The Recruit: Book One (26 page)

She stepped back nervously as he approached, and he chuckled
faintly.  “Do not be frightened my dear.  I would never hurt you – the one who
has been so helpful to us.”

“It’s getting more difficult.”  She muttered.

“But of course it is.”  He smiled at her.  “There have been
too many unexpected killings, too many vampires appearing when they shouldn’t
have, for it to be a coincidence yes?”

She nodded.  “I don’t think I can keep doing this.”

He grinned, his fangs gleaming softly at her.  “Oh my dear,
you have no choice – do you not realize that?  You are one of our chosen pets
now.”

“I am not!”  She shouted.  “I help you only to exact my
revenge for – “

She stopped, breathing heavily.

“Go on.”  Marcus indicated.  “Exact your revenge for what?”

She flushed.  “Nothing.”

“I bet I could guess.”  He tittered and glanced at the man
still sitting in the chair.  “Women are all the same are they not?  So
needlessly emotional, so terribly eager for revenge when they think they’ve
been wronged.”

There was a soft whoosh and the vampire had crossed the room
and was standing in front of her, his long fingers stroking her face, before
she could react.

“Let me guess – you love him and he does not return that
love.  Or perhaps he says he loves you but does not mean it.”

She pulled away, her eyes spitting sparks at him.  “I would
give him everything.  I love him more deeply than she ever did but all he can
think about, the only thing that consumes his thoughts, is her.  What did she
have that I do not?”

He laughed and glanced at the man behind him.  “I told you. 
I do wish the humans would allow a woman to run their country.  If they did
that, there would be no need for us to build our numbers against them.  They
would destroy themselves in a matter of months.”

“I want out.”  The woman said suddenly.  “It’s getting too
dangerous.  You’ll have to find another to help you.”

Marcus laughed again.  “Oh, my dear.  You really are too
funny.”

“I’m being serious.”  She said quietly.  “I won’t help you
any longer.”

She started for the door and he was suddenly in front of her
again, pushing her against the wall, her scream of surprise cut off by Marcus’
hand around her throat.

“It’s too late for that.”  He whispered menacingly.  “You
will help us until Samuel says you are no longer needed.”

He squeezed, cutting off her oxygen.  “Your friends killed a
number of our yearlings just over a week ago.  Why did you not warn us of
this?”

He released her throat and she drew in a gagging, gasping
breath.  “I cannot tell you everything.  They would quickly find out that I was
the mole and kill me.  Then you would have nothing.  Besides, they were new
recruits – I did not expect them to have as much success as they did.”

He gave her a bitter grin.  “I want to know who the woman
was.”

“What woman?”

His patience suddenly gone, Marcus put his hand back around
her throat and slammed her against the wall.  

“The woman!  The woman who did this to me!”  He screamed before
showing her the stump of his missing left hand.

“I do not know!”  She cried softly, tears beginning to run
down her face.

He leaned closer and she gagged at his fetid breath, “She is
tall, dark-haired and carries two swords.  Michael tells me that a Lycan guards
her most fiercely.”

Her eyes widened, and he smiled.  “You do know her.  Give me
her name.”

“Why?”  She whispered.  “What interest do you – “

“Give me her name!”  He suddenly roared, and she flinched
and pressed herself against the wall behind her.

“Hannah.”  She cried.  “Her name is Hannah Torrington.”

“Thank you, my dear.”  Marcus stepped back, straightening
his tie with his remaining hand.  “You are to bring her to us.”

“What?  No, I can’t do that.”  She whispered.

“You can and you will.  Two nights from now you will bring
her to the old factory off of Route 27.”

“Why?  What are you going to do with her?”

“That is none of your concern.”

“I can’t bring her alone.  It would raise too many
suspicions.”  She whispered.

He waved his hand irritably.  “Then bring others with you. 
There will be more than enough of us to deal with them.  Pretend you have found
another pod of the undead – that will bring them running will it not?”

She nodded, her hand rubbing at her throat as he stepped
back and pointed towards the door.  “Leave us.”

She ran from the room, slamming the door behind her and Marcus
smiled at the man in the chair.

“She’ll have to die soon.”

“Why do you not force her tell us where the facility is?”  The
man frowned at him.  “We could end this in one night.”

Marcus shook his head.  “Samuel does not believe we have
enough numbers to defeat them.  The woman is weak but she won’t tell us where
the facility is.  I guarantee it.  We’ll have to turn her in order for her to
tell us, and Samuel believes she is more useful to us as a human.”

“My master, if you brought the others in from across the
country, we could easily defeat the facility.”

“Have you forgotten the attack on the Atlanta facility? 
Many of our brothers died that night because they were foolish enough to
believe the humans would just roll over like dogs.  It was shameful how easily
the humans defeated us.”

“But the woman has already told us this is a training centre
and the least protected of the facilities.”  The man persisted.  “They would
have all the information we need on the other centres.  If we could take it as
ours, we could find out the locations of the other centres.”

“The humans are not stupid.”  Marcus hid his impatience. 
“They will have fail-safes in place.  If we attack the facility, the first
thing they will do is destroy all traces of information that lead to the other
locations.”

He looked out the window at the dark sky.  “It is far better
to have someone on the inside.  Someone who is not as cowardly as our current
informant, and who we can use to move the humans about like pawns.  And I know
exactly who I want.”

The man glanced doubtfully at Marcus’ missing hand.  “This
woman, this Hannah, does not seem to be the type to turn on her own kind.”

Marcus shrugged, “Perhaps not.  If that is the case we will
simply make her one of us and choose another.  There are always humans ready to
betray their brothers.”

He gestured for the man to leave before turning back to the
window.  He stared thoughtfully at the street below him, watching the humans
march like ants through the darkness.  Even three stories up, their blood
called to him and he swallowed hard.  He would feed before he returned to Samuel. 
He had yet to tell him about the woman.  He had been most displeased when
Michael had returned without her, and only a small thread of control had
stopped him from ripping Michael’s head from his shoulders. 

He had meant to tell Samuel immediately about her, to
impress upon him how important he thought this woman could be, but something had
held him back.  The woman had captivated him from the moment he had laid eyes
on her.  It wasn’t just the fact that her blood sang more loudly to him than
any other human he’d ever met.  It was the curve of her mouth, the swell of her
hip, even the way she held those damn swords.

He had felt very little but the thirst for decades, but now he
could feel a thin thread of lust travelling through him.  He knew without a
doubt that Hannah would never tell him anything about the facility or the
humans who lived there.  He had only been in her presence a few short minutes,
but he had witnessed her courage and her fierce determination to destroy him. 
No, she would never betray her kind while she was a human, but he would turn
her and she would be by his side forever.

“Saddle up, cowboys and cowgirls – we’re going hunting.”

Hannah and the others, Selena, Jeremy, Tyler, Lucy and Ben,
looked up in surprise at Darren.

“Right now?”  Jeremy frowned.

“Yep.”  Darren nodded cheerfully as Aaron stepped into the
common room.  “Intel’s informed us that we’ve got a small pod at a factory just
off Route 27.  We’ve been given the okay to take them out.”

“Are Will and Mannie coming with us?”  Hannah asked.

Darren frowned.  “They’re on a supply run.  Why?  You can’t hunt
without your boyfriend holding your hand, sweetheart?”

“Fuck you, Darren.”  Hannah spat at him.

“Anytime baby, anytime.”  He winked at her and then clapped
his hands together.  “Grab your gear everyone – we leave in ten.”

* * *

“Jesus, why the hell do we need so many goddamn bags of rice
anyway?”  Mannie grumbled as he and Will unloaded the back of the truck.

Will laughed.  “Too hard on your back, old man?”

“Shut up.  Richard really needs to stop treating us like
goddamn delivery boys.”  Mannie replied. 

“Hey, we all have to help out where we can.”  Will said
cheerfully.

Mannie stared at Will.  “What’s with the sudden good mood?”

“What do you mean?”  Will grunted as he picked up a few flats
of canned mushrooms and set them next to the rice.

“Don’t play dumb with me.  A week ago you looked like a bag
of shit, and had all five of the new recruits reduced to tears and cowering in
a corner of the common room.  Now you look fresh as a daisy and you’re
practically whistling Dixie out your ass.”

Will shrugged.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

He continued to move groceries from the back of the truck to
the ground as the door to the dilapidated shack opened and Ryan stuck his head
out.

“Hey guys.”  He began to carry the groceries into the elevator
in the shack as three other recruits joined him.

“Bullshit you don’t know.”  Mannie said conversationally.

Will ignored him.  Hannah had snuck into his room three more
evenings since that first night and although he insisted that each time be the
last time, they both knew he didn’t mean it.  They couldn’t get enough of each
other.  Even now, just thinking about last night and the way she had moaned his
name when he bent her over the arm of the couch and entered her from behind,
was giving him an erection.

As the others disappeared into the shack, Mannie grabbed his
arm and gave him a grave look.  “I know why you’re suddenly so cheerful.  It’s
the same reason Hannah is in such a good mood.  I’m not trying to tell you what
to do but just – just be careful okay?  If you’re caught she’ll be kicked out,
you know she will.”

Will nodded, pulling his arm free and carrying the last of
the groceries into the elevator.  He knew Mannie was only trying to help, but
it had shaken him badly that he had figured it out so easily.  If he knew, how
long was it before the others caught on?”

* * *

“I don’t like this.”  Hannah murmured to Tyler and Selena. 
“Something doesn’t feel right.”

They were standing in a tight group in front of a large
abandoned factory.  It rose creepily above them, surrounded by a high chain
link fence.  The broken gate swung back and forth in the cold wind, making a
squealing noise that set Hannah’s teeth on edge.

“What’s to like about it?”  Tyler muttered.  “It’s a goddamn
ghost factory filled with the undead.”

Hannah shook her head.  “No, I mean this whole hunt feels
wrong.  It usually takes days to organize one, and yet we’re sent out with ten minutes’
notice to this one?  You don’t find anything strange about that?”

Selena opened her mouth but before she could speak, the
others joined them.

“Okay, Intel says the pod is on the third floor of the
building.  There are less than ten of them and nearly all of them are
yearlings.  We move in, we dispatch them, we move out.  Quick and easy.”  Aaron
said.

Darren glanced around at the others.  “We’ll break into two
groups.  Hannah, Selena and Tyler, you come with me.  We’ll go through the
front.  Aaron, Jeremy, Ben and Lucy will go around the back.” 

He pulled a blueprint from his back pocket and unfolded it. 
Aaron shone the flashlight on it as the others crowded around them.

“This room here,” Darren pointed to a small room with a
large red x drawn on it, “is the room they’re holed up in.  The hallway outside
of it has two doors, one coming from the front and one from the back.  We’ll do
a quick sweep of the ground level to check for strays, and then meet at this
room in fifteen minutes.  Ready?”

“Darren, where did this information come in from?”  Hannah
asked.

He frowned at her.  “Isabelle brought it to us, why?”

“Isabelle?  Not Richard?”

Darren shrugged.  “Isabelle was in the office when the info
came in.  It’s fine, Hannah.  Richard knows about it as well.”

He looked around at the others.  “Let’s go.  And for
Christ’s sake, keep your eyes open and don’t shoot each other.”

* * *

Will and Mannie were headed for the common room when Chen
joined them.  He gave the two men a troubled look.

“Hannah missed training tonight.”

Will stared at him.  “What do you mean she missed training?”

“I mean she didn’t show up.  She’s never done that before.”

“Maybe she’s not feeling well.”  Mannie said.

Chen shook his head.  “I checked her room, the common room –
she’s not in the facility.  And there are other recruits missing as well.”

Will turned abruptly and the two men trailed after him.

“Will, where are you going?”  Mannie asked.

“Richard’s office.”  He replied grimly.

* * *

“What do you mean they’re missing?”  Richard gave Will a
wary glance.  They had hardly spoken since the night the Lycan had nearly
turned on him, and Will sighed impatiently.

“Hannah missed her training with Chen, and apparently Jeremy,
Tyler, Selena, Ben and Lucy are gone as well.  Is there a hunt tonight?”