Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy - 44. Karen Darcy

We let the others on our teams know what we planned as we sat again at the dining table and of course, there were objections.

“You’re letting Lurch in the Manor!?” Chuck balked.

I chuckled. “I think Fester is more like it; only Adrian isn’t as funny as Fester was.” I grinned at his Addams Family reference. I shrugged. “But I see a little Lurch in him, too.”

“Only Lurch and Fester weren’t vampires!” Chuck said. “That…whatever his name…is a vampire!”

“And we will be prepared.” Colin smiled. “You’re taking your Disflavor?”

“Sure, but…he’ll be here?” Chuck said in disbelief.

“If he takes our offer,” I said.

“They won’t hunt here,” Colin said. “They wouldn’t dare. We’ll have plenty of Burke’s premium blood on hand, they won’t need to feast.”

“We learned there were quite a few vampires out there. Far more than we imagined.” I added as I looked at Colin. “There is no way we can get rid of all of them.”

Colin shook his head. “I don’t think we can either, but we can give hope to those like us…” he put his head against mine. “…some of us, who were turned without our consent.”

“And Morticia!” Chuck added. “She’s coming, too?”

Colin grinned. “She’s more a Wednesday Addams as far as I’m concerned.” His smile grew as my eyes widened as I realized he knew what we were talking about. “I was a vampire with a lot of time at night. I saw the show. I had TV.”

I chuckled. “…and watched while it was current?”

Colin let that slide as looked back at them. “Anyway, this will give us more control. Maybe this will give someone the confidence to show their hand.”

Mark nodded with his arms crossed over his chest. “Uh, huh. Are you sure you can keep control?” He scowled. “Chuck was telling us about them. That Adrian guy sounds scary.”

“Of course, he’s scary, he’s a vampire!” Stan said logically.

Mark rolled his eyes. “So are they.” He waved at Colin and me. “You do remember that, don’t you?”

Stan wasn’t bothered by that. “They’re the good guys!” He smiled. “They wouldn’t hurt anyone.” He waved at Willie. “Nor would he, but I dare say the rat population has probably increased since you’ve gone on the serum.” He waved at Alex, Gabriella and Burke. “None of them were bad guys, but Adrian is.”

Colin nodded. “Having them here will make it possible for us to maybe know what the hidden agenda may be.”

I nodded. “But they have to accept the invitation first.”

Colin smiled. “Do you think they could possibly refuse?” He sighed. “But I don’t think it will be very soon…so…” he stood up. “…I invite you all to take some time off.” He grinned at me. “I intend to spend some time with my husband. Alone.”

I smiled back. “Are you?”

He leaned in whispering. “I plan a few hours in a suite I have booked. A nice dinner with just the two of us…a little dancing and…” He stood up smiling.

I chuckled. “We’re hardly ever apart!”

Colin nodded. “Chasing vampires. I think we need to do something, not on a job. You remember? A date?”

“A date.” I grinned. “No shop talk.”

Colin shook his head. “Not a word.” He promised.

We did spend a nice night in town. It was interesting how my perceptions changed. We checked in the hotel where there were people who still didn’t approve of Colin and me…well this was the Bible belt…people are all different. The man who checked us in. Looking at the computer screen, he saw we were checking into a suite that was built for romance. When his eyes saw that and he looked up at us…I couldn’t help but laugh. The fact that two men were checking into this suite…wasn’t always accepted by some. This was a business that specialized in giving people a place to come to explore their romantic sides and we were given the key to the suite and escorted to our destination. The bellman opened the door and we walked into a honeymoon suite. Not one of those cheap hotels where you paid by the hour. This was elegant and nicely furnished but had a Jacuzzi in the floor before a round bed. There were a lot of curtains and a lot of pillows to spread around to get comfortable…wherever. A fireplace burned merrily and there was champagne with two glasses and chocolates on a nice table.

Colin grinned, having gotten the message this man sent. “No matter what century, things always stay the same.” He shook his head. “I wonder if humanity will ever change.”

“For so long you hid that other side of you from others,” I observed. “The fact that we have been accepted by a lot of people with no thought about our being gay; I really hadn’t thought about our homosexual side. The vampire part sort of took the lead role of what to hide.”

Colin chuckled as he took my hand as we walked deeper into the suite. “Even in the century I was from, I never understood why it mattered.” He shrugged. “I watched people. Our whole society was geared so that a person could find that one person. We sing about it, write about it and have industries dedicated to helping love blossom and maintain love once discovered. I watched as society as a whole; made to bring people together. Everything from how we conduct ourselves even in business. You buy a car because it will make you sexy. Women buy perfume to make them more attractive. Everything is designed to bring two humans together. Even this…” he waved at the suite. “…all created to bring two people together.” He waved at the bed and hot tub. “To encourage touch and joining of two people to help…unite them.”

“The fact we are both male?” I asked.

Colin shook his head. “Shouldn’t matter.” He pulled me closer. “I love you, Devon, but it’s more than that.” He smiled leaning in kissing me gently. “My life was empty before. I didn’t know how much until you came into that life. We touch physically, yes, but it’s more than just sex. I was incomplete without you and I know I can’t exist if we aren’t together. I love you, I need you…so much.”

I smiled as I looked in his emerald eyes. “I love you, Colin. I need you. We’ll do what all we can to be sure we’ll stay together.” I felt his hand go up my back as mine ran over him. “To me, your being with me; is as necessary as my next breath. I would not live without you any more than not taking my next breath and just as necessary.” I said as my hands came around and began unbuttoning his shirt. “When we touch and make love, I feel a connection with you I’ve never known I could have with someone else, nor will I find that with anyone else. I want no other. The fact that you need me means so much. The fact you love me is so important. I adore you, Colin.”

Colin pulled me closer. “This isn’t the honeymoon, but tonight is just about you and me.” He helped me slip out of my shirt. “You are the sexiest human being I’ve ever seen. I want to become a part of you.”

I laughed, but it wasn’t a laugh because it was funny, but because I felt the same way. “Two souls touch in that special way so basic and so human that only humans can. Why does it bother people that the two humans are male?” I brought him in for a deep, consuming kiss. “Let’s touch souls,” I said quietly bringing him down with me on the round bed.

We did touch a lot. I really didn’t believe in much that was supernatural, but what we shared was damned super and it was very natural. Believe me, when I say, every time we loved, I loved him even more. Be us, human or vampire, our marriage was solid.

We went back to Wentworth when it was morning and greeted by Mark and Alex who’d come back after a night on watch.

Mark looked at us smiling. “I hope you had a good night.”

Colin nodded as he put his arm around me. “It was…memorable.”

Alex nudged Mark. “They need to be told.”

Colin frowned. “Told what?”

Mark nodded. “It seems we’re not the only ones watching Marissa and Adrian. From our vantage point, we saw two others watching the compound.” He pulled out his camera. “I’ve sent Stan the images to see if they come up.”

“You saw them,” I said. “Did they see you?”

Alex shook his head. “There were four at first, then just two after an hour. They were good, but not professionals.”

Colin nodded as he thought. “We’ve been watching Marissa and the compound a while. They’ve not shown up before, have they?”

Mark shook his head. “It would have been reported.”

“All they did was watch the compound?” I asked.

Alex nodded. “For the entire time, we were there. They left just before Willie and Shelly relieved us.”

“Male? Female?” Colin asked.

“Male,” Mark answered. “Jeans and denim jackets…hunting boots on both of them.” He shrugged. “The older one, about forty-something wore one of the camouflage hats guys were when hunting. I want to say they were good ol’ boys.”

I chuckled. “Southern hicks?”

Mark grinned. “I didn’t say that…” he chuckled. “…but I suspect they spat tobaccy…” Mark said with a Southern twang. “…and had the Confederate Stars and Bars on their truck.”

Alex nodded. “They looked like they were hunters and I think that was just how they dressed. They were hunting, but it wasn’t deer.”

“You have pictures,” Colin said.

“Stan should be doing the facial recognition search now.” Mark nodded.

Colin, Alex, Mark and I went to the media room that Stan had taken to work out of.

Stan looked up when we walked in, looking…well…he wasn’t in his agent gear. He looked relaxed in jeans and a t-shirt. He smiled at us. “I got those pictures you sent, Mark. The computer did find a match for one of them.” He reported without us even asking. He typed on a computer keyboard. “I miss Buddy.” He commented to no one. He pointed at the other computer in the room he used as a second computer and monitor. The screen changed to a crime photograph of a young man in his twenties with sandy blonde hair. “This is Gavin Darcy. This is a two-year-old picture of him taken two years ago after a fight he got into with a club owner. He’s from Holly Hill, South Carolina?” He looked up questioningly at Colin and me.

“Holly Hill is a neighboring town,” I said. “Other than the fight, is there anything else?”

Stan shook his head. “Just the minor things, nothing too violent…” he held up his finger. “…but his sister, Karen Darcy was killed a few weeks ago.” He looked at us. “An unknown cause of death. Massive blood loss. She was just seventeen.”

I frowned. “It could be just a random vampire that’s guilty here.”

Colin nodded. “So, why were those two watching the compound? They had to have made a connection.”

“Do we do anything about it?” Mark asked. “They watched while off the property and didn’t trespass.”

“What can we do?” I shrugged. “They didn’t break any laws. The hunting cover holds true. That area is known to be just that…a hunting club.”

Colin sighed. “It’s obvious they tracked the sister’s killer to the compound. They want to catch whoever killed her. I don’t see much choice for now. We leave them alone…until they do something stupid.”

I nodded. “But you know they will. If they want to hunt down and kill their sister’s killer, do we stop them?”

“If we don’t, they could die, as well.” Colin pointed out. “The whole reason we started this team was to prevent death. This will lead to death.”

“But they might succeed,” I said hopefully. “If they kill one of the vampires there, it would benefit us.”

Colin shook his head. “Since we don’t know how old Adrian is we can’t say for certain, but I know he’s not young and I know he knows how to protect himself.” He started his circular pace. “Or it could even be Marissa.”

“Or another member of that family she didn’t tell us about,” I added.

Mark shrugged. “We’re strung pretty fine manpower wise now. But we could have them followed.” He looked at Stan. “You have their addresses?”

Stan tried to not look offended again. “Of course, I do.”

Mark grinned at Stan. “Just checking.” He looked at Colin. “Maybe Chuck can swing by there and check things out.”

Colin gave a shrugging nod. “We might have to.” He looked at Mark. “If this were a terrorist we were looking at, what would you recommend doing?”

Mark nodded. “We’d have Chuck check.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Holly Hill was not a big town, but it was about twenty to thirty miles away from where Marissa and Adrian stayed. It would have been no problem for one of them to travel there, hunt and come back. Holly Hill was sparsely populated and there were farms there. Some of the textile industry was in the upper part in the more rural areas and many workers lived out there to enjoy more life in the country. There were also some manufacturing industries. It would be easy to hunt there.

Chuck went there and did some official snooping as an FBI agent. He interviewed the Darcy family saying it was part of an ongoing investigation. Karen Darcy was a waitress at a truck stop off the highway when she didn’t come home one evening after work. Her body was found a few days later. The police there had no leads, her father, Tucker Darcy gave a report that he suspected a man that had been seen that he followed one night. He had told police this, but they had come up with nothing. There had been reports also that some farm animals had been found dead by the same means, as in they had been drained of blood. There were rumors in the area from alien mutilations to other things, but no one dared mention vampires as that would have been impossible, because there were no vampires.

“Okay,” Colin began as he did his pace. “The farm animal deaths are one thing, but why would he kill a human? Why now?”

Alex shrugged. “Well, we hate to admit it, but Adrian is male.”

“You think it was sex?” Willie asked. Willie looked at Colin. “You had sex as a vampire. There were no reports that Karen Darcy had been sexually assaulted.”

I shook my head. “This is the South,” I said. “The death of a young girl like this, often if they think it’s too late because the family doesn’t want the shame of something like this reported, won’t report a sexual assault.”

Mark nodded. “That’s right.” He shrugged. “Even when it’s not her fault, many families don’t want it known that their little girl was sexually assaulted.”

Chuck frowned. “The police told me the investigation was still going on, but I think she was. Small town police will also be protective of its own people. They think it is more important to protect the family’s privacy. The officers in Holly Hill didn’t strike me as having a whole lot of training.”

I nodded. “They often don’t.”

“Adrian sees her, desires her and rapes and kills her?” Gabriella asked, but not surprised.

“Even though we hate to say it, Adrian may not be the one that did this,” Colin stressed. “We know there are other members of Marissa’s family that are vampires. They could have been visiting her, saw this Karen and…” he waved. “…did what they did.” Colin looked at me. “We discussed love the other night, be it human or vampire. Sex will always be a motivator. Until we know who it was, it really doesn’t matter. This wasn’t love. I don’t even think it was about sex. This was about power. Plain and simple.” He looked at me. “He could have been a rapist before he was turned.” He threw his hands out in frustration. “Whatever…it motivated Mr. Darcy and his son to track them to the hunting club. They think whoever did it is there.”

“He’s not just a vampire, but rapist and killer?” I asked.

Colin nodded. “It’ very possible.”

I shrugged. “Okay, now we have a new wrinkle.” I frowned. “These people obviously care about Karen, or they wouldn’t be hunting this person down. It has to be a vampire because of blood loss. Now we will have to protect them, as well.”

“We need to get a thorough report,” George said. “If not, I can get one on my own.” He looked at Chuck. “Can the FBI get me in? I can do the autopsy myself.”

Shelly nodded. “We can make it official. I’ll call Ruben. We’ll get the authorization.”