The Recruit (Book Six), page 12
Chen made a soft snort. “Until they decide to turn against us.”
Hannah blinked in surprise. She spent plenty of time with Chen and not once had he ever said anything against the turned vampires. She leaned forward to stare at him. “Do you really think they’ll do that, Chen?”
“I think it’s a possibility that the Board refuses to acknowledge.” He turned to Jordan. “Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re not wrong.” The pinched look on Jordan’s face deepened. “There are a few of us facility directors who have brought it up with the Board. They are… confident in their belief that the turned vampires will be nothing but an asset to the program.”
“Of course they are,” Ryder said with a roll of his eyes.
“Unless anyone has more questions, that’s it for the meeting,” Jordan said. “Mannie, you’ll talk to Clementine. If she says no, we’ll arrange for Mallorie to escort her Saturday or Sunday morning to her apartment to pick up her stuff.”
He closed his laptop and gave them a strained smile. “You’re dismissed.”
“You okay?”
Nathaniel watched as Selena slid her arms around Reid’s waist.
He nodded and pressed a kiss against her mouth. “Yeah, just a flat tire. Then we had to park a few blocks away from the club.” He rolled his eyes. “Next time we all just cram into the goddamn van, yeah? Thank fucking God, I had Nathaniel with me. I really fucking need to learn to change a tire.”
Wet dog smell filled his nostrils and Nathaniel tried not to grimace when Will stood beside him. The big Lycan studied him for a few minutes. “You gonna behave yourself?”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said.
“Good. You don’t leave Reid’s side in that club, understand? If you do, I’ll shift, hunt you down, and tear off your head.”
“Jesus, Will,” Mallorie said.
Will ignored her. “Is that understood?”
“Perfectly,” Nathaniel said.
“One last thing – feeding from anyone is an automatic death sentence. No second chance, no opportunity to explain. You feed, you die,” Will said.
“I’m not thirsty,” Nathaniel said. “I had plenty of blood right before we left.”
“It’ll be fine, Will,” Reid said. He clapped the big Lycan on the back. “You trust Olivia, right? You can trust Nathaniel.”
Will didn’t reply. Reid looked over the small group. “Martin and Randall left with Clem already?”
Nathaniel stiffened. His heart beat harder and faster, the sensation still a foreign one to him. “What are you talking about?”
“We brought the stripper along as bait,” Kristina said.
“Kristina,” Selena said.
“What? It’s true, isn’t it?” Kristina said.
“You’re using her as bait?” Nathaniel’s fangs descended and he couldn’t control his soft hiss.
Both Will and Ryder growled deep in their throats and Selena’s hand dropped to her gun hidden at her waist.
Reid held up his hands. “Whoa, everybody just calm the fuck down. We are literally standing outside a very busy club with goddamn humans everywhere. Furball and friend, stop wolfing the fuck out, and, sweetheart, you know I love it when you start slaying leeches, but remember he’s on our side.”
Selena nodded but Will was still staring at him like he was about thirty seconds from tearing his head off. After a quick glance at Will, Ryder moved until he was flanking Nathaniel. Nathaniel took a couple deep breaths. He couldn’t help Clementine if he was ash. “Are they in the club already?”
Reid shook his head. “No. They took Clem over to her apartment to pick up some personal stuff. Once they’ve done that, they’ll join us here at the club.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nathaniel’s fangs were out again, and Will was growling at him, but he didn’t care. “You sent her out at night with two newbies? She’s been bitten. Do you understand what that means?”
“Watch your tongue, vampire,” Ryder growled. “Obviously, we know what it means. Clem is perfectly safe with Martin and Randall.”
“He’s right,” Reid said. “They’re idiots, but they can kill vampires. They’ve been on a few hunts before they graduated, and they did fine. They’ll keep her safe.”
“They hit on her,” Nathaniel said. “Did you know that? They hit on her and made her feel uncomfortable.”
“Dude,” Jami said, “Martin and Randall hit on every woman. It’s what they do for fun. But if she said no, they’ll, like, respect it. They’re horny, not rapists.”
Nathaniel glared at her. “You don’t know that.”
“We do,” Kristina said. “We’ve been training with them for months. Just chill out.”
Jami grinned. “Chill out… good one.”
Kristina stared blankly at her before laughing. “Totally accidental, but I’ll take it. Although apparently the good ones aren’t as cold as the soulless vamps. I asked Olivia if -”
“Okay, enough,” Will said irritably. “We’re here to do a fucking job, not gossip in the goddamn street.”
Nathaniel stared desperately at Reid. “She’s not safe with them, Reid.”
“She is, buddy. I promise. Besides, her apartment is over in CastleDowns. That’s only a five minute drive from here. They’re probably on their way back already.”
Will glanced at his watch. “Into the club, everyone. This is a hunt, not a social event.”
Chapter 11
“Jesus, I can’t believe we got stuck on fucking babysitter duty,” Martin grumbled. He shoved the suitcase into back of the van and Randall set the large cardboard box next to it.
“Could be worse. At least the stripper barely has any shit worth packing.”
“I have a name,” Clem snapped at him before tossing her overnight bag into the van. They had parked the van in the alley next to her apartment building and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of rotting food and urine. The security light over the side door into the alley was smashed and she stared uneasily into the darkness. She didn’t live in the best neighbourhood and they were just as liable to be mugged and stabbed for their wallets as they were to be drained by vampires.
She glanced behind them at the chain link fence that separated the back of the alley from a parking lot. The lot had at least a dozen cars parked in it, but the streetlights were all burned out or broken. She’d never been afraid of the dark but now that she knew what horrors might be lurking in the darkness, she longed for the safety of the light.
“Whatever.” Randall slammed the back doors of the van shut. “You know how pathetic it is that your entire life can be packed into one suitcase, a cardboard box, and a duffel bag, right?”
“You know I don’t give a fuck what you think of me, right?” Clem said.
Martin scoffed laughter. “Of course you don’t. Now, if we were a pathetic vampire who used to be a pussy priest and probably couldn’t kill a fucking fly, you’d be super eager to hear what we had to say, huh?”
“Not just say,” Randall said. “She’d probably fuck us too. You like fucking vamps, stripper? You a fang banger?”
“You’re disgusting,” Clem said, “and you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Nathaniel and I are friends.”
“Not what we heard,” Martin said. “You think Nicole didn’t tell the entire facility about walking in on you and the old priest vamp at the graduation party? From what we’ve been told, you two are more than just friends.”
“We were just talking,” Clem snapped. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Just talking, sure,” Randall said. He elbowed Martin. “Kind of hard to talk with a mouthful of cold dick.”
Martin snorted laughter. “I bet when she’s on the rag, he can barely keep his face out of her crotch. It’s like an all you can drink buffet for him.”
“Dude, that’s gross,” Randall said.
“Not to the vamp, it isn’t,” Martin said. “It’s a -”
Something clattered to the ground in the darkness at the mouth of the alley. Clem froze, staring wide-eyed at Martin and Randall. “What was that?”
Martin drew his gun and Randall did the same before pulling a stake out as well and holding it in his left hand. The three of them stood in tense silence. Clem strained to hear the smallest sound, holding her breath and wishing the harsh beat of her heart would quiet.
An orange cat, looking healthy and remarkable well fed, meandered into the dim light provided by the moon. It meowed and rubbed up against Clem’s leg before walking further into the alley and disappearing into the darkness.
Randall let out his breath, lowering his gun and the stake. “Jesus Christ, fucking cat nearly gave me a heart -”
A puff of wind brushed across Clem’s cheek and she stumbled back when the blond vampire threw Randall against the brick wall of her apartment building. Randall made a hoarse cry of pain. The stake fell from his hand, but he kept hold of his gun as the vampire hissed at him and lunged for his throat. There was a muffled bang, like a heavy book dropped on the floor, and the vampire staggered back, staring blankly at the hole in his shirt. Randall stared wide-eyed at the vampire, his gun smoking slightly as he held it out in front of him. Blue light was starting to light up the vampire’s pale skin and it made a mewling hissing noise before bursting into ash and blood.
Randall winced and wiped the blood from his face. “Fuck, that’s disgusting.”
Martin was studying the darkness as he fumbled out a pair of sunglasses from his jacket pocket. He slipped them on and pressed a small button on the side of them before scanning the alley. “Night vision isn’t lighting up any others.”
“Let’s get back to the others,” Randall said. “Before any more show up.”
The three of them started toward the front of the van. Randall herded Clem in front of him as Martin followed.
Martin poked Randall in the back of the shoulder. “You can’t go into the club, not with that much blood on -”
At Martin’s soft strangled noise of surprise, Clem and Randall turned. She groped for Randall’s hand and the two of them stood holding hands like Hansel and Gretel staring at the witch.
“Randall?” Martin whispered before touching the bulge of intestines peeking through his torn shirt. “Randall, buddy, my stomach hurts.”
“Poor little baby.” A vampire peeked around Martin, grinning at Randall and Clem before sliding his arm around Martin’s waist. He pressed against the intestines, grinning when Martin screamed hoarsely and a torrent of blood spilled out of the wound and onto the ground.
“Uh oh,” the vampire said, “waste not, want not, right?”
Martin’s knees buckled and the vampire let him fall to the ground before sucking and licking enthusiastically at the blood pouring out of Martin’s stomach. Martin’s hand rose weakly into the air before falling back to the pavement with a heavy thud.
“Go,” Randall said before tugging on Clem’s hand.
“We can’t leave Martin,” Clem said.
“He’s dead.” She could hear the panic rising in Randall’s voice like ocean tides on a stormy day. “We can’t help him. We gotta go, we gotta… oh fuck me.”
They turned around and Clem’s heart plummeted to her ankles when five vampires dropped to the ground in front of them.
“You should always check above you, idiot,” one of the vampires said. “It’s called a fire escape.”
Clem glanced up. A sixth vampire was hanging from the fire escape and she cringed back when it dropped onto the ground directly in front of them. His fangs were long and sharp, and his eyes glowed a bright red as he reached for Randall. Randall fired his gun, blue light pulsed through the vampire, and Clem threw her hands up to block her face from ash and blood when the vampire exploded. The remaining five crowded around the front of the van, all of them grinning and hissing and drooling. Randall raised his gun and shot another in the chest. It exploded in ash and blood only seconds later. He fired at the other four, cursing when they easily dodged his bullets.
“You’ll have to try harder than that, human,” one of them said. “Unlike our two dead friends here, we’ve been like this for a while. We know all your little tricks with your sunshine bullets.”
He leaned forward, his fangs gleaming in the faint light. “We’re too fast for you, blood bag, so give up now and we’ll make it less,” he cocked his head, “painful for you.”
“Randall,” Clem said when he stared at the vampires. “Fire your fucking gun.”
“They’re too fast,” he said. “They’re too…”
She squealed in surprise when Randall shoved her forward toward the vampires. “She’s been bitten before! It’s her you want. Take her!”
Clem screamed when the vampire wrapped his cold hands around her arms and dragged her forward. His breath smelled like rotting meat and she gagged when he pressed his lips against her cheek. “Ooh, you do smell good.”
The other vampires were crowding close and one said, “The other human is trying to escape.”
She could hear the rattling of the chain link fence behind her, hear the heavy thud as Randall landed on the other side.
“Coward!” she screamed.
The vampires laughed and the one holding her gave her a little wink. “Don’t worry, pretty little blood bag, he won’t get far.” He nodded to one of the others. “Go get him.”
With a high cackle, the vampire ran toward the fence, climbing it nimbly and landing on the other side of the fence with a soft thump.
“We turning or feeding?” A vampire with long dark hair stroked Clem’s cheek with a cold finger.
“Turning,” the vampire said. “You know it’s always turning now.”
Clem moaned when Randall made a high pitched scream in the darkness that ended abruptly.
“We’re gonna fucking starve if we keep turning all the humans,” the long-haired vampire said. “Dante wants everyone in the goddamn town turned, but has he even thought about what we’re gonna eat?”
“You know it’s not his choice.” The vampire’s hands bit into Clem’s arms. “He’s following her orders.”
“Even if we turn everyone into a fucking vamp, it still won’t be enough to get into the facility. They’re too strong and too prepared now. She’s gonna get most of us killed because she -”
“Enough.” A third vampire smacked the long-haired one across the back of the head. “You keep your mouth shut and do what you’re fucking told. You hear me? Dante even gets wind of your whining and you’ll find yourself taking a walk in the sun. You know how he is.”
“Jesus, Todd.” The vampire gave him a sulky look. “You don’t have to fucking hit me so hard, you dick.”
“I’ll do a lot more than fucking hit you,” Todd said. He walked toward the chain link fence, studying the parking lot that was littered with cars. “Emmett, where the fuck did you go? So help me fucking God, you’d better be turning that blood bag and not just feeding from him. You hear me?”
He spun to face them, his hands on his hips and a can you fucking believe this look on his face. “What the fuck are you guys doing? Turn the woman and let’s get the fuck out of here. They’re hunting tonight and I don’t want to run into -”
“Todd?” The vampire’s hands loosened around Clem’s arms in slack shock. “Todd, man, what’s wrong with you?”
Todd stared at them, his hands groping at his jacket, his face turning paler and paler. He tore open the jacket and the vampire holding Clem made a harsh gasp of surprise. Dark blood had soaked through Todd’s shirt and the tip of Randall’s stake was poking through his chest.
He burst into ash and Clem cried out when she saw Nathaniel.
“Nathaniel? You… but you’re dead.” The long-haired vampire stared at the pile of ash at Nathaniel’s feet. “You killed Todd. What the fuck?”
Nathaniel grinned at him, his fangs flashing and a cold hard light shining in his eyes. “Your turn next, motherfucker.”
“He’s one of the turned ones now,” the long-haired vampire groped at the other’s arm. “Adam, he’s one of the turned ones. He has to be. They didn’t get all of them at the lab! Holy fuck.”
“You fucking traitor,” Adam said. “I’m gonna fucking slit your throat and watch you burn!”
He threw Clem aside as easily as a rag doll. She slammed into the van, dropping to the ground with a bone-jarring thud that sent pain rattling down her legs. She stared slack-jawed and wide-eyed as the two vampires leaped at Nathaniel.
“Nathaniel!”
Her scream died out in a whispering rush as moving impossibly fast, Nathaniel shoved the stake through the long-haired vampire’s chest and grabbed Adam around the throat with his left hand. He lifted the writhing, twisting vampire into the air and grinned up at him as the other vampire burst into ash and blood.
“You shouldn’t have touched her,” Nathaniel said. “You shouldn’t have put your hands on her, shouldn’t have tried to take what belongs to me.”
Adam clawed at Nathaniel’s hand. “You fucking traitor. Lemme go, let me…”
He screamed when Nathaniel tossed him across the alley. He crashed into the side of a garbage bin and fell to the ground. He shot to his feet immediately, but he was no match for Nathaniel’s speed or strength. Nathaniel had scooped up the stake and pinned Adam up against the garbage bin before the vampire had taken a single step.
“Wait,” Adam said when Nathaniel pressed the stake against his chest. “You can’t do this. We’re the same, okay? You can’t kill me.”
“We are nothing alike,” Nathaniel said before shoving the stake into Adam’s chest. He backed away, watching as Adam made a single retching sound before his body turned to ash and splattered blood.
Nathaniel wiped some blood from his face with a trembling hand and turned to Clem. She struggled to her feet as Nathaniel walked slowly toward her. “Clem, sweet one, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I won’t -”
Clem threw herself into his arms, kissing him frantically on the mouth. He returned her kiss, his arms sliding around her waist. For the first time since the vampires appeared, her fear vanished. She pulled back and sucked in a sobbing breath. “He left me. Randall shoved me toward the vampires and he-he just ran.”
