The Recruit (Book Six), page 26
“Yes, mistress,” Dante choked out.
She sank her long nails into his neck before releasing him with a soft hiss. She stood, smoothing her shirt down and taking the cloth that Anna handed to her.
As Dante lumbered to his feet with blood sliding down his neck, Calissa wiped her nails clean of his blood and stared coldly at Nathaniel. “Do you have anything else you’d like to say to Dante, Nathaniel?”
“No, mistress.”
“Good.”
Chapter 24
Clem brushed Nathaniel’s hair away from his forehead before pressing a kiss against his cool skin. He smiled at her but didn’t move from his spot in the chair or say anything. Probably because she had just finished threatening to stake him herself if he tried again to talk her into leaving without him.
She crossed the room to the window, pushing aside the heavy drapes to peek outside. All of the vampires had retired to their own rooms about half an hour ago. The sun would rise in just a few minutes and as soon as it did, she and Nathaniel were getting the fuck out of here. The vampires who patrolled the edge of the woods under Calissa’s orders were still out there, but they’d return to the house any second now and the two of them would have their chance.
Her stomach was tense with nerves, but she took a deep breath and dropped the curtain in place before the vampires saw her watching them. She and Nathaniel had escaped this way before, they could do it again. She’d call Hannah as soon as she had a cell signal and they’d be safe at the recruit facility before lunch.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and wandered around the room, holding it up in the air and hoping for at least a weak signal. There was nothing – the house was a goddamn dead zone – and she shoved her phone back into her pocket before pacing the room again.
Tonight had been one of the scariest evenings of her life. She could practically taste Nathaniel’s fear the entire time they were sitting in the common room, and she couldn’t blame him. If he was afraid, she’d been very close to wetting her pants and bursting into tears every time Calissa even glanced her way.
She sucked in a breath and released it in a shuddering exhale. She understood now why Nathaniel had never wanted her anywhere near Calissa. The vampire was stark raving mad, and it made her incredibly dangerous. Calissa hadn’t spoken very much last night, neither had her scary-as-fuck assistant or pet or whatever the fuck she was, Anna, but their silence had been incredibly unnerving.
The way she looked at Nathaniel… Clem caught a glimpse of her pale, scared face in the mirror. Who was she kidding… the way Calissa looked at both of them, it was like she knew exactly what they were planning. Knew they were the traitors and at any minute she’d tear both their throats out and feast on their blood.
The creak of the chair made her whirl around, her hands clenched between her breasts, her eyes wide as she stared at Nathaniel.
“It’s all right, sweet one.” He was out of the chair and beside her in an instant.
“I know,” she said. “Just a case of the spooks.” She tapped three times at her collarbone before smiling weakly at him. “C’mon, handsome, the sun is up. It’s time to make like a banana and split.”
He pressed a kiss against her mouth. “Clem, please just consider -”
“Stop,” she said. “I am not leaving without you. I love you and we stick together, no matter what. All right?”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but he said, “I love you, sweet Clementine.”
“I love you too. Let’s go.”
He followed her to the window. She pushed past the curtains and was reaching to push it open when Nathaniel grabbed her hand. “Wait.”
“What?” she said.
The sun was sending beams of light across the yard and she stared at the four men in military fatigues standing at the edge of the woods, smoking cigarettes and staring moodily at the house. The beams of light criss-crossed over them and she muttered a curse. “Shit, they’re human. She’s got humans watching the house.”
He nodded and let the curtain drop, pulling her away from the window.
“Can you…” she hesitated before taking a deep breath, “do something about them?”
“I would have to kill them, Clem,” he said. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She took his hands. “We don’t have a choice.”
“I know, I just -”
The knock on their door made her breath escape in a soft squeak and Nathaniel’s hands tighten painfully on hers.
“What?” He did a fine job of sounding pissed off.
“Open the door, Nathaniel,” Dante said.
“Fuck off,” Nathaniel said.
Clem gasped when Dante kicked the door open with a loud bang. Nathaniel pushed her behind him as Dante strolled into the room. Ice crystals formed in Clem’s veins when he was followed by Calissa and Anna and a half dozen other vampires.
“Mistress,” Nathaniel bowed, “what’s wrong?”
“We need to talk,” Calissa said.
Cold fear turned Nathaniel’s spine to jelly. Clem was clinging to the back of his shirt, her body pressed up against his. He could feel her trembling and he turned his back to the others, staring down at her sweet face.
He mouthed the words, ‘I love you’, before shoving her roughly onto the bed. “Stay.”
Her lips a thin line, she did a remarkable job of shuttering the fear in her eyes.
Nathaniel joined Calissa. “Why don’t we speak in the dining room or the -”
“Right here is fine,” Calissa said.
Anna drifted away from Calissa and toward the bed. Nathaniel told himself not to react when Anna touched Clem’s hair before lifting a lock of it to her face and inhaling deeply. Clem stared at him, refusing to look at Anna or acknowledge her as the vampire sat down on the bed and stroked her hair.
“You seem nervous, Nathaniel,” Calissa said. “Do not worry, Anna won’t harm your little pet.”
He couldn’t bring himself to say he didn’t care what Anna did to Clementine. He needed to say it, but it was entirely possible Calissa would have Anna murder Clem immediately if he did.
“What is it you needed to speak to me about?” Nathaniel said.
“Dante says you’re different.” Calissa glanced at the brutish vamp who was leaning against the wall and smiling smugly at Nathaniel.
“Dante is wrong,” Nathaniel said.
“I can see it too. Even after just one evening,” Calissa trailed one finger down his arm. “You are not the Nathaniel from before.”
His heart thumping like a goddamn drum, Nathaniel said, “Nearly being ashed to death can change a vampire.”
Calissa studied him, her fingernail brushing back and forth over his inner wrist. “Is that what it is?”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said.
Anger flickered across her face and he tried to stay relaxed as she walked around him. She pressed up against his back, her cold hand sliding around his throat, and her rotting meat breath washing over him as she whispered into his ear, “I can hear your heart beating.”
His muscles tensed and he tried to surge forward, but her hand tightened brutally around his throat and the fingers of her free hand punched through his lower back just right of his spine. The pain was enormous. He screamed, his back arching as Calissa hissed in his ear.
Clem tried to scramble off the bed, but Anna grabbed her arm and easily threw her back onto the bed. Despite the agony in his back, Nathaniel tried to wrench free of Calissa’s iron grip. Her fingers loosened around his throat and he heard her low gasp of surprise before she dug her hand deeper into his back and yanked him up against her again.
“Keep fighting me, Nathaniel, and I’ll have Anna destroy your little pet right in front of you,” Calissa said.
He stopped fighting immediately, his body trembling in Calissa’s grip as Clem stared at him with frightened eyes.
“Nathaniel,” she said, “I’m okay. Don’t move, honey. Just be calm. I’ll get us out of this.”
Calissa laughed in his ear. “What a brave little pet you have, Nathaniel.”
“Why are you doing this?” Nathaniel said. “I am loyal to you, Calissa.”
“Loyalty among vampires. Can there ever truly be such a thing?” Calissa pressed a kiss to his sweaty cheek. “The only one I trust, Nathaniel, is my Anna.”
“I am loyal,” he repeated. “I have been your faithful servant for years.” Blood was flowing down his back and legs to puddle on the floor at their feet.
“That’s true.” Calissa nodded to Dante who crossed the room to the window. “But you are not the Nathaniel from before.”
“I am,” he said. “I am exactly who I have always been.”
She made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Such lies, priest. Is it not a sin to lie?”
“I’m not a priest,” he said. “Not anymore.”
“Open the curtain, Dante,” Calissa said.
He drew back the curtain enough to let in a few rays of sunlight. The other vampires in the room made grumbling noises and stepped out of the way of the beams of light. Anna hissed and scooted back on the bed and away from the light. She wrapped her hand around Clem’s hair and yanked viciously when Clem tried to slide off the bed.
Clem cried out before smiling faintly at Nathaniel. “I’m all right, honey.”
Calissa squeezed his throat. “Don’t move, priest, or Anna will slit her pretty human throat.”
His body humming like a live wire, Nathaniel didn’t move when Calissa released his throat. With her other hand still shoved into his lower back, she grasped his arm just above the elbow and moved it toward the beam of light in front of them.
She pushed his hand and forearm into the light. The other vampires gasped in shock when his skin didn’t burn, and Dante snarled triumphantly, “I fucking knew it! I knew he’d been turned into one of those freaks by the recruits.”
Calissa hissed into his ear. “Traitor.”
Nathaniel stared across the room into Clem’s dark eyes. She started to cry and, knowing this was the end for them both, he said, “I’m sorry, sweet one. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said.
“How beautiful,” Calissa said, her tone mocking and light. “Tell me, Nathaniel, would you wish for this again? Knowing that you will die a slow and torturous death and your pretty little pet will become that which you now hate? Would you still wish for this second chance at life you were given?”
He stared at Clem as the blood slid down his side. He studied her perfect face and the love for him that he could see etched into it.
“Yes.” He smiled at Clem.
She returned his smile, her face serene. “I’ll see you on the other side, my love.”
“You think I will make it that easy on either of you?” Calissa snarled. She yanked her hand out of his back, making him cry out in agony, and threw him across the room. He slammed into the wall and dropped to the ground with a hard thud. The blood flowed in a hot waterfall from the wound in his back, soaking into his shirt and his pants.
He sat up, panting harshly as agony raced up and down his body. He wanted to stand but his legs refused to work.
Calissa pointed to one of the other vampires. “Bring them in.”
The vampire bowed and left the room, returning quickly with Dante’s familiars. Fresh fear rolled through Nathaniel. They were no longer human. They grinned at Dante, their fangs glistening wetly.
“I finally turned them.” Dante crouched beside Nathaniel. “They’re hungry. I gave them a couple humans but at their size… it’s just not enough, is it? You remember what it was like when you were first turned, don’t you, Nathaniel? The overwhelming thirst. How loud do you think your precious pet will scream when they feast on her?”
Nathaniel tried to stand, groaning in pain and falling onto his side when his legs gave out. Dante laughed and stood. “Should I kill him now or when we return from the facility, mistress?”
“We keep him alive. When I bring Hannah and the others back, I want him to watch as I kill them one-by-one.”
Nathaniel laughed weakly. “Yeah, good luck with that. You’re the ones who’ll die today.”
Dante bent and punched him in the face. “Shut the fuck up, traitor.”
Nathaniel spit out a mouthful of blood before grinning up at Calissa. “You don’t have nearly enough leeches to take the facility.”
Calissa crossed the room to crouch next to him. She touched his face almost tenderly. “My dear Nathaniel, do you believe I’m that stupid? Did you think you were the only one I tasked with creating more of our kind? For months now, I’ve tasked seconds across the country to build me an army. And,” she touched his face again, “they’ve been much more successful than your pathetic attempts.”
Nathaniel stared up at her, trying to focus past the pain in his lower back, trying to understand what she was saying. “The vamps are no use to you if they’re not here.”
She laughed. “Sweet, naïve priest. They arrived with me.” She gestured toward the woods. “Hundreds of them, burrowed deep into the dirt amongst these very trees. Tonight, they will rise, and we will take the facility. I will lead them in this final battle and once the facility falls, this pathetic town will be ours. We’ll take it for our own and then the next town and the one after that.”
She glanced at Clem and the others before smiling at him and tracing his cheek. “The world will soon be ours, Nathaniel. The humans nothing more than slaves to our thirst. It’s a pity you will not live long enough to see it.”
She stood and motioned to Anna who hauled Clem off the bed and yanked her toward Calissa. “What a pretty little human you are,” Calissa said. She touched Clem’s hair before leaning forward and smelling her neck. “You smell so very sweet.”
“Mistress, you said my boys could have her,” Dante said. “As a reward for their loyalty.”
“I did say that, didn’t I?” Calissa petted Clem’s hair again. “Of course, it is my right to change my mind. She would make a pretty little addition to our bed, would she not, Anna?”
“Yes, mistress,” Anna said.
Calissa studied Clem before turning to Dante. “I am tired. I will make my final decision regarding the human when I wake from my daysleep.”
“But, mistress, my boys are hungry and -”
“Then feed them another human and put them to bed!” Calissa snapped. “Stop your sheep whining, Dante, or so help me, you will join Nathaniel in bleeding on the floor.”
Dante took a step back, nodding stiffly before grabbing his familiars by their arms and pulling them toward the door. They hissed and stared hungrily at Clem but allowed Dante to lead them out of the room.
“Give me your phone,” Calissa said to Clem.
Clem handed her phone over.
“Password,” Calissa said impatiently. Clem recited it to her and Calissa scrolled through her phone, making a hiss of delight before staring at Clem. “This Hannah in your contacts? Is this the Hannah?”
Clem didn’t reply and Calissa slapped her across the face. Nathaniel tried again to struggle to his feet, groaning when hot agony stretched across his back and more blood rained down from the wound onto the floor.
“Answer me,” Calissa demanded.
“Yes,” Clementine said.
“Good. Do you meet with them every day when you leave this place? Tell them all our little secrets?”
“Yes.”
Calissa bared her fangs at Clem. “Not this time, blood bag.” She handed the phone to Anna. “Once you have Nathaniel’s pet secured in another room, give her phone to one of the humans outside. Have them find a spot in this dreadful shithole of a swamp that has cell reception and send a text to Hannah. Keep it short – everything’s fine, but she can’t make their meeting today. Understand?”
“Yes, mistress,” Anna said.
Calissa stretched and yawned before prodding Nathaniel with her foot. “I’m going to my daysleep now, Nathaniel. Try not to die while I sleep, all right? I want you to watch as I bring back your new Lycan friends and skin them alive.”
Chapter 25
The elevator doors slid open with a soft ding. Hannah stepped into the hallway, checking her watch as she navigated her way back to the apartment. She walked past Douglas’ classroom, slowing down and peeking in through the open doorway. He was teaching an art class of about seven students and she waved at him when she caught his eye. He joined her at the doorway, and she kissed his cheek.
“Hi, Douglas.”
“Hello, Hannah.”
“Are you still coming by the apartment after your class is over?”
“I am,” he confirmed. “I’ll see you in about an hour or so.”
“All right.” She kissed his cheek again and then continued down the hallway. She turned a corner, nearly running into Tyrone and Luther.
“HB!” Luther held up his fist and she bumped it. “How’s it going?”
“Good. I just got back from Mom and Dad’s. They said you were here tonight.”
“Yeah, Duke and Michelle organized some Trivial Pursuit game night,” Tyrone said.
“They’re gonna let you play?” Hannah said.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Luther said indignantly.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Amara echoed. The little firefly was sitting on Tyrone’s shoulder and Hannah grinned at the way she adopted Luther’s faux outraged tone.
“Maybe because you’re geniuses and you always win?”
“Fuckin’ straight we always win. Unless Professor Douglas or Reid play. They at least make it difficult for us,” Tyrone said. “You drop wolf baby off with the folks?”
Hannah nodded. “Yes, they offered to keep him tonight. The instructors are having a get together to celebrate Selena and Mallorie not being dead.”
“Cool, cool, cool,” Tyrone said as Jordan rounded the corner. The director was carrying a mug of tea and a file folder and he stopped next to Hannah.
