He still had a headache. Having another empty sexual encounter was the last thing Sterling ever wanted again in his life. Swearing off women was not an option, although appealing, considering the women he usually bedded. How did men find quality women in the first place?
The next thing Sterling knew was the sound of the dogs barking and Sulie saying, “He just went to sleep, too.”
The alarm system sounded announcing someone else was home. Sterling’s head pounded too much to get up and turn around to see who it was, but he recognized the voice as the man said, “Good evening, all.” Dixon, the soon to be ex–Colony Director, had arrived. “Sorry I’m late for the movie, but I’ve seen this action film dozens of times.” He scanned the room and his eyes rested on Sterling. “Sterling, you okay?”
Even though Dixon and Sulie were not dating, they seemed always to be paired up. Now there were three couples in the room and Sterling. Not wanting to be a seventh wheel, he got off the couch. “I’m fine, Dixon. Have a seat. I was just leaving.”
“You’re still in pain Sterling, sit back down.” Sulie protested.
“Once again, thank you for the healing. I need to go out and find the rest of the cure though.” He removed himself from the couch and gathered his clothes without looking at his father. To Raymond’s credit, the man hardly ever criticized Sterling’s cavalier love life when Sterling’s pain level was high. But now, with the pain a bit subsided, the man took his opportunity as he followed Sterling to his car.
“A wife could ease your pain,” he began. “You need someone by your side – to help you. It’s what I’ve been telling you your whole life, son.”
Sterling took a deep breath and looked at his father. “You don’t understand me. It’s not that I want …”
Raymond’s face hardened as he interrupted. “I understand that going after prostitutes and easy women won’t find you happiness.”
Sterling looked away from his father and shook his head. “Whatever.”
When he opened the car door, and got inside, his father quickly added, “Paying for the cure … it isn’t right.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
After compelling a man out of a choice parking spot, Sterling entered McGreggers Bar. To Sterling, the hole–in–the wall dive always seemed modest, homey, and with a charm all its own. Thankfully the dim lighting didn’t hurt Sterling’s eyes too much. His Colony buddies had already arrived, and they would help him find the remedy he needed. Daniel sat in a booth talking to a redhead, and Ben hovered over at the bar. Of course, the token human of the group spotted him first and ran over to say hello. Slapping Sterling on the back¸ Brandon yelled over the music, “Hey, Sterling.”
The human was to be the new director of the Colony, transitioning in preparation for the current director, Dixon, to retire. He stood only 5’ 10” in height. Scrawny and lean. Someone Sterling classified as a nerd. Sure, Brandon seemed a pleasant enough human, but too quirky for Sterling’s taste. Everything from Brandon’s cowboy boots which added inches to his height to his crazy t–shirts made him appear too pathetic. Tonight’s shirt read, “Let me be your Dungeon Master.” The shirt screamed of despair to Sterling – just like Brandon, constantly trying to be his friend. Sterling didn’t need another friend. He had Ben. That’s all he needed.
“Where’s Ben?” Sterling growled.
“He’s over by the jukebox.” Sterling glanced in the direction Brandon pointed to and saw his friend seated at the bar. The two walked up to Ben, and Sterling compelled the man on the next stool to leave so he would have a place to sit down.
The bar scene was common to the vamps, with Ben usually the only competition Sterling had when picking up women. Ben was good–looking in a cologne advertisement way. He had dark skin, and judging by the way women flocked to him, he was quite the handsome catch. He had broad shoulders and cleaned up well, wearing a button down green shirt and black jeans. The two made quite a pair when trolling for women. They looked like Tubbs and Crocket from Miami Vice, if Crocket had a hangover and could barely stand up.
“Man, you don’t look good.” Ben said. Using his ability to detect moods, Ben added, “Your aura is a deep blue. You must be in agony. I’ll find you someone real quick.” Ben glanced around. “Daniel is here too. He can help.” The other women around the bar looked like they were with boyfriends or husbands, and of course the hookers working the back area wouldn’t do. “I’ll be back,” he said as he left Sterling at the bar.
Brandon was aware of Sterling’s condition, not that Sterling had shared his condition with the man. A woman’s touch always relieved Sterling’s pain, but not the touch of a hooker – or the touch of a compelled woman tricked into his bed. The touch had to be freely given.
“What about the blond trying to get the bartender’s attention, Sterling?” Brandon pointed to the gorgeous model sitting at the end of the bar.
Sterling’s eyes mostly closed as he breathed through the pain and examined the woman. “She’s wearing a wedding ring. I’ll pass.” His headache worsened and he got a mental image of the young Alicia in his mind. He told Brandon, “No one young. Someone mature – in their thirties or forties.”
“Why so old?” Brandon asked. “You want fatties too?”
Sterling managed to lift his itchy hand and touched Brandon’s arm to get his attention. “All women are beautiful.”
“But you’re capable of compelling the most gorgeous woman in here to treat your body like an amusement park if you wanted.” He then gestured with his hands and said, “Use the force, Sterling.”
Sterling shook his head. “If you want to be in total control, go home and fuck a doll.”
Brandon frowned slightly before he walked away to find someone for the cure.
Sterling’s head pounded and he ordered a beer. Sitting proved to be a bad idea. The added pressure only made his crotch and butt ache more. He felt like a grown man with a diaper rash, but the rash extended to his entire body. He needed to find a woman, and quick. Thankfully his apartment was not too far away.
While his friends canvassed the area, a dark haired woman sat next to Sterling. “Your friend Daniel said you might enjoy some company,” she said gesturing to the back corner where Daniel was.
“Yup.” As Sterling’s beer arrived, he studied the olive skinned woman next to him. She wore a see–through blouse with a black bra under the sheer fabric, and a short miniskirt, which showed off her curvy plus sized body. The late–thirties woman looked nothing like Alicia. “She’ll do,” he thought as he asked her if she wanted a drink.
The woman’s vodka tonic arrived and Sterling guessed the drink wasn’t her first of the evening. She wasn’t drunk, so as a consenting adult, her touch could help him. He noticed Ben walk by with a thumbs up sign, signaling her aura checked out and she would do for the night. Her hands slid across his thigh and quickly approached his crotch. The fast process had him ask, “You a pro?”
Her smile turned into a scowl, and her face reddened. “Bastard,” she exclaimed as she started to leave.
Sterling needed her to stay. Reaching out to her arm he quickly stopped her. “My bad, sweetheart. It’s just I don’t have much luck finding women.” It wasn’t a lie. He really did have a hard time finding suitable women to ease his pains. The gang usually had to screen several candidates to find a good one that was ready to go. He had discovered what’s–her–name on the campus earlier by sheer luck.
She sat back down on a bar stool. “A man like you? I doubt you have problems finding the ladies.”
He bit his lip to fight back the scream he wanted to let out from the throbbing headache. “You wouldn’t know the half of it,” he admitted.
Smiling at him, she placed her hand against his cheek. He sucked in a quick breath at the sudden relief he felt. She began to pull her hand away, but stopped when he moved his hand to the outside of hers and held her touch in place. His entire cheek felt good; it felt really good. “Please stay. I’m sorry I offended you.”
Sterling didn’t want to talk. He needed relief and he needed the remedy now. He held her hand like she was a lifeline. “Does it matter?”
Looking deep into his eyes, she must have sensed his pain. “Nope.”
“Good. Let’s go to my place.” Overall, Sterling wasn’t even attracted to the woman. The nameless female could fix his problems, end of story. She seemed kind, and that was his saving grace. For that alone, he was grateful.
“The bathroom is free,” she offered. She grabbed his crotch and kissed him before leading him to the woman’s restroom.
*******
The evening grew late, and this time Sterling managed to park his Ferrari into the garage back at Fang Manor without tearing down any flowers or plowing through a garden. He had driven home with the windows rolled down, but he couldn’t remove the bathroom smell from his hands and clothing. Well, tonight wasn’t his first bathroom romp. He supposed tonight’s encounter wouldn’t be his last restroom booty call. Of course, if he enjoyed the act of sex he may have found his frequent encounters more palatable, but usually he didn’t care for the experience at all.
Taking the key out of the ignition, he sat in the car and thought back to the evening. He didn’t know her name; he didn’t care to. Only an empty, hollow feeling inside of him remained. At the very least, he was no longer in pain, which was a good thing considering he had to be at work early the next day. There was always more evidence to touch, more headaches to have, and … well, not much of anything else.
He took a deep breath and walked to the back door of the mansion. He hit the security codes and entered. The lack of activity suggested everyone was asleep, so he tiptoed up the two flights of stairs to his room.
His father stood at the top of the stairs. “Sterling, the door chimes told me you had come home.” He studied his son as though sizing up Sterling’s physical condition. “You seem better.”
The aroma of alcohol and sex covered Sterling, and it was obvious to him that his father noticed. “I’m much better. Thank you for asking,” he said as he walked to the top of the stairs. “The security chime woke you?”
“The noise woke up one of the dogs, and the dogs woke us up,” his father explained. When Alex had moved in with his father, she brought the dogs with her. And while Sterling liked them, even enjoyed petting them, he would rather they not rat him out to his father as he snuck into the house.
“A wife would be someone you could share your life with, someone to ease your pain.”
Sterling rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard it before. I’ll put ‘get a wife’ on my list of things to do this week. Right now I need some sleep.”
“We need to talk about this problem right now,” his father insisted. “I’ve tried to talk with you about this before, but half the time you don’t even listen to me. When you’re sick, especially like tonight, I am reminded of how much a wife could help.”
Sterling’s lips pursed, and he nodded in agreement. “I understand. My skin issues and headaches are …”
“Are no excuse for sleeping with any human you can compel into your bed,” Raymond cut in. “We can ask the Council again and see if they will grant you an arranged marriage.”
A scowl crossed Sterling’s face as he glared at his father. “I’d rather not go through the humiliation again. They don’t want me. Nobody does.”
Through gritted teeth, Raymond pressed, “Nobody wants to marry someone who has sullied themselves the way you have. Prostitute after prostitute … you’re lucky you can no longer get diseases.”
Sterling looked away from his father. The man had always assumed the worst, and so be it. “Yeah, that’s me. A sick lowlife.” He cleared his throat. “Now I really do need to get some sleep.”
In a softer tone, his father confided, “Son, you work so hard. I’m so proud of the service you do, but your ability comes at a price. I love you too much for you miss the joys a wife and a family can bring you.”
Sterling reached for his door handle. “Love for me will never happen, and you know it.”
“Then find a nice human and I can turn her for you!”
“I’m tired.” Sterling entered his bedroom and shut the door on Raymond and the lecture.
Once safely behind the closed door, he heard his father go into his own bedroom. He could hear Raymond and his wife talking. The idea of cuddling up with someone who loved him appealed to Sterling. He longed to talk intimately with a lover into the wee hours of the morning. It was something he had never experienced. Of course, all the women he ever spent time with were of the same caliber as the woman tonight. He didn’t want a woman like that to share his life with, but that was all he attracted or deserved from the fairer sex.
After a quick shower, he climbed into his king–sized bed. It was big and roomy with plenty of space for him, a wife and a couple of kids who could crawl into bed after having a nightmare. But there were no kids and no wife in his future. The human women he attracted were not family material.
He lay in the bed alone as the sounds from his father’s room turned from talking to lovemaking. “God, they’re like rabbits,” he thought. “We need to soundproof this house.” He grabbed a pillow and held the muffler to his ears as he did his best to fall asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHT
When Sterling entered the room, he noticed his father, Raymond, seated in the command center of Fang Manor with his wife, Alex, the retiring Colony Director, Dixon, and his replacement, Brandon. Sterling took a chair opposite of his father’s across the round conference room table. Setting his coffee mug down on the wood finish, he plopped down into the plush leather seat as though hung over from last night’s festivities.
“You feeling all right?” his father asked, tossing him a coaster. Sterling only huffed as he ignored the cork disk and looked up at the information displayed on the smart wall. The team usually held weekly meetings, but sometimes, when warranted, daily meetings were not unheard of. No matter the frequency, Sterling hated these gatherings. He always found his father to be thorough as the head of the Colony and the material he presented. What Sterling hated was always being assigned the simplest tasks. And, at some point during the meeting, he would be pointed out as the weak link in the chain. What hurt more than always being reminded of that fact, was that he knew it was true.
He sighed and began reading the information. On the computerized wall were the query results of abducted and missing children, each cross–referenced with a vampire family line database.
“The Miller and Cochran families, each have reported children missing within the last few days. We know the kidnappings are related because of a calling card that was left behind.” Raymond tapped the keyboard and brought up another image on the smart wall. “This dagger, left by a group calling themselves The Hands of God, was left at each of the crime scenes.” Switching the screen to a picture of Lenora Miller, he added, “The attack was at night, the mother killed, and the boy, Stephen, was kidnapped.” Bringing up a picture of the Cochran family, he explained, “The attack on the Cochran household did not occur at their home, or at night. The girl, Tiffany, was taken from a nearby park while her nanny was watching her.”
“Do the authorities suspect the nanny?” Brandon asked.
“She’s a person of interest,” Raymond answered. “She gave her reports to local police and FBI agents, but the testimony means nothing. She’s a vamp, and she could compel them to believe anything she wanted.”
“So, she’s not in custody,” Alex said, more of a statement than a question.
Sterling took a sip of his coffee and then set the hot mug down on the bare wood. “She had the opportunity. Is there a picture of this nanny?”
Raymond shook his head. “No. And, what is odd, is she’s a vampire. We’re not sure if the kidnappers were human or not, but if they were, she could have overpowere
d them. For some reason she chose not to do so. According to the police report she ran after the car, but tripped.”
“Yeah, right,” Sterling said suspiciously.
“Plus,” Raymond continued, “they couldn’t hold her for more than 24 hours, but she probably had them release her after 10 minutes. Something else that’s odd,” he said, looking around the group, “is the Miller attack seemed organized. My gut is telling me the Cochran one was one of opportunity. Whatever the case, the kidnappers changed their modus operandi. Perhaps it was different circumstances, perhaps the nanny is working for the kidnappers, or maybe it could be because of the Cochran’s home security system. They’re rather wealthy, with servants, and have a home security system that is state of the art. Whatever the case, the dagger was left in Mr. Cochran’s office, stabbed into his leather chair. He wasn’t at work that day.”
“Does anything put the Nanny in the office during the time the dagger was left there?” asked Dixon.
“No. She said she was home alone, with no alibi. The nanny’s fingerprints were all over his office, but during school hours she works as a personal assistant to both of the parents. This includes running errands to Mr. Cochran’s office when needed.”
“So the kidnappers went back after they already had the girl,” Dixon murmured.
“They needed something. The girl wasn’t all they wanted,” Sterling interjected.
“Exactly.” Raymond shuffled some paperwork on the desk. “The police report indicates some personal computer files were accessed, but nothing related to his company. Mr. Cochran also said his address book was taken.”
“What about an address book for the Millers?” asked Alex. “Was one found in the house?”
Raymond shook his head. “No. But that doesn’t mean there was one.”
The door to the office opened, and Sulie entered the room. “Sorry I’m late. I was checking on some lab results.”
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