Authors: Regina Morris
“So I didn’t find anything unusual about her debit card statements. I’m sorry Raymond.”
Raymond nodded. “We’ll have to keep looking.”
Dixon scanned the faces of the vampires around the table. They all seemed unsure of the next step. He felt a heavy weight on his chest. Sulie was out there somewhere, needing their help and they kept running into dead ends. Even after two days of searching, they were no closer to finding her. He knew the first 24 hours were essential to any kidnapping in terms of clues and following a hot trail. He slammed his fist on the table in frustration and then stood. He pulled the vial of medication prescribed to him from Sulie out of his pants pocket and walked to the kitchen. The pills rattled in their tiny vial as he fetched something to drink. His fatigue nearly knocked him off his feet. He figured Sulie would be on his case for not following doctor’s orders and he didn’t want to catch hell from her when she did return safely home.
Since Dixon was easing into retirement, there wasn’t too much that needed his attention at work. In fact, all the team members he would need to talk with were at Fang Manor with him at the moment. Only a few remained at Camp David or at the White House with the president. It was nice to be able to focus entirely on Sulie. He only wished there was more to go on.
The only choice of glassware he found in the kitchen was either the big goblets the team used for blood and wine or plastic cups the kids of the house used. He thought of grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, but he could only imagine how Sulie would scold him for mixing drugs with alcohol. A small smile crept up from the corner of his lips. Yeah, she’d be upset if he mixed the two. He opted to use a plastic cup with a Care Bear on the side.
He took a chance and opened the refrigerator to see if there was any juice since he always preferred to take medication with juice instead of water. He noticed a container of cranberry juice, which was his favorite. He had mentioned this fact to Sulie once last week in passing. She must have bought the juice for him. She always noticed the little details and he appreciated her efforts. After he opened the lid, he smelled the juice to confirm it wasn’t blood in a miss–labeled container. Knowing the liquid was safe to drink, he took his iron pills. He then realized he had not taken his Devolixion drops, so he took the bottle out of his pocket, emptied a dropper full into his juice and finished the glass.
When he had rinsed the glass and placed it in the sink, he noticed Raymond standing in the kitchen with him.
“You need to take a break.”
Dixon eyed the vampire. “I’m fine.”
“Wearing yourself out will not help bring her back.” When Dixon dismissively waved his hands in an attempt to ignore him, Raymond added, “You look like a dead man walking. A full 24 hours have passed since you last slept.”
“I’ll sleep once I find her.”
Raymond’s eyebrow rose. “You mean once
we
find her.”
Again Dixon waved his hands. “Yeah, that’s what I said. When
we
find her.”
Raymond led Dixon down the hallway towards Sulie’s room. He opened the door and nodded with his head for Dixon to enter. “Lay down. We’ll wake you if there is any news.”
Dixon inwardly cursed his mortal old body. If he was a vampire, hell even a younger man, he would have more stamina to search for Sulie. He glanced around the room. “Ok. But only a short nap and I’m going to leave the door open in case the team needs me.”
“You have my word that we’ll wake you.”
Once Raymond left the room, Dixon sat on Sulie’s bed as he removed his shoes. The comforter design contained red, pink and purple circles on a white background. The blanket reminded Dixon of patterns from the 1970s. Girly. The room was definitely a girly room in his opinion. The decor suited Sulie. For being a hardcore, kick butt vampire, a softer, more feminine side existed which she only showed in private. Even the furniture in this room and the decorations adorning the walls seemed delicate. The style didn’t suit his taste, but the room still seemed warm and inviting to him.
The comforter felt warm and soft as he sat down. He looked around the room and noticed a novel on her nightstand, so he picked the book up. The silk bookmark ribbon lay between pages near the end of the book. The story was a suspenseful mystery from a series of books he had recommended to her a while back. This was book five in a series of eight books. Dixon had read the entire series and thought this book to be the best one. Sulie had not finished it yet, so she still didn’t know the twist ending and which suspect had committed the murder. All of a sudden, Dixon was overcome with emotion. He hoped she’d be back soon to finish the book. He set the novel back down on the nightstand, and tried his best to compose himself.
Dixon removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He placed his glasses next to the book and reached for the pillows at the head of the bed. Good Lord. She had a lot of pillows. He removed most of them and set them on a chair in the corner of the room, leaving two on the bed for his use.
As he shifted the remaining two pillows, he noticed a magazine hidden beneath them. “Cosmo”, he read.
“Jeesh, when Sulie girled out she went all the way,”
he thought as he smiled to himself. He opened the magazine and thumbed through the pages. The magazine was exactly what he thought. The pages contained perfume ads and samples, handbags and clothing advertisements, and articles about why you deserve love and how to get it. As he laid the magazine down, an article caught his eye, “How to Get Him to Notice You.” Listed in the article were the top ten ways to be noticed. Number three was circled, so he read that one. “Change your hairstyle.” That tip registered with him. She had just changed her hairstyle significantly, but then again, she changed her style periodically. He stared at the tip again. “She must have circled this tip for a reason,” he thought. Dixon felt odd as he realized she must be trying to capture the eye of a man, probably the vampire she wanted to be paired off with from the Council. Sudden sadness crept over him, but he pushed the feelings aside. She was entitled to find a husband. Hopefully she’d have better luck than he had had over his lifetime.
Dixon had to clear his head if he wanted to get any rest, but he remained restless. He kept thinking of Sulie and their plans for dinner that night. She wanted to try a new recipe — fish tacos. He shuddered at the thought as he remembered her homemade brownies from last week. She forgot to buy walnuts and thought lentils would be a good substitute. Bless her for even trying since she couldn’t taste anything.
On Friday, they had planned to go to a new antique store she heard about downtown, and this weekend they had planned to watch a movie she wanted to see. The movie was a chick flick, just like all the movies Sulie chose. She certainly watched enough action dramas with him, so it seemed only fair.
Dixon tossed and turned as he tried to sleep. Finally deciding to partially cover himself with the comforter, he realized why he felt so close to Sulie in her room. Her pillows, her comforter… everything smelled like her — a subtle scent of lavender. He inhaled deeply to smell the fragrance even more.
He lay in the bed, nestled in a coven of killer vampires, and felt totally at home in this room. He wasn’t sure how he would manage to retire and leave all of them behind. Of course, they would be forced to wipe his memory. He knew and expected that to happen. Maybe once he had cured his anemia, he wouldn’t be so darn tired anymore and could work for a few more years. His aging body had already required him to give up any field work with the team. It proved difficult to keep up with vampires even as a young man.
He closed his eyes and inhaled the lavender scent from the bedding once again. How was he going to be able to say goodbye to everyone on this team? He planned to retire so he could have some sort of life, to get out and do something other than work. He wanted to have time to do things his war buddies didn’t have a chance to do.
Sighing heavily, he realized he wanted the freedom to live, but didn’t want to leave his family behind to do it. A lump grew in his throat as he realized the team meant something to him. Being their director and keeping them safe gave his life purpose, and now with Brandon taking over, he couldn’t imagine enjoying his new freedom. He felt as if he had thrown his life away in exchange for an empty, hollow and lonely existence. His gut twisted in recognition of his discovery.
How would he ever be able to let Sulie go? Now with her being kidnapped, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever see her again. He swallowed hard as that thought popped into his mind, pitched a tent, and remained there for the long haul. Since she was immortal, he never considered a world without her in it.
He turned his back to the door. If anyone walked by, he didn’t want them to see him cry himself to sleep.
Dixon smelled the sweetness of the woman lying next to him as his hands pulled her closer. He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring at the scent of what he guessed to be her body wash and shampoo as fragrances mixed with her moistening arousal.
Her athletic and muscular body felt firm under his commanding touch. One hand caressed her upper thigh as the other hand buried itself under her arching low back.
Glancing up to her, he noticed her blonde hair splaying across the pillow hiding her face, leaving only her lips and chin visible to him. He watched as she bit down on her full and luscious lower lip. For a moment, Dixon thought he saw the slight point of a fang. The idea of bedding a vampire heightened his desire. For being privileged enough to know of their existence nearly half his life, he had never indulged in the pleasure of physically being with one.
In the deepest part of his heart, he wanted to bed a vampire. One vampire in particular.
Her moan broke his train of thought. His eyes traveled south and he gazed at the beautiful round mounds pressed against his own chest. Pebbled against him, he gripped one mound and kneaded her flesh as his mouth sought the second one.
Dixon suckled her breast and then nibbled his way down her flat stomach towards her hips. He listened as the woman panted and urged him on by placing her hands on his shoulders and gently pushing him down.
Her thighs divided, inviting him to enjoy more of her body. The building pressure of his manhood pushed his resolve. His hands held firmly to her bottom, and he laid himself directly on her so he could claim her as his.
A louder moan came from the woman and then he heard her nearly growl out his name. He paused to listen and heard her say his name clearly the second time.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Dixon, yes.”
His eyes widened as he quickly lifted himself off the woman. Her hair now parted to the side, allowing him to see her face clearly for the first time.
His beautiful Sulie.
*******
Sweat poured down Dixon’s forehead as he sat up. The room had darkened, but the light from the open door told him he still lay in Sulie’s bed at Fang Manor.
It had been a dream.
The dream had felt so real, and his manhood pushed against his pants reminding him of what he had nearly done. But dream or not, Sulie remained off limits — never to be his. He was her boss, at least sort–of for right now, and it was a line he refused to cross.
Plus, and this was the biggest obstacle, he was a mere human. Sulie deserved a vampire husband. And since the Vampire Council had declined his request to be turned by the Colony, his only hope of every being worthy of her had died.
Dixon realized his hands were gripping around one of Sulie’s pillows. He took a deep breath to calm himself, which reminded him of how much the pillow, the bed… heck, this very room all smelled like Sulie. It was no wonder he had dreamed such a dream.
And now, as he had done all those years before when he had first met her, he focused on conditioning his mind to not think of her in such terms. He needed boring statistics to occupy his mind. A recent periodical sprang to mind, but Quoting field statistics on rifles didn’t help. He then searched his mind for the most disgusting, unromantic things he could imagine. The first thing to come to him was the weird goo currently clogging his shower drain. That, and the one time he had helped his aged mother use the restroom when she became too weak on her deathbed. Yes, those thoughts were enough to stifle even his raging hard on.
He took several deep breaths. Nearly thirty years had passed since he had allowed himself to think of Sulie in such a way. Any romantic feelings for her could only bring about trouble — trouble he had already seen first hand all those years ago.
He laid his arm over his eyes in shame. He had no right to think of her like that. Everything they had was based in a solid friendship and mutual respect, and that’s where it needed to stay.
Sulie realized she would kill for some blood — literally. What she wouldn’t give to see the government truck wheel up to Fang Manor and drop off this week’s supply for the team. She kept her current aliases very young, so she drank several times per day. She now understood how spoiled she had allowed herself to become over all of these years. Of course, there had been a time, before bagged blood, when she had appeared older. But much time had passed since those days and she felt woefully out of practice with managing her age.
Her stomach kept her mind focused on just one thing and one thing only. Her mouth watered for the warm, sweet taste of the crimson delight. She felt her face and discovered no deep wrinkles yet, but if a mirror had been nearby, even with a hazy reflection, she would hesitate to view her image.
She scanned around the bare little room for the hundredth time. The small window had silver bars across it, the door had silver bars, and she could imagine the room had been bugged even though she had yet to discover any devices.
Everything she could think of to use for a weapon had already been exhausted, and she really didn’t see anything else in this tiny cell to help her escape.
With her keen hearing, she heard footsteps down the hallway leading to her room. She sat up on the bed waiting. Her hand quickly touched the glass shard in her hair, as well as the stake up her shirt sleeve. She even saw the neat little piles of Millard dust around the room. She took a deep breath. She was ready.
No fake Italian high heels clanked on the floor, so she figured a visitor other than Trudy approached. The visitor was a vampire, though; she was certain of that. Hopefully, the new visitor would be as stupid as Millard and maybe unlock the door so she could kill the idiot and escape. One could always hope.
The male vampire stopped between the pair of locked doors, maintaining a safe distance from Sulie. He stood reasonably tall for a vampire, definitely over six feet in height. His straight dark hair neatly combed to the side. His piercing green eyes stared directly at her. “Hello, Sulie. So nice of you to drop by,” he said coldly as he sneered at her.
She would have recognized his voice alone, but to see his face again — it was too much. She couldn’t believe he stood in the same room with her again.
He was so stupid.
Her eyes flashed to black, her fangs extended, and she was after blood. Flying off the mattress, she ran to the door with her hands balled into fists. Not caring if she burned her skin, she punched through the thin bars and did her best to make contact with him. “You son of a bitch!”
He took a step back. “I was always able to whip you into an emotional frenzy. Good to see that I still have that effect on you, baby doll.”
She growled her reply. Her fingers desperately reached out to grab him, but missed. The skin on her arms singed as it touched the silver in the bars, but she didn’t care. “Don’t call me ’baby doll’, Charles.”
His eyes sized up her smaller frame. “You used to like the pet name, Sulie. I remember so much of what you liked me to say, and do, to you.” When she snarled at him, he added, “But I guess I do owe you an apology. After all, baby doll, it wasn’t very considerate of me to call off our engagement the week of our wedding.”
Terror coursed through Sulie’s body as she felt the heat of his stare. She reminded herself that she wasn’t some young teenager unaware of how cruel people and the world could be. She stood before him a grown woman. A woman with a debt to settle and a murder to commit.
“You look good, Sulie. It’s been a long while.”
Not long enough, as far as she was concerned. She didn’t like the way Charles’ eyes traveled up and down her body. It made her feel uneasy. The words Trudy had said about joining the family line now made sense. Trudy was his sister, Gertrude.
Sulie now recognized Trudy — and Millard, their goofy younger cousin. He was younger than she was and she had killed him. Images of Charles’ family played in her head like a slide projector on the fastest setting. She hadn’t thought about these people in so long, but obviously they hadn’t forgotten about her.
She pulled her arms from the cell bars and inspected her injuries. “I assume you can tell me why I’m here and where here is. So how about it, Charles? Care to share?”
He shook his head. “Oh, Sulie. I had forgotten how feisty you are. You had shown some interest in the medical field even when I knew you, but honestly, a doctor? I had no idea. Tell me, do you enjoy examining and healing mortals? You always did have a bleeding heart for them. After all, your blind love for your half–breed nephew is what tore us apart.”
“Where am I?” She didn’t want to engage in small talk. She certainly didn’t want to walk down memory lane with the man.
“All in good time, baby doll.” He paused. “You look older.” He continued to scan her and noticed the injuries to her head. “I’m sorry for the bump on the head, but then, Trudy said you put up one hell of a fight when they grabbed you.” He licked his lips. “I would have come by earlier, but I wasn’t sure of the reception I’d receive from you. I thought a couple days of starving might calm you a bit.”
She bared her fangs. “Well, now you know.”
He leaned into the bars, careful not to touch them, and inhaled deeply.”You smell differently now that you’ve experienced your Jahrling Year. You no longer smell of human food.”
“Why did you bring me here, Charles?” she demanded. She already knew what Trudy told her, but now she wanted to hear the plan from him.
He eyed her like fresh meat on a hook, and Sulie’s skin crawled. If she could just get him to unlock the door, she may stand a chance of escaping. Using her feminine wiles on him occurred to her, but just the thought made her sick to her stomach.
As Sulie stared at him, she could sense his increasing desire for her. She watched as he slowly placed his thumb against the locking mechanism and unlocked the door between the two of them. He stepped towards her as he slowly opened the door. “We should have been married.” He licked his lips. “I’ve fantasized about you over the years. It was as if you had just vanished into thin air. No blood requests, no protection from the Council….”
He took a few steps closer to her. “I must admit, finding your name listed on the marriage roster surprised me. You’re a difficult woman to find. Rumors claimed you died in that terrible fire with your parents. I actually believed the tale until I stumbled upon some Council paperwork a few months back. I started searching for you then, but thanks to the Verheiratet Schlange, you practically told me where to come pick you up.”
Sulie had to remember to breathe. The only recent Council paperwork he could be referring to was her request for Dixon’s turning. Since she had made the request, her name was on the paperwork. The request had been rejected. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Perhaps if another Colony member had made the request, Dixon’s turning would have been granted. Maybe.
She looked at her ex–fiance. The door was barely open. He could easily close it if she advanced on him too soon. She readied the stake in the shirt sleeve so she could stab him in the heart. Fucking poetic justice.
“If you wanted to marry me then you should have. But no,” she said, trying to appear helpless, “you broke off our engagement and spread rumors of me being a whore.”
“You were a whore, baby doll. I remember your body all too well, but I do want a refresher course before our wedding.”
“I’ll never agree to marry you.” She took a step back and noticed Charles’ eyes turning a lusty black. The stare he gave her turned her cold. She took a calming breath. For him to try to rape her, he would have to enter the cell, not just linger in the threshold of the door.
“You’ll agree to be my bride if you’re close enough to death. When you agree to marry me, I’ll make sure you get plenty to eat. Then, while you’re young and fertile, we’ll have a child together — one that will be placed in my family line. That is, once I confirm the child has a special ability — a
good
special ability.”
The door swung open wider now as he stepped complete into the cell. In one swift move, Sulie loosened her hold on the stake, palmed the hilt in her hand, and lunged forward. He anticipated the strike, and her forearm was struck by his blow. She found one of his arms around her waist, the other squeezing her wrist until a popping sound and pain told her that he had broken her hand. The stake fell to the ground seconds before he positioned himself on top of her and used that leverage to bring her down as well.
Her head hit the hard ground, causing the hidden glass shard in her hair to cut into her scalp. She felt dizzy from the blow as blood oozed from the wound. His elbow had dug into her ribs during the fall and she now had two cracked ribs, but at least neither one had punctured her lungs. The stake lay mere inches away. She eyed the weapon greedily, but couldn’t maneuver to it with him pinning her down. Even the silver chain in her pocket was useless to her.
Lifting both her hands above her head, Charles held them with one hand. His other hand began ripping at her jeans as his knee plunged between hers and tried to force her legs apart. His strength surprised her, but she was determined to get him off of her, even in her weakened condition.
Sulie managed to lift her right knee and gave him a nut punch to knock him into next week. A groan escaped his throat and he loosened his grip on her hands. Quickly, she scratched his face, leaving four parallel lines of blood in the wake.
Sulie squirmed to get free. While still pinning her, Charles reached for the stake at the same time Sulie wiggled in the opposite direction to a hidden weapon she had cached earlier. Charles lifted the stake in the air and grunted, “You bitch!” just as Sulie threw a handful of dust from the dead Millard into his eyes. Blinded temporarily, Charles aimed the stake down directly at her heart. Sulie felt the pain of the blow, but it wasn’t fatal. The sharp point hit the locket Dixon had given her. It saved her life. The wind was knocked out of her and a nasty bruise would probably form over what she figured was a broken sternum, but at least she wasn’t dust.
Sulie pushed him off her body as he regained his sight and grabbed at her necklace, which now had a broken clasp. He pulled away. Blood streamed down his face. He rushed to the door, the locket and stake both in hand. He slammed the door behind him and took refuge in the vestibule between the locked doors, safe from Sulie.
Charles wiped away the blood from his cheek. “You have always been a bitch,” he spat at her. He took deep breaths to regain his composure and glanced down at the broken locket. After studying the jewelry, he said, “Must be someone special. The baby pictures are in black and white.”
“My son,” Sulie lied.
He grinned. “Doubtful. The Verheiratet’s Schlange indicated you have never had any children, that your family line has plenty of room.”
Sulie grimaced. Of course. Full disclosure.
As a purebred vampire, she could place one child directly into her family line. It was like a family tree that only had one branch. A first child was always placed onto the father’s line, the second onto the mother’s. She and Raymond were listed in separate family lines, with him as her guardian since he was her closest male relative. Since both parents were dead, each could place one more child into their lines to replace their respective parents. She was from an old family line, with money and abilities, plus plenty of room for growth. This was why the Council had wanted her on the Verheiratet’s Schlange in the first place.
“Perhaps a mortal holds your heart,” he guessed, looking down at the locket. “The one you wanted turned.”
Sulie didn’t say a word, but it felt as if her heart had skipped a beat and she wanted to scream.
He spun the broken locket around and the chain twirled around his finger. “I don’t care if you love someone else, Sulie. This arrangement isn’t about love.” He glanced down at Dixon’s picture. “The picture is old, so he’s probably a white haired, walking with a cane, crippled human by now.”
“He’s no one,” Sulie huffed. “It’s only an old piece of jewelry that I liked. I didn’t even know the locket opened.”
Charles held up the front of the locket. “Old jewelry? One that happens to have the initials SML for Suzanne Leigh Metcalf? I don’t think so, baby doll. This man loves you.”
Sulie shook her head. “I swear to you he doesn’t.”
“We’ll find out.” He put the jewelry into his pocket. “I’ll find him. He’s probably some old fart who works at the damn hospital. You’ll play nice, marry me, and produce a child, or I’ll kill him.”