The Recruiters

by Dara Nelson

  He just held me for a long time. Then, as my sobs quieted, he finally reached his hand up to turn off the water then he quickly wrapped it back around me. I knew he was afraid to say anything. “I’m okay,” I whispered as I tried to stop crying.

  He brushed the hair from my face and tried to smile, “No, you’re not sweetie.”

  “I will be,” I smiled weakly.

  He tried to take my mind off of the guilt. “I know you will, honey, but that was… ummmm… wow,” he said.

  “I know,” I replied as I tried to smile. “We should’ve tried that a long time ago. The biting each other part, not the other part.”

  “Yeah, we will definitely have to do that again,” he smiled and leaned in to kiss me, but stopped when there was a knock at the door.

  I was hurriedly throwing on a robe when I saw Matt smiling and shaking his head. “What?” I asked. “What’s so funny?”

  “You’re never going to believe who it is,” he laughed.

  “Who?” I said then it came to me. “What? No WAY! Did he actually learn how to knock?” I smiled and ran down the hall to open the door. “CARLOS!” I squealed and threw myself into his arms.

  ‘Hot damn, Sarah. Hair’s wet. You’re naked under that robe,” he smiled as he hugged me. “If I knew I’d get this kind of response I would’ve started knocking a long time ago.”

  “Easy there boy,” Matt said from behind me, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Ahhh, you never let me have any fun,” he pouted. I turned and wrapped my arm around him and led him inside. As we walked in he kept staring at me.

  “What?” I finally said. “What?”

  “There’s something different about you,” he said. “You seem more alive, stronger… wait! You finally made your first,” but he stopped when I put my hand on his lips and shook my head.

  “No, please don’t say it,” I whispered.

  “What do you mean?” he said. “Don’t you want to brag?”

  I glared at him. “No, I most definitely do not want to brag, Carlos. I did it to help Matt, not because I wanted to. I never wanted to, ever.” I buried my head in my hands causing me to miss the stern look that Carlos gave to Matt. Matt stubbornly stared back then finally nodded his head and mouthed the word ‘later’.

  We sat in the living room and Matt explained our theory to him: What I had done and what we did to disable the trigger. I blushed as he told this part but, naturally, Carlos was grinning from ear to ear. And of course he wanted graphic details on the last part. “He bit you right when he… and it caused you to… and you bit him… and… whoa… I have got to try that,” he said as he shivered. Then he looked at me, “Well, did it work?” he said.

  My head whipped around to Matt. “We haven’t had a chance to check,” I said.

  Matt closed his eyes. “I’m thinking about breaking into the fortress, killing me some Enforcers then ripping apart some Elders,” he opened his eyes then and beamed at me. “Nope, no pain at all. It worked.”

  I felt myself relax slightly as part of the huge weight of guilt was lifted from my shoulders. It wasn’t gone, not by a long shot. But at least what I had done hadn’t been for nothing. At least it had worked.

  I grinned back at him until Carlos said, “Well?”

  “Well, what?” I said.

  He grinned at me, “Well, when’s my turn?”

  I smacked his arm. “Not funny,” I smiled.

  “What?” he said trying to look innocent. “How am I supposed to help you kick their asses if I still have the pain?” he said.

  “No,” I whispered. “You can’t help Carlos. We have to do this alone. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

  “Now, Sarah, you know I’m not going to let you two have all the fun,” he said as he traced his finger down my cheek.

  I turned to Matt, hoping he could help. “Will you please talk to him?” I pleaded.

  “I wish I could, but it won’t do any good, honey. Carlos and I have always had each other’s backs,” he said.

  “Dude, if you try to kiss me now I’ll punch you.” Carlos smiled then he turned back to me. “Now, tell me more about this biting during sex,” he grinned.

  I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder. “I’ve missed you,” I said, but my insides were churning.

  He wrapped his arm around me, “Now we’re getting somewhere,” he grinned.

  We spent the next few hours discussing our options and then I had to get ready. I was meeting Alison for coffee at the place where she and I worked and Billy was going to show up. I got dressed and as I headed down the hall it hit me. I ran back to Matt.

  “What?” he said.

  “You still have the powder from the priest, right?” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “And the incense?”

  “Yes.”

  “And, as far as we know the Peruvians are okay?”

  “Yes, but Musetta, the voodoo priestess, she’s missing,” he said.

  I grinned. “I know, but her daughter isn’t and what do you want to bet that Marie learned everything from her mother?”

  Chapter Six

  I met with Alison, and introduced her to Billy, my friend, who just ‘happened’ to come in to the coffee shop while we were there. They instantly hit it off and I left them there together, saying I had another appointment. Well, that felt good, I thought as I tried not to move too fast through the streets.

  While I was gone, Matt and Carlos had been busy. Marie had agreed to meet us at her mother’s place at midnight on Friday. The Elders knew I was working a lead in Miami, so we arranged for flights there. We’d travel by boat the rest of the way. We flew to Miami that night then paid cash to rent a forty foot cabin cruiser. We were on the water by midnight.

  We docked in Port au Prince a few days later, at 11 p.m. on Friday night. Since it was dark, and we could easily avoid detection, we flew to Musetta’s home with my hands clasped tightly to Carlos and Matthew’s since I hadn’t yet developed the ability to fly on my own. She was waiting for us in the open doorway. She ushered us in to the living room, and unlike her mother, Marie actually spoke. “I’m not sure why I agreed to see you,” she began with her strong French accent. “Probably curiosity of meeting the last people known to have seen my mother.”

  Matt and I looked at each other – how did she know that, we wondered.

  Matt spoke up first, “We’re terribly sorry about your mother and will do everything we can to help find her. But, in the meantime, we were hoping we could compel you to provide us with a large quantity of the formula your mother made for us. We’d compensate you very well for it of course.”

  “Money is not an issue here,” she coldly said. “Why would I agree to do this for you when, for all I know, you’re the reason my mother is missing?” She stood then and pointed to the door. “This was a mistake. I think you should leave now.”

  I walked over to her and took her hand in mine. “Marie,” I softly said, “you’re right. We probably were the last people to see her and, yes, we feel awful that we likely are the reason she’s missing. We didn’t know at the time that we were putting her in danger. But we think we might know where she is and who has her. If you don’t do this, then we can’t try to help your mother. We need this to help us find her.”

  She stared at me for what seemed an eternity then she nodded her head and beckoned us to follow her down the stairs. She made an extra-large batch of the liquid. When she was done, Carlos, Matt and I each had twenty vials around our necks – sixty total. It was enough to create thirty new vampires and I hoped that would have to be enough. We stood and turned to head back upstairs, but as I passed the black pool this time, now that I was changed and it no longer frightened me, I turned and hissed at it and it sloshed to the far side of the pool. I grinned and heard Matt chuckling beside me.

  Our next quick stop before heading home, hopefully undetected, might be our most dangerous, but it was something I had to try. He was the only one who kne
w how to get to the fortress, and I knew he didn’t want to lose Janine. I tried to figure out the best way to convince him as we headed to Aaron’s small island nearby where Andrew was honeymooning. If he wouldn’t help us, or worse, if he told the Elders what we were planning, we were done.

  We pulled up to the dock at dawn. Matt and Carlos agreed to let me talk to Andrew alone – I was a young vampire and not tainted or bitter, and I hadn’t been created by the Elders. It made me different. So I thought he’d be more likely to believe me. They heard us coming up the walkway and were waiting for us on the porch. “Sarah! Matthew! Carlos!” they exclaimed as they hugged us. “What are you guys doing here?”

  “We were in the neighborhood and we thought we’d drop by,” I said as they led us into the house. We made small talk as I waited for Matt and Carlos to come up with an excuse to get Janine outside. I needed the computer to help make my case to Andrew. Finally Carlos said, “Hey Janine, it’s been a century since I’ve been here, how about giving me a refresher tour of the island?”

  Matt stood up and said, “I’ll come too.”

  Andrew started to stand but before he could say anything I placed my hand on his arm and discreetly shook my head. He cocked his head to one side. Janine turned to him and said, “Honey, are you coming too?”

  “Ummmm, I think Sarah’s a little thirsty, I’m going to fix something for her first. We’ll join up with you later, okay sweetie?” and he walked over and kissed her forehead.

  She squeezed his hand. “Okay, but don’t be too long. I get lonely without you.”

  He smiled and said, “Me too. I’ll be there quick as I can.”

  The three of them walked out the door and Andrew spun around to face me. “What is it? Is something wrong?” he said.

  I walked over to the computer and brought up the articles to show him as I started talking. “Yes, there is something wrong,” I began, “REALLY wrong.” I said as he read over my shoulder.

  “Okay, so three people are missing,” he said. “What does this have to do with you or us?”

  “These are three of the people who gave Matt and me the clues to the change process,” I said, and then I waited for it to sink in.

  Andrew’s eyes flicked back to the computer screen, then to me, then back to the screen several times before he sank into the chair next to me. “But why?” he whispered. “Why would somebody do this?”

  “Not somebody, Andrew,” I replied. “Them.”

  His eyes flashed to mine… and his face fell. “No, it can’t be. Why would they do that?”

  “Think about it Andrew. Matt broke the first rule. He revealed himself to a human. You’ve worked for them for a long time, when have you EVER seen them not punish somebody for that?” I said.

  “Never,” he whispered. “But I thought it was you. Anybody can see that you two belong together, how could they take that away?” he croaked as he finally understood.

  “They can and they plan to,” I said. “They only let us go until they could gather up everyone who helped us. I think it really scared them that we were able to figure out how to create a vampire too. It scared them and it pissed them off.”

  “But if they aren’t going to let you two be together, then why did they let me find Janine? I mean, she knows what I am too… NO, NOT MY JANINE!” he yelled as he jumped up so fast that he sent the chair flying backwards. It shattered against the wall.

  I grabbed his hand to keep him from running out. “What are you thinking right now?” I asked.

  “I’m angry, I’m scared, I’m PISSED. I have to stop them—OWWW!” He grabbed both sides of his head and fell to his knees. “What the hell is that?”

  I knelt down next to him and placed my arm around him. “That, my friend, is why nobody’s tried to stop them before. It’s why they control the change process. It’s why they never wanted anybody to figure out how to create a vampire. And it’s something that I don’t have… and that Matt doesn’t have anymore.”

  He cringed up at me. “They did this to me? And what do you mean Matt had? He doesn’t have it anymore?” he said

  I nodded. “We figured out how to ‘disable’ that feature,” I smiled then, “and you just might like how. But it means you have to allow us to change Janine.” I leaned in and whispered everything into his ear, watching his eyes grow big and the light blue blush fill his cheeks when I got to the ‘disabling’ part.

  “Really?” he said. “If you change her and then she and I…. ummmm… do that other part, then I can do something, or try to do something to stop them and to protect my Janine?”

  I nodded. “That’s right. Now,” I said as I helped him stand up and slid my hand through his arm, “Let’s go find my love and your bride. She needs to know about this, and I need Matt and Carlos to help explain our plans.”

  Chapter Seven

  We spent the next twelve hours planning and working out a strategy. That was all the time we had. We had to get back to New Orleans or we’d be missed. Andrew still had two weeks left on his honeymoon, so he would stay put and we’d hopefully bring everyone to him. This island was a hidden place that the Elders or the Enforcers had never been to and hopefully had never heard of. It was discreet. We could bring everyone there, change those who needed changing, then teach, learn, plan and prepare.

  We hugged Andrew and Janine goodbye and boarded the boat. While heading back, we worked on an excuse for Matt being gone for a few days (oh, that was gonna hurt, I thought). He needed to go to Peru to try to convince the chief to either come with him to the island or to show Matt how to do the eternal linking ceremony, which was a key piece to the change process. Joining the scars helped keep the virus (or whatever it was that made us vampires) alive and transfer it to the other person. Carlos was going to stay with me.

  “Awesome,” Carlos said as he wrapped his arm around me. “While he’s gone you can help me disable my pain trigger,” he grinned.

  I heard Matt growl behind me and I reached out my hand to him to calm him and said, “I have a much better way Carlos… we’re going to find you a mate!” I grinned.

  “Oohhh, nooo,” he said as he shook his head while he backed away. “That’s so not my style, Sarah. I ’m a lone wolf. Nobody can tame me.”

  “Relax tiger,” I said. “Not an eternal mate, just someone who wants to change, and is willing to sleep with you and then help us.”

  Carlos found his humor again. “I’d rather you did it, baby,” he said leering at me.

  I just smiled and shook my head as I walked to my laptop to start doing some research.

  I had someone in mind for Carlos, or for Carlos and maybe others for that matter. She was a sweet young thing who worked in the coffee shop by day and was a stripper/prostitute by night. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have any problem freezing her age, wouldn’t have any problem sleeping with Carlos, and probably wouldn’t have any problem sleeping with some other vampires to disable their triggers. We really needed as many older, and stronger, vampires as we could get. The young ones wouldn’t have the knowledge, experience and strength that the older ones could bring. Neither did I for that matter, but I had all the reason in the world to fight. This was MY fight. I had already lost too much in my life. Lost people that I didn’t have the option to fight for. People who were cruelly taken from me.

  My first husband, Rob, and my son, Scotty, were ripped from my heart in that car accident. They were gone in the blink of an eye. There was no way I could have saved them. But Matt, Carlos, Andrew, all the others and our future were things I could fight for. Things I needed to fight for. Things I would fight for, until I took my last breath.

  I kept glancing anxiously at Matt. The private jet he had hired was scheduled to take off at ten p.m. That left me a little over four hours until I felt the pain of being apart from him. I was bouncing my leg nervously. I was always a worry-wart but this was different. What if the Enforcers found out what we were up to and were waiting for him in Peru? For all we knew they had al
ready captured the chief. I had no way of knowing what he was walking into. Add to that the fact that we’d been with Carlos for four days straight now, which meant no alone time. No way to wrap my arms around him. No alone time to completely connect with him in the only way that makes me feel whole. I was beginning to feel like a junkie that needed her fix. And from the stressed look on his face and the dark circles under his eyes, Matt was feeling the same way too. I felt him try to reach into my mind then and I gladly let him.

  He wanted to know what I was thinking and I wanted him to know. He smiled slightly then, looking relieved, then he walked over to Carlos and whispered into his ear. Carlos looked at me, smiled, and rolled his eyes. “Oh whatever,” he said, “You two really need to get sound-proof walls. Of course I don’t think there’s any such thing when it comes to vampire hearing. No problem though. You guys were beginning to bore me. I’m gonna go have some fun at a club,” he grinned.

  I walked over to him, kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. You’re the best, Carlos,” then I hugged him.

  His eyes twinkled as he grinned and said, “It was only a matter of time before you said that, Sarah. I’ll be back after he’s gone. You can thank me then.”

  Then it was my turn to say, “Whatever,” and roll my eyes. He was out the door in a flash and Matt was in my arms a half second later. And, though four hours wasn’t nearly enough time in my opinion, we made good use of every single second.

  We held hands as I drove him to the small private airport several hours later. We hadn’t planned on my driving him, but as he tried to leave the house by himself, it just hurt too much. We decided to stay together until we couldn’t anymore, until he had to walk onto that plane. Until then his hand was not leaving mine. We showed our IDs and his flight pass to the guard at the gate and I drove through. I pulled the car up next to the plane on the tarmac. I used my left hand to put the car in park and shut it off. My right hand was still unwilling to let go of Matt’s left. We both groaned when we saw the pilot emerge from the hangar and walk onto the plane. I popped the trunk open. Matt turned to me and said, “Ready?”