The Recruiters (11 page)

All heads nodded again and one voice spoke out, “He said that you two were in danger. That the Elders had lied to you when they let you go. That they were coming for you.”

Matt nodded his head, “That’s correct.”

“
That’s not right,” said one voice.

“
Why would they do that?” said another.

“
Do you have proof?” said another.

Matt held up his hands, “Please friends, I believe my explanation will answer all of your questions.” A hundred and twelve heads nodded again. Matt went on. “As you know,” he said as he reached his hand back to me, “I found my soul mate in my Sarah.” He smiled and kissed the back of my hand as I blushed. “I know many of you who have found yours too. Human soul mates that you had to agonizingly watch grow old and die because the Elders brutally punished any of us who dared ask that they be changed.” Heads nodded all around.

“
I learned from all of you,” he said as his hand swept around the circle. “I learned not to ask. I learned that I had to find a way to do it myself, because, despite what they say, we have the right to be happy. We have the right to not be lonely. We have the right to be complete.” He looked back at me and smiled, then went on as the heads continued to nod their agreement. “So, together, Sarah and I found the way to do it ourselves. We were caught. We were punished, she more than I. And then they offered us an alternative to death. An offer that allowed us to live and be together, or so we thought. We have seen in the months since that they have captured three of the five people who helped us to our discovery. Captured and probably killed. If they’re killing all who helped us, then it really could only mean that once they capture them all, we will be next.”

“
But why?” someone called.

“
Because they don’t want anyone to know their other secret,” he said.

“
Secret? What secret? The change process? Our population should be controlled. We don’t want another Jonas,” said several voices.

I looked back at Carlos and saw him squeeze his eyes shut. I still hadn’t heard the story of Jonas and what he had done to Carlos.

Matt shook his head. “Not the change process, but what they do during the change process to ensure our obedience.” I heard several gasps and a few “I knew it’s.”

Matt nodded. “I know many of you who have been angry or upset with the Elders over the years.” More nods. “Yet if you ever think about confronting them or complaining to them, what happens?”

“
Pain,” many said, “Unbearable pain.”

Matt nodded again. “And that,” he said, “is their dirty secret. That’s something they do to us during the change to keep us loyal. To keep us from rebelling against them. To keep us from thinking for ourselves.”

A chorus of, “That’s wrong,” followed.

“
Yes, it is wrong,” Matt said. “It’s wrong and it should be stopped. I agree that our population should be controlled, but not our freedom.”

Emphatic nods and several stood and said, “Yes!” I saw several grabbing their heads. “But how can we do anything about it?” one said. “This pain is agonizing.”

Matt smiled and looked at me, making me blush. “I used to have that pain too.” he said. “But I don’t anymore. We’ve figured out a way to disable it.” Surprised faces surrounded us. “I’m not going to lie to you. This will not be easy. It will be a battle, a fierce battle. Do not feel that you are obligated to do this. But no matter what you decide to do, we,” he gestured to the three of us, “will fight this battle. We will fight for us. We will fight for you. We will fight for what’s right.” He stopped then and pulled me into his arms. I closed my eyes and waited while holding my breath.

“
What will you do if you win?” a voice said.

“
When we win,” Matt said, “we will form a government. A democratic government. With elected officials and term limits and no corruption and no more fear,” he said.

“
What should we do if they try to contact us?” someone asked.

“
Let them,” Matt said then he held up his hands as they started to protest. “I know you are all strong enough to concentrate on what you were doing before you came here and you will be able to hide what you are doing now. They have to believe everything is normal.” Many heads nodded. I heard murmurs through the crowd.

Finally, I heard Bahiti’s voice. She stood and said, “I will fight with you.”

The vampire next to her stood up, “I too will fight,” he said as my heart began to have hope.

“
Me too,” said one across the circle.

A group of six stood up. “We will fight,” they said together. One by one, and in groups they stood. Nodding their heads. Raising their fists. Vowing to stand with us and fight. Not one. Not just a few. But every last one of them.

I looked around the circle and counted thirty two female vampires, the rest were male. “Oh boy,” I said as I looked in Matt’s eyes, “Stacy’s gonna be a busy girl.”

Chapter Thirteen

We went to the house to get the rooms ready. The library became the room for Aduviri to perform the linking ceremony. The two bedrooms upstairs that had bathrooms attached to them would be changing rooms. The other two would be used to disable the triggers. Luckily for Stacy we thought we’d come up with a way to do it without sex for some of them, although it involved more people and would probably take longer: We would try doing the quick blood transfer like we do during the changing ceremony with me and Bahiti to see if it would work that way. We ran into a roadblock almost right away though. Carlos adamantly refused to do the eternal linking ceremony with Stacy.

“
Uh-uh, no way,” he said. “I’m not linking to anybody.”

“
Carlos,” I said as I sat next to him on the beach, “It’s not like you have to be with her forever. It’s just so you can help her change and she can help disable your pain, then you can go your separate ways.”

“
Yeah, we’d go our separate ways but we’d always have this,” he said as he grabbed my hand and pressed hard on my scar.

“
OWWW,” Matt said from the porch one hundred feet behind us.

“
See?” Carlos said. “That will always be there and that creeps me out,” he said as he dropped my hand.

Someone to my left cleared their throat. I turned to see Rashidi, Bahiti’s quiet, unassuming servant. “Yes Rashidi?” I said.

“
I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said as he bowed, “but I was hoping to offer my services.”

“
Your services?” I said. “Services for what? Does Bahiti need something?”

“
No, ma’am,” he said. “I wanted to offer… errr… volunteer, to do the linking ceremony with Miss Stacy.”

I just stared, completely unable to speak. Finally Carlos said, “Have at ‘er kid. She’s all yours.”

“
Really?” he said, looking at me.

“
Ummm, well, if Bahiti and Stacy are okay with it, then sure why not,” I said as I stood up. “Let’s go ask them.”

I grabbed Rashidi’s arm and began to lead him into the house. We stopped at the confused look on Matt’s face. “Carlos is a wimp,” I said, smiling because I knew he could hear me. “So, Rashidi here has graciously offered to be eternally linked to Stacy. We’re going to check that Bahiti and Stacy are okay with that,” I smiled at Matt.

“
Oh he has, has he? Well, way to step up to the plate Rashidi,” he said as he patted him on the back and winked at me. We walked inside and found Bahiti and Stacy on the couch.

“
Umm, Rashidi has volunteered to go through the eternal linking ceremony with Stacy, we wanted to get your permission,” I said.

Bahiti didn’t hesitate. “I have no objections,” she said.

Stacy looked him up and down. “Cool,” she said as she walked over and put her arm around his shoulder. “Then, after I’m changed I can help you get rid of that trigger thingy in your head,” she grinned and I felt Rashidi’s knees give out next to me. I steadied him before he went down. “You okay?” I said. He looked at me with a grin on his face like he’d just won the lottery and nodded his head.

“
Great!” Stacy said. “Let’s go,” and she led him into the library as I shook my head and smiled.

Bahiti looked at me then, “Shall we proceed?” I nodded my head and gripped Matt’s hand as we followed her upstairs. I was going to try disabling her trigger by having Matt filter my blood through her using tubes and syringes. Hopefully this would work or Stacy really would be busy. We had moved a microwave and refrigerator into the room. The fridge was stocked full of blood. Andrew knew all the delivery routes and one of the trucks in Dallas had had an accident (or so the Elders thought) and lost its entire load of blood. In truth, it had been flown here where it was safely stored in the 15 refrigerators in the basement. Bahiti sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard and Matt began inserting a needle into her neck and one in her arm. I began comprehending how fast he was going to have to go.

“
Honey?” I said.

“
Mmmm?” he replied with a piece of tape in his mouth.

“
We really need one more set of hands,” I said as I pointed to the two large syringes on the bed. “One needs to be in my tube, sucking out the blood while the other is injecting the blood into Bahiti’s tube.” He stared at me for a second and then nodded his head. “I’ll get him,” I said and I closed my eyes and reached out to Carlos, who was still on the beach.

‘
I told you I can’t do it,’
he thought the moment he felt me.

‘
I know Carlos, I’m not asking that, but I need your help, please,’
I thought.

‘
I’m on my way,’
he thought then I heard his footsteps on the stairs. I opened my eyes and let go as he walked in the door. “Well, this looks like fun,” he smiled. I smiled as I grabbed twenty pints from the fridge, the equivalent of two people. I put ten in the microwave and pressed the buttons. When it dinged, I pulled them out, put them on the table next to the microwave, put the other ten in and started it. While it was heating them, I drained the first ten. It dinged and I pulled them out, draining each one fully.

Then I turned. “Okay,” I said, “Let’s do this.” I climbed on the bed next to Bahiti. Matt quickly came around to my side and inserted the needle into my arm, below my heart where it would drain faster. Then he put one in my neck too. Carlos took his place on the bed next to Bahiti, to insert the blood into the tube in her neck, where it would reach her heart faster. I had a hard time concentrating with Matt so close. I could smell him and with all this blood in me, I suddenly craved him badly. I reached up with my other hand and ran my fingers through his hair. He looked up at me, confusion, then comprehension filling his eyes.

“
Ummm, Bahiti, perhaps you could hold Sarah’s other hand?” he said. I nodded my head, knowing that he was right but still wanting to tackle him right now. Carlos chuckled. Bahiti grabbed my hand and laced her fingers through mine, then winced when I squeezed tight and closed my eyes.

“
Sorry,” I mumbled through gritted teeth.

“
It’s okay,” she said. I groaned as I felt the first syringe being drained from me. Matt’s hand flew as he handed the full syringe to Carlos and inserted the empty and drained again. He handed the full one to Carlos, who handed the empty back to Matt. None of this could have been seen with human eyes, but mine picked up every detail when I looked and it was agonizing. I wanted it in me, or to be sharing it with Matt. I dropped my head when I felt the last of it go.

“
Empty,” I mumbled and they quickly switched locations. Carlos began draining from Bahiti’s arm and Matt was pumping it into my neck. I started to feel alive again as it filled me. My breathing got steadier. My heart beat stronger. And the desire for Matt came back, with a vengeance. I tried to let go of Bahiti’s hand but she held tight. I stopped struggling when I heard her mumble, “Empty,” because I knew he would start draining me again.

Several times, back and forth we went, until Matthew whispered, “Bahiti? Think about fighting them. Any pain?”

I peaked at her and saw her close her eyes, then open them in surprise. “No pain at all Matthew,” she said.

“
Okay, then,” Matt said as he continued, “tell me when it’s about halfway, okay?”

“
Okay,” she said as he drained her for the final time and filled me. I felt my strength returning once more as the blood began to fill me.

She and I both said, “Stop,” at the same time. She looked at me, smiled and leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“
Thank you,” she purred.

“
You’re welcome,” I said as she let go of my hand, which automatically went to Matthew’s hair as he was leaning over me and removing the needles.

“
Mmmm, honey?” Matt said.

“
Yeah?” I said as I turned to look at him. His eyes went up to his hair and I followed them and saw my hand weaved in there. I quickly pulled it away. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“
Don’t be,” he said as he leaned over and kissed my cheek. He carried an arm full of syringes and tubes and tossed them in the trash. I felt completely exhausted. “Well,” I said, “it worked that way, but it took a lot longer than our way,” Matt smiled at this as I continued, “and it was hard and very exhausting.”

He frowned slightly, “Did it hurt Sarah?”