Recombinant

by Shannon Mayer

  “The council already knows you exist. What does it matter if he saw you?”

  Calvin stood, his gnarled fists clenched at his sides.

  “Lea,” I edged toward her until there was only a foot separating us. “I want to trust you. If you let him go, I’ll help you until this thing’s over. No questions asked. Blind trust. Please.”

  She hesitated, then nodded sharply.

  Louis let out a sound of gratitude, but Calvin looked pissed.

  I didn’t care. Let the old man gnaw off his cheeks with his dentures. My agreement was with Lea, not with him.

  “Get your stuff. I’ll take Louis to the roof and see him off, you head to your meeting and we will follow.”

  “Deal.”

  I hurried to my room and tossed some clothes and toiletries into a duffel bag, then pulled Derrick’s bag out of its hiding space.

  “You can’t just hand that over to him,” Lea said, standing next to my bed.

  “I’m not stupid.” I pulled out a folder and plucked out two pieces of paper I’d taken photos of earlier in the day. “But if I’m going to play this out, I have to give him something.”

  “Good thinking.” Lea reached for Derrick’s bag and I hesitated before handing it over. I’d just told her I was going to trust her. It was time to live up to my word.

  CHAPTER 23

  LEA

  With one hand I gripped the duffel bag containing all of Derrick’s gathered evidence; in the other, I held onto a now-shaking Louis.

  “You really are the Cazador? Shit, how could I not have figured that out? I’m so stupid.” His words tumbled off his lips. “The council hates you. They said you were a cold-blooded killer who had no idea what it even meant to be a part of the vampire family, but you’re going to let me go. Which means you aren’t as bad as—”

  Calvin slugged him in the back of the head. “Shut the fuck up.”

  Louis cringed, which made me want to cringe. I couldn’t kill him, no matter what Calvin was thinking. And I knew my helper well enough to know it was going to be an argument. Maybe it really was time to say a final farewell to my long-time partner. The money and the jewels from Victor would be enough to see him through his final years in comfort.

  “Calvin—”

  “No, we aren’t discussing this.” He looked at Rachel. “Where are we meeting you?” As soon as she opened her mouth to speak, he growled at her. “You would disclose information about a meeting with a potential mark in front of this vampire?”

  He’d done that on purpose, to trip her up. Jealousy already? Yes, that sounded about right for him.

  Flushing, she grabbed a notepad off the kitchen counter and pulled off a piece of paper. “Actually, no, I was going to ask you how long I should wait before I worry about you and Lea.”

  With a quick flourish, she scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Calvin. His jerky movements told me all I needed to know. He was pissed about this whole situation.

  I tightened my hold on Louis and started him toward the door. “You won’t see me, Rachel. But I’ll be there. You’ll hear the cry of a night bird. That will be me.”

  She nodded. “Be careful.”

  Her concern surprised me. “I’m not the mortal one. Don’t let him corner you, no matter what happens.” I couldn’t resist throwing her own words back at her. “Have more than one exit.”

  A sharp laugh escaped her. “Goodbye, Louis. I’d say it was nice to meet you but I’m not sure it was. If I can give you a piece of advice?”

  He nodded. “Sure.”

  “Don’t believe beautiful women won’t drive a stake through your heart. I think you’ll last longer.”

  Hustling him ahead of me, I forced him out the way Rachel and I had come in. “The roof, Louis. I’m going to show you a trick of the trade.”

  “You’re going to teach me something?”

  A slow breath escaped me. What was wrong with me? I should just kill this vamp and walk away. But his story hung inside of me, like a picture I couldn’t stop looking at. Sick, scared, dying. Who wouldn’t take an out that gave them back a chance at life and immortality?

  To top it all off, he did seem like a nice kid.

  I dropped the bag and advanced on him. “I’m just about the only hunter left, so if you see me coming for you again, run.”

  He nodded, but didn’t back up. “You said you were going to show me something.”

  “You ever jumped a roof before?”

  “Shit, you mean like in The Matrix?” His eyes widened with distinct pleasure and I fought not to smile at him.

  “Never heard of it, but pay attention.” There were two buildings next to Rachel’s apartment. One was snug against it with a barely three-foot gap which I’d been across several times. The other was about fifty feet away. I ran toward the roof’s edge and pushed off at the last instant, sending myself flying over across the larger gap.

  I landed in a crouch and looked back at him. He gave a holler and fist-pumped. “That was freaking awesome!”

  My lips twitched and I beckoned him. “Come on, kid, let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Calvin popped up on the fire escape and I spared him a glance and a shrug. I’d promised Rachel I wouldn’t kill the kid.

  And for some reason that promise meant more to me than my vow to kill all vampires.

  Louis sprinted toward me and pushed off. There was a soft pop and his body jerked mid-air, losing momentum. He hit the roof’s edge and I grabbed his hands, hauling him up. “What the hell?”

  Blood pumped out of his shattered heart, bits of silver glinting against the deep red. As he spluttered in my arms, his blue eye sought mine. “Do you think I’m going to hell?”

  Another breath burbled out of him, and then his heart stopped. I laid him down on the roof as the final stage of death took him, his body turning to ash in a blinding burst of light.

  “No, Louis, I don’t believe you are. But I might be.” I looked up in time to see Calvin duck back down the ladder. I paced the roof, more to give myself time to calm down than to give Calvin time to get to the car.

  “Son of a bitch, he heard me give Rachel my word!” I snapped into the night air, my movements getting progressively more violent. What the hell was he thinking?

  The vow, he was holding to the vow even if I wasn’t. The fight went out of me and I bowed my head. In my heart, I was torn in two directions. Toward the life I’d built with Calvin, which revolved around hunting vampires and nothing more, and toward Rachel. A friend who could help me find a glimmer of humanity in myself. In my kind.

  Something I hadn’t even known I was craving.

  I leapt across the building and scooped up the bag.

  Rachel’s head popped up from the escape ladder. “Louis left already?”

  “He’s gone.” I helped her up, then watched as she made the short jump to the closer building.

  “Thank you for not killing him, Lea. I know it goes against your vow.”

  “And yours,” I said softly, unable to look her in the eye.

  When I glanced up again, she was slipping into the adjacent building, her hair now concealed by a baseball cap. She’d still be hard to miss, but at least she was trying.

  I grabbed Derrick’s bag and jumped off the edge of the building. Dropping like a stone, I hit the ground hard, bending my knees to absorb the impact. I caught up to Calvin two blocks over at the Camaro. How the hell had he moved so fast?

  I bent closer to smell him and he swatted at me. “Keep your nose to yourself.”

  Frowning, I slid into the car and said nothing.

  “You aren’t going to yell at me for shooting the kid?” His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.

  “Not going to change anything.” I opened Derrick’s bag and riffled through his things, looking for key words or something that would jump out at me. My fingers grazed a bump in the bag. I ran my fingertips over the large area again and realized what it was—a compartment sewn into the bag. Findi
ng the lip carefully hidden in the top stitching, I ripped it open. A thin sheaf of papers looked up at me, three words shining at me like a beacon.

  Lieutenant Sean Price. His name was signed at the bottom of one of the documents. I pulled the papers out and flipped my way to the beginning. Security detail for the Asclepius Project. Confirmation that he was in on the whole show. Shit, and now I had to tell Rachel. I could tell she didn’t trust him, but I could also tell she liked him. More than liked him—I could smell him all over her.

  “Mierda, this is going to give us grief.” I tapped the paper. I wanted to read more, but Calvin was already pulling to a stop.

  “We’re here.”

  Here was an abandoned hotel with a single burning light on the ground floor. Calvin parked us behind a rusted-out garbage truck, giving us good cover. I watched as a dark SUV pulled up and parked in front of the building. Four men got out. Four men with big guns, headpieces for communication, and an attitude that had nothing to do with being excited to see Rachel.

  Sean was the last one to get out of the car, his scent unmistakable. I slid out of the Camaro, waved at Calvin to stay where he was, and crept closer.

  I managed to catch the tail end of what Sean was saying to his men.

  “Do not engage. I want to talk to Rachel before we decide what to do.”

  The men all laughed and I narrowed my eyes at the casual misogyny. They needed a good lesson on what women could do, and I was just the person to give it to them.

  The four men spread out, and I marked their positions. Two went in with Sean on the first floor; the other two headed to the second floor to keep watch, one in the front, one in the rear.

  I slipped around to the back first, using the rubble of leftover renovations gone wrong as my cover; a beaten-up couch, the remains of the original front desk, and what looked like a knock-off replica of the statue “David”—minus the best part, which had been broken off. The walls of the old rundown hotel were slick, but handholds were plentiful. I was sliding through a second floor window just as the soldiers were getting into position.

  The interior of the building was blown out other than a few walls that held it together. No rooms, just a wide-open expanse with support beams here and there. I couldn’t see the second soldier, the one watching the front entrance, but I didn’t waste time looking for him. I’d find him soon enough.

  I picked up a piece of old tile and flipped it past the soldier’s head. The clatter spun him around, and I used his distraction to creep up behind him. I grabbed his head in one hand and his gun in the other. A sharp twist snapped his neck. So easy.

  Holding his body, I slid him down to the floor without a clatter, then scooped up the headpiece and slipped it on. Just in case Sean decided to change things up.

  Hurrying, I raced to the other side of the blasted-out hotel. The few remaining walls provided perfect cover. Headlights appeared and the soldier on my headset confirmed her arrival.

  “I see a car, sir.”

  “Excellent. She’s on time,” Sean said. “Well trained, I will give her that. Keep an eye out, I expect her vamp to tail her in.” The men laughed in chorus.

  Interesting. His words only confirmed what I’d guessed. They were baiting me. But why? Just to protect the vampires? Or was there something more as per Caine’s hints at my blood being pure? Why did I get the feeling it was the latter possibility?

  “No one touches a hair on Rachel’s head,” Sean added, much to my surprise. Perhaps he wasn’t as much of a bad guy as I’d thought. I snorted; I was going soft.

  I watched from my spot as Rachel slid out of a taxi before it spun and pulled away. She approached the hotel. The solider watching the front entrance was so focused, I didn’t have to use any sort of distraction. Just snuck up behind him and cracked his neck like I’d done to his buddy.

  No biting, though. The last thing I wanted was for Sean and whomever the fuck he worked for to get more of my DNA. As he slid to the floor, a piece of paper waved at me from his back pocket. I pulled it out, my eyes going wide. This would be the final nail in Sean’s coffin, but I had to play it carefully. I tucked the paper into my vest.

  I raced to find a stairwell, searching the rubble for a good three minutes before I found something that would work. An old elevator shaft.

  “Good enough,” I whispered, forgetting all about the headpiece. One of the remaining soldiers snorted.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Quiet,” I growled, hoping to hell I sounded manly enough. Apparently it worked, as the others went silent. I shimmied down the shaft, using the old cables as ropes. The elevator doors hung open down below. I peered out to see one of the soldiers was right in front of me. Too damn easy.

  I slid out one of my knives and worked my way back up the cable so I was suspended at the height of his head. Slamming the knife forward, I drove it through the back of his skull and held it there while he twitched and jumped like a fish on a line. There was a sharp clatter of his gun hitting the floor, but that was it.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Sean’s going to have our asses if you blow our fucking cover.”

  I didn’t answer the last solider. He was the lucky one. He was the one I was going to catch and hold for that perfect moment.

  The moment I’d show Rachel what a complete and total traitor Sean was.

  I couldn’t help the grin that slid across my face.

  CHAPTER 24

  RACHEL

  The taxi’s taillights faded as I eyed the run-down, abandoned hotel. This was a setup and I needed to be prepared. The papers were tucked in my bag. My gun was loaded and in a holster strapped to my chest, hidden under my jacket. But he’d be ready for that.

  God, I was such a fool.

  But he wouldn’t expect the knife strapped to my leg under my jeans and the one up my jacket sleeve.

  I opened the car door and stepped out, taking in the black SUV parked in front of the entrance and a garbage truck to the side. I didn’t see any of Sean’s men lurking around, but then, he’d never been sloppy.

  The heels of my boots clanked against the pavement as I made my way to the broken front door. I pulled out my gun and held it up in front of me. After the ambush at the bakery shop, Sean would expect me to come prepared.

  The glass was busted out of the front door. I eased through, keeping an eye out so I wouldn’t be blindsided. The place looked ransacked, and there were pieces of tile and chunks of drywall everywhere. I turned a corner and saw Sean leaning against a pole, holding a flashlight.

  “Rachel.” Relief filled his eyes. “I was so worried.” He reached for me and I resisted the urge to stiffen as I lowered the gun. He pulled me into a hug.

  “Why are we meeting here?”

  “It’s best we lie low. You can put your gun away. We’re alone. Did you bring Derrick’s research?”

  I stuffed my gun into my holster, thankful that it bought me some time. Should I play stupid or ask questions? He knew I wasn’t a fool. Asking questions was built into my DNA. “How did you get involved in this?” I asked.

  His shoulders relaxed slightly. “There are reports of terrorists in Ohio. But we think they’re running trials here in the city. I’m here to investigate.”

  “You said they were trying them out in the wild. Do the terrorists want to kill or infect?” He gave me a surprised look. “Bioterrorism lends itself to infection. But what is their particular focus? Death or infection?”

  “Both.”

  “I saw some. When I escaped. The terrorists must have brought them when they were tracking us.”

  He looked alarmed. “They didn’t bite or scratch you, did they?”

  “No. Is that how they infect?”

  He studied me for a second. “We don’t know.”

  “So we need to capture one.”

  “We?” he asked in surprise. “You’re not capturing anything.”

  “Then what am I doing here? I want to help put a stop to this.”
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br />   “I’m trying to keep you safe.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “In addition to the terrorists, I think the vampire is targeting you next.”

  “Me?” My shock was genuine. “Why?”

  “Our sources say she knows you’re getting close and she wants you out of the way.”

  “She?”

  “Yes, she’s a very old, very powerful vampire. She likes to play with her victims, pretend she wants to work with them. It’s her MO. You can’t go against her alone. I’d like to put you under my protection.” He paused. “But you can also help us.”

  “How?”

  “We know she’s coming for you. We’d like to use you as bait.”

  “To kill her?”

  “No, to use her.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “We’ve found the location of the lab and we’re about to raid it. We can’t just shut it down, so we think we can use her blood as an antidote, if you will.”

  His excuse was such bullshit. Did he really expect me to believe him?

  “And if I don’t agree to your plan?”

  “Rachel, don’t be stupid. Not only will you be getting protection, but you’ll be helping us get a monster off the streets. How can you even consider not going along with this?”

  “Because I don’t trust you.”

  I heard a soft bird’s cry. Lea was here.

  I took a step back. “I think you’re a liar.”

  He looked shocked. “How can you say that?”

  “Perhaps because your men had her surrounded,” Lea said as she stepped out of the darkness, holding a knife to a soldier’s throat.

  Sean lost his composure and stepped away from the pole. He made a move to grab me, but I pulled the knife from my jacket sleeve, holding it in a defensive stance.

  He glanced down at the knife, then up into my face. “That’s a new trick.”

  “Just keeping you on your toes.” I took several steps back toward Lea.

  “So you’re working together?”

  “That’s none of your damn business, Sean.”