Blood red love by Dripping Creativity
104

Vidar dropped Charlie off in her office and asked Lucas to come to his office in twenty minutes. When Vidar walked up to Miss Juliens desk she smiled at him, handed him his coffee and mail.

"Thank you, Miss Julien. I'm expecting a couple of hard blows being directed at us in the coming weeks. Why don't you take some of that saved up vacation time and let me treat you and your best friend to a trip to my estate in Wales," he said. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"That is generous Mr Grim. But I think I will stay put. Marta is away visiting her mother and I don't feel it would be worth my time going alone," she said.

"Are you sure? I have estates around the world, I'll give you a free pick."

"More than generous of you. But I'll stay where I belong. Right here. If it's as bad as you say, you will need people you can trust.”

"Truer words have never been spoken, my friend. I am honoured by your loyalty," he told her. She just nodded.

"Should I make any arrangements regarding Miss Charlie?" she asked.

"No, Charlie will be safe." He took his coffee and mail and made himself comfortable behind his desk. If they came out of this in one piece, Vidar would ask Charlie's help to figure out how they could reward his secretary. She buzzed the intercom and let him know Lucas had arrived. Lucas took a seat opposite Vidar like he always did.

"Mr Grim, you wanted to see me?"

"I did. You have been one of the most loyal workers in the company for a while. Charlie likes you and I trust her judgement. A couple of years back I entrusted you with insight about the shadier parts of my business and you have never betrayed that trust," Vidar said. Lucas nodded. "It's time you knew the whole truth. I'm a vampire, as is Caine and Charlie. Most of the men and women working security are as well, or some other kind of magical creature," Vidar said. Lucas looked at him for a while, then he adjusted his glasses and ran his hand through his curly hair.

“Right. Well that is nice I guess, so is it like a lifestyle choice?" Lucas asked. Vidar had to smile.

"No, Lucas. It's not like a game or pretend, we truly are vampires.”

"Right, right. Didn't mean to offend. So is this a recruitment? Do you want me to join? Is it like a church or a club or something?" Vidar laughed. He had no idea why people continued to take his big reveals like this. Usually they were either fin with it, which was rarely the case, or they became terrified and fainted or tried to run away.

"No recruitment, just information. Charlie needs your help with something. I will let her explain it, I'm not sure if I could even if I tried. It will not be a grey area project. It will be a full on illegal project, she tells me it will break several federal and international laws. It's up to you whether to go ahead and help her or forget she ever asked. It won't affect your job or your standing in the company."

"Sounds fun. Is it okay if I go replace her, or do you need me for something else?" Lucas asked.

"No, go, start working on the thing that will tame the internet. Just remember what I told you." Lucas was already halfway out of his chair.

“Sure, you're a vampire. Grr and all of that,” he agreed as he headed out of Vidars office. Vidar picked up his phone and called Charlie to tell her how the big reveal had gone. She laughed and promised Vidar she would do her best to convince Lucas it was all real. Vidar wasn't worried. Not about that at least. He got to work with moving things along according to their plan. He ate lunch at his desk while working, wanting to call Charlie to ask her to join him but knowing she was working just as hard. When the clock almost hit five in the afternoon, he gave in to the little voice in his head that kept telling him he had been away from Charlie for too long. He packed up the things he would need from his office and said goodbye to Miss Julien. He found Charlie and Lucas sitting next to each other in a conference room. They had connected their laptops to several screens placed on the long table. They were talking as they both tapped away on the keyboards. Every now and then they would pause to discuss something on one of the screens. Vidar knew Charlie was aware he was in the room and it was only Lucas that jumped as Vidar bent down and placed a kiss on her shoulder. "Ready to leave?" Vidar asked.

“I think I'm as ready as I will be. Thank you, Lucas. I couldn't have done it without your help," she said.

"It was the most fun I have had in ages, Charlie. Mr Grim," Lucas said as he packed up his laptop and left.

"Did you manage to get him to believe in vampires?" Vidar asked as they headed for the elevator.

"Of course. All I had to do was show him my teeth, you should have done that and he would have been more inclined to believe you," she told him. Vidar smiled.

"Showing my teeth to people used to make them run away screaming bloody murder," he told her.

"It's a new age. People are more sceptical of things. They have seen so much on TV.shows, and there are so many scams and religious nutcases it's not surprising people are harder to convince," she told him. Caine stood waiting with Malcom and he smiled at the part of the conversation he overheard.

“I'm taking it Lucas was hard to convince?" he asked as he got into the car.

"Charlie made it work," Vidar told him.

"And the software you were working on?" Caine asked.

"Almost finished. Will we leave tonight or tomorrow morning?" Charlie asked.

"We'll leave tonight. We'll have dinner and a nap and then head out. It will be a short trip, we won't get much rest and I'm guessing the rest of the clan will put us to work when we arrive," Vidar said. "We are going to the city that never sleeps," Charlie said.

"Don't take that literally, lilla lo. Even us vampires need some sleep." She laughed. Vidar was worried that they were putting too much pressure on her. Even after her becoming a vampire she was still a young one and her needs were closer to that of a human than of a vampire. It wouldn't kill her, but it could affect her physical health. He would make sure it didn't happen. She was his to protect and he had already failed once, he wouldn't let it happen again. The three of them took the elevator up to their apartment and were greeted by two toddlers that were chasing after Shadow. Shadow was carrying a big, fluffy, ball in his mouth. Aiden and Liam squealed in delight as the cat slowed down and let them catch him. The grabbed the ball and waved it around while Shadow jumped up and down, trying to catch it. Vidar's first instinct was to stop the cat before he scratched one of the children. But then he saw that Shadow had retracted his claws when he played and Vidar decided it was safe to let them continue. Charlie laughed at the scene and Vidar could feel her relaxing. Tyson came walking out of the kitchen with a smile.

"Welcome home. They have been at it for almost an hour, I don't know if the cat or the twins are having more fun with it," he greeted them.

"I'm guessing you won't have issues getting them to sleep tonight," Charlie said and gave her brother-in-law a hug. “Is Huxton home yet?" "Yes, he's in the shower," Tyson told her.

"Good. We'll need to eat and then lay down for a bit before we leave for our trip," she told him. Vidar could see Tyson's worried look. "Will it be safe?" he asked.

“Don't worry about me. Vidar and Caine will make sure I'm as safe as I can be.” Tyson looked at Vidar and Vidar nodded.

"Okay. Freshen up and I'll have dinner on the table when you are done. Let us know if you need us and the devil children out of your hair for a while to let you rest in peace," he told them.

"Thank you. And don't worry, it's just nice to have some background sounds," Vidar told him.

"I thought you vampires were supposed to have good hearing," Tyson joked. They all laughed and then went to get ready. When they gathered in the dining room, Huxton was there and he looked tired. Vidar suspected it had something to do with James and he hated the fact he was unable to protect Charlie from the emotions he knew were coming.

"Hard day?" Charlie asked her brother as she gave him a hug.

"A little, but it's all over now and that is a blessing," he told her and hugged her back.

"And James?" she asked. Huxton hesitated and first looked at his husband and then at Vidar. Vidar shrugged and pulled Charlie to his side where he could wrap an arm around her.

"She won't let it go," he told Huxton.

"He is right, Hux, it's best to get it out of the way so we can have a nice dinner," Tyson agreed.

"He's not doing good. He has lost most of the things he truly cared about in one blow and it's just now hitting him how much of his life he has ruined and that there is no one else but himself to blame, not that he hasn't tried," Huxton told them.

"He still has you," Charlie said. Her brother shook his head.

"It's not the same. Some of the things he did are unforgivable. I don't know how our friendship will look when it all settles, if we still will have one.”

"You will. You have known him for too long and he has done a lot of good things. Your friendship will change and it probably won't be as close as it once was. But it will be there. And in a couple of years when we all have had a chance to heal and get some perspective on things, maybe there will be a way for all of us to come together again," Charlie comforted him. Later, after dinner when they were getting into their bed for their nap, Charlie sighed. "Still thinking about James?" Vidar asked.

"Yes. I don't regret the decisions I made when it all went down. But I do regret not forcing him to take ownership of it sooner. I can't help but to think he could have saved the most important pieces if he had,” she told him.

"I don't think it would have mattered. Even if he would have confessed earlier, maybe saving me from reporting him, he would have been demoted. James doesn't strike me as a man that would accept that without resentment. I think he would have been unable to let go of this, in his mind, wrongdoing and continued to prove me a villain and maybe trying to win you back. His self-destruction would have been slower, but just as guaranteed. Sometimes it's better to crash and burn and then recoup what you can and rebuild. If he had deteriorated over years, it might have been too late when he hit rock bottom," Vidar said.

"You might be right," she said.

"Don't feel guilty, my love. You did what you could."

"You're right. We have bigger issues to focus on," she agreed.

"For now, just focus on relaxing and getting some sleep."