Eternal Service (26 page)

Raymond cleared his throat as he felt Alex regaining her calm. He watched as she relaxed in her own chair, her hands gently placed in her lap waiting for him to continue. He never told this story in its entirety to anyone before. Both Sulie and Sterling knew some of the tale, with the rest of the Colony members knowing just hints of what had happened. Only Raymond knew the entire truth. Now, he wanted to share the truth with Alex.

He bit his lip, feeling the tiny prick of his fang as the tooth brushed his inner cheek. “The year was 1820. As a nineteen year old, I had not transitioned. I still ate human food, my fangs had not fully extended, and my blood remained mostly still human in me.” He rolled his eyes, “Actually, I was a punk kid who thought he knew everything about life. I lived a waiting game until my Jahrling Year when I knew I’d become one of the strongest and most enduring creatures to walk the planet.” He let out a nervous laugh. “I was such a delinquent back then.”

Alex leaned toward him, her voice calm. “Most teenagers are like that. At least they are in my experience. It’s called growing up.”

He nodded. “And like most teenagers, I became rebellious. Sure, as vampires we mingled with humans. Our neighbors were all humans, I attended school with humans, and …” He closed his eyes and murmured, “I shared my bed with a human.”

Raymond’s opened his eyes, but furrowed his brow with a look of defiance. “We are told, very early on, that we do not date humans.” He stressed the word human, not paying attention to his current audience. If Alex took offense, it did not show. She sat motionless listening to his story.

“We don’t soil our bed with them,” he said as tears welled up in his eyes. He took a deep breath, slowly nodded, and again let out nervous laughter. “My father held a seat as head of the Council. He had big plans for me, which included a vampire bride to unite our family line with another one just as wealthy and powerful.”

Alex looked confused. “What Council?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “It's nothing to be concerned with. Eventually, on his death, I got his seat on the Council so that I could represent my family line and coven.”

“Wait,” Alex interrupted. “So the Council is some sort of … what?”

His hands waved in the air dismissively. “Not important to the story.” He cleared his throat and continued, “I didn’t want to marry the woman my parents chose for me, and my father would not have approved of me socializing with human women. When I met Wilma, I didn’t tell him about her. I didn’t share the truth with my mother either. Only Sulie knew.”

A blush of contempt colored Alex’s cheeks. “So you were embarrassed for sleeping with a human.”

“No.” He shook his head, “That wasn’t it. I fell in love with Wilma. She was as beautiful, and as frail, as a flower.” His fingers raked through his hair. “We lived in Milford, Pennsylvania, a small, modest town – even in the 1800s. Wilma was a classmate of mine. She had long golden hair, and she was the sweetest woman I’d ever met. Her freckled face …” He now pointed over to Alex, “… looked much like yours. Her smile could light up a room, and her body …,” he paused. Looking over to Alex, he shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, she was a human. She was
my
human.” He glanced up at Alex, “Our budding relationship seemed easy enough to hide from my parents. After our schooling ended, I worked at her father’s mill, which was called Sterling Flour and Corn. It gave us plenty of time to be together without anyone knowing.”

“Her last name was Sterling?” Alex asked.

Raymond nodded. “Yes. I named our son after her. It seemed proper. Anyway”, he cleared his throat, “I loved Wilma; She was everything to me. She was religious and I wasn’t sure how she would take the news of me being a vampire.” Raymond reflected on that. “Actually I did know in my heart. I was sure she’d take the news poorly, so I didn’t tell her my true nature.

“I loved her, and she loved me. One night, out of wedlock, I made love to her. She was so innocent and pure, and she had no clue what it was she was making love to.” He slammed his fist onto his knee. “It felt wrong to do that to her, but my feelings of love and lust carried me away. I made love to her within my own lie of omission. And to my heart’s greatest joy, she loved me with all of her heart and wanted me as a woman would want a man. Of course, I seemed human. I never bit her because my fangs hadn’t fully extended. I wouldn’t be able to drink blood for a couple more years.”

Raymond leaned forward, and rested his forehead in the entwined fingers of his hands. “I wanted to tell her what I was, but I was a coward. I pretended to be human and thought that perhaps it didn’t matter if she didn’t know. Then she told me she was in a family way with our son. I asked her to marry me that very day. Her parents disapproved, but we were married within a couple of weeks. Of course, back then, marriage was the honorable and expected thing to do.”

Alex leaned forward. “What about your parents? How did they take the news?”

He straightened back into his chair. “Furious. More so when they found out about the baby – a half–breed.” He noticed Alex had cast her look downward onto the floor, not making eye contact with him. “My parents did the best they could, but they were prejudiced beyond belief.”

She glanced back up at him. “A mixed marriage can be difficult.”

“Mixed?” He looked at her. “That’s putting it kindly.”

A moment passed in awkward silence before Raymond continued. “Anyway, we lived together in our home at the edge of the town. We had a plot of land her parents gave us. We lived as husband and wife while she carried our child. Those months were the happiest time in my life, even though she never knew me for who and what I was.”

Raymond paused. His eyes welled up with tears. “I knew she was human when I went into the relationship.” Raymond chose his words carefully here. “I loved her for what she was, a human. She never had to be a vampire to own my heart. I gave it to her. I never saw the division between human and vampire like my parents had.” He glanced over at Alex, “I still don’t, not where it really counts.”

“Why not turn Wilma? She could have been a vampire,” Alex said.

“Not with her being pregnant. I wouldn’t be able to turn her until after the baby came … so I kept my secret.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We can’t turn a pregnant woman or a child. They die in the attempt. A child can’t handle the turning and will die during the turn, and that usually kills the mother.”

A gasp escaped Alex’s throat. “Oh my.”

Raymond nodded. “I fully intended to marry Wilma before we had a child together.” He shook his head. “I respected her and, well, unplanned pregnancies happen, whether you are human or a vampire — not that I ever regretted having Sterling. I love him dearly. I wanted Wilma to know exactly what I was and to accept me and want my child – a vampire child.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I also wanted Wilma to be turned before we had children so our children would be purebred vampires and not half–breeds. Not that I see anything wrong with half–breeds, but it would be easier on him within our culture.”

“But Sterling is a vampire. It doesn’t matter that he had a human mother,” Alex said.

“I know that. But there is some stigma to being a half–breed.” Raymond rolled his eyes. “God. I hate that term.”

“I don’t understand. I know they’re slightly weaker than purebreds, but they are immortal and stronger than humans. What stigma are you talking about?”

He explained. “Half–breeds are usually the result of a male vamp compelling a human woman into his bed without her knowledge, or even forgoing the compelling and raping her. It happens all the time if the male vampire succumbs to blood lust after a feeding.” He sighed heavily. “It's not that all vampire men can’t control themselves. It just sometimes happens. So half–breeds are generally thought of as unwanted children from their mothers, at least the ones that survive. It's a difficult pregnancy, usually ending in miscarriages. Then if a child is born, most usually die during their transition into adulthood unless they are told what they are and how to … feed.” Raymond rubbed his temple. “The children that survive should never be made to feel that they were unwanted or unwelcome in their parents’ lives.”

“But you and Wilma loved each other. That’s different,” Alex assured him.

“Of course. Sterling may have been unplanned, but not unwanted. Wilma was very excited about the idea of having a child. So was I.”

Alex reached out and put her hand on Raymond’s shoulder as he continued.

“So the day came, and Wilma called upon a midwife. The birth did not go well.” Raymond looked up towards the ceiling. “God, that’s putting it mildly.” Shaking his head, he looked down at his hands. They were stretched out, as if he were cuddling a baby. “Sterling was a big baby, and also breech.”

Her eyes widened as she saw the size Raymond suggested with his hands.

“Wilma tore herself up trying to birth him. She bled so much. She hemorrhaged and I was desperate to save her. I knew I had only minutes until she bled out, so I told her what I was and I terrified her. She laid there dying afraid more of me than of death.”

His hand balled and his knuckles grew white as he raised his hand to his mouth and bit at his fist. He glanced over to Alex. “I cut my arm and forced her to drink my blood. She choked on it as I kept forcing it down her throat. The midwife kept working to save the baby and Wilma. I couldn’t compel the midwife because I didn’t have that ability yet, so she must have thought I was crazy. To her credit, she didn’t pay attention to me but focused on the birth. Later I contacted my father and he had to erase the midwife’s memories.”

Raymond stopped fidgeting with his fist, and slammed it into his thigh. “By telling Wilma the truth, I terrified and tortured her for no reason. My blood wasn’t strong enough for a turn, plus she didn’t have my blood in her system before the attempt. Of course she also still had Sterling struggling to get out of her.”

Alex’s face had grown white with the tale. “It sounds awful. But I know you did everything you could,” she reassured him.

Raymond tear–filled eyes made eye contact with Alex. “I had never turned anyone before. I was immature and foolish. She kept bleeding and her eyes were wide with fright as she coughed up my blood.”

Again Raymond held out his arms and looked at them. “I held her in my arms as she died. Her eyes glazed over and her body went cold as I held her. The midwife left since there was nothing more she could do but leave me to my grief.” Raymond cleared his throat. “Even through my pain, I knew I had to at least save the life of our child. Wilma lay dead in our bed, covered with blood. I took a knife and cut Sterling from her body so he would live and that I’d have a part of Wilma with me always.”

Alex held Raymond’s hand, their fingers entwined.

Raymond sniffed and fought back the tears. “I killed Wilma. I terrified her the last few minutes of her life, and then I tore my knife into her body. My selfishness, and all of my lies in not wanting to lose her, cost Wilma her life and me my love. So you see,” he continued. “I’m not the good man you think I am.”

“You are a good man Raymond. The best.” They hugged for several minutes in silence until Sterling knocked on the door holding a tray of coffee.

The President finished his business in Florida earlier than expected. With the personal tour done, the federal funding would soon arrive rendering aid. With nothing left to do, the President and his entourage headed back to Washington D.C.

The President would exit by the kitchen, while the decoy Mason would leave by the south entrance of the hotel. Raymond stood with the other agents making up the PPD. He had put on an AMI TAC3S body armor vest, but merely for show. He felt no tingling sensation and the hairs on his arms weren’t standing up, so he knew no vampires were about, unless they were half–breeds. Looking at the monitor in his watch, he read the heat signatures of all the people in the area. All was good. Once again, he remained the security officer “no–op” and only existed as a precaution. Not that he minded.

While waiting to board Air Force One, Raymond received a text from his son. Sterling would soon be boarding the plane with Mason and the humans since he drew the short end of the stick. Wishing his son had more tolerance for humans, he read the text and grimaced at the message. Raymond didn’t know who “Zippy” was, but figured it was either Brandon or Matt since Sterling never did manage to remember the names of any of the human team. Brandon and Matt were in rare form this trip, and Raymond had needed to do a memory wipe on the shorter of the two humans once already since arriving in Florida.

Raymond typed a response to Sterling which read more of an acknowledgment than anything else, and he entered the plane. The air was stale. Human smelling too. The food from the galley permeated the large craft. If he had to guess, he would say today’s menu included some type of fish. He rolled his eyes. He hated pretending to eat.

He walked past the plush seats that were stamped with the presidential seal, the conference room with its monitors and computers, and the President’s personal office with the closed door. He felt no tingling sensation, so he knew a vampire was not on board. He inhaled deeply and breathed out a sigh of relief. Mixed in with the smell of food, airplane fuel, and various industrial cleaners, he could also smell the sweet scent of honey almond – which told him Alex was nearby.