Haley felt sick.
“What are you –?” she began. “What have you –?”
She touched her forehead and felt her knees start to wobble.
“Bad timing, huh?” Luna remarked.
“Seriously Kendra,” Riley said. “What are you thinking? You can’t send her in. She can’t even stand.”
Haley tried to swallow. “Can you … can you please excuse me?”
She turned and stepped out into the corridor, her face flushing, her heart racing. She walked quickly down it, searching for a toilet symbol to appear on one of the doors.
A sign hanging from the ceiling indicated she should turn right for both the bathroom and the exit. Haley kept walking, the sounds drowning out around her, unsure if anyone had chosen to pursue her. She pushed her way into the bathroom and walked to the sink at the back.
She put both hands on the counter to steady herself, and looked into the basin, wondering if she was about to hurl. It seemed to be going away.
She splashed water on herself and held her hands underneath the drier.
She stood where she was a moment, trying to get a sense of bearings.
Something had gone wrong here. This wasn’t a proper assignment.
They were setting her up to be killed.
“Goddamn it,” Haley swore between clenched teeth.
“Haley?” a voice called from outside the bathroom. “I’m coming in.”
The door opened slowly, and Ms. Armistice poked her head in.
“There you are.”
Haley straightened up trying to look tough, as her instructor approached.
“How are you doing?” Ms. Armistice asked. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t think so,” Haley said.
“You got freaked out because we dressed you up like the girls who have been murdered?”
“Sorta. Yeah.”
“But didn’t we say we were going to do that?” Ms. Armistice reasoned. “Didn’t we choose this assignment out for you together?”
“How do I know it’s not going to be me?”
“What’s not you?”
“How do I know I’m not going to turn into one of them?”
Ms. Armistice hesitated. “Look in the mirror, Haley.”
“What?”
“Just look. Tell me what you see.”
Haley turned her neck slightly. “Yep. I’m a mess.”
“I don’t think so. But explain away.”
“I look easy,” Haley said. “Like I’d say yes to any guy.”
“What else?”
“Like … I’m depressed. Like … I take drugs. Well …”
“You don’t take drugs, do you Haley?”
“No.”
“You’re projecting, based on your image, correct?”
“Right.”
“Can I tell you what I see now?”
“Okay,” Haley shrugged. “Sure.”
“I see a piece of trash. A person without an identity, who will throw themselves at anything. I see someone who maybe practices self-harm. Who likes pain. Because they’re worthless. Absolutely, positively, pathetic.”
“Well, thanks.”
“We can thank Luna. She has given you the perfect costume you need for this assignment. I’ll tell you what I see underneath that costume. I see a woman who has worked hard for the last four years in preparation for this moment now. I see someone who has an opportunity a lot of people her age would kill for. I see someone who is brave, and intelligent, and simply brilliant in every way she allows herself to be.”
Haley turned away from the mirror to face her.
“I see someone who has something to prove,” Ms. Armistice said.
Haley shook her head. “I see someone trying to manipulate me.”
Ms. Armistice’s eyes became smaller. A smile touched her lips faintly.
“That’s why I know you’ll succeed.”
CHAPTER NINE
They put the blindfold on her again. The nerve. Surrounded by the new group she was a part of, the group she didn’t know, she was marched through the building once again to the elevator to reach the car park. Once there they led her out to the back of a van were she was seat and strapped in, the doors closing in behind her. Although she couldn’t see them, she was aware of two people in the back with her, while one was driving, exiting the area. Haley asked who was who and what was where, and learned that she was in the back with ‘Maurice’ and ‘Riley’ and that ‘Jason’ was driving. Ms. Armistice and Luna were staying behind in headquarters.
Haley wasn’t really clued in on their plan for her. Of everyone here she seemed to know the least of what was going on. She knew as much that they weren’t driving out to the Vampire Dating Agency outright, of course that wouldn’t work. She was going to a location where she’d be transported from to the VDA presumably. Her objective was clear enough – find out who was killing all those women, without getting killed herself. But the means to figure that out? She hadn’t had much in the way of pointers so far.
The more she thought about it, the less this seemed an undercover investigation, as it did that they were using Haley as bait. She shuddered at the thought.
“Are we far away yet?” she asked after about ten or fifteen minutes of driving. “Can I take this off yet?”
No response.
“Well?”
“Ms. Armistice would probably prefer you to leave it on,” Maurice said. “If it’s all the same to you.”
“Seriously?” Haley snapped. “Because this is making me feel really yuck. I’m risking my life for you guys, and you don’t even trust me?”
“Well, what if you get captured?” Riley asked. “What if the vampires start torturing information out of you?”
“Riley,” Maurice hissed.
“That’s it, it’s coming off,” Haley declared.
She ripped the blind free.
Riley who was sitting across from her had a look of disgust written on her face.
“You guys have to talk to me,” Haley said. “I’m serious. I’m not going to go through with this if you’re all gonna shut down and be robots. I need to feel like I have a chance here.”
“You think you have a choice?” Riley replied. “With all you know about us?”
“What do you mean?” Haley said.
“You wanna fuck our team over? Maybe we find out where you live, and fuck you over.”
“Hey!” Jason called from the driver’s seat. “Shut the fuck up, Riley. That’s no way to talk to someone.”
“Fuck you, Jason,” Riley called back. “I’ll talk however I please.”
“Seriously,” Maurice said. “You’re getting carried away.”
“I’m not even joking,” Riley said. “This bitch is gonna step up and do what we tell her to. I’m not up for hearing about her fucking in-over-her-head bullshit. Too late. Understand?”
Haley inhaled deeply.
She had to figure out what she was going to do.
“Listen Haley,” Jason called from the front. “We’re gonna stop off for dinner before shit goes down tonight. So there’ll be plenty of time to bring you up to speed on what you’ll be doing and what to expect. Can we all simmer down till then?”
Riley raised her eyes smugly. “Well?”
“Okay,” Haley said.
CHAPTER TEN
It was just after 5pm when the group stopped for dinner. The sun was still out at that time, the sky still clear. Jason had driven them all down to the beach and went off across the road to get some fish and chips. He managed to round up everyone to a picnic table right on the edge between the grass and the sand, where he laid the food down. Haley was hungry as she hadn’t eaten since that morning, but wasn’t sure she should indulge as she didn’t know what food would be offered during this whole dating thing, and the food wasn’t particularly to her taste. She recalled the sandwich her Mom had made for her and thought about it stuffed away with all of her other things, she had no idea was. Didn’
t seem fair that she didn’t have access to them. Didn’t seem right. She was concerned that Ms. Armistice and the others were taking serious advantage of her and didn’t care about her safety at all, but at the same time she knew she couldn’t quit now. Taking down vampires in hand to hand combat was one of the things she’d been trained for, and she had enough good sense to know whether she’d be in danger before it was too late to stop it.
Besides if she walked away now, she was walking away from her entire career path. She didn’t have much else.
“You seem troubled,” Jason said passing her a bottle of water across the table. “Tell me what your concerns are. I’m here to help.”
Haley looked to the others. Maurice was busy on his laptop, while Riley was keenly listening.
“What … what exactly do you guys do?” Haley asked.
“What do you mean?” Jason replied.
“I’m going in there,” Haley explained. “Why are you all here with me? Aren’t you just dropping me off to wherever?”
“We’re your surveillance,” Riley said. “We’re watching your back to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
“And if it does, then what?”
“You’ll be wired up,” Jason said. “So we’ll be watching and listening to your every move. If something happens Dino and his crew will be notified and they will storm wherever you are and take down the perpetrator.”
“What about when I’m in the VDA?”
“We’re kind of counting on you not getting attacked there,” Jason said. “The main thing while you’re there will be to stay visible. Don’t go into any isolated rooms with anyone. If you don’t think you can handle it, that is.”
Haley looked to Riley. “Have you done anything like this before?”
“A few times,” Riley nodded. “I took down a few wolves.”
“But you don’t do that now?”
“It’s been known to happen. But I try to avoid it.”
“So like … do the girls get all the hard jobs or what?”
“If it was a female vampiress killing men then it would be one of us in there,” Jason said. “Lucky for us … that doesn’t happen too much.”
“On a scale from one to ten, how difficult do you think my assignment is?” Haley asked. “Compared to others you’ve seen or been a part of.”
Riley and Jason looked at each other.
They both smiled and said: “I don’t know…”
“It’s a seven,” Maurice said.
They all turned to him.
“How is it a seven?” Riley asked.
“One vampire versus a trained slayer, not exactly that demanding,” Maurice said. “Which is why we get the new recruit involved. The difficult part is figuring out who is the vampire you’re after. You’re going to have to figure it out before he finds out you know. So you can surprise attack him, instead of the other way around.”
“How long do you think it will last?” Haley asked. “What if … what if I don’t meet him tonight? What if he’s not even there? It could be his night off or something.”
“It’s a possibility,” Jason said. “But judging by the amount of women he’s killed and how quickly they’ve been killed together, I’d say he’s in the middle of a bloodlust infused frenzy. With you dressed the way you are, your hair cut like that, your make up … I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the first vamp who walks up to you.”
“Next thing you know he’s trying to get you back to his place for a glass of wine,” Riley said. “If I were him, I wouldn’t be wasting any time at all.”
“But what if it’s not the killer?” Haley asked. “How am I supposed to know whether my date wants to kill or fuck me?”
“There’s your difficulty,” Maurice chimed in.
“When you think about it,” Riley said. “It’s practically the same thing.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The gearstick was shifting. The car was changing lanes. The minute hand was spinning round and the seconds were counting down.
After dinner was finished and there was a brief interval where Haley wandered onto the beach to gaze out across the waters to lands barely visible, it was back in the van and back on the road. They did not have far to go this time.
During the short ride the group explained to her that a fake profile and sign up form had been created for Haley via the VDA website. Since it had been approved Haley was instructed to go to a small club whereby transport would be organized to take her to the VDA.
The van with they were all traveling in wasn’t going to the club however, that was seen as too risky. They drove into a train station car park, one stop away from where she needed to get out.
There Haley was given a new phone with directions to the club, along with a necklace to wear with a built in camera. She was also given microscopic ear buds to insert so the group would have a direct line of communication. She was advised that if for some reason her necklace was confiscated she was to immediately abort the mission.
“Abort?” Haley questioned. “What does ‘abort’ mean?”
“It means make an excuse and get the hell out of there,” Jason said leaning against the back of the van.
“And then backup is coming right?”
Jason looked to Maurice a moment. “If it’s required.”
“I swear to God, don’t leave me hanging out there,” Haley exclaimed.
“At the very least, I’ll come after you myself,” Jason said. “That much I can promise you.”
“Like that counts for something,” Riley snorted.
“Cool it,” Jason said. “We don’t need Haley getting worked up right now. She’s going to be under a lot of stress. We should alleviate as much of that as we can now.”
“If it gets too much, I’m walking away, whatever the situation is,” Haley said. “I mean, I want to be a part of the team and everything, but not if it kills me.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Jason said. “Really. You’ll make it through.”
“Thanks,” Haley said. “I’ll give it my best.”
“Your train is arriving in six minutes,” Maurice said. “You should get a move on.”
“Alright,” Haley said collecting her handbag. “How do I look? Be honest.”
“Fine,” Maurice said.
“You look … you’re very attractive,” Jason muttered.
Haley blushed.
Riley leaned into her ear. “You look like you’re gonna fuck some vampires.”
Haley turned to her. “I hope you mean ‘fuck’ as in ‘fuck them up’. Not … get ‘sexual’ with…”
“Darling, it’s gonna get sexual,” Riley laughed.
Haley looked to Jason.
“I wouldn’t think any of them would expect that from you,” he said uncertainly. “I mean, whoever the guy is, it’ll be your first date after all.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The train was leaving the station. Haley sat by the window watching Jason and Riley still outside the van … until till they drifted away from sight.
Her eyes twitched nervously around the train. She was frightened. She was afraid. She’d been feeling that all morning – but back then it had been a welcome blend of excitement to mix with the anxiety. Now, she was just flat out scared. Why … why did she think she could do this? Because she did well on some stupid exams? They were going to see right through her! And when that happened, they’d take her by surprise and –
“Haley? Testing … one, two, three … Haley, can you hear me?”
Maurice.
In her ear.
“Yes,” Haley whispered.
“Okay, just checking. Call if you need me.”
“Okay.”
Haley straightened up in her chair. An old man was staring at her a few rows opposite. As she made eye contact with him, he shook his head and looked away.
Haley ground her teeth together.
Judgmental prick.
She forced herself to look away also … back out the window
.
She couldn’t believe she was going through with this. Would these guys really have her back? Was Jason just playing off Riley with a good cop / bad cop routine? She couldn’t tell. And she should be able to. If she couldn’t read those guys, how was she supposed to figure out which of these vampires was the killer?
Haley closed her eyes. Listened to the sound of her breathing.
She was going to make it. She wasn’t that afraid. Just because she’d never seen a vampire in real life … Just because … she was supposed to impress him…
Eyes open.
The signs were flashing.
The next station was approaching.
Haley got up out of her seat and moved to the area beside the doors.
When the train stopped, she pulled the doors open and stepped out onto the platform, walking bristly. She merged into the rest of the crowd for a bit, before breaking out into the road. She walked off to one side and opened up her handbag, taking her phone out and scrolling through the directions. She had to cross the road, walk straight ahead for a bit, and then turn right. At that point it would be almost six p.m. she’d be ready to go.
Haley put the phone away and then walked up to the crossing.
She stood there for a bit, waiting for the red man to turn green.
He came too soon.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Haley had reached the club.
She stood at the edge of the car park, her eyes fleeting with the heavy traffic moving across the road opposite her, wondering if it was too late now. Too late to just rip the necklace away and ear buds out and start running.
She knew she wasn’t going to do that, but she also knew she might come to regret that decision later.
“You’re right there, Haley,” Maurice said in her ears. “Just move to the side a little.”
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