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 78

Derrick

I didn't even have time to shout as I tripped over a piece of timber that was laying by the pool. Even worse, I tried to catch myself and landed with my hand at a bad angle. My ankle was throbbing, but I was staring at my hand. My thumb shouldn't be at that angle, should it? Brandon and Kristine were kneeling beside me and she said "I'll go get him some blood, you should straighten that thumb."

"Um, if you know how to, you do the thumb, I'll get the blood. I have no clue how to fix his thumb." Brandon said, nervously.

I rolled my eyes and said "Didn't you watch Opa with Jesse? It's simple."

"That was an arm, this is your thumb. It's more complicated, or it should be. Let her do it, if she's confident." He said this last, looking at her with a question in his eyes.

Kristine smiled "I can do it. You go get some of that blood you had brought up. We'll be right here, watching them dig out your grandma."

During my daydreaming, we had walked to the pool area, and were now sitting on the patio, watching Craig directing the guy running the excavator as he filled in the pool with debris, making a path for the excavator so he could reach the pool house. Then he slowly pulled the walls and roof away as he dug towards the bathroom where Grandma Mary said she was. After digging with the machine for half an hour, Craig stopped him, and called to the volunteers that had come around with us. He directed them as they formed a line and, like the other lines, moved the debris away by hand.

Brandon had brought me a bag of blood shortly after they started digging with the machine, and he was anxious to help those digging, but wanted to stay at my side until my hand was healed. Kristine's phone rang, so she stepped away a bit and had a conversation, then came back to us looking slightly confused.

"That was the gate. The FBI is there, and the agent in charge asked to speak to the Alpha. I took the risk of having them send her here? I figured, if she knows to ask for the Alpha, she knows enough to come speak to you?"

I shrugged and said "Sounds good to me. Maybe she's a vampire and they failed to mention it?"

"I didn't think to ask, and I should have. She's on her way now, but I'm staying here until we know." Kristine said, looking embarrassed for not asking.

I heard Craig saying "There's the door, clear away around it. Maybe we can open it."

About the same time, I saw a woman leading three men through the rubble on the patio. Looking straight at me, she very quietly asked "Alpha Warnick?".

If I hadn't been a vampire, I wouldn't have heard her, but I did, and I nodded, standing and saying "I'll assume you're the agent in charge with the FBI?"

She got to me and offered her hand as she said "That is correct, Alpha. I am Grace Burroughs, Special Agent in Charge of this unit."

"Well, you sure got here quick."

"This isn't my whole unit, these three are the regional heads. They were in Quantico for training, and I was flying with them on an inspection tour, I guess you could say. The Director called me on the plane when your father's plane took off from Pittsburgh, and we landed in Butler. We're here to offer whatever help we can. Help figuring out what happened, help with search and rescue, whatever help you need, ask and we'll do our best."

"Right now, we're working on search and rescue. I assume you can help with dogs?"

She laughed and said "Our dogs are good, Alpha, but there's not a dog alive that can do better than a vampire in beast form. I have drones on the way, with infrared cameras, and some x-ray machines that can search for cavities under the rubble."

I nodded "Please, call me Derrick. We're going to be working together a while, I think. It seems you are one of the rare humans that knows of our world, Agent Burroughs?"

"Grace, and yes, Derrick, I've known of your existence since I was a child. That's part of why I'm on this team. All our members know of you, of course, and we're sworn to secrecy. Most of the regional teams have vampires on them."

I was wishing Brandon and I had a mate bond so we could discuss things when we heard Craig say "That's the door. Clear away around it and we'll see if it will open."

Brandon looked at me, and when I nodded, he scrambled around the rubble and started pulling debris from around the door. Once it was clear, he tried opening it, but it was stuck. Craig grabbed a pry bar, and with Brandon's help, got the door open. Grace and I had followed Brandon, staying far enough back to not be in the way, but close enough to see when the door opened.

Grandma Mary was on the floor, in the corner, blood covering her face, and her leg under her at an impossible angle. Brandon rushed in ahead of me and we knelt at her side. She looked up and smiled saying "I knew you'd get me out of here. Your dads said you would, and I knew it."

I smiled at her as the tears fell and I said "Brandon's gonna run and get you some blood. Craig and I are going to set your leg, so this might hurt a bit, ok?" She nodded, so Brandon took off and I told Craig how to support her hip as I pulled her leg back into place. She winced, but once the leg was straight, she smiled and took a deep breath.

I was shocked when Grace knelt beside me and said "If you need blood right away, you're welcome to feed from me. I trust Derrick to stop you before I'm in danger."

Grandma Mary smiled and said "That's sweet of you to offer, dear, and very brave, but I can wait until Brandon gets back. I don't want to put Derrick in the position of having to choose between my healing and your life, and if I start, I might not stop."

I could tell Grace was about to argue, but before she could, Brandon came back through the rubble with three bags of blood. After she had drank the first one, he looked at me and said "If it's ok, I'm going to stay with her for a few minutes. You should head back up front and see everything that's going on."

I nodded and said "I'll send Morgan and Jarrod down to help you." Then I turned to Craig "As soon as she can be moved, take her to Clint & Company's house, it's got the ground floor bedroom. She can rest and recover there."

"Yes Alpha." Craig said and bowed his head.

"I'm still Derrick, and please spread that around? I don't need all that, not today, ok?"

"Sorry Derrick, but just so ya know, unless your dad asks me to come, I'd like to stay here and help rebuild your house."

"We have time to figure all that out later, but you have my support in whatever you choose." I turned back to Brandon and said "I'm going around front, join me when you can?"

Brandon nodded, and I walked around the north side of the house, past the garage with the motorcycles, and around the garage wing of the house. As I came around the corner, I saw Jamie and Stephanie standing on the rubble, passing debris down the line. I climbed over the fallen garage and joined them, digging through the rocks, wood, and dust. As we were digging, I heard a guy about ten feet away say "I smell someone, down here, dig here!"

Jamie and I moved to where he was digging, and joined him. I inhaled deeply and he was right, I could smell them. We all were excited and digging too fast when it happened. I picked up a long piece of wood and when I turned, I hit another piece that was standing up, and I felt my finger snap. I dropped the wood, and looked at my right index finger feeling very stupid. It was bent over backwards, like it had snapped at the base, but, like my thumb, there was no pain, just surprise at what I'd done.

Jamie noticed that I had stopped digging and turned to ask why, then he saw it. He gently took my other hand, and led me down to the mobile command center where he quickly yanked my finger back into place, then walked away as he firmly said through the bond `if you move an inch, I will let Steph deal with you'

`What did he do now?' I heard her asking.

`Another broken bone. I'm on my way to get him blood.' Jamie thought.

`Damnit Derrick, do we need to babysit you?' she asked.

`What do you want me to do? Sit and watch while everyone else works?' I asked them both.

`YES!!!' I got from them both, as Jamie walked up with a bag for me. As I drank it, he said "You're the Alpha, hon. You supervise. If you're busy with the little issues, the big issues don't get solved. I know your dad would tell you this, if he was here."

I lowered my head and said "I know you're right, but my mom and pop are still in that pile of rubble somewhere. I gotta find them, I just gotta."

"Well, if you promise to stay here until your finger heals, I can go back to digging. If I catch you up too soon, I'm going to..." Jamie paused as he considered, then he smiled a big smile and finished with "I'm going to stand guard on you like Tommy on your dad."

I smiled and said "Thanks babe, I needed the laugh. I'll promise to not be too active. I can't promise to stay right here, I have to be moving around, to observe, deal?"

"Deal, but use Steph and me as your eyes. Use the bond, ok?"

I nodded, and he kissed me, then he took off to dig more. I used to bond to ask Steph about where we had been digging. She told me about the two housekeepers they found in the laundry room. They were both now down at Clint & Co's house, feeding and recovering. I was about to go find Chief Ricky when Brandon came in.

"Grandma's leg is almost healed, and all her little cuts are healed up, she's talking about acting as a nurse down there once she can walk without a cane." Then he noticed the empty blood bag and asked "Was your thumb not healed?"

I laughed and said "No, it was. I decided to break my finger while you were busy, just to keep myself entertained."

He glared at me and said "I'm not leaving your side. We can use the bond to have Jamie, Stephanie, and Jarrod do what we need, but I'm not leaving your side again."

"Jamie and Steph already threatened me, so don't you start. And how can you use the bond, you and Jarrod haven't..." I inhaled, scenting my brother and Beta "Brandon, you didn't?"

"It was Jarrod's idea. He said we both knew we were going to eventually, and right now, I needed the bond, so after we got Grandma Mary in bed, we ran upstairs and just did it on the floor of one of the bedrooms."

"Oh Brandon, you didn't need to do that." I said, taking his hand "I wanted to have a ceremony for the two of you, and celebrate with a dinner, and make it special."

"We can still do that, but now that it's done, I feel better that I can sense that he's safe. And he was right, having the bond lets me sit here and check on Grandma. And once she's healed, he can run messages or something."

I stood and put my arms around him and hugged him tight. "I wanted your first time with him to be so special. I'm sorry this has ruined it."

He pulled back and looked up into my eyes as he said "But it was special, Derrick. It was our first time, and we timed it perfect the first time, and now we're bonded. How can that not be special?"

I smiled at him, then leaned down and gave him a quick kiss. When I pulled back, I said "Did you tell Papa that Grandma Mary was safe?"

His face answered my question. He quickly stepped back and sent a long text telling Papa about Grandma's rescue and that she was safe. I was still laughing about Brandon's face when Jamie messaged me through the bond.

`Is your finger healed?'

`Not totally, but almost. Why?'

`They've found a body.'

I jumped up and rushed towards the door. Brandon grabbed my arm, looking confused.

"They've found a body." I said, turning for the door again.

Brandon pulled on my arm, turning me to face him and said "It's a body, Derrick. You won't help them by running out there and breaking another bone. Slow down, please?"

I smiled and nodded, then turned and headed outside where I ran into Grace. "Derrick, if you have a second?" I nodded, so she continued "When you get a chance, if you clear everyone from the site, our drone is here. We can fly it over the rubble and look for warm spots, where people are trapped still. Also, if you'll allow it, I'd like to take any bodies to our medical examiner in Quantico. He might find something to help us figure out what happened."

I stood thinking, trying to come up with the right answer. On the one hand, the FBI had a unit devoted to vampires, so it wouldn't be a big revelation. On the other, the more people involved, the more risk of exposure, and transporting bodies that far increased that risk, even if it was the FBI. They had the experts to figure out what caused this, and they were known for finding the smallest bit of evidence in the most unlikely place, so I really should work with them. Still, risking exposure was a huge thing. Finally, I decided.

"Until I can speak with Father, I can't let anything leave here, Grace. I'm sorry."

"I respect that Derrick, and I understand. And, I want to say again, your secret is safe with us, you have to believe me."

"I do, Grace, I really do, but I'm not the final word on some things. If you'll excuse me, I need to identify a pack member. Once I've done that, I think we can use your drone." I said.

As I started the climb over the rubble, I heard Brandon say "Grace, I've got a refrigerated truck on the way, to store any bodies until we decide what to do with them. Will that affect any evidence?" When did he order that? When did he have time? Did he somehow inherit Papa's ability to know what Dad needs before he needs it? I was lost in my thoughts and only realized I where I was when someone said to me "We didn't want to move her yet, Alpha. We hoped maybe you'd see something to identify her?"

I looked where he was pointing, then had to kneel down to see through the hole they had made in the debris. What I saw affected me to the center of my being. I quickly stood, then realized I'd never make it, so I turned away, and puked. Twice. I took a few deep breaths before I stood, wiped my mouth and took another, then nodded at the man at the front of the line, saying "Yes, I know her." Then I waved at the other end of the line saying "Get a body bag up here, please? No one needs to see her like this."

I took a few steps away, and pulled out my phone to call Dad.