Posted by The Black Knight on September 23, 2000 at 19:41:09:
Chapter 19
Two hours before sunrise Seward stopped his black van just outside of a local meat packing plant. It was the only place in town that had facilities to slaughter animals. Seward and his two compatriots got out and walked into the plant. They walked through to
the slaughter house of the building. The vampire known as Gabby stood in the fairly empty building. No one was in the room, but there were a few carcasses and a few neatly stacked drums. Gabby didn't notice
the men as they came. She effortlessly opened one of the barrels and dipped a small metal cup into the blood inside. She smiled a little as she took a sip. She shuddered as she swallowed it.
"You're not used to cow's blood are you?" Seward asked as he walked toward Gabby.
"No I prefer cat myself. I'm not really a human vampire, I'm what the communities call a vermin eater." Gabby said.
"Like your friend Donald?" Seward asked.
"You knew Donald?"
"We met on occasion, because of his delicate digestive system I never considered him a threat." Seward said.
"What about me Mister Seward?"
"You're not much of a threat, no more than he is. However you are essential to the others survival with your job here." Seward said.
Gabby's face brightened in a warm genuine smile. He gently patted her cheek.
"I'm afraid that your cute smile won't get your fat out of the fire this time Gabrielle." Seward said.
"I do try." Gabby said.
She lay her hand on Seward's throat and pitched him back across the room.
"In spite of everything I am still a vampire." Gabby said.
Bob and Bill walked around to the other side of her. Gabby grimaced as they held up crosses.
"Seward, don't do this." Gabby gasped as she turned toward him.
Seward slowly picked himself up and walked toward her.
"I do what I must Gabrielle." Seward said.
Gabby looked up and noticed a large wooden cross laying over the skylight cutting off her last avenue of escape. When she looked down at Seward he was already within feet of her. She lay her hands on his
shoulders and started to throw him back into his men when he drove a silver bladed knife into her ribs. Gabby shrieked as she fell to her knees.
"Why are you doing this?" Gabby asked as she looked up at Seward.
"To send your tortured soul to rest." Seward said as Bob handed him a six foot long wooden stake.
"No, please!" Gabby whimpered as he lay the point on her chest.
Her eyes closed tightly as he pushed the stake through her heart. Gabby slumped back and lay motionless. Bob handed Seward a handsaw as Seward knelt beside the vampire. Seward cut the stake off just above
Gabby's body and stood up.
"Now put her in the van. We will leave her with the others." Seward said.
Bob and Bill carried Gabby's lithe body out of the slaughter house to the van while Seward went to talk to the manager.
One week later Danielle ran into Luke's office excitedly. Charli sat across from Luke's desk taking down a letter.
"Is it that important Danielle?" Luke asked.
"It could be to you." Danielle said.
"I'll take that as my cue to leave. I don't want to know anymore than I have to about all of you." Charli said.
Luke got up and followed Charli to the door. He smiled as he locked the door behind her.
"There are times that I think she's the smartest person here." Luke said.
"She does know how to mind her own business." Danielle replied.
Luke walked around his desk and motioned toward the chair where Charli had been sitting.
"Sit down Miss Francis. There is no use in you wearing yourself out by bouncing all over the room." Luke said.
Danielle looked confused and Luke smiled a little.
"If I didn't know you better I would say that you're excited about something." Luke said.
"I am excited. I just found out something tonight that is going to change my whole life." Danielle said.
"It's that important?" Luke asked as if he were indifferent.
"Motherhood usually does that to a woman."
Luke's eyes narrowed a little as he stood up. Danielle gasped as he walked around his desk. He lay his hand on Danielle's jaw and tilted her head slightly.
"He must be out of his mind. There is no way that you'll survive unless you have some his blood in your system and he hasn't taken any of yours yet." Luke said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's physically impossible for a mortal woman to carry a half vampire child to term. The child would completely drain her blood in six months unless some of that blood is from a vampire." Luke said.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Most genetic research doesn't. Our genes require the iron from human blood in order to survive. We can go as long as a hundred maybe
two hundred years before we feed, but we must eventually. Without that lack of iron in your blood the child will begin to feed on it." Luke answered.
"But Misty said that she was mortal when you were born."
"She was, but she was well on her way to being a vampire. It's been one hundred and fifty years since Karen was born, so you might want to remind the Count tonight that you can't survive without his
help." Luke said.
"I'm not a great one for asking for help."
"I've noticed that, but this isn't just for you. Theoretically we shouldn't even be able to have children, but there are cases in which we can. Only in vampires does the survival of the child depend
on both the father and mother of the child." Luke said.
"You sound like you know that very well."
"I am the second of seven children. The third was born almost a thousand years after I was, so I know the process pretty well." Luke said.
Danielle stood up and walked to the door.
"Would you mind pecking on the door once right below the door knob?" Luke asked.
"Why?" Danielle asked.
"Don't ask."
Danielle rapped her knuckles on the door just below the door knob. Luke smiled as Charli cried out from the other side of the door.
"I said she was smart, but you don't get that way without being curious." Luke said.
"Then she knows everything that we said?"
"Probably, but she'll keep it to herself. She may be an eavesdropper, but at least she's not a gossip." Luke said.
Danielle smiled as she turned lock to unlock the door. She turned as in an after thought.
"Just one more thing. Do you have any children?" Danielle asked.
"That's my business Miss Francis."
"You're too familiar with the process to have just been a casual observer." Danielle said.
"I have a son. Now I believe that you have a class to teach so get your head out of the clouds and get to work." Luke said.
"That's supposed to be my line Mister Drake." Danielle laughed as she left.
Charli came into the room holding her hand on her forehead over her left eye. With one look at the indignant expression on her lovely face Luke started laughing.
"It's not funny, that really hurt." Charli said.
"How old are you?"
"I'm twenty one." Charli answered.
"After twenty one years you still haven't learned to keep your nose out of other people's business? If it had been Matty in here she would have probably given you an even better reason not to listen at my door." Luke said.
"Fortunately the little ghoul is still in the cafeteria."
"That doesn't mean she can't hear you up here." Luke said.
"Speaking of hearing, I just couldn't help overhearing you say that you have a son."
"You could have helped it Charli, that's why I sent you out of the room." Luke said.
"How did you know that was what she was going to talk about?"
"I could hear four heart beats when she entered to room and there is only one logical explanation for that." Luke said.
"Doctor Tepesch and Doctor Francis have only been seen together for three months now. How long could she have been pregnant?"
"Even though we don't age unless we want to, we do tend to develop at a much quicker rate than mortals." Luke said.
"Okay I'll leave that one alone, but why didn't you tell me that you have a son?" Charli asked.
"One of the things that I've learned in two thousand years is that you don't act on impulse. Then I learned it only because of William." Luke answered.
"Is that the William that they were talking about at the Halloween Ball?"
"The one and the only William Drake. Unique individual with a temper as hot as his mother's." Luke said.
"That's why you didn't want to tell me. You know that I don't like Alexis Sweeton that much."
"There are times that you're too smart for your own good." Luke said.
"It was simple really. The only two people that you're that close to are Kim Faulkner and Alexis Sweeton. Since you said that Kim wasn't a vampire it had to be Alexis." Charli said.
Meanwhile Danielle walked toward her office with the same light spring her in step as when she had entered Luke's office. Her usual sullen disposition was all but gone and she was actually humming to herself
by the time she reached the door. She walked into the outer office and looked at the desk in the corner, but her secretary wasn't there. Danielle walked over to the desk and picked up a piece of paper.
"Doctor's appointment at ten. See you tomorrow. Leigh Ann." Danielle read aloud.
Danielle dropped the paper in the trash can and walked into her office. She locked the door and turned around to walk to her desk. Seward sat in her chair, Bill stood by the window, and Bob stood by the door.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Danielle asked.
"My name is John Seward and I am here to find a nest of vampires that have been using this college as a refuge."
"Then you've come to the wrong place, now get out of my office." Danielle said.
"My dear Miss Francis, we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way. Either you give us what we want or we will take it by force." Seward said as he stood.
"You wouldn't dare." Danielle said.
Seward nodded to Bob and Danielle backed away from him. Bill grabbed Danielle's left arm and Bob grabbed her right arm.
"Now Professor Francis, you have one more chance. Either you give me the location of the vampires or else." Seward said.
"What is else?" Danielle asked defiantly.
She rocked back as he slapped her right cheek.
"I have no qualms against hitting a woman, as you can see. So I would suggest that you just give it up and you can walk out feeling good and healthy." Seward said.
"I know nothing of vampires, aside from the myths and legends. I think you're out of your mind." Danielle said.
Danielle was rocked back as he slapped her left cheek.
"Wrong answer, let's try again." Seward said.
Danielle shook her head and Seward adjusted a ring on his right hand. She grunted as she felt the large ring face on his hand as it pounded into her stomach.
"Where are they?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Danielle said.
He continued to pommel her for what seemed to Danielle to be hours each time asking the same question after hitting her and each time Danielle refused to answer. Finally he stopped and Bill and Bob released her. She sagged to her knees gasping in pain.
"I don't think she knows Boss." Bob said.
"She knows, she's just too stubborn to give us what we want. Search through her files for any familiar names, particularly those associated with the Drake Foundation." Seward said.
"The Drake Foundation is a charitable organization set up to help the homeless and hungry." Danielle gasped.
"You're not that stupid Doctor, you know the true nature of the Drake Foundation." Seward said as he walked over to Danielle's desk.
She gulped as he picked up a five foot long wooden spear.
"There is one way to end the influence of vampires over this University." Seward said.
"Please don't. I'm just a teacher, what possible danger could I be to anyone." Danielle asked as she backed against the wall.
She folded her hands on her stomach as she forced herself to stand. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as Seward drove the point of the spear into her chest and all the way to the wall. She sagged down
against the spear as her big brown eyes looked up at the ceiling.
"No fangs, but a lot of blood. Do you suppose that she wasn't a vampire?" Bill asked.
"If she had been a vampire you two idiots would be splattered all over these walls right now." Seward said.
"Boss look what I found." Bob said as he held a paper out to Seward.
"Our old friend Alexis. I was suspicious when she worked for child welfare under the name Angela Sexton, but I couldn't prove anything. It's only a matter of time until we find her now." Seward
said.
"It says here that she is working for the Drake Foundation as a secretary under the name of Alexis Sweeton." Bob said.
"We go there at sundown tomorrow. Now we go back to the hotel and get a little sleep." Seward said.
"What about the police?" Bill asked.
"You just let me worry about the police Bill." Seward said as he walked out the door.
They left Danielle still standing against the wall pinned there by the stake through her heart.