needed to.Then there was the reason that he thought that humans should want to feed his kind.We were far more superior to them than any other race, he thought.
He was weak by the time he got back to his lair.It was just an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.It was perfect for his needs, and he saw no reason to waste money on fine hotels or even a house when he could spend his money on other things, like fine paintings and good art.He had a collection worthy of a king—he had to laugh about his pun and decided that the king didn’t have as much fine art as he did.What was going to happen to his collection when he died?Nothing because he wasn’t going to die, and that was final.
Resting during the hottest part of the day, he hated that he wasn’t old enough to forgo that; he woke to a bed covered in his blood.While he could clean it up easily enough, he was too weak to do anything more than to leave it until later.The man had really done a number on him, and he wasn’t the least bit happy about it.
