Chapter 17
Hyena Therian Compound, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Monday, December 17, 2012
Jules Sournois looked at the notes his assistant had delivered moments ago to prepare for his next meeting. Since Nikoli’s untimely death, it had been nothing but meetings for him. He was exhausted, and the temptation to shoot everyone and fuck off to the beach grew by the day. Nikoli’s damned son had singlehandedly destroyed his business before the bastard even ascended to the throne. Luca’s ban on slavery had crippled his thriving empire.
“I’m sorry to interrupt again, Jules, but I have more news,” his assistant Donna began as she entered the office.
He growled and glared at her. “What is it now?”
She paled. “The Costa Rica site partners backed out of the deal.”
“Fuck!” he shouted and slammed his fist on the hardwood desk.
Jules had spent most of his life making connections between slavers in multiple countries and building an impressive and efficient market in the major Therian strongholds. King Nikoli had been his best customer, but since the brat’s coronation, his contacts had all pulled back for fear of incurring the new king’s wrath.
Jules was desperately trying to hold the pieces together. Rebellion against Luca’s progressive ideas looked more appealing each day. Behind the scenes, he’d been gathering the support of other powerful individuals who felt the same way.
When they gained enough power, Jules and the others would strike and kill the new king, then install someone with more common sense in his place. Maybe even Jules. As the person who had orchestrated Luca’s downfall, he would deserve it. It wasn’t like Nikoli had left any of his other male heirs alive. Someone had to rule, so why not him?
Before Donna could explain further, two people waltzed into Jules’ office like they owned the place. He supposed they did. The operation needed money, though Jules had been forced into hiding. Still, the attractive redheaded woman and her short, ugly companion were the last people he wanted to see. He pasted a fake smile on his face and came around the desk to greet them.
“Lissette, Enrique! What a pleasure it is to see you both!” he exclaimed.
The woman waved away the pleasantries. “Cut the bullshit, Jules. Have you gotten the slave trade going again?”
Jules dropped his fake smile, went back to his desk, and sat down in the position of power. “You know I haven’t. Why are you here?”
“Because you dropped the ball, mi amigo. Failure is not an option here,” Enrique told him. He had a thick Spanish accent.
Jules huffed. “Do you think I don’t know that? For fuck’s sake, Enrique! Do you have any ideas on how to fix this? I’m open to suggestions.” Jules shouldn’t snap at his patron, but he’d reached his daily limit for patience. The smaller man knew how to irritate Jules, and he seldom refrained from doing so.
As he’d expected, neither had anything useful to say, so he dismissed them, irritated by the waste of time he could have been using to solve their current problems. He was the alpha of his hyena pack, and several pack members were with him in hiding. The walls of this shitty safe house were paper-thin, so he could hear them telling jokes and laughing in the next room as they sat around the large table he used for meetings too big for his office.
Louis’ voice carried as he told a ridiculous joke, and the other members of the pack, Gaspard, Oscar, Leon, Mathis, and Eliott, laughed like the hyenas they were. Stressed and frustrated, their mirth got on Jules’ last nerve. He was desperately trying to find a way to eliminate the new king so his cabal could replace him with someone who shared their values. The pack laughed at a bawdy joke, and Jules flinched as the sound sent a sharp stab of pain through his head.
I can’t fucking think in here. It’s too damned loud.
He rubbed his temples to soothe the tension headache and tried to focus. He had been fine with Nikoli’s batshit-crazy ass on the throne. His pack was far enough from the high court that they didn’t get much interference or attention from the royals, and Nikoli had required a steady supply of fresh slaves.
Jules never asked about them. He didn’t care. He figured the palace always needed new slaves to replace those who were beaten to death, and continuing to provide them was good business. Jules didn’t give two fucks about other people, whether they were humans, Therians, or vampires. They were all slaves to him.
Jules tried to turn his attention back to his work, but Louis was telling another joke. “So, the doctor walks into the room and tells his patient, ‘I have some bad news for you, sir. You really need to stop masturbating.’ The guy looks horrified and says, “Oh, my God, Doc. Why would you do this to me?’ The doctor answers, ‘I’m trying to examine you!’”
The pack erupted into manic laughter that seemed to go on forever. It evaporated the last of Jules’ patience, and he stood. Pulling the gun from the holster at his hip, he stalked next door and fired a single shot at Louis’ forehead. The other man stopped speaking in mid-sentence and crumpled to the floor, dead.
“Maybe now I can get some fucking peace and quiet,” Jules growled, glaring at the surviving members of his pack. He gestured at Louis’ body with the gun. “Do something with that.”
No one made a sound, and they sat still, terrified to attract Jules’ attention or wrath while he still held the gun. In the ensuing silence, Jules had time to think about the joke and chuckled. “That…that joke was actually funny,” he muttered.
He already regretted his impulsive decision to kill Louis since he’d been a good friend, even if he had been stupid. In a world of zombies, he needed people to trip. Jules shrugged. It would keep the rest of the pack quiet.
“Keep it down and do something useful, or get the hell out of here so I can work,” he snarled.
Jules returned to his office and made a plan to capture a former slave who was working at the new palace. He wanted to test the new king’s dedication to the slavery ban. Jules was banking on the idea that if they applied pressure in the right place at the right time, the Therians would see how empty Luca’s concern was and turn against him.
After they eliminated Luca, things could return to the way they had been.