The Vampiric Housewife (15 page)

    
As a brilliant man of science Venjamin knew that most great discoveries were made by accident, a breach of order. It was chaos, not order, that led to greatness. Penicillin—a Petri dish left out, artificial sweetener—a researcher with chemicals on his hands who forgot to wash them before lunch, even fireworks were discovered when a Chinese cook’s concoction went awry. All accidents, all inventions discovered when something had gone wrong. That was why he embraced the Murrays’ escape from Sangre Valley. It could lead to a new discovery and inspire a breakthrough epiphany. When he received the phone call from Sheriff Alder telling him that Lisa Cummings’ father had called to report an attack on Amelia Murray by Drew Sanders—one of his trusted employees—he was upset to say the least. He broke the phone. Amelia was his crown jewel. She was precious, priceless to his work. He would not let her be damaged or compromised. Worst, he had lost control of one of his filthy, savage made-vampires. Drew may have been introduced to Sangre Valley as the good looking rebel, the guy to tempt good girls into giving up their virtue. He often succeeded. It was a fail for the moral studies, but a win for the medical experiments. The girl would be taken away until she had given birth, the baby “adopted” and then the girl would be returned to her family. The hospital would then have a baby to study and experiment on. But Drew had another purpose in the town. He was to get close to John Murray and gleam information. He did not have the okay to date Amelia, but Venjamin saw it as an opportunity and let it play out. He thought Drew knew not to cross the line with his most prized possession. But he no longer feared Venjamin; that was obvious. Venjamin would not stand for it! He screamed at the Sheriff to find Drew and check on the condition of Amelia. He would not be made a fool of. Not by a dirty, paltry vampire.

 
   
But it would be Drew’s disobedience that would lead to Venjamin’s greatest revelation that would drastically change the direction of his work.

    
“I came straight here,” Drew said standing in his office. His voice trembled. He still had Amelia’s dried blood on his shirt.

    
Dr. Venjamin’s complexion was ruddy from Sheriff Alder’s second phone call. Waiting for news of Drew and Amelia, he had paced his office like a caged animal. But now with the vampire who betrayed him before him, he calmly retrieved a revolver from his desk drawer and aimed it at the unbeating heart of the vampire before him. It was loaded with a special silver bullet.

    
“Liar! If you had, I would have heard what you did from your own lips and not from the Sangre Valley Sheriff! I injected you into the Murrays’ lives to gather data! I trusted you with my most valuable subjects! And you tried to rape and kill one of them! So tell me, Drew, why should I not kill you where you stand?”

    
“Hey, I’ve given you a lot of info on the Murray boy—“

    
Dr. Venjamin held the gun straight and steady.

    
“I couldn’t help myself! She’s not like other vampires!”

    
“How so?”

    
“Okay, I knew I couldn’t take it too far with her. But I thought I’d get a little bit of action. But then the smell of her blood . . . I’ve been around plenty of born and crossbred vampires. Their pulses are always enticing, but I have control. Her blood though . . . it sang. It had a vibrating sound, a scent . . . I can’t explain it. I had to bite. I had no choice! Then once I tasted her blood, it was like a drug, a euphoric-psychotic drug. That’s—that’s why it took me so long to get here.” This one could think on his feet. He was a self-serving, devious liar—which of course was why Dr. Venjamin had hired him. Now it looked like he might serve a higher purpose.

    
Venjamin lowered his gun. In arrogance, Drew relaxed. He honestly thought he had talked his way out of the mess he created. It was better that he thought that.

    
“Tell me, how close did you have to get to hear her blood . . . sing?” He liked that analogy. Blood that sang. Venjamin did have a poetic side.

    
“It wasn’t until I was kissing her neck. I had to be close. But after I tasted it and ran . . . I could hear her blood singing for a half mile down the road.”

    
Venjamin smiled. “You’re going to serve a new purpose for us, Mr. Sanders. The Murrays have left Sangre Valley. Without permission.”

    
When Sheriff Alder called that second time to report the family missing, the doctor’s fury had grown. Charlie had betrayed him. That sniveling, pathetic vampire had stolen what belong to him. Charlie always did have a pathetic quality. More bark than bite. The lack of a backbone was the precise reason Charlie had been recruited and trusted. He would be too frighten to ever stray. And Venjamin never truly believed that he cared for his family. He did not believe for a second that made-vampires were capable of that kind of love. He still did not believe it. They were driven by only one stimulus—blood. But he knew there would be a silver lining to the escape, a lesson learned, if not a breakthrough. When something went wrong, the opportunities for growth were increased exponentially. That breakthrough just might be Amelia’s singing blood.

    
Dr. Venjamin was a geneticist by nature and training. It was a field that required vigilance and patience. But at age sixty-five, the doctor was running out of time on this earth and that was making him very impatient. He had a disease that was going to curtail his brilliance so he needed to work fast. Maybe this whole time he should have been focusing more on the actual blood of a vampire than their genetic makeup. It was blood that delivered the nutrients to the cell, carried away the waste, aided the immune system. Yes, it did make sense. The wheels in the doctor’s head were beginning to turn. A vampire’s immortality came from its extraordinary immune system. Its immune system functioned within the bloodstream. Why hadn’t he seen this before? He needed to get his hands on Amelia Murray!

    
The prognosis of finding the family was good. They left just before dawn and Charlie would have to hibernate for the daylight hours. Dr. Venjamin was not inhibited in such a way. He employed vampires and humans. They had already discovered the dead guard and methodically searched all the small towns dotting the highway. The Murrays were not to be found. That was not a discouraging discovery though. That meant that he knew where they were hiding. Phoenix. It was the only feasible refuge they could have made. The family car had been located. Stolen. His men were interrogating the thief at this very moment. It was almost seven now. Full night would be upon them soon, and Venjamin could send his vampires out to make the capture. And now that he had a hound dog who had the scent of the prize goose, it would not be long.

    
“I have a team out in Phoenix right now searching for the Murrays. I would like you to join them the moment the sun hits the horizon. You’ll get more directions once you arrive. Go.”

    
Drew did not look pleased with the assignment, but he left the doctor’s office without a word.

    
Venjamin set the gun on the desk and sat down, the weariness of his illness rushing over his body, his limbs heavy. How quickly he became fatigued these days. But Venjamin only gave into the exhaustion for a moment. Mind over matter. Venjamin believed that there were no limits to his brainpower. He pulled out the file on Harry Murray and his fight at school where he bit another boy. The report quoted Harry as saying that “the blood called out to me.” Called out. Sung. There could be a connection. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder in the cafeteria. That could have been close enough proximity. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait for Amelia’s capture to start his research on singing blood. Who was the boy he bit? The report named him as Eduardo Alvarez. A year older than Harry and a born-vampire, both his parents born-vampires who had grown up in Sangre Valley. Not a crossbreed like Amelia. Interesting.

    
Venjamin picked up his phone and called his secretary. “Ms. Pines, call the Alvarezes and have them bring their son to the hospital first thing in the evening. Tell them that there were some abnormalities found in Eduardo’s last physical and that we just want to run a few tests.”

    
“Yes sir.”

    
By the end of tomorrow night, all five Murrays should be safely contained in the hospital, never to leave again.

Chapter Fourteen

The Vampire Slayer

    
Charlie was awake before sunset. He hadn’t slept much during the day. The slightest sound would jolt him out of his stupor. He would freeze for a moment and envision Venjamin bursting through the door with a stake in hand. But the noise was always some benign sound from the world of the living. His family tossed and turned throughout the day, never settling into a restful state. He was aware of their every movement. Half dozing, half awake he devised a new plan, at least one that would get them through another night.

    
He would steal a new car, steal some cash, and they would head east. He wasn’t sure of their exact destination yet. Venjamin’s reach was global meaning no place was safe. But if they kept on moving . . . maybe they could always stay a little bit ahead of the doctor. Charlie had been an East Coast vampire before joining Venjamin’s project. Hopefully he would still have some contacts out there. Find them some ID’s and a secure haven.

    
But to get far enough away from Venjamin to become lost, he would have to drive through the night and the day. That left him with the dilemma of protecting his family from the sun. A van. Tinted windows. Curtains hung as a secondary precaution. A face mask, gloves, and sunglasses for himself. Somehow he would have to keep them fed—that meant a cooler and fresh meat. Trying to teach them to hunt on the road would call too much attention to them. Venjamin would just have to follow the trail of corpses to find them. They had lived on animal blood before. They could continue a little longer.

 
   
There would be shopping to do for all the supplies. That would eat up valuable time. Venjamin would be in Phoenix by nightfall, Charlie had no doubt of that. He would just have to try his luck.

    
The sun was down.

   
“Everyone up!” Charlie said springing out of his chair. “We’ve got to get moving.”

    
His family stirred and sat up, their appearances aged more in one day then in all their years, especially Valerie. He could not imagine the last time he had seen her without a full face of makeup, beauty shop hair, and an elegant dress. This morning her eyes had circles beneath them, her hair was a tangled mess, and she wore a wrinkled dress. Somehow she was still beautiful. More so.

    
“I’ve got some errands I have to do before we can leave town. I’ll be gone an hour, max. Under no circumstance do you let anyone in here. I don’t care who they claim to be. Not a maid or the manager or a bible salesman. Understand?”

    
They nodded. “Where are you going?” Valerie asked. She seemed anxious to be without him. It was kind of nice in a twisted way.

    
“Just to get us some supplies. I won’t be long.”

    
“You’re not going to hurt anyone, are you?” Amelia asked. Her voice was cold.

    
Startled, Charlie stared back at her. “Who could I hurt, pumpkin?”

    
“Humans.”

    
“Why are you worried about humans?” he asked her slowly.

    
“Just promise me you won’t hurt any humans,” Amelia repeated slowly.

    
“I promise,” he lied. “I’ll see you soon.”

    
“What was that all about?” John asked standing and stretching. “They’re just wild humans out there. No different than farm raised.”

    
Amelia ignored her brother. In school she had been taught about humans. They resembled vampires physiologically but intellectually they were inferior, their acumen barely above a monkey’s. They possessed no conscience, no sense of right and wrong. They were all instinct which made them dangerous and unpredictable without sedation. Their means of communication were primitive. Cries and grunts. They were incapable of forming words or complex thoughts. Nomads, they traveled in packs like wolves. They were food. Period. But Amelia had only been out in the real world for one day and already she knew that all that she had been taught was a lie. Dr. Venjamin was a human and he was nothing like she was led to believe humans were except dangerous. Humans were just like vampires. They were intelligent. They thought and spoke and felt and loved.