~ Dakota ~
Dakota was growing frustrated. They had combed over every square inch of the caretaker’s apartment and found no leads. The cemetery seemed quiet and the caretaker was nowhere to be found.
Her mind slipped back to her one and one of the few conversations she had with him. A couple of Christmas’ ago, he came to a party at the academy. He was dressed impeccably and he smelled like expensive cologne and sexy vampire. As always, he was aloof and polite but she had thought him attractive in a very non-traditional kind of way. He was kind of geeky and just a tiny bit socially awkward, which looked good on him. His girls fussed over him all night, leaving her with the feeling that they were a very close knit family.
Suddenly, a memory came flooding back she had totally forgotten about. The party was shortly after she found Jared and she had invited him to attend. She remembered that Jared was extremely standoffish but did mix and mingle with her throughout the room. She had a vague memory of Arianna introducing her father and of herself introducing Jared. She remembered that Jared had gone to get punch for the girls. Was she the one who introduced Jared and Selene?
When they danced, Dakota had though him smooth and conversational. He seemed to blossom when it was just the two of them. Being a good dancer and an interesting conversationalist made him stand out in her memory. His charming smile was disarming. Because that beautiful smile was noticeably missing from the people in his life, it was up to her to find him. So far, she’d let him down.
Glancing around the caretaker’s room one final time, the magnitude of her failure hit her square between the eyes, giving her a huge migraine. Good old fashioned deduction and just tracking down leads generally brought her the results she was looking for. This particular search seemed to be on a long road to nowhere. She was no closer to finding him than she had been on day one.
Based on the information obtained from Oscar, she was reasonably certain Mr. Shardon was still alive. They wouldn’t kill him until they got the information they were looking for. Dakota hoped he would not give up the information. If he did, that would be the end. She was now racing the clock to get to him before he gave up.
This was the grim determination phase and she had only been there three times before. She dreaded opening that private drawer to add yet another picture. Her heart turned to stone as she imagined his beautiful blue eyes closing for the last time. It spurred her to immediate action. She folded the picture, slid it into her pocket, and walked outside again, joining Jared. Squeaky and his two partners had joined the search. Dakota gave them a basic chin jerk acknowledgement, unsure just how she felt about the trio. Squeaky had alerted them of Mr. Shardon’s whereabouts, so she had some level of respect for him. The other two seemed like they honestly wanted to help, but they were a day late and dollar short in her opinion.
They all spread out to give the huge cemetery one final walk through before settling down to wait for the caretaker to arrive.
A middle aged punker in black leather caught her eye. He was tall, looked like he had not bathed in about a year, and she could smell him at twenty paces. The man was taking a small bag of groceries into a crypt. Normally, dead people didn’t eat; workers normally carried less food and it was usually enclosed in a lunch box.
He fit the description of the suspect but at this distance, he bore little resemblance to the photographs of him they had recovered from his apartment. This could not possibly be Donovan? Donovan was a research assistant and this person actually did appear homeless. Maybe he was just a random homeless person. She decided to follow him. Hell, she had followed up on less. Where was Jared?
He slipped into the crypt and she followed close behind him. Her steps were noiseless and she her drawn weapon was clasped tight in both hands. She stepped into the damp confines of the enclosed cement room. A nauseating scent, assailed her nostrils. The vagrant had his back to her. He froze when he sensed movement, slowly turned around. Instead of looking panicked when he saw that she had a weapon trained on him, he barked a dark soulless laugh.
He would be able to tell by the black strap of leather she wore wrapped over her chest and around her waist that she was a hunter. Few were crazy enough to provoke an experienced hunter. That was her first clue that he was not playing with a full deck.
Dakota asked cautiously, “What are you doing in here?”
When he smiled, his mouth revealed grimy teeth. His voice was raspy and his eyes were bloodshot and strange. He replied, “Just looking for a place to crash.”
She glanced briefly around the room and saw that he had pulled a dead body out of the one of the crypts and for some godforsaken reason, had it chained to the wall. Then her blood ran cold as she saw the body move. He turned her head toward her and opened his eyes. They were clear blue and filled with pain and misery. Her heart went out to him a second before she realized he was alive. She felt a surge of adrenaline as she realized he was actually alive and she had found him.
As the realization of what she was seeing flashed through her mind, the filthy man lunged at her. She rolled past him and headed toward the vampire. She was certain he was the one she had been looking for. The poor man looked almost like a corpse. She immediately suspected it because he had been chained to the wall and drained of blood. There was a device connected to his arm that apparently pulled all the blood out of his veins. She could tell because it had tubes with red blood running through them.
This would be what a vampire looked like if he had all his blood removed. He was dry as a bone and beginning to simply waste away. He looked pitiful. It was a degenerate thing to do to a vampire.
The filthy man tried to grab her but ended up knocking her weapon out of her hands and wrestled her backward onto a crypt. Dakota cursed under her breath for allowing herself to become distracted by the pitiful sight. She was more than a match for a research assistant but she needed to maintain her focus.
She was nauseated as he spoke. The stench of his body and his breath was overpowering. She said, “Why in the hell are you doing this.”
He responded with a lie. “Because some of us still believe in freedom and preserving our way of life.”
She glanced around and said, “What do you mean? The right of all humans to refuse to bathe, brush their teeth, and live with dead bodies?”
His grip tightened on her throat and he said, “No, you stupid bitch. My parents fought and died in the alien wars for the right of every human to live without having to look over our shoulders constantly and worry about having our blood sucked.”
She replied through clenched teeth, “No vampire I know would want to put their mouth on you, so I don’t think you have to concern yourself about things like that.” Getting some leverage, she kicked him back off of her. Coming to her feet, he hand landed on her backup weapon in the small of her back.
“Hands where I can see them, bitch. The fucking vampire’s not one of us, so why do you care what I do to him?”
“Is senseless violence all you know?”
“My boss said make him talk. I decided to take the long scenic route.” He lunged for her again, and she stepped back.
“I know who you are. Don’t think I haven’t seen your posters and billboards. For all your fame and glory, you’re nothing special, little hunter. Like me, you put your pants on one leg at a time. The vampire belongs to me and I will not give him up.” Going for the old fashioned revolved peeking out the top of his boot, Dakota knew he was finished talking.
She didn’t have time for this. She needed to get that device off Alek’s arm and blood into his body while he still had a chance of surviving. It was obvious the mangy human had totally lost touch with reality.
Stepping back, she angled her body sideways to make a smaller target for her opponent to aim at and pulled her back-up gun out and shot him in the face. She was shocked when laser fire hit him from two guns outside the doorway at the same time as she got her shot off.
Glancing over, she caught a glimpse of her son and Faran. They were standing in the huge arched doorway, with their laser pistols still raised. Jared was staring at the dead man and the shock on his face sent a twinge of remorse up her spinal cord. She probably should not have allowed him to hunt with her until he was a little older.
Dakota immediately pulled her wireless device from her shoulder and called for backup. Snatching up a metal bar, rushed over to the vampire, knelt across his lap, and began to work the chain that had held his arms above his head.
Jared knelt beside her and the large Kalian grabbed the metal bar and gave it several strong twists, breaking the chains away from the wall. His hands came down but were still shackled together. Jared gently pulled the device off his arm.
Faran looked at Dakota and said, “You must feed him now, if he is to have hope of survival.”
When the Kalian spoke, Alek looked up at him and whispered, “Faran…what…how?”
She immediately took out a knife, cut a shallow wound in her wrist, just enough to get him to bite. She brought her wrist to his mouth. He turned his head sideways to avoid taking her blood but she was persistent.
The Kalian reminded her, “He only drinks synthetic blood.”
She leaned over, stoked his face. “Don’t worry, help is on the way. You must drink now, if you want to live.”
She brought her wrist to his lips again and he let the blood flow into his mouth. She stroked his hair and explained, “We’ve been looking for you. We know you sacrificed yourself to keep the mutagenic material from getting into the wrong hands. Oscar has been arrested and both your daughters are safe, sound, and waiting for you to come home.”
His blue eyes showed gratitude but he said nothing. He nodded to the Kalian and wondered, once again, how he got involved with the hunter. If felt strange for one of his abductors to somehow become a rescuer.
Dakota knew that he probably was in no condition to speak but at least he did bite. She continued to force blood into his mouth and pulled spider webs off him, smoothed his hair, and caressed his face with the other hand.
He closed his eyes and continued to drink for the first time in over a month and it was such sweet ecstasy. He realized going a month feeding only very little would have been difficult but not impossible. However, going for a month with most all of his fluids removed off and on…well, that was causing real problems. He couldn’t organize his thoughts properly.
When he seemed well enough to sit up, Dakota helped him up and offered him her neck. He bit her gently, allowing the blood to flow directly into his mouth. She whispered, “Suck, my friend, you need the blood and I have much to give.” She could feel him feeding gently on her vein and it calmed her a bit.
Her blood felt so good going down his throat. Alek could feel his body responding to the warm, delicious nutrition. It was pure and sweet, the best he had ever tasted. He trusted her instantly. All vampires knew human’s blood was a direct representation of them as a person. Sweet tasting blood to him meant she was a good, decent person.
She was also kind and gentle with him. His heart shattered into a million pieces as he sat between drinks, looking up at her beautiful face…she appeared so worried and concerned about him.
Dakota was growing gravely concerned. Feeding did not seem to be changing his eye color at all. Normally, when vampires fed, their eyes took on a slight red cast and turned deep red when they were fully sated. His eyes were still dull blue. She took this to mean that he was in critical condition.
She kept her arms around him, supporting him, smoothing his hair, and forcing blood into his mouth until help arrived. Honestly, it was all she could think to do in this situation. Her protective instincts had really kicked into high gear with this man. She would not risk further injury to him, even if that meant accompanying him to the hospital herself.
The Kalian and Jared went out to show EMS their exact location. Dakota cradled his head in her hand and held him close as he continued to feed weakly from her neck. She couldn’t help but to whisper positive, encouraging things to him over and over. She told him that everyone in his life had been missing him terribly and this girls were would be so happy that he was found alive. She told him how glad she was to finally find him and that everything was going to be alright. His tension seemed to melt away.
Dakota was pleased that her call generated so much back up. Local law enforcement sent their SWAT and the local sheriff’s office sent their best. What she really wanted was EMS and they were hard on the heels of local law enforcement. The sheriff’s department searched the dead body and the surrounding area and found the key to get the cuffs off.
The look on his face when the cuffs slid off almost brought tears to her eyes. He looked up at the large number of people buzzing around and saw both humans and vampires working side by side, with a smattering of other alien species.
EMS loaded him in an ambulance and she stepped in as well. Jared was on the phone to Selene and Arianna. She watched as the paramedics hung a blood bag and set up his IV. Seeing all the blood going straight into his vein reduced her anxiety somewhat. He looked awful but not as bad as he had looked before she had fresh fed him. His eyes still had not changed in the slightest. The dirt on his skin was unbelievable, considering he had only been gone a couple of months. His hair was a matted mess. She reached out and moved a strand of hair from his face and pulled it gently to the side of his head.
He glanced up at her like he recognized her but he just couldn’t place the face. Alek asked the person changing out his IV, “Why do you have bags of warm blood in your vehicle?” His voice barely scratched out the words.
The paramedic smiled, showing the tips of his fangs. “We often get calls for vampires who need emergency medical care. The quickest way to stabilize one of our kind is to get warm blood in their veins.”
Alek questioned weakly, “Where do you get the blood? I prefer synthetic blood and if not that, then I only accept blood from the willing.” His mind was clearly foggy and he couldn’t seem place where he was or why there were so many of his kind around.
The paramedic smiled politely. “Synthetic blood is not what you need right now. Your body is in no condition to synthesize it. You need actual blood. Don’t worry, with all the blood drives over the last few years, there are more people willing to donate blood than ever before. Trust me, no vampire on this planet has had to resort to taking blood from unwilling people. Some people donate to blood banks and as you know, others like Miss Dakota donate from their vein to our lips if there is need. Obviously, only nice, kind, decent people bother with donating blood so it is always of good quality.”
The paramedic could see the look of confusion on his face. “You have been through a trauma, my brother, and it is affecting your thought processes. Do not worry, once we get some plasma into your veins you will be fine.”
The paramedic looked at the wounds on Dakota’s wrist and neck and asked, “Do you want me to have a look at your wounds?”
“No, they’ve almost completely healed already.” Everyone knew that the saliva of a vampire had strong healing powers and once a human was bitten, within 24 hours, you would never know by looking. Unless, of course, they kept breaking the bite open over and over again, then it would take substantially longer to heal.
Dakota stayed with him until he was wheeled into the emergency room. She held his hand and only reluctantly let it go when he cleared the threshold to the trauma bay.
Her hand went out and grabbed the doctor by the arm as he rushed into the bay. “Take good care of him. He has been through a lot.”
The doctor put his hand over hers. “Don’t worry, I will ensure my brethren is well cared for.”
Dakota liked that vampires were generally very dedicated to each other, whether they knew the other person or not. It was a clannish trait that many of the aliens shared, probably from banding together by species to survive on the ships all those years. Old habits were hard to break, even when such behavior was no longer necessary for survival.
She came out into the waiting area to find Charles and Jared waiting for her. Josh and the Kalian joined them within moments. Alek’s daughters had had been very upset at meeting the men who had kidnapped their father but after seeing how dedicated they were to searching for him, their anger slowly died away.
Squeaky showed up with his young wife. The little vampire was dressed in nice business attire and looked better than he ever had. Dakota gave him a swift upward nod as he came in. They had stopped and brought coffee along with some mini-shots of Synth-B. Everyone gratefully grabbed their drink of choice.
The Kalian and Josh held hands and Dakota could see the worried expression on their faces. She was surprised that Squeaky had a wife, and a very beautiful and well manered one from the look of it. She seemed exceptionally dedicated to him as evidenced by the fact that they sat close together, held hands, and she kind of fussed over him. His woman making a fuss over him was embarrassing for the little vampire and she decided the two of them were quite adorable.
Taking it all in, Dakota knew she was probably in shock. No amount of experience could prepare a person for what she saw inside that crypt.
Dakota sat with her head in her hands for a long moment before looking up. Once she did, she realized her hands were trembling. It was definitely a reaction to the shock of finding him in such bad shape. Dakota and Faran took turns explaining the situation they found him in to Charles, Josh, and Squeaky, with very little input from Jared.
Dakota commented despondently, “I don’t know what I was expecting to find but what I saw in the crypt was nothing I could have ever imagined. The conditions were deplorable. I don’t even know how someone comes back from something like that. Before, I felt like maybe he was locked in another warehouse somewhere, living off blood bags, but now, I see how optimistic that idea was. Seeing him looking like a corpse will haunt my dreams. This is one hunt I wish I hadn’t subjected Jared to.”
Jared reached over and held her trembling hand in his. “It’s affecting you much more strongly than me. I’ve seen things in my life that make this pale by comparison.”
Before she could fully process what her son was telling her, Charles spoke. “Alek is stronger than you can possibly imagine and he’ll get through this. We’re lucky you got involved and that none of you gave up, even when everyone else did. I admit to feeling certain he was dead.”
“I should have gotten involved sooner or looked harder.”
“It happened the way it happened, Dakota. To look diligently and not find…well, there is no shame in that, but to have given up…now that would have been letting him down.”
Jared tossed in his opinion. “We disciplined ourselves to look for him every single day. We have nothing to feel bad about. Even Josh and Faran have redeemed themselves with their dedication in hunting for him. Trust me when I say he will be grateful to have his life back.”
The more Dakota thought of the situation, the more she realized that they were probably right. She should just thank her lucky stars to have found him alive and hope and pray for a full recovery.
She thought back in her mind to the several times she had seen him at various functions at the academy. He always struck her as a very strong, poised, and professional. She desperately wanted to see him get back to that point as quickly as possible. After the sacrifices he had made to keep their world safe, Alek deserved all the support they could give him.
They sat for about an hour until he received emergency treatment and was placed in his room. Selene and Arianna arrived just in time to see him wheeled into his room. They could not go in to see him until he was set up and the doctor had seen him one more time. Dakota could tell the waiting was killing them.
Selene sat wrapped around Jared’s chest. She kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe you really did find him. He’s alive. I can’t believe he is actually alive.”
“We will just have to pray for another miracle in terms of his recovery.” Arianna murmured sagely.
“We should all make a pact. Whatever he needs to recover fully, we will work together to make sure he has it.” Jared suggested. Everyone verbalized their agreement.
Dakota glanced up at Squeaky and asked, “I have a job for you if you’re interested?” “I’m always looking to better myself. Do you mind if I ask what you had in mind.”
“I know that now isn’t the time to talk but I’m going to shoot you a ton of information on a side project I’ve been working on for the last few years. I need and administrative assistant and I think you’d be a good fit.”
“I’ll review the information and message you back promptly.” Squeaky seemed for all the world like a businessman discussing a career advancement. His wife beamed up at him, clearly proud and still very enamored with her husband.
Dakota sighed, wishing she could give him the kind of attention this situation deserved. She didn’t have it in her right now. She tried not to think about the twenty-eight active special projects all in motion right now. Really it was more like twelve, because two didn’t seem viable…fourteen seemed flawed, but he would just have to figure all that out.
The small vampire drew her from her random pointless thoughts. “Please call me Squeaky.”
Reaching out to touch his hand, she sighed. “Thank you for everything you did to help us with this situation. You’re the reason Mr. Shardon survived. I hope you know that.”
“I am not a perfect man, but I do what I can, as I can.”
“I don’t believe anyone can expect more of you than that.”