Authors: Regina Morris
Kate’s emergency C–section was successful and two beautiful twin boys had come into the world. Although on the small side, the boys were healthy and crying up a storm. While the team was packaging the babies’ cord blood to use as bait, Alex left the room to call Kate’s mother. The new grandmother was now racing to the hospital.
Alex smiled. As Raymond’s wife, she realized she was the boys’ step–grandmother. Just a few months ago, she had been single and desperately wanting a family. Now she was a wife, mother, and grandmother. Imagine that.
During the few minutes Alex was on the phone, she saw Kate and the twin boys leave the ER and be admitted into the maternity ward. She guessed Kate’s paperwork indicated she was in her mid–twenties when she gave birth. Thank goodness for the gift of compelling humans. Nearly a dozen humans were compelled and paperwork modified to bring these two angels into the world. Alex could definitely understand why vampires sought Sulie out as their doctor.
Knowing that Raymond would want to stay behind to help Sterling with the boys, at least until Kate’s mother could arrive, Alex continued the search for Sulie. She noticed a new stork picture plastered on another door of the maternity wing. She knocked and then pushed open the door to enter the private hospital room. “Hello?” she said before she pulled back the entry curtain just inside the door.
“Come in.” A female’s voice rang out. She sounded tired.
Alex entered the room and the woman quickly put a finger to her lips and whispered, “Shhh. Darla just fell asleep.”
Alex studied the new mother, who looked ready to pass out as well. Not a vamp, but human. They were the only ones in the room. She walked over to the woman’s chart and quickly read her name and noticed the birth had been a C–Section. “Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Mrs. Rottier. I’m Dr. Johansson.”
She nodded as she corrected Alex, “Ms. Rottier.”
Alex noticed she wore no wedding ring, but an indention existed on her ring finger where obviously one had been.
“Newly divorced,”
she thought. The baby’s father probably wasn’t in the delivery room with her, so Alex only had one person to question instead of two.
“I have a few questions for you.” She compelled her and discovered that even though she opted not to store the cord blood because of the cost, that the procedure was done anyway by a tall doctor with dark hair that she had never seen before. Alex asked if she knew Dr. Briggs and what he looked like, but she didn’t recognize the name. Alex texted Dixon the woman’s name so he could check in the lab for a vial with her name on it.
Alex broke the compelling by easing the new mother into a deep and restful sleep. She’d wake up thinking Alex’s visit was nothing more than a dream, if she remembered her at all. Alex left the room and bumped into Ben in the hallway.
“Briggs isn’t on staff today,” Ben began. “Brigg’s address is an empty lot.”
“This new mom,” she pointed back to the patient’s room she had just left, “did not request cord blood storage. The baby was delivered by C–Section and the cord blood was collected anyway. I texted Dixon to see if he found any blood in the lab with her name on it. He’s also checking for the cord blood company name and anything marked with Dr. Briggs’ name on it down in the lab.”
Holding up some vials, Ben said, “We had the doctor store the cord blood from Kate’s babies.” He pointed to the labels on the vials. “It was a standard collection, so they should match any other blood down in the lab. We also have the signed paperwork for the collection, which we’ll place in her folder at the nurses’ station as bait.”
Ben scanned up and down the hallways. “The only vampires on this floor are us. Let’s go to the lab and help Dixon.” When they got to the lab, the only thing they found was Dixon’s phone. It chirped with the unseen texts Alex had sent.
They searched the hallways, but only found an orderly cleaning test tubes in a washroom. Under compelling, the young man said he had seen an elderly man leave with a doctor.
Ben grimaced as he put Kate’s cord blood in his pocket. He then announced in his ear’s com unit, “We now have a double rescue effort.”
Sulie couldn’t be sure if she napped more to conserve her energy, or because her older age needed more rest. Hunger pains may have also been a reason for her over tired state. Either way, she suspected she had been asleep for hours just now, even though she didn’t feel rested.
She didn’t want to even guess how old she had become during her nap. Taking a deep breath, she glanced down at her veiny hands and noticed how paper–thin her skin had become. Hands always gave away a person’s age. Many people thought wrinkles around the eyes held the secret of someone’s age, which Sulie knew she also had, but the true evidence of age always appeared in the hands.
Days had passed since she last fed, and she felt the soreness of her muscles and the stiffness in her joints as what little blood she had left had recycled within her. Her body needed fresh blood. When she had taken the blow to the head from Charles, her blood appeared still reddish in color. She now suspected her blood had changed to a darkening purple hue — just like oil in a car when the vehicle needed an oil change. Her body was wearing itself out. Once her blood blackened to the color and consistency of tar, she would be dead. Turned to dust — and gone.
Of course, the flip side of her problem was Charles. Even if she came close to death, she couldn’t marry the bastard. The only way she would is if Dixon’s life depended on the marriage. Hopefully, Charles wouldn’t find him.
Sulie had so wanted to see Dixon again — if only to immediately declare her love for him. But now she prayed she never laid eyes on him again. It would be better for him to be safe.
Another hunger pang hit her. Her twisting stomach felt like a rock in her gut. If she had tapered off blood and allowed her body to gradually age, the pain would be minor. Cutting off cold turkey was sheer torture. Her skin was shriveling, her hair was turning gray, and her bones were getting brittle. She figured it wouldn’t be much longer before death would take her.
In her weakened state, she had trouble holding her head up. She passed out due to hunger as she rested on the bed in the dank cell.
In her dream, she walked along a babbling brook in the middle of a beautiful forest. She walked until she discovered a clearing where many people stood waiting in a line. She didn’t understand why, but she knew she had to stand in this line. People at the head of the line offered to let her cut in front of them, but she quietly walked to the back. Once in place, she noticed people at the head of the line pairing off and entering tiny two–person boats to float down the brook, which now became a quickly moving stream before her eyes.
Each person wore a brightly colored outfit as they waited in the line. Some wore red outfits and others wore purple ones. The people approached the stream where a cloaked man put a sign around each of their necks, and then the people paired off into the tiny ships to sail down the stream. Some boats carried two people in red outfits, some carried two people in purple outfits, and others carried a mix of the two colors.
Sulie could not read the signs being placed on the necks of the people who stood before her. She glanced down and discovered she now wore a purple sweatshirt, purple sweat pants, and even her running shoes were purple. She stood in the line and noticed that none of the people were talking, nor were they smiling. They merely stood until it became their turn to enter their boat.
The line shrank away as more and more people entered their personal carriers. As they boarded their boats, they finally smiled and talked to one another. She could hear some pairs laughing as they sailed down the stream. Sulie’s heart raced when she knew her turn would be soon. She didn’t know where the people sailed. All she knew was that she wanted to be in one of those boats — as if her life depended on this journey. She thought about asking someone in line for information, but didn’t want to appear weak, so she stood quietly instead, awaiting her turn.
When she stood at the head of the line, she approached the cloaked man. He placed a sign around her neck, but for some reason she couldn’t read it. She wanted to ask the man to read the sign to her, but instead of asking for help, she climbed into her boat. She waited for a second person to join her, but then the tiny ship went down the stream with her alone.
A sense of loss and sadness surrounded her. She looked ahead to the couple in front of her boat and tried to read their signs but couldn’t. As she glanced back to the shore, she could read the signs worn by the pair behind her in the line. The man wore a red outfit and the woman wore a purple one. Both of their signs read, “Matrimony.” She looked down at her sign and was finally able to read it. She read the word, “Reject.”
She panicked as she stood up, nearly capsizing her craft. She screamed the word ’No’. The boat toppled and she fell into the cold water, which had now turned into blood. She tried to swim back to the shore. The cloaked man at the shore saw her and called out to her. In her desperation, she started to sink. The man’s words echoed in her ear as she began to lose her battle with the blood engulfing her. The man’s words repeated, “Reject! Reject!”
Suddenly, she sat in a bigger boat docked along the shoreline and was no longer drowning. The cloaked man approached her. He told her that everything was how life was meant to be. She noticed a sign around his neck. The words read, “Unwanted.” The cloak fell off the man’s head and Dixon stood before her.
Sulie awokened, and jumped up in the bed with a start. The dream faded into her subconscious mind as she took in the surroundings of her cell. Her heart raced and her skin became wet with perspiration. She remembered bits and pieces of the dream, but couldn’t remember how she found herself in that forest and how she came to the stream.
She remembered the ending of the dream and sadness engulfed her. Tears ran down her aged cheeks as she lay back down on the bed and rocked herself for comfort.
Since no one was around, she allowed herself to silently cry. Her years of government training prepared her for situations such as this, but nothing prepared her for the loneliness she now felt. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and felt her wrinkled skin. How long had she slept? How much aging had taken place as she lay there being tortured by that stupid dream? She looked at her watch and realized only a few hours had passed while she had slumbered.
She glanced at her hands and wanted to cry more. She remained thankful not to have a mirror nearby. Even with her inability to cast a clear reflection, she would still be able to see the gray hair and wrinkles. She didn’t want to see them. She just wanted to turn Charles, Trudy, and the others to dust.
She wiped her nose and realized a familiar scent hung in the air. Blood. Human blood. She licked her lips, her fangs brushing up against her tongue. Sitting up, she stared at the still locked door. No footsteps approached, but she noticed something else. On the floor of the cell sat a small glass. She dashed over and picked up the glass. Only a few gulps, but it was blood.
She studied the glass to determine if it was a trap. There certainly wasn’t enough blood for her to age back more than a handful of years, so she decided to take the risk and drink it, hoping the blood was indeed a gift.
She wondered who her new–found friend was and why they chose to help her.
Dixon only hesitated for a split second when Briggs told him to get into the car, but fortunately, Briggs appeared so self–involved to notice the slight pause. What worried Dixon more than getting into a car with a kidnapper was the fact that Briggs had joked about getting a quick bite on the way to see Sulie. At least, Dixon hoped the vampire had been joking.
Dixon opened the side door of the car and loose papers flew out. He resisted the urge to stop the wind from picking them up and scattering them along the pavement. Instead, he took a seat — sitting on even more paperwork.
Briggs pulled out of his parking spot and drove down the winding pathway to the ground floor exit of the parking garage. Dixon spotted Sulie’s car as they passed the vehicle on floor four.
I’m doing this for Sulie
, he thought repeatedly as he straightened in his seat and stared blankly ahead.
The car careened onto the street and headed towards the interstate, nearly hitting two parked cars. Dixon realized that if they were to be in a car accident, only he would die. Briggs’ driving only became more reckless as they entered the freeway.
Dixon had to bite his tongue several times during the long car ride with Briggs. The man was a driving menace and a self–righteous bore with delusions of grandeur and a God complex. If cleanliness was next to godliness, Dixon felt that Briggs stood a far cry away from being omniscient. The littered car held a carelessly tossed patient file and parking garage tickets. He saw no speeding tickets, which would have surprised Dixon, but he realized the vampire would just compel his way out of those — granted he’d have to stop first. Dixon caught a quick glimpse of Briggs as the man laughed and made fun of a slow driver ahead of him. Dixon also noticed the driver side floorboards were covered with a layer of clay mud, as were the vamp’s shoes.
As if being scared for his life in the car wasn’t enough, he had to listen to the vampire prattle on about Sulie. He swore if the bastard commented one more time on Sulie’s body, her sexual appetites, or about any physical relationship he may have had with his best friend, Dixon was going to pull out the dagger and stab him here in his Ford Taurus.
Pretending to be compelled proved to be a lot harder when you wanted to kill someone.
Dixon’s jaw tightened and his lips flattened as he did his best to suppress his anger when the doctor described Sulie as bothersome and a troublemaker when it came to her loyalties and family bonds. Dixon’s hands had already balled into fists, but now his nails bit into the palms of his hands. Words of the caliber ’devoted’, ’determined’ and ’irreplaceable’ seemed more Sulie’s speed. Dixon wondered how well this man really knew her. He struggled to sit with a stiff back and a blank expression on his face as the vamp began listing Sulie’s best, and worst, body parts for pleasing a man.
After what seemed like a lifetime of traffic, and several toll roads, the car sped down a street towards an area that must have been zoned for retail stores. Because of economic hardships, most of the stores were empty with no new renters moving in. Dixon assumed the area had probably been pleasant and thriving in better economic times. Now the place remained in disarray, with fallen fences, knee–high weeds, and broken windows in some of the shops. He didn’t recognize the area, but then again, he had little reason to be in such a heavy crime area.
“After I park the car you will exit and follow me into the restaurant,” Dr. Briggs said as he parked the car and turned off the ignition. “I know someone who will be surprised to see you.”
Dixon’s heart almost skipped a beat. Sulie was so close by. The restaurant operated as the hub of a mini–mall with many connecting stores. The parking lot was overrun with weeds, the store fronts were chained shut and a stench of urine and waste, from what Dixon assumed were squatters at some point in time, lingered in the air. The stench smelled so unpleasant that the place almost reeked like a farm.
He followed the compelling to the letter and walked inside the restaurant with the doctor. The wooden entryway creaked under their weight, and the door squeaked when it opened and then shut behind them. Dixon stood still once inside. The compelling was not to take a seat or to even wander through the place. It was only to follow the man in. He stood there looking blankly into the dark dining area, but only the first few tables were visible to his human eyes.
Hearing high heels clicking against the hard wooden floor, Dixon forced his look to remain transfixed ahead of him. With his peripheral vision, he could tell the woman entering the room was not Sulie but the midwife from the video. She stood slightly taller and had shorter hair than Sulie.
“You ordered in?” she sneered as she took a good look at Briggs with her cold eyes. “Were enough brats born today to meet your quota?”
Dixon noticed that Briggs broke eye contact and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Of course, Trudy. As always,” Briggs said.
His voice sounded withdrawn. Dixon wondered if the flask was extra or if he was skimming off the top. Since he had the personality that used car salesmen strive to attain, Dixon figured it was the latter. The way Briggs’ ego deflated around her made Dixon believe the woman was the head honcho in the room.
“Of course, Trudy,” she mocked. She then leaned in and sniffed his breath. “Steal from the family again and you’ll find yourself in a child’s sandbox soon enough.” A vein throbbed visibly in her forehead and Dixon noticed Briggs cower, his body slumping.
She rolled her eyes. “Your son failed in his simple task at Camp David. He’s fucking useless. I swear, if he fails me one more time I’ll dust him myself.”
Dixon watched as Briggs’ eyes widened. “Brent?”
“No, you idiot. It was your son Emerson.”
“Emerson has many good qualities,” Briggs quickly said in defense of his son. “He came up with our blood storage process, found us this hideout,” Briggs pointed around the room, “and he’s always done his best to please you.”
“But there’s always an excuse,” she spat out. “His storage process costs us ten percent of our collections just in transportation alone.”
“Brent came up with our transportation process.”
When Briggs looked deep in thought, Dixon wondered where the extra ten percent was going. He also figured Emerson was Charles’ favorite by the way Briggs threw his other son under the bus so quickly.
“So? Where is today’s blood?” she demanded.
Briggs glanced away. “I got distracted,” he said, looking over to Dixon. “The blood is still down in the lab.”
The sound of a door creaking almost caused Dixon to look to his left, but he stood still. A man, whom Dixon assumed was a vampire, set down a shovel and walked over. His dirty blond hair was unkempt, his clothes a mess, and he stood there silently until he was spoken to.
Trudy let out an exasperated breath. “So that’s where you’ve been, Julian,” she said, looking at the shovel. “Do we need more?” she demanded.
He sheepishly looked away from the woman, and locked eyes on Dixon. “We still have plenty. Two new graves were dug, that’s all. We don’t need to…”
Dixon noticed the recognition on the vamp’s face as he paused. The slight eyebrow raise, the pursed lips… this vamp recognized him. Perhaps they had crossed paths in the hospital. Dixon couldn’t recall; he just hoped the vamp didn’t force his hand.
“We don’t need to…” the vamp started again, this time looking away from Dixon.
Evidently not noticing the pause, Trudy didn’t wait for the vampire to finish. She cut him off with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Get the collections from the hospital,” she ordered.
The male vampire’s eyes widened as he looked in disbelief from Trudy back to Briggs. “That’s his job,” he said wryly.
Her eyes narrowed. “So?” she snapped at him with a pinched expression. “Any monkey could pick up the collections. Now do the job, Julian.”
Dixon watched as Julian’s face grew red and his lips curled in anger as he stared back at her. The vamp took a deep breath to probably calm himself. Julian looked like a volcano ready to erupt, but then turned without saying a word and left the room.
“Idiot,” Trudy exclaimed. Now looking at Dixon she finally acknowledged him. “Who the hell is this?”
“Insurance,” Briggs said. “Sulie’s man of the hour and someone she cares about.”
“Really?” She eyeballed Dixon from head to toe as he played mannequin to the best of his ability. “She’ll need at least another day or two before she becomes desperate, but it is good to have her favorite pet around.” She glanced over to Briggs, “Good to know you’re not totally useless.”
That clinched it to Dixon. This woman was definitely the mastermind. Briggs took the abuse and showed no backbone whatsoever, which was a 180 degree turn from the bravado he had shown in the car on the ride over.
“He is rather a silver fox,” Trudy said. When Briggs looked away, she added, “Oh, please. Like I’m willing to take her hand–me–downs.” She rolled her eyes as her fangs extended. “I’m just thinking he’d make a delicious snack.”
Like lightening, she struck at Dixon’s neck. The pain from her fangs almost had him cry out. Instead, he stood there and took it.