The Recruit: Book Two (13 page)

Without looking at either of them she
disappeared back in the house.  Will sat silently for about five minutes before
standing and clearing his throat.  “Excuse me, Chen.  I just remembered I have
to um – “

He stumbled to a stop as Chen grinned up at
him.  “Nap?”

His face red, Will nodded and hurried into
the house.

When the attack happened, it happened
quickly and quietly. They had been taken completely off-guard, Hannah thought
later with sickening horror.  Out of all the scenarios they had tried to plan
for, they had never once planned for what the vampires actually did.

It was just after dusk, the sun had barely
settled itself to bed, when Danny’s loud whistle from outside brought them all
to their feet.

“Mom and Dad, stay here.”  Hannah
whispered.  She glanced at Ryan.  “Keep them safe.”

He nodded and pulled out his guns as Hannah
and the others joined Danny, Selena and Jeremy outside.

“What’s going on?”  Chen asked quietly.

“There’s movement.  There.”  Danny was
standing alone at the edge of the yard, his stocky body taut with nerves.

Hannah’s parent’s house was the last house
on the street and it backed into a jungle of trees and bushes.  Danny pointed
into the bushes to the left of him.  Hannah and Chen pulled their swords out as
eyes, glowing a rich, dark yellow, could be seen in the trees.  Danny backed up
a little and pulled out two sharp-looking daggers.  He raised them up as Jeremy
joined him.

“Wait!”  Will suddenly hissed.

He raised his head and inhaled deeply. 
“It’s not vampires.”  He muttered.

They watched as a man emerged from the
trees.  He was tall and lean, dressed in a pair of shorts and nothing else, and
he held his hands up in a non-threatening manner. 

“I’m not here to hurt you.”  He smiled
genially at them as he scaled the small chain link fence surrounding the
backyard. 

“Tell them, my friend.”  He grinned at
Will.

“He’s Lycan.”  Will grunted.  He stared at
the man.  “What business do you have here?”

The man shrugged.  “I’m here to help you.”

Will stared suspiciously at him, “Do we
know each other?”

“No.  But what kind of Lycan would I be if
I did not help another of my kind?”

“Thank you, but we have no need for your
help.”  Will replied.

The man laughed.  “The smell of vampires is
thick in the air and you don’t need my help?”

Will shook his head.  “No, we do not.  Why
would you risk your life to help a Lycan you do not know?”

The man shrugged.  “A Lycan without a pack
can use all the help he can get my friend.”

Will stiffened.  “How do you know me? 
Speak quickly – I’m growing tired of your games.”

“It’s not you I know but her.”  The man
grinned at Hannah.  “He wants her so badly he is willing to deal with dogs just
for a chance to taste her sweetness.”

Will sucked in his breath.  “Danny!”  He
roared.  “Get away from him now!”

Before Danny could move, the man had
shifted into a large grey wolf.  He rose up on his hind legs and leaped on to
Danny.  He pinned him to the ground, his front paws on his chest, and stuck his
muzzle into Danny’s throat.

Danny opened his mouth to scream as he felt
the hard teeth of the Lycan against his throat.  Before he could shriek his
terror to the night sky, the wolf had ripped open his throat.  He made a low
gurgling moan, the daggers dropping from his hands as the wolf raised his snout
to the sky and howled piercingly.

More than a dozen howls answered him and
Hannah stared at Will, her dark eyes large and full of shock.

“Will?  What’s going on?”

“Get back!”  Will bellowed.  “Back in the
house everyone!”

His warning came too late.  A dozen Lycans
burst from the trees, grinning and snapping their teeth as they leaped over the
fence and charged at the small group. 

One of them hurtled towards Jeremy, its
muzzle drawn back from its razor-sharp teeth.  There was a soft whooshing noise
and it fell with a muffled yelp only inches from Jeremy’s body.  Selena, her
face grim but her hands steady, lowered her weapon.

She watched in horror as the Lycan lying at
Jeremy’s feet snarled softly and rose to its feet.  Jeremy stumbled back but
before he could fire, Will was there.  He wrapped his large arms around the
wolf’s neck and snapped it before the Lycan could wiggle free.

“Take their heads!”  He shouted.  “It’s the
only way to kill them!”  He pushed Jeremy towards the others as his body began
to ripple and thicken.  He shifted into a wolf and bounded toward the nearest
Lycan as Selena and Jeremy joined Chen, Hannah and Reid.

“Fuck!”  Jeremy shouted as the Lycans drew
closer.  “What do we do now?  Our goddamn guns are useless.”

There was a loud howling snarl as Will jumped
on to a cream coloured Lycan.  They twisted on the ground, snarling and
snapping their teeth before Will pinned it and ripped its throat out.  He
howled as three more Lycans stalked towards him.

“Get behind us.”  Chen said calmly as the
rest of the Lycans ran towards them. 

He looked at Hannah and raised his swords.  “Begin.”

She nodded and with a dreamy, almost lazy,
flick of her sword, decapitated the Lycan that was about to knock her to the
ground.

As she and Chen battled the Lycans, Hannah
forgot about her fear for her parents and her fear for Will.  She was consumed
by the fierce bloodlust she felt every time the swords were in her hands and
she was only vaguely aware of Chen beside her, cutting and jabbing and slicing
with his own swords. 

She turned, thrusting her right sword
through the chest of a Lycan rising up on its hind legs.  It howled in agony,
the sound abruptly cutting off as she swung the sword in her left hand across
his throat.  His head tumbled to the ground and she turned back in time to see
a Lycan reaching for her, drop to the ground, its head severed from its hairy
body.

She nodded to Chen as Selena cursed behind
her.  She looked up to see vampires descending from the sky.  Selena, Reid and Jeremy
raised their guns and began to fire.  All of their weapons had silencers on
them and the only sound came from the vampires as they dropped to the ground,
rolling and screaming in agony as blue light pulsed through their veins.

“Chen!  Down!”  Hannah shouted.  Chen
dropped to his knees immediately as Hannah thrust her sword forward and
skewered the vampire standing behind him, through the throat.  She swept her
left sword up and punctured its heart.  It exploded as Chen leaped nimbly to
his feet.

Hannah looked around, her eyes widening
with shock and dismay.  Everywhere she looked there seemed to be vampires or
Lycans pressing in around them.  She could hear Will snarling and growling as
he waded through a group of vampires, cutting them down like grass with his
sharp claws and teeth.  The sound of Chen’s blades were drowned out by the screams
of the vampires as the others fired repeatedly.

“Hannah!  Selena!”  Chen shouted at them
and the two women and Jeremy gathered around him.  Chen was pulling his cell
phone out and the three of them formed a protective circle around him as he
quickly typed something on the screen. 

“Chen?”  Hannah panted as she cut the leg
off a Lycan before stabbing her sword through its eye.  With a loud yelp it
dropped to the ground and she pulled her sword free, blood spraying on to her
legs, and quickly cut its head off.

“They’re on their way.”  He said grimly. 
He gripped his swords and nodded to her.  “Stay focused.”

The screen door slammed and she looked up
in horror as her mother and father fled out into the yard. 

“No!”  Hannah screamed.  “Back in the house
– go!”

They turned their frightened gazes to her
as the door opened again and Ryan stumbled out with three vampires clinging to
him.  He collapsed to his knees as they feasted on him.

“Reid!!”  Hannah shouted as three vampires
flew towards her parents.

His face serene, Reid raised his gun and
fired.  Each bullet found its mark as the vampires reaching for her parents
collapsed to the ground in agony.  Hannah grunted and sliced through a vampire,
cutting its soft body in half.  It lay on the ground, staring up at her and she
brought her sword down, chopping its head off.

She watched as Chen and Reid flanked her
parents.  Her mom and dad huddled together, her dad’s arms around her mother’s
waist as she clung tightly to Reuben with one arm and her husband with the
other.

Hannah could have sobbed with relief when
Mannie, Constance and six older recruits came skidding into the yard.  Mannie
immediately ran to Ryan.  He had two long and wickedly sharp stakes in his
hands and, moving quickly, he slaughtered the vampires that were feeding on
him.

Constance shifted and with a loud howl,
leaped up and snagged a vampire out of the air.  When a Lycan jumped on her
back, its jaws reaching for the back of her neck, Will slammed into it,
knocking it to the ground.  The two wolves rolled on the ground, snapping and
biting at each other until with a sudden whine, the other Lycan collapsed to
the ground, blood pouring from a wound in its side.

Will tore its head off with a savage growl
before turning to look at Hannah.  He stared at her unblinkingly, his eyes
glowing with a fierce light, before he chuffed softly and ran towards a vampire
about to attack Mannie.

There was movement in the woods beside her
and Hannah turned to see Marcus standing silently among the shadows of the trees. 
He smiled at her and slipped into the darkness.  Without hesitating Hannah ran
after him.

She knew these woods well, her and Sara had
played and explored in them for most of their lives, and she moved quickly and
confidently through the trees. 

“Hannah wait!”  She heard Selena’s soft
voice and turned to see both her and Jeremy chasing after her.

“Where are you going?”  Jeremy panted.

“He’s here.  Marcus.”  She muttered.  “I’m
going to find the bastard and kill him.”

Without arguing, Selena and Jeremy followed
her deeper into the woods.

There was a flash of movement ahead of them
and she watched as Marcus waved one pale hand at her before leaping over a
fallen log.

“Hannah, it’s a trap!”  Selena whispered
frantically.

“I don’t care.”  She could feel the blood
pumping through her veins, feel her muscles tightening and responding to the
rush of adrenaline that was coursing through her.  She slowed down; she
realized she knew exactly where Marcus was leading them and she glanced at the
other two.

“Go back and find the others.  Tell them
I’m at the old gravel pit.”

Selena and Jeremy both shook their heads. 
“We do this together.”  Selena said firmly.

Hannah frowned.  “I can’t let you risk your
lives for – “

“For Tyler?”  Selena whispered.  “For Aaron
and Ben? Darren and Lucy?”

“We want this asshole as much as you do.”  Jeremy
said softly. 

They were approaching the gravel pit now
and Hannah crouched down and surveyed the area.  “I don’t see him.  Do you?”

“No.”  Jeremy replied. 

She took a deep breath and stared at both of
them.  “Ready?”

They nodded and moving as one, ran out of
the trees and towards the edge of the pit.  They scanned the area, guns and
swords held firmly in their hands. 

“Fuck!”  Jeremy muttered.  “Where is that
asshole?”

High, mocking laughter drifted out of the
pit.  They scurried to the edge and peered down into it.  Marcus was standing
in the middle of it, leaning against a dump truck.  Hannah looked for other
vampires, frowning when she couldn’t see any.

Selena was glancing up into the sky and
Hannah murmured, “Any above us?”

“No.”  Selena whispered.

“Come, come my friends!”  Marcus called
merrily.  “There is no one here but me.  I wish only to speak with you, and to
ask you to hear my proposal.”

Glancing warily at each other, the three of
them descended into the pit, slipping and sliding on the gravel until they were
at the bottom of it.

“Welcome!”  Marcus grinned delightedly at
them.  His long hair was pulled back in a pony tail and he was dressed in a
dark suit.  The sleeve of the left one dangled empty and he pulled on it,
adjusting it with his right hand before dusting off the front of his jacket.

“It’s good to see you again, my little lamb.”
 He grinned at her.  “I’ve missed you.”

She refused to reply as the three of them
separated and circled around Marcus.  He smiled again, watching as they moved
in closer.  “I have a feeling that you’re not going to listen to my proposal.”

“You’re right, asshole.” Jeremy snarled. 
He raised his gun and fired.  Marcus, moving so quickly he was a blur, shot
forward.  The bullet intended for his heart, ricocheted off the dump truck and
Hannah felt it zing by her.

“Jeremy – look out!”  She shouted a warning
as Marcus lunged towards him.  Her wavering scream came too late as Marcus
clamped his cold hand around Jeremy’s neck and swung him around to face her and
Selena.  He stood behind him, his left arm wrapped around Jeremy’s chest like
an iron bar.  His right hand squeezed Jeremy’s throat and he nuzzled his temple
with his cold mouth.