The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 217

Alexander

"Tell me, what exactly happens to vampires in the daytime?" Fiona asked, narrowing her pale blue eyes up at me thoughtfully. "What happens if they are exposed to sunlight? If, say..." She pursed her lips, hesitating.

She was avoiding uttering the words: "if their tombs were bombed and they were exposed." Because neither of us was eager to actively consider doing such a thing anymore, after that meeting. My wife and I had said goodbye to our employee and consultant and were now walking, hand in hand, back to the West Wing.

"They burn," I answered. "It happens pretty quick. They burn to ash."

"Hm. And what about... what are they like, down there in their hiding places? I know they have to go somewhere that is fully dark to avoid the light. But are they asleep, in some way? Are they... dead?"

"You could say that." I let go of Fiona's hand, not wanting her to feel what I was starting to feel. Her questions had triggered a vision that was now swarming before my eyes. A vision from the last war. A scene in which I was slaughtering comatose vampires in their hiding place, as she called it.

I scrubbed a hand up and down my face, trying to anchor myself in the present moment.

Trying not to think about the blood. The black, sticky, ice cold blood that erupted everywhere when you staked them, coating everything"What they really need is complete rest while the sun is up." I said quickly. I was trying to focus on articulating an answer Fiona's question, using that focus to shove aside the vivid memories. "And the younger, weaker ones will be, for all intents and purposes, dead during those hours. But stronger vampires, older ones..." Like my highly motivated nemesis, Caius, who was rumored to be one of the oldest vampires to walk the earth today. "They can wake up. They can be mildly active. They can rouse and fight back if they be come aware they are in danger.

"Are they in a weakened state, at least?"

*Yes. Vampires are not at full strength when the sun is out, even if they have found good shelter from its light. It makes them much easier to overtake than at night, when they really come alive."

Fiona was quiet a moment, processing.

"Hm. So, you will have to sneak up on them, then? I suppose flying over the canyon in a helicopter and lowering down from it is out of the question."

"Correct. We must approach with stealth."

She nodded. My hand had drifted back down to my side; she grabbed it and interlaced our fingers. "We will find another way, Alex.

Another way to get you guys down there and into the caves, without leaving destruction behind."

I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it.

I heard the baby crying from down the hall, just a few seconds before Fiona did, too. We couldn't help but hurry our walking pace.

"I'm sorry," a frazzled Nina said, greeting us with the wailing, red-faced child in her arms.

Fiona moved right away to take Lexi from her while I locked the door behind us.

"Ugh," Nina woofed, adjusting a wrinkled sweater. The baby had been clutching at it. "I tried everything I could think of to get her to stop crying, but I think she just wants her mom..." She trailed off as her point was proven true before our eyes. Alexis was quieting down already, now clutching at Fiona's chest hungrily and looking relieved to be in her mother's arms.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Nina," Fiona said, shaking her head at her friend. "I appreciate you watching her. And I'm sorry that she's been giving you a hard time."

Nina smiled tiredly. "K, how about we both stop apologizing now," she said. "Bad habit."

Fi nodded in agreement.

I stroked the baby's soft cheek, sliding my other arm around Fiona's shoulders. Lexi darted her pretty eyes up to me. I made a silly face at her and she smiled.

"I'm gonna go feed her," Fiona said, tilting her face up to mine so I could give her a little kiss. Then she headed off into the nursery.

I asked Nina if there was anything I could do for her. Make her a cup of coffee? Order her some dinner? It was dawning on me that our friend really provided me and Fi with a lot of babysitting services, and I never compensated her for it at all.

"I'm good," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "Think I'm just gonna lie down right now. That baby, phew. She can really tire you out."

Nina left. I made a stop at the bathroom and then went to meet Fiona in the nursery. She was just finishing up feeding Lexi, and moving on to wiping the baby's face clean and burping her.

"How are you doing, baby?"

Fi gave me a small smile. "I'm fine. I think she's sleepy now.. want to help me put her down?"

We worked together and soon Lexi was in her crib and fading fast, her belly full and her little eyelids heavy. We stood next to her crib and watched her drift off before creeping back to our bedroom and closing the nursery door behind us. "Alex, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," Fiona said quietly. She headed to the bed and sat down on the edge.

I followed and took a seat close beside her, wrapping one arm around her hips. "Sure. What is it?"

She tilted her head to the side and squinted. "Iris."

I sighed. "Yeah. I need to go talk to her again."

"Yeah. I hate to be a nag about it, I just-"

"You're not a nag. I need to follow up with her. I can go talk to her in the morning."

Fiona reached up and stroked my short beard. Her light touch made my skin tingle. "Thanks," she said softly. "Something else I wanted to say about her too, though. I just want you to know that... I understand. I actually have been feeling very conflicted about Iris, myself." "What do you mean?" I did a quick turn of my head to plant a kiss on Fiona's palm. She smiled.

"I mean I understand why you are reluctant to push her out too aggressively. You feel responsible for her. The thing is, I actually do, too. It was after all my father who shot her, who is directly responsible for the damage that's been done to her. I do believe it's in everyone's best interest that Iris move along. I do wish to reclaim our family's privacy in our home. But I also understand why you are not rushing her out. I understand the situation is not black-and-white. She's not a tenant we're evicting. It's more complicated than that."

I pulled Fiona in close and wrapped my arms around her. Pressed my mouth to the top of her head and inhaled, relishing her sweet lavender scent and the softness of her lovely silver hair.

"Thank you for under standing," I said quietly. She nodded against my chest.

My phone buzzed abruptly in my pocket, and immediately Fiona started to withdraw her arms from around my waist. I hated how often moments with her were interrupted like this. And how quickly and responsibly she always responded.

My phone recognized the number, which I'd saved in my contacts the last time I called it. It was the city morgue.

Fi read the words on the screen along with me. Then she nodded again, saying without words that she knew I needed to take this call somewhere else. Somewhere far away from the baby.

I answered the phone while pulling the bedroom door closed behind me. My feet started me walking in the direction of my study while I started the conversation with the coroner.

All of the victims whose bodies had been left at the courthouse, he reported, had now been autopsied and identified. He was sending me all the victim data now by email.

I texted Fi when I got off the phone and shared the update. And let her know I was heading to my study to work.

I was impatient to read the reports. Some of these departed souls had no doubt been the vampires' first victims at the start of the invasion, and I needed to know everything about them - how long they had been de ad, where they came from, where they worked, the kinds of lives they lived...

I was hoping and praying they had information for me. That they could tell me something, anything about their murderers, from beyond the grave.