The Recruiters

by Dara Nelson

  “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?”

  I shook my head, “No, not exactly, but every time you drained me I could feel more strength leaving me. I feel like I’ve run back to back marathons.” I leaned my head back on the headboard and closed my eyes. I peaked and saw the concerned look on his face. “I’m alright, really,” I said. “Just tired.” I took a deep breath and turned to stand up. “We’ve got work to do,” I said.

  Matt placed his hand on my arm. “Maybe you should sleep for a bit?” he said.

  I placed both hands on his face. “I can sleep when they’re gone,” I said. “Right now we have a change to do. Let’s go get Stacy and Rashidi.” He nodded and took my hand.

  We found them on the couch, huddled together, looking at their hands and discussing their scars. I tapped Stacy on the shoulder and she looked up at me and smiled. “You ready?” I said.

  “Now?” she said and I could hear her heart speed up. She looked at Rashidi. “This is a good thing?” she asked.

  He nodded once. “A very good thing,” he said.

  She gulped and stood up. “Okay,” she said, “but I’m scared.”

  I wrapped my arm around her. “I know,” I soothed. “I’ll be with you the whole time.”

  She stared in my eyes, trying to draw strength from them. I turned and whispered to Matt. “Get Andrew and Janine in to get their scars from Aduviri, then come up and help me, okay?”

  He nodded, turned and flew out the door. He was back just seconds later. I had already drawn the stars and was lighting the incense. I gently inserted the needle into Stacy’s neck while Matt prepped Rashidi. “You need to listen to her heart, Rashidi. Listen to the blood flowing through it. You need to always hear that sound, okay?”

  Rashidi nodded, wide eyed. Matt’s eyes softened, “You can do this Rashidi. I know you can.” Rashidi gulped then nodded again.

  He turned to Stacy, “I promise I can do this Miss Stacy.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “I know you can Rashi.”

  I reached into the night stand and pulled out two vials. I held them out and took a deep breath. “Ready?” They looked at each other and both nodded, reaching out and taking the vials. “Hold on,” I said. “Hands first.” I turned their scarred palms up and Matt sprinkled the powder on them. It bubbled for a few seconds then the scars were open. He sprinkled a little more and then I guided their hands together. I heard Stacy gasp. “Okay,” I said, “drink now.” I pulled the stoppers out of the vials and handed them over. They downed them quickly.

  “Ewww,” Stacy said, “that’s gro….my heart,” she gasped, “my heart is flying.”

  “Concentrate Stacy. Hold tight to his hand. Don’t let go, no matter what happens,” I said as I pulled her hair to the side, exposing her neck.

  Suddenly the room began to change. My eyes were seeing her blood pulsing through the vein on her neck… and I felt the familiar tingle in my teeth. I squeezed my eyes shut – what the hell was happening?

  “Sarah?… Sarah, are you okay?” Matt whispered.

  I concentrated on Matt’s voice. I opened my eyes and nodded, keeping my mouth closed… my fangs were about halfway down and I didn’t want him to see that. I leaned away from her neck, breathing in fresh air and finally felt them retract. I turned back and smiled, trying to alleviate the worry on Matt’s face. I saw Rashidi’s heavy breathing, his eyes popped open, he growled, showing his fangs. “Quickly Rashidi. Pull out as quickly as you can. Don’t hurt Miss Stacy, okay?” He barely nodded then lunged forward. Matt gripped his shoulders and yanked him back. Rashidi was panting hard. Matt plunged the syringe into his neck and withdrew the first vial of blood. He quickly handed it to me as he withdrew more. I injected it into the tube in her neck. I could hear her heart grow strong again, he handed me another and I plunged it in. Our hands were flying in sync, in a perfect rhythm, until Matt said, “Okay, Rashidi, again.” I tried not to watch as he lunged, but I couldn’t keep from hearing it. Hearing his teeth sink into her soft flesh and draining her sweet warm blood. Every beat of her heart was like a bass drum getting hit right next to my ear… no! not again I thought. I closed my eyes and shook my head a little, trying to clear it. My eyes opened in time to see Matt pulling Rashidi back, but he was staring at me, frowning. Worry clouded his eyes. I tried to smile at him and concentrate on the work at hand. We finally finished the fifth transfer and I laid Stacy down on the bed. I removed the needle from her neck and cleaned everything off the bed.

  “Is… is she okay?” Rashidi asked.

  “She will be,” I replied. “You did very well. Now, I need you to go downstairs and wait, okay?” He nodded his head and went out the door. I picked up Stacy and started to head to the tub with her, but turned to Matt and said, “You can go too, sweetheart. You don’t need to stay here and watch this.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m not leaving you Sarah.”

  I nodded and carried her into the bathroom. Matt held her as I undressed and climbed into the tub, then he hesitated. “What?” I said.

  “You want her naked too?” he asked.

  “Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? It makes clean up a lot easier,” I said.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be here then, but I don’t want to leave,” he said.

  I smiled at him and reached my hand to his cheek. “It’s really okay” I said. “You’ve seen her naked before, Matt,” I reminded him, “and the way you looked at her wasn’t anywhere close to how you look when you look at me,” I smiled. He smiled and nodded, slid her dress off her shoulders and handed her to me. He quickly ducked back into the bedroom and grabbed a chair then sat next to me, holding my hand. “How long now?” I asked.

  “Not too long,” he replied, shaking his head.

  I suddenly realized that there was a lot of noise outside. “What are all the boats?” I asked.

  Matt shook his head. “You’re not going to believe it Sarah,” he said. I just stared at him and waited. “Twenty-four of them already had people that they wanted turned.”

  I raised my eyebrows, “Twenty-four?”

  He nodded.

  “That’ll give us a hundred and thirty-six, plus us?” I said.

  He nodded again, grinning. I leaned my head back against the tub, “Wow.”

  “I know,” he said.

  I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, trying to find Carlos. He was out back, talking to Bahiti. ‘Sorry to interrupt, but can I have a minute?’ I thought.

  ‘Sure, what’s up?’ he thought.

  ‘It happened again, Carlos. And it was worse this time,’ I thought.

  ‘The fangs?’ he thought.

  ‘Yes, it went farther. They were tingling and it was much harder this time to make it stop,’ I thought.

  ‘With Stacy again?’ he thought.

  ‘Yes,’ I thought.

  ‘Huh,’ he thought then he tried joking to make me feel better. ‘Maybe it’s cause you really want to sleep with her, Sarah.’

  ‘Funny. I’m scared Carlos, I don’t want to hurt anybody,’ I thought.

  ‘Let me think about it for a bit. I’ll talk to you when you’re done, okay?’ he thought.

  ‘Okay, thanks,’ I thought, then had to quickly pull back because Stacy was su
ddenly twitching in my arms. Matt leaned over and turned on the water and handed me the shower head.

  “It’s starting,” he said. I aimed the water between her legs as her bladder released. She twitched some more and I rinsed her off again as more fluids released. I looked up at Matt and said, “I can’t believe you had to do this for me, this is pretty nasty.”

  “I know,” he said. “But look what I got. I got you forever. I think that was a pretty good trade off.”

  Stacy suddenly jerked in my arms, gasped, then screamed as she dug her hands into my legs. “Ouch, that hurt,” I said when she quieted again. I washed her down as a few minutes of silence passed.

  Suddenly she spasmed, arched her back and reached her hands up to my face and screamed, “IT HURTS… IT HURTS TOO MUCH… MAKE IT STOP.” I thought she was going to scrape her fingers down my face, but Matt was ready for this one. He had jumped up the second she screamed and grabbed her hands, holding them until she fell silent again.

  I looked at him, “More?” I asked.

  He nodded, “At least a few,” he said.

  Stacy suddenly spun around so she was on all fours and vomited blood all over my stomach. Her eyes went wide as she grabbed my arms and screamed, “YOU MAKE IT STOP RIGHT NOW, PLEASE… pppllllleeeaaasssee,” then she collapsed onto my stomach.

  “Um honey?” I said, “can you hold her up a second?” He held her as I washed the blood off of me and then I washed off Stacy. I took her back in my arms. “Did I do that too?” Again, he nodded . I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, smiled and said, “Throwing up is something that I definitely do not miss.”

  “Me neither,” he said. “ But it’s been so long I barely remember it.”

  “Must be nice,” I smiled, then tensed up as she again began violently thrashing in my arms, her arms flailing everywhere as they tried to find something to grab on to and kicking her feet. She threw her head back to scream, but it was choked off by more blood that erupted from her mouth. I leaned her forward so the blood went into the tub, but almost lost my grip as she arched her back, pressed her feet to the sides of the tub and flung herself back into me. She threw her head back, violently smacking it onto my chest, then screamed. Oh God, did she scream. A horrendous, earth-shattering, pain-filled, agonizing scream, then she slumped silently in my arms. I heard worried voices coming up the stairs. I looked at Matt. “She’s done now?” I said.

  He nodded. “I think so.”

  “Go tell them she’s fine, that, unfortunately, this is normal. I’m going to finish washing her off and get her into bed.” He flew out of the chair and I heard him whispering at the door. I grabbed the soap off the shelf and washed both of us off. I turned off the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Stacy. I gently carried her to the bed and laid her down. Then I returned to the bathroom to dry off. I put my clothes back on, picked up Stacy’s dress off the floor and went to her. I dried her off, sat her up to put her dress back on, laid her back down and covered her up. I stood up and Matt was by my side, wrapping his arms around me, whispering, “I love you,” in my ear.

  I leaned my head against him, closed my eyes, smiled and said, “I love you too,” then quickly dozed off.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Is it long now?” I asked. I was curled up on Matt’s lap, running my fingers through his hair, on the chair in the corner of the room.

  “Shouldn’t be. Look at her; she’s starting to twitch again. You did that right before you woke up.”

  “Okay,” I said as I stood up. “Can you go get Rashidi and twenty pints?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “So soon? Don’t you think she might need a little time to adjust?” I smiled and shook my head. “Not if she’s anything like me. And I’m pretty sure she is,” I said. “I woke up dying of thirst and so frickin’ horny I didn’t know which way was up, remember?”

  He smiled and reached for me, pulling me close, “Oh, boy, do I remember,” he said.

  I smiled and kissed him. “Later, baby. Please go get Rashidi and the blood?”

  He released me and nodded, “Okay, okay, I’m going,” he said. He opened the door and found that Rashidi was already standing there. Matt stood back to let him in, then he rushed downstairs.

  “Is… is she okay?” Rashidi said as he softly crept in the room.

  I nodded. “She should be waking up soon. Matt told you the process for disabling the trigger in your head?” I said, blushing slightly.

  He blushed too, but nodded, then turned to me wide eyed. “Not now?” he said.

  “Yes now, Rashidi. She’s going to wake up very thirsty and very… ummm… amorous. Now would be a very good time. Are you ready?” His mouth hung open, but he managed to nod.

  Stacy stretched and yawned just as Matt walked in the door, his arms full of warm blood. “Hey Sarah, what’s up?” she said, then her attention instantly went to Matt who was standing with his back to the door. She crouched on the bed, growling then sprung at him, knocking him back into the door as she grabbed the blood. She dropped the last empty on the floor, eyed Matt up and down then pressed herself into him, her hand pressing to the front of his pants.

  His eyes flew to me, pleading for help. I chuckled and walked over to her. “Not him, Stacy,” I softly said. She turned, gave me the once over then pressed herself to me

  “You then?” she said. “I knew you’d come around Sarah,” then she kissed me, hard, her tongue hungrily finding mine as her hand found my breast. I grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her away as her other hand began moving between my legs.

  I smiled, “No, not me either Stacy.” I pointed her so she was facing Rashidi and whispered in her ear. “Go, grab his hand with the scar, and don’t forget to bite.” She looked at me for a second, then nodded and was in his arms in a flash. I grabbed Matt’s hand and we quickly backed out of the room.

  “Nice kiss, Sarah,” he laughed.

  “Kiss? What kiss?” Carlos said from the bottom of the stairs.

  Matt grinned at me again. “Well? Why don’t you tell him Sarah?” he laughed. I smiled and shook my head as I went down the stairs.

  As I passed Carlos, I smiled at him then looked back up at Matt, “You two have fun with it,” I said. “I’m going to go talk to Bahiti for a minute.”

  I reached the porch then heard Carlos say, “What??? No way… she kissed her? With tongues and everything? And she grabbed her boob? That is so freakin’ hot! Man I wish I could have seen that… owwww!”

  I smiled then because Carlos must have gotten the smack on the back of the head that I knew was coming.

  I found Bahiti sitting in the shaded garden out back.

  “Hello, Sarah,” she said

  “Hi Bahiti, how are you feeling?” I said.

  “I’m fine, why do you ask?”

  “Well, this is probably forward, but we need to prepare quickly. Everyone needs to be ready, so…” I began, but she interrupted me.

  “You’re wondering if I would assist some of the other vampires with disabling their triggers, but not the way you helped me because that took much longer than the other way, correct?” she said.

  I nodded as she continued, “I actually already have with one of my lovers. I’m just waiting a little while before helping another.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Really?” I said. “I mean, that’s great, thanks.” I started to stand. I really wanted to ask her who but knew it was none of my business.

  “No thanks are necessary,” she said. “I got just as much out of it that Carlos did. It’s very erotic isn’t it?” she smiled as my head whipped around, my mouth open.

  I had no response, I just smiled and said, “I’m sorry to leave so quickly, but I have to get back to work.”

  She smiled and nodded. As I walked back to the house, I reached out to Carlos.

  ‘What now?’ he thought.

  ‘Bahiti? Really?’ I thought.

  ‘Oh that, yeah, what about it?’

  ‘Well, it’s just that
she seems so much more… refined than you… it just surprised me, that’s all’

  I could feel him laughing as he thought, ‘Really, Sarah, even refined people like sex now and then. Especially super-awesome, great sex – like it always is with me.’

  ‘Of course it is. Hey, can you talk now?’ I thought.

  ‘Not now, we’re preparing Janine for her change.’

  ‘Oh,’ I thought, ‘do you need my help?’

  ‘Ummm, why don’t you come in after the transference. I don’t want any problems with you around the blood, and Andrew could use your help getting her through the painful, messy part, okay?’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right, okay,’ I thought, a little crushed. What the hell was wrong with me?

  ‘We’ll try to figure out what’s wrong after this, I promise, okay?’ he thought.

  ‘Okay,’ I thought. ‘Thanks.’

  I pulled back and went up the stairs, waiting outside the door until it was my time.

  I patted Andrew’s hand, “She’s going to be fine, stop worrying.”

  “How do you know?” he pleaded.

  I turned to look at her, laying so peacefully on the bed. “See her fingers? Her feet? They’re starting to twitch. Do you see that?” I said. He nodded slightly.

  “That means she’s going to wake up soon. She’ll wake up and then she’ll be yours forever,” I smiled.

  He looked up at me then. “Really?” he said. “She really will be mine forever, won’t she?”

  I nodded. “I’m going to go get her something to eat. She’s going to want it, and you, badly when she wakes up.” I returned a minute later with an armful of blood for her, which she happily devoured as soon as I walked into the room. I took my leave then, knowing what was coming next.

  Things progressed quickly over the next week, during which neither Matt nor I slept. There were fight clinics set up around the island for the new vampires (including me). Andrew continued to coach us on the fortress location, its vulnerable spots (there weren’t many) and what little he knew about the Elders, their techniques, capabilities and schedule. Carlos and I seemed to always be too busy to talk, so my issues weighed heavily on my mind. I would go for long walks to try to clear my head. On one walk through the jungle, I ran into Bahiti. It occurred to me that a vampire as old and wise as she might be able to help, but I was still afraid to open up completely to her. “Hello Bahiti. How are you doing?” I said.