Another chapter from Derrick's point of view. I'll get back to Greg and Igor in a bit. I want to explore Derrick a bit more. Question for you all... am I making Derrick's memories clear enough? What I mean is, should I set them apart with italics, or put a line of **** above and below, or some other trick?

In the course of writing this story, things have evolved in my mind, and I've found things I wish I had done differently in earlier chapters. I'm not going to go back and re-write most of these things, but one thing I am going to correct, with these `Derrick' chapters. Previously, I had used search dogs. I then realized that with a vampire's sense of smell, the use of dogs would be ridiculous, so I won't mention them again. The use of drones, and heat sensitive cameras does still make sense though, so those will remain. If I make other adjustments in the future, I hope you will just roll with it. I do apologize if it causes any confusion or pain, but as the story has grown, so have I.

Your feedback is taken to heart at Jst4fun2nyt@gmail.com.

The sex isn't a major part of it, nor is it graphic. If you're looking for masturbation fodder, look elsewhere. There will be many slow times in this story, just like there are in life. Other times, things will fly at you too fast. There will be boring days, and exciting days. It's just how it's flowing.

This work is fully protected under the United States Copyright Laws © 17 USC§§ 101, 102(a), 302(a). All rights reserved. Placing or posting any or all of this story on any website, or distribution of any of these works in any way (in part or in whole) without the explicit consent of the author is strictly prohibited. Any and all copyright infringements will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Any names, characters, or incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental, and no harm or slanderous intent is implied or intended.

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Chapter 77

Derrick

The security people surrounded us as we got out of the helicopter, and a young woman walked up to me, bowed her head, and said "Hello, Alpha. My name is Kristine Hershey, I'm the senior officer on duty right now. How may I assist you?"

"We're going to be working together for a while, Kristine, please call me Derrick. I guess you can start with telling me what you know, so far."

"As you wish, Derrick. First, we should clear the pad, the humans are insisting we keep it clear if we need a med-evac." She said, rolling her eyes.

I turned to Brandon and Morgan "Is there anyone you think we should bring in?"

Brandon shook his head no, but Morgan said "I'd like Allie here, if it's ok? She keeps me calm."

I smiled at my little brother and said "Then we'll get Allie here, little buddy." I turned to the pilot and explained, telling him to co-ordinate with the plane that Marcus was on and make things happen. Then I turned back to Kristine and said "Where is the human in charge? And who is it?"

As she led us to a large RV with red and white flashing lights that said `Mobile Command Center', I stumbled over a fire hose and twisted my ankle. Brandon got under my shoulder and said "Let me take the weight until we get inside. Once you sit for ten minutes or so, it should be fine."

We entered, and a vampire that looked to be about 30 stood and offered me his seat "Alp... er, Mr. Warnick, I'm Chief Gilliam. I hope you'll understand, I have to be brief here." as he quickly glanced around at the humans, then offered his neck in submission for just a split second, "We have the fires out, and we're about to start searching."

I nodded and smiled "Please, call me Derrick. Anything that I can do for you Chief, name it. Everything I have is at your disposal."

"Honestly, we have to search by hand. If we try to move the rubble with heavy equipment, we risk crushing survivors, or collapsing cavities they're in. It's going to be a long process, I'm afraid."

"Well, once it's moved initially, we can move it out of the way with equipment, right? I'll have Craig move everything up from the construction sites. We have generators and lights we can bring in too, for later this evening. What else would help you?"

Chief Gilliam glanced around the command center again, then said "That's a good start Derrick, I'm going to go get the searchers started, then I'll find you and we can continue this."

I stood, testing my ankle, but Brandon was right, it was fine. We headed out, and once we were outside, Jamie said "Stephanie, Jarrod, and I are just in your way hon. We're going to volunteer to help search, if you don't mind."

Before I could answer, Morgan said "I should help them, Derrick. Jarrod said he would stick with me, since Brandon's gonna be busy with you. Is that ok?"

I smiled and said "Sure it is," then I turned to my mates and said "and you two can pass on anything you think I need to know. Please, all of you, be careful?"

They said they would, and headed back inside to talk with the Chief. I turned to tell Brandon to call Craig, but he was on his phone. Instead, I turned to Kristine and asked "How many of the so called humans are actually ours?"

"You met the Chief, and his son is the head of the local EMS. Beyond those two, roughly half of both the fire and the EMS are vampires. On site, there are 15 human firefighters, and 3 humans in the ambulances. Since the fires are out now, Ricky told me he will find ways to convince most of them to leave."

"Ricky?" I asked.

Kristine smiled. "Oh, sorry, Chief Gilliam. Ricky is my cousin." she said before answering her phone.

Brandon said "Craig is moving the excavator and bobcats up now, and has three dump trucks on the way."

"We should have some blood here. Anyone we find will be injured and it will help them heal."

"I called the contact at the Red Cross that George sent me. They'll bring all their recently expired blood up in a van marked disaster relief. I also called Uncle Mike to get the names of some catering trucks. I want to get one set up to feed the firefighters."

Kristine said "That was the gate, they have a line of cars filled with vampires wanting to help in any way they can. What do I tell them?"

I thought for a second, then said "Tell them to park along the driveway, and walk up. Keep the drive clear for traffic."

Chief Gilliam stepped up and said "Forgive me Alpha, there were too many humans nearby earlier."

"It's fine, Ricky is it? Call me Derrick. What do you have for me?"

"There are two vampires that have broken legs. Right now, my son has set their legs, but if they could get some blood, it would help them heal quicker."

Brandon spoke up with "We have expired human blood on the way, Chief. I'll let you know when it arrives. Anything else?"

"It would make his life easier if he could get rid of the human ambulance crews, Sir. If you don't mind paying, there's a vampire run private ambulance service I could call in. I can explain it to the humans if you say something about freeing them up for other emergencies and the search taking so long and such."

I nodded and said "Make the call, I'll make a comment like that when I see your son. What about the human firefighters?"

"The number of volunteers makes that easy. I'll release all the trucks and just keep myself and a few others on site to supervise. Of course, I'll hand pick the ones who stay." He said the last part with a grin.

"Sounds like you have that under control. What else?"

"Unfortunately, we found two bodies in the garage portion of the house, Sir. The one, a male in his 60's, had a California driver's license that says Patrick J. Hansen. Do you know him? And who the female in her 60's with him might be?"

I nodded "Yes Ricky, Patrick was my brother. I have to assume the female is his wife, my Aunt Amanda. Brandon can go with you to confirm that." I turned to Brandon "Keep the bodies out of human hands until we talk to Dad." I turned back to Chief Gilliam and said "Brandon can update you on what he's arranged."

Ricky and Brandon both nodded and headed towards the garage. Kristine offered me her phone, saying "It's the gate again, Sir. They've let in over 300 pack members, and they're asking when to cut it off."

I took the phone and said "This is Alpha Warnick, tell me what you're thinking."

"Alpha Warnick, Sir, I don't mean to question your judgement, but if we let many more on site, they're just going to be in the way, Sir."

"No, you're right. I didn't realize so many would show up so fast. Use your own judgement then, I don't want vehicles in the way, and I don't want so many volunteers here that they're just standing around. When you do start turning them away, I want you to be very kind, do you understand? These pack members are showing their love to my father and to me, and I want them to know how much it means to me."

"I understand totally, Alpha. I'll treat them as I would my own grandmother, Sir."

I handed the phone back to Kristine, then realized something "You told me you are the senior officer on duty today, exactly how senior are you?"

"I'm the night shift commander, Sir. Tommy always ran days, and I ran nights. He's been calling me, getting updates."

"Well, for now, you run everything. Unless you plan to follow Tommy and Dad, I'd like you to head my security."

"Thank you, Alpha, I would be honored."

Brandon came running back, wiping the tears from his eyes "It was Patrick and Amanda. Her body was crushed under a huge stone, but her chest and head were sticking out. Patrick had a huge gash on his neck, and he bled out, but before he died, he... he..." Brandon choked up and looked away. He took a deep breath, then wiped his eyes, turned back to me and went on "He drug himself to her body and died with his arms around her."

I nodded then opened my arms and held my brother as he cried. We hadn't gotten a chance to get to know Patrick and Amanda like we knew our other siblings, but Dad and Papa changed Patrick together, and that made him our brother. Grandma Donna changed Amanda, and that made her our Aunt. I can't speak for Brandon, but I was mourning the loss of a brother and Aunt.

The ringing of my phone interrupted our embrace. I looked at the screen and answered "Papa!?"

"Grandma Mary was cleaning the pool house when it happened. She's alone, and the front wall is buried in debris. Get Craig to dig her out, she says she's safe in the bathroom, so he can dig until he gets to that wall."

"That's great news Papa! Hang on a sec." I turned and told Brandon to get Craig and his equipment to the pool house, explaining where Grandma Mary was. Then I put the phone back to my ear "I have some bad news. We found Patrick and Amanda. They're dead."

Papa must have had his phone on speaker, because I heard Dad asking "Any sign of Mom and Pop? The girls?"

"No Dad, I'm sorry. Can't you feel them through the bond?" I asked, already knowing what he would say.

I could hear his heard breaking as he said "There's nothing, from either one. I'm hoping they're just unconscious, but Yuan said if they were, I could still sense them."

"Don't you give up on them Dad! We'll find them." I said, trying to keep Dad's spirits up. Brandon came running up, giving me more news. "They just found Edward's body in the office wing, crushed."

Kristine was talking to several pack members and I heard her say she'd ask me, so I said "I have to go Dad, more pack members just showed up to help. We will find them, Dad, do you hear me? Don't give up hope!"

I turned to the group with Kristine and said "Follow me, we're going to go dig out my Grandma!"

As we walked around towards the pool house, I saw long lines of vampires passing rocks or chunks of debris hand to hand, moving the rubble of our house out of the way so they could search for my parents and siblings. There was nothing in it for them. No pay, no recognition. They were here because their Alpha, my father, needed them. No, that wasn't right either. He could pay for this if he had to, they were here because they loved him. Could I ever fill his shoes? If they knew about my past, could they love me like they love him?...

Morgan and I had put up our tent in the woods about a quarter mile away from a truck stop. I figured we could use the rest rooms and showers. I didn't realize the showers cost money if you weren't a trucker. I didn't want to waste the money, so we were at the sinks in the rest room, using a cloth to wash our faces and such when an older guy came over to wash his hands.

He looked at the two of us, then looked around to make sure we were alone, then said "I'm guessing you two are on your own?"

Before I could stop him Morgan said "Derrick's dad left us at the campground."

"Don't talk to strangers, Morgan." I said, stepping between him and this man. "We're not looking for any problems, just let us wash up and we'll go."

"I'm sorry, Derrick is it?" I nodded and he went on "Look, I'm not rich, but I can give you a hundred bucks, if you promise to use it for food. And I've got a shower credit I can use to get you boys a shower, instead of having to do this, at least for today. Will ya let me do that for you?"

I saw something in his eyes, and I knew there was more to his story, so I said "We'll take the shower, but you don't have to give us any money. No offense, but that's a lot of money if you're not looking for anything in return."

I hadn't had to do things for money, but I knew the day was coming. We had eleven dollars left, and our food was just about gone. I knew the things I could do for money, and I figured a truck stop full of truckers, far from their homes, would be a good place to find someone to do those things with.

"I promise, I'm not looking for anything in return. Well, in a way, I guess I am. My son ran away 5 years ago and we haven't heard anything since. Since then, anytime I see a runaway, I do what I can, hoping that God, or whatever, will take my offerings and pass them on to my boy." He said, wiping away a tear.

I smiled at him and said "Well, we'll take your money then, and hope it helps your son, but only if we can pay you with a hug." I said, stepping towards him and opening my arms.

He got us the shower, and was waiting when we came out. He handed me two hundred, and insisted he buy us a meal at the McDonald's that was part of the truck stop. After we ate, he gave us both a hug, got in his truck, and headed down the road. That night, we were clean and well fed for the first time in a week as we fell asleep in our sleeping bags...