“Please allow me. The limousine is right outside.”
He gallantly opened the door for her and led her to the car. Why was Samson spoiling her like that? Or was she dreaming again? This couldn’t possibly be real.
Delilah gave Oliver the address of the office and settled in for a smooth ride. The noise of the city didn’t penetrate the car. It was almost like a little safe haven. What luxury. Somewhere, sometime she would have to pay for this luxury—in a cosmic kind of way. Nothing was free. Not in her world.
***
Even though it was already daylight outside, Samson was still up. He was tired, but he didn’t want to sleep yet. He had to know if Delilah would accept his invitation to the theater.
After getting back from Dr. Drake’s office, he’d spent the rest of the night reviewing reports from the different branches of his company, Scanguards.
When he’d been turned into a vampire at the start of the nineteenth century, he’d realized very quickly that even a vampire needed money to live. On a whim, he’d started hiring himself out to protect travelers at night. It turned out security was a profitable enterprise. It also meant there was always a large supply of lowlifes and criminals from which he could feed, while protecting a wealthy traveler or an expensive shipment.
Later, he’d turned his one-man enterprise into a company and hired other likeminded vampires. As a vampire, he finally achieved the success which had eluded him as a human. It was ironic that, as a vampire, he was able to protect the very lives so many of his fellow vampires wanted to destroy. It was Samson’s way of preserving his humanity.
Now his nationwide firm provided security guards and bodyguards to corporations, celebrities, foreign dignitaries, and other individuals. While he’d kept the company’s headquarters in New York, he’d decided to withdraw to San Francisco to live a quieter and more normal life. As normal as life could be for a vampire.
Many of his employees were fellow vampires, mostly working as night guards or bodyguards. He’d groomed several human managers who became the daytime face of Scanguards and dealt with the public. Very few of his human employees knew, or had ever seen, Samson. And Samson wouldn’t recognize many of his human employees if he met them on the street. He liked it that way.
He kept out of the day-to-day running of the business, but liked to keep up to date by reviewing all important reports from the various branches. He would only intervene if things started sliding. There were always little problems somewhere, but he trusted his managers to take care of the small stuff. He wasn’t a micro manager.
Ricky, Amaury, and Thomas all worked for him. Ricky was in charge of vampire recruitment, Amaury dealt with real estate, and Thomas was chief of IT. Their friendship didn’t get in the way of work—well, most of the time at least. Milo had started hanging out with them since he and Thomas had become an item almost nine months earlier.
The blackout shades in Samson’s lavishly decorated bedroom were drawn as he sat on his four-poster bed and flipped through the reports, every few seconds glancing at his cell phone. He’d sent his assistant Oliver off to Delilah’s apartment over half an hour ago and had still not received a text message back.
Oliver was human and acted as his eyes and ears during the day. He was one of the very few humans who knew Samson was a vampire. Samson had saved Oliver from a life of crime, and his prodigy repaid him with loyalty and dedication.
Carl, who was a vampire, was his driver, butler and personal assistant at night. Samson’s personal employees earned more than many managers in large companies did. It wasn’t that he was extraordinarily generous, but he knew human and vampire natures very well. If staff were paid extremely well and treated even better, they were loyal. And loyalty was paramount to him.
What took Oliver so long? Was Delilah not up yet? He looked at the antique clock on the mantle. It was past eight o’clock, and he was getting extremely tired. As a vampire he was able to stay up during daytime, but at a somewhat diminished capacity. His senses weren’t as sharp, and his energy level was lower than normal. Of course he couldn’t go outside, because the rays of the sun would burn him to ash. But he could move about the house as long as no direct sunlight touched him.
A humming sound alerted him to a message on his cell phone. He looked at it.
She said yes.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Samson couldn’t remember when he’d last been so excited about seeing a woman. Or excited about anything for that matter. He’d make sure it would be perfect. How he wanted her! He could already imagine the things he’d do with her, the way he’d touch her, how he would plunge into her until he was completely spent. This would be his real, if belated, birthday present to himself.