The Recruit Page 9

  His silence told her the answer. Dylan shifted awkwardly where he stood. “Look, I’m working today,” came his explanation, “it helps me focus.”

  Dylan had revealed he enjoyed drinking blood since the beginning and Rebecca had accepted the fact when she agreed to come with him. It didn’t mean she had liked the idea, and it didn’t mean she had to watch him do it. She had also been verbal in expressing her thoughts on the matter.

  Deciding to change the subject, Rebecca finished another bite and asked, “You’re working? I thought you would spend time with me today? Aren’t these changes coming?”

  “They are,” Dylan agreed. Then, “There’s this case I’m following and I’ve got a lead, it came a minute before I called you this morning and I came here to tell you I need to go.”

  “A lead?”

  “Yes,” he said. He looked at his watch, “My ride will be here in about ten minutes, in fact. I understand how this sounds, but..-”

  “You’re leaving me? For how long?” Her eyes wide open.

  Sure he must feel a little guilty about abandoning her in her special day, Rebecca made it her job to make him feel worse. He had turned her into a vampire, and now he was going away, leaving her to face the end of her transformation alone? Who would be thrilled about that?

  “You have to understand, this is a case I’ve been following for over a decade, Becca, I’m sorry,” he said in way of an apology. “I have to go check it out. If I don’t and something happens, I won’t be good company today.” He sounded so serious about his business. “I should be back later today. Then, I’m all yours.”

  Rebecca knew it would be less than a few hours before her fangs grew, and doubted he would be back on time to witness it.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to handle this on my own,” she confessed with a pout.

  “When you get your fangs, all you have to do is will them back inside your gums and they’ll disappear. We’ve been over this. You can do this with or without me.”

  “I wanted you to be with me. Like we talked. Besides, it’s easier said than done, Dylan. I’m freaking out as it is.”

  Dylan seemed to think she had a point, “I could call someone to be here with you if you’d like.”

  Wait, what? “You mean another vampire?”

  “Er, sure.”

  Rebecca didn’t want that. “No, it’s all right,” she hurried to say. “If you really need to leave, I guess I must survive it on my own.”

  Dylan still didn’t look at ease with his decision to leave her because he kept talking about it, “I feel horrible doing this to you, believe me, but my source never fails and-.”

  Forcing a smile, Rebecca said, "It’s all right.” She tried to reassure him. "I’ll be fine."

  The pain in her mouth came so suddenly she shrieked. Dylan held her just as her hands flew to ease the pain in her gums.

  “Well, what do you know?” she heard him say. “Perfect timing.”

  Being at the dentist while he took out a tooth without an analgesic was a walk in the park compared to the pain she was enduring as her canines grew. Rebecca could hear her teeth making way for the long fangs that had been growing under her gums this whole time and were now ready to come out.

  Fortunately, the pain was gone in a few seconds and, just like that, Rebecca brushed her tongue over her new pair of vampire fangs. “This is… creepy,” she said between the long teeth. It was an understatement.

  Dylan chuckled and Rebecca looked at him in disdain. “Just think they are gone and they’ll retract,” he explained.

  “Will it hurt?” she asked.

  “Not really. It only hurts when they come out because they cut the skin every single time, but it’s so quick you won’t think much about it after a few times.”

  Dylan had explained that thoroughly during the six months of preparation for this moment. The specificity of how vampire fangs worked had been the topic of discussion one of their evenings at her house. It had even gotten to a point where Dylan had drawn pictures for her to explain the process. It was still different to see it through a bad drawing than to experience it.

  “Don’t go,” she begged him he before said goodbye. “I can’t do this on my own.”

  Patting her back, Dylan leaned over to kiss her cheek, his skin wasn't cold to her touch anymore. That meant their body temperatures were becoming even. That had been another topic of discussion at some point.

  “You’ll be fine.” Dylan stood up and started to leave. “Maybe it’ll help if you look at yourself in the mirror. I hear that’s how many do it when they first get them. You should try it.”

  If there had been a way to make him stay, she would have said anything. Rebecca knew how Dylan felt about his work. His job was why he had brought her here. Rebecca knew she would join him in the field after her transformation was over and she had enough training.

  “Call me when you’re back in the building… please?” she pleaded, her lips still not used to feeling the sharp fangs under her lips.

  “I will,” he said. When he pointed at her face he said, “And good luck with the fangs.” Before closing the door, he added, “Oh, and… do me a favor?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Wait for me before you go exploring?”

  Why? What was outside she couldn't handle alone? “All right,” she agreed, her tone not too sure.

  “I won’t be long. I promise. Only a couple of hours.”

  With one last smile, Dylan left her to figure out how to handle her little problem.

  It had taken her over an hour to learn how to retract her vampire fangs.

  Just as she had felt comfortable with her ability to bring them in and out, the next change began.

  This time, Dylan hadn’t been there to help her in any way but Rebecca thought if she had controlled her teeth, she would have less trouble handling her eyes.

  At one point - when they had talked about the eye color change—Dylan had turned his brown eyes into the blood red iris of a vampire for her if only for just a second. He hadn’t agreed to do this with his teeth, but watching his eye color change had helped her understand more than just hearing about it. This action had also made it easier for her to believe he was a vampire, and not just a person with a fantastic healing ability and immortality.

  Rebecca had to close her eyes until the initial burning sensation ended. When she felt the pain subside, she opened her eyes again to begin her trip back to the bathroom’s mirror. Through the new red lens, the world looked the same to her. Dylan had told her she would eventually develop night vision; apart from getting a 20/20 vision back with time. For now, she spent as much as she needed admiring her look with those red blood eyes. It was fascinating. So much was her fascination she took her fangs out again to take a look at the whole image. A little scary, maybe, but no big deal.

  She still felt strange staring at her reflection like this.

  A vampire.

  She had turned into real vampire. Nothing in books or movies could have prepared her for this moment.

  If that weren't enough, she was also immortal now. She didn't feel immortal, but she should be. Frozen forever at her twenty-eight years of age. Unbelievable. Her body would never grow old and it would only change to make her better.

  It would take time, but she would soon become the most efficient version of herself and she was excited to live through the process.

  Smiling at her reflection in the mirror, she willed her teeth back, watching them go back into her gums. Then she tried to change the color of her eyes back to normal. How pleased she was to find it was a smooth and easy process.

  If only Dylan had been there to see it.

  There was still one major change yet to come, her hearing. Dylan had explained it was the most difficult change and the most vexing. She wondered how long it would take for her hearing to kick in and if she would miss the quiet when it happened.

  It was almost noon when she came out of the bathroom, triumphant
with the ability to turn human when she wanted. With Dylan gone, she planned to spend the rest of the morning unpacking and watching a little TV while she waited for Dylan to come back to the agency. What a great way to spend her first day as a vampire, she mused, and that made her smile.

  The charm of her new apartment soon faded away. After spending hours looking at the four walls in her new living quarters, it became very significant that there weren’t any windows anywhere. It was an underground compound where she was trapped and buried, so a sense of claustrophobia suddenly hit her.

  How could she had believed she would be fine in such an enclosed space? Before, she had been a homebody, but it didn't compare to the feeling of being buried underground with no way out. What had Dylan been thinking when he asked her to stay in that apartment until he came back? If she didn't get out as soon as possible, she would have a breakdown. What could be so wrong about wanting to explore the rest of the compound, anyway?

  Perhaps she hadn't been a great human, but at least she'd been free, and loosing her freedom had not been part of the deal. Not even her grandmother had been enough force to keep her locked in. She would not start now.

  Perhaps it had truly been a mistake after all. Perhaps she didn't have what it took to live like a mole. What would Coleen say if she went back to town changed? How would Rebecca explain she had been turned into a vampire? Would she get a lecture from Coleen about how dangerous she'd always thought Dylan to be?

  No. This claustrophobia had to be temporary. Soon she would learn her way around the agency and she would come and go as she pleased. She needed to take all negative thoughts from her mind. Although it was hard to do much thinking when she felt the room kept getting smaller.

  “It’s about lunch time, Becca.” She began to talk to herself, trying to stop the insanity. “Come on, do something, take a shower, take a nap. Something that will keep you busy, something to pass the time. Come on.”

  Getting up, she prepared another sandwich. When she was done eating, she slid into bed for a nap.

  A nap would help pass the time until Dylan returned.

  Too bad taking a nap was easier said than done.

  Her eyes popped open. It was like some magical force was keeping her eyelids from closing – it was unbelievable what your body would do to you. Tossing and turning didn’t make a difference. The many positions she tried only made her more restless and less sleepy. Turning to look at the clock, she found it was only three in the afternoon.

  How much longer would she need to wait? I won't be long, Dylan had lied. He didn't even have the balls to give her a call. He had left her in a strange place, with strange people and—heck, she didn’t even know her new self enough, and that scared her! Everything was new to her and Dylan had taken an assignment on the most important day of her life! He’d promised he’d take time off to help her through the change. They had talked about it for months, there were detailed plans. They were meant to do it together.

  And maybe it had been a real emergency. She remembered he had been looking at his mobile phone a lot. He’d kept looking at that device constantly since they got to the building. Perhaps, if he felt something was coming, he should have delayed the transformation a day or two. How could he be so insensitive? How could he leave her?

  Whatever the case, she couldn’t stay locked in any longer. She was now a vampire; she couldn’t be in any real danger. Besides, a peek out the door couldn’t hurt. What was the worst that could happen?

  Moving back and forth as she sat on the bed, she decided to go ahead with her plan. She needed fresh air. It was just opening the door, it wasn’t a big deal. She went to find her tennis shoes to prepare to walk about and explore. Maybe even find a way out of the pit.

  Taking the door with both palms she pressed her ear to it. Outside, everything was silent. It was unnerving, but it had to to be safe. Turning the doorknob, she heard the click right before the door opened. Through the slit, she could barely see anything—not that there was much to see. Nothing seemed to be moving, no one was there. She then poked her entire head out. Still, she couldn’t see anything more than the handrail in front of her, which went all around in a huge square as it followed the big underground rectangular prism. To her left and right, empty hallways.

  She remembered what she had seen at the bottom of the compound; the green grass that had been so out of place fifteen floors underground. Curiosity won, and leaving the safety of her apartment, she took a few steps out until she held onto the cold, metallic handrail, looking down at the park below.

  It was amazing. It was-

  Click. A click. The door! She turned around, but it was too late; behind her, the door had shut completely making Rebecca panic as she realized what she had done.

  She was locked out.

  She did not have a key.

  Rebecca tried to think back to when Dylan had opened the door. What had he done? Did he have a key? Not that she remembered. Her head turned to the keypad on the left side of the door. Over the numbers, a small red light beamed waiting to scan a device like the one Dylan had used the day before.

  She didn't have anything like that. Her hand hovered in front of the keypad as if the combination to open the door would magically come to her. It didn’t happen. She had no idea what to do. Dylan was gone and now she was locked out of her apartment in a new and unfamiliar place.

  Breathing fast, she tried to remain calm. She tried to think, be logical.

  The elevator.

  She knew where that was and it was where she was heading now. Walking back the way she'd come, she reached the elevator. In front of her she saw a problem, near the metallic door there wasn’t anything to press, click or scan to open it. There wasn’t a button with an arrow pointing up and down to click.

  Now what? She fretted.

  Giving up, she brushed her short hair with both hands ready to have an anxiety attack. Just when she could feel the tears forming in her eyes, she heard the doors sliding behind her. How had that happened? She hadn't done anything to make them open.

  “What's this?” She hopped inside the elevator before the doors closed again. And they did. They closed and Rebecca now found herself trapped in a small metallic cube, instead. The four walls looked identical to her, and just like there hadn’t been a button on the outside, there weren’t any on the inside, either. What had Dylan done? How had he made the elevator take him where he wanted to go?

  He had spoken to it.

  “Uhm, elevator?” she commanded. “First floor. Take me to the first floor.”

  Nothing happened.

  Rebecca looked around. With her hands, she touched every part of each wall to see if they had hid the controls in some secret compartment. She was close to getting her nails between the two metallic doors to open them again when the elevator came to life on its own, this time taking her somewhere on the upper levels. Where? She did not know.

  On top of one wall, a bright green number appeared, changing as the elevator moved through the floors. When the elevator stopped, to her relief, it did so on the ground level - G1.

  After a familiar sound, the doors opened. Rebecca stared in front of her not knowing what to expect on the other side; not knowing what she would find. What she saw outside was the face of a stranger.

  The man before her raised his head, for he had been studying his feet below him, both his suit and shoes had seen better days. In fact, Rebecca was awestruck by his appearance. The man was covered, from head to toe, in a combination of mud and blood. Tangled in his light brown hair she could see twigs and leaves and some other things she did not recognize. He looked like he had just come out of an explosion. It was the way he smiled at her that told her she should get rid of her expression of fright as she studied him.

  “Excuse me,” he said as he stepped inside the elevator. For a moment, the man kept staring at her while she tried to avoid his notice. “Going down?” he asked her.

  “What?” she mumbled.

  The man’
s only clean feature was a pair of bright blue eyes. His smile broadened right before saying, “Sublevel 5.”

  The doors to the elevator began to close. Rebecca didn’t have time to do any proper introductions, nor did she have time to say goodbye. Before the doors finished closing, she slid between them and stepped into the hallway.

  The weakness hit her like a brick. It was a physical reaction to something she seemed to have no control over. It was a scent. A sweet scent... no, it was bitter. Or... whatever it was, it had her in its grasp. An unrelenting force began guiding her to its origin. Somewhere in her mind she knew she was walking down a hallway with framed art on each side; she even passed a couple of doors. One door made her stop in her pursuit of this wonderful phenomenon that called her.

  From behind the door she heard a voice. A voice she knew. Although she didn't have time to listen to what it was saying. Her attention was still on the scent, she had to find out where it was coming from. It was delicious. Nothing else mattered.

  Opening the door she recognized two figures. One, the root of the scent. The other, vaguely recognizable and definitely unimportant.

  The conversation that was going on halted when she entered the room. It didn't worry her, the objective was to get closer to what had her in its grasp. That scent. Its warmth. A heartbeat, like a constant drum that served like a beacon guiding her.

  She had just given a step closer when she heard the clicking of a gun.

  “Take your girlfriend, Torrence,” Someone had spoken, giving her thoughts their clarity back. She blinked once, twice, until everything became whole once again. One of the faceless men became Dylan Torrence, the other a young man she had never seen before. It was he who gripped the gun with both hands, aiming it at her.

  Rebecca's breathing accelerated. She turned to look from one face to the next. How had she gotten there? Where was she? Dylan held a hand up, showing his palm to the stranger. “Wait, Josh,” he ordered, his voice firm and calm. “Put your gun down.”

  She felt his touch in her hand as he guided her out of there. Before she understood what was happening, she found herself inside the elevator again. All it took was for its doors to close to diminish the power of the scent to almost nothing. It was easier to breathe.