Dixon closed the office door and crossed the room. “Dr. Briggs.”
She flipped through her key ring for the key and then opened the appropriate file drawer. She dug out a thin manila folder with Dr. Townsend Briggs’ name and handed the information over.
After quickly scanning the file, Dixon made a mental note of two significant findings. One, no picture existed of the good doctor, and two, the man had only worked at the hospital a short time. It looked like a perfect alias for a vampire.
He held up the folder and pointed to the page where a picture should have been. “No picture?” he asked.
Her eyes glazed over. “We don’t need a picture.”
Studying her, he asked, “Is that a new hospital policy?”
“We don’t need a picture,” she repeated.
Yeah, right. He could tell she had been compelled. He thought about asking her to describe Dr. Briggs, but he wasn’t sure he could trust any of her answers.
He noticed an address listed in the file as a permanent address. Even though he figured it was fake, he still texted the address to Raymond, as a lead. Dixon examined the file and didn’t find much more than a list of hospitals the man had previously worked at, all out of state. The folder appeared bogus in his opinion.
Since the doctor had only been at this hospital a short while, Dixon wondered if the objective was the cord blood or Sulie. Was it only a coincidence that Sulie worked here just as they set up shop on the cord blood job? Did they need her medical expertise for collecting cord blood? There were so many unanswered questions.
“Can you tell me about the company Blasus Inc., the vendor collecting cord blood in obstetrics?” he asked.
The woman didn’t even blink. “Blasus is a vendor we’ve used for years. They’re the most reputable cord blood collection service…”
Dixon held up his hand to stop her. He didn’t need to hear the lie. “I’d also like to view the file for Dr. Anna Smith.”
Ms. Silas’ brow furrowed. “I don’t recognize that name.” She closed the drawer and opened another one, the one holding the ’S’s. After a moment of searching, she looked up to Dixon. “I’m sorry. We don’t have anyone on staff with that name.”
Dixon felt a shiver run up his spine. Sulie had worked at this hospital for years — so much so she needed to start aging herself or people would begin to question her age. Sulie had been erased like she didn’t matter or count for anything. He nearly shuddered, realizing that once he retired he’d be the same as them with no memories of her.
He needed to leave. He left the office with Briggs’ file in hand.
*******
After disabling the GPS in Sulie’s phone, Julian studied the contacts list. If he could find a list of pregnant vampire women planning to give birth, maybe Trudy would be pleased. Maybe.
The phone was the latest iPhone technology. Light weight. Plenty of apps. The casing felt smooth and fit in the palm of his hand. It was a nice phone. But then, Sulie was a doctor. Certainly she could afford such niceties. Julian bit his lip. He could use a nice phone like this one. His phone was so old, but not being the first born in any bloodline didn’t afford him much in life. All he had, he needed to accrue on his own. If it hadn’t been for the charity of his extended family, no matter how critical of him Trudy and the rest of the clan were, Julian didn’t know where he would have ended up.
Julian searched through the contacts in Sulie’s phone. He recognized only one person — Sulie’s brother Raymond. Other than the one name, the list seemed rather sparse. Mostly male names.
He thought about that. Since Sulie couldn’t be with Charles, her true love, she deserved to be happy with other men. Trudy had explained everything to him. He just hoped their plan of getting her away from her manipulative and controlling brother would help give her the strength she needed to leave.
Next, Julian looked through the stored albums on the phone. He found a few pictures of Raymond and of some other men, but an older man seemed to dominate the album. There was no long list of female vamps, no prenatal class listings, no nothing. He shut down the app. Julian felt disappointed that he didn’t have a list to present Trudy, but was happy that, in the few pictures that were of Sulie, she had looked happy.
Julian set the phone down and thought of his brother Millard once again. Julian’s jaw muscles tightened as he thought of all the years he had lived under his brother’s boot heel. There would be no more doing the vamp’s bidding. No more percentage of his paychecks that had to be surrendered over. With Millard gone, Julian could be placed on his family’s bloodline. He could get blood from blood banks without having to hunt for food. He also didn’t have to worry about being detected as a vampire during a hunt gone wrong. Now with surveillance cameras everywhere, it became harder to take a human into an alley for a quick bite.
Julian took a deep breath. He didn’t have to scavenge anymore for a piddly amount. He could be protected by the Vampire Council. He could even find a bride one day. A smile curved over his lips. He could love who he wanted to love. Millard would have no say in his choice, not anymore. His family would see him differently if he could marry into a family of wealth and prestige.
A buzz from his phone brought him back to the present. Trudy had texted.
“Where r u dumbass? I have another task for you!”
Chapter Twenty
Back in the maternity wing, Dixon bumped into Sterling, who was wearing a hospital smock and talking with the new parents. Dixon handed the file on Townsend Briggs over to Sterling for him to give to his father.
“Dr. Briggs,” Dixon said, pointing to the file now in Sterling’s hands. “He’s been collecting the cord blood here at the hospital and he’s probably one of the men from the garage who nabbed your aunt. He’s a vampire.”
Sterling opened the folder and gave Dixon a questioning glance.
“I know. There’s no picture,” Dixon confirmed.
“That’s not normal. His official file would have his picture. I’ll ask Alex to check on his credentials, but I’m betting they’re all fake. Something else that is odd,” Sterling said as he closed the folder. “No one around here remembers Sulie. Looks like any memory of her has been erased.”
Dixon glanced around and recognized a few of the nurses, nurses he knew had worked with Sulie in the past. It felt eerie to him. They all had their minds messed with in this cover–up. “That explains why her personnel file is missing upstairs. What about her office?”
“Supply closet.”
Dixon felt the sharp pain of reality setting in. “The kidnappers don’t intend to let her come back.”
“We’ll just have to find her.” Sterling peered around the hallways. “I’m not detecting a purebred or a turned vampire. Unless this guys a half–breed, he’s not around here today, at least not on this floor.”
“The schedule shows him off duty today,” Dixon said as he pointed to the white board near the nurses’ station. “A C–section is scheduled in a little while.”
“Babies are born every day, Dixon. I wouldn’t put too much stock in any schedule. If they want cord blood, they’ll be here every day collecting it.” He nodded his head towards the white board. “I bet Dr. Briggs will come in today to collect that blood.”
“We’ll need to keep an eye open then. Any luck with the patients?” Dixon asked as he nodded towards a patient’s room that had a picture of a stork on the door.
“So far none of these parents are doing the cord blood collection.”
“The cost of private collection carries a hefty price tag,” Dixon said. “I doubt too many families opted for the procedure. Although the blood could have been collected without their consent and the attendants during the delivery had their minds wiped. I’m going to check out the downstairs lab. The blood is probably stored down there until it is picked up. If we’re lucky, the blood will be marked with the cord blood company name on it or maybe with the doctor’s name.”
“If you find anything,
put a tracker on the collection vials so we can trace them.” He handed Dixon some small tracking devices but was nearly knocked over by a team of three people in scrubs rushing down the hallway. Dixon recognized one as a doctor Sulie had worked with for years. The man had a fondness for eating candy bars, so a human doctor. The other two, a nurse and a technician, had also been on staff for years.
“Caucasian female. Appears to be of late maternal age; they’re guessing the woman to be in her sixties. Low blood pressure with a fast pulse. Pregnant in her last trimester,” the technician said to a doctor.
“Unstable pelvic fracture with shock and continuing hemorrhage. It’s a high risk pregnancy based on maternal age alone, with a possible premie or miscarriage underway. A lady came in with her claiming that she’s carrying twins,” the nurse chimed in.
The doctor paused in mid–step, causing the group to stop their near jog. “How old?”
“They’re estimating she’s in her sixties, maybe seventies. It’s not a joke,” the technician reassured him.
The doctor appeared skeptical but resumed his pace. “Call for an anesthetist. We may need to force delivery.”
The voices trailed off as the group rushed past them and through a set of double doors, down the corridor leading to the ER.
Sterling’s phone rang. “It’s my Dad. He must be walking into the hospital right about now.” He barely had uttered a word into the phone when his eyes widened and his jaw went slack. His eyes then darted to the closing doors the crew had just run through. Before Dixon could ask, Sterling was already at a full rush down the hallway.
Dixon knew only one thing would panic Sterling this much. The elderly, pregnant woman, the one possibly losing her babies, was Kate, Sterling’s wife.
*******
Dixon rushed down the corridor to the ER, but found no signs of Sterling or Raymond. He did, however, find Jackie, William’s wife. She stood out from the crowd with blood stains on her hunter green dress. She swayed back and forth talking on her phone.
“Baby, I’m all right. There’s no need to rush down here,” Jackie said into the phone.
Dixon assumed she was talking to her husband. When Jackie mentioned her three children weren’t in the car with them when it was hit and that he should stay at his post at the White House, Dixon was sure William was on the other end of the phone.
Jackie looked up and noticed Dixon. “I need to let you go. I want to check on Kate. Dixon’s here with me.” She bit her lip. “I love you too, baby. I’ll see you later.”
Near tears, Jackie hung up and hurried to Dixon. “It’s bad, Dix. From out of nowhere, a car ran into us — on the side where Kate was sitting. She was pinned in the car; her leg cut up real good. Before I knew it, the ambulance was there, cutting her from our overturned car…”
“Overturned car?”
She nodded. “Like I said, it’s bad. The other driver died on impact. I heard something about alcohol being involved.”
Dixon’s eyes traveled across her body, focusing on the blood stains on her outfit. “Were you hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.” Her hands waved past her dirty clothes. “All of this is Kate’s blood. Her leg was torn up with the car metal. I couldn’t get her out of the car… and she’s lost a lot of blood.” She looked up into Dixon’s eyes. “I swear, I tried to get her out.”
“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Where’d they take her?”
“Alex was already down here when we arrived by ambulance and then Raymond showed up. Sterling arrived after that. They all went through those doors to the operating room.” Jackie pointed to the big doors on the opposite side of the ER. “She’s not even eight months along. She’s going to need blood, or she’ll lose those babies.”
Dixon felt the lump gathering in his throat. “Compel any nurse you see to bring as much blood as they can to the ER.”
As he walked towards the doors, Jackie asked. “What are you going to do?”
He lifted his arm. “I have what Kate needs on tap.”
Chapter Twenty–One
The doctor and nurses kept busy with the machines hooked up to Kate. They didn’t even notice one of the technicians, with his sleeves rolled up, compelled and feeding Kate from his vein. Dixon wasn’t surprised. A lot of blood would be needed to bring Kate down to her Jahrling year age, but it wouldn’t do to have the doctor or nurses woozy from blood loss during a critical time.
Dixon pushed his way to the head of the operating table, side–stepping the trauma surgeon and the anesthesia cart. Kate lay on the table, the bright surgical lights illuminating her body from head to toe.
Tapping the technician on the shoulder and rolling up his sleeve, Dixon announced, “I’m next.” Taking a seat, he looked over to the rack next to the bed. Alex began hooking up a bag of blood just as Kate sunk her fangs into his arm. Kate appeared so old to Dixon. Her dark brunette hair had whitened, her skin was marred by wrinkles, and she had a saddened look about her. But it was the fear in her now blackened eyes that scared him the most. Kate had recently come into their lives and was a breath of fresh air — especially for her husband Sterling. Kate brought him inner peace, the likes of which Sterling had never experienced before. She was funny, caring, and a member of Dixon’s extended family. No way was he going to allow them to lose her.
“You and the babies are going to be fine,” he smiled at Kate, trying to reassure her. He realized Ben stood in the corner, his eyes focused on Kate. He altered her mood and kept her from panicking with his special ability. Dixon knew Kate would physically recover with the bagged blood. The babies on the other hand — that became the real issue.
Hopefully, Ben wouldn’t be needed to soothe her over the loss of her babies. His special ability to control auras and moods only worked on humans, pregnant vampires, and young vampires before their Jahrling year. If she lost the babies, he wouldn’t be able to ease her suffering by manipulating her aura. He would only be able to read her pain.
The humans worked their magic and Dixon heard several medical terms tossed out. He wasn’t a medical professional, but he could see the multiple long–bone fractures in her leg and the belly wound from her exposed, round abdomen. He listened to the medical chatter, but it all meshed together in a hazy fog.
“You’ll be fine,” he told Kate once again as he heard Sterling ask about Kate’s spleen. He was relieved when the surgeon said he didn’t believe that organ had been compromised, which was good news. Any blood she drank went into her digestive system and the spleen helped transfer it into her circulatory one. Spleens may be visceral organs for humans and acted merely as a reservoir of blood, but Kate’s system needed it to survive.
Dixon could tell Kate was getting a good feeding. At first her pulls from his vein were weak. Now she tugged with the determination of survival. Mouthfuls of his blood filled her, and he heard her eager swallows as her strength improved.
He slumped in his chair and was surprised to see Jackie standing over him. “The nurse is here with blood bags.” Jackie helped him to free his arm and to step aside. Kate had already regained a good two decades back to her youthful appearance thanks to him and the compelled OR assistant.
He took a few deep breaths and realized how anemic he had become. He had fed the team out in the field several times over the last thirty years. But this — this one feeding nearly took him out. He could feel himself physically, and literally, drained.
Alex continued to compel the medical staff to ignore the work of the vampires in the room while Jackie and a nurse strung up the bagged blood and connected it to an IV, allowing blood to go directly into Kate’s body, bypassing the spleen just in case. Dixon stood up to give everyone room to do what they needed to do. That’s when he heard the obstetrics surgeon, Sulie’s friend for years, announce that the baby was coming. The doctor was quickly corrected by Sterling to expect two babies, not just one. Dixon heard the panic in Sterling’s voice. The man was terrified for his wife and children, and there was nothing
Dixon could do to help.
At least, nothing he could do to help Kate in her present situation.
Staggering from the table, Dixon made eye contact with Raymond. “You stay with your family. I’ll keep searching for Sulie.”
Chapter Twenty–Two
Dixon made his way down to the cafeteria and downed orange juice and several cookies. Even with this snack, he needed more energy. That’s when he remembered the Devolixion, which always gave him a good boost of energy. He pulled the medicine from his pocket and noticed the tracking devices Sterling had given him, plus the additional one he already had. He ordered a cup of strong coffee to go and put in two dropper fulls of the medicine before continuing his search for Sulie.
He did a cursory scan around the hospital, but didn’t find Dr. Briggs. He thought with the delivery of twins the doctor may make an appearance. Evidently the good doctor wasn’t monitoring the ER, probably concentrating more on the obstetrics operating room.
Dixon wandered the hallways until he noticed a sign stating the lab was down in the basement. He took the elevator and found the lab. The room was just past the morgue and Dixon ran into several technicians as he walked down the corridor. He must have looked like he belonged in the basement because no one stopped him to ask about his business.
The lab door was locked. He thought about breaking the glass, but he got lucky when someone walked out of the lab and he caught the door before it locked shut. He snuck into the tiny room and was grateful to find the place empty. He glanced at his watch. The time was already past noon. He figured all the technicians were at lunch, which meant he may be able to sneak around for half an hour without detection.
He searched the room looking for the cold storage. He ignored the cultures and lab specimens that were not in the refrigerator or freezer, knowing that blood had to be kept cold. He calculated that any collected cord blood vials would be stored together with the label from the cord blood company attached to them. Having seen William’s report on the proper storage of the cord blood, Dixon felt confident that he knew what to look for.
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