The Recruit: Book One (2 page)

“I don’t know who Sara is.”  Richard told
her gravely.

“She’s my sister.  She’s small and blonde. 
She has blue eyes, and she was wearing a jean skirt with a pink tank top.  We
have to find her!”  Hannah pushed back the covers and slid off the bed before
Barb could stop her. 

She took two steps from the bed and her
knees buckled.  Before she hit the ground, the man named Will had caught her
neatly around the waist.  She leaned against him, feeling light-headed and
weak.  She blushed when she realized she was wearing just a tank top and
panties. 

Will’s large hand was wrapped around the
bare skin of her waist, and the sight of his tanned skin against her pale flesh
made a shiver run through her.  His hand tightened a little, and she looked up
at him.  He was staring at her, his light blue eyes had darkened considerably,
and she was oddly fascinated by the curly brown hair peeking out from his open
collared shirt.  The heat was radiating from him, and she was very aware of how
well their bodies fit together.  She was a tall girl but the top of her head
just brushed his chin, and with a weary sigh she let her head fall onto his
shoulder.

“Please tell me where Sara is.”  She
whispered.

Richard stared at Barb who sighed sadly. 
“Hannah the thing is - Sara is, well, we got there too late and she didn’t –“

“Your sister is dead.”  Will said bluntly.

Hannah lifted her head and stared at him in
horror.  “You’re lying.”

He shook his head.  “No, I’m not.  She was
killed by vampires.  You would have suffered a similar fate if we hadn’t found
the camp when we did.  Your sister and the other two girls are dead.  You
should be grateful you’re not dead as well.”

“Vampires don’t exist!  They’re not real,
you idiot!”  Hannah could feel hot tears starting down her face.  “I don’t know
what kind of sick joke this is, but I want you to take me to my sister right
now.  Do you hear me?  Right now!”  She started slamming her fists into his
back and kicking at his shins.

“I want to see Sara!”  She continued to
punch and kick, but Will only stood there holding her passively.  Enraged that
her punching had no effect, she slapped him as hard as she could across the
face.

His face rocked to the side and when he
turned back to face her, a small whimper escaped her throat.  His formerly blue
eyes had turned golden, and they were glowing with a terrible inner fire.  She
was still tucked against him and as his arm tightened around her waist,
squeezing the breath from her, she realized how defenseless and vulnerable she
was. 

“Never touch me again.  Do you
understand?”  He growled with his face only inches from hers.

She nodded and let out a small squeak of
fear when he dipped his head towards her neck and inhaled deeply. 

“You smell of them.” He whispered.  “You
reek of your own fear and their stench, and it disgusts me.”

“That’s enough, Will.”  Richard said
quietly.

He looked coolly at the shorter man.  His
arm was still around Hannah’s waist, and his fingers were digging so tightly
into her side that Hannah suspected she would be bruised.  With a sudden,
dismissive snort he pushed her away from him; Hannah stumbled and fell, banging
her knee painfully against the wooden floor.  He turned and left the room,
letting the door close quietly behind him.

Richard helped her to her feet and back
into the bed.  “I’m sorry for your loss, Hannah.”

The warmth and sincerity in his voice broke
through the fog of disbelief that surrounded her and she began to sob.  Barb
moved to the bed and Hannah felt the sharp sting of a needle in her arm. 

“This is just to help you sleep.”  Barb
said softly.  Warmth spread through Hannah’s body and she drifted into the
dark.

***

Hannah sipped at her coffee and stared
blankly out the window above the sink in the kitchen.  It had been just over
three weeks since the night Sara had been murdered and she thought, not for the
first time, how much a person’s life could change in less than a month.  She
had spent the first week after learning about Sara’s death, in a state of shock
so deep it was almost catatonic.  She had begged to see Sara’s body, but Barb
had informed her gently that Sara and the other two girl’s bodies had been
discovered by the authorities and that Hannah was missing and presumed dead.

A man, he said his name was Alan, had
visited her at the farmhouse.  He had sat and chatted with her for nearly half
an hour before she realized what he was.

“You’re a shrink.”

“I am.”  He had confirmed.  He was tall and thin with a
receding hairline, and he wore thick-framed glasses that he was constantly
pushing up his nose.

“How much is this conversation costing me?”  She had asked
dully.  She was sitting on the couch in the living room of the farmhouse,
wrapped in a blanket and staring out the window.

“This one’s on the house.”  He had smiled.  “I work for
Richard.  He thought it would be good if we chatted.”

“Why?”

He had hesitated.  “You’ve been through a terrible trauma,
Hannah.  You lost your sister and discovered that vampires exist.  Your entire
life changed in a moment.  It can be helpful to talk to someone neutral about
it.”

Alan had visited her three more times, and she had to admit
that it had been helpful.  Alan was kind, and had a quiet and thoughtful manner
that made it easy for her to talk to him.  He had given her suggestions on how
to work through her grief, and had even given her a couple of books that dealt
with the topic of losing a loved one. 

About two weeks after she had woken to discover
Sara was dead and that vampires existed, Richard had sat her down in the large,
worn kitchen and regarded her soberly.  “Are you ready to leave, Hannah?”

She frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“You’re not a prisoner here.  You’re a
guest.  If you would like to leave, you are free to do so.”

Hannah stared at him.  “And go where?  Back
to my parent’s home?”

“No.  I’m sorry Hannah, but it’s best if
your parents believe you’re dead.  They wouldn’t believe you even if you tried
to tell them about the vampires and besides, once you’ve been bitten, it
changes something in your body chemistry.  Other vampires can sense you, and
there’s a greater temptation to feed from you.  Not many people survive a
vampire attack, and a vampire tends to want to finish what the other started so
to speak.  You’d be putting your parents at great risk.”

Hannah laughed bitterly.  “But I’m free to
go huh?  Tell me, Richard.  Do you honestly think I would last ten minutes out
there?  I’ve been bitten by a vampire, I have the scars to prove it, and yet I’m
still not entirely sure I believe in them.  If what you say is true, then I’ll
be dead the first night.”

Richard stared at her thoughtfully.  “I
just wanted to be clear that you can leave at any time.”

“Are you telling me to leave?”

Richard shook his head immediately.  “No.
You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you’d like.”

“What exactly is this place, Richard?”

When he hesitated, she frowned.  “What?  Is
it some big secret?”

“Here’s the thing, Hannah.”  Richard leaned
forward and placed one hand on top of hers.  She immediately pulled it away. 

“I’m sorry.”  He apologized.

“Don’t be – I’m just not a very
touchy-feely kind of person.  What were you saying?”

He sat back in his chair and folded his
hands neatly in his lap.  “You’re unique in that you’re the first person to see
this place who wasn’t actively recruited by us.”

“Recruited?”  Hannah raised her eyebrow at
him.

“What you see here?”  Richard looked around
the kitchen.  “This is just a façade.  Barb and I live here, but the real
purpose of this place lies deep in the woods behind us.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Richard nodded.  “I know.  For you to fully
understand I must start at the beginning.  Vampires have existed for thousands
and thousands of years.  They are the most ancient and evil of all the
supernatural creatures.”

“All supernatural creatures?  Are you
saying there are different kinds?”  Hannah asked.

When Richard nodded, she let out a small
snort.  “Like what?  Werewolves, shit like that?”

“Well, they refer to themselves as Lycans
but yes.”

Hannah absentmindedly rubbed the small
round scars on her neck.  “Oh this just gets better and better.”

“Just listen, okay?”  Richard admonished
gently.

“Most supernatural creatures are like
humans – there can be both good and evil within the race.  Vampires are the
exception to this rule.  There is no goodness within them.  They are soulless,
malicious and wicked.  Their very existence relies on our blood and without us,
they would perish.  For the most part they are content to stay within the
shadows, to feed from us and to vanish into the dark.  But every few hundred
years there seems to be a surge in their numbers, and with that comes a desire
to rule.  They grow tired of hiding and feeding only when necessary, and
inevitably a leader within their race emerges to encourage an uprising.”

He scratched the top of his bald skull.  “Vampires
are solitary by nature.  They tend to fight like a pack of wild dogs when forced
to co-exist in large numbers, but they are capable of existing together when
the need calls for it.  Pods of vampires are formed throughout the country with
their main purpose being not to feed, but to turn as many humans as they can. 
Their goal is to create a vast army – one that can enslave the remaining humans
so they can feed from us like cattle.  We’re in the middle of such an uprising
right now.”

He rubbed a hand wearily across his
forehead.  “It is why those men lured you and your sister to their party.  Most
likely their instructions were to not just feed, but to turn you as well.”

“But Sara and those other girls didn’t turn
- they died.”

“When we found your group, the two other
girls were in the middle of turning.  We killed them before they could fully turn. 
The two men that were attacking you and your sister –“

“Justin and Nathan.”  Hannah whispered.

Richard nodded.  “Will thinks they were
still yearlings themselves.  They weren’t experienced enough to know how to
stop feeding, and force you to drink their blood before you died.  Your sister
died before she could drink, and Will killed Nathan before he could either kill
you or give you his blood to drink.”

A vague memory of blue eyes and a rough
voice slipped through Hannah’s mind.  She shook her head, clearing it, and
said, “That’s how you’re turned - by drinking their blood?”

Richard nodded.  “Yes.”

“How do you know all of this?”  Hannah
whispered.

“Ten years ago my wife and I were driving
home from a charity event.  Our car broke down and a Good Samaritan stopped to
help us.  It turned out that the man was neither good nor a man.  He was a
vampire and he forced me to watch as he drained my wife of blood.” 

He stopped and swallowed with difficulty.  “He
would have killed me as well, if not for Will.  He had been tracking the
vampire for days and destroyed the creature – saving my life.”

“Why was Will tracking it?”

Richard smiled bitterly.  “He has his own
reasons for hating the vampires.”

“I’m sorry about your wife.”  Hannah said
softly.

“Thank you.  Once I had recovered from the
shock of both my wife’s death and the realization that vampires existed, I
dedicated my life to destroying them.”

“Forgive me Richard, but that sounds like a
terrible life.”

Richard’s normally kind face hardened.  “They
took my Maria from me and I will not rest until they have suffered like I have.”
 He stared at the floor, breathing heavily with his hands clenched into fists. 
After a few moments, he glanced up at her.

“I am a very wealthy man, Hannah.  I don’t
say this to brag, but to help you understand how this facility was created. 
I’ve spent a considerable fortune building and running this place.”

“But I don’t understand what this place
is.”  Hannah glanced around her.  “I’m sorry, Richard.  It looks like nothing
more than a run-down farmhouse.”

He grinned at her, the amusement evident in
his face.  “Appearances can be deceiving, Hannah.  Tomorrow morning I’ll show
you the rest of the facility.”

Richard was true to his word.  The next
morning they drove deep into the woods that were behind the farmhouse.  He parked
next to a dilapidated shack and led her inside to reveal a modern and sleek
elevator hidden within the building.

“My God.”  Hannah murmured.  “It’s like
we’re in a spy movie.”

Richard frowned at her.  “I assure you
Hannah, it’s all very real and you need to take this seriously.”

They entered the elevator and Richard
pushed a small green button.  The elevator doors slid shut and carried them
smoothly downwards.