Authors: Regina Morris
Dixon tapped his foot repeatedly as he sat in the hospital conference room waiting for the video feed. He wondered what Sulie was going through that she couldn’t share her pain with him.
“I got the video feed from the parking garage.” Ben pulled up the video from the hospital database and displayed the footage on the large screen in the conference room. “Her car is parked on floor four.” He typed some more, “… and the videos are split into eight–hour segments. This one is from 12:00 pm–8:00 pm last night.”
Dixon watched as Ben sped up the time index to where Sulie’s Porsche pulled into her parking spot. The video showed her parking the car and pausing inside the vehicle. Dixon realized she had spent a moment in the car to text Raymond about the arranged marriage. She then had exited the car and answered her phone — which must have been the mysterious phone call from the burner phone.
Watching Sulie run towards the stairs, Ben switched the video feeds to each of the floors, one by one, and watched at the correct time index to see her. Once he had pulled up the ground floor, they found her once again as she ran towards a van.
The team sat glued to the video as the man standing outside the van looked panicked. Sulie rushed past him and entered the van where a pregnant woman sat. Dixon’s eyes widened. The sounds of gasps from around the table became eerily audible as the team saw the man close the van door, trapping Sulie inside. The camera caught the van shake violently and Dixon could make out Sulie’s face as she had been slammed into the side window, with blood pouring down her forehead.
Next, the video showed the van stop shaking and settle down. Dixon heard his own voice shout the word “No,” but it sounded surreal to him. He felt the pit of his stomach launch upward and settle in his throat. Looking to the vampires, he noticed their widened eyes and surprised looks of disbelief as they all took in the sight.
“She’s not dead,” Dixon said. He bit his lip and made eye contact with Raymond. “She can’t be dead.”
The seconds ticked on for minutes and then the van’s sliding door opened. Dixon held his breath and prayed Sulie would exit the van. The man who had pretended to be the expectant father emerged first, followed by a woman who obviously was not pregnant. The man’s scratched face bled streams of purple blood down his cheek. The woman’s torn, baggy dress and disheveled wig made her appear like a bag lady with a rat’s nest of hair. She pulled off the wig and threw it into the van as the man took some deep breaths and said something to her.
Dixon jumped from his seat. “Hand. That’s a hand,” he exclaimed as he ran to the big screen. Ben rewound the footage and zoomed in. Over the next few seconds, the team perched in their seats as they confirmed that what Dixon saw was indeed Sulie’s hand. In the shadows of the van, they could just barely make out Sulie’s face on the floor.
Alive. Not dust. Not dead. Alive.
Dixon took a deep breath. He had not realized he had been holding it. He returned to his seat as the video footage continued, showing only a few scattered individuals walking through the garage paying no attention to the upheaval.
The feed showed two men joining the original two from the van. One of the new arrivals then tied Sulie up and placed her in the back of the van. The team watched as Sulie’s unconscious body was thrown into the back like a tied up and gagged rag doll. Next, they put a medical freezer unit the second new arrival had been carrying in the back with her. All four then climbed into the van and drove out of the parking garage.
Ben hit pause on the video.
“Who the hell would do that to her?” Dixon asked of no one in particular.
“Bring up the video again and zoom in on the faces,” Raymond said. As they reviewed the video, Raymond took a still shot of each face, as clear as the video could make them out. He next put the pictures through a face recognition algorithm against criminal, FBI, CIA, and the Vampire Council databases. Raymond glanced up from his computer screen and Dixon locked eyes with him. “This may take a while,” he said.
Dixon sat perched on the edge of his seat. “She may not have very long. They could kill her.”
Ben shook his head. “She’s still alive. If they wanted her dead, they would have killed her in that van. They took her somewhere for a reason.”
“What about blood?” Dixon asked. “She could go for weeks without…”
“Days,” Raymond said glumly.
Dixon’s head turned towards his best friend. “But, Mason and Daniel keep their age as old as I am. They only feed every six weeks or so.”
“Sulie has remained at her base age for a long time. Her body was always sated with blood. Her spleen is accustomed to processing blood as quickly as she drinks it — taking the blood from her digestive system to her circulatory system immediately without storing any of it.”
“What does that mean?” Dixon asked.
“She’s going to grow old fast,” Sterling answered.
“Very fast,” Ben added.
Dixon looked from vampire to vampire. Their grim expressions verified his darkest fears. “We need to know who these people are right now. Did a ransom note come?”
“Not that I know of,” Sterling said.
Ben shook his head when Dixon stared at him.
“The clue is in who these people are and what they are doing,” Ben said, as he rewound the video feed once more. “There is something of importance in the big medical case one of the men is holding. Maybe an organ?”
Dixon stared at the vampires on the screen. One held a medical briefcase.
“Could be any type of tissue transportation unit.” Sterling slapped his hand on the conference room table in frustration. “Could be an organ, or a harmful bacteria to be unleashed on the human population, it could be blood, or anything!”
“We can check medical records and see what biohazards were being shipped out and if there is a missing container,” Ben offered as a desperate straw.
Raymond’s eyes grew wide as he watched the video in slow motion. “Oh, my God!” He placed his hand over his mouth. “Rewind,” he said as he leaned in closer to the smart board. “That woman. I know who she is.” He sucked in a deep breath and stared directly at Sterling. “She was the midwife during your birth.”
“What?” Sterling asked, taking a good look at the woman.
Ben’s eyes darted over to Raymond. “That was a long time ago. Are you sure?”
“The memory of the birth of my son and the death of my wife are burned into my memory. I’ll never forget her. Her hair is shorter, different style of clothes and makeup… but that
is
her.”
“She’s a vampire.” Dixon said.
“I had no idea. It occurred before my Jahrling Year. I couldn’t detect anyone as being a vampire.” Raymond studied the frozen face on the screen. “But she must be a vampire.”
“Who is she?” asked Sterling.
Blinking a few times, Raymond answered, “I thought only a midwife.”
“Do you have a name?” Ben asked, but Raymond only shook his head.
Ben unpaused the video feed and the team members watched again as Sulie was placed in the back of a van. Her hands were tied, and she was forced to wear a hood over her head.
Ben stopped the video as the van moved out of camera range. “I’ll tap into the city street cams. We can trace where they went.” The process took a few minutes, but Ben eventually cracked into the security feeds. They watched as the van left the hospital and traveled down to the highway.
They sped up the film, enabling them to view a two hour journey in a quick fifteen minutes. Dixon suspected the kidnappers feared Sulie would recognized smells and sounds from a town she had lived in for decades. They had backtracked and drove needlessly in circles, obviously to confuse her.
The van eventually turned down some streets that had no cameras. “That’s as far as we can go, Raymond,” Ben apologized. “There is no more video footage to tap into.”
“We know they traveled south and that’s a good lead.” He nodded nervously. “It’s a long shot, but the men’s faces are clearly shown. We may be able to get more information when the facial recognition software completes.” Raymond looked down at his computer and let out a frustrated sigh, suggesting the process may be a while.
Dixon typed into his computer following a lead, but then frowned. “I just ran a check against the license plate and make of the van. It was reported stolen over a month ago. I’m afraid it’s a dead end.”
“What was Sulie’s schedule for the day?” Sterling asked.
Dixon scanned through Sulie’s online personal calendar. He’d inspected it over and over at least a dozen times already and found no clue about why anyone would have taken her. He shook his head, “Only routine stuff.”
“They want her for something — something other than money because there’s no ransom note,” Sterling said.
Raymond shook his head as he glanced over to his son. “Sterling, Sulie wasn’t there during your birth. She never met the midwife, so she may not be the target. She may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They may not even know who she is, other than her being a doctor.”
“All roads are leading towards this being deliberate and planned. I simply took the shortest route, Dad.”
Dixon closed down the day planner and glanced at the group. “If the midwife wanted to find Sulie, I’m sure she could.” Dixon stood so he could pace across the floor. He needed to do something other than just sit — even if it meant wearing a hole in the carpet. “They asked over the phone if she was a vampire and she had said yes. Whether Sulie knew them, they knew her. So who the hell is this woman? What do they want with Sulie?” His hand raked through his white hair as he stared at Raymond for an answer.
Dixon noticed Raymond rub his temple. Dixon figured Raymond’s ability to read minds and thought patterns must be heightened at the moment with so many emotions in this room. He watched as Raymond left the conference room with a grim look on his face.
Dixon went with the team to Fang Manor to search for more clues. Sulie was a private person, never allowing anyone to enter her bedroom. But today, that was going to change. The mansion where they lived had three stories and Sulie’s bedroom was on the same level as the kitchen in the far northwest corner of the house on the first floor. Three of the walls of her room were painted pink, with the fourth one painted a darker raspberry. Mint green curtains hung in the dual windows with lace sheers. The decor reeked of dainty and feminine touches.
The room sparkled with cleanliness and order with neither a single book, nor an article of clothing, lying in the wrong place. The team stared at one another as they stood in the room.
“This is a lot of pink,” Sterling said. “Like a Barbie doll house.”
Ben shook his head. “This isn’t what I would have expected.”
From the hallway, Kate’s voice drifted into the room. “Is there any news on Sulie?” she asked as she rubbed her large pregnant belly and entered the room.
“Nothing yet,” Sterling said, taking a step towards his wife. She stood a tall 5’ 7” and carried the twin babies low in her womb. Her dark brunette hair was pulled into a bun and Dixon thought she looked very maternal.
“You should lay down and take it easy.” Sterling said. “You’re only five or six weeks away from delivering.”
She patted his shoulder and gave him a wry smile. “I was heading upstairs to lay down. I wish I could do more to help.”
“We’ll find her,” Sterling assured her, giving her belly a gentle rub.
She turned and looked over to Dixon. “I didn’t realize you were here. I just finished some lunch and would have offered you something.”
Dixon had barely heard his name but glanced over to Kate. All pregnant and nursing vampires ate human food and he appreciated the offer. But he couldn’t eat anything right now. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Just don’t mess up her stuff. You know how she gets when she’s angry,” Raymond said as Kate turned and left the room.
“If there is anything too personal for you guys, I can look at it,” Alex said. “She may feel better with another woman…”
“No,” Raymond interrupted. “Nothing is too personal. We’re getting her back and every inch of this room is going to be turned inside out. Just put everything back, so when she returns everything will be as she likes it.” His voice trailed off and Dixon heard him choke out his words. Alex crossed the room and put her arms around her husband.
“She’ll be back,” Alex said encouragingly.
A moment later, Raymond broke the embrace and walked toward the closet. “I’ll search through the clothes she wore the last few days. Maybe she put something in a pants pocket or something that may give us a clue.” The hamper sat just inside the closet. He dug through it, taking each article of clothing out carefully.
This was Dixon’s first time in Sulie’s room and he noticed items such as the lace doily on the furniture and other knick knacks Sulie had bought with him while they went antiquing over the years. He studied the room and noticed the lacy throw pillow which lay on the bed. He had given her the cushion as a birthday gift so long ago that he didn’t even remember when he had given it to her. The teddy bear he gave her last fall when they went to a nearby carnival was lying on the pillow. He surveyed the room and noticed many trinkets he’d given her over the years. Some seemed worthy of keeping in his mind; others, like the program to the ballet performance they attended five years ago, were not. The program hung framed on the wall. The booklet was an odd shape which wouldn’t fit in a conventional frame. Dixon had originally offered to make a frame for the program, but, of course, Sulie refused the help and did the job herself. She was always independent that way.
Under the framed program sat a small bookshelf. Dixon noticed Ben carefully pulling out each book and thumbing through the pages of each one. Poetry. Sulie was a sucker for poetry and many of the books held some of her favorite poems — many of them love poems.
Dixon looked away and watched as Raymond searched through Sulie’s clothing from her hamper. Dixon had seen her in those clothes over the last week during their shopping errands, during their lunches and dinners where he was the only one eating, and during last week’s poker game when she made him nachos. She had run out of sour cream for the nachos and thought mayonnaise was a good substitute. All food tasted like sawdust to Sulie and she didn’t know any better when it came to cooking what foods went together and which ones did not. Dixon ate the nachos anyway because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He just scraped the mayo off.
As Raymond held up a pair of jeans and inspected the pockets. Dixon saw the salsa stain on them, the one he caused as he and Sulie laughed together in the kitchen the night of the nacho fiasco. He forced himself to turn away. He needed to focus on another area of the room and concentrate on finding her.
He gazed over Sulie’s writing desk and found nothing out of place. Not even dust had settled on the furniture. He picked up a framed picture of the Colony team. The picture was one of the few pictures the Colony members had taken together. Thanks to digital photography their images were no longer blurry on camera. All of them had consumed enough blood to bring them to their Jahrling Year age, even Mason, who worked as a double for the president. It was a good picture of them all, with Dixon being the lone old fogie in the mix. Putting the picture back down, he realized that since several of the Colony members were married and had or were having children, that another picture needed to be taken. Dixon winced at the thought. A new picture would be nice, but perhaps he shouldn’t be in it. By the time Sterling’s twins were born, he’d be retired — his mind wiped.
As Dixon set the picture down, his eyes focused on the image of Sulie. She stood in the center surrounded by all the men in their group. He knew the Colony members were like family to her. She stood among all these men and was incredibly lonely. He had never realized that before.
Dixon searched the first drawer of the writing desk, but found nothing. He closed it in frustration. There wasn’t anything but stationery and correspondence with friends. As much as Sulie embraced the computer age, she still wrote handwritten notes to friends. He found her quirks quaint and charming, but the papers only pained Dixon to think of her sitting at this desk, where he was sitting now, and writing her letters.
The middle drawer had pictures of babies, and Dixon realized they were of the babies she had helped to deliver. Two photo albums lay on top of a small calendar. He fished out the calendar and realized it was her birthing schedule with the contacts of the vampire families listed in the back. The last vampire birth had been several weeks ago, and to a couple she had known for years. The note in the margin read that this was the couple’s third child she had helped them deliver. Dixon flipped the page of the calendar and realized that no other vampire births were scheduled until the week when she would help Kate deliver her twins. That date was weeks away.
In the bottom drawer of the desk lay the winter knit set he had given her last Christmas. She didn’t own any warm gloves, hat or scarf, so he picked out a beautiful green set he knew would compliment her delicate features. He wanted her to keep warm in the cold Washington D.C. winters. She accepted the gift on the basis that they would help her appear more human during the colder, winter months. As far as needing to stay warm, that was not an issue. Vampires had no body heat and therefore didn’t get cold like humans did. Even though Dixon knew Sulie did not feel the cold, he still preferred her to at least look warm in the colder months. Dixon picked up the hat and felt its velvety yarn as his fingers touched along the delicate weave. His hand tightened its grasp on the hat as he felt his eyes moisten with tears. Sniffling a bit, as if a nonexistence dust particle had caught his sinuses, he stifled his tears and tossed the hat back into the drawer.
The other drawers of the desk provided no more help for Dixon. He sat in the chair and hoped the other team members had better luck with their findings.
“I found her diary in the bookcase,” Ben announced as he tossed the journal onto the bed.
Dixon looked down at the find. “Did you find anything in it?”
Ben raised his hands as though surrendering. “No way. I’m not reading it. I love Sulie, but she scares me.”
Dixon glared over at Raymond, Sterling and then Alex. “The diary may have a clue,” he said as he got up and walked to the bed. The diary lay there like a land mine and no one was eager to throw themselves on top of. He picked the diary up and mumbled, “cowards” under his breath.
The book was leather bound with a ribbon attached to the spine as a bookmark. He carefully opened the diary, but still some paperwork fell out — mostly ticket stubs, receipts, and other little mementos. Dixon recognized most, if not all of them. He gently collected the trinkets and stacked them neatly in a pile before opening the diary to the last entry.
The page made no sense. Why would she write everything in French? He flipped back a few days and noticed his name mentioned over and over. Of course, he didn’t read French, but knew Sterling did. “Here,” he said, handing the book to him.
“Right. Like I want to die young,” Sterling protested as he handed the book back to Dixon.
“You’re nearly 200,” Dixon said, forcing the book back to Sterling. “You won’t die young. Just read it. The words are in French.” He watched as Sterling looked over to his father, but once Raymond nodded, Sterling opened the book and scanned several of the last pages.
“What is it?” Dixon asked after noticing Sterling roll his eyes.
Sterling closed the book with a resounding thud. “It’s rather personal. Things I don’t need to know about my aunt.” He tossed the diary back on the bed, “There is nothing suspicious though.” He pointed down at the stack of ticket stubs. “You better put that stuff back in.”
Dixon took relief in the fact that all the vampires were under the impression Sulie would be back. At least, the hope helped him. He watched as the vampires were now more engaged in looking around the room, perhaps less intimidated knowing the diary reading would be the worst of the offenses and Sulie would focus more on killing Sterling than anyone else.
The antique 1930s style nightstand held one tiny drawer, so Alex opened it. Dixon heard a rumbling of the contents as what was inside rolled into view with the drawer now open. Alex closed the tiny drawer quickly, which was more of a slam than anything else. “Flashlight,” she said to the group as she walked away from the tiny table and crouched low to search under the bed.
Ben tentatively opened the top drawer of the dresser. With only a tiny peek at the contents, he closed it. “Underwear. Uh, dainty things.” He looked over at Alex and nonverbally asked with a head nod if they could switch locations. Alex walked towards the dresser as Ben now searched under the bed.
“Check the other drawers,” Dixon said.
Alex opened the rest of the dresser drawers to inspect their contents. “What am I hoping to find?”
“Anything out of the ordinary,” Sterling answered.
“Oh, this is nice.”
Dixon took a step closer. “What?”
“I like her silk camisoles. I wonder where she bought these.”
Dixon gave a frustrated sigh and his shoulders slumped. “I can’t believe there is nothing here to help us find her.” He raked his hand through his hair and gazed over at Raymond.
“Wait.” Raymond held up a teal flier from Sulie’s medical jacket he had found hanging on a hook in the closet. He read the paperwork silently to himself and then announced, “A cord blood collection company named Blasus Inc. It’s from the hospital. It could be something.”
“Cord blood?” Ben asked. “Why does that sound familiar?”
Alex folded the camisoles and set them back in the drawer. “The president mentioned cord blood in his last press speech.” She paused and looked up at her husband. “Odd. Could there be a connection?”
Raymond shook his head and stared down at the pamphlet, obviously wondering if a connection existed or not.
“She doesn’t keep anything in her pockets,” Dixon said, changing the topic.
Raymond held up the pamphlet and gave him a questioning glance.
“Sulie doesn’t like the way clothes look when the pockets are weighted down. She always says pockets are for show not use.”
“She does?” Sterling asked.
“Probably why she has such beautiful handbags,” Alex commented. When the men quickly glanced her way, she said, “Seriously, they’re expensive and nice.”
“That’s one of her jackets from Washington Memorial,” Dixon said, pointing the jacket Raymond removed from a hook behind the closet door.
Raymond turned the jacket to study it more carefully.
“You can tell it’s from that hospital and not Mercy General Hospital because the lapel stitching is embroidered in blue. The other hospital has longer smocks and the lapels are thinner,” Dixon explained.
Raymond stepped into the closet and found several clean smocks from both hospitals, with the one in his hand and a Mercy General Hospital smock placed on the hook behind the door.
“She probably wears these smocks a few times, and these were the last ones she wore.” He took a good look at the pamphlet. “Why would she have this then?”
Dixon walked over and took the pamphlet from Raymond. “The color is also teal.”