Enduring Service (21 page)

Dixon smiled. When he had borrowed the pants from Raymond, which were rather a tight fit, Raymond had tried to compel him. Even though Dixon heard the compelling, he had no intention of barking like a dog, so evidently the subroutine remained in place. He looked over at Sulie for reassurance. “A bus? Filled with humans for ten hours,” he whispered in a high pitched voice over to Sulie.

“The allure of fresh human blood does wear off, Dixon,” Alex said from across the table in the same high pitch that only vampires and dogs could hear. “I remember my first time around a human after my turning. All I could hear was their heartbeat and all I could think about was feeding. It’s just the newness of it all. You’ll get used to guarding your needs.”

Dixon lowered his head and looked away. He had forgotten about the vampire sense of hearing. He glanced over at Brandon, thankful he had not heard either of the remarks.

Raymond spun in his chair so he now faced Alex, Ben, William and Sterling. “If you don’t mind, I’ll need you to work a few extra shifts with the president to make up for our absence. We should be back in a few days and Brandon will coordinate the schedule with you.” When the team agreed, he thanked them and then continued, “We pulled an address for a warehouse off of one of the computer drives, what did you all find?” he asked.

“Empty,” Ben replied.

Alex added, “No signs of refrigeration units, medical supplies, or anything else remained.”

“The warehouse was rented by Charles, but the account was closed,” William added.

Raymond looked deep in thought. “What about the cell phones we got off of Emerson and Brent? Were there any valid phone numbers or contacts in it?”

William shook his head. “They may have been in service at some point, but they’re all dead numbers and addresses now.”

“Were there any pictures, videos, saved browser bookmarks, or anything useful?” Brandon asked.

“There are some pictures and videos of Sulie taken before her abduction. My guess is they were doing surveillance on her for a few weeks. But other than that, there was nothing on either of the phones,” William said.

Dixon looked over to Julian. “How close were Charles and Trudy?”

“She was controlling. Always ordered everyone around, but Charles seemed to be her favorite. She would always say he was the least stupid of all of us.”

Raymond tapped the table with his fingers, as though considering what had been said. After a brief moment, he asked, “From what I’ve read about Charles from the Council, he wasn’t an idiot. If anything, I would guess he withheld information from her. Would he have moved the blood to keep it from her?”

Julian shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure. Probably. They never allowed me to have it, so I’d guess as long as Trudy had plenty, she wouldn’t have kept close tabs on all of it. Charles was tasked with collections and storage.”

Dixon let out a chuckle. “He was skimming easily ten percent off the top,” he said, and all eyes turned towards him. “After one collection I heard Trudy ask if he met his quota. I’m guessing he always came in short or lied about the amounts. He also claimed poor transportation accounted for a loss of their haul.”

“Sounds like the Charles I knew,” Sulie commented. “He probably hid the blood so he and his children could have it. But where?”

“The only children he was ever close to died in that restaurant,” Julian said. “My guess is that if he did hide the blood, only he knew where he stored it. The blood could be a leverage point for him if he ever needed one in the future.”

“Think back to what you know about Charles,” Raymond said, as he glanced from Julian to Sulie. “Any observation you may have had could give us a clue.”

Dixon thought back to the car ride he had taken with Charles. His car had been messy with a lot of paperwork and even a patient file laying about. The parking garage tickets all came from Baltimore, Maryland. Dixon thought back with a piqued interest in the patient’s file. When he had first seen the file, he assumed it to be a random patient’s file. But what if it were something else? Signed contracts? Legal documents of some kind?

He thought back to the writing on the outside of the file and remembered a name written in heavy dark black ink. “Check on the name W. Minster Fynwent,” Dixon said, looking over at Raymond. “Is he a patient at the hospital Sulie worked in?”

“Why?” Raymond asked.

“Just a hunch,” Dixon replied.

Raymond typed on his computer, but didn’t find any patient by that name.

Looking over at Julian, Dixon asked, “Does he have a child by that name?”

Julian shrugged his shoulders. “He has a lot of children. But that name doesn’t sound familiar.”

“Dad,” Sterling interrupted. “What about a vampire?”

Raymond again typed on the computer and momentarily pulled the image off the smart wall. “No vampire by that name is registered in the American Vampire Council database. I just put in a request for a check on the European one.”

“Why would he have that file? It must have meant something. Same with Baltimore.” Dixon repeated “W. Minster” a few times. “For some reason the name sounds so familiar.”

William looked over to him. “How do you spell the last name ’Fynwent’?”

Dixon spelled the last name but focused on the initial and middle name. Just then, the answer came to him. Mud had been on Charles’ boots and in the car. Dixon knew where the blood was! He slapped his hand on the table, which caused Julian and half the vamps in the room to jump — the two babies, who were sleeping, were now stirring.

Sterling and Sulie immediately went about calming the babies. Dixon smiled when he heard Sterling say, “Uncle Dixon didn’t mean to wake you up. Shhhh…”

Uncle Dixon
. Dixon liked the sound of that. Since everyone waited for him to continue, he added, “Charles hid the blood at the Westminster Hall. It’s located in Maryland.”

“But Westminster was only the first part of the name,” William mentioned. “What about Fynwent?”

“It could be something around the Hall,” Sterling speculated as he calmed baby Conner down.

“Wait. The name of the cord blood company was a Welsh word. What if Fynwent is also a foreign word?” Dixon guessed.

“Charles’ family does have a Welsh background.” Raymond typed on his keyboard. “Bingo.” He let out a chuckle. “The word means cemetery. Is there one near the Hall?”

“There is,” Dixon snapped. “The burial grounds of Westminster Hall. I went there on my 5th grade field trip. The cemetery was established around 1786 and it has famous and important people, like Edgar Allen Poe, buried in it.”

Typing away once again, Raymond brought up a directory of the burial grounds and displayed the information on the wall. He scrolled through the names and plot locations until he found a listing under Charles Townsend. “A crypt. Purchased in 1788.”

Sulie nodded. “He was alive back then.”

“On my field trip, we walked around the grave sites. There are some sizable crypts. I’m guessing they’re large enough for blood storage and possibly a solar powered generator to keep a cooling unit working.”

“Well then,” Raymond said, “Alex, Brandon and Daniel will watch over the president. Sulie, Dixon and I will declare Charles dead, and Julian will claim his family line.” He glanced over at Brandon for confirmation of the schedule. “That leaves Ben and William to check what is in Sulie’s new crypt.”

“Sounds good,” Brandon acknowledged.

Sulie led Sterling into Raymond’s private office at Fang Manor where she found Dixon, Alex and Raymond already seated at the table. In the last few days, the team had uncovered a wealth of cord blood in the crypt and had laid claim to a sizable fortune in money and lands for Sulie, but neither of the three sitting at the table appeared happy.

“Close the door Sulie,” Raymond said in a grim voice. “This is a family matter.”

Sulie took a seat next to Dixon, leaving the remaining chair across the table for her nephew. She watched as Dixon, Alex and Raymond exchanged glances.

“Our family has suffered a lot at the hands of Charles and Trudy,” Raymond began. “The recent kidnapping, assault on our team members, and the murder of Dixon aside, there have been other atrocities.”

“You have more information about Mom’s murder,” Sterling blurted out.

“Yes, and some other affronts as well,” Alex said.

Sulie’s face tightened with apprehension. She had no idea what her brother was going to share with them, but she had only seen this stern look from him a few times — and death was always involved. She reached over and took Dixon’s hand. He gently put his arm around her shoulder as she prepared for the worst.

Raymond gestured towards Dixon. “First the good news. We were questioning Julian for more details from when he was younger, back when Sulie and Charles were engaged. We experienced an interesting turn of events. We discovered Dixon has a talent.”

Sulie’s eyes lit up. “You do?”

Dixon smiled sheepishly. “Nothing super cool.”

“Don’t be so modest,” Alex chided.

“Dixon has an extreme recollection of events. He has always been able to remember minute details,” Raymond said.

“His photographic memory,” Sterling said.

“Yes,” Dixon answered.

“And even though I can’t compel him because of the subroutine, his thoughts are always clear to me. Actually, in vivid detail.”

Sulie noticed Raymond glance towards her and then look away. She wondered what types of graphics Dixon projected onto her brother.

“When we were questioning Julian, he had trouble remembering events. That’s when Dixon touched him.”

“All I did was touch Julian’s hand,” Dixon said. “Just to reassure him. Right away, his memories came back more alive and descriptive.”

Raymond nodded. “I could read Julian and dig into his memories for whatever I wanted.”

“What happened to Julian,” Sterling asked.

Alex shook her head. “He was fine.”

“And we got a lot of information from him. But keep in mind, he was a child when this took place. He heard things, but was too young to process what they meant. If it weren’t for Dixon’s ability, I never would have been able to retrieve this info.”

“And,” Dixon added, “Julian does feel bad about what his family has done. Please remember he wasn’t responsible for any of it.”

“He was always a sweet child,” Sulie said, remembering Julian back when she used to babysit him. “Please, Raymond. Just tell us what you found out.”

“Trudy murdered my wife,” Raymond said, looking at his son. “You were born a few weeks early, Sterling. From what Julian overheard, your mother was poisoned and went into early labor. Trudy wanted to kill her before you were born.”

Sterling closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sulie noticed his jaw tighten, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, the poison was slow to act or what?” Sterling asked. “She still gave birth to me. She still held me.”

Raymond’s expression softened. “No. She never held you. She died while trying to give birth to you.”

Sterling furrowed his brow and held up his hand. “You’ve always told me that she held me in her arms and died hours after my birth.”

“Yes. I told you that, but it isn’t true.” Raymond glanced over at Sulie.

Sterling’s face tightened, and he bit his lip. “What
really
happened?”

“I came home and your mother was in early labor. The midwife was already there. Your mother died while you were still within her.”

Several moments passed and Sterling’s expression grew to one of hurt. “This entire time, you lied to me.”

“I never told you because I assumed your mother’s human body was too weak to give birth to you. I was afraid you might think you were the cause of her death. I didn’t know your mother was poisoned.” He made eye contact with his son. “She lay dying with poison in her body and I never knew.” A tear escaped and rolled down Raymond’s face.

“She never held me,” Sterling said in a soft voice.

Sulie put her hand on Raymond’s back in support. “No, Sterling. She never did.”

Dixon reached over and touched Sterling’s shoulder.

“I’m sure she wanted to Sterling,” Alex said reassuringly.

Raymond held out his hands and looked down at them. “As your mother lay in my arms dying, I confessed to her exactly what I was.” Raymond shook his head. “I only scared her with the truth. This happened before my Jahrling Year, so I had no fangs to prove what I confessed to her, but when I cut my wrist and forced her to drink my blood… she panicked.”

“You tried turning her? You never told me that,” Sulie said. “You can’t turn a pregnant human. You end up killing the baby because its heart isn’t strong enough to withstand the turn. The mother usually dies as well.”

“What other choice did I have?” Raymond countered. “She lay dying. Sterling was about to be born. I thought I might have a chance to save them both. Of course, my blood was too weak for the turn. She did swallow some of it, but I know now that she probably died of poison, not because she had bled out. The turning would never have worked.”

Raymond glanced over at his son. “Your mother died in my arms. I was surprised at how fast her body grew cold.” He closed his eyes. “She was gone, and I knew it. Trudy left before your mother’s last heart beat. I sat alone with your dead mother, but I couldn’t grieve. I only had minutes to save you, Sterling. I plunged my dagger into her belly and saved your life. Trudy didn’t know you survived. She found out later.”

Sulie reached over to the desk to get a tissue and she handed it to Sterling.

“And then, after Sterling was born, there was the problem of your engagement to Charles,” Dixon said to Sulie.

“What about it?” she asked.

“They discovered Sterling survived.” Raymond shook his head. “They told lies to Julian. Lies such as the baby had died, that I forced the engagement to be called off… Lots of lies. The truth was that they needed the engagement canceled because you had grown fond of Sterling and were helping me to raise him. They didn’t want a half–breed in their family. You were nowhere near your Jahrling Year. That was the problem, but also the solution.”

Sulie thought back to how her mother had explained the contract to her upon the engagement. “The marriage contract could only be dissolved in three cases. If either party developed a questionable ability after their Jahrling year, or if the bride was said to be pure and later was deemed otherwise, or if either party were dead.”

She closed her eyes and rested her head onto the palm of her hand. “Purity. Charles took my virginity during my sixteenth birthday party. Afterward, he spread rumors about me being a whore.” She looked up at her brother and then to Dixon. “I swear I only slept with him that one time. But I guess my indiscretion was enough to break the contract.”

Raymond cleared his throat. “No, that wasn’t it.”

“It had to be,” she protested. “I was years away from my Jahrling Year.”

“That was plan B,” Alex said, “which did get you out of the contract.”

“I don’t understand.” Sulie looked from one team member to the next.

Dixon gently rubbed her shoulder. “They tried to cancel due to another reason.”

Sulie’s heart sank. Trudy had already confessed the truth to her. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The fire.”

Sterling looked at his father. “The fire that killed my grandparents?”

“She was years away from transitioning and as weak as any human.” Raymond took a deep breath. “Sulie, you were at my home, helping me take care of Sterling. He had developed a fever.” He looked over to Sulie. “You weren’t home when Trudy set fire to the house in the middle of the night and killed our parents.”

Sulie’s stomach twisted and a heart breaking cry escaped as she crumpled against Dixon. With her kidnapping and the marriage to Charles, she barely had time to consider that she was the cause of her parents’ deaths. It wasn’t that she was meant to die with her parents — she was the target and they were collateral damage.

“Sulie,” Raymond said to get her attention. “You are alive. Our parents would have died to protect you.”

Dixon held her tighter. “If you had been home, you would have been killed, too.”

It was now Sterling who handed over a fresh tissue from the box. He also took one for himself.

Sulie looked from Dixon to Raymond and over to Sterling. Her family had suffered too much already from Charles and Trudy. It was too much.

“Trudy stole your wife from you, Raymond,” Dixon said as he held Sulie. “She stole Sterling’s mother from him; and not only did she kill your parents, she tried to kill my darling Sulie.” Dixon’s gaze grew cold. “What’s our next step?”

“Julian knows Trudy’s routines, her hiding places, and even her trusted friends. The last time she saw him, he was tied up and our prisoner. Even though he claimed his family line and is still alive, there’s no reason for her to believe he’s working with us.” Raymond smiled. “Julian’s very eager to help us.”

“Help us with what?” Dixon asked.

Raymond’s jaw tightened. “Revenge!”

THE END