The Recruit: Book Two (20 page)

“Luther, I’ve asked you to toss the salad,
dear - not throw it.”  Natalie chided gently.

“Sorry, ma’am.”  Luther said as Tyrone
elbowed him in the ribs.

“That’s alright, dear.  And call me
Natalie.”  She patted his face gently and then smoothed the shirt of Tyrone’s
collar down.

“Tyrone, can you set the table, please.”

“Yes, Natalie.”  Tyrone hurried to do what
she asked and Chen, standing in the doorway of the kitchen with Hannah, glanced
at her and raised one eyebrow.

Hannah grinned as Heather shouldered by her
and opened the fridge.  She pulled a bottle of water out and twisted open the
lid before taking a long drink.  She wiped her mouth and stared sullenly out
the window over the sink.

Natalie drifted across the kitchen and reached
out to touch Heather’s face.  Heather flinched but Natalie just smiled at her
and ran her thumb over Heather’s eyebrow ring.  “I do admire your piercings. 
I’ve been thinking of getting my nose pierced.”

She glanced around the kitchen and then
lowered her voice conspiratorially.  “I’ve always wanted one but I’ll admit
that Jim’s reaction also plays a factor in it.”

She turned her head.  “What do you think,
dear?  Could I pull off a nose ring?”

Heather studied her carefully before
nodding.  “Yeah, you could wear one.”

Natalie gave her a delighted look.  “Do you
really think so?  Maybe you could take me to your piercer.  I’ll warn you now
though – I’ll need you to hold my hand.”

She squeezed Heather’s narrow shoulder and
turned back to the stove.  Heather, looking a little stunned by the conversation,
took another drink of water before slinking out of the kitchen.  Hannah patted
her back as she slid by, and Heather twitched and jerked away before escaping
upstairs.

“You seem to have a way with teenagers,
Natalie.”  Chen said softly.

“Thank you, Chen.  I know most parents hate
the teenage years but I loved them.  I found Hannah and Sara so interesting at
that age.  All that drama, all that angst – it was frighteningly fascinating. 
Of course, Hannah was a bit boring.”  She grinned at Hannah.

Hannah snorted softly.  “I think I’ve more
than made up for it now, mom.”

“Good point.”  Natalie answered.  “Luther,
can you go out to the barbeque and ask Jim if he’s ready for the chicken?  It’s
already dark outside.  I don’t want to be eating at midnight.”

“Yes, Natalie.”  Luther hesitated and then
dropped a brief kiss on Natalie’s cheek before, his face red, leaving the
kitchen.

“Oh, they are such sweet boys.”  Natalie
said.  “Jim’s already promised to take them fishing.  Neither of them has ever
fished before.  Can you believe it?”

Hannah laughed.  “Mom, do I need to be
jealous of Luther and Tyrone?”

“Of course not, dear.  But you know how
your father always wanted a boy.  Not that we don’t love our girls,” she
hastened to add, “but Jim did have his heart set on at least one boy.”

“Why didn’t you have a third child?”  Chen
asked as he sat down at the kitchen table.

“Didn’t Hannah tell you?  I nearly died
giving birth to Sara.  It was very dramatic and fraught with peril, and poor
Jim absolutely refused to try for a third after that.  He said he didn’t want
to ever risk losing me again.  He’s such a sweetheart.”  Natalie said
cheerfully.

She smiled at Chen.  “Jim loves our girls
madly but it did break his heart when he didn’t have a son.  Of course, now he
kind of has two, doesn’t he?”

“Mom, you’ve known Luther and Tyrone for a
couple of weeks.  Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be adopting them?” 
Hannah raised her eyebrows at Natalie.

Natalie shrugged.  “Those poor dears have
never had a real family before.  What’s wrong with wanting to give that to
them?  Besides, they’re teenagers and I’ve already told you how fascinating I
find children at that age.”

Chen grinned as Hannah shook her head and
sat down beside him. “Mom drove dad crazy when we were kids, adopting every
stray animal that wandered into the yard.  I’m not surprised she’s moved on to
delinquent teenage boys, just shocked it took this long to happen.”

“Oh hush, now.”  Natalie said sternly. 
“Luther and Tyrone, as well as Heather, could use a loving influence.  We don’t
want them growing up to be sword-wielding hooligans.”

She paused and gave Hannah a quick kiss on
the forehead.  “No offense, dear.”

“None taken.”  Hannah replied as Chen
grinned again.

“Is Will joining us for dinner?”  Natalie
asked as she turned and started to cut the ends off a pile of green beans.

“No.  It’s the full moon tonight.  He’s
hunting.”  Hannah replied.

“Right, of course.”  Natalie replied.  She
looked over her shoulder at Hannah and Chen.  “Are you any closer to figuring
out who might be feeding the information to the vampires?”

Hannah glanced at Chen.  It had been a week
since Will had shared his suspicions with her about Richard but she wasn’t sure
if he had told Chen or not.  “Well...”

“Will thinks it might be Richard.”  Chen answered.

Natalie paused, the knife held above a
green bean.  “What?  No, it can’t be Richard.”

Hannah shrugged.  “It might be.  We can’t
trust anyone, mom.”

“But Richard has dedicated his life to
destroying them.  He wouldn’t have anything to do with them.  Not after what
they did to Maria, not after – “

She shook her head.  “No, it’s not
Richard.”

“What’s not Richard?”  Jim, trailed by
Luther and Tyrone, entered the kitchen.  “I’m ready for the chicken, Nat.”

“The kids think that Richard is feeding the
information to the vampires.”  Natalie wiped her hands on a dishtowel before
reaching into the fridge for the chicken.  She unwrapped it and handed it to
Jim.  “I told them there isn’t any way it could be.”

“Why do you think it’s Richard?”  Jim frowned
at Hannah.  “We have dinner with him and Barb nearly every night at the
farmhouse, and it’s obvious that the man hates vampires.”

“Richard is the only one who has access to
our personal files.  Only he would know the information about us that the vampires
know.  Chen’s sister Amy, Selena’s parents... no one else would know that kind
of information.”  Hannah replied.

“Computers can be hacked, files broken
into.”  Jim said thoughtfully.  He glanced at Luther and Tyrone.  “Hell, these
two geniuses could probably break into your system using just my cell phone.”

“Fucking right.”  Luther held his fist up
and Tyrone bumped it as Natalie gave him a disappointed look.

“Language please, dear.”

“Sorry, ma’am.”

Luther looked sufficiently chastised as
Tyrone rolled his eyes and muttered, “You’re an idiot, Luther.”

“Maybe.”  Hannah said unconvincingly.  “Our
security system is pretty top-notch, dad.  It would be a stretch to say that
someone had hacked into it.”

“It’s a stretch to say that Richard is the
one who’s betraying you.”  Jim replied.

“Dad,” Hannah sighed, “the personal
information is – “

“There’s someone else who knows your
personal shit.”  Tyrone spoke up.

Chen glanced at him.  “What do you mean?”

He shrugged.  “Hannah told us you all have
to see some head doctor whenever you kill vampires.”  He glanced at Luther. 
“Complete bullshit, am I right?  We ain’t seen no shrink and we’ve killed
hundreds of vampires.”

“We’re tougher than the white folk.” 
Luther said cheerfully.  “They got no backbone for slaying.”

“Yeah.”  Tyrone agreed before glancing at
Hannah and Chen.  “Anyway, maybe it’s that shrink?  Wouldn’t he know all your
personal shit?  You’d tell him stuff like that, wouldn’t you?”

Hannah, the tendons in her neck creaking
like old boards, turned her head slowly to stare at Chen.  “Oh my God.”  She
whispered as horror flooded her body.

Chen was giving her an identical look of
horror and dismay and when he spoke, his accent had thickened until she could
hardly understand him.  “How could we be so stupid?”

“It has to be Alan, right?”  Hannah said
hesitantly.

“I’ve spoken often to him about Amy.  Where
she lives, what she does for a living.”  Chen said hoarsely.

He suddenly reached into his pocket and
yanked his cell phone from its depths.  He hit a button and waited impatiently
before frowning at Hannah.  “I’ve called the main line at the facility but it’s
a busy signal.”

He dialed again.  Hannah could hear the
phone ringing and then the faint sound of Richard’s voice.  Chen swore and hung
up the phone.  “I’m just getting Richard’s voice mail.”

Hannah was already pulling her cell phone
out.  She dialed Selena’s cell phone number and waited, dread growing in her
belly.”

“Hello?”

Hannah put her phone on speaker and gave
Chen a look of relief.  “Selena!  It’s Hannah.  Is everything okay?  Where are
you?”

“I’m in the gun room with Reid.  Why? 
What’s wrong?”

“I’m at Heather’s house with Chen.  We – we
think it might be Alan who’s been feeding the information to the vampires. 
Chen tried the facility’s number and just got a busy signal.  You need to go to
Richard right now and – “

Hannah nearly dropped her phone when Selena
suddenly shrieked, “REID!  WATCH OUT!!”

“Selena!  SELENA!”  Hannah screamed into
the phone.  Her face paled when the dim sounds of Selena screaming and gun fire
could be heard.

“Selena?”  Hannah whispered.

Chen was already standing.  “We need to go
right now, Hannah.  Grab your goddamn swords.”

She nodded and jumped to her feet before
staring at her mom and dad.  “Stay here.  Don’t let anyone in to the house. 
I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Hannah...”  Her mom gave her a helpless
look and Hannah smiled grimly at her.  “I’ll be fine, mom.”

“We’re going too.”  Luther said suddenly.

“No!  It’s too dangerous.  Stay here and –
“

“No way, Hannah.”  Tyrone said stubbornly. 
“We’re going.”

She glanced at Chen who nodded.  “We may
need them.”

“Fuck!”  Hannah stared at the twins.  “Grab
your weapons.”

The large grey wolf stalked through the
trees.  He could smell the deer, smell its fear, and his heart pounded loudly
in response.  Beside him, the smaller brown wolf made a low chuffing sound.  He
whined in reply and, moving as one, they crept quietly through the forest. 

He could see the deer now.  It was a large
buck with antlers towering into the sky above its head.  It was standing
completely still, its head raised and its soft brown eyes staring into the
darkness.  It inhaled deeply as the two wolves crouched.  There was a sharp
snap of a twig to the wolf’s left and it swung its head around as the deer,
flipping its tail to show the bright white underside, fled into the trees.

The wolves howled with surprise and pain
when a large net was thrown over their bodies.  The net pinned them to the
ground and faint wisps of smoke began to curl into the air as the net ate at
their fur and skin.

The wolves howled again as the vampires
surrounded them.  With a soft pop, Will shifted into his human form.  The net
bit into his skin and he snarled with pain.  An unfamiliar weakness was
coursing through him.  Although the net wasn’t that heavy, he couldn’t seem to
lift it.  He stared helplessly at the vampires as Constance shifted and made a
sharp scream of pain before falling silently.

“It’s remarkable, isn’t it?”  A vampire
approached the group and the others bowed and stepped back as he stopped in
front of the two Lycans.  “A silver net is all we need to capture a Lycan or
two.”

He crouched beside the Lycans and regarded
them thoughtfully.  “Your friend Alan was the one who suggested it.  He’s been
very helpful to us.  It’s been difficult to learn your weaknesses as neither you
nor your she-bitch would really participate in your therapy sessions, but
still... his idea to use silver to capture you was really quite brilliant.”

“Fuck you, leech!”  Will snapped as thin
streams of blood began to drip from the wounds on his naked body.

The vampire smiled.  “No, thank you. 
Unlike your sweet Hannah, I do not enjoy lying with men or dogs.  Do you think
she will still be so anxious to sleep with you once I turn her, Will?  I have a
feeling that she’ll find me much more appealing after that.”

Will howled again, his eyes glowing, and
tried to shift.

The vampire laughed.  “Don’t bother, dog. 
The silver won’t allow you to shift.”

He paused.  “I’ve just realized how rude
I’m being.  I haven’t even introduced myself.  My name is Samuel.”

“We know who you are.”  Constance
grimaced.  “And we’re going to fucking kill you.”

Samuel grinned delightedly at the female
Lycan.  “Oh, I like you.  I think I’ll keep you as my pet.”  He stared at
Will.  “You, unfortunately, will have to be sacrificed.  In any uprising,
sacrifices must be made, and you my wolfish friend will be a fine sacrificial
lamb.”

He laughed at himself before cocking his
head at Will.  His fangs gleamed in the moonlight and he tapped his long nails
together.  “I was going to kill you myself, but I think I’ll leave that for
your true love.  Once I turn her, she’ll be more than happy to take your head
as a trophy.  Don’t you think?”

Will didn’t reply and Samuel stood and
stepped back.  He nodded to four of the vampires and they approached the Lycans
cautiously.  They were wearing long sleeved shirts and heavy work gloves, and
they carried silver collars and cuffs in their hands.

“Collar our new dogs, please.”  Samuel
clapped his hands together briskly before staring up at the moon.  “We have a
long night ahead of us and we really must get moving.  The facility awaits us.”

Will’s surge of hope died when Samuel
winked at him.  “Don’t worry, Will.  Alan has already shut off the motion
detectors so we’ll be able to sneak in without any fear.  He’s quite clever for
a human.  It’s a shame that you don’t have better security for this facility. 
I suppose since it’s mainly a training facility, you’ve been lulled into a
false sense of safety.”

“You’ll never find out where the other
facilities are.”  Will gritted out.  “The information will be destroyed the
minute you set foot in the facility.”

“Perhaps.  Of course, we are going to be
silent, creeping mice, and Alan has done a remarkable job of feeding us
information so far.  Even if we don’t get to the information in time, I’m sure
he, or one of the others, will be more than happy to tell us all we need to
know.”  Samuel replied.

Samuel turned and faded into the darkness
as the group of vampires, hissing and baring their fangs, surrounded the two
Lycans.

***

Richard stepped into his office and closed
the door.  He leaned against it, sighing wearily and rubbing at his bald head. 
It was noisy in the facility tonight and he was tempted to turn around and head
to the farmhouse.  Natalie and Jim were out for dinner and Barb had gone to bed
early with a bad headache.  It would be quiet and calm at the farmhouse, and he
could have a glass of scotch and relax.

He grabbed the door handle and then stopped. 
He had reports due to the Board by tomorrow and new recruit applications to
look at.  Not to mention they were about a month behind in their evaluations of
the current recruits.  Selena should have graduated from the recruit program
weeks ago and been placed on assignment.  The current crop of babies needed to
be weeded through, and decisions made on who they were keeping and who they
were cutting loose.

He sighed again and walked in the dark to
his desk.  He sat down heavily in the chair and flicked the desk lamp on.  It
cast a soft glow of light on to his desk and he stared uneasily into the dark
shadows of the corners of the room before turning his laptop on.

There was a low, inhuman chuckle and all of
the hair on his body tried to stand up.  He froze and stared blindly into the
darkness as the vampires descended from the shadows.  There were at least ten
of them and, with the cold metallic taste of fear flooding into his mouth, he
yanked the gun from its holder on the underside of his desk and shot five of
them in rapid succession.

The remaining five hissed and retreated,
and he stood and backed up until his body hit the wall behind his desk. 
Panting loudly, his entire body shaking with fear and adrenaline, he squinted
into the darkness as a soft clapping began.

“Well done, Richard.”  A vampire stepped
into the light.  He was tall and muscular with short black hair and a broad
nose.  He had the look of a farmer, of a man who had done a lifetime of labour,
and his pale skin and icy blue eyes were a startling contrast to his body.

Quickly, Richard raised his gun and fired. 
The vampire dodged it easily and made a tsking noise under his breath.  “Now,
now, Richard.  You know that’s not going to work.”

“How did you get in here?”  Richard
breathed.

“Does that really matter?  We’re here now,
and I’d like it if you shared the information you know I’ve come for.”

“You’ll have to kill me first.”  Richard
spat at him.

Samuel laughed.  “Kill you?  Oh, Richard. 
We’re not going to kill you.  I’m going to turn you and you’re going to tell us
everything you know about the facilities.  I’m going to make you into the very
thing that you despise the most.  You’ll become the creature that killed your
lovely Maria.  You will feed from the humans like we fed from your Maria.”

Richard turned and shot the vampire who was
creeping towards him.  Blue light pulsed through its veins and it exploded into
ash and blood as Richard turned back to Samuel.

“Impressive but pointless.”  Samuel said. 
“There are too many of us and not enough bullets in your gun.  By all means,
keep shooting.”

Richard fired again and again, dropping
another two vampires before his gun clicked empty.

Samuel folded his arms across his chest. 
“You see?  It’s done.”

Richard grinned bitterly at him as he lunged
for the underside of his desk.  He pulled out a dagger, it gleamed softly in
the darkness, and held it up in front of him.

Samuel sighed.  “I admire your tenacity, I
really do, but you’re just delaying the inevitable.  You will become one of
us.  You cannot escape your fate, Richard.”

Samuel nodded to the two remaining vampires
and they slunk towards Richard.  Richard backed away and glanced at the picture
of Maria on his desk.  A small smile crossed his lips and he rested the tip of
the dagger under his chin.

Samuel inhaled sharply.  “Richard, do not
be foolish.  You cannot – “

He screamed with rage as Richard, the smile
still on his face, rammed the knife through the soft flesh under his chin.  He
collapsed to the floor and Samuel screamed again.  The two vampires stared in
shock at Richard’s dead body until Samuel grabbed them and threw them across
the office.  They hit the wall with a loud thud and held their hands up in
supplication when Samuel stood before them.

His eyes were glowing and his fangs had
grown until they had pierced his bottom lip.  Blood flowed down his chin as,
breathing harshly, he dragged the vampires to their feet.  “Get up, you fools! 
We must move quickly.”

* * *

“Reid?”  Selena, her heart hammering in her
chest, stared at Reid lying on the floor of the gun room.  He was drenched with
ash and blood from the vampires she had killed and she scanned the room again,
before kneeling beside him.

“Reid?”  She stared down at his face,
feeling her stomach rolling with nausea, and reached for his bloody throat. 
She searched for his pulse but before she found it, his eyes popped open and he
stared up at her.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Vampires.”  She helped him sit up and he
rubbed the back of his head before staring down at his blood and ash-soaked
shirt.  He grimaced in disgust and pulled the sticky material away from his chest.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded.  “Yeah, thanks for saving my
life.”

“You’re welcome.”  She straightened as he
stood up and then grabbed his arm when he swayed on his feet.

“Have you been bit?”

He shrugged.  “Maybe.  Who the fuck can
tell with all this blood?”

She used the sleeve of her shirt to swipe
at the blood on his neck.  “I can’t tell.”

“It doesn’t matter.  We need to find Mannie
and Chen and – “

“Chen’s with Hannah tonight.”  Selena
interrupted.

“Fuck!  Alright, we find Mannie and we – “

There was sudden shrieking from the hallway
outside of the room and Selena was running towards the door before Reid could
stop her.

“Selena!  Wait, goddammit!”  He shouted
harshly.

She ignored him and darted out of the
room.  There was the sound of gun fire and Reid ran into the hallway.  He
skidded to a stop and raised his gun, quickly shooting the vampire that was
reaching for Selena.

She nodded her thanks and then knelt beside
the dark-haired woman squatting on the floor with her arms over her head.  It
was one of the babies, Reid couldn’t remember her name, and he crouched beside
Selena as she cupped the woman’s arm.

“Jackie!  Jackie, are you alright?”

“I – I, yes I think so.”  The young woman
stuttered.

Selena heaved her to her feet and led her
into the gun room.  As she checked the woman over for bites, Reid unlocked the
gun safe and began to pull various guns out.  He strapped holsters to both his
thighs, shoved guns into them and handed two more holsters with guns to
Selena.  She strapped them to her thighs, and accepted the third gun from him
with a grim look.

Faintly they could hear more screaming and
Jackie made a soft moan of dismay.  Selena pulled a gun from the locker and handed
it to her.  “Jackie, stay in this room.  The safety is off the gun.  If a leech
comes in, aim the gun at its chest and pull the trigger.  Do you hear me?”

The young woman nodded and Selena squeezed
her shoulder reassuringly before turning back to Reid.  “Let’s go.”

* * *

Douglas, a paint brush in one hand, studied
the canvas in front of him.  He cocked his head and eyed it critically before
dabbing a bit of paint in the top corner.  The canvas shook minutely with the
loud blaring of the music coming from the speakers on the mantel.  Holding the
paint brush like a conductor’s baton, he waved it in time with the music and
closed his eyes.  The music washed over him and he smiled happily to himself.

The creatures stared at the old Lycan as he
stood in front of the painting.  They glanced at each other and the smaller of
the two grinned.  They slipped further into the room, moving as silently as
cats, and quickly flanked the old Lycan. 

The smallest reached for him just as
Douglas stiffened and inhaled deeply.  He swung around, cringing back as
gunshots echoed through his small apartment.  The vampires in front of him
stared at each other with identical looks of shock as blue light pulsed through
their veins.  They dropped to the floor and Douglas had just enough time to see
the smoking black holes in their backs before their bodies burst into ash.