(9) When all else is lost the future still remains

A few hours later, once Race had chosen a room, settled in and gone to bed, Shan made a phone call.

“Addie,” he said when she answered, “I may have a problem.”

“May?” she replied and he could envision her eyebrow cocking up in question.

“Alright, probably do. A message was delivered to me a few hours ago. It said, ‘Bang, bang, you’re dead’.”

There was a long, drawn out pause before she asked, “How was it delivered.” He could tell she gone immediately into ‘investigator’ mode.

“A young man brought it. A street kid, though he’s hardly a kid. And before you ask, no he couldn’t give me any real description of the man who paid him; just that he was tall and dark-haired.”

“You’re certain this kid was telling you the truth about that?”

Shan chuckled. “Certain enough that he’s now sleeping in one of my bedrooms.”

“Shan! Damn it. You’ve got some punk off the streets living in your house?”

“I do, but he’s different Addie. Special. He can sense us even though he can’t tell what kind of, as he puts it, ‘non-human’ we are. And, so he says, he can also tell if people are good or evil.”

Shan heard a tapping sound and knew it was Addie’s fingernail on the phone as she thought about what he’d said. “When do I get to meet him?” she finally inquired.

“Tomorrow night if you want, assuming he doesn’t cut and run come morning after he’s had time to think about things.”

“Does he know about me and if so did you tell him what I am?”

“He knows who you are; he saw the pictures in my office. But I didn’t tell him you were a vampire.”

“Good. Alright, now for that message, do you have any thoughts on who sent it?”

“Not really. We can rule out anyone blonde which narrows the field by one.”

Addie agreed. “That one is, let’s pray, gone forever now. One option is someone from the King, although why he’d target you instead of me would be the question.”

“And why warn me ahead of time. If he wanted me dead he’d just send a couple or ten of his minions after me.”

Addie laughed. “It would take ten and even then I think you’d win. But still, let’s not rule him out. He could be threatening you knowing that you’d let me know about it.”

“Good point. And honestly I can’t think of anyone else who hates me enough to play games. There are a couple who wouldn’t mind seeing me dead but they don’t know what I am so they’d just send a shooter if they wanted me eliminated.”

“Think about it Shan and make a list. We can go over it tomorrow night.”

“Will do. See you, when, around eight?”

“That works.” She blew out a breath. “Come and get me, just in case whoever sent the message is watching your house.”

“Got it, and good point. Later Addie.”

“Night Shan.”