United Service

by Regina Morris

  “Nothing. I haven’t discovered anything special yet. I can’t feel my body. It sucks.” Again, she bit her tongue.

  Sterling enjoyed her use of the English vernacular. Her use of language showed her age, but she was entertaining when she talked. Smiling he asked, “How old are you?”

  She smiled back at him. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

  He couldn’t tell if that was flirting or not. Her smile suggested she was, but he had difficulty reading her. “Why do you do that?” When she gave him a puzzled look, he added, “You’re not interested in me. I understand why you’re not, but you flirt like you are.”

  Her cheeks grew flushed. “I need you to pin me. Can you do that for me?”

  It was as much of an explanation as he would probably get. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

  “Stick pins in my body so I can be quasi–normal.”

  Ok, definitely did not sound like flirting. It was more of a ‘you’re a good friend’ type of thing. Sterling knew the great depths he went to just to feel normal. This was a different type of remedy than he had, but overall it was the same. He needed the rain or a woman to soothe his pain, even his aunt would work for his skin problems. Kate needed pins. It really was no different. He was happy to help her. Goodness knows he relied on the kindness of others to be normal. He picked up the first tiny rod from the bedside table. The pin was already opened. Instantly, he read the information about the pin. Without his gloves on, the history of the pin, its owner, and any specifics about its use came rushing into his mind. “You’ve used this pin a lot.”

  “I use them every day, why?”

  “Because I can sense the pin’s history. Your mother gave you this pin. I can see the image of her pinning them to your body in my head.”

  She smiled back at him. “At least your ability is something cool.”

  He halfway smiled. “Yeah, right.” His finger traced the length of the pin and winced as he saw how the pins had to be rammed through her skin. His own fingers began to itch as he read the pin. “I’m sorry you have to do this every day. Give me your hand.”

  Kate moved her hand closer to Sterling, her hand still in a fist. She flailed her hand without control and he grabbed it in midair.

  “Sorry. I should have reached for your arm.” He held her hand, which seemed so small clutched into a fist. He gently massaged the fingers and then the palms so she would loosen her grip and allow him to pin her. He noticed her soft skin. Of course, if you wore gloves every day, they would be soft. Her fingernails stood out to him. They were perfectly polished and manicured. Her nail polish was a soft pink color and looked very natural. He hated acrylic nails and saw no point in them. But nicely manicured nails were different. He personally liked bright red nail polish but didn’t think the color would suit her delicate hand. He held her hand in his and readied the first pin to stick through her flesh.

  “Wait! Stop!” Kate startled him as the pin nearly entered her hand. Her fingers uncurled themselves as though she had gained more control of the muscles in her hand and arm. “I can feel my hand now.” Her eyes opened wide in surprise. “Touch my other hand, please.”

  Sterling reached for and then cradled her other hand in his. He slowly massaged her fingers with his. He noticed the skin on his hands no longer itched.

  “This is amazing! I can feel my hands. I can feel you. … How is this possible?”

  Sterling placed one of her hands back onto the bed as he held and examined the other. “I can feel something on your skin. It’s odd. Almost like a blanket, but more like a plastic coating. … No. As I touch it, it is melting, kind of. My touch seems to go through the barrier. Or more to the point, I can pull the barrier from you and put it on me … or share it? No, the barrier disappears when placed on me. This is so weird.” His fingers traveled up her arm touching every inch of skin as it did. “I can feel this barrier up along your arm.” His hand danced around her neck and she began to laugh. “You’re ticklish?”

  “I didn’t think I was, but I guess so.”

  “I’ll try not to tickle you.” His hands move up toward her face. Her eyes transformed into their beautiful bluish–gray once again as he touched her. His fingers explored her body. He moved closer to her on the bed and placed his hands now on her legs. He moved up and down her legs finally resting them on her feet. “This barrier covers you from head to toe. It’s not consistent though. The barrier is thinner on some parts of your body than on others.”

  “Where is it thinner?”

  “Around your eyes and your lips. Parts on other areas of your body were thicker too. Your hands and feet are where the barrier feels the thickest.”

  “That would explain why my hands and feet are always numb.”

  “When had you first noticed this numbness, or barrier, on your body?” Sterling kept massaging up and down her legs with his hands.

  “After my Jahrling Year it was in place. For about ten years before that, though, I would go numb in certain areas. It was subtle at first, but then it kept growing and growing.”

  Sterling understood. “My tactile issues were fully formed during my Jahrling Year as well. About ten to fifteen years earlier though I started feeling itches and headaches.”

  “Headaches, too?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m always in pain. My skin feels like it’s on fire and my head is ready to explode.” He looked at his hands. “Although right now my hands feel great. I have no irritating feeling coming from them at all and the itching is stopping up along my arms.” He then asked, “Can I try something?”

  Her eyes widened and she caught her breath. “Sure.”

  “Can you put your hands on my leg? I want to see if your touch will ease the pain there as well.”

  As soon as Sterling let go of her hands, she quickly placed her hands onto Sterling’s leg and the itching he had felt subsided. Sterling took in a huge breath. “Yes. It does work. I don’t feel pain there anymore.” Not only was the skin she touched no longer itching, but the healing sensation grew and traveled over his leg with just the one touch. The sensation was a glorious feeling.

  “So, is the barrier gone?” she asked.

  Sterling reached over and touched her leg. He felt no barrier there, so he reached up to her arms and ran his hands down the length of them. Once again, he felt no barrier. He sat closer to her on the bed, their hips touching. He leaned in and allowed his hands to travel up her neck, his hands now entwined in her silky locks of hair.

  Kate gently pressed her lips against his, catching him off guard. The kiss was soft and tentative, as if she were testing to see if he would kiss her back. He paused a moment to look at her and found her eyes were no longer gray, but a beautiful sexy vampire black as she watched his reaction. He heard her heart rate speed up, and he smelled her arousal. When she softly growled at him, he kissed her back. He matched the pressure he felt from her lips, and soon applied more.

  He believed it was the best kiss he had ever experienced in his life. The kiss tasted sweet, and her lips were full. Peaches, definitely peaches, he thought as he kissed her. He felt lost in the kiss and wanted more. He rarely, if ever, enjoyed kissing the women he was with. Usually he didn’t even kiss them. He never fully understood why kisses were associated with enchantments, like the kiss that awakened Sleeping Beauty. He understood now.

  “More,” she demanded. “I want … more.”

  He pulled himself away from the kiss and looked into her sensuous eyes. They were now ebony black. “Are you sure?” he asked.

  A guttural growl escaped her throat. “Yes.” She lunged her body towards him, pushing him back down on the bed. She kissed him hard, with no reservations.

  It was as if an emotional and physical floodgate had opened. His heart raced and his breath hitched with anticipation. He had wanted her since the moment he had laid eyes on her, and now, she had said yes. His hands eagerly caressed her back, feeling the lean muscles underneath. She was stron
g – vampire strong. He then slid one hand down past her waist and onto her shorts. The other hand was under her shirt and caressing the soft skin of her back and shoulders. Holding onto her firmly, he rolled her over so he could be on top.

  And then there was a knock at the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Kate. It’s Ben. Rise and Shine. You ready to go, girl?”

  Sterling had lost all track of time. They needed to head out and find Brooke, the high school, and the camp. “Wait right here,” he told Kate as he got up to answer the door. His erection strained against the white shorts, and he had to adjust himself to walk the distance across the room. He took a deep breath, but knew his fangs were still extended.

  Once the door opened, he saw Ben standing with his bag over his shoulders, sunglasses on, and ready to head out. Ben’s eyebrow rose. “I’m guessing you two aren’t ready to go.”

  Sterling wiped his mouth and felt his extended fangs slowly receding. His lips were still swollen from Kate’s kiss, and he suspected his eyes were still pitch black as well. “Ben. We need a few more minutes. Can you get all of us some coffee?”

  Ben looked past Sterling over to where Kate lay on the bed, so Sterling closed the door to give her some privacy. In the past, he and Ben had sometimes shared women. But, Sterling wasn’t going to share Kate with anyone. He didn’t even want Ben to see her lying on the bed.

  Ben smiled at Sterling. “I’ll get the coffee. I’ll be back in ten minutes to talk about Brooke and what our plans are. I know where she is.”

  The door had not closed before Kate sighed. “He thinks we hooked up last night.”

  “Yes, he does.” Sterling walked back to the bed, wishing he could ‘hook up’ with Kate, but he knew time was not on their side. He noticed her eyes were no longer their longing black. He liked them black.

  He ran his hands through his hair. He knew what his body wanted. Hell, what it was craving. He shifted from one leg to another trying to give his erection more room in his shorts. He wanted to rejoin her on that bed and take her in ten different ways. But there wasn’t enough time. They needed to save Brooke.

  Sterling took a deep cleansing breath. “As much as I want to explore our skin issues right now, and continue that wonderful kiss, you and I have to get ready to head out.”

  When Kate agreed, Sterling reached into the pockets of his damp shorts and brought out a pair of wet gloves. “I always carry gloves with me.” Sterling sat down on the bed and reached for her hand. Once again they were numb and held in fists. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

  “Trust me. I barely feel anything when I’m like this.”

  He pierced one of the tiny rods into her left hand. As sensation came back to the limb, she moved her hand up to her mouth and licked the small drop of blood. The tiny pinprick sealed around the pin. After her right hand was pierced, she cleaned that hand as well.

  “I can do the rest.”

  “You sure?”

  She wiggled her hands in the air. “I have opposable thumbs. I’ll be fine.”

  “Ok. I am going to go back to my room and shower real quick.”

  Kate seemed puzzled. “Your hair is wet. Didn’t you already shower?”

  “No. I slept in the rain last night. Get ready and I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes. Ben should be back soon with our coffee.”

  Walking back to his room, Sterling reminisced about that kiss. He had actually closed his eyes as he kissed her. He had never done that before. He wanted to finish that kiss. But right now, he needed a cold shower.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–ONE

  Aargh! “Where are those drums coming from?”

  Kekoa moaned in pain, as he lay in his bed. Sunlight already shined through the windows of the cabin, and he would have killed for another hour of sleep. All night long he heard those blasted drums. They wouldn’t stop and his head was pounding. He checked the clock on the wall and realized the boys would be late for first meal if he didn’t get them up. In fact, the guard should be unlocking the door any second now.

  He noticed a couple of boys were already up. Kekoa felt dizzy, nearly light–headed as he stumbled getting off the bunk. As he walked over to Stephen’s bed, his stomach twisted in hunger pains and Kekoa froze as fear took hold of him. The beating drums were the boys’ heart beats.

  He took a deep breath and looked for Brian. Kekoa pulled the boy aside, “Here,” he said handing the bracelet over with the help of his t–shirt so his fingers would not burn. “Put this back on quickly.”

  Kekoa held his breath, trying not to smell Brian’s blood. The pain was instant as the silver band strapped to his wrist. “After inspection, remove the damn thing,” he quickly said as he took several quick steps away from Brian and his delicious–smelling blood.

  Brian followed him. “Kekoa, your wrist is raw.”

  Kekoa held his breath and did his best to ignore the drums. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll wear the band on the outside of my shirtsleeve until they need to see it,” Kekoa closed his eyes in pain. He was so hungry and his fangs were extended. He tasted blood in his mouth as his fangs cut through his gums for the first time.

  The sound of the door being unlocked startled him. There was the usual knock, and then the guard yelling for them to get up.

  Using his hand, he covered his mouth and nose. “The door. The handle is silver plated.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Brian reassured him.

  Once the door was opened, Kekoa quickly walked through it, allowing Brian to gather the younger children. Kekoa licked his dry, parched lips. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through the day.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–TWO

  Sterling closed his hotel room door and took a long, deep breath before heading towards Kate’s room where he knew Kate and Ben waited for him. They needed to save the children. Duty called. He never thought too much of being a hero. All that mattered was that the people were safe, or they had closure. Of course, most days he had sat alone in an evidence room with a headache.

  Traveling around with a lovely woman was a rarity. He sighed heavily as he leaned on the closed hotel room door. It was time to be superman to everyone and everything in this whole damn world.

  He turned and hit the door soundly with his fist. Luckily, the wood did not split in two. He didn’t know what the hell was going on with Kate, between the two of them, or fuck, life in general now. He needed to put all personal issues aside and focus on those missing kids. But, all he wanted was Kate. He wanted her body. He needed her like he had never needed anything else in his life.

  Their kiss still lingered on his lips when he heard his phone buzz. It was Daniel. Sterling took a deep breath before answering. “What?”

  “Your father asked me to watch over a few of your cases while you’re on the road. So, you could be a might nicer to me, mate.”

  Sterling rolled his eyes. “Something come up?”

  “Rather, something went down. You were helping detectives with the Max Watson serial killer case.”

  Immediately an image of Alicia popped into Sterling’s mind.

  “Max has confessed to nine murders, five of which took place in states favoring the death penalty. There will be no trial and his transfer to a death penalty state will happen this week.”

  Justice was served. A smile crossed Sterling’s lips, but quickly vanished. “One of the victims was a minor. Alicia Reece. Did you contact her family?”

  “I contacted the LA police department and they are paying the family a visit as we speak. There’s nothing we can do, but, at least they’ll have closure.”

  Sterling felt his teeth grind together. Death was too good for Max Watson for what he had done. Unfortunately, there were plenty more men like him in the world.

  “You were also scheduled to fly out with the President for a talk he’s giving in New Mexico. William will cover that for you, as well as your White House patrol route this week. Alex is double timing it to cover Ben’s work.”

 
“We’re not living it up,” Sterling belted into the phone. “Kids are being kidnapped and their parents killed.”

  “I wasn’t accusing you of being on holiday, mate. I just wanted to catch you up on the home front. You take your time and find the bastards. We can handle things here.”

  Once again, Daniel was too nice for words. Sterling hung up the phone and remained at the door another moment before going back to Kate’s room. One sick bastard was being brought to justice; he and Ben needed to wrap this case up as well.

  He quickly walked down the hallway to Kate’s room and found the door open, so he let himself in. Ben stood alone in the center of the room. “Where’s Kate,” Sterling asked.

  “Bathroom.” Ben glanced over to Sterling. “Like I told Kate, I found the next victim. She’s only a few hours away.”

  “Why do the Hands of God suspect her as a pre–trans?”

  Ben’s eyes shifted away. Slightly under his breath he said, “She’s sort of related to Stephen Miller.”

  Sterling spied two coffees on the dresser, and one still sitting in the cardboard container. He walked over and claimed the cup. “Related? How?”

  Ben sheepishly answered. “The two are paired off for marriage after they transition.”

  Sterling raised the cup to his lips and took a sip of the hot liquid. The brew tasted more bitter than normal. Of course they were in an arranged marriage. The two were teenagers, both probably from wealthy families … possibly paired off while still in diapers. Super easy. Incredibly convenient.

  Hot coffee spilled from the cup as Sterling realized he was crushing it. He set the cup down and gave Ben a nod. “Let’s get going.” Turning towards the bathroom he shouted, “Kate.”

  Ben held up his hands. “Wait a second. We need a plan.” He reached into his pocket and got out his phone.

  “We’ll think of something in the car.”