So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 10.3 It's a Wonderful Life

Claude pointed up at the huge skylight directly above the foyer and I glanced up nervously. It had been a while since I had been under this much sunlight even with Harry's patented Vampire Glass protecting me.

"There's an interesting security feature where this entire thing will open up and flood the place in direct sunlight."

My heart pounded at the thought of it, my mind instantly flashing back to my memories of burning alive on that beach. I still couldn't even smell barbequed meat without having a flashback.

"I thought you said it was vampire safe?"

"Well, just don't be in here if you ever have to set off the alarm, and it should be perfectly safe," Claude said with a grin. "Come on, let me show you around the rest of the place."

"Hopefully the rooms where I don't get burned to death."

The penthouse was a dream. It took up an entire quarter of the floor, way more space than anyone could possibly need. I'd like to say it was about 4000 square feet, but that would just be me talking out of my ass. Let's just agree that the place was huge.

"Four bedrooms, each with a private bathroom. I've got the one on at the end there, so don't even think about it. You can choose any one of the other three. They're all gigantic and they come fully furnished."

I checked out the first bedroom. It was furnished in Ikea chic, but looked expensive, as if they had used actual wood. It was subtle, but there was just something about the furniture that yelled "not cheap". Oh did I mention? The bedroom was about the size of my shithole apartment. There was a king-sized bed against one wall, a walk-in closet and a huge fucking bathroom. There was also a desk with an iMac and a MacBook Pro, waiting to be used. On the wall facing the bed was a huge 70" flatscreen television, currently dark, but promising some epic Netflix binge-watching in my future. The windows were floor to ceiling huge, but also had layered heavy blackout curtains that went all the way to the ground. The curtain rods looked like they were motorized.

My duffel bag looked dingy and kind of small sitting on the floor all by itself. Not worthy of the surroundings.

"Where's Ronnie staying?" I asked in what I thought was a casual voice.

"She's actually on her way over right now.," Claude said, easily matching my level of casualness. "She can grab one of the other rooms."

I whirled on him and glared at him. This had been bugging me since yesterday and needed to be dealt with.

"You so know that's not what I'm getting at! I sent her to you to keep her safe—"

Claude stayed perfectly calm, He wasn't about to be baited into a fight.

"Dude, you sent her to me to get her out of the way. You had no idea what to do with her. I get it, totally do, but at least be honest about it."

Goddamit.

"I hate you sometimes you know," I muttered. "Why do you always have to be right?"

"I'm going to avoid the easy fight lurking in that statement," Claude said and I made a face at him. "Do you even know what your sweet innocent cousin Ronnie has been up to over in Montreal?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dude: she's a hacker, and not the good kind either. She'd fallen in with a pretty bad crowd. They were targeting banks and other businesses. Some pretty nasty stuff."

"So now she's working for you instead?"

"She's talented dude. Would you prefer her learn the right way to do this kind of stuff or get busted inside of a year? A lot of people don't last long doing this kind of work you know. You have to be careful."