Chapter 40

Nikola’s phone buzzed and he checked it.

My ghoul placed herself on your diet and now spits fire at me.

The text had come from Sadik. Nikola shook his head and typed back.

I am certain that you can make a deal? Blood for blood?

Nikola set his phone down and began typing the code to the MySQL database integration for his storage manager when his phone buzzed again.

She has zero fear of me! It is all your fault. What with all the messages to love oneself and not to be slave to their stomach. Yes, well, she has taken it to mean she doesn’t have to be my slave either!

There was a frowny face at the end and Nikola sighed.

Do you think you can let her talk to me? I am sure I can convince her. By the way, sneaky of you to write to me in Turkish just to figure out if I knew it. Sadik, just ask next time.

He got a smiley face as a response, and he got an unknown caller minutes later. He picked up, and he heard an angry woman from the other side.

“Why should I give him my blood? What has he ever done for me? I am a free woman in a free country!”

Nikola would have congratulated the ghoul, if she wasn’t digging her grave.

“You do know he can just kill you? Lose your weight, nothing wrong with that, but he doesn’t even need to touch you to kill you. He just needs to stop giving you blood. Madam, how old are you?”

There was a pause from the other end and the woman spoke reluctantly.

“Three hundred forty-seven. So, he wasn’t lying? I can really die if he leaves forever?”

Nikola signed in the phone and the woman began to cry from the other side. She cut off the call, and Sadik called him moments later.

“Thanks for clearing her mind from all the nonsense. By the way, your Facebook shows your phone number. You might want to fix that.”

“That is intentional. I want people to call me about my apps,” there was a pause and Sadik spoke again, this time, more urgently.

“Hey, can you make me a tracker of heartbeats from long distances? We are friends, right? Help a friend here!”

Nikola wondered for what he might need such a thing but shrugged and agreed.

“Ok, but I need to make an app for Vasilisa first, and I have one that I plan to sell that I am working on now. You are third in line,” Nikola heard a groan from the other side.

“Move me up, and I’ll pay double what the app would be worth and will make sure all of my clan uses it,” it sounded tempting, but Nikola didn’t want to disappoint Vasilisa.

“You are third. Take it or leave it. I’m going off now. Bye and have a nice day,” Nikola cut off the phone call and his phone buzzed moments later.

Triple. Was the simple reply, and a little angel next to it. It was a clear warning. If Nikola didn’t move him up the ladder, Sadik was going to oust him in front of the vampire community. Then, not even Malkav could protect him.

Fine.

And Nikola was back at the planning stage. He had an idea to use electronics with a microphone to record vibrations, but how does he differentiate a heartbeat from regular vibrations?

Deciding to leave it for a little while later, Nikola pulled up the grammar checker app and began testing more sentences. He made it with Vasilisa’s dyslexia in mind, and so he needed to account for typos and similarly sounding words with close enough spelling.

Nikola worked for the entire afternoon and then, just as he was making some suggestions to the AI of the grammar checker, he figured out his problem with the app for Sadik.

Heartbeats worked on electrical impulses. He only had to differentiate the bio energy from a heartbeat from the normal electricity. He made a small app quickly that recorded sounds that were too quiet to hear and let it record the room.

His heartbeat made bigger, more frequent waves, then the electricity of the room. Now, he only needed to give the app access to electronics with microphones in a room. Nikola figured that this app was one that would be sold exclusively to the Banu Haqim, for it was practically illegal.

With that in mind, he decided not to do anything fancy and just used a virus that was invented about fifty years from now, his longest lifespan during the time loops, and installed it as an attacker to electronics.

No one knew about the virus and, if the Banu Haqim kept it under wraps, it might never get reinvented. Satisfied, Nikola whipped up a basic GUI and send the whole thing to Sadik’s email.

Done. Don’t ask for more apps in the future. Or, at least, until I’m done with my current projects. I am really busy. Texted Nikola, and he pulled up the grammar checker again. His phone buzzed and Nikola looked at the ID. It was Sadik again.

You are a lifesaver! Now we can differentiate Kindred from Kine without having to get close. Thanks, Niki. By the way, I am going back to the states. See you in a week.

Nikola send Sadik a thumbs up and closed his phone. He had a lot of work to do. Then, his phone buzzed again and Nikola was about to rip Sadik a new one when he found that the caller was unknown. Figuring it could be the ghoul, he prepared to console her. Instead, the text was in English.

Dear Mister Popescu,

I am Flavius Aetius. Perhaps you have heard of me from your history lessons? Your lover, Dimitri, approached me about a plan you have of stopping Gehenna. I also hear you know where Caine is. I would be happy if you share the information.

Kind regards,

Flavius Aetius.

Nikola checked the phone number and immediately dialed it. There was a hunt to plan.