“Gentlemen.” Tate’s voice boomed through the thick walls I waited behind. He really got into his speeches. “All of you represent the top of your field in weapons, combat, espionage, or infiltration. You come from different branches of the military, the Bureau, the CIA, and even the criminal justice system. Gentlemen, you are the toughest there is.” Tate paused for dramatic effect. I rolled my eyes. “And you are all going to fail.”
Even through the solid concrete and metal, I heard a slight shuffle from the men at this proclamation. I shouldn’t be able to hear anything, but my hearing was far from normal. Hell, I was far from normal, as these men were about to find out. If Tate would hurry it up already.
“Out of the twenty of you who enter this room, we only expect a few to make the cut. Do not remove any of your protective gear. Once these doors close behind you, they will not open again until this exercise is over. Remember, participation is voluntary. Any of you who choose to decline, step forward. This is your last chance.”
More shifting, but no one chickened out. Usually no one did, not if they’d gotten this far.
“Men,” Tate concluded, and the glee in his voice almost made me smile. This was his favorite part. “You have only one objective in this exercise. Defeat the enemy!”
The doors slid open to reveal a large square room lined with padding from top to bottom. Such insulation allowed for longer training sessions, but somehow I didn’t think it was completely appreciated.
There was a shocked silence. Tate was grinning now. My other two captains, Juan and Dave, wore similar smiles.
One of the potential recruits looked to them in confusion. “Sir…? There’s, um, nothing in here but a woman, sir.”
Well, score one to him for stating the obvious.
“Lesson one, soldier,” Tate said firmly. “Don’t believe for a moment that because something looks harmless it is harmless. What’s the matter with you men? She is the enemy. Defeat the enemy!”
“Come and get me, boys,” I taunted, anxious to get started.
A collective bellow erupted from the group as they charged me. When the first few got close enough, I simply started flinging them into the air. There were muted sounds of bodies thwacking against the padded walls followed by surprised yelps. One after another I threw them, until all twenty had experienced the dubious joy of flight.
The men rolling around on the ground stared at me with disbelief. Guess they hadn’t figured a five-eight chick with a medium build could toss them clear across the room.
“Cat,” Dave called out. “Teach these slops what lesson number two is.”
To demonstrate, I grabbed the nearest soldier and promptly broke his nose. It happened so fast he was bleeding before he even knew I’d moved.
“Lesson two is take every cheap shot.”
Someone muttered, “Did you see that?” as if needing confirmation. Time for the third instruction.
“And lesson three is take every low blow.”
A hard kick to the groin of one of the men caused him to bellow in agony. Sympathetic winces appeared on every male face. The one whose balls got blasted rolled on the ground, curled around his parts.
“But the most fun is lesson four. Always, always kick someone when they’re down.”
To punctuate the point, I drew back my foot and nailed the same poor recruit, feeling three of his ribs break with the contact.
“Let’s get the bitch!” someone yelled.
If only I had a dime for every time I heard that.
The fighting began in earnest and lasted ten minutes. After all, cameras were rolling. I had been criticized before for being too quick and not leaving enough footage. My boss, Don Williams, always complained about something.
When it was over, all the potential recruits were either unconscious or flailing on the floor. My three captains—Tate, Dave, Juan—and I picked through them to choose our new members.
“No, not that one. He wet himself. Thank God these mats are washable.”
I nudged the next one in the face with my toe and got a bloodshot glare in return as the man slapped at my foot.
“That one,” Juan nodded, pointing to the soldier at my feet.
A nod from me sent special personnel to retrieve him.
“What about him?” Dave inquired when we came to one who didn’t even twitch. He’d been thrown through the air seven times before going night-night.
“Good pick,” I said. “He just kept coming back.” Another jerk of my head and he too was carted away.
“Fucking freak,” a low voice hissed.
I walked toward its direction. The others hadn’t heard him, but they followed me.
“You sure you want to be saying that?” I asked as I ground my heel into his bashed rib cage, forcing a wheeze of air from him. Brown eyes stared up with fury from a face that looked mulatto.
“Fuck you,” the man spat.
I turned to Tate. “Oh, I like him,” I said. “He’ll do.”
Tate chuckled his agreement and away Foul Mouth went, cursing me the entire time.
“Anyone else?” They looked around while I cracked my back to relieve a kink. “Right, then. Three. Well, that’ll offset the loss at least.”
We hadn’t had a banner month. One in our unit had died a gruesome death. Two more dropped out right after, unable to handle the horror of witnessing it.
“Hopefully they’ll last,” Dave added.
I shrugged. “We’ll see. We play the hand we’re dealt.” Oh, if they only knew who had taught me most of the advice I now dispensed. “I’m off to the showers. Got blood in my hair.”
The blood was only a few shades darker than my hair itself, which was a pure crimson red. Along with my pale skin and gray eyes, I looked exactly like my father, or so my mother had said. She hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
Juan and Dave said good-bye, but Tate walked with me. He had a far-off smile on his face.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I was just remembering the day we met. Every time I see the recruit’s faces when those doors open, it reminds me. When Don told me you were more than human, I didn’t believe him. Not until you broke my arm and threatened to blow my brains out with my own gun.”
A stab of grief went through me that I carefully concealed. I had vivid memories of that day as well, but not of him. No, not of him.
“If you reminisce further you’ll recall that you were about to shoot me,” I pointed out. “I was only defending myself. Now as for Don, well, okay. I broke his kneecaps out of spite.”
“I can’t believe it’s been six years,” Tate marveled. “Don thought you’d turn on us and I’d have to kill you inside six months.”
“I’ll bear that in mind when I buy his next Christmas present.” My voice was dry but this wasn’t news to me.
“Well, you have a while to hold that grudge. You’d be better off shafting him on his birthday in April.”
We reached my locker room. Due to my gender, mine was separate. I was the only female in our unit. Don had once said he didn’t want any internal “conflicts of interest,” but I thought he was just being a sexist pig.
“If it makes you feel any better, I thought very little of you also when we first met. Who knew you’d be the one I counted on the most?”
Tate smiled. “Who knew you’d be the bravest, meanest bitch I’d ever served with? I’m glad you didn’t shoot me. I would have missed out.”
I smiled back. “I’m glad I didn’t shoot you too, because I’d probably be dead if I had.”
He laughed at that. “No, you wouldn’t. I’m only good enough to take on the ones that are too easy for you. You do all the hard work.”
I shook my head but didn’t respond as I went inside. He didn’t understand. If it weren’t for him, Dave, and Juan, I would have given up years ago.
It wasn’t easy being a genetic fluke. To all those who say there aren’t things that go bump in the night, I say look closer. My mother didn’t
believe in vampires, either, until a blind date took a horrible, toothy turn. That vampire didn’t just bite her, he also raped her, and then several months later there was me. To say I had a weird childhood was to put it mildly. I hadn’t even known why I was different until I turned sixteen and my mother told me the real truth about my father. About the only thing I hadn’t inherited from dead old dad were pointy teeth and the need for a liquid diet
Don found me at twenty-two when I got into a little trouble with the law. You know, the usual youthful stuff. Killed the governor of Ohio and several of his staff, but hey, they had it coming. After I was arrested, my funky pathology reports tattled on me for not being totally human. Don snapped me up to lead his branch of “Homeland Security” by giving me the quintessential offer I couldn’t refuse. Or death threat, to be more accurate. I’d taken the job. What choice did I have?
Chapter Eleven
When Cat Met Belinda, aka Sunshine
Author’s note: Some readers might remember that Belinda was one of the vampires Don had kept captive at the compound so that his scientists would have a steady supply of vampire blood in order to make Brams. Readers might also remember that Bones had a history with Belinda, and Cat was not happy when she found out about that. The scene where Cat first caught Belinda was in the original version of One Foot in the Grave, but it ended up being cut because I thought readers would rather have Bones appear on the page sooner than see Cat on another hunt with her team. However, I loved Cat’s interactions with Tate, Juan, Dave, and the rest of her team, so I’m glad that I saved this in a file instead of deleting it entirely.
Don was in his office and I went directly there. He was my first stop every day. The routine was that I was briefed on any intelligence and then I shared it with my team leaders Tate, Dave and Juan.
Don glanced up from his computer when I walked in. “Cat. Good afternoon.”
I looked at the clock. Yes, it was after twelve already.
“Don.” Without invitation I sat down and stretched out my legs. He eyed me when I put my feet on the seat opposite me, but said nothing. We’d had the conversation about feet on the furniture many times before, and he’d finally given up.
“News arrived last night of some related deaths in Phoenix. Women with strange injuries to the throat, blood loss but no blood at the scene. Police think they were killed somewhere else and the bodies dumped. Needless to say, I disagree.”
“Whatcha think? One or more vamps?” Blood loss only meant no ghouls or flesh eaters. They left very distinct corpses behind when they were too full to eat everything.
Don frowned. “More than one. The area is fairly narrow, but there are too many for just one vampire to be feeding. My guess is that you’ll uncover a nest. Let’s put it out of business.”
I yawned and didn’t cover my mouth. Sometimes I did things like that just to aggravate him. Like the feet. Even though I’d gotten over my resentment of him, a little devil in me enjoyed annoying him. Seeing his face darken made it all worthwhile.
“Am I keeping you awake, Cat?” There was a definite edge to his tone.
I blithely ignored the question. “Are the three recruits from yesterday patched up? Ready for more training today?”
That made Don lean forward with more enthusiasm. It was the one thing that would always put him in a good mood. “They were given the transfusions immediately after their removal from the Wreck Room.” Ah, the cute nickname given to the place where the potentials first met me. Someone here had a sense of humor. “That last strain you brought in was of decent stock. With any luck, tonight you can procure more. We’re running below the levels I’m comfortable with.”
“Without me you wouldn’t even know what levels you were comfortable with, Don.” In that I’d proven my worth in gold. Before me, they never even knew that vampire blood healed.
Six years and a team of brilliant scientists later, they’d filtered through the components in undead blood and come up with ways to preserve it. Now the team and any wounded recruits were patched up in a day or so, courtesy of the vampires I brought back alive to be temporary donors. The tricky part was that only the younger ones were easy to damage sufficiently and transport without killing them. There was a drawback. The younger the vamp was, the weaker the power in their blood. The older they were, the more potent they got. Especially if they were a Master vampire. Those were extremely difficult to bring in alive. Hell, it was enough of a job to kill them. Don salivated at the thought of an old, strong vamp in his custody. He could concentrate the serum in the blood and stretch it ten times further.
“You’ve held up your end of our agreement admirably.”
That caused me to look twice at him. It was the highest form of praise he’d ever bestowed on me.
“You feeling all right, Don? You’re not drunk, are you?”
Another thin smile appeared on his face, which was lined with years.
“No, just remembering the day we brought you in. In my greatest imaginings I didn’t think it would turn out this well.”
I snorted rudely. “Yeah, Tate mentioned that yesterday. Nostalgia must be in the air around here. He said you were sure he’d have to shoot me within a year.”
Don shrugged. We might have been discussing lunch. “I didn’t trust you. You were filled with wild, unchecked power. I thought you’d try to run away on your first mission and warn the vampires about us. Tate knew what to do if that happened.”
Now I pushed my feet off the chair and stood. This was too many trips down memory lane for me. “I keep my promises. If you didn’t know that then, you should have realized it by now. I’m off to the exercise unit to meet up with the boys. Anything else I should know about tonight?”
“Only that you leave in five hours. With the time change there it will give us two extra hours to prepare. Oh, and one more thing. The person last seen alive with five of the victims was a woman. Looked very cozy with them too. You can review the rest of the data on the plane. Try to bring at least one in alive.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” My hand rose in mocking salute and he glowered again.
Three dirty looks in thirty minutes. Maybe today would be a good day.
***
The exercise room was more than a gym. It was an extravaganza of an obstacle course, complete with ropes to swing from, falling debris, ground that shifted under your feet, and lots of room to run. Bones had trained me in a cave and in the woods. This was a more modern version, but the same principals held. Drive a recruit until they passed out, then wake them up and push them further. Boot camp was a pleasure cruise compared to this, or so I’d been told in profane and explicit language numerous times. When I stepped inside, I saw Tate and Juan berating an exhausted soldier from yesterday. Oh yes, the one with the potty mouth. Even though I was the length of a football field away and there was enormous noise from the activity, I heard each word clearly.
“You’re not stopping, Cooper! Back at the ropes! If you think we’re being rough on you, just wait until Cat comes over. She’ll make you wish you had your bottle and your blankie.”
Tate’s voice sliced through the commotion and Cooper, obviously his name, panted hard.
“I don’t believe this shit. I don’t believe it. Yesterday twenty of my bones are broken, and today I’m running a fucking marathon. Vampires, who in the world would guess?”
“No one, pal, and that’s the way it stays. You think you’re shocked now? See how you feel when one of them comes for your throat. You’ll be glad for your efforts here. They’ll save your life later.”
Tate spoke from experience. He’d been on at least a hundred missions with me and been comatose over a dozen times to show for it. He was one tough human. Without the recuperative benefits of the blood I harvested, he would have been dead years ago. At least some good had come out of my heartache.
“And they tell me that bitch is half one of them? How can you follow a fucking—”
The sentence abruptly ended with Juan’s
fist in his face. Cooper fell to his knees. Juan was a pretty mean cookie as well.
“No one talks about Cat that way in front of me.” The Spanish accent seemed to emphasize the statement.
Cooper gaped at him. “Why? She’s in charge, but you must have to watch your backs. One day she could snap.”
Juan shook his head in wry amusement. “Yeah, we watch our backs if we’re conscious. She’s dragged my half-dead ass out of so many horror houses, I can’t even count them all. When she goes back inside a place filled with vamps to haul your ignorant carcass out, you’ll stop someone from insulting her too.”
“That will never happen. No matter what you say, she’s a freak.”
“Hey, dumb fuck, she can hear you.” Tate gestured in my direction and I waved.
“Bullshit. No one could hear us from that far in this racket,” Cooper said with absolute conviction.
Boy, did he have a lot to learn.
Juan grinned at him. “Go on, whisper something to me, and when she walks up, she’ll repeat it to you. She can hear you from a mile away. Hell, if you fart, she’ll hear it before anyone smells it.”
Oh, charming. Juan did have a way with words.
“Okay, I’ll play.” Cooper leaned in and whispered to Juan, who nodded and looked at me expectantly. They loved to show off my abilities.
I walked over to them, and Cooper looked at me in challenge.
“You aren’t circumcised,” I announced. Funny what people thought to say.
Tate and Juan laughed at the shocked expression on Cooper’s face.
Outtakes From the Grave Page 11
