Chapter 6
~ Alek ~
Sitting back down at the table with his daughter, Alek sighed. “She just needs a moment.”
“I’m sorry, but you always said I should be honest.”
“You did nothing wrong. She’s upset by learning of her son’s feelings, not that you spoke of them. I’m sure this is a huge weight off her shoulders. You’ll see, this is the right decision in the long run.”
“If you say so, papa.”
“Would you like to talk about the other thing, from last night?”
“Jesus, not now.” Shooting Dakota, a horrified look, Selene leaned over the table. “Not while she’s here.”
Losing his patience, Alek’s voice raised a notch. “You will tell me now, princess. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
Swallowing hard, she spoke. “Jared saw his biological father. He’s afraid his father came to collect him again.”
Dakota’s voice sounded off from nearby. She’d apparently walked up just as Selene spoke. Alek watched his daughter’s face fall. Motioning over Dakota, he stated gruffly. “You should know. Come and sit with us.” Turning his attention back to his daughter, all the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. “I suppose you discovered that bit of information when you were joined in the blood bond?”
“When we drink each other’s blood, we connect. He can’t control what I see or vice versa. I saw his father. He was here.” Glancing away, Selene’s voice dropped. “I saw all the horrible things he did to Jared and the other kids. He’s pure evil in human form.”
Dakota’s brow creased. “Jared’s biological father is a vampire prime. He’d never hurt anyone, much less children.”
“I only know what I saw.”
Dakota insisted, “It can’t be right.”
“Leave her alone, mother.” Jared’s angry voice sounded from the sliding doors leading to the house. “Selene, come to me.”
Leaping to her feet, the teen ran to her bonded mate.
The thought of his fourteen-year-old daughter sharing the blood bond just about blew Alek’s mind. It was unique bond most vampires were never fortunate enough to discover. When she got close, she threw herself into his arms and burst out crying. Seeing his tenderhearted daughter feeling like she betrayed her soon to be mate, was heart-wrenching.
Coming to his feet, Alek spoke to Jared directly. “We didn’t mean to upset anyone. We just needed to know what’s going on.”
Tightening his arms around Selene, he spoke. “She told you exactly what’s going on and yet you insisted she’s lying. I did see my biological father. He is human, and he’s a horrible person. Believe it or not, cause it’s the truth.” Turning, he pulled Selene through the large glass doors and into the living room. They spoke for a few moments, and Jared took his leave, probably for work. Selene walked back out and gave her father a hug.
“Sorry about that.”
“Again, you did nothing wrong. Have some sweet tea.”
Sitting, Selene brought a cup of warm tea to her lips. Closing her eyes briefly, she seemed to relax into the moment.
Alek tried to change the subject by bringing up the most important headline of the day. “Have you heard the United Council has decided to limit law enforcement positions for vampires to support personnel?”
Dakota’s eyes narrowed. “I had heard they want to limit vampire participation to support positions, but I don’t think they have the vote on the council for that.”
He turned the tablet around for her to see. “One of their staunchest supporters passed away last night, and everyone believes his replacement was not particularly vampire friendly.”
Selene’s angry voice sounded off. “They can’t do that. Jared works in law enforcement. They’ll kick him out.”
“He’s only working as an administrative assistant, but when other tenured officers lose their positions, he’ll be the first to go to retain the officers with the most time on the job.”
“That’s not fair. He’s brilliant and does good work. Why is the world so unfair?”
Her father spoke softly to her, trying to calm her.
Dakota frowned as she scanned through the article. “Well, now that will make things a little more challenging. I’m afraid I have to leave now. Can you call your driver for me?”
“I’m afraid not. I gave him the day off. I would be happy to drive you home or any other place you would like to go.”
She moved closer to him. “Would you drive me into town, if wanted to pay a little visit to the Council Headquarters?”
His face lit up with a mischievous grin. “Are you planning to pounce on some council members?”
Biting her lip, she nodded. “Maybe I’ll have a little talk with a few of them and then stage a little demonstration. What’s the use of being in the public eye, if you can’t draw attention to a worthy cause?”
Alek quickly volunteered his services. “If you let me be your wingman we can both stay on them and press our point.”
Dakota held out her hand. “Deal.”
She said her goodbyes to his precious daughter and whispered in her ear, “I’m glad my son has found you. I would not like to think of him living his whole life without a nice partner.”
The girl’s eyes were appreciative, and she gave Dakota a small kiss on the cheek. The girl got the strong impression Dakota was going to battle it out with the council members to make sure Jared could do what he wanted with his life.
Sure enough, Alek watched as Dakota worked her contacts and they were numerous, everyone from council members to their aids, to their secretaries and pages. She seemed to know everyone, and everyone knew her. Durk turned out to be Councilman Byer’s personal assistant. He certainly was not all long hair and sexy fangs when he was at work. He wore a sophisticated dark suit and had his hair tied back.
Durk met them in the hallway, took them aside and explained. “Look, I think Byer is close to flipping on the issue, but he is afraid of losing his council seat in the next election. He needs support.”
Dakota thought for a moment, took out her cell phone and spoke to someone on the other end. She walked slightly off to the side and continued a conversation. She could hear the two men she cared most about talking in the background.
Durk turned to Alek. “Are you sure you are not a little out of your depth on this one?”
Alek responded diplomatically. “Does it really matter? I’m here fighting the good fight. Can you afford to begin alienating allies at this point, especially wealthy and powerful allies? Don’t let your feelings for Dakota get in the way of the fight my vampire brother.”
“I don’t like you very much, but I’m forced to admit that you right. We can’t afford to be enemies when our vampire brothers are in need of our support. Winning this fight is worth setting aside personal issues.”
Dakota came back over, and Durk led them down the hall and into the Councilman Byer’s office. Strangely enough, she saw the man in the bowler hat from the night before exiting the office as they entered. He tipped his hat as she passed. Though there was none of the negative emotion so clearly evident the evening before on his face, his eyes were cold and a bit calculating.
Byer did look conflicted as he shook Dakota’s hand. “Welcome, what can I do for you today?”
Dakota pulled herself together and began speaking smoothly. “I am concerned about the vote on the new policy regarding vampire involvement in state and federal law enforcement programs. I am here to beseech you to support the cause.”
“Look I do support the cause, but some of the folks around here have made it very clear they will do everything in their power to see that I am not reelected. Voting yes on that policy could cost me my career. I can’t serve the cause at all without council seat.”
Dakota replied stubbornly. “I understand your predicament. However, I want to remind you that when you took your oath, you agreed to uphold the rights of all sentient beings on our planet, not just the natives. When those ships landed some fifty years ago when the alien wars began our vampire brothers and sisters sided with us. We gave them our oath of solidarity. Cutting them out of all positions that involve carrying a weapon is not upholding our oath. It will only encourage the few remaining bigots to continue to be suspicious of their contributions. You fought side by side with many good vampires who gave their lives for our freedom. Will you now cheapen their sacrifice by denying their children the freedoms they died to protect?”
Durk smiled, and Dakota knew precisely why. She was making Byer squirm and feel very uncomfortable.
The councilman was sputtering excuses at the speed of light, but Alek cut him off smoothly. “I think that voters believe what they are told during an election cycle. If you have strong corporate supporters, who can help you make yourself heard then you will get reelected and continue to vote your conscience on such matters. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Digitron, and I could provide the support and exposure you need to get reelected.”
Byer raised an eyebrow, Alek could tell he had gotten the man’s attention, so he continued to press his point. “I will leave my contact information with your assistant. Perhaps we can meet next week and discuss your needs.”
Dakota slammed the final nail into Byer’s coffin. “I’m going to give a press conference in a few moments. You can either be a hero or be a villain. What’s it going to be?”
Byer capitulated, and they moved on their next councilman. All day long they made their rounds. Dakota spoke first, and Alek added additional support and information as needed. Alex was very impressive. She was an avid supporter and relentless in her pursuit of votes and kept up with her point by point. He was charismatic and resourceful, and his networking skills were amazing.
They finished the afternoon with a press conference that Durk had arranged on the sly. Dakota delivered a persuasive speech, layered with reminders about the sacrifice that vampires had made during the time of war and urging general support among the general population.
~ Alex ~
After the close of business, Alek pulled her aside. “Dakota you must be getting hungry. Let me take you for food.” She agreed but gave him the address. “I really do have to get home soon. Tomorrow is the weekend I spend with my son, and I don’t want to miss out on it.”
When they arrived at the address Dakota had given, he recognized it as another vampire run establishment. Immediately upon walking in, she was greeted by almost everyone. He got the feeling it was another of her favorite haunts.
The local stations were playing news clips of their meetings with council members today. He had to admit that they looked good together, quite like a power couple. He was amazed that everything little thing she did seemed to garner media attention. It was a bit exhausting.
Durk was there, and Dakota motioned him over. He smiled widely. “You flipped him and three others in one day. That is an all-time best for you my friend. You two were totally on fire today. What on earth possessed you? You only needed one vote. Why did you talk to almost every single council member? You could have just walked away after Byer and still won the vote.”
Dakota smiled tiredly. “It’s not about winning the vote anymore. It’s about winning the war. We need every single council person to have their head screwed on straight about universal rights. It’s not just about one piece of policy. We need to begin holding our elected officials accountable for protecting alien rights and more particularly vampire rights across the board.”
Duke nodded, “You may be right about that, Dakota.”
“Do you mind if I ask about the guy in the bowler hat?”
“His name is Mr. Abrams. What do you want to know?”
“Who is he?”
“Abrams is representative from some big pharmaceutical company out west. He’s not an ally on this issue or any other. I remember him advocating for the government to give him aliens accused of war crimes to his company to test new pharmaceutical drugs on.”
“I hope the hell no one agreed to that.”
Shaking his head slightly, Durk replied tightly. “Gods no, they ran him out of town on a rail. He shows back up every now and then with some crazy scheme. Steer clear of him Dakota, he’s bad news.”
“Duly noted my friend, he creeped me the hell out.”
Alek sighed. “I could tell by looking that the man was stone cold crazy. He has that look in his eyes, like he could bludgeon one of us with that fancy cane, step right over our lifeless bodies and have coffee.”
The waiter interrupted their conversation by dropping red wine and some kind of food Alek did not recognize onto the table. He looked at Alek, but Alek waved him away. Alek noticed several couples feeding and preferred to feed from Dakota. He looked at the food that was put down for Dakota and saw it was shaped into bite-size pieces and there were about six of them. The food did not smell, and she just slipped one into her mouth every now and then, chewed a couple of times and washed it down with wine.
Sure enough, Dakota slipped her chair closer to him and slid her hand into his. He recognized the pose from the couples bar. Even after everything they had shared he was still somehow reluctant to bite her without her giving him permission verbally. He never approved of vampires assuming such things.
She took a drink of wine, leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Feed, you must be famished. I have not seen you eat today.”
He gently drew blood from the side of her slim wrist.
Durk rolled his eyes, said his goodbyes and slid out of the chair. He was clearly not going to stand around and watch Dakota play love games with a vampire that was not him.
Alek’s eyes followed him over to the bar, and he noticed Arianna sitting at a table with Marko. They were involved in an intimate conversation.
When Durk was gone Alek spoke. “I think he still has a thing for you.”
Dakota said lightly, “Again, that’s not my problem. I still have a thing for you.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. She ran her hand through his hair and traced the outline of his ear. He asked about her food.
“The chef here knows what I like and makes it every time I come here.”
“Dakota I am sorry to say I think that you are wasting your time with the council members. The academy trains personnel for law enforcement and they seem only intent on graduating humans for state and federal justice programs.”
Dakota looked stern. “The academy has a monopoly on training right now, but that will not always be the case.”
Alek looked at her strangely. “No more talk. Now is the time for love.”
She leaned over and kissed his lips. He immediately got lost in her kisses, and he could feel the bloodlust rising again. He stood up, pulled her to her feet and headed towards the door.
Alek didn’t care for Durk’s eyes always and forever being on the woman he loved. He’d been watching Dakota from across the room, even though he was flirting with an attractive blond. Alek saw Durk’s head jerk up to stare at them as he walked past with Dakota in tow. His behavior was out of bounds, and Durk was probably wondering why Dakota would allow him to pull her around like his own personal blood slave. Alek slowed his pace and dropped his hand from around her wrist.