Eternal Service (45 page)

I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and two children. I graduated high school in Germany and I attended the University of Texas at Austin where I received a degree in Computer Science with a minor in math. After enjoying a career in software engineering, I discovered that writing is in my blood, and had to put pen to paper!

The opinions I express in my novels are my own. My stories are my own intellectual property. Copyright (c) 2012, Regina Morris

Sincerely,

Regina Morris

Vampires exist among us. They can be our neighbor, best friend, our child's teacher …

They alter their aged appearance based upon the amount of blood they consume. They move to a new area, drink a lot of blood, and appear young. Slowly they limit their intake of blood and age, right in front of our unsuspecting eyes. After decades, they fake their death, move, and do it over and over again.

Most live quiet lives in an effort to blend in.

Some however want power and control.

The Colony is an elite group of vampires sworn to protect the President of the United States from these rogue vampires.

Eternal Service (Book #1)

When Raymond, part of a covert special ops team of vampires who protects the President of the United States, teams up with a federal operative of the human female persuasion—who has no idea that vampires even exist—will his mission or his heart be compromised first?

Career military woman, Alex Brennan, is being offered the promotion of a lifetime – and with it a romance that she has desperately been seeking. Does she dare accept the position as Director of the Colony, an elite group of deadly creatures of the night and risk a dangerous romance with a man who isn't even human?

United Service (Book #2)

Available Fall of 2013

Sterling, a half–breed vampire who works with a covert team of vampires to protect the President of the United States, is the weakest link in the chain for his team, and he knows it.

Having the special ability to glean information from inanimate objects, he spends most of his time in the FBI evidence room suffering from painful side–effects of his ability. His current case involves the kidnapping of vampire children. He teams up with a purebred vampire, Kate, who is the nanny of one of the kids, to rescue the kidnapped children. Would Kate ever consider a relationship with a half–breed who is constantly in pain? Insecure in his own ability to woo the lovely Kate, Sterling travels across the country on a journey of self–discovery where he realizes he is a person of value, truly deserving of love, forgiveness and happiness.

Kate has led a sheltered life and is considered handicapped by vampire standards since, like Sterling, her vampire ability has horrific side effects. She creates a symbiotic relationship with Sterling, who helps her to discover that she is able to have a normal life, with all the joys and sorrows that it brings.

Enduring Service (Book #3)

Available in 2014

Sulie has been in love with the same human man for nearly thirty years. The object of her unrequited love is her boss, Dixon — the only human Sulie has come to truly know in her nearly 200 years of existence. As Dixon's retirement looms near, and his memory of Sulie and the last thirty years of his life is about to be erased, will she confront her fear of intimacy and take a leap of faith before it's too late?

Dixon has decided that it's time to retire and enjoy what time he has left. When Sulie is kidnapped during a medical emergency, Dixon realizes that retirement means giving up everything, and everyone, he's known for the last three decades. Will he risk his life, and his heart, to save her?

Reliant Service (Book #4)

Available in 2014

After retiring his first, and only, alias with the Colony, Daniel Brighton discovers the mandatory sabbatical to be less than exciting. He chooses to do a favor and act as a security guard for a fading pop-singer, Lorilei Austyn, whose career is winding down. He travels across Europe with her and discovers her past to be one of deception and intrigue with a past leading directly back to the Colony itself.

Lorilei Austyn is struggling to keep her career alive, and is willing to do what is necessary to save it. Even though she believes she is deathly ill, she travels across Europe on a relief tour to revitalize her career. On the journey she finds the truth behind her past and realizes that the one man who can save her is the handsome security guard she fought so hard not to hire.

Special thanks to my husband and our children for their love and support; to my sister for believing in me and encouraging me to follow my dreams; and to my critique partners for being with me every step of the way: Tracy, Kelly, Sue, Alma, & Salli.

I would also like to thank my content editor Erin, my line editor Sue, and my Street Team of supporters – For the Love of Fiction team.

The cover art photo of the couple, entitled “Love Struck”, is by Jess Ellis Art (http://fallinginsane.deviantart.com).

Gentle rain drizzled onto his nude body like healing kisses renewing his sense of self–peace. Even his headache had subsided a little, but in truth, it always persisted. It just seemed to be more manageable right now. Sterling lay on the patio chair, his body dwarfing the small size of the furniture as he stretched to wake up in his solitude. Feeling slightly sunburned, his skin chafed against the chair. He opened his eyes to a cloudless sky and cursed as the sun blinded him … no more relief would come today.

As a half–breed vampire he didn’t have the protective inner eyelid the purebreds had, so he closed his eyes against the sun. Thinking of the day’s schedule, he knew he would spend most of his time down at the penitentiary. He groaned because every time he visited the place his body ached. It wasn’t being around humans that did him in, but rather the physical touching of evidence. His ability to glean information from inanimate objects was always helpful in solving cases, and he was happy to help, but his body always paid the price, and he detested the side effects.

Sterling’s touch would tell him everything he needed to know about the item’s owner, what it was used for, and the feelings and emotions surrounding the item. Each touch made his skin crawl and itch, and the more he touched, the more his skin would scream in agony. After a few hours his head would pound with a migraine.

But the pain meant nothing; it was just one more damn thing about his human half he had to deal with. Most vampire abilities had good side effects, but it was just his lot in life to be cursed. Fortunately though, it did allow him to bring some of the sickest and most depraved criminals to trial, and that was the justification he needed to keep living his lonely life.

He squinted at the sun again as he reached for his sunglasses on the ground beside him and sat up. The private sleeping porch of the mansion was his little oasis, and his alone. No one would disturb him while he healed and sat in his solitude.

Solitude and loneliness were only separated by a thin line. A very thin line – and he knew it all too well.

Sterling inhaled deeply, taking in the crisp morning air. He could hear the chirping of the songbirds nearby and the wind chime down below swaying in the breeze. Cursing softly to himself he realized he could also hear his father and new wife stirring in their bedroom, next to his sundeck.

It was time to get up. Fang Manor’s walls weren’t soundproof, and he now tried to block out a conversation which had changed into more intimate noises.
“Newlyweds,”
he thought as he rolled his eyes. No way was he listening to an encore of last night. It wasn’t anything Oedipal in his distaste of the noise, just that it reminded him how powerless he was to find a wife of his own. He had failed to secure an arranged marriage, and his own attempts to find a purebred vampire mate had proven unsuccessful, many times.

He stood, scooped up rain pooled on the chair beside him and splashed it on his face. Shaking water from his shoulder length hair, he moaned contently at the soothing touch. He knew it would be the last time he would feel good all day.

Checking his rain catchers, he poured the collected rain into bottles to be used later. He then walked through the few puddles of rainwater which sat on the stone floor of the deck; he opened the glass door and entered his private bedroom. The room was beautifully furnished, with the decor specifically chosen by Sterling himself. The cherry wood king–sized bed with matching nightstand and dresser filled the room. A hunter green duvet, with burgundy and gold pillows, in various sizes and shapes, were placed at the head and the foot of the bed. An old gold cross, which he had inherited from his human grandmother, hung on the wall above it. As nice as the room was, Sterling spent very little time here, even though this house had been his home for too many decades to count.

He lived here with his father, step–mother, aunt, and several team members, making up “The Colony”, a special operative team of vampires employed by the federal government to protect the President and the American way of life. Sterling was one of the founding members of the Colony when it was established in 1866, after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It was the only life Sterling knew. The job had benefits and perks, but also pitfalls. But what job didn’t?

Sterling looked around the room. It was a gilded cage with free room and board paid for by Uncle Sam. Sure, he loved his family, and Fang Manor was a far cry from ‘slumming it’, but due to security measures he could never entertain guests at the place. A wife could live here with him, not that he had one. A girlfriend? Hell, he never dated a woman longer than, well, an hour tops. And even then, the women were humans.

Speaking of human females, he was hungry, and there wasn’t one in his bed at the moment. This is exactly why he maintained an apartment in the city.

Damn. His fangs were already extended, expecting to eat. It was time for plan B. He shook his head as he walked across the room. Next to the air purifier on the floor sat a small personal refrigerator. He opened it and pulled out a bag of AB negative blood. Bagged blood. Not his favorite, but at least it was free. He poured some into a mug and warned it in the microwave which sat atop the refrigerator. It took only a minute for him to down it all after the microwave beeped. There was no reason to savor bagged blood. Honestly, no reason at all. The packaging, for starters, was all wrong.

The dried rain still clung to his skin. Not wanting to wash it off, he skipped a shower. In his private bathroom he stared at his blurred reflection in the mirror. One corner of his mouth turned up in a half grin as his reflection reminded him of the vampire lore that Hollywood just messed up in their movies. Hollywood did get the mirror reflection right though. Thanks to the silver in the mirror, and even the silver in the old fashioned photography, vampire images were always obscured.

As he brushed his shoulder length dirty–blond hair, he took a good look at himself in the mirror. He spent time last night at the mansion’s private gym lifting weights with his father. Sterling’s muscular physique was well formed, and even the poor reflection could show his ripped muscles. He took great pride in this lure since it worked so well where human women were concerned.

He paused and leaned into the mirror. Was that a gray hair? Yep, but just one or two. Next, he studied his eyes. Wrinkles had formed over night as well. Looking down at the medallion of the Patron Saint of Rain, Genevieve, he noticed a gray chest hair. Guessing his age was now in the late thirties he continued to brush his hair as he waited for the effects of his breakfast on his body.

The wait wasn’t long. He felt the warmed blood course through his veins and his cells began to regenerate. His hair gained more color, his wrinkles ironed themselves out, and he had a healthier glow about him. He took a deep breath and looked back in the mirror. His fuzzy reflection showed him at the age of twenty–seven again. It was his age during his Jahrling Year, when he transitioned into a full vampire and his fangs lengthened to their full–size to allow him to eat from a blood–only diet. His fangs came in late because he was a half–breed. If he had been a purebred vampire, he could look as young as the age when most humans got their wisdom teeth, their early twenties. It was just one more thing to thank his long, dead mother for, not that he ever had a chance to meet the woman.

The blood lust from his morning’s breakfast finally hit him. It would come quicker if he had injected the blood directly into his veins. By orally consuming it, his spleen had to process the blood from his digestive system to his circulatory system, which took time. The first drops of blood acted as a fountain of youth, then eventually affecting other areas of his body like liquid Viagra. With no woman to satisfy him, he ignored his aroused state and decided to get dressed. He was used to feeling miserable, so it really didn’t bother him to remain uncomfortable.