Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy - 13. Brett Marshall Lives

We landed in Charleston. We went back to the leased house and then Gabriella, Colin and I rode out to Wentworth Manor, pleased to see all the Kudzu and debris gone and now they were pulling up the marble that had been in the entrance foyer. I saw then they were trying to save some of the ornate mantles that had been on many of the fireplaces and other decorative moldings that had given the old plantation mansion its grandeur. The landscaping men and women were now beginning on cleaning up what would be the front lawn and gardens.

“We’ll be tearing a lot of this structure down to build the new structure,” Colin explained to Gabriella and me as he smiled at what he was seeing so far. “And it will be better than it ever was!”

Gabriella took her father’s arm, squeezing it. “I know it will be.”

“How long before you think they’ll finish?” I asked.

Colin thought. “I was told a couple of years. Tearing down is not that difficult, but with a lot of the salvaging going on…” he shrugged. “The construction will be about a year or more.” He smiled leaning in toward me. “Of course, we could get married in the house on Tradd Street.”

I grinned but shook my head. “I said we’d marry here and that’s what we’re doing.”

Colin shrugged. “Okay.”

Back at the house on Tradd Street that he had leased, things began to smooth into a routine. As I had been a medic, I was giving the injections to Gabriella now and there was the pain, but it seemed less painful now. I instructed her on giving them to herself as well. I still insisted that I give the injections to Colin, which he didn’t mind. It was more symbolic for us as a show of trust. Just as before, the serum was a stimulant for both Gabriella and Colin.

“It’s almost Thanksgiving,” Colin said one night after lovemaking where we enjoyed the afterglow, which Colin liked to cuddle. “Invite your mother.”

I grinned. “Okay.” I rolled over to face him. “When’s your birthday?”

Colin looked confused a moment and had to think. “I’ve not celebrated a birthday in quite a while. November.” He smiled. “That’s right, November 7^th.”

I frowned. “I missed it!”

“And when’s yours?” Colin asked.

“October 22^nd.”

“I missed yours, too.” He smiled. “We’ll make up for it next year. You’re twenty-nine now?”

I smiled. “Becoming an old man, but you…”

Colin pulled me into a kiss. “Don’t say it.” He growled and rolled us over to be on top of me. He smiled. “I don’t recall ever being this happy, Devon.”

“That’s what happens when you’re with the one you’re supposed to be with,” I said logically. “We make each other happy.” I touched his handsome face gently. “I wish there was someone for Gabriella.”

He nodded. “She will find someone, but it will be tricky. She will have to win him over first, get him to trust her and be told what she is. He will have to accept it and agree it doesn’t matter, just like you have.” He sighed. “It’s a shame she can’t have children. I’d like a grandchild.” He chuckled. “It seems a man’s duty to pass on through generations his name and property.”

“She was married, you said. John Miller. He was killed?”

Colin nodded. “She married him when she was seventeen. He was twenty-two. I was still human then. It was 1850.” He frowned. “Birth control back then was not a big concern and she did get pregnant shortly after the wedding, but she miscarried. Then I was turned and missed anything else.”

“They were married a good while before the war, but they never had children,” I said.

“Prenatal care back then was not as good as today’s and because she did get pregnant, even though she miscarried, I don’t know if there were others. John was killed in 1862.” He smiled. “But maybe George can figure out how to reverse this and make it possible.” He kissed me. “And if you want to…you could have a child.”

My eyebrows rose at hearing that. “And are you going to have it?”

Colin chuckled. “No. I mean, there are now ways to have a child and we could look into that. That’s why I wanted you to keep your last name.”

“The last name would be on the birth certificate, my name could be Smith. That wouldn’t matter. If I had a child, I’d like it to be part of you, too.”

Colin nodded. “He or she would be because we would raise it. I think your mother would be happy to have a grandchild.”

I frowned. “First, we’re not even married yet. It’s too soon for me to talk about children. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Colin nodded kissing me. “I’m just telling you, I’d be fine with the idea.”

Mom was thrilled at being invited over for Thanksgiving.

“Mom, you don’t need an invitation to come over,” I said on the phone to her. I spoke with her every week, sometimes a few times a week and texted her plenty.

“I know.” She said with the smile in her voice. “I take it things are going well between you and Colin.”

“Very well and I’ll tell you all about it when you get here. We have a room for you here, so come Wednesday night.”

“I’ll be there!” Mom said happily.

Gabriella, Colin and I met Mom when she arrived that Wednesday night. We were having our usual dinner when Mom put her fork down a little harder than needed.

“Is there something someone’s going to say to me?” She asked irritated.

I grinned at Colin who was smiling back.

“I asked Devon to marry me,” Colin said. “Mom.”

Mom squealed just like Gabriella did. “I just knew it!”

“But I said no.” I grinned.

“You did not!” Mom stated knowing that was as impossible as the sun rising in the West. “I could tell that night at dinner at the hotel you two were hitting it off and I knew this was going to happen! Congratulations!” She looked at Gabriella. “You and I will have to plan!”

“See?” Colin said to me. “Didn’t I tell you?” He waved at the two women at the table that were now talking and pretty much forgotten us.

“It’s their double X chromosomes.” I nodded. “They can’t help it.”

“Betty,” Colin said quietly. “We want you to move in here.”

Mom stopped talking and stared at him. “Move in here? I have a house.”

I nodded. “Where you live alone.” I pointed out. “We’re a family and now we have two more members of the family, Colin, and Gabriella. Keep the house, but move in here. Please? You’re the only parent I have now. I’d like you to.”

Mom smiled. “I’ve never wanted to crowd you. When you told me you were gay, I worried, even though the world had become more accepting, you might not find happiness. I’m glad you have.”

I nodded. “I have.”

“I see that. I’ll think about moving in here.” Mom said and looked around the house.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and went on toward Christmas. Mom did move in and was very happy she had. She had her own room with the bathroom and she and Gabriella were planning a wedding that we didn’t even have a date for. We were marrying at Wentworth Manor and we had no specific date when that was going to be finished.

Colin was becoming well known in Charleston. His last name opened doors everywhere here. He was a Wentworth. Gabriella was also becoming more comfortable with the modern world and even learned to use a computer! She even let me show her how to drive. Colin offered to teach her, but she preferred me to show her, fearing her father might be too hard on her.

Christmas was around the corner. Gabriella and I decorated the house on Tradd Street, which Gabriella loved. Especially when I pulled out the lights and garland.

She smiled as she held the strand of lights. “They’re like stars! So much better than those candles we used to use.”

“You celebrated Christmas?” I asked. “I heard it wasn’t that popular until about 1850.”

She nodded. “We had one of the first Christmas trees back in the 1840s. It was only becoming more popular then. Not like it is now, but we celebrated it.” She touched some of the decorations. I had gotten those glass balls and tinsel and many others including figures of Santa and other decorative decorations. “We made a lot of the decorations ourselves. Popcorn, fruits and things added to the tree.” She touched a glass ball we were going to hang. “Now, there are so many ways to decorate. It’s…” she shrugged. “…magic.” She looked at a figurine of Santa. "We didn't have him. We did celebrate St. Nicholas Day."

"This Santa Claus was someone at Macy's. That's a huge department store. He's also known as St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas..." I grinned. “Prepare yourself,” I said motioning for her to follow me. “I’m going to introduce you to a whole new world. My Christmas Traditions.”

I put in a DVD in the player and we watched Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer. She was spellbound. I then put in Frosty the Snowman. I ended up popping some popcorn for us as we watched. Colin came home as we were watching The Santa Clause.

“Hi.” Colin greeted after standing there a few seconds and we hadn’t seemed to notice even noticed he was home.

Gabriella waved to him and gave him the “Shhh” sound to tell him to be quiet as she watched.

Colin’s eyebrows rose as he walked in and looked at the screen.

I waved him over to sit beside me. “Sit. I’m giving Gabriella lessons about Christmas in the modern world. I started with Rudolph and now we’re on The Santa Clause.”

Colin nodded, but still looked confused. “Isn’t that for children?”

I shrugged. “When it comes to Christmas, I am a child. Every year.” I greeted him properly with a kiss hello. “I’ve always said, if you’re too old for Rudolph, you’re too old.”

Colin again nodded, still uncertain. “And this is a yearly thing for you?”

I nodded.

He shrugged. “Okay. Pass the popcorn.” He grinned and sat and watched the rest. When Mom came home she sat with us for the second Santa Clause movie where he has to find a wife.

It was dinner time when that finished.

“I still prefer It’s a Wonderful Life.” Mom declared. “And Miracle of 34^th Street, the original with Natalie Wood.”

I nodded. “Mom has her traditions, too,” I said to Colin and Gabriella. “There are dozens of movies and it will take a while to see them all.”

Things were pretty good! Until…we had a Christmas party. It was the week of Christmas and we threw a party at the house on Tradd Street. Colin had become known and there were a lot of people that attended. The house had been decorated and drinks were being served. Everyone was dressed casually but in Christmas colors of red and green. Colin and I made no claim as to what our relationship was, but we didn’t hide it either. We greeted everyone together and Colin even introduced me to guests as his fiancé! Anyone that came as a guest and if it bothered them, they kept their mouths shut. Gabriella and Mom were the belles of the ball! And this time, Gabriella put on something that wasn’t blue, but green. She and mother were the ladies of the house and mingled. Gabriella was now very comfortable with people, and if she didn’t know what people were talking about, she didn’t say a word to tell anyone she didn’t understand. Christmas music played nicely in the background and we were talking with some guests when Colin suddenly froze in mid-sentence. His eyes widened and he slowly turned around to look…for something or someone.

An icicle hit me in the heart as I felt sudden dread. Touching Colin on the arm, I said. “Colin.”

He was looking at everyone but walked slowly across the room. There on a chair at the end of the room against a wall was a package about the size of a shoe-box wrapped festively for Christmas with Colin’s name written in fancy calligraphy lettering. Colin picked up the package and read the label and again looked for someone. He ripped the packaging off and opened the box. He began shaking.

“Talk to me,” I ordered Colin.

But Colin was too shaken to speak. He picked up what was inside. It was a gun. It was one of those old guns with the long barrel and rounded handle, but it was dirty. “He was here,” Colin said in a choked voice that held horror. “This is the pistol Ashley Marshall used when we dueled.” He was now moving fast as he headed to the front door and opened it, looking up and down the street for anyone. “I felt him in this house!” He looked at me and then got a new look of horror and pushed me back inside. “You must stay inside.”

“I understand that, Colin. Brett Marshall was here. He’s still out there and a threat. I get that.” I said taking his arms. “A panic is going to do what?” I asked forcing my face into his vision as he was looking everywhere but at me.

“I must keep you safe!” Colin insisted. “He tried to destroy me and my family. He’ll strike at anything I have. You’re a target!” He began pacing in a circle. “I knew it. I just knew it!” He said to himself.

My mother came up quickly. “What’s going on? Where’s Gabriella?”

Colin now looked up at the partiers and scanned to find his daughter. “Gabriella!” He called moving through guests who were looking at him questioning as he looked for his daughter.

Mom stopped Colin. “I’m telling you, she’s gone. A strange man came in whispered something that terrified her and took her out the backdoor!” Mom pointed toward the kitchen.

Colin now sprinted toward the back! This time the front door opened and a man with Gabriella came in and without a word, he lunged at me. With strength I never knew a man could have, he pulled me to him, opening his mouth where I saw the fangs. The four at the top like Gabriella had, the two longest ones by his front teeth and two shorter, but long next to the long ones, but longer than other teeth and the two below. I felt the sharp pain as he bit me on the right side of my neck as Mom, Gabriella and others at the party were screaming! I felt the skin of my neck rip as he bit down and sucked. I now knew what Colin said about the rush and forcing blood to flow. My head swam as I suddenly had an erection in my pants as he continued to suck.

“No!” Colin screamed as he came back in a run.

“Stop!” The man holding me shouted pulling a knife out placing it against my neck. “Come any closer and I end his life right now!”

Colin froze, but his face held shock as he looked at me and saw the bite. “Oh, Devon.”

“We have unfinished business, Colin Wentworth.” The man said and now I could smell him. It was dirt and the smell of a corpse. “It’s too late for this one.” He smiled at me, his tongue coming out and running up my bleeding neck. Colin was about to move again, but the man held the knife closer to my unbitten neck. “No. I haven’t finished.” He bit again and sucked more and then let me go. “I’ll be back!” He said and hurried out the front door much faster than a normal man would go.

Mom was suddenly at my side as I slid to the floor. “What on earth!?” She looked at Colin. “Call an ambulance! Call the police! Call someone!”

Colin came to me and now he was crying. “Oh, god, Devon.” He looked at his daughter. “Get my serum! Now!”

Gabriella nodded and hurried to the room that Colin and I shared.

“What are you doing?” Mom practically screamed. “He’s dying!”

Colin ignored her. “I’ll fix this.” He said to me. “I swear I will.” He pulled his phone out and hit a button I assumed was a speed dial. “George! Brett Marshall has bitten Devon…” he waited. “…just now, only a minute ago.”

Gabriella came back with the vial, alcohol swabs, needle, and tourniquet. She reached down and took my mother’s shoulders. “Please, Betty. Let Colin work.”

Mother looked at her like Gabriella was crazy. “That man…he looked like…he bit Devon!” But her mind was struggling with what she’d seen.

Gabriella nodded. “Just as he did with Colin and me.”

“What!?” Mom asked in disbelief.

Colin didn’t waste time, he pulled my shirt open, cleaned an area over my heart, got some of the serum in the syringe and plunged it in my heart. “I’ve done it!” He told George and then pulled his shirt off and used that to stop bleeding further from my neck.

“What are you people?” Mom screamed.

Gabriella nodded patiently to my mother. “I am the same woman you knew at the hotel and several weeks since moving in. Colin is a man that loves your son. Right now, he’s doing everything to save Devon’s life.”

The serum was working a little different than it had with Colin or Gabriella. The difference being that my heart never stopped, but the venom was beginning to work to change me. The serum was working to stop the venom from stopping my heart and now I felt every beat. And there was the pain!

“When will you get here?” He asked George. “We’ll be ready!” the party and the party goers were forgotten by Colin as he lifted me up and carried me upstairs followed by my mother and Gabriella.

“What’s going on?” My mother shouted.

“Your son was bitten by a vampire,” Gabriella said sadly.

Mom looked again like Gabriella was crazy, but her mind told her she’d seen it herself. She had to believe it, but her mind was fighting it. “That’s impossible! Vampires are just stories.”

Gabriella nodded but cocked her head. “Is it? I’ll tell you what you need to know, but Colin is a vampire…and so am I.”

The pain in me was mounting as the venom was trying to work, but the serum was attaching itself to the venom. It was truly agony!

“Colin was bitten a long time ago. I was bitten later, but Colin isn’t my cousin…” Gabriella smiled. “Well, he is, but distantly. He’s my father.” She explained about the serum and how it would work and how that would let me lead a pretty normal life. Just as it did for Colin and herself.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. “Police! Open up!”

Gabriella opened the door as two police officers came in, their hands on the butts of their guns, but hadn’t drawn them. “He’s over there, officers.” Gabriella waved to me.

“We got a call about an assault here.” The one officer said looking at me. “Was he assaulted?”

“A crazy man came in during the party and attacked Devon,” Gabriella reported. “We’ve stopped the bleeding and the man who did it got away.”

The second officer, a woman frowned. “We should have the EMS come up here, it looks pretty bad.”

Colin had been crying since he saw the attack, but shook his head. “He’ll be alright soon. They can come up and check him out. He has seizures and the medication is having an effect, but he’ll be fine.” He leaned down to my ear. “I know it hurts, but try to hold on. I don’t know since I got the serum in you before you changed fully, but let them check you out.”

I nodded but didn’t have the energy to speak much. “Okay.”

Colin cleaned up the wound on my neck that was already begun healing.

An EMS team came and checked me out asking me what happened. Being a medic had its advantages of some medical knowledge. They asked me what I took for these “seizures.”

I told them the side effects and what happened since I’d gotten out of the Air Force and it was to counter post-traumatic stress syndrome and shock.

“And you don’t know the man who attacked you?” The first officer asked.

I shook my head. “I’d never seen him before.”

Colin nodded. “I’d known him in the past before I moved away some years ago, but I just moved back here, I don’t know where he lives. His name is Brett Marshall. He’s from Mid-Atlantic Georgia, I believe. He’s always been disturbed.”

The second officer nodded. “Someone said they thought he was a vampire?” She laughed a little.

Colin snickered, too, but he pulled my collar down to show teeth marks, that weren’t the two pricks movies showed on the neck, but a bite!
“He almost took a chunk of his neck, but no. The bleeding has stopped, he didn’t do as much damage as he intended.”

“A vampire wannabe?” The female officer asked her partner.

“I’ve heard of worse.” The male officer shrugged. "That's usually at Halloween. He should have dressed as Krampus. It is Christmas." He looked as the EMT finished with his observations removing the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. “So, will he live?”

The EMT nodded. “His blood pressure is up, but that could be from the medication he described. He seems fine.” He looked at me. “We can take you in for a more thorough exam.”

I smiled. “Colin knows what to do,” I said patting Colin’s arm knowing that what I said was the truth about what Colin knew to do.

The police asked for a description which Gabriella was glad to give. Mom had been watching and listening, but didn’t know what to say. It was a few minutes more when the police and EMT left.

“You knew?” Mom asked me. “You knew Colin was a vampire?” She pointed at Colin. “None of this is surprising to you?”

I nodded. “Yes,” I said sighing as the pain was drifting off. “From day two, but how did I explain it to you?”

“So, what happens now? He grows fangs and drinks blood?” Mom asked Colin and Gabriella. “I’ve seen you two eat! A lot and moving around in daylight.”

Gabriella nodded. “Because of Dr. George Holms. Daddy and he met in the…” she looked at Colin. “…the 1940s?”

Colin nodded. “At the end of World War II.”

“But that’s…” she was going to say impossible, but that didn’t make sense now. “...you’d be in your eighties or nineties!”

I chuckled. “He’s far older than that.”

Gabriella nodded. “So am I.”

Mom looked at Gabriella incredibly. “How old are you?”

Gabriella laughed with little humor. “A lady never tells her age, but my father and I were born before the war…the Civil War.”

“Dr. George Holms is coming,” Colin said. “No one has received the serum so soon after being bitten. I don’t know what will happen.” He wiped his face of the tears. “I knew this would happen.”

“What!?” Mom shouted. “You knew he would be attacked?”

“No, he didn’t, Mom!” I shouted trying to get up. “He didn’t KNOW it would happen. He never lied to me. He’s a victim of that vampire’s attack the same as I am. He was afraid it might happen.”

Colin stopped me from getting up. “You’re weak, baby.”

“I’ll be fine.” I smiled at Colin. “We have a house full of guests that…”

“No, we don’t.” Gabriella shook her head. “After the police came they began trickling out. There’s no one downstairs now.”

Mom shook her head hearing we were worried about the guests. “You were bitten by a VAMPIRE!” She waved at Gabriella and then Colin. “They are vampires! I need to call…”

“Who, Betty?” Colin asked crossly and loud. “Who knows how to treat a case like this? I mean without using the booby hatch!” He was upset, but he was thinking. “I never wanted this for Devon. I swore to him I would never do it, I can’t now even if I wanted to. I hoped Brett was dead, but clearly, he isn’t. I would never do this to Devon.” He shook his head. “George knows more about what’s happened than anybody. What other doctor would be able to help?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said to Mom, but I wasn’t sure. I’d been bitten by a vampire. Was I a vampire now? Did I have a future? Colin and Gabriella were up walking around. I was given the serum so shortly after I was bitten. Would that be different?