As he left the room, a woman entered the threshold of the door. Her voice sounded labored as if she had been running or very busy during the entire turmoil. “Raymond, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He gestured with his hand to brush her off, but she appeared concerned.
“You took the second one?” She eyed him from head to toe, her eyes stopping on his chest.
“I’m fine,” he reassured her as his hand lightly touched his shirt. “He got me as I ran a perimeter check of the grounds. The wound is nearly healed. What about the President and First Lady?”
“I gave them a full medical exam. Both were asleep when the attack happened. They’re fine.” She looked into the room, and Jackie saw the woman studying her. “Is she the woman Secret Service wanted me to examine?”
“Yes. She was being escorted to the East Wing before I intercepted her.” Raymond walked through the doorway, taking the new arrival with him. With the door ajar, Jackie could hear some of their conversation.
“I suspect William is cleaning up from the first hit,” Raymond said.
“He took the first one?”
“I believe so. This woman’s name is Jackie Pearlman. William signed her into the White House a short while ago, and I caught it on the security feed. She is covered in his blood.”
“It does smell like it. Does William need my help?”
“No. Through the com chatter, I heard that William subdued the sniper. I think William took care of things in the field since one report commented on some blood on the man’s neck. He is in custody and cooperating nicely with the authorities.”
“And what about the attack?” the woman asked.
“The attack appears to be random. There are some protesters outside. We’ll get to the bottom of it, but I don’t think there is much more.”
There was a slight pause, and Jackie wondered if the woman had left. Just then she heard Raymond mention the woman’s name.
“Sulie, this is William’s mess. I’ll be helping interrogate the sniper, so I’d appreciate it if you’d help William deal with this woman.”
Jackie listened intently, and finally heard the woman say, “Not to worry. If needed, I’ll take care of Ms. Pearlman.”
*******
Jackie scanned the room. Yes, this was the White House and not some Turkish prison, but she wasn’t sure what the woman named Sulie had in mind by “taking care” of her. No windows, and no other way out of the room existed, except the main door — which Raymond blocked.
She dashed over to the desk and tried to open some drawers, but all remained locked. Her eyes darted across the room and she noticed blood stains on a wastebasket. Gathering her resolve, she looked into the metal can and discovered a bloody brown suit, ripped and discarded. A suit she recognized all too well.
Her heart raced, and her mouth went dry as Sulie now entered the room. She was in cahoots with the mysterious man named Raymond who changed his age, so whatever this was, it wasn’t good. Jackie’s hand gently touched her forehead. Crazy thoughts raced in her mind. Was she even able to judge what she was seeing and hearing? Overall, she felt fine — just a small bump on the back of her head, but any head injury should be taken seriously.
Sulie wore a tailored grey suit with a white button–down shirt and her hair firmly secured in a bun, but Jackie did not see a weapon on her as she entered the tiny room.
“Jackie,” the woman said softly. “Please have a seat.” Her hand gestured to the couch.
Jackie’s voice cracked, but she stood her ground.”I think I’d rather stand.”
Sulie smiled. “You may be here awhile.” Jackie noticed the woman staring intently at her, but then a few moments must have passed, because Jackie found both of them seated on the couch, with Sulie smiling at her. The woman stood. “You’re physically healthy, Jackie, with only a bump on the head.” She walked over to the desk and leaned over to retrieve a bottle of water from the case on the floor. “You may be here awhile.” She handed the bottle to Jackie and then went to the door. Taking one last look at Jackie, she said, “Stay here. Be kind to William, and listen to what he has to tell you. He’s one of the good guys.”
Jackie wasn’t sure what happened, but she had no wish to leave the room.
Chapter Twenty–Two
William didn’t have enough time to clean the sniper’s neck by the time the human Secret Service arrived. He flashed his badge and compelled the humans to take over interrogating the perp. Not only had William compelled the sniper to comply, he seemed eager to talk.
The man rambled about white supremacy, and protested the bill the President planned to either sign or veto shortly. After pulling some strings and compelling a congressman or two, William had slipped Jackie’s school funding requirements of her petition into the bill. The additional money needed would be covered, and he hoped the administration, which had done so poorly addressing education and racial unrest, would sign the bill. He now felt responsible for Jackie being the target of tonight’s attack.
William took a deep breath as he helped the Secret Service march the sniper to a secure location. The man didn’t know anything about Jackie. He had wanted to kill the President, but couldn’t keep himself from shooting at a black woman standing in the window frame of the White House.
Gritting his teeth, William regretted that racial hatred still existed. It wasn’t as prevalent as in the 1960’s when he was killed as a Freedom Rider in Alabama, but it was still very much alive today. He looked at the man as guards placed him into a police car that would take him to an undisclosed location. Hate consumed the man with something as unimportant as the color of their skin. William wondered what the man would think if he hadn’t been compelled to forget that a vampire, a different species, had fed on him only moments ago.
As William grinned trying to guess what the man's reaction might be, his superior, Raymond, appeared — and he didn’t look happy. From the scent of blood in the air, and the fact that Raymond looked younger now than he did earlier in the day, William knew he had taken the second bullet.
Raymond pulled William aside. His eyes scanning William, looking for injuries. “Where were you hit, and were there witnesses before or after you fed?”
William filled in the details to his superior, feeling silly to have taken a date to the White House. The home was off–limits, even if many people did it.
“This house isn’t your personal home, nor is it a hotel,” he said sternly.
“Understood, sir.” He noticed Raymond rub his chest. “Were you hit…”
“Yes, right in the chest while doing a routine perimeter check. I had aged so quickly I barely had time to get to a blood stash.” Raymond now glanced over to William’s wounds. “Mine was a through and through. Were you able to recover your bullet?”
William reached into a small side pocket of his costume and handed the bullet to Raymond. It had mushroomed and split into two pieces from the impact, and hurt like hell on its way out. “We also have his firearm and extra ammo.”
“It’s a large caliber,” Raymond commented. “Looks like 50mm.”
“And there’s something special about the way it’s made. This slug easily sliced through the bullet proof glass. The glass took most of the impact, or it would have torn my arm off.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Raymond said as he pocketed the slug.
William shifted from one foot to the other, wondering how much longer the debriefing would take. He wasn’t sure where Jackie was, but knew she had been detained in the White House during its lockdown. William then noticed Raymond’s concentrated stare.
“The woman is in Dixon’s office,” Raymond said.
Nodding, William knew their director was out of the city at the moment. His office remained vacant and was the perfect spot to hold Jackie while he did his best to explain things to her.
“She’s confused,” Raymond added.
William understood how Raymond’s mental gift worked. Not all vampires had such
special gifts, but Raymond’s family line had been blessed by them, and they came in handy. Raymond had read Jackie’s mental patterns.
Raymond tapped the com unit in his ear. “Sulie just finished examining her. She’s fine, but like I said, she’s confused.”
William nodded. As Raymond’s sister, Sulie also had a gift and could medically examine someone just by touching them. It made sense that someone would be confused in the middle of an attack on the White House, especially since he had disappeared immediately and hadn’t been seen since.
He wasn’t sure what to say next, or if he was excused to leave. He wanted to check on Jackie but Raymond studied him, concentrating deeply with his eyebrows furrowed. That’s when William knew the vampire was reading not just his mental patterns, but also his mind. He went with it.
Raymond’s scowl disappeared, and his facial expression softened. “This is the woman you mentioned to me a few months ago?”
“Yes. She is.”
“You need to clean this up with Jackie,” Raymond said. “One way or the other. Do you understand?”
“I know.”
“Sulie is there to help… if needed.”
William took a deep breath and nodded. He walked back towards the main house and prayed Jackie would be open minded.
Chapter Twenty–Three
William stood outside of the White House COLONY office. He knew Jackie remained safely locked away from all the chaos from the sniper. She was the woman of his dreams; he just hoped this conversation didn’t turn into a nightmare.
Raymond had handed William the keys to the office before rushing out to interrogate the prisoner. William held the door key in his hand, but still knocked. He wasn’t sure why, it just seemed more polite to do so. He used the key and slowly entered, saying her name as he did so.
Jackie sprang from the couch and ran towards him, engulfing him in a tight hug.
“I got so scared,” she said. “I had no idea what happened, where you were,… or…”
Hearing her elevated heart rate, he tried to comfort her, but she pulled away from him as he closed the door. Her eyes focused on her wet stained hands. When her eyes grew wide in fright, he figured she realized what the stain meant.
“You’ve been shot!” She studied him from head to toe, but then she had a confused look on her face when he appeared healthy.
“I’m fine,” he insisted. He took a quick glance at the video camera in the corner of the room. The red record light glowed. Since vampires used this room for feeding, the monitor gave the human Secret Service a fake video feed. His head leaned to the side, questioning the red light he saw. The light blinked off and back on twice, telling him live footage was being transmitted — and he knew to whom. Sulie was watching everything unfold, ready to jump in and help him clean up a potential mess with Jackie.
William could compel Jackie to forget everything, but history had proven he usually hesitated in such matters — unnecessarily terrifying the woman even more. The last thing he wanted was for her to run from him in a panic and get caught up in the disarray outside.
He motioned to the couch. “Please sit down.”
Her body went rigid. “You have grey in your hair,” she gasped. Backing away from him, she pointed to his aged face.
William cursed inwardly. Maintaining his age to the exact year proved difficult. Not only was there grey in his hair, but he was certain wrinkles had formed around his eyes as well. “I can explain.”
*******
Jackie backed farther away. An explanation existed for all of this. Space aliens. He belonged to an alien race come here to kill the President. The idea sounded crazy, but what else could it be?
She watched as he took a seat on the couch, sitting as far from her as possible with his hands folded in his lap, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. She appreciated his efforts, although she remained ready to run to the door if needed — even if she didn’t make it out of the room, she could scream bloody murder.
He let out a sigh, and Jackie thought he seemed nervous. “You believe in equality for all, and I’m a member of a very small minority. One whose numbers are only in the thousands.”
It must have been a large mother ship they came in on, she thought.
“Several of us protect the President.” He now looked up at the COLONY emblem on the wall behind the desk. “Council Of Legalized Outlanders for National securitY.”
She studied the letters. The round seal had the United States across the top, the word COLONY on the bottom, with an eagle atop a shield with thirteen stars circling it.
“The COLONY,” she read. “Shouldn’t the acronym be COLONS?” It seemed fitting as she suspected he’d be shoveling a load of BS her way.
“No,” he chuckled. “We are a select group, and at the time of our team’s creation several colonies still existed around the world. There were British colonies and even American Indian reservations, which were like colonies unto themselves. We were always just called 'the colony' without any real description as to who we were. Eventually, someone filled in the acronym for us.”
“Several of you are here in the White House?”
He cleared his throat. “We work wherever the President works.”
She noticed him glance up towards the camera. The telltale red light shone brightly. “Who’s watching us?”
“A team member.”
She took a deep breath and tried to remember the names she had heard earlier. “Which one? Sulie or Raymond?”
His eyes widened. “Sulie. She is a good friend of mine. She even came to the party with me earlier tonight.”
Jackie thought of the beautiful blonde and pieced the story together. She closed her eyes and sighed, unable to believe how stupid she had been. “Sulie was your date.” Jackie felt like a fool, but also sensed the heaviness of guilt weighing on on her. Sulie must have been the sexy devil from earlier in the evening. Her style was now all prim and proper with a severe bun while she worked at the White House, but it was her earlier at the party.
“Sulie wasn’t my date. She was helping me find you.”
Jackie gasped and her hand went to her lips. “I made a terrible mistake.” When Wiliam paused and stared at her, she added, “Steve was dressed in the same costume as you. I thought he was making time with her.”
She saw the pained expression in William’s eyes. “I know you have feelings for him, and I’m so sorry, but he did hit on Sulie and another woman tonight.”
Jackie waved her hand dismissively. Puh-lease! She didn’t care about Steve; it only bothered her that she had prejudged him. She preached to people about giving everyone a fair shake, and she was acting like a fool. She now looked over to William. Was she doing the same with him?
She took a deep breath. Whatever the truth was, she wanted to hear it. “Tell me everything,” she said.
“I’m immortal.”
Yeah, right.
“A vampire,” he clarified.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh, cry or scream — so she went with the obvious comment. “You were dressed as a vampire earlier tonight.”
He glanced down at his outfit. “A sick joke. Sulie rented the costume for me.”
Jackie realized she was holding her breath, and her hand rested on her neck. “And, as a vampire, you bite people.”
“No. Well, yes. Sometimes, when necessary. I inject blood from syringes into my veins because it’s easier to do than drinking blood and having my spleen move it from my digestive tract to my circulatory system.” He sighed, and then continued. “We can’t produce blood, so we need human blood to circulate in our veins. The older the blood is, like the oil of a car, the more circulated it becomes. The blood slowly thickens, changing from red to purple, then to a dark black. Eventually, the blood becomes almost tar–like. Our cells age the older and more recycled the blood is.”
Jackie had wanted the answers as to why Raymond’s age had changed. She shook off her fear, realizing she should be ca
reful what she wished for. She felt her heart pound. Could William hear it?
“Take a deep breath and calm down,” he suggested.
“Don’t you be telling me what to do!” she blurted out, upset he could tell how nervous she had become. She planned to wrap this knowledge around her mind if it was the last thing she was did. At least, she knew where to begin with her questions.
“That man, Raymond,” she said. “I saw him age.”
William nodded. “He took the second bullet through the heart.”
“So he's old one minute, and the next minute he's young?”
“Pretty much.”
“And he was shot through the heart, but didn't die?”
In a soft voice, William answered, “Yes.”
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was the only one who noticed him. Can you be invisible?”
“What? No.”
He looked confused, so Jackie explained how none of the soldiers saw Raymond earlier.
William shrugged his shoulders. “We’re predatory creatures, blending into the background. We also don’t have body warmth for the scanners they wore. I guess that’s how Raymond went unnoticed.”
He held up his hand and offered it to her for examination, but she shook her head, not wanting to touch him. Although it did make sense why his fingers were cold earlier.
“So,” she said, gathering her thoughts and pointing to his hair. “You aged tonight.”
“Decades. But I… fed and took care of things.”
“Syringes?”
He shook his head. “Neck.”
Jackie bit her lower lip and took a deep breath. “Who did you kill?”“
His eyes quickly widened. “I don’t kill people to feed. I guess some vampires might, but the COLONY members all took oaths not to kill or compel anyone — well, unless necessary. I fed from the sniper. He’s alive and being interrogated by Raymond right now.”
William's Tale Page 10
