The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt him.
She watched as the needle disappeared into his arm. She then pressed the button and the blood shot into his system. He closed his eyes and hissed as it happened. While she removed the syringe from his arm, she asked, “Was that okay?”
He didn’t open his eyes. He just nodded and moaned that it was fine.
The changes were slow at first. She would have missed it had she not been looking for them. The few hairs of gray slowly turned to a dark brunette color. His eyes closed, but even so the few wrinkles ironed themselves out. Overall his skin looked younger, more elastic and healthy. She watched until no more changes occurred, but his breathing grew heavier and heavier. She touched his shoulder, “Are you …”
“Don’t touch me.”
She sat back. Her breath caught in her chest. That’s when she noticed his hands were in fists, his knuckles white. Thinking it was best, she scooted to the far end of the couch, but eyed the chair, or maybe even the kitchen, as a safer retreat.
In a blink of an eye, he moved from his slumped position on the couch to being next to her. He moved his hands up to her face in a fluid movement. He touched her cheeks on each side of her face and looked into her eyes. She should have been afraid, but all she could think of was the two of them laid out on her bed entwined in each others’ bodies as they undulated in sweet release over and over again. She was nearly panting at such a prospect.
He slammed her back on the couch and shifted his weight so her legs curved under his hips, which she was more than willing to do. With his body flushed against hers, she closed the short gap between the two and kissed him deeply. Her tongue explored his mouth with eagerness and it brushed up against his fangs. It was more of an aphrodisiac than she could have guessed. She grabbed fingers full of his dark, silky hair, and pushed him more on top of her. She gasped in excitement as his hands found her thighs and his hands made their way up.
“I want to make love to you, Alex. I want you so much.” He kissed her neck as his hands made quick work under her dress.
She felt dizzy, but in a good way. She had never been so swept away in a moment before. She wanted, no, needed, him. Her hands found the zipper of his jeans and fumbled with it. Before she realized it, she blurted out, “yes, Raymond … yes!”
He leaned up and helped her with his belt. It was barely unlatched when she pulled the zipper down and tugged his pants off. “You can even bite me if you want, Raymond. I completely trust you. I trust you.”
As fast as he was on her earlier, he was off her, and sitting on the chair across the room. “No.”
Her heart was pounding in her chest. She was half undressed and he reacted to her like she was the plague. “Did I do something wrong?”
He pulled up his pants, and looked at her. “My sister just called. There’s an emergency needing my attention. I have to go.”
Dizziness swept over Alex and a headache pounded in her head. She sat on the red chair looking at Raymond, who sat on the couch. The setting sun shone through the window and shined directly into her eyes. Strange. She hadn’t noticed the fading sun until this very moment. Looking over at Raymond she noticed his more youthful appearance.
“Sorry. Sulie called. I need to leave.” He held the now empty syringe in his hands. “So that’s how we eat. Just an injection, we feel younger, and voila, we’re fed.”
Alex looked around the room. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something felt off to her. She noticed her plate on the coffee table full of pasta. Yes. She was eating dinner, but she wasn’t hungry now. She saw the metal syringe in Raymond’s hand. It was familiar and she felt like she had jamais vu, the opposite of deja vu. Looking at Raymond she noticed his teal eyes looking down at her as he stood up. His eyes were icy teal, she could have sworn they were different looking, and that … she couldn’t put a finger on it. Was he sitting closer to her before?
“I have to go,” he said as he headed towards the front door.
“I understand,” she said as she got up. “We can talk another time.”
*****
He opened the door to the Jag and jumped in. “Jackass!” he cursed as he sped down the street. How could he be so stupid? He had picked up inconceivably erotic images from her, of sensual passion wanting to be tapped; he also picked up on serenity. She was thinking how much she felt safe with him and secure.
Damn it to hell! He thought. Of course she felt safe. It was exactly as he had compelled her to feel just yesterday. As bad as he felt, he felt worst when he realized that he was no better than the animal that attacked her years ago. Actually, he was worse. He undid the first compelling of her feeling safe with him. Then he had to compel her a second time to forget their evening tonight. Damn it.
While she was no longer being compelled this last time, he had asked if she was ready emotionally to make love to him, and her answer was ‘no’. It was ‘no’. He pulled the Jag over and punched at the steering wheel. She wasn’t ready for this relationship and he did such a wicked act of nearly compelling her into his bed.
To top it off, during this second compelling he had her believe a lie that his sister had called with an emergency. He was twisting this love affair into a pretzel and it hadn’t even started yet.
His body still ached for her. He wanted to make love to her tonight. He wanted to feel her shudder under him as she called out his name. He looked up to the heavens and thanked God that he only fed on one syringe.
CHAPTER TWENTY–TWO
Raymond drove around aimlessly as he calmed himself down, but the car found itself back at Fang Manor earlier than expected. As he pulled his Jag into the garage, he noted the few cars that lined up in a row. Not to many team members were here for the weekly poker night. He let out a slight smile. Playing poker would be a good distraction from the evening’s disappointment, plus the game was his favorite pastime.
He grabbed a cold beer from the refrigerator and headed to the poker table to embarrass the team in utter defeat once again. He rested the beer on the green fabric as he took a seat next to Ben.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be home so early,” Sulie said.
“It was just dinner,” Raymond said as he dismissed the unasked question. Trying to change the subject, he added, “Dixon, William, and Mason are still tracking down Verna Foiles. She was the intern on one of the fake ID badges. They’ll probably not make it for tonight’s game.”
“Well I’m glad you could make come. We were only getting started.” Sulie counted the chips and placed the correct number at each place at the table. “So we only have four tonight? We can’t play with just four of us. Maybe Jackie is available.”
Sterling was already sitting at the table. “She’s helping the kids with their homework. We’ll have to make–do.” He shuffled the deck.
“We ‘make–do’ a lot around here.” Sulie glanced around the house. “We need to hire a new maid.”
“Don’t we have one?” Sterling asked.
“Uh huh, her name is Maria,” Ben answered.
Raymond heard only bits and pieces of the conversation. He focused on whether Alex would accept the job. “Alex’s mother’s name was Maria. She told me that yesterday.”
“Maria? Maria was before Tina, and Tina was before Jasmine.” Sulie took a deep breath. “Honestly, we can’t keep a maid for very long for obvious memory–fucking reasons. Once compelling no longer works they freak out when they see blood and needles all over the house. We had to wipe poor Jasmine’s mind so many times I thought her brain would be Swiss cheese.”
“Tina quit?” Sterling asked. “Tina was … helpful at times.”
Sulie gently smacked Sterling on his arm for that comment. “Tina was the best at cleaning this house. She scrubbed everything so clean.”
Sterling took a sip of his beer, “I agree. She was great on her knees.” Instantly he glanced over at his father, who appeared to have had avoided the comment entirely.
Raymond won
dered if Alex would join their weekly poker game. “Now that Dixon is retiring he won’t be in our games anymore. I don’t know if Alex plays. We probably should ask her.” Raymond announced to no one in particular.
Sneering at Sulie, Ben chuckled, “I thought our maid’s name was Sulie.”
As a poker chip flew by his face, Sulie left the room to refill her empty goblet. The cards were dealt by the time she returned.
“What are the stakes tonight?” Sterling asked.
“Pennies,” Ben said, pointing to a jar on the coffee table. “Put your dollar in.”
“I’ll bring Alex around here tomorrow night to meet you.” Raymond said as Sterling got up and stuffed two dollars into the glass, one for him and the other for his father.
Sterling studied his father on the way back to the table. “No way. Am I the only one picking up on this?” he looked around the room as he took his seat. “Sulie, you can sometimes read my father, what’s going on?”
Sulie stared at her brother, but then shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing. … Are you blocking me Raymond?”
He was pulled from his Alex–induced coma. “What? Of course not.” He stared around the table at the faces of his team members. He wondered why they were all staring back at him.
“His aura is all red. Damn, I don’t even see any secondary colors.” Ben commented.
“You’ve mentioned Alex a couple of times tonight, and you’ve spent a lot of time with her this week. In fact, you’ve been smiling a lot more since you met this woman.” Sulie added.
“I doubt my father would give up his priestly, celibate status and join the sexually immoral. After all, he holds the world’s record for not getting laid,” Sterling sneered.
“Enough, Sterling!” Raymond didn’t like all eyes on him, but managed to say, “She’s pleasant. I like her.” He thought about Alex’s kind manner and charming smile. He couldn’t get the memory of her touch from his mind.
“Does she like you?” Sulie asked. Without waiting for an answer she continued, “My brother in a relationship? After roughly 180 years! Could she possibly have feelings for you too?”
Shocked, and a little embarrassed, Raymond shook his head and looked away from his team, not wanting to make eye contact. “I don’t know if she has feelings for me or not.” How can I really know when she’s been compelled this entire time not to run from me in fright? “It doesn’t matter even if she does. I’m not interested in pursuing a relationship with anyone,” he lied.
“Your aura begs to differ, my man.” Ben accused.
Sterling nodded over to his father. “I know you’re out of practice, but it’s easy to see if a woman is interested in you, Dad. There are many ways, like if she rips off your clothing the first chance she gets.”
Raymond fiddled with his poker chips. “Please Sterling. No clothing got ripped,” Raymond protested.
“Knowing you, Dad, if you were to get any action, you’d probably fold the clothes as you took them off.”
Ben held up his hands to get a word in edgewise. “OK, here is a subtle one. At any point in time, did she giggle?”
Raymond tried to concentrate on his poker hand, but couldn’t. “What?”
“Women giggle if they like you. It's the ‘giggle factor’,” Ben added.
Raymond looked from his son to Ben and then back to Sulie. “Women giggle. It’s a fact of life. … And, no. I don’t think she giggled.” He then thought for a second and added, “Wait, she may have. I don’t remember.”
Sulie protested. “I giggle sometimes.”
Sterling looked over at his aunt, the woman who raised him as a mother. “No, you don’t. You hiss, you sneer, and sometimes when you laugh so hard you snort. But you don’t giggle – at least, not with present company.”
Sulie shot her nephew a deadly glance.
“Remember the time she laughed so hard blood came up her nose?” Ben laughed. “That stain on the rug at the bottom of the stairs is still there.”
“This proves my point that we need a maid!” Sulie threw up her hands.
Getting back to the original point, Ben took a good look at Raymond’s red aura. “It’s a fact. Grown women over the age of 30 don’t just giggle for the hell of it. They giggle when they like you. She looks about 30. What do you think Raymond?”
Raymond set his cards down in defeat. “She’s probably about 30, I don’t know. But I don’t think she giggled, so it’s a moot point. Trust me; I can’t really be sure of her feelings right now.”
“Wait. You can’t read her?” Sulie interrupted.
How did this conversation get so turned around? “I can read her … but, her thoughts are not clear.”
“OK, so you’re not sure if she likes you or not. But do you like her?” Sterling prodded.
Raymond shrugged. “She’s nice, like I said.”
Sulie added, “Raymond, if you like her, and she likes you, you should consider asking her out.”
“But you can’t just date her, Dad. After all, remember your first Corinthians 7:8–9.”
Raymond flushed, half in anger and half in embarrassment. “Nobody’s getting married. Although it warms my heart to hear you quote passages from the New Testament, Sterling.”
“You’ve Bible–thumped the verses enough around here,” Sterling huffed.
Raymond’s eyes scanned around the table. “Not that it's anyone’s business …” he looked around sheepishly, “… but, even if there was a relationship, which there isn’t, it hasn’t progressed anywhere near Corinthians 7.”
“Yet,” Ben whispered.
Raymond was tempted to leave the table, but didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. “Besides, I don’t know how I feel about her just yet. End of discussion.”
Ben leaned closer to Raymond. “Yeah, but what did her hair smell like?”
Raymond closed his eyes, took a deep breath. As his chest slowly expanded and contracted, he quietly said, “Honey almond.”
CHAPTER TWENTY–THREE
Alex walked trance–like down the hallway to Dixon’s office. She refused to allow her feelings for Raymond to interfere with her accepting the best promotion she had ever been offered.
Her thoughts bounced back and forth as she struggled with her ethics. The adage “You never fish off the company pier,” came to mind. The week passed and she meant to ask about the ring on his finger. He claimed to be a widower, so he must be recently widowed if he wasn’t ready to remove the ring. Great, she was going to be the new director and Miss Rebound? No. The price wasn’t worth the headache to start a relationship.
Speaking of headaches, two of them were walking up to her.
“Can we have a word, Captain?” Brandon asked.
She didn’t think she could say ‘never’ and just run away. “I’m going into a meeting with Dixon right now.”
“This will only take a moment,” Matt reassured her.
Before she could even say, “Straitjacket for two”, she was whisked away to their office. She found herself in the middle of what she would have considered paranoid central if it weren’t for the last week of her own world being torn apart.
“Raul Medina was a prisoner down in questioning a week ago. He was involved with some drug smuggling,” Matt began.
“That’s right. Then Mr. Teal Eyes came in with Mr. Seventies Hair, and things got weird.” Brandon unlocked his computer and showed her a video feed. “This is from the hallway of the interrogation cells. The original video has been erased, but a single frame exists where you can see the two men as they stand at the security check. The man standing with them is Lt. Gallendar. The Lt’s name is on the roster followed by two other names, which are fake. At least, we can’t find any agents with their names.”
“Wait a second,” Alex said, looking at the single frame which showed Raymond and the profile of the other man she didn’t know, but guessed was a Colony member. She scanned the time stamp, it was just before she was introduced to the Colony. She advanced the vi
deo and watched the time stamp jump.
“They’re all over the place, but they’re also not,” Matt said.
Alex put one hand on her mouth to hide her shocked expression. “OK, fast forward.”
Brandon clicked on the keyboard and stopped the video once more. “Here is a frame showing the left hand of a man at the door of the Medina’s interrogation room. We compared the ring to the ring worn by Mr. Teal Eyes. They match.”
Alex took a good look at the ring. It was the one Raymond wore.
“Obviously, these two were entering the room,” Matt chimed in.
Brandon slapped his hands together, startling Alex. “And BAM! The time stamp jumps a good five minutes.” He paused the video, pointed at the time stamp, and looked at her like the cat that ate the canary.
“And the lieutenant who escorted the two doesn’t even remember being anywhere near this room at this time,” Matt added.
Alex noticed Brandon rubbing his temple and Matt squinting at the lights. Memory wipes. These two may act like idiots, but they saw, and suspected, a lot more than they should. “Is there any more of this video?”
“They visited two more holding cells. In each case, the video has been tampered with. In one of the rooms, you see their shadows in several of the frames.” Matt was about to queue up the other videos when Alex stopped him.
“I have to meet with Dixon. Don’t show this to anyone just yet. I’ll be back to talk to you about this.”
Alex’s head swarmed with thoughts as she continued down the corridor to Dixon’s office. She needed to warn him of Brandon and Matt’s findings. She had already made up her mind; she wanted to know more about vampires and the Colony. She didn’t want to be left in the dark like Matt and Brandon.
She was running late now. After just one tap on the closed door, Dixon welcomed her into his office. It surprised her to find another lady, whom she did not know, present. She looked not much more than a child, perhaps eighteen to twenty years old. The woman had a short, professional haircut, which framed her apple–shaped face. She held a coffee mug in one hand, and wore a classic, cream colored tweed, double–breasted, two–piece suit. The long sleeved outfit was fastened with mother–of–pearl buttons for accents. Whoever she was, she had taste.
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