Detective Hanson opened his mouth to say No but he was stopped halfway by his thoughts. The contract stated that he would be paid another $10,000 on completion of the job. That was a lot of money. That kind of money could take care of him for at least a year.
"Fine. He said slowly. I will find the people that want her dead."
Marianne tried to hide her excitement and relief. "I thought you'd say so," She said with indifference.
"My__Her private number is on the document. So, you will save it on your phone from there. You will call her with that number whenever you have any information."
His eyes wandered to the bottom of the document where the number was written. He took out his phone and dialed it on his phone.
"I've got the number now," He announced.
"Good. Now, sign the contract and hand it over."
She pushed a pen to his side of the table and leaned back on her seat while sipping from her glass of martini slowly.
After a moment, Detective Hanson pushed back the document to her. "Signed."
"Very good," Marianne said. "It was nice to do business with you, Detective. No need to mention that this mission is top secret. You will hear from Vanessa soon."
"I look forward to that."
Marianne stood to her feet and stretched her perfectly manicured hand at him. He received the hand with his strong hand and they shook hands together for five seconds sealing the deal between them.
Detective Hanson watched her walk out of the restaurant, his brain still finding it hard to believe the scene that had just taken place before him.
What have I done?
*****
Marianne Hartman walked out of the premises of Capital Hilton, her heart lighter than it'd been in a long while. The meeting had been very successful.
Outside the parking lot, she jumped into her car and sped away. Using her pod would have been much easier but the meeting demanded that she blended with the other people in the vicinity. Attracting too much attention to herself was not something she wanted today.
The drive back to her residence, the famous estate where Vanessa Winthrop's mansion was built took about fifteen minutes.
The gates of the mansion opened as her car approached and she drove past it into the main house. Once inside, she parked the car askew before the mansion and exhaled a deep sigh.
The worst had just passed.
Seated in her car outside her mansion, Vanessa Winthrop looked carefully into the rear view mirror before her and removed the silicon mask on her face. Marianne Hartman was gone.
*****
The thunder clapped twice and in the few seconds that followed, the sky darkened until it began to look like dusk had arrived rather prematurely.
Rain showers began to drizzle, wetting the surface of the earth and sending every living creature that was still outside scurrying inside seeking coverage from the rain.
The master himself was drenched. But that did not bother him so much as the trouble that was brewing in the city. Because of this, he had snuck out of The House of The Federation where he occupied a very important seat, and had summoned an emergency meeting with The werewolves of the golden circle.
As he waited drenched in the cold shower, his brows knitted and his eyes darkened as his mind dwelled on what had just happened.
What is wrong with Vlad? He wondered. We've enjoyed peace this long and suddenly he wakes up out of the blues and decides to put the wheels in motion.
No one knew who would be displaced by the movement of the wheels and what would be lost when the wheels stopped turning.
Thirty years ago, something like this had happened and it had ended in a bloodbath. He was just a child then but he remembered the scene like it happened yesterday.
The rising smoke in the air, the sound of rubbles from the ground as the earth exploded scattering the debris of the war to the north, south, east, and west.
Lives were lost. Properties were destroyed. Children of vampires, werewolves, and humans alike had become orphaned because of that war.
Vlad should have known better. He was there when it happened. After that war, a consensus had been reached. And that consensus was contained in the law. Every leader had to be first elected by The House of The Federation before they came out in the open to announce their ambition to the people.
Vlad had just broken that rule. And now, because of this, everyone had been thrown into a mad frenzy.
"Master!" A voice yelled in the semicircle of the werewolves that were gathered around him.
"The mayor has arrived."
That was his call. The current mayor of the city of Washington DC was a werewolf of the Golden Circle. Tyler Freeman was one of those unimpressive-looking men whose ambitions made up for what their looks could not give them.
Two years ago, Tyler Freeman had won the election against his mate Mike Hatcher after they had been both elected to run for the position by The House of The Federation.
With his tenure drawing to an end, Tyler Freeman had begun putting his retirement plans into motion and it did not involve making Vlad succeed him in office.
The city was like a common interest to the high and mighty and Vlad was about to steal that away from them. He was not going to allow that to happen.
The master's howl alerted the werewolves of The Golden Circle that the meeting was about to begin. One by one, they joined in, each howling harmoniously to a known tune, voicing out their displeasure in one voice.
In an instant, the master stopped abruptly and the rest of the werewolves followed in subordination to him.
A freezing screaming wind whispered in the woods. The master waited for the wind to stop, not wanting it to swallow up his voice.