Squeaky woke up the next morning and was delighted to find the vampire’s disappearance was still at the top of the news feed. Squeaky would at least be able to share that with the poor man and perhaps it would give him hope.
When Squeaky came into the warehouse, Josh and Little Jo were sleeping. One was lying on the table, and the other was leaning back against the wall. The vampire no one knew what to do with was leaning against the wall, asleep as well. His chains were still in place. He dropped one bag of Synth-B in the cooler and brought the other one with him to sit with the vampire the humans did not know what to do with.
Squeaky whispered, “Mr. Shardon, I brought you a data stream so you can see the news. Many are looking for you. Have hope, my brother, the police will soon come for you.” He laid the electronic pad on his lap so he could read the news articles and went to retrieve the blood bag. He slowly fed the blood bag to Alek as he read.
Alek glanced up from the news feed and said pleasantly, “Please, call me Alek.”
Josh woke up, reprimanding Squeaky earnestly. “Don’t get attached to the hostage. You know there’s at least a 50% chance we are going to have to kill him. I grew up on a farm, and I can tell you that once you name them, you won’t want to kill them. I don’t like this situation any better than you do, but we have a job to do here.” Josh sounded a little exasperated.
Squeaky could see the pain and the conflict in Josh’s eyes even as he spoke the words, and he wondered how someone with a conscience fell into this type of work. Perhaps, like him, Josh wanted out as well.
The Kalian came in about four hours later. For no apparent reason, the Kalian walked right over and began kicking their guest in the legs and hit him in the face with his fist. That was when Squeaky noticed his eyes were black again. Faran was normally a very cause and effect kind of man. Squeaky knew Mr. Shardon could not have provoked him because the man had been sitting in the corner in chains all morning. I was unclear what provoked such anger in their friend.
It took both Josh and Little Jo both to pull Faran off.
Josh was furious. “Did you not hear me say that I don’t want a scratch on his skin? Unless you have a kill order, you need to just get the hell out of here.”
The Kalian shoved Josh a step back and said, “I have been working with you for four long years, and all you do is disrespect me constantly. Now you treat the vampire hostage respectfully. There is only one of us who is stupid here, and it is not me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“There have been many times when I was the only reason you walked off a job alive. You humans love your vampires better than any other species because you are too foolish to realize that, to them, you are just food.”
“You know something, Faran, in all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never let you down. I’ve always had your back and yet, you’re never anything but obnoxious and difficult. I think it’s the way with your kind. All you do is complain, eat anything that doesn’t eat you first, and have sex with anything that stands still long enough.”
Faran sounded earnest in his reply. “I am a Kalian male, and I must mate. I never force myself on others. Can I help it if many are attracted to me? I try to be accommodating to as many partners as possible. Where I come from, that is called being considerate.”
Josh yelled back, “Well, on earth, it is called being a man whore.”
Faran seemed shocked speechless by this revelation.
Squeaky kind of tuned them out and kneeled down to check on Mr. Shardon.
“Are you alright?”
“Of course. It would take more than being mishandled by a Kalian to inflict real damage on a Vampire prime. What’s up with those two?”
“I wish I knew. They are proving to be more distracting than helpful lately.”
*****
Squeaky went to check on his vampire brother several times a day over the next seven days, left the bottled water, encouraged him to stay hydrated, and gave him a container to relieve himself in.
After turning the situation over in his mind, he thought he may just have to take the hit on this one. Dropping down onto the floor beside Mr. Shardon, Squeaky handed him a Synth-B pouch. He seemed to have something to say, so Alek waited patiently for him to spit it out.
“I have decided that if there is a time when we are here alone I will try to free you. I think they will not trust me alone with you because we are both vampires. If they think you tried to escape and I didn’t put up a good fight, they will probably kill me and perhaps my wife as well. If I can manage to free you, then you will have to beat me very, very badly, so they will think I really tried to do my job. I am sorry.”
“That sounds very painful for you.”
“I have promised myself to try to become a better person, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I think Josh’s estimation of your survival chances being fifty percent was probably not very accurate. I believe they will eventually terminate your life. This is the only solution I can think of to get you safely away from these people while minimizing the danger to my family. Is this plan acceptable to you?”
A crease formed between his brows and Mr. Shardon replied thoughtfully, “I am desperate to be free and worried about the safety of my children, but I cannot agree. That plan of action sounds dangerous for both of us, and there’s no guarantee your employers will refrain from harming your wife. If they have made such threats before, they may harm her out of spite. Humans are very emotional creatures. We must always remember that.”
Squeaky sighed, and before he could speak, Mr. Shardon stated, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you contact a hunter and alert them that I am willing to pay a handsome amount for an impromptu rescue.”
Squeaky pondered the suggestion out loud. “That would get us both out of danger. Hunters are always looking for missing people, particularly wealthy ones. Everyone would think they hunted you down for the reward. It’s standing firm at a hundred grand right now.”
“No one would blame you if a really prominent hunter came knocking. They wouldn’t expect your crew to be able to stand up to a professional. The syndicate would most likely chalk it up to underestimating my worth.”
“This idea is better than any of the ones I came up with on my own.”
“Have you heard of Dakota Davenport?”
“Hell yes, she’s amazing. My nephew has a poster of her on his bedroom wall. She has a success rate of a hundred percent and is good about searching for missing vampires. Even though she’s human, she is the go-to person when… oh, I see where you’re going with this conversation. You want me to contact her on your behalf.”
Nodding, Mr. Shardon chewed his bottom lip. “I think she will take the case because we are acquainted.”
Squeaky’s mount dropped open in sheer shock. “You actually know Dakota Davenport? Like know her, know her?”
“Yes. We travel in the same circles. Whenever we’re at a formal function, I always manage to get a little face time and dance or two from her.”
“Wow.”
“What’s more, her teenage son is the preferred feeding partner for my young daughter.”
“Gods of chaos, you’re practically related.”
“Miss. Dakota has a strained relationship with her son. I am not certain she is aware of their relationship.”
“You still feel confident she will hunt for you?”
“Yes. I must caution you, if you speak to her directly, someone might notice. She is in the public eye. What with the press and her many admirers, I can’t imagine much of what she does goes unnoticed.”
“What is the best way to reach out to her?”
“I wish you to speak to her son, Jared. He will engage her on my behalf, I’m certain of it.”
“I agree to this request, and pray it is the best for both our sakes.”
“God’s speed, my friend. You can find him at The Advent Home for Children.”
Pushing up from his sitting position, Squeaky headed straight for the door. He was eager to see to put this whole business behind him.