Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy - 29. Laws No Longer Apply

The previous night had been tough. The next day was a little tense. The agents were still having to adjust to how things were different. It was after lunch when Colin and I got up. When we arrived at the office we used with the agents, Shelly, Mark, and Ruben were discussing what we’d been through earlier that night. Stan had shown them the 3D images we had of the little vampire.

“…but he was a child.” Shelly said to Stan like she’s said it before.

Stan looked very uneasy as he scratched his ear, looking like he was being told he was wrong by his mother…or a big sister. “I took careful notes and I kept records.”

Ruben nodded. “Where’s the body?”

Colin came in the middle of the room. “There is no body.”

“He was killed last night.” Shelly frowned. “Unless you disposed of it. There should be a body.”

I watched Colin pinch his nose in frustration. “This is not a normal situation.” He sighed more frustrated. “The laws, natural and human, the rules are different with vampires.”

Ruben said patiently. “Okay.” Ruben nodded. “Tell us what happened.”

Colin told them what happened that night, in detail with absolute accuracy. “Stan showed the images. He showed you the scan. He was not human.” He started to march in a circle as he paced. “One more time, this was not a little boy. He was no longer human, but a vampire. You’re following guidelines and procedures that are applicable to situations involving humans.” He looked at Stan. “Show the images again of what that thing looked like right after I ended him.” The image of the little vampire came up. “That was right after I stopped him. Now, the image an hour later?” The image appeared. “This is only an hour! He’s falling apart, becoming ash!” He looked at the surprised look on Shelly’s face. “These are not humans. They are vampires. The rules and laws you’ve followed cannot be applied. Why do you think we need you? You were chosen for special circumstances for special reasons.”

Shelly nodded. “I understand that…”

Colin shook his head. “No. You don’t.” He said angrily. “You’re looking at these things as human. They are not human. Some, like the one that attacked Amanda, are not human at all. Those like that little monster we caught last night, was not human, but you’re looking at it like he was.”

Shelly was having a difficult time with this. “We weren’t there.”

“But I was,” Chuck said coming in the room. “What I saw was not human.” He looked more like an agent now with the suit and hair combed and neatly done. “That was a monster, just like Colin said. If you can’t trust him or even your eyes.” He pointed to the images. “Trust me.”

“What about you and Devon?” Shelly asked. “You're both vampires.”

Colin frowned. “I’m not human either. Neither is Devon.” He said reluctantly and quietly. “But we want to be again. That’s the difference. We didn’t lose that part of us that is human. We never let go.”

She thought a few seconds and then was looking at the image. “So, he is just…burns?”

George came in after Chuck. “It’s chemical, but yes. He is burning. His body is gone. Turned to ash this morning.”

Chuck nodded. “The laws of nature and rules can’t apply here. That thing was a threat, Colin got rid of it. We have to adjust. Our thinking needs to change.”

“The venom is real. The vampires are real.” George said. “Either change thinking or don’t do this. They are a threat. Believe that.”

Ruben nodded. “It’s just taking time.”

“Colin, Devon, me, Alex, Gabriella, Burke are all vampires,” George said. “There is a difference between us and them. We don’t want to be, but we are. We are aware of what we are. They don’t even think about whether they are or not vampires. They just are.”

Ruben nodded again. “It’s taking time.”

Colin nodded. “Time we don’t have. If we going to be effective here. You’re going to have to change how you see things.” Colin said. “George is working to find a way to get rid of what we are. What he came up with in this serum is the closest we can to being human again.”

“I had a hard time with the new rules, Colin. Remember?” I reminded him.

Stan moved forward a little. “I found a match to that…thing last night.” He waved his hand and the screen above came on. He hit an icon and typed again. “Manuel Rodriguez.” A school photo came up from where he was in kindergarten. “He was reported missing three weeks ago by his mother.” He hit another button. “His address is here.”

“How’d you get this so fast?” Colin asked.

“Schools and police records are available. Birth certificates and cross-references were done by him.” He patted the computer. “I finally just downloaded the files from Social Services, various school records, and NYPD so I can do it quicker. He got in seconds.” Stan said proudly of the computer.

I frowned. “You shouldn’t be able to do that. There are protections.”

Stan nodded. “Which was no problem to him.” He said again proudly.

Shelly threw her hands out. “Something else to worry about. This is borderline with breaking laws.”

“It’s not National Secrets, Shelly. These records are confidential in some cases, but necessary.” Mark said and walked to Stan, which, thanks to my vampire nature I heard him say in almost a whisper to Stan. “That sounds like a lot of work. You’re eating, Stan?” He asked, putting and hand on Stan’s shoulder. I did notice that his hand moved slightly. He cared. “Have you slept?”

Stan seemed to not understand but then nodded. “I will! This is more important.”

Mark nodded. “When we’re done here, you take a nap!” Mark told him firmly. He looked at Ruben. “He can take a break, can’t he?”

Ruben smiled. “If he needs to, of course.”

Stan looked at Mark, but the look was soft. “I took a nap earlier in the room over there.” He pointed. “I’m fine, Mark. Stop worrying.”

“Fine.” Mark nodded. “Tonight, we go home and I put you to bed.” He said kindly. “I know you. You get obsessed with these things at times. We’ll even have a good meal. They have an excellent restaurant here.”

Colin had heard this conversation between these two as well. “They really only need to go one more step.”

I nodded. “I agree, but this is working for them. If they are or if they’re not physically intimate, that’s up to them. Right now, this is working for them.”

Colin frowned and looked at the map. “That address is near where we found the little vampire.”

Shelly nodded. “No doubt a mother that worries about her child. We know what happened to him. Do we tell her?”

Colin shrugged a nod. “And what do we tell her?” He looked at her. “We have no body for her to bury, it burned away because he was a vampire!? Do we tell her that? She’ll want details.”

Shelly nodded. “But she deserves resolution.”

I walked up behind Colin. “Yes, she does.” I agreed. “But will telling her that be a resolution? When I met Colin, I never imagined my life would turn out like this. I was a medic in the military. I came home to have what I was completely changed. I needed a job, but never in my wildest dreams would I have said I was going to be a vampire hunter.” I grinned taking Colin’s hand. “Now, I am married to a vampire and a vampire myself. This all new territory for everybody.”

Ruben smiled at Shelly. “I told you all this was…not a usual task force.” He said to Shelly. “Will this be a problem?”

Shelly frowned as she thought. “I just feel I’m operating outside the law.”

Colin shook his head. “No. You’re operating in an area where there is no law. How could there be a law for this?”

Stan smiled. “Now that the awkwardness is out now.” He touched the computer table again. “There are things I found.” He waved at the large glass above the table where a map of the United States appeared that was outlined with glowing red spots. “I found where the hot spots are. Illuminating all the deaths for causes that are natural like heart attacks and strokes and other things…there were the deaths that are results of bullets and violent where was killed them was clearly human…these are the areas with the most unexplained death and missing people.”

I looked at the map. The brightest were in areas of cities. New York state had a large red spot that lessened as you went out with the red becoming dots. Chicago was bright, but not a bright as New York. Los Angeles and I was surprised to see redder in the South but less defined. There were a lot of little dots, but in Charleston, there was a red almost as bright as New York. “What’s going on in the South?”

Stan shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s due to bad investigations or anything else, but there is a lot of unexplained down there.”

Colin looked at the map. “There is someone else other than Burke and his group.” He concluded as he looked at me. “Maybe they haven’t responded yet.”

I nodded. “Atlanta…Charlotte…” I looked back at Colin. “I sort of understand, there are more people there, but Charleston?”

Stan nodded. “That’s what he says.” He patted the computer.

“Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, but Charleston?” I asked. “We’re not big!”

Chuck was nodding as he looked at the map, too. “No…but it’s old.” He walked up looking at the map closer. “The first European settlements in the New World was on the East Coast.” He said logically. “Charleston, or rather Charles’ Towne, was one of the first settlements. There were others, of course, but their red is bigger, too.”

Colin nodded. “The bigger cities are natural hiding places, but in Charleston, there would be older vampires.”

“Older than you,” I said to Colin. “You lived there almost a century before moving here. Were there any hints of another vampire?”

Colin shook his head. “No.” Colin chuckled. “It’s hard to believe. Then news didn’t travel as fast as today.”

I looked at Stan. “Can we be more precise with Charleston locally?”

Stan nodded. “Sure.” He hit the recessed keyboard on the black glass. The East Coast grew, the Southern portion grew and Charleston became huge. The red was concentrated downtown.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense that the old part of Charleston isn’t redder. The newer part of Charleston is landfill. Old Charleston would have been the only land to build on.”

Colin came up. “Yes, it does. In the modern world, if you needed to get suspicion away from where you are, you’d hunt away from where you live.”

Chuck nodded. “The best criminals don’t target their own neighbors.”

Shelly nodded. “The hardest serial killer I hunted for was a man, not one of his neighbors suspected. When I got evidence, his neighbors couldn’t believe it. For them, he was the kindest, friendliest neighbor that they knew. He was a member of the school’s PTA, coaching Little League and to everyone around him that best neighbor they knew.” She waved at the map. “He or she…this vampire would be calm where he lives. Attacking no one near him.” She touched Colin’s arm. “I’m sorry I’ve been humanizing these creatures. I’ll get there.”

Colin smiled. “I think you are there, already.” He looked at the rest of them. “Pull up Manhattan?”

The map changed to downtown Manhattan.

Colin looked again. “I think…yes…” he said studying the map. “That’s where we just broke up that nest here. I think there will be a reduction in deaths. That doesn’t mean there aren’t vampires, but we killed seven hunters. Alex can help you search for the others.” He turned to me. “We need to go back to Charleston.” He looked at Stan. “Can our computer at home connect with this one?”

Stan again tried not to be offended. “Of course.” He touched the glass table top. “All I need is the address…I’ll make a link. Your computer there will be able to access everything here.”

“Can you print a map of Charleston?” Colin asked.

“Print!?” Stan was near as horrified as we were about the little vampire. He was offended then. “I certainly won’t. We have those tablets. Handheld interactive tablets you can access this computer.”

Colin nodded with a smile as he waved Stan down. “Sorry. I forget, sometimes.”

Stan grinned at Colin. “Grandpa.” He said remembering when he’d been called an infant by Colin.

I chuckled. “That’s great, great, great Grandpa for you.”

Colin smiled. “Respect your elders.” He growled.

It was later when Colin, me and Mark got Stan to let go of the computer. In many ways, it seemed we were literally prying his fingers loose to get him to leave it. I smiled at the easy way that Stan responded to Mark. They were more than work buddies. They were even more than friends. Mark cared for Stan, but what I found interesting, was Stan really listened to Mark. We took them to Vamps. It was a member’s only restaurant in VUN. The Vamp name was a play on words, the logo suggested a female vamp that was loose and fancy-free, unafraid. It was frequented by vampires. So, the vamp name was the play on the word. What Colin and I liked was that the kitchen knew who they were serving and gave a more than a healthy portion.

“You guys married,” Mark said casually as he looked at us after Stan had excused himself to the bathroom. “I have to admit, I never would have suspected you were gay.”

I grinned. “I don’t think that’s relevant. Two humans that care about each other should be free to love as they like.” I felt that he was fishing for something else. I was pretty sure I knew what and who it was about.

Mark shrugged. “I don’t think it’s relevant either.” He smiled. “Just say it.” He looked at me. “You think Stan and I would be the perfect couple.”

Colin chuckled. “Second perfect couple.” He took my hand. “The most perfect couple that’s fully human.”

Mark nodded. “I would be interested in Stan, but it’s complicated. Stan’s psyche is a little different. If I push too hard, too fast, he might have problems. He didn’t have many friends when he was younger. He didn’t fit in. He never tried to fit in.”

“But you care for him.” Colin pointed out.

“And he listens to you,” I added.

Mark nodded with a smile. “I do and he does.” Then he got a more serious look. “He was abused when he was little, by an uncle when Stan was about eight or nine. I don’t claim to be gay or straight, but I love Stan. If he wants something from me, I’ll give it to him. I just have to be careful. He’s very fragile.” He sighed. “Life for an agent is tough. You sometimes don’t get home for a while. You’re on call a lot and there’s not a lot of time for relationships. Stan has a keen mind, that’s what the FBI saw and wanted. I just took the position of protector.”

“The fact you two are doing this together sort of cancels that problem.” Colin pointed out.

“Yes.” Mark nodded as Stan came back. “If it happens, we will, but just so you know. You’ll see we’re close, but I’m leaving it to Stan to make the first move.”

Stan sat with a sigh. “I’m tired, Mark.”

Mark nodded. “I’ll take you home.” He said kindly. “And putting you to bed!” He said pointedly.

“Yes, Mother,” Stan said, but he was very tired. He smiled at Mark. “Thanks.”

“We’ll be flying back to Charleston tomorrow morning. We’ll be in touch from there.” Colin said as the two stood.

Stan smiled. “We look forward to hearing from you. Any help we can give.”