Walking to the desk, she took it with one hand moving it like it weighed nothing. The man kneeling behind it, now exposed, covered his head with his arms as he pleaded for his life. “Please!” he cried, “I have a family, three kids.” Rebecca heard him, grabbing his arm to force him to stand up, regardless. She then dragged him in front of the metallic door.
“Open it!” she commanded.
The man, who was trembling uncontrollably now, began to shake his head. “You don’t understand. They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me if I do. They said,” it was hard to understand him between sobs, “they said I needed to wait until I got the signal. They said-”
“I will kill you,” Rebecca threatened with her red eyes and long fangs. The man’s eyes opened wide as she saw the creature reveal herself in front of him. He yelled in terror and tried to run, but Rebecca had him in her grasp. “Open the door, or I swear I will kill you and your wife and children.”
The man’s heart couldn’t possibly beat any faster. Below him, Rebecca smelled his warm piss going down his leg, making a puddle on the floor. She didn’t want to be a monster, except she was determined to do what was right. She was determined to do anything she could to save Will. She was willing to do anything, even becoming the monster she had always known she was but was hiding behind a mask. Besides, she was alone and no one would be able to stop her, no one would ever know.
In the lobby, she heard Dylan fighting an army of werewolves on his own. Without her help, he could be defeated. If she didn’t hurry to help Will, she may lose Dylan, too.
“Open it!” she growled.
Finally, the young executive began nodding quickly reaching for his pocket; he produced a key which Rebecca took. Letting the man go, she focused on opening the vault. The metal door clicked and the lock was released. When she was finally able to go inside, she saw a gigantic werewolf, half transformed and still looking very much like a man, holding Will’s heart in his hand. Blood dripped from his fist as he smiled triumphant admiring his trophy. Below him, Will’s body rested motionless as his life had just recently slipped away from him.
She was too late.
“No!”
Rebecca raised her weapon, shooting the werewolf in the head, right between the eyes. Will’s heart fell as the huge man that had ended his life collapsed.
Filled with hatred, Rebecca wasted no time; in a flash, she was kneeling next to the big werewolf with her hand ready to take the murderer’s own heart out of his body.
The process was immediate. The heart in her hand wasn’t a trophy, it was a sign of her failure. Next to her, William’s own heart rested on the floor. She stared at it quietly, her brain filling with ideas.
Maybe it wasn’t too late. She let go of the heart she had taken and ran to take Will’s. Quickly, she put it back through the hole in his chest, where his ribs had torn apart after the werewolf’s killing hand had dived to take the organ. There was a chance it wasn’t too late.
Taking Will’s head to her knees, she began to cry. “Please, Will. Please…” She couldn’t fail. She couldn’t fail him. Will, the young boy she now held, had given her something she had been missing. He made her feel like she belonged; like she could still be herself even when embracing who she had become. He was living proof she would be able to do it. To separate both lives and still be the same person. She made her feel normal in her new abnormality.
“Come on, Will,” she pleaded.
She thought to give him her own blood, the wonderful vampire blood that healed everything, except she knew it would only make things worse. It was all on him, on his body. He had to save himself. His own blood had to do all the work on its own. It had to repair the broken heart and join it back together with the rest of the body.
“Becca,” she heard Dylan behind her. That meant the fight was almost over; she hadn’t even noticed. Now she could hear it in the background. She could hear the growls and the bullets and the screams slowly fading away. They couldn’t have done all that they’d done simply to lose Will in the end. “Becca,” he repeated. She turned to look at him, her arm covered in blood, seeing the sadness in his eyes as he watched her. The expression was so unlike him, she wasn’t used to seeing him like this. Was he sad for her or for Will?
“We were too late,” she whispered. Tears still fell on Will’s unmoving face. “Too late.”
Dylan gave a step forward and stopped. “They will send more,” he announced. “We need to leave.” Then, “Where’s the key?”
“I don’t know,” she cried, rocking Will’s head in her arms. A key was the least of her worries.
“Will had it in his pocket,” Dylan explained, “We need to open the security box, take what’s inside and leave. Now!”
She understood, it pained her, but she understood. Slowly, she nodded. Taking one last look at Will, she let his head fall gently on the floor. Dylan then ran to Will’s body, looking for the key. Once he found it, he ran to find the box with that number on it. Rebecca watched him look for the box sitting on the floor next to Will, her hands red from having taken out a heart and having put another one in; tears wetting her face.
“I got them,” Dylan announced, taking the discs from the box and putting them in his own pocket. “Come on, Becca, we gotta go. Now!”
She knew she had to leave him; it was inevitable. Standing up, she took one last look at Will’s calm and gentle face. “I’m sorry,” she said, before getting ready to run. She let Dylan helped her up, heading for the door.
Thump.
Even Dylan stopped when she heard it.
Thump, thump.
Was it possible? Both Dylan and Rebecca looked at each other. Hopeful.
“I’ll take him, you get out of here,” Dylan told her, “I’m right behind you.”
For a moment, Rebecca doubted him. For a moment, she thought he would simply make sure Will was as dead as he was supposed to be. But she could see it in his eyes. She knew he would not betray her. Nodding, she agreed to join the others while Dylan went back for Will, taking him in his arms.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“… AND I DIDN’T tell you, but I jumped out of an airplane a few weeks ago. I will not want to do it again. Have you done it? It was terrifying. It all worked out, but I’d rather stay on the ground.
Well, these past few weeks have been very busy. We go out to work every single day, even weekends. It has been really productive, so I can’t complain. I have a doctor’s appointment today and I’m taking this opportunity to write to you.
Well, I have to go. I can’t wait to hear from you and your news. Write soon. I really miss you! Oh, and I’m really considering your invite and go visit; one day I will gather my courage and just do it. In the meantime, take care and keep in touch.
Love,
Becca”
She finished the email to Coleen, her best friend from her human life; a life that now felt had happened centuries ago. Clicking send, Rebecca then carefully logged off the special server she used to send communications outside the agency’s walls. She didn’t like all the security, but knew it was necessary and she understood the importance in following the rules.
Just as planned, she heard Dylan finish his shower.
She turned the monitor off and hurried back to the bedroom, got under the covers, took her book from the nightstand and waited.
It took Dylan a few minutes to come out. When he did, he had only his towel tied around his neck. These past few weeks, Rebecca had seen Dylan naked more than the past year. Their relationship had grown by leaps and bounds, both on the field and in bed. His wet hair, which needed a haircut, looked very dark and his brown eyes looked at her suspiciously.
“What were you doing?”
Of course, the heightened hearing, no doubt he’d heard her jump back in bed.
“I needed a glass of water,” she said confidently; her heart didn’t even skip a beat. It was getting easier to lie to him, she found.
“Ah.” He seemed satisfied with her
answer. Casually, he walked to his side of the bed where his clean clothes were waiting. Rebecca watched as he got dressed, enjoying the view. Once he was tying his shoelaces, he said, “Are you sure you don’t want to come? You’ll miss all the fun and I’ll miss you.” Then, “I’ve gotten used to having you there to have my back.”
It was true, ever since the events at The Pecan, Rebecca had finally loosened up. She had become a competent werewolf hunter over-night. To her, it had been as if someone had flipped a switch. Like she had been able to do it before and she had just forgotten, somehow.
Clearly, Dylan was pleased. Not only in the field, either. They seemed to be more in synch and it didn’t seem to matter Rebecca had been only a confused, whiny human only a year before.
“I have my appointment with Dr. Stevens,” Rebecca replied, making a face.
“Skip it,” Dylan suggested.
Her eyes opened wide, “Oh, no. You don’t skip those. I don’t want them to think I’m hiding something.”
“Are you?” Dylan’s question sounded innocent, but it truly wasn’t. Rebecca still hadn’t told a soul what she had done to the chief of police or the bank’s employee. Only William knew and she hadn’t spoken to him much since he had come back to life two weeks ago.
“Oh, I am,” she began, “I don’t want him to know how much I hate going.”
That made Dylan laugh. “He’s not so back,” he defended the human psychologist. “And it’s better to make sure you’re all right.”
“I’m all right,” she said.
“I know you are.”
Dylan stood up, his jacket in his hand. All he needed now was to comb his hair and he’d be ready to go. Over on his nightstand, his phone vibrated. Both of them turned to look at it.
“Must be Josh,” Rebecca said.
“Must be.”
With that, he hurried back to the bathroom to finish getting ready. It didn’t take him long to come out. Leaning over to her, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Is there still blood in the fridge?”
“Last time I looked,” she replied.
“Great,” the werewolf hunter said, “Be good.”
She offered a smile, “Always.”
The elevator door opened on the main floor above ground. The scent of Will permeated the air, she doubted she would ever get used to it. No matter how nice the boy appeared to be and how many showers he took, he would always stink of wet dog. Rebecca knew most vampires living and working with her weren’t completely sold on a werewolf polluting their space. She was sure Will felt the same about them; he never complained.
Dr. Hugh Stevens’ office was on the second floor, the first door after the stairs. Just like Will’s scent polluted the building, so did the scent of blood coming from Dr. Stevens and the rest of the humans who worked there, although, human blood was more pleasant to them. Rebecca knocked on the door and was quickly asked to come in. She was now used to seeing the mess in Dr. Stevens’ office, the pile of paper and folders on the table, books on the floor, and unevenly stashed on bookshelves. Rebecca remembered the first time she had entered his office; back then, Dr. Stevens had pulled out a glass wall dividing their scents. These precautions weren’t necessary anymore and Rebecca was glad.
“How are you, Becca?” the friendly doctor asked as he welcomed her in with his usual pleasant, and genuine, smile.
“Fine,” she retorted briefly.
“Glad to hear.”
“You?”
His smiled broadened, “Excellent, excellent. Thanks for asking.”
The man offered the couch as he himself sat on a chair next to it, writing pad on hand. Rebecca sat down quietly and waited for the first question.
“Have you talked to Will yet?” he started.
Nodding, Rebecca pursed her lips. “I have, briefly.”
“You told me you enjoyed his company last time we met, right after he was brought in half dead, but… Have you gone to his room since then?”
“I’ve been busy.”
He nodded excessively, “Right, right. The raids. I know all about the raids.” Then, “Are they all done? Did they check all locations?”
He knew he shouldn’t be asking as much, yet Rebecca saw no harm in answering, “The first ones were successes. That only lasted a few hours. They vacated all other locations quickly after our first attack. They were empty when we arrived.”
“I see… so, how many did you manage to attack?
“We divided into three teams… so, three.” It didn’t seem that extraordinary when she put it like that. A failure, she would say. She had only been able to find action at one location. It had been an amazing ride, but a short one.
“And Dylan?”
“He’s gone again to make sure we cover all our bases.”
“Smart.”
“I’d gone with him, except-”
“You had an appointment to keep,” nodded Dr. Stevens again.
“Right.”
“You could have canceled.”
She considered it, “You asked for another appointment for a reason. I didn’t want you to think I was avoiding you.”
He agreed, “You had quite an initiation a few weeks ago and I felt our first session needed to take care of what was still fresh in your mind. I thought giving you time to think it over would give you the opportunity to talk about your afterthoughts.”
“I’m fine.”
There was a brief pause before saying, “How’s your relationship with Dylan?”
“Better than ever, actually,” Rebecca said without hesitation, “It turns out we are very compatible on the field, after all. Now that some of my fears are gone, I make a pretty decent partner.”
“Fears?”
“About werewolves; about facing them and killing them.”
Dr. Stevens listened intently, “And Will?”
“What about Will?”
“He’s a werewolf.”
“We’ve talked about this,” she frowned, “He’s not like the rest.”
“Yes, you said you liked him.”
“I do, he’s a good man.”
Dr. Stevens nodded again. He did a lot of nodding during sessions. “And yet you still haven’t visited.”
“I told you, I’ve been busy.” Then, “Why are you so obstinate in getting me to talk to him?”
This made Dr. Stevens chuckle, which annoyed Rebecca profoundly. Wasn’t the doctor’s main job to make sure she was a sane vampire? Hadn’t she proved she was still human enough to be safe to those around her? Sure, she had threatened a couple of men, but no one knew about it and she wasn’t going to tell anyone about that. It was going to be her little secret.
“Will has been coming to see me every day,” the man started, his notebook still in his hand, “Apparently I’m the only one he talks to.” He reconsidered, “Well, he sometimes goes down to talk to the agents downstairs. They have asked me to tell him not to bother them anymore.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes, “Too busy?”
“When he comes,” he ignored her comment, “he talks about you most of all. He talks about your time together and then starts asking question about you and Dylan.”
She didn’t like that, “What kind of questions?”
“About your relationship, mostly,” the doctor said, “and about where you live and what you do.”
Making a face, she said, “Nosy.”
“No,” Dr. Stevens corrected her, “Bored.”
“Bored?”
“You told me yourself, Becca,” the doctor continued, “You told me he wanted to come to this agency to find kindred spirits. To talk to people like him; immortals who didn’t lose control with every little emotion.”
He was right, she had said it because it was what Will had told her when they had been lost in the forest together. He hadn’t gone to all that trouble - including having his heart taken out - to simply live in a hotel-like room over the vampire agency.
“Oh.”
“He would b
e a wonderful friend, you know?”
Looking down at her hands, she knew he was right. It had to be her. She knew him like no other vampires in the agency. “I’ll talk to him,” she said finally.
“Wonderful!” He startled her with his tone, making her look up to watch him stand up suddenly. “He’s waiting in his room. I told him you were coming and I told him I would send you his way. He’s most excited.”
“You did what?” She could feel her face turning red.
“Come, come,” he motioned for her to stand up with him. Once she did, Dr. Stevens guided her to the door.
“I can’t do this right now.”
Dr. Stevens stopped his attempts to drag her to the door. “Becca, listen,” he took her hand with both of his warm ones, “We all need friends. Having friends, caring, makes us all human. I remember when I made the suggestion for Dylan to get a partner. Look what great things have come of that. You didn’t really know him before he met you. Believe me, you’ve done great things for him.
“And now you are here and you are changing. I now believe you need someone like Will to remain human.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“Then you’d have gained a friend,” Dr. Stevens said, “A man who, in my opinion, is worth getting to know. A man who desperately needs to talk to other kindred souls.”
She knew he was right. It was the opening up of certain details of her life that she wasn’t so sure. It was the possibility Will would find out about those small dark secrets she didn’t want anyone to know about that worried her.
Without another word, Rebecca agreed, releasing her hand from Dr. Stevens’ grasp. The old man was right, she knew. It was something that needed to be done. And who knew? Maybe having his friendship would turn out to be just what she needed.
“Say hello to Dylan for me,” she heard him say behind her as she opened the door to leave.
Werewolf Phenomenon: N.A.V.S.A. Series Book Two (The North American Vampire Secret Agency) Page 21
