Disclosure:  Mine 

Pre-Edit Count –   1,508 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: December 1963 (Oh, What a Night!) by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

On a cool spring day, a black 1967 Stingray Corvette is making its way down the road, the driver having on large pilot’s shades, dressed in a black leather jacket.

The road is bare of any vehicles, and the man is listening to December 1963 by the Frankie Valli Four Seasons and tapping out the beat with his fingers on the outside of the car as he maneuvers the car with one hand.  The top is down, and the wind is just blowing through his dark hair as he rocks his head to the beat. He is clearly enjoying the music, the weather, and the pure freedom that this drive is affording him.  A mini vacation from his duties if you will.

A signet ring flashes off his hand as he taps out the beat, his head keeping time.  He reaches back into a cooler in the back, and then you see a frown as he comes up with nothing.  He looks around and seeing a turnout, pulls off to the side.

He gets out of the car, looking around as he adjusts his pants, then leans in the back to grab the cooler.  He opens it, and his frown gets larger.  He could have sworn he had enough to last him through to the next big city.

He then leans into the front and hitting the trunk release, he heads back there and opens it to look in the larger cooler. He then slams the trunk shut cussing.  He quickly puts the cooler back in the back seat.  Then sliding in, he grabs a map of the area.  Looking around, he notices that there is a Hospital in the next town.  Taking notes of the roads he will need to go down, he quickly puts it away.

Within minutes, he is back on the road, making his way to the town called Kingston. The music still going and putting him in a slightly better mood as he taps out the sound with his finger.  There is not much that a good song cannot do to his moods.

In the town of Kingston, a man is heard yelling for a doctor, any doctor as he rushes his wife, who is heavily pregnant as well as giving the impression of being in labor into the hospital.

The nurses see the new Chief and grin to themselves as they rush to help him.  Since he has taken over the local firefighters, he has done nothing but good in making the emergency responders being faster.  Which of course made their jobs easier when they can get the people sooner and administer their treatments.  To see this man who is usually patient with whom or whatever he is dealing with, from a small child, to a kitten in a tree, to real emergencies, so ruffled couldn’t help but make a smile from those used to him.

Robert doesn’t care, Dianna is in pain, and it has to do with their child.  He wants a doctor to take care of his wife and now! He has had enough of hearing her pain as she works to bring their baby in the world, and there just has to be some type of drug to help her!

Soon the small hospital is busy with the excitement of the Chief’s wife being here and heavily in labor.  So much so, that no one saw the tall man dressed in black make his way through the hospital to the blood banks whistling as he makes his way there.

Once inside, he smiles as he sees the all the blood there without any locks or anything to dissuade him from taking it.  For who would need to lock up blood in this town? He loves the small towns for just this reason.  Plus there are none others like him out there, so there is not much theft of blood to make a note anywhere.

He is soon helping himself to as much as can, actually taking care to take the older blood, since it won’t matter to him.  He figured that since they have so much of his favorite, he could be kind and leave them fresher blood. As he finishes with his errand, he quickly rearranges the blood to be better organized that it was when he got there.  Another favor to those that had so much to give.  Plus, it looks like someone had been in here and had been in a hurry to grab some bags earlier.

Once he is coming out, he is walking back through the halls to his car outside.  But before he goes much further, a gruff voice tells him, “Stop right there, son.” One of the things that Armando hates is older people calling him ‘son.’  He has been on the earth longer than them, and just because his face doesn’t show the years, doesn’t mean he should be treated like an imbecile.

But when he turns, something about the man in front of him makes him smirk.  The disheveled hair, the tenseness of the person, belied another reason being here.

In fact, Robert had been pacing the halls, not allowed to be with Dianna as she has their child.  Restless, he had noticed the younger man walking through the halls earlier but hadn’t said anything.  But when he made his 20^th or so circuit, he had seen the young man come out of some doors, and something, instinct, needing a distraction mayhap, made him call out to him.

He quickly looks over the young man, taking note of the deep blue eyes, but all in all seeing what Dianna would call a looker.  To Richard though, the young man screamed nothing but trouble.  And the smirk on his lips didn’t do anything to dispel him of the thought.

Not able to trust his feelings, Richard asks him, his hand close to his hidden gun, “What are you doing here?  I have never seen you before.” And in this small of a town, everyone knows everyone.  He may have been here less than 5 years, but it is enough to know everyone in sight.  Though he couldn’t wait until someone else new moves in, so he didn’t have to be the newbie anymore.

Armando almost wants to laugh at the man in front of him, but instead of influencing him with his powers, he tells him, “Courier.  Caro needed some blood that the hospital had in quantity.  Something about a rare blood type kept in stock.” Luckily he always looks around the maps and so on in case he needs an alibi.  He has not made it this long without a backup story in mind.

Robert is watching him, looking for clues on him lying.  However, as it may be, this time, Robert knows that they have a surplus of AB-.  The reason?  Him.  He gives blood as often as he can and so they often have a surplus.  He had signed to allow them to ship it out if needed.

So this young man has a credible story.  Enough to make him relax some.  “Sorry.  My wife is having my child, and for some reason, they chased me out of the room.  So I have been wondering the halls not able to keep still.” He shrugs lost as in the reason they wouldn’t allow him in the same room as he even now twitches with the need to be doing something.

Armando can’t help himself.  He laughs.  This man in front of him, some sort of official, is wondering the halls and almost caught him stealing blood, is doing it because he was nervous and still is.  This is the type of dumb luck that can get a demon killed, and many have died no matter their powers since Humans can kill their kind with a straight shot to the head.

But he can’t help himself as Armando grins at Robert and asks, “What are you having?  I mean your wife.” He can understand this feeling.  Just because he was the odd being out there, doesn’t mean he doesn’t remember a time when he too hoped for a child of his own.

Robert grins back at the stranger as he puffs out his chest proudly, “A girl.”  He has always wanted a little girl. Even more than a baby boy.  They seem cuter, and can do the same things as a son can do.

And right there Armando knows she is going to be Daddy’s little girl.  He shakes his head. “And you haven’t heard anything?” He cast out his senses to see if he can smell or hear anything since the hospital is quiet.

Just then a page over the speakers says, “Robert Smith, Robert Smith.  Please come to the nursery.” There is an audible grin to the announcement, telling of personal knowledge of the Chief.

Robert has a huge grin on his face and Armando walks up to shake his hand. “Congrats.”

Looking into the other man’s eyes, Robert tells him, “C’mon.  You got waylaid because of me, you can come to see my new daughter.” He nods his head in the direction of the nursery.  To be truthful, he just wants to show off his little girl.  For she surely will be the darling of the nursery.

Armando is surprised.  But he quickly agrees, something inside of him prodding him to join the man.

The two of them made their way into the nursery.  Armando is surprised they let him in, but after Robert is referred to as the Chief, he understands.  Who is going to try to steal a kid when one of the head honchos is in the room?

Robert is soon beside a bassinet, and the strong man is gone, and all that is left is a father cooing at his newborn daughter.  As he had suspected, the angel of the group.  Robert touches her face reverently, promising in that moment to put her first in everything.  No matter what he desires, her future was more important.

Armando just grins, watching the scene.  He has a momentary pang for never being able to have the same thing, but that night that he turned into this being he has become took out all hope of that.  Armando had settled with the loss of never being a father long ago.  It had been just one more tally on his enemy’s side of the board on why he hated him.

Robert is called by the doctor to the side of the room.  Before he leaves, he tells Armando, “C’mon on over here.  Keep an eye on her for me.”  With a grin, he walks over to make sure everything is okay with his wife and child.  And to hear the important details that he is sure that everyone will want.  The males will care as he does about the important things, Five fingers, five toes, everything works as it should be.  The females will want to know how much she weighs and how big she is.

Armando walks over and looks down at the tiny baby in the crib.  Then the baby’s eyes open and Armando’s widened when his meet hers.  At that second, everything in his world boils down to the child in front of him.  His life for hers in a heartbeat.

Without thinking it through, he bites the tip of his finger and gives it to her.  She eagerly sucks it, and he teases her lightly, “My lady you sure are a hungry little vampire already.   But not yet.  I will come back for you.”  Pulling his finger out, he traces a line on her throat.

He shakes his head, unknowing why he had done all that.  But the blood on her throat soaks in after glowing softly.  He takes a breath, and he can smell himself mixed in with her scent.  And he knows, no matter what, she is marked as his.  Armando has never heard of something happening like this, but then, there is no other being on the earth like him.

He smiles, and leaning forward, he tells her, “Our little secret, Mia Bella Stella. (My beautiful Star)” He touches the tip of her nose with his finger, and his smile grows larger as she tries to focus on his finger.

Robert’s voice comes from beside him. “What did you call her, Stella?” He had been tasked with the name and failed to come up with any yet.  He realized that at the point of meeting her, that a name is more important.

Armando looks up at him as his Stella, “yes.” She is moving as if she was trying to get his finger again, and he cannot help but think she wanted more of his blood.

Robert nods as he looks down at her.  Her name, but his wife might not like it, wanting an original name for her. His mind thinks quickly, and he smiles as he looks down at his daughter as he announces his solution,  “Hmm.  I like it, but maybe as Astella Lynn King.  But I like Stella.  I think we will call her that.”

Armando is still smiling, looking down at her.  “It suits her well.” Knowing he will need to leave, he is making sure the dark supernatural memorizes this moment, knowing now his vacation has been cut short, and he will need to head back home to research what is going on.

Proud that he has picked a name that everyone can agree to, Robert grins.

Sighing, knowing that it was time to leave, Armando straightens up, “I need to get going, thanks for introducing us.”

Robert studies the young man in front of him and then nods.  “No problem.  No making any trouble out there.” There is still a vibe he gets from the young man that tells him he could be trouble.

With a smirk, Armando does a lazy salute.  “No problem, Chief.  Congratulations on your daughter again.” He looks down at the little girl that has changed his life in more ways than he can ever imagine.

With that Armando makes his way out of the hospital.  He can feel a funny feeling as he leaves, and rubs his chest absently.

He is making plans, knowing his life has changed.  He had planned on seeing what trouble he can cause to those that have irritated him over the centuries.  Now, he thinks he will stick around, at least being in the states.  He figures he will let Nash know he will be sticking around as well as what has happened.

And with something so small, as disappearing some blood bags in a cooler changed history.

Final count, 2,471 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy