The Recruit (Book Six), page 25
“Indeed. I wish I could say the same. Tell me, how is it you just keep getting fatter when all you drink is blood?”
Dante’s nostrils flared and he gave Calissa a tight grin as Anna laughed. Clearing his throat, he said, “I’m not sure, mistress.”
Calissa turned to face Nathaniel. He bowed and said, “I received no word of your arrival, mistress.”
Her tinkling laugh made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “I wasn’t aware I was required to announce my decision to join you, Nathaniel.” She glanced behind her at Anna. “Anna, my pet, am I now expected to tell my seconds when I decide to visit them?”
“No, mistress,” Anna said.
Calissa turned back to Nathaniel. He bowed again and said, “Forgive me. I am just… surprised. It’s good that you’ve joined us.”
“Is it?” Calissa didn’t wait for his reply. Her gaze, those terrible bright blue eyes that missed nothing, landed on Clem. “Who is this pretty little thing?”
Clem was staring fixedly at the floor, but Nathaniel shoved her out of the chair and onto her knees anyway and kept his hand pressed hard on the back of her neck. “My familiar.”
“You with a familiar?” Calissa said. “That’s odd.”
“Is it?” Nathaniel said.
“You’ve never had a familiar before.”
Nathaniel shrugged. “She saved my life at the club. I promised to repay her with immortality.”
“Yet here she is,” Calissa leaned down and pressed her nose in Clem’s hair, inhaling deeply, “still mortal.”
“She still proves useful in her human form, for now,” Nathaniel said.
Calissa prodded Clem’s head, smiling when Clem gasped softly. “She’s a pretty little thing.” She poked Clem’s head again. “Look at me, blood bag.”
Clem lifted her head, staring up at Calissa. Nathaniel’s nerves sang and he struggled to keep a bored expression on his face as Calissa studied Clem. “What’s your name?”
“Clementine.”
“A pretty name for a pretty girl,” Calissa said.
Clem jerked in his grip, her dark eyes skittering to his for a moment before returning to Calissa. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Calissa traced one blood red nail down Clem’s face. “Leave us.”
Nathaniel hauled Clem to her feet. “Go to my room.” When she didn’t move, he pushed her hard in the back. “Now, idiot.”
She stumbled forward and then ran from the room. Calissa held out one pale hand. “Come, Nathaniel. You will join me in the dining room. We have much to talk about.”
He took her hand, praying she didn’t notice the warmth of his skin. They walked to the dining room and Nathaniel shook his head when Dante and his two familiars joined them. “Get out.”
“Not so fast,” Calissa sat down gracefully at the head of the table. “Dante, you and your humans may stay.”
“Thank you, mistress.” Dante said as Anna sat beside Calissa and Dante took the seat next to hers.
“Nathaniel, sit,” Calissa pointed to the chair on her right. “You look so tired. Are you not feeding enough?”
“I am,” Nathaniel said as he sat down. “It has been a difficult few days.”
“I imagine so. To lose so many of our kind in one night,” Calissa said. “What a tragedy.”
“It was an unexpected loss,” Nathaniel said. “But I am determined to do what you ask. I will build up our numbers and give you an army to fight the recruits.”
“Will you, though?” Calissa said.
Nathaniel swallowed hard and nodded as Calissa studied him. “I will.”
“So far you have not proven to be any more useful than your predecessor Theo. Why should I let you live, Nathaniel? Especially when you have so clearly fucked everything up.”
He stared at Calissa’s hands resting in her lap, waiting for her to simply tear through his chest and rip out his heart. Clem’s sweet face rose in his mind, and he pushed his chair back a little, both to avoid Calissa’s potential murder attempt and to keep her from hearing the way his heart pounded.
She laughed and turned to Anna. “Men. They are so weak, Anna. Why do I keep allowing them to be in positions of power?”
“I do not know, mistress,” Anna said. She stared steadily at Nathaniel. In some ways, Anna, while not as old or powerful as Calissa, was more terrifying. Calissa had a wildness to her, a temper that she could barely contain, but she was predictable in her responses. Anna, on the other hand, he couldn’t read at all. In the past, he’d been forced to fuck both of them, and he considered himself lucky that he’d survived the night. Plenty of other vampires hadn’t.
“I did not know this would happen,” Nathaniel said. “Carlos assured me he had seen the homeless squatters. I had no reason not to believe him.”
“You should have checked for yourself,” Anna said.
“Next time I will,” Nathaniel said.
“Next time.” Calissa laughed. “I love your optimism that you will survive past tonight, Nathaniel. I really do.”
“Mistress, I know this has been a blow, but I assure you, I will be more careful in the future,” Nathaniel said. “What happened two nights ago was unfortunate and I regret not taking the time to check that -”
Calissa held up her hand. “You and your pathetic excuses bore me, Nathaniel. Perhaps I made a mistake in allowing you to return to being my second after your miraculous return from the dead. Perhaps…” she stared at Dante, “I should have left Dante in charge.”
“He has lost just as many of our kind, if not more, than I have,” Nathaniel said.
“Fuck you,” Dante said.
“Enough,” Calissa said. “If I have to listen to your petty arguing a moment longer, I’ll take both your heads and be done with it.”
She turned to Dante’s familiars. “Bring me Ray and the familiar.”
Alarms blared in Nathaniel’s brain. She had to mean Clem. He jumped to his feet. “Mistress, I will bring you -”
“Sit down, Nathaniel,” Calissa snarled. Her fangs had popped out and her hands were clenching and unclenching in her lap.
Nathaniel’s idea of lowering Clem out their bedroom window to hide in the woods died a painful death. He sank back into his chair as the familiars left the room. The first returned only a few minutes later with Ray trailing after him. Ray’s hair was wet, and he’d changed his clothes. He bowed to Calissa before glancing at Nathaniel, his gaze clearly asking why the fuck he was here.
“You were the only survivor of the massacre,” Calissa said. “Why is that, Ray?”
“Just lucky I guess.”
“Lucky,” she said.
Ray cleared his throat. “I wasn’t the only one. There were some yearlings who survived. They ran like fucking cowards though. I came back because I’m loyal to you, mistress.”
“Loyalty,” Calissa said. “You speak of loyalty when,” she turned her gaze to Nathaniel, “there are traitors in my house.”
“I don’t know nothin’ about that,” Ray said.
Nathaniel fought the urge to look away from Calissa’s penetrating gaze. He strived for a puzzled look on his face while his brain buzzed and his muscles tensed. He would attack Calissa the moment Clem walked into the room. If he was really lucky, it would give her time to escape while Calissa and Anna destroyed him.
The door opened and his body, ready to launch itself across the table at Calissa, sagged in sudden surprise. Dante’s familiar pushed Kevin into the room. The human, trembling badly and rubbing at the red marks on his wrists, stared around the room, his mouth dropping into an ‘o’ when he saw Ray.
“R-ray? I thought you were dead,” Kevin said.
Ray frowned and turned to Calissa. “What’s he doing in here?”
“Your familiar has betrayed you, Ray,” Calissa said as Anna rose gracefully from her chair.
Ray glanced at Anna before shaking his head. “No, uh, no, he couldn’t have.” He stared at Kevin. “Tell her, you little fuck. Tell her you didn’t have nothin’ to do with this.”
“I-I didn’t,” Kevin squeaked. “I swear, Ray.”
“He’s lying,” Calissa said. “The question is, Ray… are you lying?”
Ray’s eyes widened and his fangs dropped. “I… no, Calissa. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, okay? I nearly died in that massacre too.”
“Nearly,” she said. “But you survived when so many others didn’t. Why is that?”
“Just dumb luck.” Ray’s voice was growing louder and shriller. “It was nothin’ but luck, Calissa, I swear it. If you think my human had anything to do with it, I’ll kill him right now, swear to God.”
Kevin moaned and backed away from Ray. He squealed in pain when Dante’s familiar grabbed his arm.
“I’ll tear his throat out,” Ray said as Anna moved behind him. “I’ll do whatever I have to, to prove my loyalty to…”
He froze, his eyes rolling in their sockets like a rabbit caught in a snare, when Anna’s hand slipped around his throat.
“Mistress,” he whispered. “Please, I swear I didn’t have -”
His back arched and he hissed in pain and fear before his body exploded into ash and blood. Anna, her blonde hair now drenched in Ray’s blood and her face wet with ash and blood, smiled serenely at Calissa as she licked Ray’s blood from the silver stake she held in one hand. She slid the stake back into the holster around her thigh and rejoined Calissa at the table.
“Ray?” Kevin whispered.
Calissa smiled at Kevin. “Your master is gone. Tell me, did the recruits send you in as a spy because they believed your snivelling, whining terror would hide your true intentions?”
Kevin swallowed audibly. “I – I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a human who-who wants immortality.”
Calissa glanced at the familiar holding Kevin’s arm. Grinning, he twisted Kevin’s arm behind his back, yanking it high until Kevin screamed shrilly. His stomach churning and twisting, Nathaniel watched as Kevin begged and pleaded.
“Please, no. Please stop. I don’t know anything. I’m not -”
Dante’s familiar wrenched his arm higher. Kevin screamed again, and Nathaniel winced when his arm broke with a sharp crack. Tears sliding down his face, snot bubbling out of his nose, Kevin made a yammering, unintelligible wail.
Calissa rolled her eyes before motioning at Dante’s familiar. He released Kevin and the smaller man fell to his knees, holding his broken arm against his chest and crying loudly.
“Enough, you pathetic worm,” Calissa said. “Stop your blubbering or I’ll slit your throat and let every vampire in this house have a taste of your blood.”
Kevin sucked in a hitching, gasping breath and made a low keening sound as he rocked back and forth. Calissa nodded to Dante’s familiar and the familiar hauled Kevin to his knees.
“Christ,” Dante said in disgust when they saw the wet spot spreading on Kevin’s crotch, “he’s pissed his fucking pants.”
“Sit, human,” Calissa said with a generous smile.
Kevin was pushed into a chair at the table. He held his broken arm, breathing in short harsh gasps as he stared at the table.
“If you tell me everything, little human, I will let you go,” Calissa said.
“R-r-really?” Kevin glanced up at her before looking back at the table.
“Really,” Calissa said. “I have no need for such a scared, pathetic little human such as yourself. So, tell me everything you know about the recruits’,” she paused, “activities, as of late, and you will walk out of this place and go back to your home, safe and sound. Snug as a bug in a rug.”
Nathaniel stared at Kevin. The human couldn’t be so stupid as to believe her. He almost cursed out loud when Kevin said, “It isn’t the recruits.”
Calissa cocked her head. “Not the recruits?”
“No. We’re a different group. I mean, our leader, Keith, he used to work for the recruits in their lab. But after they started creating all those good vampires, he, well…” Kevin gave her a small trembling smile, “he quit. Sort of. He was the one who told Theo about the good vamps so that you guys would destroy them.”
“Yet, he sent you to spy on us and set a trap,” Calissa said.
Kevin shook his head violently. “No, ma’am, no. We didn’t set the trap. I swear! I told Keith the vamps would be hunting humans, but I only knew about it because I overheard it here. The morning after the hunt, I met with Keith and the others. Keith said when they got there to fight the vampires, the recruits were already there. He said all the vampires were dead. I didn’t want to come back here, I knew Ray was dead, but Keith said I had to. He said I had to because I needed to make sure the vamps knew something important. I told him there was no way I could give you guys that information without it being suspicious, but he didn’t care.”
Kevin blinked in the slow owlish way that people in shock did. “I told him I didn’t want to come back. But he said I didn’t have a choice. I had to make sure you knew.”
Nathaniel wanted to reach across the table and slit the human’s throat himself. The little fucker was about to tell Calissa about Olivia.
“What is it that I need to know?” Calissa said.
“Mistress, can you really believe anything this human says?” Nathaniel said. “Asking him for more information when you can’t trust -”
“Quiet.” Calissa bared her fangs and hissed at him.
Nathaniel sank back into his chair, ignoring Dante’s smug laugh.
“I said I would tell the vamps, but then I was getting the hell out of here.” Kevin’s dazed look slipped to Dante’s familiars. But these two tied me up in a room as soon as I came back.”
Calissa leaned forward, smiling again at Kevin. “What was the information? Tell me, human.”
“The recruits have a good vamp. Keith said she must have escaped from the lab. She was fighting with the recruits and killing other vamps.”
Calissa’s nostrils flared and she stared at Anna for a moment before standing. She walked over to Kevin, stroking his sweaty hair before urging him to stand. He stared up at her, his face dripping sweat and tears and snot. “Can I go now? Please? I told you everything and you said you’d let me go if I did.”
“I did say that, didn’t I?” Calissa smiled at him and ran her fingers over his cheek.
“You did,” Kevin said eagerly. “You said I could leave.”
Calissa’s smile widened. Her fangs were fully extended, and the razor-sharp tips glistened in the light. “I lied.”
She bent her head with astonishing speed and sank her fangs into Kevin’s throat. He squealed and shrieked, his good arm waving weakly in the air as Calissa drank greedily. When she’d drained him, she stepped back, watching as his body slumped over and then fell off the chair.
“Get rid of it.” She wiped her mouth and returned to her seat.
Dante’s familiars carried Kevin’s body out of the room. Calissa stared at Nathaniel. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you for not knowing there was a traitor in your midst.”
“How did you know?” he said.
She hissed at him with displeasure. “Watch your tone, Nathaniel.”
“Forgive me,” he said.
She tapped her long red nails on the table. “I have the familiars followed. Do you know what your little familiar does while you sleep, Nathaniel?”
His stomach turned to a bubbling, boiling soup of hot bile. Striving to keep his voice steady, and hoping it didn’t betray his true emotions, he said, “No. Why the fuck would I care what she does during the day?”
“She sits in a diner all day long, staring at her phone,” Calissa said. “Sits there while the world moves around her and does nothing but wait to return to her master. How deeply have you glamoured her, Nathaniel?”
He shrugged and Calissa glanced at Dante. “Dante tells me you act differently around her.”
“Dante doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about,” Nathaniel said. “And if he keeps acting like he’s the one in charge around here, I’ll skin him alive and dump him in the fucking sunlight.”
Dante bared his fangs at him. “The mistress doesn’t share your distrust for me, asshole. She knows I can be trusted.”
“Why? Because you run and tattle to her like a small, vicious child?” Nathaniel said. “Did you call Calissa before the hunt even ended that night to inform her of my failure? Perhaps it is you who is the traitor, Dante.”
“I am no traitor. If she thought I was, would it be my familiars she tasked with following the others?” Dante snarled. “I called Calissa when none of our kind returned the morning of the hunt because she needed to know. You were only waiting until the next night to contact her in hopes that some might return and make you look less incompetent.”
“Enough,” Calissa said. “The sound of men’s petty squabbling is enough to drive me mad. It’s been a long day of travel and I am tired.”
“I understand, mistress,” Nathaniel said. “I will have your room readied for you.”
“No need,” Calissa said. “Anna and I will join you and the others – what is left of them - in the common room.”
He nodded, dismay flooding his body when she said, “Bring your pretty little pet downstairs to join us, Nathaniel. You look hungry.”
“I have an errand for her to run this evening,” he said. He needed to get Clem the fuck out of this house before Calissa killed her.
She shook her head. “I’m afraid not. The little worm wasn’t working for the recruits, which means we have another traitor among our midst. No one leaves until we discover who the traitor is.”
“Perhaps it is not a familiar who is the traitor.” Dante stared at Nathaniel.
“This is the second time you have accused me of betraying my own kind,” Nathaniel said. “You won’t survive a third accusation. Do you understand?”
“I’m getting pretty fucking tired of you threatening to -”
Dante’s voice cut out with a croak as Calissa shot out of her chair and leaped over the table to wrap her hand around his beefy neck.
“Enough!” She threw him to the ground with one shove of her arm, following him down to the floor to crouch over him and squeeze his throat again. “If I have to listen to your loathsome arguing a minute longer, I will kill you and Nathaniel and burn this house to the fucking ground. Do you understand?”
