Chapter 6
Jill Reinfer had worked as a member of the Council about ten years ago, though she had only lasted a few months. Just until her father died, and she had inherited his vast fortune. George Reinfer had been a good man. His daughter, not so much.
She had left around the time Dominick’s uncle first initiated him into the Order of Hunters, and so he’d never known her personally. He’d heard a lot about her and the fact that she considered herself above and better than others, especially the Hunters. Though not that old, only in her mid-fifties, she didn’t want to stay a part of the underground world any longer.
The thing was, even though he disliked her, Dominick couldn’t blame her for wanting out. The life of the Council members, like the Hunters, got spent in the shadows, and one had to look over one’s shoulder constantly. Continually lying and playing things close to the chest.
Dominick envied her a little for wanting to escape and managing to. Sometimes, he wished he could just drop everything, return to Marvin, and start their life anew.
However, his position as a Hunter lasted for life.
Jill had had importance on the Council, much like Frieda. They were descendants of the original Council members from hundreds of years ago. Until a few days ago, that hadn’t meant much to Dominick, but now, it had taken on a whole new meaning.
He arrived at her estate late in the day. The gate out front looked ornate and tall, and a buzzer and screen sat out front. Dominick drove up to it, rolled down his window, and clicked the button. A moment later, the screen flashed to life.
“Hello,” he said.
On the screen, a middle-aged and bored-looking man appeared.
“Name and business?”
“Dominick Cupertino. Here to speak with Jill Reinfer about an important matter.”
The man yawned. “I apologize, but she isn’t receiving guests right now. You’ll need to schedule an appointment.”
“Could you, please, just tell her Dominick is here on Council business? It’s urgent that I speak with her.”
The man remained silent for a minute, just staring at Dominick through the camera. Finally, the screen went dark.
He sat there in his car, unsure what to expect from the conversation. Would the man speak with Jill, or had he just dismissed Dominick summarily?
Just when he considered how he might break onto the premises, a clanking noise sounded. The gate swung open, clearing the path for him to drive up to the manor. With a sigh of relief, Dominick put the car back into gear and continued up the driveway.
Jill lived on a mammoth estate, large enough to house a few-dozen families and still have rooms to spare. Her father had grown rich in the Fabricated Metal Industry and diversified his assets when that industry stagnated. The brilliant businessman grew vast fortunes out of nothing.
He also became a firm believer in the work the Council did. Proud of his family line and the legacy of the Reinfer family, for years, he invested a substantial amount of money into the Council of Chaldea. At least while he lived, though he never served on the Council himself since he remained too busy with his business. It offered a source of pride for him, doing his part by helping pay the Council’s bills.
Jill, on the other hand, hated the Council and her heritage. Born to wealth and privilege, as such, she felt that the Council and Order of Hunters were an outdated relic, a staple from another time, and that they abused their power. She only served on the Council to appease her father, and she quit and left the moment he passed on.
Maybe she had it right that they had become an outdated relic. Her opinion certainly got validated when Arthur fell from grace and killed innocents, but Arthur made the exception rather than the rule. He’d held too much responsibility on his shoulders, and at a certain point, he had just snapped.
By Dominick’s estimation, Jill had never seen the world for what it was. She knew nothing about what the Hunters actually dealt with, and judged them without understanding what they came up against and just how dangerous their world was.
He drove his car around an enormous stone fountain and up to the front door of the property. Two men stood there, wearing expensive suits and sunglasses. Both looked armed and watched Dominick carefully.
He climbed out of the rental, and one of the men beckoned for him to follow. Silently, the guards turned and walked into the building. Inside, a double staircase wrapped around to the second floor, and an antechamber led off to the right, left, and straight ahead deeper into the manor. This antechamber stood three stories high with a vaulted ceiling. Gorgeous rugs ran from the front entrance and up the stairs.
The décor, maroon and smooth, contained rich tapestries that decorated the walls. The guards led him up to the second floor, down a hall, and to a sitting room where Jill sat waiting. An overweight and soft woman, she wore an expensive gown that did little to hide her many folds.
Jill had a scowl on her face and looked mildly constipated while she sized up Dominick. He hadn’t managed to shower in the last couple of days, and looked rough from the road. He didn’t like the feeling that she judged him because, in her estimation, he was rabble.
The two guards flanked him when he walked into the room, hands folded near their waists. Well-trained, they looked quite capable as bodyguards.
“Frieda sent you,” Jill said, finally.
“She did.” Dominick nodded. “She wanted me to check up on you and make sure you were safe.”
Jill laughed. An ugly laugh. “Frieda? Are we talking about the same woman? Frieda could care less about my well-being.”
“Things have changed.”
“Yes, they have. I heard about what happened in Switzerland. A shame.”
Dominick bit back of a flash of anger. He could hardly believe she would so casually dismiss what had happened. So many of his friends had gotten murdered in the attack.
But, even though callous, she wasn’t at fault for what had happened. Dominick had a job to do, even if one he didn’t particularly like.
“Frieda sent me because she thinks you might be at risk.”
“So, this isn’t over?”
“No.”
Jill let out a disgusted sigh. “I thought I’d freed myself from that life. Why? Was my name on one of their stupid lists?”
“It …” Dominick hesitated. He glanced back and forth between the two men flanking him.
Annoyed, Jill waved her hand, dismissing the two guards. Wordlessly, they slid out of the room and closed the door behind them. Dominick waited until they had gone and then turned back to Jill.
“It’s your lineage,” he said. “Your bloodline. The demon is trying to resurrect an ancient evil, and it needs you to complete it.”
“Me?”
“It’s only a possibility. The demon might go after one of your relatives instead if she knows about them. However, Frieda thinks it might come for you out of spite since you used to serve on the Council.”
“What does it want with me?”
“Your blood.”
Jill frowned. “That’s all? Maybe it should just call ahead. I can have my doctor draw a few vials and hand them over.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. We have no love lost between me and your silly Council, and if a few pints of blood will get rid of this mess, then I will gladly pencil in the appointment.”
“We can’t allow you to do that.”
Jill narrowed her eyes. “And you think you could stop me?”
Dominick stayed silent for a moment. He’d heard stories but never imagined just how cold and heartless Jill was.
“You do understand that if the demon is successful, a lot of people will die.”
“A lot of people will die no matter what I do. However, I do not intend to become one of them.”
“In any case, I doubt the demon will ask politely for your blood. From everything we’ve seen so far, it intends to kill everyone in its path to accomplish this task. It won’t spare anyone.”
Jill softened up a tiny bit. “I know. A shame, but demons aren’t the most reasonable of creatures.”
“I’m here to make sure that if you are on the demon’s list that it will never get your blood.”
“My security team can handle my protection.”
“They have experience with demons?”
“They have faced things you can’t even imagine, boy.”
“Either way, I’m staying,” Dominick said.
He didn’t add that it went against his better judgment and objection, but he couldn’t afford to let her hand over her blood to Nida. He’d assumed he would come here to protect her from Nida, not the other way around.
“Are you, now?”
He nodded. “So, this can either be easy-peasy, where you give me access to your premises, or difficult, where no one ends up happy.”
Jill studied him for a few seconds from her cushioned seat. Finally, she nodded. “Very well. Talk to Trent, outside. He is my head of security and will set you up with clearance. I’ll tell him you work for a rival company, and I hired you for a security check. That should keep him on his toes.”
Dominick nodded. “I promise not to get in your way. It’ll be like I never came here at all.”
“It better be.”
***
Trent glowered—annoyed—when Dominick exited the sitting room. The big man looked burly and muscular, and not the kind of bloke who took too well to getting dismissed.
He wore the air of someone who had worked at this household guarding Ms. Reinfer for a long time, which meant he would feel completely averse to Dominick stepping in as a rival and competitor. An outsider stepping on his toes and watching his back would give an affront to his pride. Which meant Dominick would need to tread lightly.
Dominick didn’t want to piss off anyone; he just wanted to make sure that their security systems came up to par with Nida’s capabilities. After what had happened to the Council, the stakes had raised incredibly high.
Trent showed him to a security office on the first floor. Two men sat manning the cameras, of which he estimated dozens, if not hundreds, on the premises. Trent ignored the two men and went to a computer station nearby.
Dominick handed him his passport—the mostly legit one, as already, he’d given them his real name—and then waited while Trent typed into the computer.
“This will get you into many rooms in the estate,” Trent said, finally, handing Dominick a keycard. “But not all. It also has a GPS locator in it, so keep it with you at all times.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let my men know that you’re on site and not to harass you. Ms. Reinfer said you were doing a security check for an outside firm? What firm?”
“Cupertino Consulting,” Dominick said. “She asked me to look over everything and make sure it’s all up to snuff.”
Trent scowled. “Our equipment is all top of the line. We have facial recognition, motion sensors, heat sensors, and ultraviolet sensors at all points of ingress, as well as regular randomized patrol teams.”
“How do you randomize the system?”
“We use a Bar-Link time scheduler with global randomization. In addition, a top of the line firewall locks down all of our internet connections, and we do regular auditing of the logs to check for unauthorized access even from admin accounts.”
Dominick nodded. “That sounds good. How many guards do you have?”
“Six in rotation, another six on call for events, and two techs.”
An expensive operation. Not that it surprised him, though; Jill could afford it and knew about the dangerous underworld and what it could offer.
“Equipment?”
“A fully stocked armory, two armored Jeeps, and easy access to any heavier equipment we might need.”
Dominick nodded again. “Excellent. Do you have a map for external sensors so that I can look it over? I’d hoped to do a perimeter sweep.”
“We have a map but won’t supply it to you. It’s locked down, and we don’t allow outsiders access.”
“Ms. Reinfer hired me—”
“Ms. Reinfer pays us to keep her safe, and that includes from herself. You’re welcome to tour the grounds, check the equipment, and do whatever you like while you’re here. But, please, don’t think for a second that we’ll give you access to any sensitive information.”
Again, no surprise there. Dominick just hoped that he hadn’t overstepped. He didn’t want to annoy Trent too much. At least, not yet. “Of course. I understand.”
“Besides, if you’re good enough to think you can win our contract, you won’t need a map anyway.”
Trent said it with a little smirk that made Dominick want to punch him in the face. “What about accommodations?”
“I’ll have the staff prepare you a guest room and set you up with meals. We’ve logged your phone number into the system, so you’ll get a text when it’s ready.”
Dominick nodded. He slid the keycard into his pocket and headed out of the security room. Exhausted, he didn’t have time to deal with Trent just now. The security chief perceived that Dominick threatened his cushy job and lifestyle and saw him as an enemy, and Dominick could do nothing to prove to him that they worked on the same side.
At least, not until Nida attacked.
He had access now, though, which meant a good thing. He could move about the premises freely and look over the security systems. Although, he doubted he would find weaknesses in their system. They seemed well prepared; at least, to handle human intrusions.
To be honest, right now he looked forward more to having a nice place to sleep and a good warm meal. It had proven too long since he’d last managed just to clean up and relax. He could do his perimeter search later, once he’d rested. Besides, he had no telling of when—or if—Nida would attack.
Now, he could only wait.
