“You can say that again, Lucy,” Holly said.
“Pardon?”
“Oh, I just associate explaining with Lucy Ricardo of I Love Lucy. It’s a thing Avery and I say.”
She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Does that make you Ricky then?”
She laughed and sang, “Babalu…”
“Desi Arnaz never looked so good. Will you ask Avery and Stephen about tonight? Lydia’s daughter, Candace babysits and I can vouch for her. I’d invite Jessica, Aaron and Connor as well, but what I have to say isn’t meant for their ears.”
Holly felt ridiculously charmed by the fact that he used the kids’ names instead of lumping them together as “the kids”. It showed he thought of them as individuals.
“I’ll ask them and let you know.”
“Thank you. I’ve checked on Lydia and all is well with her. She likes being chauffeured. She’s never really liked driving, but knows it’s a necessary evil in contemporary society.”
Holly smiled at his choice of words. “I’m glad she’s okay. Maybe we’ve been able to change the future in a more significant way this time.”
He wasn’t nearly as optimistic. “I’m not going to jump to conclusions yet, but I hope you’re right. Has your computer hacker come up with anything on Irene’s phone and credit card records?”
Holly had almost forgotten about Arnie. She’d been so focused on Stryker she’d had little time for anything else.
She looked at Avery and without covering the mouthpiece she asked her.
“Did you get anything from Arnie?”
Avery shook her head and scoffed. “Pffft…Arnie’s a vampire, he sleeps by day. I don’t expect anything from him until about 2pm even though he told us we’d hear from him in the morning.”
“Did you hear that?” Holly asked Stryker.
“Clear as a bell. I have excellent hearing. I’ve come up nearly empty on the forensics angle. Irene’s killer knew what he was doing. He left no trace except the two marks on her neck.”
“Ah, I was right, vampire,” Holly joked.
“Nah, a vampire wouldn’t have left so much blood lying around,” Stryker said in a serious tone.
“Very funny. That doesn’t leave us with much. Let’s hope Arnie has better luck. I’ll let you know when we hear from him.”
After she hung up the phone, Holly told Avery about his dinner invitation. Avery was always up for socializing.
“We’d love to come. I’ll tell Stephen.” She picked up the phone and dialed his number. Stephen was a general practitioner. He was brilliant and had every opportunity to specialize in any number of fields, but a country doctor was all he’d ever wanted to be. Holly admired him for it. Small communities needed medical personnel like him. Stephen believed in treating the entire patient. He didn’t scoff at the concept of prevention or homeopathic remedies. He was very open-minded. Avery could never have fallen in love with a lesser man.
* * * *
Avery refused to give Holly a ride to Stryker’s house, insisting that Holly drive herself in case she elected to stay later for whatever reason. Stephen accepted his wife’s explanation without question. They were able to get their usual babysitter and she arrived on time. Holly was the last to pull into Stryker’s driveway. Her timing had been intentional. She didn’t want to be alone with Stryker before he’d been honest with her. She didn’t have the self-discipline.
Dinner was delicious. Conversation was easy and at times, lively. Stephen and Stryker immediately slipped into the age old male speak. They seemed to understand each other with very little actual discussion. Avery and Holly had always wondered at guy conversation. Men bonded seamlessly, yet the deepest conversation they shared was “Pass the Doritos” or “While you’re at it, get me another beer.”
The women kept things interesting at dinner, challenging Stryker and Stephen in the quintessential battle of the sexes. Holly was having such a wonderful time, she almost wished they didn’t have to spoil it by digging into Stryker’s secrets, but the time had come.
They moved into the living room for coffee and brandy. It was understood that Stryker would take the floor.
“I’m glad you were able to make it on such short notice. Holly has demanded explanations from me and I know it’s time to come clean. I thought it best to tell you all at the same time. A doctor such as you, Stephen, may come in handy.” His audience looked at him with synchronized confusion. He took a sip of his very expensive brandy and continued. “I must ask that what I’m about to tell you stay within these four walls. A great deal rests on secrecy at the moment. I also beg you to suspend disbelief until I’m finished.” He looked around the room. Each of them nodded, agreeing to his terms.
Finally, he began. “You might say I’m a stranger in a strange land. I’ve settled over one hundred people within this community. I’ve done it all over the western world. Soon, we hope to do the same in every country on earth.” Struck speechless, they waited for him to continue. “Margaret Wickham was right, Holly. I am not what I appear to be. Like you, I have abilities most people do not possess.”
Holly exchanged a look with Avery and asked, “Like what?”
“I can move at great speed, albeit, for very short distances. At times, I’m faster than the human eye can see. I have superior night vision.” He patted Polly on the head. “Polly and I run through the forest in the night with nature’s creatures. Sometimes I ride my stallion, Dakota, who has unusual abilities as well, but I digress.”
Holly, Avery and Stephen looked at him skeptically, but he spoke with such conviction that they stayed silent and reserved judgment as they’d promised.
“My kind is not susceptible to most of your diseases and we live a very long time. Cut us and we heal overnight. However, we do not procreate easily. It is rare to find a couple with more than one child. It is far more common for a couple to be childless.”
Soft-hearted Avery, the mother of three, gasped and offered genuine sympathy. Stryker accepted it with a grim smile and a nod as he reached out and squeezed her hand in gratitude.
“Long before recorded time, my people were hunted and almost wiped off the face of the earth. In the interests of self preservation, our leader took us underground where we’ve stayed for centuries. We became creatures of fable and fantasy in your world. We had our share of rogues who bridled at the self-imposed confinement and broke our laws, but they always met a tragic end. We police our own and our justice by necessity is swift and deadly. But, there are those who have hunted us for generations. They’ve vowed to wipe my kind off the face of the earth. We call them bloodstalkers.” He met Holly’s eyes and sighed. “Yes, I think Irene was killed by one of them. My people did not stay idle when we scurried underground. We learned a great deal about our own physiology and were able to overcome some of our weaknesses, but still we do not have many children.”
Stephen obviously couldn’t help but interrupt. “You’ve told us about your superior abilities. What kind of weaknesses are you talking about?”
Stryker said, “There was a time when we knew a great hunger that was never completely satiated. It drove us and made us worse than animals. We had no concept of enough. Our greed knew no limits.”
Avery muttered, “Ah, like Enron executives.”
He laughed at her joke. “Yes, there are some very unfortunate similarities.”
Stephen persisted. “What other weaknesses?”
“We suffer from a sensitivity to the sun that can prove debilitating. We burn very easily in direct sunlight. Even before the ozone layer was damaged, we suffered very bad sunburns. Sunblock hadn’t been invented. It took our scientists years, and great pain I might add, to discover that slowly we could build up a resistance to the harmful effects of the sun. Now we simply tan very easily. Every parent exposes their child to the sun so gradually that it takes years before they can allow their children to spend even an hour in the daylight. They start around the toilet training period. Before then
, our babies are kept sheltered from the sun.” He smiled as if envisioning a favored child in his mind’s eye. “My kind lives with the utmost respect for nature. There is no need for us to attempt to conquer it when there are so many ways it sustains and nurtures us. We have evolved beyond the concept of killing for pleasure. We do not torture Mother Nature’s creatures or defile her earth with our waste.”
Avery said, “Sounds good to me. So far, I think I like your kind better than mine.”
Holly stayed silent, a frown fixed on her face. From the moment he’d started to speak, her mind had been working feverishly sorting out all the information he was imparting. Stryker looked at her and she knew. Could it be? All that he’d told them fit with her suspicion, but she hesitated to lend her voice to it. She didn’t dare articulate her suspicion because it seemed so preposterous but one glance at Avery told her that she wasn’t alone.
Stryker didn’t take his eyes off Holly as he said, “My bloodline is an ancient and much respected one. With each generation, a Cain has been leader of our people. When the responsibility passed to me, I abdicated to my brother. Declan is far better suited. My talents lay elsewhere, but I am as dedicated to my brother’s vision as I am to my brother. We have ventured out into the human world with the hopes of making it a better place for all who inhabit it.”
Holly shifted her gaze and locked eyes with Avery. They’d both come to the same conclusion. Stephen was a scientist. His imagination was not at the ready.
Avery nodded and Holly finally broke her silence.
“You’re telling us that you’re a vampire.”
Stephen scoffed, Avery nodded and Stryker spoke with naked honesty.
“Yes, Holly. That is exactly what I’m telling you. I was born a vampire.”
Chapter 16
Avery shook her head and hit her ear with the heel of her hand as if to correct her hearing. She said, “Excuse me, but I think I just heard you say you’re a natural born vampire.”
Stryker smiled at the look on her face and leaned back in his chair. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” He put up a mediating hand. “Remember you promised to bear with me, to suspend disbelief.”
With a raised eyebrow and wide eyes Avery said, “Yeah, but you didn’t double dog dare us…I don’t think your case would hold up in court.” She looked at her husband and friend. “Do you guys?”
Holly reached over and touched Avery’s arm. “Let’s hear him out.” She looked back at Stryker. “You’ve got five minutes to make us believe you. Otherwise we’re walking out of here for good.”
Stryker nodded with resignation. “I have proof. Will you join me in the library?” They stood up and followed him from the living room down a paneled hallway to a set of solid wood double doors.
Holly couldn’t wait to see the room again. She remembered the library from the tour he’d given her. It looked like something straight out of Harry Potter’s world. It was the kind of room she’d always dreamed of. She’d never known anyone who owned so many books. Some of them had to be very old. From walnut wainscoting, to cathedral ceiling, every wall held row upon row of different sized books—hardcovers, paperbacks, leather bound, cloth bound. Stryker’s library held every kind of bound publication ever created. Overstuffed chairs and an incredibly large couch sat on a thick rug in front of the stone fireplace. At the end of the room a beautiful curved dark walnut staircase led to the second level and more books.
Holly waited to see Avery and Stephen’s reaction to the room. She wasn’t disappointed. Their jaws dropped as they looked up and around.
“You didn’t tell me about this, Hol,” Avery whispered.
Holly whispered back, “Yeah, sorry, I forgot. I had other things on my mind at the time.”
Stryker showed them to the couch with the sweep of an arm.
“Please make yourselves comfortable. I’ll be just a moment.” They watched as Stryker pulled a wide ladder to a spot on the east wall. He took four steps up and reached out for three very large books. They looked impossibly heavy, but he carried them effortlessly in one hand, as he moved back to what looked like his favorite chair. He sat down and placed the books on the coffee table.
Stryker placed the largest in front of Holly. “This is one of my family photo albums. Take a look inside.” Sitting beside Avery, Holly slid forward on the couch and opened the book. All of her senses told her the book was authentic. It looked like it had stood the test of many years. It had that indescribable smell that all very old tomes had, and when she opened it, Holly could feel the cloth-like texture of the paper. The album was filled with pictures that must have dated back to the invention of the camera.
Holly gasped and put a hand to her mouth when she recognized a man in one of the pictures. She pointed without touching her finger to the surface of the photo. “You’re telling us that this man is you?”
He looked her directly in the eye. “That is exactly what I’m saying, and I swear on everything I hold dear that I’m telling you the truth.” He looked at Avery then at Stephen. “If you have access to the means necessary to confirm the book’s authenticity, I’d gladly hand it over to you and the others as well. The one you’re looking at right now is a family photo album and the other three contain a modern history of my kind dating back to the 1400’s. You’re welcome to take them, read them, test them, whatever proves to you that I’m telling the truth.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Stephen said in a firm voice. He surprised Holly and Avery by saying, “I believe you.”
Avery did a double take and frowned at her husband. “I really thought I’d be the first person to say that. After all, I’m the writer here. My imagination knows no bounds.”
Stephen smiled at his wife. His admiration for her was evident by the expression on his face. “Sweetheart, you’ve taught me that the world is filled with mystery. Scientists cannot explain everything.” He nodded to Stryker. “I’ll just bet Stryker here has a truckload of doctors who will back up his story. Don’t ask me how I know, but it rings true to me.”
Stephen’s trust in Stryker was instant. Holly could only figure they’d bonded on some sort of male molecular level that she and Avery would never understand.
Stryker said, “You’re right Stephen, I am prepared to introduce you to some of our doctors. I can give you a sample of my blood. You will see it is not human and is unlike anything you’ve ever encountered before. You can take the blood yourself.” He turned his left arm over and exposed the blue veins that throbbed close to the surface of his inner elbow.
Was there ever a more attractive man? Holly had never found a man’s arm particularly sexy before, but every inch of Stryker’s body was food for her starving eyes. She wondered how he’d taste and longed to press her mouth against the beat she could see pulsing under his skin. It was strangely hypnotic. Dragging her eyes away from the life force she could see rushing through his veins, Holly said, “Speaking of blood…do you drink it?”
There was silence in the room. Stryker smiled at her and Holly could have sworn she saw a golden light appear behind him. She glanced at her friends to see if they saw it. They showed no sign of having witnessed the phenomenon.
Stryker finally spoke. “Yes, my kind drinks blood. But we’ve evolved to the point where we can survive without it. Our special abilities manifest only if we consume a small amount of blood every week. When we do not drink blood, we are just like humans except for our long life, our sensitivity to the sun and unfortunately, our inability to procreate easily.”
“It’s all relative, wouldn’t you say? How much blood do you consider a small amount?” Holly pressed.
He laughed. “No more than the amount of alcohol one puts in a shot glass. And the blood has to come from a willing donor.”
Avery said, “Human donors.”
“Yes. We do not take what is not ours without consent and animals cannot consent. Taking blood by force is why we’d never been able to control the hunger so long ago. In humans, f
ear produces adrenalin. Human adrenalin created by fear acts on the vampire like a drug. It’s instantly addictive and turns us savage. Eventually, it drives us insane. There are people in the world that know of us and are happy to provide us with what we need. Irene O’Neill was one of these people. She was a generous and compassionate woman who had a great capacity for understanding the supernatural. We all mourn her loss.” Sad, but in earnest, Stryker leaned forward in his chair. “The penalty for taking blood that is not freely offered is death. We cannot afford to take such crimes lightly. The last time we were forced to put one of our own to death was over one hundred years ago.”
“You’re over a hundred years old?” Avery squinted at him and said, “Man, that’s some serious Botox, Count Chocula. That explains Dick Clark at least.”
Holly couldn’t help but giggle. Trust Avery to find the humor. The levity broke the almost suffocating tension and Holly sighed deeply.
She said, “So you and your vampire friends are infiltrating the human population. To what purpose?”
Stryker took no offense at how she’d phrased her question or her directness. Calmly, he said, “We want to share this earth. We have much to teach humans and much to learn from them. My mission is a peaceful one, Holly. I give you my word on that.”
She nodded carefully and said, “Go on.”
“Don’t believe what has been written about vampires. We cannot increase our numbers simply by exchanging blood. That process is far more complicated and is forbidden. To my knowledge, the Becoming Ritual hasn’t been performed in hundreds of years. The knowledge of what is necessary to perform it has been all but lost. We cannot procreate easily. Humans do not have such a problem. In fact, they have over populated the world to such an extent that one day it will no longer sustain any life.” He made a pleading gesture with his hands. “We live ten times your lifespan. Our future is bleak if humans continue exploiting this planet.” Holly looked alarmed and Stryker reassured her. “I’m not suggesting that we plan to take over the earth. No. We seek only to co-exist with our human cousins…to learn from each other. We have discovered that humans and vampires are sexually compatible.”
Drawing Blood Page 14
