The Recruit: Book Two (17 page)

There was a moment of shocked silence and
then the female vampire screamed with rage and the rest of the vampires surged
forward.  The man pushed the hood of his cloak back and Chen felt, more than heard,
Reid’s sharp gasp.

“Hannah!”  Luther yelled. 

“What?”  She shouted back as she swiftly
unbuttoned the clock and dropped it on the floor.  She raised her swords into a
fighting position.

“We need a couple of minutes!”  Tyrone
hollered as he continued to pull at the wires.

“You have thirty goddamn seconds!”  She
shouted. 

Chen was up and sprinting out from behind
the pallets before Reid had even scrambled to his feet.  Cursing loudly, he
followed the Asian man.  He raised his gun and fired, shooting the two vampires
closest to Hannah as Chen swept his swords in a wide arc.  The sharp blades
found their marks as he sliced through four vampire’s throats at once.

Vaguely, Reid was aware of a muffled thump
behind him and then Will, in his Lycan form, was bounding past him.

“Luther!  We!  Are going!  To die!”  Hannah
shouted grimly. 

A vampire dove for her and she kicked it
viciously in the throat.  It dropped to the ground in front of her and she
pierced it through the heart with one sword.  She yanked the blade free,
jerking back as a jet of blood sprayed out of its chest.

“Ten more seconds!”  Luther hollered.

“Push the fucking button!”  Hannah shouted
again. 

She punched a vampire in the face with the
butt of her sword as she sliced the legs off another one reaching for her.  It
dragged itself across the ground, grabbing her leg, its long nails carving
through her jeans.  She hissed in pain and jerked her leg free before stomping
on its hand.  It mewled up at her, and with a grunt of anger she chopped its
head off. 

She looked up, cursing loudly and backing
up against the wall.  Five vampires were surrounding her, hissing and reaching
for her with their long fingers.  She brought her right sword down, the sharp
blade cleaved through the top of the skull of the closest vampire, and she
yanked it free with another loud grunt.

As the other vampires closed in around her,
Will crouched down and jumped at them, his long, sharp claws digging furrows
into the cement floor.

“GOT IT!”  Luther cried triumphantly. 

He and Tyrone pushed the green button, and
Reid cried out and threw his hand up to block his eyes as the warehouse was
filled with a blinding, white-hot light.

“Holy fucking shit!  Did you see that?”  As
the light faded, Luther jumped up and down before hugging his brother.  He
dragged him over to where Hannah stood leaning against the wall, panting
heavily.  A few feet from her, Will, still in his Lycan form, was standing in a
huge pile of blood-soaked ash and sneezing repeatedly.

Reid coughed and coughed again.  The entire
warehouse was filled with dust and what seemed like an ocean of blood and ash. 
He looked around, coughing absentmindedly; the vampires were gone, not a single
one remained, and he blinked as the blonde spiky-haired girl leaped down from
the table and jogged towards them, her hands still tied behind her back.

The twins hugged Hannah.  “Did you see that,
Hannah?  It worked!  It fucking worked!” Luther crowed delightedly.

“It barely worked, Luther.”  Tyrone
grimaced as Heather joined them.

“Untie me.”  She demanded. 

Hannah ignored all three of them.  She was
staring hesitantly at Will.  She took a step forward and reached to touch his
large head.  He skittered back, yellow eyes glowing at her, before he turned
and loped back up the steps to the balcony.

Hannah, a flash of hurt crossing her face,
turned towards Chen.

“Hello Master.”

“Hello Hannah.”

She started towards him and he met her
halfway.  She paused and then hugged him hard as Will, now in his human form
and buttoning his jeans up, descended down the stairs.

“Whoa... wolf goes up, human comes down.”  Luther
nudged Tyrone.  “Dude’s a werewolf.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”  Tyrone rolled his
eyes as he untied the rope from around Heather’s wrists.

Chen and Hannah broke apart and she smiled at
him, tears zig-zagging down her face.  “What are you doing here?”

“What are we doing here?”  Mannie
whispered.  His eyes were huge and he couldn’t stop staring at Hannah.  “What
are
you
doing here?  You’re fucking dead, remember?”

“Mannie, I – “

Before Hannah could finish, the door of the
warehouse banged open and Selena and the others ran in.

“What the hell happened?  What was that
light?”  Mallorie stopped, staring blankly at Hannah.

Selena gave a small shriek and ran forward,
throwing herself at Hannah.  She kissed Hannah’s face repeatedly before
clinging tightly to her.

Half-laughing and half-crying, Hannah
hugged her back.  “Oh, Selena.  I’ve missed you so much.”

Selena wiped the tears from Hannah’s face.  “You
look good.”

Hannah smiled a little.  “Not bad for a
dead woman, right?”

She looked behind her at Will, the smile
dropping from her face when she saw the way Constance was standing close to
him, watching him with concern and rubbing his back gently while he stared
blankly at the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Reid spoke for the first time,
“but could someone please explain what the holy fuck is going on here?”

“I will.”  Hannah gave him a quick smile. 
“But it’s not safe here.  We need to go.”  She started for the door, the twins
and Heather following closely.  After a brief hesitation, the others followed
them out into the night.

* * *

“Who owns this house?”  Mannie glanced
around curiously. 

They had left the warehouse and followed
Hannah and her new friends as they had driven south.  They had driven for
nearly half an hour before Hannah had turned down a side road.  After another
fifteen minutes they pulled into a large circular driveway.  The house was
large and rose up like a dark shadow in the moonlight.  They had parked and
trooped dutifully into the cool, dark interior of the front foyer.

“My parents.”  Heather said, flicking on
the lights.

Constance frowned.  “Are they home?”

“They’re dead.”  She replied shortly.  She climbed
the staircase and disappeared upstairs.

“Don’t mind her.”  Luther said.  “Girl’s
got anger issues.”

“You would too if your own parents had
tried to drink your blood.”  Tyrone smacked Luther lightly on the head.

“Oh my God.”  Selena grimaced.  “That’s
horrible.  How did she survive?  Did she kill them?”

Tyrone shook his head.  “Nah, she’s got
Hannah to thank for that.”

The others looked at Hannah as Tyrone
continued.  “She sliced and diced ‘em before they could turn Heather.  Saved
her life – not that Heather’s what you would call grateful for it.”

There was a moment of quiet and then Selena
shook her head.  “That poor girl.”

Luther sidled up to her.  “I’m an orphan
too ya know, baby.  I ain’t got no one to look after me.  You maybe interested
in the job?”  He put his arm around Selena’s shoulders and winked at her.

Hannah rolled her eyes.  “Enough, you
little horndog.  Why don’t you and Tyrone go to the kitchen and grab some
leftover pizza?”

“Oh, I’m pretty happy right here.”  Luther
grinned up at Selena again. 

Tyrone snorted loudly and grabbed his arm,
yanking him away from the short Latina.  “Jesus Christ, Luther.  You ain’t got
a fucking chance with her.”

“Fuck you!  The ladies love me!”  Luther
shouted.  He took a swing at his brother who ducked it easily and then plowed
forward, ramming him in the stomach.

“Oof!”  Luther fell to the ground and
Tyrone jumped on him, pinning him down as he writhed under him like a wildcat.

“Get off me, you asshole!  I’ll kill you! 
I swear to God I’ll – “

“Knock it off!”  Hannah yelled.  “One more
word out of either of you and I’ll kick both your asses.  Do you get it?”

“Yes ma’am.”  They mumbled in unison as
Tyrone climbed off of Luther.  Luther staggered to his feet, punching his
brother on the shoulder.  Tyrone winced and then retaliated by kicking him in
the shin.

“Both of you get your asses to the kitchen
now and have something to eat.”  Hannah said firmly.

They slouched out of the room and Chen bit
back a grin when Hannah yelled, “And eat some fruit for God’s sake.  Not just
the pizza!”

She turned back, blushing a little when she
realized the rest of the team was staring at her.

“What?”

Reid shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I guess
it’s just a little strange to watch a dead woman playing happy homemaker with a
bunch of teenage delinquents.”

Hannah winced.  “I can explain.  Come in to
the living room.”

They followed her in, April and Alex gazing
at the expensive leather furniture and the baby grand piano in the far corner.

“Shit,” April breathed to Alex, “how much
do you think this house is worth?”

He shrugged before sitting down on the
loveseat.  The others followed his lead as Hannah stood in front of the
fireplace.

She glanced nervously at Will.  The Lycan
hadn’t spoken a single word to her or anyone else.  He was leaning against the
wall, as far away from her as he could get, and his blue eyes were cold and
distant.  She swallowed past the lump in her throat. 

She desperately wanted to run to him and
wrap her arms around his body.  She wanted to feel his arms around her, feel
his lips on her own and hear his low voice whispering that he loved her.  But
he obviously was angry with her and she couldn’t blame him.  She wouldn’t be
surprised if he hated her.

She gave him a tentative smile, blinking
back the tears when he didn’t return it.  She forced her attention back to the
others as Chen directed Mallorie and April to keep watch at the large windows. 
Both windows were covered with heavy, dark curtains and the two women slipped
behind them until only their lower legs and feet were visible.

Reid was suddenly in front of her and she
blinked a little at his closeness.  Without speaking he wrapped his arms around
her, lifted her from the floor and gave her a bone crushing hug.  She gasped a
little and then hugged him back.

He set her back down and rested his
forehead against hers.  “I’m really mad at you right now.”  He whispered.

“Yeah, I know.”  She smiled ruefully at him
before untangling herself from his embrace.  Mannie was next and he gave her a
loud smacking kiss on the cheek before hugging her hard.  She winced, rubbing
her ribs as he released her.

“Goddamn balls of steel.”  He grinned at
her and ruffled her hair. 

She took a deep breath as Reid and Mannie
sat down.  “First – I’m sorry I lied.  But it’s very important that everyone in
this room keeps pretending that I’m dead.  I hate to make you lie for me but if
you don’t all of you, along with the people you care most about, will be in
danger.”

She took another deep breath.  “Five months
ago, a vampire named Marcus threatened to kill everyone I came in contact with
if I didn’t join them.  I killed him and then forced Selena to lie about my
death.  I thought it was – “

“Whose body did we bury?”  Will’s low voice
interrupted.

“I – I’m sorry?”  She stammered out.

“Whose body is lying under the cross with
your name on it?”  Will’s voice was soft and deliberate but she could hear the
anger in it.

“Jeremy’s.”  She whispered.

He didn’t respond and she hurried on.  “I
stayed hidden, trying to keep a low profile, but then I stumbled on to Tyrone
and Luther.”

“Dumb and dumber.”  Reid shook his head.

She frowned.  “Actually, they’re
extraordinarily smart.  Tyrone told me once that before they dropped out of
school, their teacher had their IQ’s tested.  Tyrone’s was 167 and Luther’s was
171.”

“Holy shit.”  Mannie whistled.  “How old
are they?”

“They’re fifteen.”

“Where are their parents?”  Constance
asked.  She was sitting on one of the leather couches.  Ryan was sitting beside
her and Hannah didn’t think she was imagining the adoring look he was giving
her.

“Their parents were killed by a drunk
driver when they were two and they grew up in foster care.  One night about two
years ago, Luther was buying some weed from a local dealer when they witnessed
a vampire attack.  The dealer was killed.  Luther escaped, but not without
being bitten.  He and Tyrone dropped out of school and were living on the
streets, killing any vampires they stumbled across.”

She frowned.  “Which, with Luther being
bitten, was quite a few.”

“I can’t believe they survived.”  Alex
said.

“They’re used to doing whatever it takes to
survive – plus, they’re goddamn geniuses.”  Hannah spoke fondly.  “They were
the ones who invented the ultraviolet light weapon in the warehouse.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”  Mannie gave
her a look of disbelief.

“I’m not.”  Hannah replied.  “We’d been
tracking some of the vampires and followed them to the warehouse.  Once we
realized they were using it as some kind of meeting hall we knew it was our
chance to take a bunch of them out.  Two days ago we snuck into the warehouse
and rigged the lighting system up.  Took over thirty-six hours and a shitload
of equipment but we knew it was our only chance to destroy such a large group. 
The boys came up with the idea and figured out how to make it work in less than
twenty-four hours.”

“It almost didn’t work.”  Will pointed
out.  His voice was still deceptively soft and Hannah gave him a nervous smile.

“There were a few hiccups.”  She
acknowledged.

Will snorted and crossed his arms, glaring
at her as she looked away.

“Where do you get the money for all of
this?”  Reid asked.

“Heather’s parents were quite wealthy and
left a considerable amount of money to her when they died.  She pays for most
of it.  What she doesn’t buy, Luther and Tyrone manage to uh,” she stopped and
rolled her eyes, “magically find .”

“How did you end up with these guys
anyway?”  Selena asked.

Hannah smiled.  “They tried to pick-pocket
my swords.”

“Woulda worked too if this chickenshit
hadn’t lost his nerve.”  Tyrone and Luther sauntered back into the room, each
of them with a piece of pizza in one hand and an apple in the other.

“Fuck you, Tyrone.”  Luther mumbled amiably
around his mouthful of pizza.  “I didn’t lose my nerve.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You were distracted
by Hannah’s big, perky,“ Tyrone started to hold his hands out in front of his
chest, and then stopped, “uh – eyes?”  He finished, blushing at the look that
Hannah was giving him.

Both Mannie and Reid snorted laughter as
Tyrone mumbled an apology to Hannah.

Chen spoke quietly.  “You’re the mystery
group.”

“What?”  Hannah gave him a questioning
look.

“You’ve been luring the vampires from the
bars.”

Luther grinned.  “Easy as hell that’s been. 
Goddamn leeches are all over Hannah and Heather.  Like leading lambs to the
slaughter, am I right?”  He held his fist up to Tyrone who bumped it obligingly
before biting into his apple.