Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy - 23. Senator Alan Cooke

We flew back to Charleston. We took Alex with us, which Gabriella was too happy about. Colin was not convinced about it. Of course, he would be, he’s her father. It didn’t matter that she had been turned in her mid-thirties or that she nearly as old as he was.

The spin and usual when seeing Wentworth. Alex did the whole thing as he looked amazed.

“Wow,” Alex said simply. “Is this VUN’s, or yours?” He looked at Colin.

Colin smiled. “I was my family’s, now it’s ours.” He pointed to Gabriella and me.

Gabriella smiled taking Colin’s arm. “He is a brilliant businessman. Don’t believe his modesty. He built the whole thing. TWICE!”

Colin was turning a little pink. “Well, we had a little problem. It fell apart and I was a vampire and…”

“It was built twice!” Gabriella said again. “And he rebuilt this whole thing faster than people believed possible.”

“I never swung so much as a hammer!” Colin complained. “You’re giving Alex the impression I physically built the place.”

I took Colin’s hand. “But your brain did. Don’t deny that.”

As we were getting ready for bed, I was wondering. “The money you used to build Wentworth Manor is yours, right?”

Colin looked at me puzzled. “Of course. The accounts are in my name. Why?”

“The money for the potential task force is coming from…?”

Colin turned. “Holm’s Laboratories.”

I could see where his mind was going. “I’m asking for a reason. You’re no thief. Don’t think I see you could steal anything. Your money comes from the profits you made.”

“Profit sharing.” Colin nodded. “Rewards for making the money I did for Holm’s Laboratories. Not to mention the commissions and my own investments I began investing in the fifties with money I got from doing odd jobs at night. I did well!. In the seventies George and I started Holms' Laboratories. I've done it a while.”

“As many businessmen and companies acquire profits over decades. It's the time thing again. Only this time it's business that should not be so old," I nodded. "George gets this, too?”

“Sure.” Then he chuckled understanding my questions. “I see.” He nodded. “We’re here with my money. Where is his money going?” He laughed out loud.

I shrugged. “Well, yes! He’s always at VUN! Does he go home? Does he have a home to go to?”

Colin chuckled again. “He does downtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue! Not cheap, but worth more than a hundred of million now. He’s sort of…an egghead.” He saw my eyebrows rise at his name calling. “Come on, you know he is. I love that redheaded Brainiac! You know that.” He smiled. “He has a huge house in Manhattan.”

“When? When does he go home?” I asked. “He never is home when we’re there!”

Colin nodded coming over to sit by me. “He’s always at VUN when we’re there because we’re there!” He wagged his eyebrows. “He had no one to spend time with there, other than David. Now, he does.”

I smiled. “You mean he and Burke?”

Colin nodded. “He and Burke!”

I shook my head. “Nobody’s worried about the rebound?”

Colin shook his head. “I don’t think it really is important.” He smiled. “Burke might be hurting. They are having emotional needs that are being met by each other.” He shrugged. “They’re both way over twenty-one.”

I nodded. “Way, way over.” I grinned. “I suppose.” I stretched out on the bed loving how comfortable the bed Colin and I shared. “So is Gabriella and Alex. You know she’d be dating a much younger man.”

Colin froze as he was removing his pants and looked at me and then rolled his eyes. “She’s my daughter.” He shrugged telling me he couldn’t help it. “By that logic, I’m robbing the cradle!”

I grinned as I pulled him down on top of me. “You are!”

We were in Charleston a few weeks before we got a call. Ruben got tentative approval to begin the task force to seek vampires out. There was an office in VUN’s building and they would be housed there, but the Senator that was sympathetic insisted on meeting Colin and me. Colin, Alex and I had to fly back. When we arrived, we met with Senator Alan Cooke. He was an older man in his fifties and liked to eat as much as Colin, but he stored what he consumed. Not fat, but he wasn’t thin! Hair that had been brown was now mostly white. His face was one that was open as he seemed approachable.

He smiled as he shook our hands. “Congresswoman Chance told me you want to start a task force to investigate disappearances and deaths. What’s so special about this task force law enforcement and all the other agencies can’t handle?”

Colin motioned to a sitting area in the conference room where we sat. “Unlike these other agencies, we won’t be investigating anything else. We will be looking solely for the disappearances and deaths.”

The Senator smiled. “And why the interest? People disappear all the time.”

I saw Colin look at me wondering what we should tell him. “There are cases that we’re interested specifically. What has Congresswoman Chance told you?”

“She asked if I was open to authorizing a task force to seek deaths and disappearances. She said she had an uncle that was a victim of this and saw the need for one.” The Senator said.

Colin nodded and waved at Alex. “This is her uncle. Alex Chance.”

Alex smiled and nodded, extending his hand. “Grace told you about me?”

The Senator gave a shrugging nod. “She’s very quiet about you. She simply said you disappeared for some years and was recently found.”

I nodded. “And that’s all?”

He frowned. “I was expecting someone older, but…”

“We need to tell him,” Colin said suddenly standing. “I hate deceit. If we’re going to trust him to be on our side, he should be told!”

Alex frowned. “We’re almost normal now. How do we prove it?”

Colin waved toward the lab. “We show him! George has all the research and lab results.”

I shook my head. “Are we sure we should tell anyone?” I shook my head. “Having connections with the FBI is great, it keeps people out of our pasts, but we can hire our own people to investigate. They could even be agents!”

Colin shook his head. “Either way, we have to tell these agents about us.”

The Senator frowned as he heard Colin, Alex and I debate. “What? Are you aliens of some sort?”

I shook my head. “If you mean illegal aliens, no. We’re all born here in the United States. If you mean otherworld aliens, we’re not that either.”

“We’re vampires!” Colin said quickly. Rip that band aide right off! It will hurt less. “This November, I will turn 205 years old.” He looked at Alex. “What year were you born?”

Alex frowned, not liking what was happening. “1898.”

The Senator looked at us like we were crazy. Then started to get up. “I don’t have time for this.” He said to dismiss this lunacy.

“We’ll prove it!” Colin said motioning for the Senator to come with him.

The Senator, who was not believing Colin, who was insisting he is followed. “They don’t exist! I have important things to do.”

“Saving lives isn’t?” I asked quickly. “We’re not crazy and we not bringing you into anything shady or insane.”

The Senator waved at the window where the sun was shining into the room. “You’re up in the daytime, or are like those vampires in that movie my daughter loved.”

Colin raised his sleeve and showed his disc. “I am a vampire. There is a venom that makes me a vampire. This disc keeps the venom inactive. We can move in the daytime. I used to be a blood-sucking, fanged vampire.” He pointed to Alex. “So was he.”

The Senator looked at me. “You, too? I suppose you’re a hundred old or so?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m just thirty.”

For the next few hours, we took the Senator in the lab and showed him the findings and serum. We even showed him the venom. The Senator looked but shook his head. “I see what you’re saying, but I don’t know what it is! I trust what you’re telling me, but this isn’t proof. I don’t know what I’m looking at.” He looked at us. “You say you are a vampire and there are others out there?”

Colin nodded. “There are and that’s who we’re looking for. I didn’t kill…” he almost said what he always did to me about helping men die, but saw me shake my head. “Alex never did either. We hunted animals. We are no danger, but there are those out there who are. We need to find them, get rid of them and help others like Alex and I were who didn’t kill.”

George and Burke came in. George hadn’t been there when the Senator was told. George looked wide-eyed at what we were showing the Senator his findings on a computer monitor.

“Colin! What are you doing?” George hurried over turning off the computer monitor that had the image of the venom.

Colin sighed. “We need allies, George. If this Senator can be shown, he might help us.”

“And he may not!” George pointed out. “I was against this from the beginning. We’re letting too many people know about us.” He said firmly and angrily.

“Then we’re no better off!” Colin said. “We need to trust someone. If Senator Cooke is convinced, we have help!”

“We’ve done fine since 1946!” George said angrily.

“No, we haven’t, George,” Colin said back.

Senator Cooke frowned at George. “You’re a vampire, too?”

George looked angrily at Colin, but then looked at the Senator. “I am.”

Burke nodded. “So am I.”

The Senator shook his head and held his hand to his head as he thought. “I don’t suppose you’d let this research be verified by another lab.”

George shook his head. “No way.”

“So, I’m to decide based on what you say.” The Senator nodded.

Colin shook his head. “Fine, then don’t trust us, trust Grace! She knows it’s true!”

Now the Senator was looking like he was giving in a little. “These claims are just…” he started and stopped.

“Impossible?” I offered. “I had trouble with that, too.”

Senator Cooke looked at me. “Did he do this to you?” He pointed at Colin.

“Yes, but it was complicated,” I said. “It was a bad situation that would have been worse if he hadn’t, but until you trust us, that’s all I’ll say.”

“But you’re expecting me to take your word!” The Senator protested.

“Think about it if it were you were a vampire!” I said. “If something happened that was unbelievable, but you needed someone to believe you…what would you do?”

Colin went on added quickly. “And what if what was unbelievable, you knew almost no way anyone would believe you?” Colin asked watching the Senator look from me to Colin.

“I think convincing you were aliens rather than vampires would be easier,” I said. “We knew what your reaction was going to be.”

“The problem is, we need help,” Colin said. “These agents are already trained.” Colin looked at George. “They are trained to look very well and investigate. Even if we only used a few agents, once they find something, we can go in with Alex who might be able to locate vampires better.”

George thought about what Colin was saying, but…he was having a hard time with this idea. “What will we do if he doesn’t agree? We can’t kill him!”

Colin shook his head as we saw Senator looked more uncertain. “We won’t do that, Senator. Relax.” Colin said looking back at the Senator. “Even if he refuses…Grace thought she could trust you. Can we?”

The senator shook his head, but he was still having a hard time.

“She’s a smart woman,” I said. “Do you think she believes in vampires if she doesn’t know they’re real?”

The senator was still thinking. “I need some time.”

Colin nodded. “People are dying, Senator Cooke. Think about it, but we should get started as soon as possible.”

The Senator left still working things in his mind.

George spun on Colin. “This was a bad idea.”

Colin sighed. “We’ve been hiding so long, George. The newly discovered vampires aren’t the only ones with trust issues.”

George grunted. “This could be dangerous!”

“I took a chance,” Colin stressed and said louder. “We need help!”

We stayed a few days. When we didn’t hear from the Senator, I was starting to worry.

“Why do we need the agents?” I asked one night in our apartment as we were going to go to bed. I had been thinking about it almost nonstop.

Colin sighed sitting on the side of the bed. “It’s like I told George. These are trained men and women, they know how to track and investigate. We have men and women for security. The sort of investigation needed, these agents have been taught to do.” He said hoping I’d understand. “Guarding someone or something is difficult, but the ones we have here and even in Charleston are trained to secure and guard. That’s something we hired people to do. Investigating and searching is another issue and needs training.” Then he smiled as he looked at me. “I have a feeling about Senator Cooke.”

I grinned and sat by him. “Far be it from me to doubt your feelings.”

That was when the doorbell rang. I looked at my watch and saw it was 11:30 in the evening. Getting up I went to the door. I didn’t really know the man at the door, but I’d seen him around VUN.

“We caught one of them and his victim.” He said urgently. “He is a vampire, they’re bringing them in now.”

“Colin!” I called. “We have someone coming that is a vampire!”

Colin came out of the bedroom tucking his shirttail back in. “How long until they get here?” He asked the man.

“It should be a few minutes.” The man said and left.

“Maybe we should call the senator,” I suggested. “It’s late, but if he needs persuading…”

Colin shook his head. “He might need some persuading, but I’d rather he come on his own about helping us. Convincing him could work, but…”

“This will confirm what we’ve been saying,” I said. “We have his number.”

We did call.

“I already decided to go forward with your proposal, Mr. Wentworth, but I’ll be there in a few minutes.” The senator said and hung up.

There were parts of the building I hadn’t seen yet. The holding area was new to me. It wasn’t far from the Interrogation Room, which made sense. The rooms were in the interior of the building and were insulated with no windows and had one of those mirrors we could see in, but they couldn’t see us. Going there I saw a young woman in one room maybe in her late teens or early twenties with blonde hair wearing a waitress uniform that was stained with blood. Her blood. She would have been pretty, except for the hole in the side of her neck. She was looking for a way out. I could see she was scared.

“We need to give the serum,” I said.

Colin nodded. “We will. She needs to be where she is until the senator gets here.”

“The longer we wait, the more serum has time to work!” I said urgently. “She is a victim!”

Colin nodded. “It’s too late. The venom has begun to work. She will be a vampire.”

In the other room was a male in his…his age was hard to judge. He was basically an animal. Hissing and looking frantically for a way out.

We went back to the girl. I sighed, thinking about what she might be thinking. Something had to be done. “At least let me talk to her.” I urged. “She’s frightened.” I patted his arm. “I’m not a target.”

Colin nodded. “We’ll both go in.”

The guards let us in the room as the girl backed to the other wall.

“Hello,” Colin said. “I’m Colin.” He pointed to me. “This is Devon. Do you remember what happened to you tonight?”

“I was attacked.” She said. “By this…thing.”

I nodded. “What was it?” I asked to see if she knew.

She shook her head. “I…it looked…” she began hesitantly, but her mind was going somewhere else. “I need to get home! My boyfriend will be worried.”

Colin nodded. “We’ll get to that. What did you see?”

She looked as if she believed if she told us, we’d think she was crazy. “I could have sworn…he looked like a vampire.” She shook her head and touched her neck. “He bit me. Shouldn’t I go to the hospital?”

“He is a vampire,” Colin confirmed softly. “What he did, was unforgivable. He made you a vampire, as well.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re joking.” She said in disbelief. “He didn’t look like the vampires in the movies, he had more fangs and…”

“He is a vampire,” I said quietly to her.

“You know it’s true,” Colin said. “They exist. We exist.”

“Colin and I are vampires, but we’re being treated. We don’t suck blood or hunt people.” I added.

She shook her head again. “That’s impossible!”

Colin nodded. “But it is.”

“I don’t want to be a vampire!” She cried in denial.

For the next few minutes, we explained about the venom and what happened. She listened but was still having a hard time with the truth. At last, she asked. “Can I leave now?”

Colin frowned and shook his head. “You will turn if not treated. One day, you may return home, but right now. For your safety and others, …you need to stay here.”

I looked around the empty room. “We can at least get her a chair,” I said quietly to Colin.

Colin nodded and said equally quietly. “We will, but right now…she needs to be seen by George.”

“We need to remember she’s a victim.” I reminded him. “She is not any more responsible than you were.”

Colin nodded again. “I’m not saying she isn’t, but we can’t let her leave. She’s in shock. She will become a blood seeker if we let her go.”

“I just don’t want her to feel like we’re seeing her as the enemy.” I turned to her. “We’ll be right back. Dr. Holm will be in just a minute from now and we can begin treating you. You need the treatment if you want to return to your life.”

She looked very upset and began to cry and she was now shaking.

Colin walked over telling her quietly. “I know this is horrible. What happened wasn’t you’re doing. I had the same reaction. We will help you, but we need your cooperation. Okay?”

She was crying even more. “I just want to go home.” She said pitifully.

Colin nodded. “And we will do what we can to see you can, but you need to stay here for now. Dr. Holm will tell you more, then you can decide whether to call your boyfriend or not.” He patted her back to comfort her. He came back to me. “Maybe Ursula can talk to her.” He said to me. “You know? Woman to woman?”

I nodded. “We can ask.”

Going outside the room, we saw Senator Cooke with George who had been looking in through the observation window. The one-way mirror used to observe them, without them seeing us. Everyone has seen them.

The senator shook his head. “That poor girl.” He said sadly. “How is she alive? That bite is pretty severe.”

George nodded. “The venom in her stopped the bleeding. Once bitten, the victim gets a rush as the venom caused the blood to flow rapidly. After the vampire feeds, if the victim is left alive, the venom will stop the bleeding creating a new vampire. The heart basically stops. The venom keeps the victim alive.” George explained how the serum worked to start the heart again. George nodded when he was done. He smiled sadly. “Now, I have a patient.” He said, reaching and putting on a long white coat and held a stethoscope. He saw my raised eyebrows. “What? People trust doctors. I go in there as just another person…that’s not the best plan. I go in as a doctor, they trust me more.” He grinned and shrugged, walking in the room for Amanda.

Senator Cooke chuckled. “He’s pretty good.”

Colin nodded. “He’s an excellent doctor. His practice ended when he was turned. He’s making up for lost time.” He led us back in the corridor and opened another door to another observation room. He pointed to the creature in the room to be watched. “That is the thing that was feeding on her.”

Now I really looked at this vampire. He was dressed like most homeless, but his clothes were stained from his meals that dried. Almost like Gabriella had been. But Gabriella never fed on a person, this one had. His hair looked like it hadn’t been washed at all and probably since he was turned. It looked with those dead eyes, his mouth opening and was probably hissing, his fangs showed. He looked wild.

Senator Cooke let out a start as he gasped. Now, he’d seen a vampire. “He doesn’t even look human!”

Colin nodded. “There are those that give into the venom and become a hunter. They surrender anything human left in them. If we can’t reach him, he’ll have to be terminated.”

“But that was never you?” The senator asked.

Colin shook his head. “I never gave in. Neither did my daughter.”

“Daughter?” The senator asked. “She’s alive?”

“Yes, and living in our home in Charleston, South Carolina,” I answered. “She was beginning look a lot like him, but never fed on a person. We reached her and began the treatment. She’s almost human again.”

He nodded. “But you were never that way?” He asked me as he pointed to the vampire.

“No.” I shook my head. “Now that you’ve seen one, I’ll tell you. I was kidnapped, as was Colin. The person that took us didn’t know about the serum and Colin missed his dose. He reverted back to a vampire. To prevent Colin from killing me, even accidentally, I gave myself to him.” I explained how I was bitten twice, but Colin turned me.

The senator finally nodded after listening carefully to me. “Well, as I said, I’m backing this task force.” He looked at the creature in the room. “Now, I fully understand and support you. There is a great need for what you can do.”

Colin nodded. “But you understand the discretion. If people hear about this…”

The senator nodded. “I’ll talk with Grace again. Perhaps with her cousin’s help with the FBI, there is something more we can do.”