Chapter 35

The three months needed for Juan to lose the fifty kg went by quickly. Finally, it was time to launch the app for the Google Play Store. Nikola pressed the submit button and closed the laptop. He breathed deeply and stretched his legs.

Juan and he had become fast friends. The man was a good person, and Nikola believed he could lose all his unneeded weight. Nikola had agreed to monitor the human from time to time to keep him on track. It was good that Juan could walk again.

Nikola peeked inside the bedroom to check if Dimitri or Malkav were there, but they were out. Just like last time, Malkav had become more active in the Jihad after becoming sane. He had not asked for Nikola’s help, but he had Dimitri for that.

The laptop let out a ding sound and Nikola went to open it, curious. He saw he had forgotten the page with the sales on and, much to his amazement, there was already a million of them. There was also an email from someone.

Nikola checked the email and saw that it was from a famous protein supplement company wanting for him to add their products in his app. Nikola closed the email with disgust. He was not going to trick people with this trash.

Nikola texted Ivan to check if he was free for a walk, and Ivan texted back that he was out with Matthew. With nothing better to do, Nikola decided to go out on a run. He changed in more comfortable clothes, put his sneakers on, and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and got outside the apartment building.

Strapping the bottle to his belt holster, he went in a slow jog and just enjoyed the sights. He was getting better at treating people as obstacle courses and, in a couple of more months, he’d try to do backflips even. Someone fell in step with him, and Nikola looked up.

Then he blinked. It was Sadik. Now, what was he doing here? He stopped and pretended to examine a newspaper booth, and the vampire stopped with him. It was during the day, so he must be walking on Malkavian vitae. Malkav had attempted to put wraps on his progenies about the selling of their blood, but he had been unsuccessful.

“Hi, I’m new in town. Do you know any good sights?” Nikola considered blurting out to the vampire that he knew him. Then, he considered that Sadik could be here for a job. He needed to be certain it had nothing to do with his family.

“The park has chess sets on the tables, there is the theater and the broadcast tower. The view from there is breathtaking,” Nikola was glad about himself that he sounded neutral and Sadik nodded.

“Good, good. Do you mind if I jog along? I am a bit lost and, if you lead me to the park, I think I can make my way back to the hotel from there,” Nikola resisted the urge to snort. Sadik, lost? As if. Ok, this definitely sounded like a job. Nikola decided to cut all pretenses.

“Why are you here, Sadik Adnan?” Sadik stared at him, and then he grinned.

“I heard a curious rumor. That there was a fallen angel that created a first generation vampire out of a coma patient,” Nikola sighed. Well, maybe someone had let it slip. Or, and that was much more plausible, Sadik has been snooping around Malkav and Dimitri and found about Vanya somehow.

“And if it's true?” The clerk came from the back of the booth and looked at the two expectedly. Nikola took a newspaper at random and handed it to the booth attendant and paid the five dollars for it. Then, he walked away from the booth and Sadik followed.

“I’d very much like to see an angel,” this was about Nikola, not his lovers. Nikola looked down on the paper. Some celebrity was getting divorced. There was a rise on the oil prices. Same old. He binned the newspaper in a nearby trash can and turned to Sadik.

“And why is that?” Sadik smiled wistfully at him, and Nikola remembered that smile from the times the man had been his lover and from his early days during his last life. Before the man had become his adoptive father. Nikola found it all very disturbing. Sadik placed an arm around Nikola’s shoulder and began to lead him towards the park. Not knowing the town, my ass.

“There are so many things I want to ask you. Have you met Allah? Which religion is the appropriate one?” Nikola felt the need to say Satanism, just to be spiteful. He chuckled, remembering that that was practically the worship of Dimitri, and cleared his throat.

“I am sort of a created and not born angel. So, I have no idea about any of that,” Sadik looked disappointed at that, but he shook his head.

“So, you have a taste for vampires?” Sadik wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Nikola sighed.

“No. Not a chance. Never,” Sadik snorted, as if not believing him. Nikola wished that the Turk could read his mind so that he could see that Nikola’s best memories of him were of his last life. He still remembered the man tucking him in bed, for Christ’s sake!

“I also hear that you want to stop Gehenna. Apart from your lovers, for whom you might bargain for, why do you want to save the rest of us?” Nikola gave it a thought. For the past months, he had been obsessed with the app and his training. He hadn’t given Gehenna any consideration.

“I just don’t want for vampires to die out, even if they kill,” now, Sadik looked confused.

“The sane among us don’t kill, you know. It will just nurture our beast,” Nikola stopped and stared. He had been made to kill when he didn’t have to? Why? Dimitri and Malkav had explaining to do.