Andre was admittedly enjoying the view from his vantage point, but when it appeared the woman was about to grab the case that contained a prototype weapon he was developing, his initial instinct kicked into gear. “Can I help you with something?”
Lucy froze. The voice that seemed to come from somewhere in the empty room startled her. Soft, smooth, with a barely detectable accent, it sounded almost exactly like Tim, the very dead vampire who had attacked her. Instinctively, Lucy spun, and two unlocked CPAs appeared as if by magic in her hands.
Andre’s own hand automatically went for the pistol he kept within arm’s reach in a special holster under the desk, but paused when she noticed him peering from below the desk. Her weapons disappeared almost as fast as they had appeared and she placed one slender hand over her heart.
“I’m sorry, you startled me!”
The woman closed her eyes and took a breath. Woman? No, Andre realized, the girl in front of him couldn’t be more than eighteen. He suddenly felt guilty for checking her out, but his suspicions about her sudden appearance in his office went on high alert.
“I thought you were…” she started, flushing visibly, “never mind, who are you? And why are you hiding under the desk?”
Andre let the butt of the gun slip from his hand, but felt for the knife he kept sheathed at his waist, just in case. “I could ask you the same question. This is a restricted area, Miss…?”
Lucy blushed and smiled apologetically. “Lucy, I’m training, but there was a malfunction with the pulleys and Miles asked me to get the green toolbox. I could guess who you might be, but I’d feel more comfortable if you just told me.” She held out her hand to help him up. Andre stood without help, but shook the offered hand, nodding.
“I’m Andre, yes. Can you not see the resemblance to my uncle?”
“Uh, honestly?” Andre was strikingly handsome, and did share Evan’s tall and lean build, but that was where the similarities ended. In contrast to Evan’s sandy blond hair and blue eyes, Andre had curly black hair that was just long enough to frame his angular face, but not yet long enough to hide his eyes, which were as dark as Lucy’s were light. “Not at first, but now that you mention it, I guess you kind of have the same sort of chin. I’m sorry if I startled you.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s just that Evan didn’t mention any new recruits.”
Lucy’s smile was more of a grimace. “Yeah. I know about that. Given the line you were following up on, he didn’t think it would be a good idea to advertise the new blood, especially mine.”
Andre’s eyes narrowed briefly, but Lucy caught the doubt in them. “So how were you recruited?”
“I was uh, attacked, actually,” Lucy stammered, realizing her mistake too late.
“Oh?” Andre’s gaze swept uncomfortably over her. “You appear to be, how shall I say this? Rather...intact.”
“Yeah, well…” Lucy pursed her lips and cursed herself silently. “About that, it’s kind of complicated and I’m not actually at liberty to discuss the attack or what happened leading up to my recruitment. You’ll want to speak to Evan for anything else. Right now though, Miles is going to be looking for me. Do you know what green toolbox he was talking about?”
Andre reached back and grabbed a green box off the shelf behind him without dropping eye contact with Lucy. Ida’s pearls of wisdom sprang to her mind. Andre didn’t trust her. Of course, that was partially her own fault for opening her mouth, but Lucy had also noticed the knife he palmed from his waistband right before getting up from the floor.
“Would you mind telling Miles I’ll be in Evan’s office? I haven’t told anyone I’m back and we have a lot to discuss. I’d appreciate it if he would join us when the two of you are finished.”
He handed Lucy the toolbox. She smiled tightly. “Thank you and yes, I’ll tell him.”
Lucy took the box, walked to the door and hesitated. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the fact that she should just walk out calmly, she turned slowly. Andre was still standing stiffly, staring at her. “The answer to the question you want to ask, but won’t, is yes. I am a vampire, but only half. That much is public information. So far, no one I have encountered, not even Hugh, has held this fact against me. I would appreciate very much if you keep this in mind and judge me on my own merits, rather than those of a father I have never met.”
She swept from the room as fast as she could, not waiting to see if Andre would reply.
“Would you mind telling me why there’s a girl rummaging around in my office who thinks she’s half vampire?”
Evan tossed the second quarter fiscal report that he was pretending to read onto his desk and met his nephew’s glare with casual neutrality. “Would you mind telling me why my nephew just waltzed into my office three days early without alerting anyone on either continent as to his whereabouts?” Evan leveled Andre with a serious look. “I’ll gladly discuss Lucy Soriano and her unique heritage with you after I know what danger my organization is in.”
Andre bit the inside of his cheek and sank into the chair across from Evan. “You were right, the ES definitely have someone planted in the organization and I don’t think it’s a vampire. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s a hunter.”
Evan’s interest piqued. “Do we have any new recruits?”
“Not in Paris,” Andre said with slight sarcasm. The Paris team was comprised of seventeen men and women, none with less than five years’ service to EJC under their belt. “I suspect foul play. The problem is that no one has come forward to tell me they suspect the same and it’s not like I can question everyone without arousing suspicions. I have secured our electronic communications as best I can, but to be honest, unless we simply severed the network between Paris and here, I’m going to assume that all communication is compromised, which is why I didn’t announce my change of plans. As far as Paris knows I’m in London following a lead.”
Evan absorbed the information in silence. A vampire finding their way into his organization would have been a simple matter. Finding out that one of his trusted hunters might be the source of their information leak was a completely different matter, one that unnerved him. “I have an idea, but I need time. If you’re right, the damage might already be done, but is there anything you can do to restrict the network?”
“Not much,” Andre admitted, “but I’ll do whatever I can. Now please, in light of what we know, tell me about Lucy and why she isn’t sitting in one of our interrogation cells right now. She told me herself that her father was a vampire and beyond that, everything else is classified information that only Evan knows.” He punctuated the last part of his sentence with a high-pitched mockery of Lucy’s voice. “Care to elaborate on her cryptic message?”
Evan smiled. “I think you’ll learn to like Lucy.”
Andre raised his eyebrows in a questioning gesture.
“Eventually,” Evan amended with a smile. “She’s a lot like you, smart, observant and resourceful. Yes, her father was a genetically modified vampire.”
Andre opened his mouth in shock, but Evan cut him off. “Yes, modified and no, that part isn’t classified either.”
“She said she didn’t know who her father is. Do you?”
“We checked the DNA of all bodies brought in since we started. She’s not a match for any of them. There’s no guarantee that her father is even local, but the odds are pretty good. Lucy came to New Orleans with the knowledge that her mother met her father here. That’s all she knows about him.”
“Wait a minute.” Andre held up his hand, suddenly remembering something. “She’s that senator’s kid that works for Lona that Miles keeps bugging me about meeting. I can’t believe Miles was trying to set me up with a teenager!”
“Worked for Lona, she works for me now,” Evan amended, adding with a wink, “Lucy’s only three years younger than you, and I’m pretty sure she’s still single.”
Andre stood abruptly and started pacing, ignoring Evan’s last comment. “I don’t get it.
So this spoiled Washington brat comes to town searching for her papa, supposedly gets attacked by a vampire, you find out her father is a vampire and you recruit her? Where is the logic in that? I thought you had very strict guidelines for recruits!”
“As a matter of fact I do. It is true that Lucy lacks the military training I usually require, but you seem to conveniently forget that so do you. As for qualifications, that would be the part that is strictly confidential, however, you’ll be happy to know that you are on a short list of people who are cleared to know what is in this folder.” Evan pulled Lucy’s file out of the top drawer of his desk and handed it to Andre, watching as the shock slowly registered the further he read.
“This…” Andre sputtered, “this is science fiction! Surely the test was wrong.”
Evan barked out a short laugh. “Andre, ninety-nine percent of the technology that you work with, hell, that you’ve developed, is science fiction. Abe’s medical reports are not, but I’ll be glad to pass along your concerns for his accuracy.”
“How is this possible?”
Evan shrugged. “Abe’s been trying to figure that out since he got his hands on her blood. She’s deadly, Andre, deadlier than you or I. The vampire that attacked her barely had time to swallow before dying. Miles called in a Code One because her throat had been ripped open.”
“She almost attacked me,” Andre admitted. “She came into the office muttering. She didn’t see me. When I spoke, I startled her and she had two CPAs cocked and ready to kill me.”
Evan laughed. “Good girl!”
“Excuse me?” Andre didn’t share his uncle’s amusement.
“Andre, Lucy is in training with Miles, she’s down on the obstacle course as we speak. I’ve always been proud of your powers of observation, but you let a pretty face distract you on this one. You’re the one with the photographic memory, what exactly did she threaten to do, polka dot your face with red ink?”
Andre recalled the scene in his office, cursing himself when he realized that Lucy had indeed been packing training weapons that were as harmless as a felt tipped pen. “And you trust her?”
“Yes,” Evan stated seriously, “and I would like you to trust her as well. She hasn’t been out yet, but I’m sending her out tomorrow night. I’d planned on pairing Hugh with Miles and sending her with them, but seeing as you’re back and Miles is currently your partner, I’d like you to tag along instead of Hugh.”
“You’re the boss,” Andre sighed.
“That I am.”
“I’ll see you at the meeting tonight then.” With a nod, Andre got up to leave.
“One more thing.” Evan’s smile was puckish. “We’re going to have an even number of team members here soon and I’ll be looking to reassign a few folks. While you were gone, Miles and I paired up and I have to say, we worked well together.”
Andre closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and breathed deeply.
“Threat noted.”
Chapter 12
Lucy was a nervous wreck. After her unsettling introduction to Andre, Miles dropped a bomb on her. Her training was over. Tonight she would join the hunt.
Dinner had passed in a vague blur of well-wishers, congratulatory high-fives, and tidbits of advice. She managed to choke down some plain eggs, dry toast, and one cup of coffee before Lona whisked her away to meet a strange girl, with a purple Mohawk and several facial piercings, named Tanya. Tanya was one of the stylists responsible for the mind-blowing field disguises that the hunters wore. After an hour in the stylist’s chair, Lucy did not recognize herself. Her wavy hair had been ironed straight, peppered with strands of caramel and ginger highlights, and pulled back into a low ponytail with a decidedly Texan bouffant style bump rising from her forehead. Her now hazel eyes were rimmed with black liner and accented with false eyelashes, giving her a sultry, half-lidded gaze that she could get used to. Lona had selected her wardrobe, a tight fitting tattoo-sleeved t-shirt, tight black jeans, and a pair of knee high boots that looked deadly, but were surprisingly comfortable. Miles had completed the ensemble with two wrist cuffs, complete with loaded and lethal CPAs, and informed her that each boot had the capacity to carry up to ten more.
Miles was once again completely unrecognizable, with ginger hair in a modest pompadour, Buddy Holly glasses, skinny jeans, and a vintage t-shirt advertising a long-ago show at Preservation Hall. As they stood around with the rest of the team in Evan’s office, they were approached by yet another throwback, a James Dean lookalike in a western style button-up, that Lucy didn’t recognize.
“So are we hunting vampires or are the Stray Cats doing a reunion tour?” Lucy joked, trying to take her mind off her nerves. James Dean raised one eyebrow at her. It was a gesture Lucy found maddening, mainly because she couldn’t do it.
“Stray Cats? You haven’t been out much, have you?”
Andre, Lucy realized with a sense of dread. She had been told Hugh would be joining them. So Evan made a change in the line-up, great. The last thing she needed was a judgmental bigot watching and waiting to point out all of her rookie mistakes. Well, I’ll just have to be the best damned vampire hunter on the planet, she vowed hollowly. Steeling herself, she met his condescending stare with a polite, if not strained smile.
“No, not really. Actually, I haven’t left this building once in the last four weeks.”
“You’ve only had four weeks of training?”
“Three, actually, but I don’t need to tell you that Miles and Hugh are super bad asses.”
Miles, who had been slightly confused and taken aback by the terse exchange, decided to step in with damage control. “Lucy’s a natural, Andre. Just wait until you see her in action, am I right?” He grazed her shoulder with a playful punch. Lucy flashed him a grateful smile.
“So why are we dressed like this?”
“We’re headed into Bywater,” Miles explained. “Actually, it’s only a few blocks from your old apartment. It won’t be as crowded as the Quarter, but there’s a lot of clubs and music venues, kind of arty, kind of hip, lots of visitors who want to fit in and not look like tourists. We want to look like them, so for tonight, you’re a hip kid from, oh, let’s say… Big Sandy, TX, but you don’t want anyone to know that. New Orleans is in your soul.”
Evan stood up and the room fell silent.
“Okay folks, just a couple of things to report. As you know, Lucy will be joining us tonight. I’ll be pairing her off with different teams until the time that she’s assigned a permanent partner. Tonight she’ll be with Miles and Andre.”
At the mention of Andre’s name, all eyes swung in their direction.
“Which leads me to the next bit of news and it’s not pretty,” Evan continued with a grim look.
“As we suspected, security in Paris has been compromised. Hunters have been ambushed and while no one has been killed, we have had three serious injuries, which means three less hunters in the field. Access to the network means that until Andre was able to introduce a filter, we have reason to believe that our records and communications here in the States have been compromised as well. Ten years ago we assumed that all factions of The Eyes of the Sun were removed from New Orleans and that we have since then been dealing with local gangs and solitary vamps. In light of what we have discovered, stay on alert and send word back to base immediately if you suspect you’ve discovered any ES activity. If the ES are back, we’ll need a live body for questioning. Assignments are as follows.”
Evan read off the list of assignments and dismissed them. Lucy would be in quadrant two with Miles and Andre. Miles led them out of the office, to the cavernous parking garage, where they piled into a white van advertising seafood distribution. They drove up to a solid wall and waited for the all clear from Mike. When it came, Miles tapped a button on the dash and the wall slid away as they drove out into the night.
As they drove, Lucy looked back and forth between the unfamiliar streets outside the window and her phone GPS, awed and slightly nerv
ous. Andre had hit a nerve, but he was right. She was painfully unfamiliar with ninety-nine percent of the city that she had called home for seven months. She pulled up her calendar and set a reminder to research the different neighborhoods, and study all the maps she could get her hands on, thankful for street view technology.
Miles backed the van into the entrance of a small alley and killed the engine. “Alright Lucy, here’s the basic operating procedure. We’re going to walk around the main streets for a while, get a feel for the crowd tonight, see if anything’s going on that will pull in the kids. Keep your eyes open. If you see anyone wandering off down a side street alone or anything else that looks suspicious, tell us. Don’t forget your check-ins either. In fact,” he checked the time, “it’s almost time for the first one.”
Lucy pulled up the messaging application and hit the small triangle in the right corner. Mike had shown her that this displays a message on his computer to let him know they are fine. After an equipment check, they exited the van and started walking with the flow of foot traffic. While nowhere near as crowded as Bourbon, the Marigny drew a bigger crowd than Lucy would have expected on a weeknight. Especially given that even at night, late August in New Orleans was miserably hot and humid.
They wandered in and out of galleries, shops, and even into one coffee shop that boldly claimed to be as fine as Gilly’s had been. The coffee was all right, but it didn’t hold a candle to Ida’s. The night appeared clear and Lucy nearly commented on how strange it was that she could see clearly for several blocks before she realized this was due to her contacts. Everywhere they went, Lucy looked for anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, out of the ordinary was ordinary in New Orleans. People of all ages, races, and walks of life filed past, wearing everything from Saints jerseys to Victorian era formal wear. Lucy was surprised to see that most of the twenty and thirty-something crowds were dressed in a similar fashion to her and the guys. Sure, there were several teenagers sporting the vampire gothic look, but they didn’t appear to be posing a threat to anyone. No one appeared shifty and Lucy certainly hadn’t spotted any fangs.
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