The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 15
I raised my head, hands glued to the rim of the trashcan. “Tests?” I shifted my blurry gaze between Webb and Dr. Vieira.
They both wore an unblinking expression.
“I get it. Need to know basis, right?” I asked.
“Let’s go back to my office. You can lie down for a bit,” Webb said.
“I want to see Ben. That’s if you—” I stuck my head in the trashcan, waiting. But it was a false alarm. “Didn’t kill him yet.”
“What is she talking about?” Dr. Vieira asked.
“Nothing,” Webb replied as he walked to the bar with his phone at his ear.
I sat motionless, trying to still the dizziness that clouded my head while I thought of Ben. Had Webb actually killed him?
Dr. Vieira sat beside me.
“Do you know if Ben…?” But, before I could finish, Webb grabbed my arm.
“Let’s go,” Webb commanded.
Dr. Vieira guided me upright.
“Make sure you eat something light at dinner,” Dr. Vieira reminded me as he dropped his hand.
Webb helped me toward the door. I willed my stomach to begin its third round. I wanted desperately to puke on his shiny military boots.
Olivia met us in the hall. “Sir, you requested me?”
“Can you escort Jo to the ladies room then return her to my office?” Webb asked as he let go of my arm.
“Yes, sir.”
“Hey, I’m not some postal package who needs to be returned to sender.”
The man is irritating with a capital ‘I.’
Webb flicked his head to the side and Olivia returned his command with a nod.
Like Webb, Olivia was dressed all in black with cargo pants and laced-up boots. She wore a black golf shirt, which disappeared into her trousers, and her weapons were strapped to her belt. I focused on her sword, which had a black leather handle with a silver plate tacked to the side with words engraved on it. I squinted, but the words were too small to make out. I wondered though if there were any significance to the different colored handles. I remembered Sloan’s sword had a brown handle and Webb’s was red.
As we walked into the restroom, my stomach tightened. I covered my mouth as I ran to the sink. I was a little disappointed my stomach waited until now.
“How many boxes did you drink?” Olivia asked.
I held up two fingers as I continued to puke.
“No wonder. A human can’t handle a spoonful without getting sick, let alone eight ounces of blood,” she replied.
There was a lull in the action and my stomach settled for a moment. I picked up my head and she handed me a paper towel.
It was hard not to peer in the mirror. My bangs were stuck to my forehead and my chin had small red marks from where the glass punctured the skin. I turned on the faucet, wetted the paper towel and placed it over my mouth. When I looked up, Olivia was staring at me. Her hair was pulled back into a low braid and her angled eyebrows accentuated her soft brown eyes. Like the rest of the guards, she looked young. I wondered at what age she had crossed over.
“Is something wrong?” I asked as I turned to face her.
“You look just like—”
“I know, like my father. How many times am I going to hear that today?” I rolled my eyes and, as I did, the room spun and my stomach gave way. I jerked my head toward the sink, but not fast enough as the contents of my stomach sprayed onto Olivia’s shirt.
I hugged the sink and heaved again. I took a deep breath and waited a few seconds before I raised my head. When I did, I saw that Olivia had taken her shirt off and was rinsing it in the sink next to me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “While the flavor tasted good, my stomach sure doesn’t think so.”
She laughed. “Which kind did you try?”
“The creamsicle.”
“Not my favorite. The one in the black box is a peppered flavor with some other spices in it. That’s mine.”
She reminded me of something Sam said when we were at the funeral home—which seemed ages ago now. He had mentioned that when he got blood in his mouth, it tasted like pepper to him. I desperately missed Sam. A gust of hot air blew in my direction. I looked over at Olivia; she was drying her shirt under the air dryer.
I couldn’t help but stare. She wore a white tank top that was perfectly fitted to her body, showing a hint of six-pack abs. Her sculpted biceps rippled along her arms as she rubbed her shirt together. When she turned to face me, the front of her left shoulder exposed a tattoo. It looked like a handwriting specialist drew the number four in calligraphy style. If the vertical stem were removed, it would look like the number two.
“Your tattoo. Does it stand for something?” I asked.
She glanced down. “Oh that. It’s nothing.”
“What does it mean?” My stomach gurgled, echoing in the room. “Sorry.”
“Do you have to throw up again?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But stay back.”
“It’s the symbol for Jupiter. We’re the Jupiter Sentinels and this sort of brands us into the group. Every vampire recruit that makes it through SEAL training is imprinted with a symbol of their SEAL team.”
“Neil has a symbol on the back of his neck in the shape of—” I froze.
His was a monogram, as well, with the letters ‘P’ and—did his symbol stand for the Plutariums? Oh shit! Is Neil part of them—the bad guys?
“Neil? Who’s Neil?” she asked. Her brows lifted.
I wasn’t sure if I should tell her. I suspected she was going to tell Webb everything we talked about. But it was only a tattoo. I wasn’t going to tell her that I thought Neil was dead. Then again, did the Sentinels have something to do with his death?
“Some guy I met at the hospital. He had a tattoo on the back of his neck. Not like yours but it looked like the symbol that’s engraved on that ring Jonah was wearing.”
She flinched. Did she know Neil?
Her hands shook slightly as she buttoned the top of her golf shirt.
My stomach talked back and I leaned over the sink. While I waited for the puke to rise, my mind raced. The pieces of an extremely complex puzzle were forming, but little was making sense. A few seconds ticked by. I burped, then hiccupped. A complete mess, I splashed water on my face and played with my bangs, but it was useless. The monster look would have to do for now.
“We should get you back to Webb’s office.”
My stomach settled and the gurgling had stopped, but a cloud of haze floated around me as I stepped into the chilly hall. My knees buckled. Cool air whistled past my ear as I landed on my right shoulder and my head hit the tile floor. The fluorescent light spun above me, then faded.
I woke up on the couch in Webb’s office. I lifted my head, but it was as if a weight were pressing against my forehead, pushing me back down. A sharp pain throbbed just above my right ear. I inserted my fingers into my mouth, searching my gums for fangs. I sighed heavily, relieved that I didn’t find any pointy teeth. My hands roamed over my body, seeking what, I didn’t know. Aside from fangs, I wasn’t sure what other physical changes vampires experience.
“Are you like a magnet for trouble?” a familiar voice asked.
Excitement stirred within me.
I sat up. Ben was sitting in the chair opposite me. He was alive. Oh my God. I couldn’t believe it. Webb didn’t kill him. His voice was music to my ears.
“You’re alive?” The words came out in a high-pitched tone and I sounded like a squealing girl at a Justin Beiber concert.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, because Webb was suppose to kill you for not agreeing to…you know.”
“Jo, I couldn’t do that to you or Sam, even if you could be one of them.” He shook his head. “Anyway, I’m glad Webb had Tripp take me upstairs. I needed time to process all this. This vampire stuff is heavy. Tripp explained some things to me and showed me around the compound. The SEAL team members in this building are mostly vampires, but a couple of them are human. I had a chance to talk to one of them. While I’m not completely comfortable with vampires, it was good to hear what another human had to say.”
I was relieved Ben sounded a bit more relaxed. Maybe his vibe would wear off on me.
“And Tripp showed me the weapons room. It looks like something out of a James Bond movie. It’s some cool shit,” Ben said as his eyes glistened.
“Do you hear yourself? A couple of hours ago you were no way about this vampire crap. You meet a few vampires, talk to a human, see a bunch of weapons and now you’re into it?”
“Not completely. But I decided at least to listen. The human guy said something that made me think. He said, ‘You can’t change how you’re born.’ All this scares the shit out of me. You kind of scare me. But I’m not going to abandon a friend.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“You know I was down here freaking out, thinking the worse. While I want to strangle you, I’d rather strangle him,” I whispered as I flicked my head at Webb, who was sitting at his desk shuffling papers.
I rose from the couch then fell back down. Ben jumped up from his chair and sat next to me.
“You okay? Is it from that snack? How did it taste?” he asked.
“Shut up. Who told you?”
He nodded at Webb.
I looked over at Webb, but he was engrossed, reading something from a white sheet of paper. What else did Webb tell Ben?
“You’re not a vampire, Jo.” Ben started laughing.
“When I am one, you will be my first victim.” I licked my lips.
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” Ben said.
I wasn’t sure what Tripp had explained to Ben either, but I wasn’t ready to tell him what I learned from Webb.
“Okay, you two,” Webb said from a distance. Then he strode over and placed his hands on the back of the empty chair.
“I guess I should thank you for not…well, thank you,” I said as I looked at Webb.
“Ben is part of this now. He’s going to help us as much as he can,” Webb said.
How was Ben, a human, going to help the Vampire SEALs?
“I’m going to be one of your bodyguards.” Ben’s brows lifted as he spoke.
“You?” I chuckled.
“Why not me? I swing a mean baseball bat,” he said in a serious tone.
“We’ve been through this. You know how that turned out,” I reminded him.
“Can you two get along, or not?” Webb asked.
Ben nodded. Webb stared at me. I guessed he was waiting for my answer. I contemplated whether to be a smart ass, but I decided against it, so I nodded.
“Good, now that we agree, we’ll head back up to the mess hall. After dinner, you two will meet me in the war room. Tripp will show you where it is.”
Ben and I looked at each other. I had no idea what a war room was or why I would need to be there. I wasn’t at war with anyone, at least not yet. Maybe they were going to anoint me into the vampire community after drinking that blood. Whatever it was I was, about to find out.
12
After we walked out of the mess hall, Tripp wanted to use the stairs instead of the elevator, which had a line waiting to board it. Ben and I followed behind the tall, muscular vampire to another hallway, which pitched down to the back of the building before climbing down the stairs to the second floor.
A strange odor hung in the stairwell and I inhaled, trying to identify it. It smelled like a cross between blood and vinegar. The tanginess of it made my eyes water. I grabbed the banister before stepping off the last riser and my hand landed on a sticky substance. The rail had splotches of red stains on it. I wiped my hand on my jeans and lingered for a brief second. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in here.
“We’re going to be late. Move,” Tripp commanded.
His hand urged me through the door. I turned left and Ben was standing with one knee bent, foot on the wall with his hands in his pockets.
“What’s with the tortoise walk?” Ben asked.
I wanted to give him the finger, but instead I ignored him and waited for Tripp to show us the way.
“Not talking to me now?” Ben asked.
I shook my head.
“What did I do?”
I raised my finger to my lips. During dinner Ben and I had argued. He teased me about the juice incident, wanting to know how the blood tasted. I thought it was rude he was asking all those questions in front of Tripp who’d seemed uncomfortable with the conversation. My patience was walking a tight rope and, at any moment, I was going to unleash my anger.
“Are we in church?” he whispered.
“God, you can be just as annoying as Darcy,” I snapped.
“Watch your tongue,” he replied.
Tripp stopped, turned and wagged his finger between Ben and me. “When we get into the war room, you two will sit in the back row next to me. You will not speak, not one word. You’re there to listen and that’s it. If I hear you two arguing, I will personally lock both of you up for the night. Are we clear?”
Whoa! Where did that come from? I was going to follow through on my promise later and kill Ben. The most time I had spent around Ben was during the past week. I didn’t know he could be this annoying.
We walked the rest of the way in silence. The war room was located at the very end of the second floor hallway, which was about five doors down from the restroom. With my stomach still teetering on the edge, I wanted to make sure I knew where my refuge point was.
The war room was lit up like an airport runway. The brightness blinded me for a second until my eyes adjusted. The chairs rose in a pattern similar to an amphitheater with elongated steps cutting through two sections, which led down to a large conference table. On top were a couple of books and a stack of papers. Behind the table a movie screen hung from the ceiling.
Tripp directed Ben and me to the last row, which butted up against the back wall. I thought Tripp was going to sit between us, so Ben and I wouldn’t talk, but he sat down in the aisle seat and instructed me to sit in the middle.
Several people were already seated in the rows below us chatting. I scanned the room and didn’t see Webb, but Olivia, her partner from earlier today and Sloan were seated in the front row directly below us. Dr. Vieira walked in from a side door adjacent to the conference table with a binder in his hands and placed it on the table. He opened it, thumbing through the pages, searching for something.
Tripp sat in his chair, stoically looking straight ahead while Ben had his feet up on the chair in front of him, leaning back. I tapped his leg and he just glared at me.
“Feet down, Ben,” Tripp commanded.
He dropped his feet and sat up. I stuck my tongue out at him. I thought he was going to hit me; instead, he narrowed his eyes and scowled.
Ignoring his gaze, I turned and faced forward. Webb had entered, standing by Dr. Vieira who was reading something from the binder. According to the clock on the wall in the far left corner, it was six fifty-nine. The people seated wore their black military uniforms similar to the one Webb was wearing. Other than Ben and me, there was one other person in civilian clothes, a woman who sat in the far section on the other side of the aisle in the front row. She wore a gray pantsuit and her brown hair was in a bun.
When the large hand on the clock slid on the twelve, Webb whispered in Dr. Vieira’s ear, then cleared his throat.
“Okay, settle down,” Webb said, his voice booming, filling the room.
The chatter stopped as abruptly as if someone had slammed on the brakes.
He held a remote control in his hand and pointed it at the projector. A slide appeared on the movie screen.
The word Agenda appeared, with a list of seven items typed below it. The first was Breakdown and Crest and Skylark. Item number two—Endotoxin. Three had the name Dr. Patrick Mason and Edmund Rain.
My eyes rested on the name and I began tapping my foot.
Tripp placed his hand on my knee. “You don’t need to be nervous.”
Was he kidding? Did he know what I had been through in the past week?
I leaned in. “Is Patrick Mason any relation?”
“It will all be explained shortly,” Tripp said.
I continued to tap my foot as I read item number four. Plutariums.
“What’s with the planet names around here?” Ben asked.
I shrugged. I wanted to know the answer to that one myself; even the tattoos were still a mystery to me. Olivia did explain why she had hers, but she didn’t elaborate as to why the vampires had to be branded.
Number five on the list read, Update and new information. Excitement stirred as goosebumps peppered my arms. Maybe Webb had some news about Sam.
The last two bullet points were Plan for tomorrow and Wrap up. After reading through the list, I had a feeling we were going to be here all night.
Webb shifted his gaze between the audience and the screen.
“Tonight we’ll recap the events of the past few days and look at the path forward. First, I want to make everyone aware that we have two civilians in the room. In case you’re not aware, one of them is Commander Mason’s daughter, Jo, who is sitting next to Petty Officer Tripp. The other is Ben Jackson, a friend of the Masons.” He pointed in our direction.
A sea of vamps turned around and looked at me.
“You’re famous,” Ben said. “The daughter of a commander and a Navy SEAL. Wow, impressive. But the vampire thing, not so much.”
I dropped my gaze and ignored Ben.
Tripp leaned over and whispered, “Breathe. They need to know who you are. It’s pertinent to the mission.”
I raised my head and all but one person had turned back to face Webb. The lady in gray was staring at me. I scanned her face. Her burgundy lips pronounced her pale features and her eyes were a deep blue. I focused on Webb and tried to ignore her. As he spoke, she shifted her position forward.
“The breakdown at Crest and Skylark can’t happen anymore. Brock and Fehherty were ambushed as if the Plutariums knew their route. I’m not sure how this happened, but while we’re looking for both Commander Mason and his son Sam, it is imperative that we’re paying attention to detail. Every one of you has been trained not to be complacent. We cannot, for one second, let our guard down. They’re becoming stronger as the days go on and their army is getting larger as well. Is that clear?”
