The Recruit (Book Three) (27 page)

“Mannie, snap
out of it.” His mother whispered.

He blinked in
confusion. His mother was a bleached blonde, always had been, so
why was her hair so dark? Why was she wearing leather pants and a
t-shirt stained with blood?

He shook his
head, crying out at the pain, and grimly tamped down his urge to
vomit as the room swayed alarmingly. He blinked repeatedly until
his eyes finally focused, and studied the woman next to him.

“Selena?”

“Oh thank God.”
She breathed. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit. How
do I look?” He grunted.

“Like shit.”
She gave a breathless laugh of relief. “You’ve been unconscious for
most of the day. I thought you were in a coma or something.”

He stretched
his neck, grimacing when it cracked loudly. “What happened?”

“One of the
leeches threw you headfirst into a tree. You’re lucky he didn’t
break your neck or give you brain damage.”

“Jury’s still
out on the brain damage.” A voice replied.

Mannie craned
his head to the left and stared at Tyrone. The twin winked at him.
“Selena’s right, dude, you look like shit.”

“Thanks.
Where’s your brother?”

“Right here.”
Tyrone leaned back and Mannie stared at Luther. Unlike his brother
who seemed as cocky and defiant as ever, Luther was pale and
subdued.

“You okay,
Luther?” Mannie squinted at him.

Luther nodded
and Tyrone gave his brother a look of sympathy before shifting on
the hard ground. They were lined up in a neat row against the wall.
The boy’s hands were tied behind his back with thick rope and the
rope was attached to an iron loop driven into the wall behind him.
Mannie tried to move his own hands, grunting with frustration and
pain when the rope wrapped around his wrists didn’t budge.

“Don’t bother.”
Alex said bitterly. “We’ve been trying all day to loosen them.”

Mannie studied
their surroundings. They were sitting on the floor of what looked
like a dilapidated barn and his heart sped up when he realized that
other than the twins, Stephanie was the only other baby in the
barn.

“Where are the
other babies?”

Stephanie
started to cry and Selena made a soothing noise under her breath.
“It’s okay, Steph. It’ll be okay.”

“Selena, where
are the others?” Mannie repeated.

“Dead,
probably.” Tyrone said. The cocky look had faded from his face and
he stared dejectedly at Mannie. “After they brought us here, they
took Liz and Valerie, A.J., Derek and Zach.”

“Took them
where?”

“We don’t
know.” Alex replied grimly. “Somewhere into the woods, I guess. We
heard Liz screaming.”

“That was last
night,” Selena said, “and we haven’t seen the babies or the
vampires since.”

“Fuck!” Mannie
shook his head and winced as another bolt of pain shot across his
temples. “Christ, that hurts.”

“You’ve got a
concussion, I’m pretty sure.” Selena said gravely.

“Yeah.” He
muttered. He paused as a thought struck him. “Constance? Where’s
Constance?”

Selena didn’t
reply and Mannie glanced at Tyrone. He was staring at his brother
and Mannie nudged him with his foot. “Tyrone? What about
Constance?”

“She’s dead.”
Luther said bluntly.

“We don’t know
that, man.” Tyrone said immediately. “She might have survived.”

“She had four
of those leeches attacking her when the rest of them dragged us
away. You know she’s dead, Tyrone.”

“Luther – “

“Leave me
alone, Tyrone.” Luther said wearily. He closed his eyes and leaned
his head against the wall as Tyrone gave Mannie a worried look.

“What time is
it?” Mannie asked.

“Don’t know.
But the sun will be setting soon.” Tyrone replied.

“Mannie, these
vampires – they aren’t, I mean, they’re nothing like we’ve seen
before.” Selena said urgently. “They’re so strong. I don’t know if
you remember this but I shot one of them in the chest and the
ultraviolet light didn’t kill him. They captured all of us in less
than five minutes.”

“What language
were they speaking? Does anyone know?” Mannie asked suddenly.

“German.”
Tyrone replied. “When Selena shot the leech, the biggest one asked
if he was okay and he said he was fine and that it missed his
heart.”

“You understand
German?” Mannie asked.

“Yeah. Doesn’t
everyone?” Tyrone asked. “Luther and I learned it when we were
seven. We also know French, Spanish and Latin.”

“Of course you
do.” Mannie sighed. He cocked his head and squinted across the
darkening barn. “Wait - who the fuck is that?”

There was a man
strung from the ceiling by heavy, silver chains around his wrists.
His head was down and his long, greasy hair obscured his face. His
feet just brushed the ground and he swayed lightly back and
forth.

“No idea.”
Tyrone shrugged. “He was here when they brought us in and he ain’t
said a fucking word. I think he might be dead.”

“He ain’t dead,
ya fucking idiot.” Luther snapped. “He’s breathing, ain’t he?”

Mannie waited
for Tyrone to snap back but instead the twin gave him a look of
quiet relief before shrugging again. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course I
am. I’m the fucking smart one.” Luther snapped again.

Some of the
tension disappeared from Tyrone’s body and he leaned against the
wall. Mannie had an idea that Luther’s uncharacteristic depression
had been worrying his twin more than the prospect of being a
leech’s lunch did. Not that he blamed him. It had been more than a
little weird to see Luther acting so subdued and quiet.

“We need to get
out of here before the sun goes down completely and the leeches
come back.” Mannie pulled at the rope around his wrists, wincing as
it dug into his skin again.

“I told you,
it’s pointless.” Alex said morosely. “They’re too tight.”

“Well, there
has to be something we can use to cut them or loosen them.” Mannie
said irritably. His head was aching and throbbing, his vision was
blurry and he could hardly control the urge to vomit.

A soft
chuckling made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he and
the others stared across the barn at the chained man. He lifted his
head and Stephanie gasped in surprise when he grinned at them and
revealed long, sharp fangs.

Mannie stared
in shock at the leech. He had never seen one so emaciated before.
The leech’s skin was stretched tightly over his face, giving it a
skull-like appearance, and large clumps of hair had fallen out of
his scalp. His eyes had turned a deep red and he licked his lips
hungrily before grimacing. He turned his head and spit out a tooth
before licking the blood from his mouth.

“Yer all gonna
die.” He announced in a dry and dusty voice.

“Fuck you,
leech.” Luther spat at him.

The vampire
cackled laughter that turned into a dry, hacking cough. Mannie
winced when a second tooth flew out of the vampire’s mouth and
landed on the floor in front of him.

“No need to be
like that, boy. What’s your name?” The vampire grinned at him and
Luther gave him a look of disgust.

“My name’s
Judd.” The vampire continued when Luther didn’t reply. “It’s nice
to meet ya.” He cackled laughter again and muttered something that
Mannie couldn’t hear.

“Why are you in
here, Judd?” Mannie asked cautiously.

Judd squinted
at him. “I’m a prisoner just like you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.
I’ve begged them to kill me like they killed old Billy. Begged ‘em
hundreds of time, but they won’t do it. They just laugh at me.”

He gave Mannie
a desperate, haunted look. “I’m so hungry. Do you understand how
hungry I am?”

“I do.” Mannie
said lightly. The vampire had gone insane, whether it was from lack
of blood or being kept prisoner by his own kind he didn’t know, and
he made his voice soft and gentle.

“How long have
you been in here?”

Judd stared at
the floor in thought. “I don’t rightly know. A couple months,
maybe?”

“Where did the
other leeches – vampires – come from?” Mannie asked.

“I don’t know.
They just showed up one night. Me and Billy, that was my partner at
the store, we was talking to some fancy city folk. Well, talking
might not be right.” The vampire giggled loudly. “I was drinking
from the husband and Billy was chasing after the wife. She’d tried
to run. They usually do. We always catch ‘em though. I didn’t like
it so much but Billy loved it when they ran. He loved to chase ‘em.
He would have loved these new guys if they hadn’t killed him.”

“Did you and
Billy do this a lot?” Mannie asked.

“Oh yeah. We
had a real nice thing going. We ran the gas station out front and
when humans showed up for gas or food or to take a piss, we just
ate our fill. It was so easy.” Judd said dreamily.

He licked his
dry, cracked lips. “I ain’t had nothin’ to eat since the husband.
What was his name again?”

“Judd, how many
of the other vampires are there?”

“Barry? No,
that ain’t right. Larry, maybe. Jesus, that don’t sound right
either.” Judd said tiredly. “What the fuck was the husband’s name?
If Billy was here, he’d know.”

“Judd? How
many, big guy?” Mannie repeated softly.

“Thirteen.
Thirteen of the big bastards. They are big, ain’t they? Poor old
Billy didn’t have a chance. I didn’t either. I tried to run but
they’re so quick. They’re from Europe I think. England, maybe. I
ain’t never been to Europe but they got that English accent.”

“Oh my God.
They’re from Germany, you fucking moron.” Luther rolled his eyes
and Mannie glared at him.

“Be quiet,
Luther!”

“How many other
people have these vampires taken?” Mannie stared at Judd.

Judd shrugged.
“I don’t know. Plenty. They took over our scam. They mind the store
and pick up the humans that come in. They’re smarter than us. They
got a guy that takes the cars and strips ‘em down and sells ‘em for
parts.”

They do it to
hide the evidence.” He explained carefully. “That’s awful smart,
huh? Me and Billy – we ain’t never thought of that. We just hid ‘em
here in the barn.” He paused and gave Mannie a sly look. “They
ain’t as nice as old Billy and I were, though.”

“What do you
mean?”

Judd didn’t
reply. He was staring off into space and he scowled lightly.
“Harry? Maybe his name was Harry.”

“Judd!
Concentrate!” Mannie said harshly. “What do the vampires do to the
humans?”

“They hunt
them.” Judd said dreamily. “They release them into the woods and
then they hunt them. They say the human’s blood is sweeter when
they’re being hunted. Somethin’ about the adrenaline, maybe?”

He gave Mannie
and the others a chilling smile. “The sun will be down soon.
They’ll come in and they’ll choose more of you for the hunt. You’ll
be dead before the sun rises.”

Chapter 21

“Chen, I don’t
like this.” Reid muttered.

Chen shrugged.
“Will is right. We would have slowed them down and we have to
assume that it’s a large pod of vampires. We’re going to need more
people.”

“We don’t have
more people.” Reid replied.

“The babies are
better than nothing.”

“Fuck.” Reid
muttered again.

They had
carried the bodies to the large mini-van and loaded them carefully
into the back seat. They were headed back to the facility, Paul was
driving and Mallorie was sitting shotgun. He and Chen were sitting
in the first row of seats and Ryan, his face pale, was sitting in
the middle row of seats staring blankly out the window. One arm was
slung over the seat and his hand was resting on Constance’s arm. He
stroked it gently as Reid leaned forward and tapped Paul on the
shoulder.

“Drive
faster.”

“I’m driving
fast enough.” Paul snapped. “If we get pulled over for speeding,
are you doing to explain to the cop why we have two bodies in the
back seat?”

“We’re in the
middle of nowhere.” Reid pointed out. “I hardly doubt that a cop is
going to – “

There was a
sudden, loud bang and Paul cursed and yanked on the wheel when the
van careened toward the ditch. The mini-van skidded and swayed, and
Mallorie shouted in pain when her head thumped against the side of
the door frame with a hard thud.

Paul, still
cursing loudly, struggled to gain control of the mini-van. After a
few seconds, he straightened it out and guided the vehicle to the
side of the road. He parked and stared at Chen and Reid through the
rear view mirror.

“What the fuck
was that?”

“Blown tire
from the sounds of it.” Reid slid across the seat and pulled the
sliding door open before jumping nimbly to the ground. He headed to
the back of the mini-van as the others, with the exception of Ryan,
followed him.

Reid kicked at
the shredded back tire as Paul squatted next to it. “Well, it’s
completely useless.”

“C’mon,” Reid
motioned to him, “we’ll grab the spare and get it changed.”

Paul nodded and
followed him to the back of the mini-van. He opened the back door
and lifted out the bottom, staring at the empty space.

“Where the hell
is the spare?”

Reid sighed
loudly. “I have no fucking idea.”

He pulled his
cell phone out and frowned at it before pushing a couple of
buttons. He held it up in the air and cursed lightly.

“I have no
service. How about you?”

Paul yanked his
phone from his jacket pocket and gave it a quick glance.
“Nope.”

“Fuck me. Can
this day get any fucking worse?” Reid grumbled.

He leaned
around the mini-van. “Chen, we’ve got a problem. There’s no fucking
spare. Does anyone have cell service?”

Chen and
Mallorie joined them and both shook their heads after checking
their cell phones.