The Dark Secret of the CEO by Sofia de Orellana

Now I’m a bit curious to try the old vampire ladies’ drink… Although I have a feeling I might be a century or two too young for that. I glance around the room, but pretty much everyone’s been introduced, except for the couple, but I’m guessing those two are Juliet and John, the couple Cata mentioned earlier. They are the only ones acting like one anyway… I also hear a man’s voice chatting with Richard somewhere else on this floor, but they are whispering, and moreover, they are speaking in a language I don’t recognize.

“Is this everyone coming?” I ask Felicia.

“Probably not… I’m guessing a couple more will show up. We were just the fastest to arrive. I normally live in Ireland, so does Rebecca, we flew here together. Anna flew from Germany, and Cecily from France. We’re waiting for a couple more, I think.”

“Sounds like everyone’s pretty scattered around Europe…”

“Well, you feel the need for some independence after seeing the same faces for decades. We only gather once a year or for occasions like this.”

“That makes sense…”

Although I had no family with whom I ever got to experience that. I can’t say I’ve seen any of them as regularly as once a year since I was born… The last chance I got to see my Father was at a fancy party, perhaps two years ago. We exchanged a couple of words and posed for the cameras, and that was it. I have a half brother, but half our blood is all we have in common. I feel as related to them as I do now with the people in this room… Okay, perhaps an inch closer to Bart, Cata and Richard. But then again, I’ve just spent more time with them than I have with my actual family in the last five, perhaps ten years.

“So can I ask what you usually… do?” I ask, curious.Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com

“Oh, I’m an artist. I really like the twenty-first century for that, makes it pretty easy to work from home and yet interact with a lot of people. I’ll send you the link to my Etsy shop sometime if you want! Of course, you get a family discount. Everyone in this room found themselves an activity to keep themselves busy with that doesn’t really require physical presence during the day… John and Juliet run a guest house, Anna writes books and is a patron of arts. Lancelot is into the tourism business, and Benedict owns a few restaurants in Italy, Spain and France. Rebecca isn’t crazy about working but she does own a few salons and shops.”

“What about Claude?” I whisper, still well-aware I’m getting some intense creepy stare action from his corner.

“Oh… No idea.”

Felicia and I exchange a glance, and we chuckle, amused. Guess not all vampires can be cool and busy running businesses…

“Only those who still live here don’t have an activity of their own,” Felicia shrugs. “We could probably live off Richard’s money forever anyway… It’s more of a personal need, after a few years. Not like he minds either way. How are you getting along so far? With Catherina and the others?”

“Agnes kicked me out of her room after I bothered her, Bart and I had our first sibling fight, and… Cata is sweet.”

“Fair enough,” she chuckles. “We wouldn’t be a family without the drama. Give it a few years, everyone in this room will either love you, hate you or be indifferent. And I promise Agnes is adorable, if you can just…”

“Catch her without a book in her hands?”

“That happens once in a decade,” Felicia winks at me.

I chuckle. Well, if I could just stay at home and do nothing but my favorite hobby for the rest of my days, I probably wouldn’t complain much either… It’s just that I don’t have anything I can call much of a hobby. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I got to choose to do something in my free time…

“Felicia?” Cata suddenly steps in. “Can you come and help me in the kitchen, dear?”

“Sure.”

“I-”

she interrupts me. “Can you and Bart go and get me

get some rosemary? Seriously, Cata? Unfortunately for me, of course he heard, and he’s already rolling his eyes while still heading for a door I haven’t gone through yet, the one leading to the garden, most likely. I turn around to complain to Cata,

two seats are strategically positioned under a gazebo in one corner of the garden, with a coffee table. I’m guessing another reading spot for Agnes… As I keep looking though, I realize there’s actually someone seated there. In fact, even though my eyes are good with the darkness, it takes

Bart exclaims, visibly spooked

opens her eyes, making me realize she had them closed all along. A shiver immediately runs down my spine, and I know she’s old. Not Richard-old, but still older than most of the others… perhaps all of them. She slowly stands up. She’s wearing an entirely black outfit, and I have to say, she also has the most beautiful, darkest skin I have ever seen. Her hair is also completely black, and laced in complex braids and dreadlocks along her limbs. She slowly walks up to us, staring at me the whole time, but just when I’m about

talk much. In fact, I don’t think she utters more than a couple of words a year. It’s not about you, she doesn’t

got the chills,

She’s the third oldest

Richard’s the oldest,

“Claude.”

anything from him at all… Is he bad at the Domination thing? Or is it just that he’s as harmless as Lancelot said? Funny…

I’m still staring at the door Beatrix left through, Bart sighs and walks up to one of the pots

you still mad at

“Yes.”

have expected so… At least he answered, and didn’t simply tell me

don’t like you being mad

old to fall for that,” he grimaces. “…Okay, fine, I do understand you had some circumstances. Some of which are weird, by the way. Plus, I trust Richard. I’m kind of curious why he went all the way to New Amsterdam for a suicidal chick, it can’t be that simple. I have a feeling there’s

had any success in getting him to tell me anything. I feel like a child trying to get the adults to explain adult stuff to

tilting my head, still

why I’d rather have a little brother,” he groans, and

As I walk in, I notice Richard’s back in one corner of the room, and Beatrix is now standing right next to him, very close, almost like she’s his shadow. He’s talking to another man though, one I haven’t seen yet. This vampire can’t be too old, as I don’t feel any of the dominance like with Beatrix, and he seems to be avoiding looking at her. He has small, round glasses on the edge of his nose, with odd red shades. He’s bald and he has just one black earring, an inverted cross. The rest of his outfit is a simple black shirt, a red tie, and leather pants, a popular choice in the Heartgraves family… I’d place him in his late forties because of the silver goatee, but he barely seems to have any wrinkles, and his

“Who is that talking

He glances, and scoffs.

financial world. Ask him for advice, but never, ever make a deal with him. If he likes you, he can make you rich, but otherwise, he’ll empty your pockets and leave huge holes in their place. Even if you’re family… Lancelot still owes him a few million,

came back carrying more food, and Bart walks up to Cata to hand her the rosemary, which I’m pretty sure was just a pretext to get the two of us talking. The older ladies Rebecca and Anna are getting louder than before, and that bottle is not empty. Big Boots Cecily is on her phone, visibly bored with everybody else. Lancelot and Benedict are now chatting with John, while Juliet is still standing next to him, but our eyes meet. She gives me a faint, polite smile, and quickly walks over to stand next to me. She’s really pretty too, with golden blonde hair and blue eyes, reminding me of my former self a bit. Except that her skin is paler, and she’s really thin, looking almost sickly for a vampire. All the others have thin but well-defined, lean builds, while Juliet just looks thin and frail. John isn’t the most muscular amongst the men nor the tallest, so she didn’t stand out as much next to him and his dark skin before. Yet now that I see her from up close, I realize Juliet’s definitely the palest in the room, her complexion almost gray, like a doll. Her black dress also seems

I’m not the youngest

I nod.

be honest, I’m surprised to meet this many people at once… Was it like this for you as

her head, looking almost a bit

different back then… It was hard for the family

“A Special Case?”

in over a hundred years. It’s been so long since we had someone new

room. There’s about ten people here, and Bart was turned in 1666, Cata a century after that… Judging from

“Really?”

“I was turned in 1918, and since then,

has been