Soul Sucker

Ingrid Anderson (Frances Dortmund’s) POV

Denver, Colorado

Saturday, August 20, 2022

Today’s climbing lessons beat the crap out of Lana. “I ache in places I didn’t know I had,” she grumbled as she shed her robe and lowered herself into the hot tub on our deck. I saw the bruises and scrapes around her bikini. She’d pushed herself hard, falling a bunch of times before finally summiting a 5.7 slope. “It’s so unfair,” she grumbled, taking in my unblemished skin. My body healed on the drive home while she slept.

It was early evening, and the sun still had an hour or so left until it dipped below the mountains. The Rockies were playing, and we could see the crowd in left field and part of the scoreboard from our perch. The bars would be full tonight, but I had a late date with Landon Street for dinner and dancing. “Are you going out?”

“I’m going to bed after this,” she said as she leaned back against the jets.

“I’m going to shadow you with my date,” Lonnie said as he came out with a tray of snacks and three mango daiquiris. “I’ll be less noticeable with a beautiful woman at my table. Not that anyone will be looking at me if you’re wearing that new dress.”

“He’s not kidding. That thing will get every married man in the restaurant in trouble,” Lana snickered. We’d both done some shopping earlier this week to update my wardrobe. I had a lot of clothes in my closet, but each person I became had a slightly different body shape and size. “Who are you taking to dinner?”

“Nicole Petersen,” he said as he pulled off his T-shirt, leaving on a pair of swim trunks.

I put my drink down and looked at him in shock. “The doctor you met at last weekend’s party? The one you spent Sunday and Wednesday night with?”

Lana raised her eyebrow. “Breaking the three-date rule, bro?”

After I’d rescued and adopted the two, and they learned my nature, both had sworn to serve and protect me for the rest of their lives. They dated but never allowed a relationship to get serious because of their ties to me. “There’s something about this one, sis. My mind says to cut her loose, but she’s invaded my dreams.” We both looked at him in shock. “I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“It’s only going to get worse if you keep seeing her,” Lana said as she reached for his arm. “Break it off, quick and clean. There’s no future for us here. After liquidating Landon’s estate, we’ll probably head to Europe.”

“I’m fully aware of my responsibilities and vows,” he responded angrily.

The signs were clear. “Are you falling in love, my boy?”

“I can’t allow that,” he said with his eyes closed.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Why not? Do you not deserve happiness?”

“I gave you my solemn vow,” he gritted out.

“I never asked anyone to give up their life for me,” I replied. “Love is something that I do not mess with.”

“We swore to serve you after you saved us from slavery,” Lana said.

I pulled both of them into my side. “You are my children, and I love you. I am so proud of you for overcoming your childhood and becoming the people you are now. We are family, and a family loves and supports each other.”

“We do, Mom,” Lana said. “Always.”

“All a Mom can ask is that her children are happy. I also know that everyone I love will leave me eventually, even you.” I kissed her forehead, then turned to Lonnie. “If you love her, you won’t be able to stay away.”

He didn’t look convinced. “What about after we finish here? Am I to stay while you move on?”

“If you must,” I told him. “You don’t have to stop helping me with identities just because I move somewhere else. And Lana, you don’t have to be with me to move my money around. If you want to stay here, we could change the ownership of this condo around. We could even stay in the area.”

“As Ingrid? With the insurance guy poking around?”

“It’s the Bart Simpson reaction. Didn’t do it, nobody saw me do it, you can’t prove a thing,” I said. “They can suspect all they want, but I’d keep playing the grieving widow.”

“And then what? We’ve got a good thing going.”

I rolled my eyes. “Lana, how much do we have in our accounts after the last guy?”

She thought about it for a minute. “Eleven point two million in cash or cash equivalents with another twenty million or so in real estate, precious metals, art, and other investments.”

I turned back to Lonnie. “We could have a good life if we stopped now,” I told them. “If we follow through on Landon, we’ll double our net worth. The income thrown off from our investments will be enough to stay here for decades without starting again.”

“What about your demon’s need to feed,” Lana asked.

“There’s plenty of assholes out there who need killing. I have plenty of alternate identities for when I need to travel to feed,” I replied. “Making money off dead husbands is getting old.”

“I don’t want to stop working for you,” Lonnie said.

“You can continue to be an employee of one of our corporations,” I replied. “I will still need your help. Your woman can’t know the truth, but that doesn’t mean you can’t commute to work and take business trips. The same for you, Lana. You’re thirty-eight. I see the way you look at babies.”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” she said as she rested her head on my shoulder.

“It’s all right,” I told her. “Maybe we all need to settle down for a while.”

Lonnie took a big drink, stopping when he got the brain freeze. He breathed in and out through his mouth while we laughed at him. “You know, that might not be a bad idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“What did John Miller say raised suspicions about you?”

I thought back to the conversation. “It was a large life insurance policy, recently purchased, with no definitive cause of death.”

“And what did your lawyer find out from his boss?”

“They were investigating a pattern of these cases where the widow disappeared with the money shortly after receiving it.”

He nodded. “Exactly. We are too late to change anything for Jordyn. You’ve already buried her identity and Lana has made her money disappear. If we want to keep the insurance companies off our case, my first thought was we don’t buy life insurance on Landon.”

Lana shook her head. “Most of our profit comes from the insurance, Lonnie. It’s critical with Landon Street because we suspect he has money from his illegal activities hidden deep. If the Feds get involved, we could spend years untangling that before we can access it.”

“That’s what makes this idea so much better. The life insurance companies won’t turn down the policies because they make too much money. They may require more in-depth physicals, but Landon will pass them all. When he dies? They don’t have a basis to deny the claim, just like they didn’t with Jordyn.”

“How does that help us avoid suspicion?”

“We break the pattern,” he replied. “Ingrid stays right here, moving on with her life. Her finances remain visible and local, just like her. She pays her taxes and is shocked to learn her late husband was involved in illegal activities. Ingrid cooperates fully with the Feds, even if it takes years to recover all the assets she is entitled to.”

“And no matter how much John Miller and the others investigate, they find nothing.” It was beautiful. “We break the mold.”

“And we can all make a home here,” Lonnie said. “You can change your image so you appear to age. In three decades, Lana and I could be retired and helping with our grandchildren. You can start up elsewhere if you wish. By then, none of the insurance investigators looking at you will still be working.”

Lana nodded. “And we can keep up enough identities for you to hunt and travel without bringing suspicion to Denver.”

I gave my kids a side hug. “I like the idea of holding a grandchild,” I said quietly. “Watching loved ones grow old and die breaks my heart. Every time it happens, I tell myself I’ll never go through that pain again.”

“Then why adopt us?”

“Loneliness is soul-crushing,” I replied. “My demon does not understand love. He finds me weak and foolish. Maybe I am?” I looked at them. “When I saw you, I couldn’t let you go. I cling to humanity through the centuries; I don’t want to lose what I was before I became the monster I am.”

Lana looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “You’re not a monster, Mom.”

“I am a monster, my darling girl. I can hide that for only so long.”

We sat in the tub, none of us saying anything until my phone alarmed around ten minutes later. “Date time.”