Eternal Service (34 page)

Best interest.
Raymond thought about that, then began saying, “Dixon …” All he had to do was betray Sulie’s trust and tell the man of her undying love for him. Just break his word. After all, it was in Sulie’s best interest. He looked at his friend as he sat patiently waiting for him to continue. “Sulie … chose well.”

“Obviously,” Dixon smiled. “You look happy. You deserve to be happy.”

Raymond thought back to the day he met Alex. “You warned me she was off–limits. Now you’re suddenly happy to have me cross that line? That doesn’t make sense. You should be furious with me.”

“Forbidden fruit.”

“What?”

Dixon surveyed the room, making sure no one was paying attention to their conversation. “People always want what they can’t have. I was actually concerned about Sterling taking an interest in her, but I didn’t see him as her type. Sulie and I both thought you would like her. Nothing makes a woman more desirable than her being unattainable, or another man wanting her.”

The waitress came, set down Dixon’s order, and asked, “Can I get you anything, Sugar?” She stared at Raymond, but he dismissed her with a simple nod and a shake of his head, doing his best to avoid any eye contact.

Dixon inhaled deeply smelling his food. He then unwrapped his fork from the paper napkin it was bound in. “Best breakfast in town,” he said, taking his first bite.

Raymond looked at the enchilada. Eggs and sausage stuffed in a cooked tortilla smothered with salsa. How could humans eat such food? It smelled terrible, but looked simple enough to make. It was just a tortilla with food and baked. Any mistakes would be covered up by the sauce. Sulie always complained about how hard it was to cook the simplest dishes. How hard could it be? To Raymond it looked like humans would eat just about anything anyway.

“My sister is monitoring your cholesterol, isn’t she?” Raymond asked as a string of hot cheese draped around the fork and hung off the man’s mouth.

Dixon nodded a response as he finished the bite. “Alex did well in Florida and I heard she did well in Austin. So that is a good sign,” he said, changing the subject.

Raymond looked around the restaurant, took a sip of his coffee, and finally said, “Yes, Dixon, I think she’ll make a great director for us. I’ll miss you, but …” he smiled slightly, “I also enjoy her company and am very attracted to her. She’s …” Raymond searched for the right words. “I don’t know how to describe it. It's like I lived this long just so I could know her.” He took another sip of the hot coffee, hoping that Dixon would fill the silence, but he didn’t. “Dixon, is it so terrible that I’m falling for our new director?”

“Life is about taking risks and putting yourself out there, even if it means getting hurt along the way. It’s high time you started living again.” He took a sip of his coffee and then added, “Besides, if you were going to fall for your director, I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”

That evening Air Force One landed in D.C. Alex stretched and politely covered her mouth to hide a huge yawn as she stood to exit the plane. The night wasn’t very late, but traveling always wore her out.

She traveled with Mason and the President back to the White House. A quick pass by her office revealed a stack of paperwork for the upcoming dinner. She frowned at the stack, but noticed some of the information needed to be given to Raymond. She smiled realizing she now had an excellent reason to drop by Fang Manor and visit him tonight. By the time she walked to her car, and began the trip over, she had gotten her second wind.

Driving up to the mansion, she noticed only the light in the kitchen was on. Her stomach growled, and she realized that she should have eaten before coming over. She was hungry, but couldn’t stomach the idea of eating Sulie’s cooking again. She pulled her car up to the closed garage and parked. After providing a code and a retinal scan to the back door, she walked in. Jackie greeted her from the other side of the door.

“Hey girl,” Jackie said. “I didn’t know you’d be coming by tonight.” She grabbed the bottom edge of the blue apron she wore and dried off her hands. A bowl of chocolate chip cookie batter sat on the island in the center of the room, and the air was filled with the sweetness of whatever was in the oven.

Alex closed the door and took a few steps into the room. The chimes on the door sounded, showing the door was once again locked and secure. “Good evening, Jackie. Sorry to just stop by.”

“Oh, please. This house is always open to you. You just stopin’ by? Or were you looking for a sugar fix?” She smiled as she pointed to a rack of cool off cookies on the counter behind her next to the coffee pots. There were also two tins overflowing with mini–cheesecakes.

“What’s with the bake–a–thon?” Alex asked as she heavily sniffed the air.

Jackie took a deep breath and used the back of her hand to wipe her forehead. “Bake sale. Both classes. And those kids tell me about the sale tonight.” She shook her head. “Last minute rush. I’d have them help, but they’re off doing their homework.”

Alex’s stomach growled again, loud enough for Jackie to hear. “Everything smells wonderful.”

“I know, right? It makes a difference when you can actually taste.” She picked up a semi–warm cookie and offered the treat to Alex. “You’re hungry. Here — made with dark chocolate, not that sissy milk chocolate nastiness. Makes a huge difference.”

Alex smiled. “Thanks, but I haven’t had dinner yet.”

She still held the cookie up as an offering. “Life’s too short, girl. Eat dessert first.” She nodded at the sealed tins on the counter. “I have mini–cheesecakes in the red tin over there if you’d rather eat one of them.”

“Thanks. This is fine,” she said, taking the cookie.

As Alex munched on the cookie, and moaned contently, Jackie asked, “So what does bring you around? Is it Raymond?”

“Mmm hmmm,” Alex said as she nodded a yes.

“The man’s not here. Left a while ago saying he’d see us tomorrow.” Jackie now gave a devilish grin. “I thought he might be picking you up and treating you to an evening of romance.”

The blush on Alex’s face was immediate. She quickly swallowed the cookie; crumbs from her mouth fell to the table. “I haven’t talked with him in a while.” She held up the paperwork in her hands. “I needed to talk to him about something with the state dinner.”

Jackie looked at her watch. “I get you. Your plane lands, you skip dinner, and rush over here to do even more work on an event that’s still days away.” Jackie raised a questioning eyebrow. “Are you stickin’ to that story?”

Alex held up the paperwork once again and brushed the table crumbs with her other hand. “I just wanted …”

“A booty call,” Jackie finished. When Alex’s face grew even more red, Jackie added, “It's all good. He’s a fine man. You’re entitled to get yours.”

Alex couldn’t make eye contact with Jackie. “I needed to drop this paperwork off for Raymond. It's some forms from the human team.”

“Now, don’t get all embarrassed. It's all story book, and you need your happy ending too. Now, how about some tea? I was just going to have a cup.” She took the documents from Alex and set them on a clean portion of a counter.

Alex’s stomach twisted, but not from hunger. She bit her lip as apprehension nearly overcame her. “The mansion looks empty. Where is everyone?” she asked in a desperate need to change the subject.

“Most are out, either work or on a date, I guess. William is down the hall in the gym; I think Ben might be with him.” She paused a moment and then added, “Yep. Two treadmills. My man likes to work out in the evenings. Probably takes the edge off since I’m rarely in the mood to rock his world in the bedroom these days.” She rubbed her large belly. “Baby will be here soon enough though.”

Jackie walked over to the tins sitting on the back counter. She took them, along with two plates she got from a cabinet, over to the kitchen table and sat down. The red tin was opened showing the results of Jackie’s hard work. “I do love cheesecake. Truly God’s gift to the world,” she said, pulling out two of the mini–cakes and placing them on the plates. “I’m so happy to taste again now that I’m pregnant. Thank God, once I go back to blood full–time I’ll have my figure back.”

“Why is that?” Alex asked. She picked up a mini cake and took a bite. The creamy cheese filling coated her tongue and lips, leaving a velvety, smooth taste in her mouth. Her eyes closed for a moment and she enjoyed the wonderful taste. Cheesecake and many other desserts were typically not in her diet plan.

“A blood exclusive diet rocks. You get the perfect body weight for your frame.” She did a ‘Vanna White’ move across her body. “This will all be what it needs to be again. I went through two pregnancies without the magic wand of being a vampire, and now, I’m loving it.” She took a bite of the mini–cheesecake; her manicured nails became coated with graham cracker crusts in the process.

Alex’s lips twisted in disgust. The file the government had about the vampire culture certainly had holes in it. There was no mention of pregnancies and children other than Jackie’s two kids existed. Maybe the information wasn’t important until Jackie had joined the team. Maybe no one was particularly interested in the subject. Either way, the lack of information upset Alex. She made a mental note that she would append all documents with additional information.

“The Colony has been established a long time. Are you and William the first team members to have children?”

Jackie took a deep breath. “Other than Raymond’s son Sterling, the members just don’t have kids. Daniel raised his younger sister, Sulie raised Sterling, Mason had a family when he was human … I guess everyone feels that they already raised their kids.”

“What about Sterling and Ben?”

“What?” Jackie let out a deep chuckle. “Those two are bachelors through and through, girl. I can’t imagine one of them changing diapers and running after a rug rat or two. Although, they are both fond of my babies. They get along just fine.”

Alex took a bite of her dessert. “Your youngest looks to be about eleven. Your turn must have been recent. Within the last decade I guess?” Alex pried.

“That’s right,” Jackie said as she reached for another mini–cheesecake to set on her plate. “Five years ago,” she held up her hand with her fingers all splayed. “William and I wanted more than just a few decades together … so viola.”

Alex took a sip of her tea. The files did have some information about turnings. She wondered if the info was accurate. “But being turned meant that you died.” She paused briefly to judge Jackie’s response. When the vampire just shrugged her shoulders she asked, “Were you afraid to go through it?”

Jackie took a large bite of her pastry and set it down. She paused to answer while she finished the bite. “A little. You know, it's a big change. But I knew when I married William that my turning would happen eventually.”

“May I ask what made you decide to do it five years ago?”

“Oh, sure,” she laughed. “All you got to do is ask and I can’t help but to share.” She licked her fingers clean and focused on the timeline “After Nicole’s seventh birthday, Sulie come up to me with some bad news. She detected pre–cancerous cells in my ovaries.” Jackie shook her head, “Girl, that ain’t news you ever want to hear. My mama died of ovarian cancer years ago. I only had her and my father growing up, and I saw the toll it took on him watching Mama die. So, I chose to go through the change because … well, let’s just say that no one ever chooses to die or chooses to have a loved one die.” Jackie sighed. “I didn’t like watching Mama die and I figured as long as I was human, William would be watching me die each day as I grew older. I love him too much to have him go through my loss.”

“Oh,” Alex said and then let the silence creep in.

Jackie wiped her hands on her napkin. “Now, don’t be like that.”

Alex looked up, “Like what?”

Jackie’s finger pointed to Alex, but not accusingly. “That brain of yours is having a hard time wrapin’ itself around all of this. One minute human, the next vampire.” She pointed at the untouched pastry on Alex’s plate. “You’re even too much in your head to enjoy your second cheesecake.”

Alex glanced down and noticed the uneaten dessert. “It's hard to think about dying and being an immortal.”

“That’s because you’re thinkin’ with your brain, not your heart. The brain is good for crunchin’ numbers, for focusing on the tough issues and such. But your heart tells you your path.”

“You still die.”

“OK. Think of turning like this. A new vampire is born, right? It’s just another way of having a baby. It’s the vampire way, that’s all. You need to stop thinking like a human and embrace something different.”

“But it's a big transition,” Alex protested.

“Drinking blood is an easy transition. Hell, you end up lovin’ the stuff. Giving up food isn’t a big deal, except for cheesecake.” She chuckled, “The night before I turned I ate an entire meal of it. I had plain cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake …” She started laughing. “Anything cheesecake was great for dinner that night.”

Alex joined in with laughter. “I think I’d have a meal of chocolate. And wash it down with a mug of cocoa!”

Raymond waited patiently in the rain for his sister Sulie to arrive at a downtown high–rise. Water streamed down his jacket as he stood under the green awning which led to the main door. The home belonged to one of the Supreme Court Justices, and Raymond needed Sulie’s medical expertise to determine whether the Justice had been poisoned.