Eternal Service (5 page)

The Vampire Council, with all of their antiquated laws, managed to do one thing right. Forbidding love between humans and vampires resonated soundly within him. The folly of it all. Humans were weak and frail. Of course, Wilma was an angel that touched his soul like no other woman had. How could he not fall in love with such a creature? The year he spent with her as her husband was the best year of his life. She had also given him a son as she died in his arms — a beautiful son who looked just like her. If he had only turned her before he impregnated her she’d still be with him. If only.

He pushed the images of Wilma’s death aside and thought of her as she was in life. So warm, so giving, so sexy. Reclining on his bed, Raymond reached between his thighs and parted the robe down the sides of his hips. With the beautiful image of his wife in his head, he focused on nothing else but her. In his mind’s eye, he saw her naked on their marriage bed, her arms calling out to him. Touching himself, and remembering his cherished past, he made love to her.

Dixon had just poured himself a cup of coffee when a knock sounded at his office door. Opening the door, he noticed not only Raymond, but also Ben. “Good idea,” he said. “Ben can mellow the mood of the room.” Dixon stepped aside and allowed the two gentlemen into his office.

Dixon closed the door briefly. “Captain Brennan is my top choice. On paper, the Captain walks on water. I need you to check on the immortal weird stuff. Ben, your ability to alter moods may prove handy.” He took hold of the door handle. “Go ahead and take a seat at the table. I’ll get the Captain. The mugs are for you and there’s a fresh pot in the corner.” He left closing the door behind him.

Raymond nodded towards the table. “Leave the chair next to me empty for the captain to sit. This way if the thought patterns are hazy I can touch the man.” Hazy thought patterns. Sometimes a human gave off clear patterns, and others appeared hazy. Raymond never knew which it would be. In any case, touching would ensure a good reading.

Ben filled the two mugs with the steaming coffee. It wasn’t so much the coffee the vampires were after, but the warming steam of its heat as the temperature permeated through the ceramic mugs to warm their hands. They liked feeling warm, and if humans mistook the transferred heat for body warmth, so be it. It was a win twofold.

Raymond hated touching humans. Just absolutely hated it, and did it as little as possible. It thrilled him when the “knuckle touch” became popular, but of course at the White House it would be another frickin’ handshake. Raymond took the mug Ben offered and a tiny clank sounded as his wedding ring hit the porcelain. He switched the mug to his right hand and warmed it up. It would not take long to give his hand “body warmth.”

The door of the office opened and Dixon stepped in, followed by the captain. Raymond and Ben stood up to meet the man. When Captain Alex Brennan walked in, she surprised them by being a woman.

She walked into the office, and Raymond noticed her smile lit up the room. He sensed self accomplishment and pride radiating from her mental patterns and knew instantly that accepting this promotion pleased her. She wore her hair professionally up and the style revealed a supple, beautiful neck. Her hair was put back in a bun but tresses of wavy auburn hair on each side framed her ‘girl next door’ face. The few freckles she had on her face added to her appeal; they made her look fresh and innocent.

Raymond stared back at Dixon and prayed this was a mistake. Oh, this was so not what he wanted or needed. His heart sped up and anger grew within him. He felt set up. In today’s age there were of course female officers in the military, but Dixon omitted the little detail of Captain Brennan’s gender.
Alex?
That was a man’s name. Of course Raymond assumed the new director would be a man. The director was always a man.

Raymond took in a deep breath to calm himself. Was that perfume? The scent smelled light and feminine — not what he wanted at all. He kept his distance from humans, especially female humans. He didn’t socialize with female vampires either. It wasn’t an official vow of celibacy, but close enough to count since no one could compare to Wilma.

He studied Alex. Or was it really Alexandra? Maybe Alexi? She looked classically beautiful, just like his Wilma was. Her emerald eyes shone across the room and sparkled like gems. Her tailor made suit was feminine. Her outfit curved in all the right places, like an hour glass. With her long sexy legs, she stood in high heels that accentuated her muscular calves as she walked into the room. She embodied elegance with a Greek goddess body.

Raymond’s breath caught, his heart sped up, and he couldn’t stop staring at this gorgeous creature. He needed to remember to breathe. He took in a deep breath and realized his palms now glistened with sweat, and it wasn’t from the heat of the coffee. He listened to the clicks of her heels on the hard floor, and he watched the effect it had on her muscular calves as she walked in. This was the closest encounter he had with a human woman in decades.

Dixon closed the door, trapping Raymond in the room. “Captain Brennan, this is Raymond Metcalf and Ben Gatto.”

Raymond watched as Alex walked across the room. The clicking of her heels echoed in the tiny space. “Good to meet you,” she said, extending a hand to Raymond.

He shifted the coffee mug to his left hand, and quickly wiped his sweaty palm on his slacks before extending his hand out. He knew his hand would feel warm, so he shook her hand and made eye contact to see if the trick worked. It must have, her pupils didn’t contract in surprise. Instead, her beautiful eyes remained glued onto his.

There was very little shaking considering this was a handshake. She held his hands, and stared at him as though reading his soul.

Closer up, the scent of her perfume was stronger, and he liked the fragrance. He noticed she took in a deep breath, swallowed, and then she parted her lips slightly and bit the lower one. He stared at her plump and kissable lower lip. He needed to say ‘hello’ back, but found he couldn’t quite make the word come out.

Her eyes shifted slightly, and he took note as her temple cringed. He realized she thought she recognized him from somewhere, and was trying to place his face. A slight headache was forming because of her attempts to remember him. He was familiar with this look. Usually, he would dismiss it, but not today. Today, he regretted that his predatory nature had humans forget him unless they had direct contact with him. Obviously this woman had seen him in the background, but her mind had dismissed him. He felt sorry for her as her mind tried to process the holes.

He looked down at the marathon handshake. Her skin felt smooth. How long had he been holding her hand? Actually, she seemed to be the one still holding his. Could that be right? He swallowed hard as he realized the two of them had stepped much closer to each other as their hands touched.

She must have picked up on his awareness, because she immediately released his hand. Her cheeks flushed. Great, he probably embarrassed her in some way. She seemed flustered as she quickly offered her hand over to Ben.

Raymond took note of Ben’s touch on her, and a bitter taste permeated his mouth. His grip tightened around the handle of the coffee mug, turning his knuckles white. He stared at the two of them as they greeted each other. Ben’s age was currently in his mid fifties, and he looked quite distinguished in his tailored suit and shortened, grayed Afro. She probably liked tall and dark men. Of course, he was taller than Ben, but would she even notice? Maybe his pale white skin was unappealing to someone who sported a tan. Since he avoided the sun as much as possible, he looked even more pasty white than the average Caucasian man. His dark brunette hair and teal eyes would only accentuate his paleness even more.

She looked to be about thirty. Perhaps she liked older men. Raymond blinked several times to stop his train of thought. This was ridiculous; he just met the woman. Of course Ben’s smile looked too friendly to him, but then their handshake ended – after a proper amount of time.

Why was he even thinking such thoughts? Women never mattered in the past to him, and neither did his appearance. When he glanced over at Alex and saw her smile, he knew she was not like other women. Was it getting warm in here? Normally he liked feeling warm, but this was downright uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his head, just to do anything other than stare at her. Touching his thick locks of hair he realized that he was back down to his base age. He had fed well this morning, and now looked the same age he was when he transitioned into an adult vampire – 22 years old. He closed his eyes. She must see him as a child, with Ben being the senior member of the team. She probably thought he knew at least ten different Pokemon names, carried Magic cards in his wallet, and secretly wished his car was a transformer. All of which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. If it hadn’t been for the young kids at Fang Manor, he wouldn’t even know what those things were. He was an old geyser locked into a youthful body, and that package was probably someone she couldn’t take seriously – even if Dixon ordered her to.

It was worse than that. Raymond realized that he had not even said hello to the woman when she shook his hand. OK, not only must he be young in her mind, he also didn’t have manners. Great.

“Let’s get started,” said Dixon as he plucked a folder from his desk and took a seat between the Captain and Ben.

Once they all had taken their seats, Raymond glanced at Alex. He reached into her mind to compel her, and was surprised by how accepting her mind was to him. “Captain, please excuse us for a few minutes.” Her expression turned to stone as she froze in her seat; her eyes were expressionless. Raymond now glared at Dixon. “Sir? Seriously?”

“What? This is Captain Brennan.”

Raymond looked in disbelief. “A woman? You chose a member of the fairer sex to be our director?”

Ben huffed. “Good Lord, Raymond. When was the last time you spent any time with a woman. ‘Fairer sex’ my ass.”

Dixon interrupted. “Alex is well accomplished in martial arts, field training, and holds the highest sharp–shooter ranking the military offers. Not only does this woman walk on water with her credentials, but she’d skim across a lake and tear you a new one if you weren’t immortal. Trust me. She’s the one for the job.”

Raymond studied the woman’s 5’ 8” strong muscular frame. Her body shape did not lie. “There was no one else?”

“There were plenty of others, only less qualified.” Dixon glanced over at Alex. “She’s the best. I just need your opinion if the team can work with her.”

Silence hung in the room as Raymond fell deep in thought. “It’s not that I have anything against women,” Raymond defended himself. “My sister Sulie is very accomplished as a doctor and as a soldier for the team.”

“Yes. She is,” Dixon added. “And over the years I’ve seen your sister personally kill dozens of terrorists. She’s gone undercover on numerous successful missions and never let the team down.”

“She is one of the Best,” Ben commented. “Personally, I don’t like being on Sulie’s bad side. She’s like a tiger.”

Raymond smiled. “Sulie’s always been special like that.”

“No Raymond. It isn’t that Sulie is special. She’s a woman. Quite capable of doing anything a man can do, and then some.” Dixon pointed to Alex. “Now unfreeze the captain and give her a chance.”

Once the captain rejoined the party, Dixon continued. “You have perfect credentials Captain. I will be retiring shortly and we’re looking for a replacement as Colony Director.”

Alex shook her head. “I’m sorry. I thought the position was Chief of Security.”

“Oh it is,” Dixon reassured her. “That’s only part of the position. What is discussed in this room is confidential. I need for you to sign this non–disclosure agreement locking in your silence before we proceed.” He slid the paper and a pen over to the captain.

“Of course.” she noted as she signed the paper.

Dixon continued. “The security chief position is the generic term for what you would be asked to do. The job encompasses that, plus quite a bit more. Publicly, you will interface with the director of the Secret Service mostly for daily security protocols involving the President. At times you will work closely with the commanding officer for the Joint Special Operations Command, but only if a situation with JSOC calls for it. Your job will be to coordinate efforts between those two departments and a secret special op team you will be directly responsible for. As the director of this special team, you will report to the President and be his liaison to the team.”

Alex straightened more in her chair as she tried to control the smile that threatened to overpower her. Opportunity wasn’t just knocking; it was barging in and taking down the door. This was exactly what she wanted for her career.

Dixon continued, “The special op team is known as The Colony. The team is funded through the President’s Black Budget, so even Congress is unaware of its existence. It was founded in 1866 as a direct response to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and works in conjunction with the Secret Service as presidential security. The Colony’s responsibility has broadened to include assignments with other federal and military agencies, but at all times a member of the Colony is within the inner perimeter of security and works covertly with the Secret Service. Their strengths are many, including the capacity to work with biochemical elements, or in regards to specific ‘cold–blooded’ killers. For example, they were instrumental during the Anthrax scare a few years ago.”