Real Vampires: Glory Does Vegas Bartlett, Gerry (good fiction books to read .txt) 📖

bidding tablets close to my chest. “Now I have business to attend to. Behave, Luca, or I’ll tell your wife.”

“Hah! She won’t care.” He glanced at a dark corner where Adela stood very close to an attractive male vampire. “Why do you think we have a suite with two bedrooms?”

“I’m sorry about that. If Connie wants your attention, she will let you know.” I walked away with Connie’s excited questions behind me. She might not want to join Luca in bed but she definitely wanted to know more about food for vampires. And chocolate. Didn’t we all miss that?

“Did you get them all?” Dom finally fought his way free of the other vampires and grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go to the office.”

“I have no idea how you are going to resolve this. So many vampires are fighting over the same territories.” I followed him and carefully laid out the tablets on his desk then ran to lock the door. Before I could close it, Valdez was inside.

“I hope this night ends soon.” Valdez collapsed on the couch. “After Davenport, then the werewolves… Even MacDonald is here hitting on you. Honestly, Glory, I don’t think I can take much more stress.”

“Poor Valdez.” I proceeded to ignore him and joined Dom as we sorted through the results.

“I can’t stand it. I have to print these out. I’m old school.” He hooked up his main computer and soon had each bidding sheet printed.

“What do you think?” I admit, I liked seeing everything on paper, too.

“Some of these bids aren’t serious.” Dom cast them aside. “Those vamps are here for the free drinks and to party.”

“This one is easy. The Turnbulls want England and Scotland. Their bid is high and we could also throw in Ireland and Wales. Done deal.” I was happy my friends were going to like tonight’s outcome.

“Good. Look, Glory.” Dom held up a paper. “Australia has only one serious bidder. We can give her the rights for New Zealand as a bonus.” Dom laughed. “This is fun.”

“Wait till you see North America. It’s a nightmare. We have too many bidders, Dom. Some are laughingly low, but then there are two…” I bit my lip. Of course, they were Jerry and Robert, fighting over territory again. “I say forget Simon. He bet most of his money on Africa. Give him the entire continent.”

“I can give him Asia as a bonus. There’s pent up demand there. He should see the value of that. That’s actually going to work out.” He shuffled through the papers. “North America? MacDonald is mainly interested in the west coast and didn’t you say Blade is working out of New Orleans?” Dom stared at the figures. His hands were shaking, he was so excited by the numbers. This was going to make him rich, one of the big boys, and his dream was coming true.

“Yes, that’s the south or we could do east coast and southeast.” I hoped that wouldn’t make either of them mad. “Take a map of the United States and draw a line. Make it clear what each one has. That would give Jerry New York City which has huge potential. But Robert would have L.A. and San Francisco. Big consumers there.” I smiled at Dom’s excitement. “You can keep Las Vegas for yourself.”

“I think that will fly.” Dom continued going through the bids. “Then we can cut up Central and South America for the bidders that wanted smaller territories. Canada doesn’t have much of a client base but this guy might like it. Maybe he’d like Alaska and Hawaii thrown in. Unless MacDonald wants to keep Hawaii. We can check on that. Luca and Adela insist on holding onto Russia and the Balkans, but they never expanded into Europe. I’ve got strong interest in the parts of Western Europe the Turnbulls don’t have. I’m going to meet with the Schmidts tomorrow night and see if I can persuade them to let go of Italy, France and Spain, even the Netherlands. Germany has good potential too. They’ll get the profits from the sales of their own synthetics without the headache of the paperwork.”

I smiled at him. “You’ve done it, Dom. I think you’ve actually pulled this off.”

“I have. Not only that, but the Halloween party was a hit. I might have it become an annual thing.” He laughed and picked up a glass. “Pour yourself some of the Brazilian champagne, Glory. We need to celebrate. Our hard work paid off!”

I toasted with him, looked over his plans and agreed that he had thought of everything.

“Tomorrow night I’ll send out the emails.” He yawned. “If we don’t hurry, the sun will catch us. I’m locking these in my safe here then heading home. Thanks for all you did, Glory. Big bonus coming. Count on it.”

“I am.” I walked to the door. “Valdez, will you watch Dom until those papers are safely locked away. I’ll be right out here with Jerry.”

“Okay, but don’t leave without me. I’m feeling a little paranoid about your safety. We had a near miss tonight.”

“With Davenport? I had that handled.” I felt good about that.

“I think so, but never count a demon out.” Valdez snorted. “And what about the wolves? Those things are unpredictable. You could have been mauled to pieces in a moment. Didn’t you see Bob’s teeth?” Valdez jumped off the couch and faced me. “You think you’re invincible. News flash, you’re not.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” I touched his head. “I guess I’m so used to having you around, protecting me, I don’t worry for my own safety. That’s what you’ve done for me. I appreciate it.” I opened the door and walked into the showroom.

Alex was on the stage putting on a show and making things appear in the audience. When a woman suddenly found a long red scarf floating out of her cleavage, the vampires around her gasped then laughed. Alex was a hit.

“There she is. Glory, please come help me with my next trick. Ladies and gentlemen,