Eternal Service (10 page)

The intimate questions surprised him, but her curiosity in vampires as a people pleased him. He felt that she surely had no idea how attracted he was to her, or she wouldn’t be asking these questions. “Vampire males can father children with human females but not the other way around,” he answered, barely making eye contact with her. Before she could ask him why, he continued, “Human sperm, well, any human genes, can’t penetrate a female vampire’s egg.” The discussion centered itself on topics that were intimate in nature. He said the word ‘sperm’ to a woman he had recently met and instantly felt his age. The times had changed, and the world was more open with such topics. Or maybe it was just Alex being so open with him? He wasn’t sure, but Raymond could not remember a single male director of the colony ever asking such questions. He concentrated more on the foul smell of her sandwich so he could clear his head.

“So a vampire man can father a child with a human woman?”

Raymond knew from experience the answer. After all, he had fathered Sterling with his beloved Wilma. “Yes,” he answered looking back at her.

Her face focused in concentration. “The half–breeds have the same vampire qualities? Or are they human?” she asked.

Raymond’s stare intensified as he looked at her. “My son is a half–breed,” he said coldly. “I don’t like the term. Please rephrase the question.” His attraction to her took a step back, but then he had to remind himself that to her the term was not meant to be derogatory in any way. She simply asked a question and was genuinely interested in the answer.

“I’m sorry. … Ah, I’m sorry for the offense, not sorry that your son is a ‘half … um. … OK. Let me start again.”

Raymond had scowled at her half–breed remark, but as she tried to clarify her last sentence she looked horrified for the blunder. Many vampires used the term half–breed, but Raymond hated the term. The embarrassment made her look sweet, so he smiled back at her.

“Do the children produced with one parent being a vampire and the other a human take on human characteristics or vampire ones?”

“They’re vampires. They have both human and vampire genes. Depending on who they choose to have children with, they could have children that are purebred vampires, more half–breeds, or even human children.” He felt bad for snapping at her. “I apologize for my anger about the term half–breed. It was unwarranted. Please accept my apology.”

She nodded and then finished her sandwich without touching the chips in her bag. “So your wife is a human.”

It felt like a knife. “My wife is dead. And yes, she was human.”

“I’m sorry. How did she die?”

“No. Ask another question.” He didn’t want to talk about his loss.

“Okay. Are your parents mixed?”

“No. My parents were both vampires. I’m a purebred.”

Touching her neck, she asked her next question. “Can humans be turned into vampires? And if so, how is it done?”

Bingo! This question usually made it in the top five people would ask. “Yes they can. The vampire has to be fully mature, about 25 years old. That’s when the blood is potent enough to turn a human. The human has to be fed a little of the vampire’s blood which will stave off death temporarily. The human needs to bleed out, the vampire usually drains them. Then the human must drink more vampire blood to start the change. The change takes about 24–48 hours, they’ll need human blood immediately afterward, but after that it's pretty much done. They are known as full vampires.”

“And do full vampires have all the vampire characteristics that purebred vampires have?”

“Yes.”

“Full, pure, and half … oh, my.” She paused before her next question, “I know I’m one–fourth American Indian. Are there individuals who are one–fourth, or less, vampires?”

He shook his head. “No,” He took a deep breath “A half–breed genetically has his father’s vampire DNA. They are sometimes considered … ,” he cleared his throat, “… considered a DNA copy. Their ability to reproduce with vampire women is limited, not only because of genetic limits, but also because our women shun them for being weaker and not good breeders.”

Her eyes pierced him with curiosity. “So your son …”

He cut her off. “I’d rather not talk specifically about my son.”

She nodded, and then her hand instinctively reached for the cross she wore around her neck. Alex looked around at the other people in the park, and then leaned in towards Raymond and whispered. “Have you ever turned a human?”

Raymond decided he had been grilled enough for right now, both by her and the sunlight. He leaned in towards her, and deliberately stared at her cross necklace. Her heart raced, and he knew he shouldn’t tease her, but it was payback for the sunny day picnic. Once he was mere inches from her face, he gazed her deep in the eyes. “Have I turned a human?” He moved in even closer and whispered, “That’s classified.”

Remaining close to her, he pulled an antique pocket watch out of the side pocket of his jeans to examine the time.

She leaned back away from him, her face a bit white with fear. “What a lovely timepiece.” Alex’s shaky hand reached across to touch the watch, “May I?”

The chain was still attached, but they were sitting close enough that the time piece easily reached.

She held the watch. “It's beautiful … and old.”

“The watch belonged to my father,” he said, counting the freckles on her face.

Alex looked at the back at the engraving; the initials did not match Raymond’s name. “He doesn’t miss it?”

Raymond took a deep breath and he removed the watch from her hand, never allowing his gaze to drop from her face. “He’s dead.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes meeting his.

He could still hear her heart pounding, but didn’t believe it was all because of fear. With the sandwich gone, all he could smell was her sweet scent. He wanted something to say, anything. Right now all he could do was look into her beautiful emerald eyes and wonder what her lips would feel like if he kissed her. He licked his lips and nearly leaned in to find out.

His phone beeped and broke him from his trance. He pocketed the watch and grabbed the phone. It was Ben with some routine business, but Raymond needed a break. He was enjoying his time with Alex a bit too much, and just needed a breather so he wouldn’t do anything inappropriate – like compel her to remove her top.

“What is it? A bat signal asking you to return to the bat cave?” she asked.

It was as good an out as he needed. “Something like that,” he chuckled. “I’ll pick up at your place for dinner tonight.”

Raymond met Alex for dinner at The National Mall. Alex had changed clothes and now wore a pair of tight fitting jeans and a plain white t–shirt. She styled her hair down and just tousled, like she didn’t bother to put much effort into her appearance. Damn, she could look good in anything. Raymond always preferred women in dresses and skirts, but had to admit, Alex looked amazing in her tight jeans and t–shirt.

“Hi, Raymond. Sorry I’m a few minutes late. I just got done at the gym.”

“Hi, Alex. Not a problem. I only now arrived here myself.” In truth, he had arrived a few minutes early since he hated being late. Raymond stopped texting when she approached. “I need another minute. A random shooting just occurred at the Pentagon.”

“What? Did anyone get hurt?”

“No. The Pentagon police caught the suspect. Appears that he acted alone. Ben is near Interstate 395 so I’m asking him to stop by and read the suspect’s aura. My son will swing by FBI Headquarters later and read him as well.” The human team, once again, had done a wonderful job in protecting government officials and the civilians. Chances were likely that no vampire had a hand in this, but the double check of his team comforted him. Once done texting Sterling, Raymond looked up at Alex. “All is taken care of. I thought we could walk around a bit before dinner. Maybe talk a little.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the Pentagon and check on the situation? Perhaps we both should go.”

“No. The humans have everything covered. My team is fine with the checks so I don’t need to do anything, and neither do you.” He smiled at her as he pocketed the phone. “Shall we walk?”

“That sounds nice.”

Her mental patterns remained calm with no signs of panicking, which was good. The exercising probably contributed to her mood; at least Raymond didn’t feel like he should check her purse for any stakes tonight just in case that was the next theory she wanted to try out for vampire lore.

He sensed excitement from her. He’d have to touch her to be certain, but he sensed excitement about the promotion and what the new position could mean for her career. He decided to test if his reading was accurate. “You’re excited about this promotion?”

“Yes. I really want to accept the promotion. It would be a great career move for me, and I think I would enjoy the work. Actually, I moved to D.C. so I could take my last promotion. I’ve sacrificed a lot for my career.” She smiled at him. As tall as she stood, she still looked up to make eye contact. “You’re a lot bigger than the average man. How big are you?”

How big am I?
Raymond cleared his throat. “What?”

Alex looked up. “How tall are you?”

“Oh,” Raymond took a cleansing breath. “I’m 6’ 4” and 260 lbs.”

“Is that average for a vampire?”

“For the men I guess. We grow during our Jahrling Year. The year after our fangs extend. For the males, we get broader shoulders, bulk up with more muscle, grow a couple of inches. Our females do the same during their time, but the change is a more feminine growth. They get the height and the muscles, although they don’t bulk up as much.”

The two of them walked as they talked. Raymond explained more about the Jahrling Year and that both of his parents were killed in a house fire after his transition had occurred. The two were lost in the discussion and had wandered down a remote path with little lighting.

“We need to turn back around.” She turned on a dime and quickly walked back to where they came from.

“Wait, what’s wrong?” Raymond caught up to her.

“Nothing.” Her eyes said more than her voice did.

Raymond was horrified. “You’re afraid I’m going to attack you!” Actually, this was the typical response when someone met a vampire – at least in the movies.

She hesitated briefly. “Maybe”

“I’m not going to attack you.” He looked around at the place; he didn’t want to attract attention to their conversation now that they were back where people walked about. “I’m not going to hurt you. The US government entrusts me with their President. I’m a trustworthy individual.” He sensed she wasn’t afraid of vampires in general, she was afraid of him. Of being alone with him. “Here, let’s sit down a minute.” He suggested a bench under a park light. The well lit bench was easily within eyesight of several people who passed by. After they sat down, he asked, “Why do you think I’m going to attack you? Have I given you any sign that I would?”

“No. I’m fine. … I’m just paranoid. That’s all. I don’t spend much time with huge men who I really don’t know. And I use term ‘men’ very loosely in the current situation. It’s only a silly fear.”

Her fake smile told him it wasn’t just a silly fear. He knew most fears were based on some past experience. “Alex, when I was a young boy I was in my parents’ garden gathering vegetables for dinner for me and my sister. I was there with her and a friend of ours. As we were gathering food, I came across a snake hiding in the garden and it surprised me. Before I knew what to do, the snake struck my bare legs and pumped its deadly venom into me. The venom nearly killed me. My mother was cooking our dinner over the fire pit on the side of our house and my father was in town. I cried out partly in pain and partly because I was scared, but my mother was too far away to hear my cries. My friend ran to my mother for help while my sister, who is five years my junior, sucked the poison from my leg. My mother carried me into town so the doctor could see me.” Raymond paused in the story to look Alex directly in her eyes. “It took me a long time before I could go back into that garden to gather food, because I was convinced for the longest time that a snake would be the death of me. Eventually I did go back, I had to. Fear can be crippling. I know. And the fear can last a long time. I’m a vampire, Alex. There is no way a snake could ever hurt me today, and yet I won’t go near one, ever. I can’t even look at one at the zoo. I guess there is a part of me that will always believe a snake will kill me.” Raymond took a deep breath. He had never shared that story (or fear) with anyone else before.

Alex looked at the vampire in front of her. “I know it’s a silly fear that I have.”

“Fear is what it is. You have to do your best to get past it.”

“Oh, I’ve been trying for years. Trust me. I’ve tried and tried to overcome my fear. I wish I could move on.”

“Would you like help to overcome it?” He didn’t like her being afraid of him. As they sat on the bench, he could tell she wasn’t scared, just anxious. He wanted her to be comfortable with him, especially if she accepted the Directorship of the Colony. She said she had wanted the position. Plus, he wanted her to have it since her career, and especially this promotion, was important to her.

“Oh, I’m working on it.”