A Special Gift Read online

  Erica suddenly saw clearly as the pieces of the puzzle that had been swirling in her head for weeks finally came together. She had been having bad dreams for weeks in which she kept hearing someone state, “A war is coming.” Unfortunately, she could never see a face, and had been unable or maybe unwilling to recognize the voice. Now everything made sense.

  Mr. Atkins seemed to be the first one to recover from the shocking speech. “Look, son,” Mr. Atkins addressed, and Erica quickly noted that although his voice sounded the same as always, one look at Mr. Atkins eyes told a complete different story. She also noted that Mr. Atkins was carrying a walking cane in his right hand, something she had failed to notice before. He put it to use, bringing it up and ramming it effectively into Gary’s nose. “I do believe Mr. O’Rourke,” he paused for a short nod to Charles, “has something he wishes to convey.” The words were still echoing softly in the air when Mr. Atkins’s cane, which Erica suddenly realized had a sharp point on the end, was stabbed into Gary’s foot, effectively holding him in place.

  Charles turned so he was standing directly in front of Gary. “I do believe you have caused enough trouble for one day. Now, if you are looking for a fight, these men,” he nodded to several of the VCTF group, “will be more than happy to oblige you, but you will not ruin the remainder of my family’s special day. You have exactly sixty seconds to leave my property, before I request that they assist you.”

  Erica stole a quick glance up to Kevin as she felt his arms tighten around her waist. She was starting to have difficulty breathing due to his tight embrace. His eyes were going from steel grey to white, and then back to steel again as he struggled to regain control of his temper. She felt certain he had no idea how tight his hold on her really was.

  Kevin’s voice suddenly filled the eerie silence surrounding the group. “Leave while you can, and don’t ever let me catch you speaking ill to my wife or threatening her in any way, unless you plan on being truly dead!” Kevin tightened his hold even more, and Erica knew she would be sporting bruises by tomorrow, if not a cracked rib or two, from this incident.

  “And, son, if I were you, I would listen to the groom because his wife means the world to me. I would love to have a reason to kill you for ruining her wedding day.” Mr. Atkins added this with a grin on his face, as if he would enjoy the chance to take care of this offensive individual once and for all. He pulled his cane out of Gary’s foot to allow him to leave.

  Gary sneered at all those around him, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. It was clear even to him that he was outnumbered. He backed away, limping slightly on his injured foot. Not turning his back on the group, he was almost off the property when he exclaimed in a loud voice for all to hear, “Congratulations to the bride and groom! Enjoy your honeymoon while you can!” Sneering viciously, he then turned and ran.

  Gary disappeared into the shadows, and Erica immediately felt her control fray as she began shaking violently, knowing a full-scale panic attack was heading her way. She was unable to get enough air to her lungs, so she felt like she was suffocating, and her husband’s death grip around her ribs was not helping. Her pain was steadily increasing due to the steel bands she had wrapped around her ribs. Knowing he hadn’t realized what he was doing, she glanced up to his face as she felt her eyes fill with tears. His attention was still fixed in the direction of Gary’s retreat. It was her sister-in-law, Jennifer, who noticed her distress.

  “Kevin, let go of her, now!” Jennifer hissed, her attention on Erica’s distraught features. “You are hurting her, release now!” she snapped, realizing that her brother wasn’t aware of what he was doing.

  Kevin glanced down to Erica, blinked, and seemed to come out of a daze. He glanced down to where he had a death hold on his new wife, suddenly realizing how tightly he was holding her.

  As he released her, Erica attempted to gulp in much needed fresh air, but too much had already been done. She whispered a quick, tortured, “Oh, God help…” before losing consciousness and collapsing in his arms.

  *****

  That day had only been the start of problems for the newlyweds. They had only been home from their honeymoon a few days when Erica admitted to herself that she’d been feeling ill for a couple of weeks.

  Standing in her office reminiscing over their first day back from their honeymoon, Erica smiled as she remembered Kevin driving up to their new house. He had bought and renovated the house next door to his parents without her knowing a thing. Her stomach took that moment to growl loudly, breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned and headed to the kitchen, intent on finding something quick to eat so she could head back to her new office. She hadn’t had the opportunity to play with all of the new computer equipment, and she found herself quite anxious to.

  She entered the kitchen and reached up to the cabinet for a juice glass when dizziness suddenly overtook her. Her stomach did a couple of flips, and black spots dotted her vision. She grabbed the counter to break her fall as she felt her knees give out. As she went down, her head hit the edge of the counter, and blackness filled her vision until she knew no more.

  It didn’t take Dr. Carlson long to get to the bottom of Erica’s health concerns. He congratulated both mom and dad-to-be, as he informed Erica she would need to watch her health very carefully over the next few months. She pleaded with both husband and father-in-law to let her be productive, despite needing frequent rest.

  *****

  Just up from a nap, Erica watched as the team filed into Charles’s office and took seats. Kevin immediately walked over to where she was now sitting up on the sofa. He carefully sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Leaning down with his lips to her ear, he whispered, “Do you want me to carry you upstairs? You could go back to sleep.” He gently caressed her cheek and jaw with his fingertips. “You look exhausted, love.”

  Exhausted after taking a three hour nap? Just lovely! she thought grumpily. “No, I am staying for the meeting,” she groused. And just why does it seem he wants to get rid of me so fast? She threw him her most intimidating glare. The more she worked with Charles, the more she felt part of the team. Okay, so she was pregnant with a half-vamp child and only able to stay awake a few hours at a time! But still, she was productive while she was awake.

  The look on her husband’s face told her he wanted to argue the point, but fortunately for her, he couldn’t do so with an audience. She smiled sweetly over to him, knowing she had already won this battle! Ha! Team Erica: 1, Team Kevin: 0

  Everyone listened as the surveillance team played a recording of Gary speaking to one of his rogues, his menacing voice sending a chill down Erica’s spine.

  “Do we have any idea on his numbers yet?” Marshall inquired.

  “No, but I think we can assume he is trying to build a small army, so maybe thirty to fifty if I had to guess. He has threatened war against our entire society. It would not be hard for him to find that many malcontent vampires living in this area,” Kevin replied.

  “We only have ten fulltime VCTF members. That gives us a definite disadvantage right there. Then, if he has truly developed some sort of elixir, which masks the vampire scent, he will have the upper hand even more,” Joshua stated.

  Charles piped in at this point. “We can’t very well pull all our male citizens for the next few months in order to work for the VCTF until the threat has been subdued. But I agree with Joshua; we are going to need some help.”

  “I have an idea,” Erica spoke. All team members’ eyes were immediately upon her.

  “Take a look at the human military and how it is set up. They have the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines as the first defense for our country. However, when a situation arises and our troops are spread too thin, or if there is a problem at the state level, the National Guard is usually called up. Most of the National Guard members only report for training two days out of every month. Then, I believe most of the members have a two-week training mission set up sometime during the year. The r
emainder of the time they work at normal civilian jobs. I really think we should look at the human military for examples and set up something similar that would fit our needs.”

  Charles flashed his daughter-in-law a brilliant smile. “I like the way you think, Erica. We have a large number of vampires that I am sure would be willing to help fight for our cause. If we concentrated on getting everyone trained on their days off and weekends, we should have them ready when the time comes. That would give us our numbers. It is probably high time we set up backup for the team, anyway.”

  “They could be the Community Watchmen,” Erica stated. “One more idea,” she continued, “equip each member with an earpiece just like the team wears now. Make it mandatory they wear it at all times. As small as they are, they are almost undetectable. Charles, you would need to be able to put the entire group on another frequency, so the only time they would hear anything is if we needed to assemble them quickly.”

  And with that, the Community Watchmen were born.

  Chapter One

  A couple of months later…

  The couple had received an invitation to a dinner party at the Governor’s Mansion. Kevin had not wanted to attend, but Erica had already confirmed they were going and had held her ground. It would be the last time they could go out as a couple before their baby was born. She just wanted one more free night with her husband before impending motherhood completely took over her life.

  Erica stayed in bed the morning of the party, instead of helping Charles as she usually did. She hoped the extra rest would help keep her energy level up through the evening, hoping she could talk her husband into dancing with her tonight.

  Kevin had been at the office all day, and had let time sneak away from him. Realizing how late he was running, he placed a quick call home.

  “Hey, baby, I’m running really late. Has Jennifer already left, or can you get a ride with her and meet me there?” Jennifer and Joshua were also attending the party, and he hoped he could get his sister to bring Erica with her, to save him the trip home. That would save him time, and he could just meet them at the party.

  “She left at least a half-hour ago. Can I meet you at the party, or do you need to come home to change?”

  “Exactly how do you plan to get to the party, Erica? You haven’t driven since you found out you’re pregnant,” he reminded her. “You could ask Rosetta or Charles to drive you.”

  Erica’s temper flared. Did he honestly think she couldn’t drive just because she was carrying a large watermelon in front of her these days? She sighed heavily. “I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ll have to move the seat back, but I can still drive. I’ll meet you there shortly,” she snapped.

  “Be careful, okay?” Kevin requested in a low voice, frowning as he ended the call. Something was bothering him about this situation, but he just couldn’t put a finger on what it was. His phone rang just as he was walking away from his desk, distracting him, and he lost his train of thought. It had been “one of those days” at the office, and he wondered sourly if the long day would ever end.

  Erica’s lower back was already hurting, but she had no intention of mentioning that to anyone. As she reached the car, she began to think that maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Maybe her husband had been right all along. “I hate it when I have to admit to him he’s right!” she murmured to herself, opening the door and peering down at the space between the seat and the steering wheel.

  She reached down and pulled the lever under the seat, pushing it back as far as it would go, knowing it would still be a tight fit. Sheer determination propelled her into squeezing herself into the space between the steering wheel and the seat. At least it was only a twenty-minute drive.

  She was stopped at a red light about half way to the party. The light turned green, and she moved her foot to the gas pedal. She turned her head when she heard a motor roaring, and saw a car heading straight for her. It was too close and there was nothing she could do, she didn’t have time to try to dodge the other vehicle. The impact slammed her into the passenger seat, and then everything went black.

  *****

  Kevin was following Joshua out the door when Marshall called out for him to stop. Kevin spun around to notice a strange expression on Marshall’s face. He was holding the phone receiver in his hand, as he stated, “It’s Jordan, and she needs to speak to you.” Kevin stalked over, snatching the phone out of his hand, and said a quick hello.

  “Kevin, I’m at the corner of Second and Martin Street. There has been a bad accident.”

  “Okay, and what do you need from me?” he questioned her, a little testy. Unless this accident involved a vampire, it wasn’t their problem.

  “Kevin, Erica was in the accident. She is hurt badly. How fast can you get down here?” Jordan asked.

  “Oh, my God, Jordan, are you sure?” Kevin stuttered as he wondered if he had heard her correctly.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I was on the other side of the road when the accident happened. She was T-boned in the driver’s door. You have to hurry. She’s hurt, Kevin. We need to get her to the hospital,” Jordan stated.

  “I’ll be there in less than five minutes. Have the local cops been called to the scene yet?” Kevin asked. At this point, Marshall had heard enough to call Charles to have Jordan’s call transferred to Kevin’s earpiece so he could be on the way. Marshall gave him the good-to-go signal, and he quickly hung the phone up as he dashed out the door still talking to Jordan through the earpiece.

  “No, I don’t think so. I was the only other vehicle around when the accident happened, and the driver of the car who hit her is dead. I’ll keep an ear out on the scanner to be sure; if the local authorities start to head this way, I’ll have them rerouted,” Jordan replied. She was accustomed to dodging humans. It was part of her job.

  “Okay, I’m en route now. I should be there within two or three minutes,” Kevin replied as he disconnected the call. He had jumped on his VCTF bike and was pushing every speed limit known to mankind in order to get to the accident scene quickly. Thank goodness there was very little traffic out tonight, it made dodging whatever vehicles he stumbled across easier.

  Kevin arrived at the scene just moments after speaking to Jordan, who was standing next to Erica’s car waiting for him. He jumped off the bike and was next to her in a flash.

  “I wanted to wait until you arrived to get her out. The less jostling she gets, the better it will be if she has internal injuries.” She stopped and shook her head. “She has been unconscious since the impact.”

  As he quickly sized up what was left of Erica’s car, he wondered how she could still be alive. Nevertheless, he was thankful he could hear her heartbeat as well as the baby’s, although both seemed sluggish. He quickly jumped up on the backend of the car and peeled the roof back, allowing space to dig Erica out. The car was totaled anyway; there was no salvaging it.

  He turned and looked down at Jordan. “Have Marshall or Charles patch us through to Dr. Carlson. I need to speak with him immediately.” He climbed over the mangled steel of the car and leaned in to retrieve Erica. She was out cold. There was blood everywhere—most of it looked to be from a gash on her forehead. The entire left side of her body was damaged, already bruising and swelling. Kevin knew she had broken several bones, at the very least. He passed her down to Jordan then jumped back down himself. Jordan had laid her down on the ground, beginning an assessment of her injuries. He was thankful Jordan had her EMT license. Dr. Carlson’s voice came through his earpiece, and Jordan was quick to bring the doctor up to speed.

  “Kevin, are you there?” the elderly vampire doctor called out to him.

  “Yes, I’m here.” He could hear the quivering in his own voice.

  “From what Jordan tells me, I think it might be best for you to change her. If you start the process now, it should stop her injuries from becoming any worse, and it would buy us enough time for you to get her down here so we can remove the baby.”

  Kevin
hung his head for a second. He and Erica hadn’t really ever talked about changing her over. He didn’t mind that his wife was human. He kind of liked some of her human qualities. Now, looking down at her broken body, he knew he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

  Jordan reached down to check Erica’s pulse. “Kevin, her pulse is dropping rapidly. If you are going to do this, now would be a good time.”

  Kevin hesitated only a moment longer. Would Erica forgive him for changing her without her permission? He shook his head; he’d risk her anger later to save her now. He gashed his wrist with his teeth to open a vein. The wound wouldn’t stay open long, his vampire blood would close it shortly. As the blood began flowing freely, Jordan carefully tilted Erica’s head back and opened her mouth. He held his wrist over her open mouth, filling it with blood while Jordan worked on her throat muscles, making her swallow the life-saving liquid pouring into her mouth. Kevin reopened his wrist twice more and continued pouring. He would give her every drop of blood he had if she would just live. When he went to reopen the wound once again, Jordan stopped him. “That should be enough, Kevin. Besides, you probably don’t have much left anyway. Let’s get her transported.”

  It wasn’t until he looked up at Jordan that he felt the dizzy effects of giving up so much blood. Jordan picked up Erica, carrying her over to the back of her van, which was equipped with a low stretcher. Kevin dragged his tired body behind her, falling into the waiting vehicle.