The Recruit: Book One (23 page)

“The more the merrier.”  Mannie smiled again.  “We’ve got
plenty of beer.”

The woman nodded and snapped her fingers.  There was a
whisper of noise and Hannah and the others stood, moving closer to the dying fire
as figures emerged from the darkness.  There were at least twenty of them, and
they stood in a loose circle around Hannah and the others.

Hannah glanced behind her.  There was a young boy, he
couldn’t have been more than sixteen, standing behind her.  She could see drool
dripping down his chin as he stared hungrily at her.  Her hands tightened on
the swords as Ben stiffened beside her.

“It seems like more than a few.”  Mannie said as the woman
stepped closer to him. 

“I suppose I did underestimate how many of us would be
having dinner tonight.”

“It happens.”  Mannie said softly. 

“Indeed.”  With shocking speed the woman closed the gap
between her and Mannie and grabbed Mannie by his collar. 

“Dinner time.”  She hissed.  She bent her head to his neck
as her friends began to run towards the others.  A fleeting expression of shock
crossed the vampire’s face, and she pushed Mannie away with a soft grunt.  She
stared down at the knife handle, its blade embedded deep into her chest, with
an expression of confusion. 

“What?”  She whispered before her body burst apart in a
spray of blood and ash. 

Hannah, her heart pounding madly in her chest, pulled her
swords free and whirled around.  The young boy was only a few steps away from
her, mewling with hunger and his fangs glistening, and she had a moment of pure
panic. 

She took a deep breath and then thrust her left blade
through the sternum of the young boy.  He didn’t even seem to feel it.  He was
still growling and mewling with hunger, saliva dripping from his fangs as he
reached for her.  She raised her right blade and swung it into his neck.  It
sliced into his neck with surprising ease, and his body went limp on her blade
as his head tumbled back into the darkness.  His body exploded into ash and she
pulled the sunglasses down onto her face, clicking the button on the side of
them.

The darkness was immediately lit up with an eerie green
light, and she shrugged out of her coat and turned.  Chaos had erupted around
the campsite.  Everywhere she looked a vampire was hissing and attacking.  She
watched as Selena, looking very small and vulnerable in the dim light, raised
her gun and shot a vampire in the chest.  It fell to the ground, and Selena’s
face wrinkled in disgust as the veins in its face and neck began to pulse
steadily with a blue light.  It took only seconds for the ultraviolet light to
kill it and with a low moan the vampire exploded, showering Selena with ash.

A young female vampire leaped for her, flying through the
air with astonishing speed.  Hannah, every nerve and muscle tingling with
adrenaline, watched her coming.  With a quick flick of her wrist, she sliced
the vampire’s head off easily.  She could feel a huge smile break out on her
face as her fear and anxiety melted away to be replaced with a crackling sense
of power.

There were more vampires coming out of the darkness and a
switch seemed to flip in Hannah’s brain.  She went on autopilot, slicing and
thrusting as the vampires closed in around her.  She plunged her right blade
through the heart of a fat man, as she used her left blade to chop off the arm
of another vampire reaching for her throat.  It stumbled back, looked for a
moment in disbelief at the blood pouring from its shoulder and its twitching
limb on the ground, and then screamed in rage.  Hannah shoved her sword through
its open mouth and twisted violently.  The head tore off and blood sprayed from
its neck.  As the body turned to ash, Hannah braced her foot on the vampire’s
head and pulled her sword free with a loud squelching noise. 

There was a snarling noise behind her and she turned to see
a vampire about to grab her throat.  Before she could raise her sword, there
was a loud familiar growling and she had a fleeting glimpse of the Lycan before
it hit the vampire and the two rolled across the ground.  The vampire hissed
and screamed, digging its long pale fingers into the thick fur around the
Lycan’s neck.  The wolf, snarling and snapping, shook them off as easily as a
fly and sank its teeth into the vampire’s neck.  He ripped its throat out in a
single burst of flesh and blood.  The vampire reached up weakly as the Lycan
took its skull into his mouth and tore the head off with a hard pull.  He dropped
the vampire’s head, pointed his snout to the sky and howled piercingly as hard
drops of rain began to fall from the dark sky. 

“Is that Will?”  Ben was suddenly next to her.  His shirt
was covered in ash, and both of the wooden stakes in his hands were drenched in
blood.

Hannah nodded and then shouted, “Down!” 

She swung her sword as Ben dropped to the ground.  The
vampire’s head landed in Ben’s lap, and with a look of disgust he shoved it out
of his lap and stood up.

“Thanks.”

She grinned and they went their separate ways.  Will stopped
howling and, with a brief look at her, bounded across the campsite towards a
vampire about to attack Mannie.

There was a piercing scream and Hannah looked up to see
Alison fleeing into the trees, a look of stark terror on her face.

“Alison, no!”  She shouted.  With a muttered curse she ran
across the campsite and into the woods after her.

“Alison, stop!  Come back!”  She yelled.  There was no
answer and Hannah ran deeper into the trees.  The rain had become a downpour. 
Her clothing was soaked, and her formerly blood-covered swords had been rinsed
clean.  She stopped.  The screaming from the campsite had faded and there was
nothing around her but trees.  She said a mental thank you for the night vision
and held her breath, listening for any sounds of Alison.  For a moment all she
could hear was her own rapid pulse beating thickly in her ears and the rain
pouring down, but after a minute or two she thought she heard soft murmuring
ahead of her.

Frowning, she crept through the trees until she reached a natural
clearing.  Standing in the middle of the clearing was a tall, broad shouldered
man.  His hair was long and dark and swept back from his forehead.  She could
see a thin scar across his forehead.  He was holding Alison against him,
whispering quietly.

She was staring up at him with a rapturous look as the rain fell
on her pale face.  She didn’t flinch when he suddenly bit into her neck, his
long white fangs sinking deep into her flesh.

Alison moaned, her hands clinging weakly to his large arms
as he drank.  Hannah circled around, trying to stay completely quiet, until the
vampire’s back was to her.  She crept up until she was a few feet behind him
and whistled piercingly. 

The vampire dropped Alison and turned.  As he did, Hannah
swung her sword. The vampire dodged it easily and grinned when the force of her
swing nearly dropped her to the ground.  She recovered her balance quickly, and
raised both her blades in an attack position as the vampire folded his fingers
under his chin and looked at her delightedly.

“Another who has been bitten.”  He breathed deeply.  “It’s
so hard to resist the previously bitten.  I can hear your blood.  Did you know
that?”  He smiled at her.  “It sings to me.”

She took another step forward and thrust for the vampire’s
chest with her right blade.  He stepped back, lightning quick, and her sword
sliced through thin air.

“Ooh, you’re quick.”  He actually clapped his hands
together.  “You would make an excellent addition.”  He paused.  “Yes, we would
be very pleased to have you.”

“My name is Marcus.  Come.”  He held out his hand.  “I offer
you the gift of immortality.  You will be young and beautiful forever. 
Wouldn’t you like that, little lamb?”

“Fuck you.”  Hannah spat at him.

A look of anger settled on his face.  “You’ll have to learn
manners first, but that can be easily taught.”  He reached for her again and
Hannah, her sword a blur, sliced off his left hand.

He stared at her in shock, blood flowing from the wound, and
she smiled at him.  “I don’t like to be touched."

He clapped his hand over the wound, squeezing tightly, and
hissed at her.  “You’ll pay for that, bitch.”

Five more vampires appeared out of the darkness beside him. 
He nodded towards Alison who was lying on the ground.  “You can kill her.  The
dark-haired one I want alive.  Drain her until she’s weak and then bring her to
me.  Do you understand?”

One of the vampires, small and nervous looking, nodded.  “Yes,
master.”

The rest of them nodded eagerly and as Hannah stood
protectively over Alison’s body, the vampire disappeared into the trees.

“Hello pretty.”  One of the vampires hissed excitedly.  “You
smell good.  Why don’t you come over here so I can have a little taste?”

Hannah, her body beginning to shake with adrenaline, raised
her swords as a large growling started behind her.  The wolf stalked out of the
trees and stood next to her as all the vampires but one, surrounded them in a
tight circle.  The fifth vampire, the one who had called Marcus ‘master’, had
melted into the darkness the moment he had seen Will.

Hannah, her hands clenching the swords so tightly her
knuckles were white, turned and faced them.  She could hear Will behind her,
snarling and snapping his teeth, and she grinned fearlessly at the vampire
closest to her.

“You want me – come and get me.”

* * *

“Selena – wait!”  Tyler muttered a curse as he followed
Selena through the trees.  The battle had only lasted ten minutes, and Mannie
and the others were currently destroying the last of the vampires.  Selena, her
face frantic, had pulled him into the woods.

“I saw both Alison and Hannah go this way.  We have to find
them!”  She panted.  Tyler jogged after her, and he cursed again when there was
a scream from the woods in front of them.  He caught up to Selena and took her
hand, pulling her to a stop.

He put his finger to his lips and she nodded.  Still holding
her gun, she followed him quietly as the sounds of growling and screaming grew
louder.  Just ahead of them was a clearing and he felt, more than heard,
Selena’s gasp of surprise.

Hannah, her face serene, was plunging her sword through the
chest of a vampire that was lying on the ash-covered ground.  Its scream turned
into a low gurgling moan that was masked by the sound of Will’s growling.  He
rose up on his back legs and tore the head off the last vampire with one swipe
of his paw.

As Tyler watched, Hannah looked around the clearing and then
turned to Will.  She stared at him silently, her nostrils flaring and her chest
heaving, and Selena stumbled back against Tyler as Will transformed from wolf
to human. 

Naked, he strode the few steps to Hannah, yanked her against
his chest and kissed her deeply.

“Oh my God.”  Tyler whispered.

At the sound of his voice, Will’s head snapped up and he
looked across the clearing at them.  He growled low in his throat and Selena,
squeezing Tyler’s hand so tightly the circulation was cut off, stepped out into
the clearing.

“Hannah?  Are you okay?”

Hannah, her face flushed and her lips swollen from Will’s
kiss, nodded.  Will pulled away from her and transformed back into a wolf. He
rested his large head against her hip, and she rubbed her fingers through the
thick, wet fur on the side of his face.

“Alison’s been bit.  We need to get her back to the others.”

Tyler nodded and, keeping a wary eye on Will, knelt and
picked up Alison.  He followed the others back to the campsite.

“Hannah, this is not a good idea.”  Tyler said worriedly.

“It’ll be fine.”  She spoke absentmindedly, staring across
the road where Will’s truck was parked.

“If you get caught you’ll be kicked out.”  Tyler protested.

“I won’t get caught.”  Hannah looked at Selena.  After a
moment Selena nodded.

She took Tyler’s hand, squeezing gently, and smiled up at
him.  “Looks like it’s just you and me riding back together.”

He frowned and she gave him a quick kiss.  “Stop worrying.” 

She looked back at Hannah.  “We’ll wait for you at the
turnoff before the farmhouse.  Okay?”

Hannah nodded and then impulsively hugged her.  “Thank you,
Selena.”

Will opened the back door of his truck and reached inside
for the clothes that were lying on the back seat.  He pulled his jeans on and
slipped into his shoes.  Mannie honked as he drove by and Will raised one hand
in reply.  He pulled his shirt over his head and slammed the door shut. 

“Hello Will.”

“Jesus!”  He staggered back and glared at Hannah.  She was
standing next to the driver’s door.  Her trench coat was over one arm, her
swords hung from scabbards around her waist, and she had her arms crossed
beneath her full breasts.  Her white shirt was soaked through, and he could see
the outline of her nipples against the damp fabric. 

“What are you doing here?”

She smiled at him.  Her eyes were dark and inviting, and he
could feel his body responding to her as she leaned against his truck.  “My
ride left without me.”

He looked around.  He was the last to leave and although the
rain had stopped, the wind was blowing heavily.  “You know you can’t come with
me.”

She smiled.  “That’s too bad.  I like coming with you.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  It was the wrong
thing to do.  The wind carried her scent to him, and he grimaced as his dick
hardened in his pants.

“I’m serious, Hannah.  If Richard finds out we were alone
together, you’ll be kicked out of the program.”

“I guess I’m hitch-hiking then.”  She winked at him.  “See
you later, Will.” 

She turned and walked away, her hand trailing along his
truck.  He stared at her ass in the tight leather pants, and slammed his fist
against the side of the truck.