Enduring Service (13 page)

Now that the twins were doing fine, and the hospital was talking about releasing Kate soon, Raymond’s worry and concern level dropped by half. It was time to focus on Sulie and bring his sister safely home.

He joined Alex and Ben in the lab where they had discovered Dixon’s phone. Sterling’s decision to join them surprised Raymond, but Kate had insisted. Kate’s mother had arrived to take care of her daughter and her new grand babies. Plus, Jackie was available to help her as well. So rescuing Sulie became the top priority again.

Raymond loved his daughter–in–law for many reasons. Today, he appreciated her strength and duty to family. Not only did she give him two grandsons, but during the delivery she asked about Sulie and if they were closer to finding her. The team needed all the manpower, or vamp power as the case may be, to find his sister and bring her home safe and sound. He appreciated Kate’s concern.

He noticed Sterling scanning through the memory card on Dixon’s phone for any clues about Dixon’s disappearance. “Dixon took a picture in the lab. It’s of some guy I’ve never seen before.” He handed the phone to his father.

Raymond studied the picture. His eyes squinted as he focused on the image. “There’s no way it can be him.” He fumbled with the phone until he could enlarge the picture to see the details of the man’s face better.

“Looks like a doctor,” Sterling said, shrugging his shoulders.

Raymond’s mouth gaped open and he lowered his hand to his side. “Unbelievable.” He took another look at the picture before Ben took the phone from him.

Ben examined the image and enlarged it so he could read the name tag. “Dr. Briggs? Who the hell is he?”

Taking a deep breath, Raymond said, “That is Charles Townsend.” When Sterling’s eyebrow rose in a questioning ’so what?’ pose, Raymond added, “He’s Sulie’s ex–fiance.”

Raymond watched as his son blinked in disbelief. “Her ex–fiance, Charles? Are you sure, Dad?” Sterling grabbed the phone and stared at the picture of the man he had only heard about.

“An arranged marriage,” Raymond informed the others in the room. “She was only fifteen at the time. He was older and his family approached our parents. The pairing seemed good at the time.” Raymond shook his head, “I don’t really know much about their courtship. They couldn’t marry until after her Jahrling Year, which remained many years away, and I was busy preparing for Sterling’s birth.” He glanced over to Sterling. The team knew the story, but he continued. “Sterling’s mother died in childbirth, leaving me to raise him alone. Shortly after that, our parents died in a fire and then Sulie’s engagement fell through.” He shook his head. “I was so involved in my own life that I barely considered what she was going through. The breakup did seem hard on her though.”

In a soft voice, Alex asked, “Did Sulie love him?”

“I don’t know. I only met the man a few times,” Raymond said. “It wasn’t long enough to get a feeling for who he was. My ability to read minds and compel vampires wasn’t stable at the time. Any ulterior motives he may have had, any inclination for violence… I wouldn’t have been able to pick up on that. My parents approved of him, so they must have seen it as a quality pairing at the time. He was either a nice enough guy back then or he could somehow fool my parents into believing as much. I do know he was the one who ended the engagement. I always assumed he had found someone else and had wanted to move on.” Raymond looked down at the picture on the phone. “And now he and the midwife have my sister.”

Raymond felt his wife place a comforting hand on his shoulder as she said, “Evidently whatever was going on during the time of Sterling’s birth and Sulie’s broken engagement was bigger than any of you realized.”

Sterling shook his head. “There was no way of knowing what they were up to.”

Raymond shook his head and refocused. He looked around the lab. “What was Dixon investigating in here?”

“Cord blood,” Sterling replied as he opened a refrigeration unit. He nodded for Ben to open the one he stood next to. It was Alex who found the vials of blood — with the tracking units still in place.

“Sterling will watch the basement and keep an eye on the lab,” Raymond began. “Alex will be Sterling’s backup and be on watch one level above the basement. Ben and I will be out in my car waiting. Someone will be picking up this blood.” When his son rolled his eyes, Raymond added. “You’re half human. You don’t give off any predator signals. You’re the only one who can be in the basement.” Now looking at Alex he said, “Keep a safe distance. No one can detect you nearby.”

Raymond pulled up his phone and used an application that allowed him to get a visual map of the location of the trackers on the bottom of the blood vials. Once he got the location as being in the hospital, he again addressed the team. “Ben and I will follow the trail of the blood once it’s been picked up. We may need to wait a while, but it’s our only lead.”

“I’ll set out the bait,” Ben said as he opened the cabinet door to put Kate’s blood inside. “Even if they think someone’s been poking around down here, I’m betting they’ll still come for vamp cord blood.” Before he could put trackers on the blood and place it next to the others, the team smelled the scent of another predator. It was too late. They needed a plan B. The scent grew stronger, and Sterling ran down the hallway towards the scent. He wasn’t alone, for the whole team followed in hot pursuit.

The unknown vampire had already stopped in his tracks. Obviously he had detected the other vamps nearby. He ran down a side hallway leading towards the morgue. At vampire speed, the team chased the vampire who slipped on the freshly washed floor and slid across to the end of the hallway and its double doors. Sterling also fell once his feet hit the wet tile. He landed on his back and the team jumped over him, pursuing their prey who had just managed to open the double doors and make his way into the room.

Raymond caught the ground running after jumping over his son. He heard at least one other team member stumble and even heard his wife as she helped Sterling up. Raymond didn’t stop to look around. He focused on the double doors and barreled into them with a resounding thud.

Once inside the morgue, he found the place empty. No doctors, no technicians, and, more importantly, no rogue vampire. But the predator signs remained strong. He sensed the vampire nearby and paused to listen to any sounds as his team followed him into the room.

The morgue was a tiled room with two empty exam beds attached to monitors and scales, with large metal drawers that lined the adjacent wall. The meager rectangular room contained a small desk and computer at the opposite end.

Deathly silence filled the room as the team filed in and spread out. Sterling covered the door, Alex the outer perimeter leading to the desk and Ben and Raymond walked towards the drawers. The lack of windows or an exit kept the search limited to just these few square feet, and Raymond knew they’d find answers before leaving this room.

Alex quickly searched the desk area. There was little to check and she soon made her way to the wall of drawers. Raymond started with the top left drawer and worked his way down. The drawers slid effortlessly against their metal gears and were well weighted. The empty ones slid freely while the others moved more slowly, but still just as gracefully.

Three dead bodies and nearly half the drawers were inspected before Raymond’s tug on a drawer in the middle row yielded the prize. Raymond had opened the drawer barely a foot, exposing only the vampire’s head. Still, the vampire tried his best to spring himself from the metal coffin.

Raymond’s face grew red with anger as he slammed the vamp’s shoulders onto the metal tray and pinned him down. Raymond didn’t have time to be polite or nice. This scum knew the location of his sister and he would squeal or die. He didn’t remove his hands until Ben came to the other side of the drawer and took Raymond’s place pinning the vamp down.

With his hands now free, Raymond gripped the vampire’s head. Using his special ability to read and compel vampires, Raymond began plunging into the vampire’s mind. He read through recent memories quickly, not caring about the pain it inflicted. Tearing further down the neural passageways of the mind, Raymond pulled the information he wanted. Name. Family. Sulie’s location.

The vampire, whose name Raymond discovered was Julian, slumped and moaned in pain. He offered no resistance. Raymond continued ripping the sought after information from him. Location. Cord blood. The details spilled from him like an open wound. The information came fast and Julian sagged in defeat, his face pained by the torture.

Before releasing Julian’s head, Raymond slammed it against the metal tray once more. He paced back and forth in front of the nearly unconscious vamp. Raymond’s jaw tightened, and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. The team stared at him with widened eyes, waiting for the next move.

Raymond pointed back to the vamp. “Julian gave me what we need to know.” He paced again with a disgusted expression on his face.

“What?” Ben asked.

“They’re using her. Like some prized dog, they want to… mate and breed.” Raymond now looked at Julian. “He believes Charles and Sulie are in love, even though they kidnapped her.” He pulled out his cell phone and called William. “What’s the big guy up to right now?” he barked into the phone.

“The usual when he’s on vacation,”
William answered over the phone line.

Raymond’s face hardened. “So you’re not covering him right now?”

William huffed into the phone,
“His girlfriend is covering him right now. I’m just helping Daniel and Brandon watch the house.”

“Good. Leave him there and meet me at the address I’m texting you. Be ready for a fight.” Raymond hung up the phone and punched in the address on his phone. He now glared at their prisoner. His eyes narrowed as Julian moaned and stirred back to life. “Him,” Raymond said, pointing at Julian, “He doesn’t die.” He looked at the team members. “He is our only link to Sulie. He dies when I say so.”

Sulie downed the second glass of blood. She wasn’t sure how long the gift sat on the floor this time while she napped, but the drink tasted delicious at room temperature. Thinking that her new found friend was like Santa and only arrived with presents once you were asleep, Sulie considered the possibility of taking more naps.

She had just finished hiding the glass out of sight, with the other one she had collected, when she heard the tumbler of the outer lock. She wiped her mouth clean. Normally, accepting help from anyone would have bothered her, but she was grateful for the mysterious blood. The amount wasn’t enough to fill her, but enough to keep her aging somewhat manageable.

Charles emerged from the shadows, keeping at a safe enough distance from the lock. In his hands, he held some official looking papers and a phone. Sulie sat on the bed. If he wanted to talk to her, he’d have to enter the room. There was no way she was going to play by his rules any longer.

“Baby doll, I have something to show you.” When Sulie looked away, he added, “I think this video of Johnny would be of interest to you. But, I guess if you don’t want to see it…” he said, his finger over a display button.

Neither Sulie nor the rest of the Colony called Dixon by his first name, but when Sulie heard the name “Johnny” her heart sank. She rushed to the door as fast as her old vampire stamina could muster.

“What video?” she said as nonchalantly as she could.

He turned the phone so the video displayed sideways, giving her a larger picture for her failing eyes. Sulie watched in horror as Trudy tore into Dixon’s flesh, and his body crumpled to the ground.

“Trudy was a bit peckish,” he said as he put away the phone.

Sulie’s eyes widened with fright and a gasp escaped her throat. They had her Dixon. Somehow, somewhere, they had found him. Her mouth was dry. All she wanted to do was cry out, but there was no one to come to her rescue. It was her own selfishness with the Verheiratet’s Schlange that had put all of this into motion. Only she was to blame. She would find a way out for Dixon.

Charles waved the papers he held towards her. “Our marriage license, baby doll.”

Her tear–filled eyes narrowed in on the paperwork.

“Sign this document. Give me a child. Or I will kill him.”

With trembling fingers, she accepted the license. To her horror, she recognized the original contract drafted on their first engagement. Her mother had signed the document with her own blood giving consent to the union as Sulie’s closest relative in her bloodline. Sulie’s chest tightened and she struggled for breath as she looked down at the purple signature. Tears streamed down her face, but she went to the effort to read the entire contract line by line. She noticed the original purity section indicating Sulie was a virgin had been crossed out and initialized as an approved change by Charles. Overall, it was a standard marriage contract and her signature meant saving Dixon’s life. That’s all that mattered.

Charles held out an antique quill pen. “For your signature to be legal, you must sign in your blood.”

She allowed him to stab her finger. Losing more of her precious blood, she signed herself away to the one man she hated most on earth, so she could save the man she loved the most.

Snatching the paperwork immediately on its completion, Charles took the pen and pulled them both through the bars of the cell. “Good choice, baby doll.”

Sulie called out to him as he turned to leave. “Where’s Johnny?” she yelled, using Dixon’s first name.

“All in due time.” He removed the locket from his pants pocket and dangled it in front of the bars to her cell. His eyes widened and he took a step back as her hand flung through the bars in an effort to grab it. With his movements, she failed to grab the treasure, but managed to slap the locket from his hand. She watched as it flew to the wall opposite her cell and slid across the dirty floor.

Charles’ jaw tightened. “First, I file this paperwork to make the marriage legal. Our union will be approved immediately since your blood is dark purple. Plus, I’m not willing to wait the three months to confirm you’re not with child. It’s obvious by the color of your blood.” He smirked as he glanced over her aged body. “I’ll be back when the paperwork clears. Then, once the rabbit dies, I’ll consider setting your Johnny boy free.”