“We have a lot of shaky reports of... activity in this area. We will need you to help us locate the perpetrators of this activity, if they are still around.”
“So you want us to track someone?” I asked. I can do tracking, I guess.
“Not precisely, but we do want you to find them.”
“And if we don't?” I asked.
“We invite the guards back in here to finish this conversation once and for all.” Agent Marcus spat out.
“Sandy,” Paolo said, again grabbing onto the other man's arm. “It would be quite unfortunate, Miss Brynne. For all of us. I find that I am quite fond of you, and I do not wish you any harm, but our agreement stipulates that we leave you be and provide you the blood you need in exchange for your help.”
“Bunch of leeches.” Agent Marcus said.
“Dad, stop it.” the woman said. “You've seen the same records on these two as I have. They aren't like the other vampires.”
“I'm not a...” I began.
“We're not vampires!” Jess insisted.
“My apologies.” Special Agent Marcus said. “How would you like us to refer to the two of you?”
“We're, um,” Jess said. She looked at me and shrugged. “Brynne?”
“How about just Jessica and Brynne.” I suggested.
“Very well.” the woman said. “Please call me Celeste.”
“Unacceptable.” the elder Marcus said. “If this has any chance at all, and I don't believe it does, then I insist we keep this completely professional. No getting cozy with each other.”
“Dad, this is neither the time nor the place...”
“You shouldn't even be a part of this operation.” he told her.
I have no idea what this guy has against us, but clearly there is something more than the fact that we aren't exactly normal teenage girls. He doesn't seem to like what we are, but his attitude and the way he keeps looking at me just... there has to be something else.
“Tell us about the ones you want us to find.” I said.
“Miss Brynne, you and Jessica are somewhat different than most other vampires.” Paolo said.
“Please stop calling us that.” I told him.
“Yes, well,” Celeste said, giving Paolo a bit of a glare. “You two aren't murderers, like the others. And we think we can trust you to...”
“We can't trust any of them!” Agent Marcus insisted.
“We can trust you,” Celeste said, speaking over her father. “to help us find these awful creatures and put an end to what they are doing.”
“What are they doing?” Jess asked.
“We are not sure, Miss Jessica.” Paolo said. “Many young people have been found dead recently, but they have no apparent injuries. Something...”
“A leach.” Agent Marcus said.
“Dad!” Celeste snapped at him. “If you can't keep your opinion to yourself then just leave!”
“You should not be involved in this.” he told her. He stood, pushing his chair back quickly until it toppled. I tensed, but remained seated. “And I refuse to be.”
He stomped out of the room. Celeste looked angry enough to scream, but she managed to maintain her professionalism. She removed her glasses, wiped at her eyes, shook her head, then looked to Paolo and asked him to continue.
“Special Agent Marcus, we cannot continue without your father. He was the agent in charge, without him there is no-one to oversee this operation.”
“I'll do it.” she told him.
“You are not authorized, Special Agent.”
“Paolo, children are dying. My father is being a pigheaded ass, but we can't let that prevent us from trying to stop whoever is responsible.”
Paolo's face flattened into an unreadable mask as he considered what she had said. I don't yet know what it is they are wanting from us, but whatever it is must be important, because he is giving this a lot of thought.
“If you die, your father will never forgive me.” he said to her. “You will stay out of the action and let these two take care of things. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” she replied.
“Excuse me,” I said. “Take care of what?”
Paolo had that stony poker face return as he turned to me. Why is it he can't just tell us what is going on and get it over with? They need our help, right? So why be so secretive? This is stupid. I never agreed to this, and I don't need them. If I didn't think it would put Jess in danger I'd just take off. If she weren't in the picture I'd just run far away and they'd never find me. But I can't do that to her. And I don't think I can bear to be without her anymore, anyway.
“I will let Special Agent Marcus explain upon your return. For now I want you to go pack your things. You will be moving into an apartment here for the time being.”
“Wait, what?” Jess asked. “For how long?”
“We cannot predict, Miss Jessica, but we are making plans for at least a year.”
“What about her college?” I asked. “She isn't missing out on college for this.”
“I'm afraid...”
“She can go to college.” Celeste cut him off. “But it will have to be here.”
“That's not fair!” I said, rising to my feet. “If you aren't giving us details and you are forcing us to move here then... then I'm afraid we'll have to say no.”
“Miss Brynne,” Paolo said. “I believe we have made ourselves clear on the result if that were to be your decision. That would be unfortunate, no?”
Part of their agreement was to let us live and give us blood, and that is all well and good. We could probably just run off and get away, though, and they know it. That's why there was also a threat to Jess's family if we ever were to do that. And they talk about innocent people getting hurt and how we have to stop it, while they themselves make that kind of threat.
“But...”
“It's okay, honey.” Jess said. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back down to the chair. “I can go here.” She looked up at Celeste. “As long as I can get in to some place I like here.”
“I may be able to pull some strings.” Celeste told her. “I will do my best to help. I am sympathetic, I know this is inconvenient for the both of you, but we really do need your help. There's something killing teenagers out there, and we need to stop it.”
“How?” I asked. “What good will we be?”
“You're a teenager. You can fit in and try to find out what is going on. I will brief you upon your return, ladies. I promise I will let you know everything I know, I just would prefer we do that once we're a little more settled.”
“This isn't fair.” I mumbled again.
“I know, but you will be saving lives, and I know that means a lot to you.” she said, sympathy filling her beautiful eyes.
“I... I... alright. But... if there's anything dangerous then Jess stays out of it.”
“What? Brynne,” Jess protested.
“Hey, you're supposed to be listening to me, remember?” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well that isn't going to go on forever, ya know.”
“Here is the address you will be staying.” Celeste said, sliding the paper across to me. When I reached for it, our hands touched. She was so warm. “I'll expect you there tomorrow morning.”
There really wasn't a lot to say at that point, apparently, because they shooed us from the room and sent us home. The armed guards were all waiting in the outer office, and they had guns at the ready when we came out, but there were no incidents, if you don't count all the glares.
The sad thing is, even though we had plenty of time to check out malls and stores that I don't get to see very often, I just wasn't in the mood to shop. That does not happen very often. But my mind was stuck in a loop, thinking of how unfair it is that I have to once again disrupt my life to take care of some evil thing I have no link to. I just want to be a normal teenage girl, but I never get that chance.
Peggy and Ted were very upset wh
en we told them what we had to do, and Barney was trying to convince us to let him come with us. I could see how worried they were, Peggy especially, about Jess.
“I'll take care of her.” I told Peggy. This was just as Jess and I were headed up to bed.
“Who's going to take care of you?” she asked. She smiled a sad smile. “Try to be safe, okay? Both of you.”
“We will.”
I brushed my teeth, showered, put on my Pjs, and went into our room to pack my stuff. Jess was finished packing by then, so she took her shower.
I climbed into the top bunk and pulled my doll tightly against me. I wonder what the Venator Inmortuorum would think of their favorite lap-dog vampire-ish creature if they knew she still played with dolls.
“Why does this have to be me, Jenna?” I asked my doll. She has been there for me when nobody else was for the past several decades. “They should at least let me leave Jess here so she doesn't get hurt. I don't know, I guess I should be grateful that they don't kill us. They even give us a supply of blood. So what if we have to spend a little time working for them? We have centuries to live, if everything goes well, so what is a year?” I pulled the blanket up over me and rolled to my back. “I just don't like having to answer to them, I guess.”
When Jess came in she put her clothes in the hamper, put some moisturizer on her face, then climbed into the bottom bunk. I tried to go to sleep, but she was tossing and turning, and it was keeping me up.
“I'm sorry you're being sucked into this.” I whispered.
“It'll be interesting, I think. Plus, we get to help people, and that's a good thing.”
“I guess so.”
“Plus, hey, Special Agent Marcus is cute, right?” she asked. I could hear the smile in her voice.
“For a straight girl, you talk about other girls an awful lot, ya know?”
“I can see that other girls are pretty and not want to date them, Brynne.” she said, kind of defensively. “Besides, honey, I was talking for you. You thought she was really cute, didn't you?”
“What? No, I... I don't know.”
“Oh come on, you thought she was hot. Admit it.”
“I... why would I think that? She's forcing us to do things against our will, and that is never hot.”
“Honey, you have a look when you're interested in someone. It took me a while to figure it out because I've only seen you look at two people that way before Celeste.”
“I do not.”
“You do! You were making all sorts of googly eyes at Teresa once you two got together.”
“No I wasn't!” I miss her so much, though.
“Yes, honey, you were.”
“I... whatever.” This is silly. “Okay, okay, so even if I admit that, and I'm not, then... I mean you said two people?”
“Oh. Um,” she said. She gave a little giggle. “Yeah. Well, anyway, goodnight.
“Who...”
“'Night, honey. Sleep well.” she said, cutting me off. “Goodnight Jenna.”
Oh crap. Is she... she's talking about... Well, I mean of course I think she's pretty, and amazing, and a wonderful person, but... well I mean I know she's off limits, she's my best friend. She's very straight. I wouldn't dream of... but... Oh crap, have I been 'making googly eyes' at her?
“I'm so embarrassed.” I mumbled. I felt tears filling my eyes.
“Don't be.” she whispered. “Goodnight Brynne.”
Monday, May 19
“Make sure you don't forget Jenna.” Peggy said to me as Jess and I were heading out to the car, boxes in hand.
“I got her.” I said. It's embarrassing that they all even know her name.
Ted and Barney left for work earlier in the morning. It still blows me away that Barney finally got a job. Anyway, Peggy is the only one here to see us off, she didn't work today. I wish she did, though. She's going to sit here all alone and worry about Jessica. I don't like that she has to worry so much. She is a nice lady, and she doesn't deserve to have to go through all of this with us. Neither does Jess, though.
“I'm going to do my best to keep her out of trouble, Peggy.“ I promised again. She nodded, but didn't speak. “We'll come back to visit in a few days. I'm going to try to talk them into letting me do this alone so she...”
“Not a chance, honey.” Jess said, fluffing my hair from behind. “I have to take care of my bestest friend of ever.”
“Jess,”
“No arguing.” Peggy said. “You both be careful. I trust that you'll be okay, as long as you have each other's back.”
“Always.” Jess said.
You know those days when you just have that nagging feeling that something isn't right, and you know you should just go back to bed and hope whatever it is will work itself out before you wake up again? I'm having one of those days, except ten times worse. I know I already was feeling like we shouldn't be going up there for this, but there's like this other huge, ominous feeling, and I can't put my finger on it.
“Look on the bright side of this, honey.” Jess said. “Kansas City is full of little gay girls who would love to have an opportunity to go out with you.”
“Are you back to this again?”
“Yeah, and I'm going to be back on this over and over again until you at least go on a date with someone else and try to get over Teresa.”
“You've never really been in love with anyone, have you?” I asked. I knew she hadn't. “I'm not going to just get over her. Not ever. And I don't even want to.”
“Then what do you want, Brynne?” she asked. Kind of snippy. “You can't spend the next ten thousand years pining for her and not moving on, okay? So if you can't have her, what is the plan? Be alone?”
“Maybe.” I mumbled.
She's right, I'm never going to see Teresa again. Never talk to her, never hold her hand, and never kiss her. Never hear her say she loves me. And that sucks. And if I can't have that, what do I really want? Do I want to be alone, really?
“It's just too soon.” I told Jess.
“I know.” She reached over and rubbed my shoulder with her right hand, her left hand still firmly planted on the steering wheel. “I know, honey. Some day it won't be, though. I just want you to be open.”
“I... Maybe. Some day.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “I hope she is happy. That's what I really want.”
It is what I want. And I also want her to hurt because of what she did to me. Quite conflicting emotions, really. But it's hard to blame her for leaving me when my life is as messed up as it is. And she's going to keep getting older, while I stay basically stuck at fifteen for the next hundred years.
Teresa is probably out shopping with the new girlfriend right now. Laughing, trying on silly jewelry and hats and making fun of each other in that playful way she has. I wish that could be me. Instead I'm stuck in a life I didn't ask for, don't want, and would gladly give up just to get a few years of normalcy.
After stopping to eat lunch at a Wendy's, we made it to the apartment around 1:00 PM. We found a parking spot a couple of hundred feet from our apartment, then carried a couple of boxes each as we headed to see our new home. Yay.
“You're here!” Celeste said. She stepped out of the apartment and met us on the sidewalk. “When your mother said you were coming I just couldn't believe I'd get to see you so soon.” She grabbed one of the boxes from me. “You look so much like her.” she said to Jessica. “I remember when I met her my first day at college.” she said, laughing. “She was visiting her younger sister, your aunt June, in the dorm. She was going in as I was going out and we literally ran into each other in the hallway.” She laughed again and gave a tiny nod to an older couple sitting on their patio. So this is a cover story, I guess? She's not even that old. Closer to our age than Peggy's. “She felt so bad about it that she took me out for coffee. We were friends from then on.”
“Mom said you asked her to coffee, not the other way around.” Jess said, playin
g along.
“Well however it was, I wouldn't have made it through chemistry without that woman's help, so I'm glad I can do her a favor now by putting you two up for a while.”
“She says hi.” I muttered, not quite sure if I liked this.
“You better call her and let her know you got here safely.” Celeste told Jessica. “I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet your mother, Brynne. But any friend of Jessica is welcome here.”
“Um, uh, thanks.” I said, feeling a weird little butterfly feeling in my stomach.
Jess went though the doorway, into the apartment, and Celeste followed her, with me coming in behind them both. The place was white, and very neutral. The carpet was kind of a drab khaki color. The living area and kitchen shared one big room, and there were doorways to the bedrooms off the back side.
“This one is mine,” Celeste informed us, pointing to the nearest bedroom. ”and you two will be sharing the other one.”
“What's with the whole act out front?” I asked.
“As far as the neighbors here are concerned, Jessica is the daughter of an old friend.” she told us. “You're staying with them after your parents passed.” Sympathy showed on her face. “Sorry if that's too close to reality. Anyway, you came to stay with me for a while so Jessica's parents could go off to Europe for a few months.”
Betrayal: Book 2 of the Non-Vampire Series Page 2