Legacy in Blood (Book 1 of The Begotten of Old Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

besides. The FBI must have already been working on that idiot Meyering when she took on the commission. Nice. The client had paid her a million dollars, but the apartment that she had lost, with its views of Central Park – that alone was worth ten times as much! But it couldn’t be helped. Such is the job – what you have today you lose tomorrow. Ultimately, the real estate loss was not the most upsetting result of this mess. Dalana was still a fantastically wealthy individual. She would have no problem securing new documents and new properties, as she had already done many times before. The other result was worse – because of this incident she had to ask for help from the transmogs. Of course, they had no idea that this Begotten of Old was one of the highest paid jewel thieves in the world. Was Dalana a hired assassin? No, by no means. Simple murder was usually too banal for her, and she had rarely engaged in it even at the dawn of her career, but it was often a requirement in the bigger picture of a job. At this point in time, she referred to such work as ‘assistance in the conclusion of an especially delicate problem.’ She had a few extremely serious rivals. An enchanter, a native of South Africa – he had a sublime gift for changing his appearance as did all changelings in principle. A Chinese man, a monk from the Shao Lin Monastery – he could control the wind, for he kept company with Gods of the Ethereal Elements. And mademoiselle Yuriko Ottiker – she was a female half-breed with whom Dalana was personally acquainted. European through her father, Yuriko resided in Switzerland and enjoyed a rabid popularity among the local male population, who were sincerely convinced that the mother of this marble-skinned beauty was a Japanese aristocrat. However, even her father, long dead in the course of time, never guessed that the Mistress of the Sea of Marmara herself had conceived a child from him. Yuriko was also very good at what she did, and she earned quite a bit of money, but unlike Dalana she preferred not to pass beyond the borders of Switzerland, only carrying out local commissions. Chances were that the list of rivals was not exhausted with these three, but to all the other ‘hatchetmen’ Dalana was generally indifferent. Furthermore, her worth was already so immense that she could have quit her profession long ago. She could have, but she did not.
    Recalling the transmog who was sitting in front of her, Dalana probed him through and through just to be on the safe side. But she could see nothing dangerous to herself save for the fact that the pseudo-vampire by the name of Filip craved her body, just like that human puppy.
    The car, in the interim, had reached a strong, yet showy wall covered in monograms and emblems. Dalana stared at these pretentions of the modern nouveau riche. However, it could all be a bit more complicated than that. Filip slowed the car down.
    “We’re here,” he told her.
    And the gates in the wall, opened smoothly, allowing the car to pass into a spacious courtyard. A pair of magnificent Dobermans, barking furiously, met them at the entrance of the house. The dogs changed their tune as soon as they scented Dalana’s powerful musk. The door opened and Filip ceded the way to her. For a moment Dalana froze on the threshold.
    This house was an abode of vampires. Vampires who, like Filip, had been transformed, who had once been human.
    We are delighted to see our guest, Begotten of Old. Henceforth our home is your home.
    Dalana stepped over the threshold.
    3.
     
    Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.
    To be able to enjoy a lived life means to live twice.
     
    “So first of all, it is essential that I have a cell phone and a laptop,” declared Dalana.
    They were sitting in a large parlor with an unlit fireplace. It was amusing that here amidst the design elements of the currently fashionable ‘High-Tech’ style, one encountered aspects of a Russian palace style. Dalana