by Janice Jones
_______________
What wish would she make if she were free to dream?
First off . . . No more freaking vampires! At least not the kind that still saw humans as food. Damn! Wouldn’t that be great? She could attempt to have a normal life; one that included friends and fun. Instead, she was in the ass-end of Hell with a vampire chained to an altar of all things. And, as always, her night ended with one less vampire in the world and a bumpy ride back to the States.
Alex crossed the threshold of her sleeping quarters and stripped down as she passed through to the small bathroom. Her tired body was covered in bruises, blood, and dirt as she stepped into the stall. Under the hot spray all her muscles began to relax as warm steam closed in around her. Her head lowered under the water and she let out a long exhale. Boom, boom, boom. That was the sound of water as it bounced off her skull in a soothing pattern. It stung her eyes when she opened them to see the bruises disappear and circle the drain at her feet mixed with blood and dirt. That was the coolest part. For the next few hours she would still feel the pain of a couple of bruised ribs and a sucker punch to her right jaw, but still, it was pretty cool to be able to heal overnight.
The longer she stayed hidden in the steam of the hot shower, the clearer her brain became. The action from today untangled as it replayed in her mind. One by one the questions began to form so fast she couldn’t stop them: What did he mean they wouldn’t live forever? No one would, not even them. And, what were they keeping from her? And . . . Stop, she barked inside her mind. It doesn’t matter now. He’s dust and the mission is done.
Wrapped in the scratchiest towel ever, Alex stood at the mirror and wiped it clean. She tried to relax her mind, but if she relaxed too much she’d hear everything. That was one of the not so cool things about being on the supplements. Everything was better: sight, hearing, strength, everything. The other downside? You had to suffer through the healing process. It may only take about a day, give or take, but it hurt like hell. There was nothing they could take that would really stop the pain. The Doc said it was because of the supplements. But ice would dull her bruised ribs enough for her to at least get some sleep. The others would drink until they passed out. She pressed the ice pack to her side, took a handful of aspirin and settled down to get some rest.
_______________
The flight home was hell. Ben hated Air Force transports. Everyone else had passed out before they left the tarmac—everyone but Alex. She never seemed to sleep. He would watch her eyes, heavy with fatigue, begin to close. Then, after about fifteen minutes, she was wide-awake again. Maybe that was what the doctor was looking for: strange behavior, side effects, or abilities that couldn’t be explained. He wrote everything down in the small notebook, then stuffed it in his pack.
Back at Area 51, there would be clean sheets and hot food, but no matter how it was dressed up, it was still a cage. A high security cage buried deep underground. They only came out after the sun went down, living by the light of the moon.
The base bar was the only place they could unwind without much trouble. Once they were debriefed and examined, they would usually head there for drinks and pool, but not tonight. Tonight was a special occasion, after a little business was concluded, of course.
Ben slouched down in the uncomfortable office chair and closed his burning eyes. Every muscle was screaming for a hot shower and sleep. He was so tired, even his hair hurt. He could still smell the desert around him. When he scratched at the dark buzz cut peppered with sand and blood and ash he felt the mixture fall to his face. His long lashes met as he squeezed his eyes tighter. Explosions of color swirled around in the dark behind his eyes.
He rolled his head left then right to crack his spine back into place and ease his headache and the tightness in his shoulders. As his long legs stretched out in front of him, his arms reached high overhead. As he worked out the kinks in every muscle, his ears pricked and tingled when the noise around him focused to a sharp edge in his head.
All the sounds below him were mixed together in a whirlwind of confusion and chaos. Various conversations ranging from mission notes to ordering more toilet paper raced through his brain. Sometimes he hated those damn pills. He wasn’t sure why his hearing was affected most by the drug. All of his ex-girlfriends had told him he was never a good listener. He bet his exes would be impressed with him now though. But old memories would have to wait. This was Alex’s eighteenth birthday, and the others were getting the mess hall ready for the party.
The door swung open and Dr. Johnathan Carlisle walked in, clipboard under his right arm, cup of coffee in his hand. This guy probably bleeds caffeine, Ben thought as he stood. He’d never seen the man without a cup of coffee, ever.
“Transport was a little behind schedule, sorry,” Ben said, shaking the doctor’s free hand. “You know how those Air Force pilots can be.” Dr. Carlisle’s grip was firm, in direct contrast to the softness of his hands.
Wispy curls of dark hair, cut low, framed his face. He looked much younger than his forty years. Average height and a bulky build made him appear more like a blue collar Joe than one of the nation’s top geneticists and bio-chemical engineers heading a secret project of super soldiers.
“Welcome home, Commander Palmer,” he said as he motioned for Ben to sit. He removed his glasses in one smooth motion.
Dr. Carlisle placed his hands on the desk. He always had a look of perpetual thought—of something unknown simmering deep inside him.
Ben could only imagine what went on inside the mind of a man like him. A man who had created a pill that altered human DNA and changed the hunting game forever.
“Thanks, doc,” Ben replied. “It’s good to be home again.”
“Well, we’re happy to have the team back in one piece,” Dr. Carlisle said. “Your report looks good. Any surprises?”
“Not really.”
“Did they all perform well in the field?”
“Yea,” Ben said as he fidgeted, “but, Dagger . . . she . . .”
“She what?” Dr. Carlisle asked as his posture straightened and he leaned forward in his desk chair just a bit.
“She doesn’t sleep,” Ben answered. “I mean not like the rest.”
“I don’t understand.”
Ben took a deep breath. “She might close her eyes for a few minutes, but eight hours of sleep?” he shook his head. “I don’t think she needs it, not really. Is that supposed to happen?”
Dr. Carlisle opened the brown folder in front of him. Flipping through the typed pages, he nodded as he scanned the Ops Report. “Maybe. Does it seem to affect her performance at all?”
“No. She’s the first one out the door: ready and waiting before we’ve had breakfast.”
Dr. Carlisle gave him a slight grin. “Then don’t worry about it, Commander. I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ll take a look at her test results in the morning.”
Ben relaxed back into the chair.
Dr. Carlisle cleared his throat, “How did she do against the priest?”
“Good,” Ben answered. “She held her own. He seemed pretty damned surprised to get taken down by a little girl though. You should have seen his face!” He laughed then started to cough. All of a sudden beads of sweat rolled down his spine, icy and creepy feeling. It had been about six hours since his last dose. He’d be sure to take two pills tonight. It wouldn’t be very cool to pass out without the help of alcohol at a party, would it?
“Do you think she’s ready then?” Dr. Carlisle said. “We can’t avoid it any longer.”
“She’s ready. She’s even learning to keep her temper in check. Don’t worry.”
Dr. Carlisle’s eyes narrowed and his usually serene expression turned hard.
“It’s not her temper I’m worried about. If she gets seriously wounded or bitten this early, we’ll have to scrap the entire project. If that happens, all my work goes to hell
and me with it.”
Ben raised his arms over his head and stretched long. He grinned as he laced his fingers together and rested his hands on top of his head. “No one can’t tell she’s dhampire, not even her. That’s what we hoped for, right? That since it’s been so long, no one would even remember what a female hybrid smelled like anymore. We’re as close as we’re ever gonna get, so it’s now or never.”
Dr. Carlisle didn’t control the smile that pushed his mouth out on both ends. Ben knew what to say to alleviate the good doctor’s fears and keep him from pulling her clearance for the assignment. Everything hinged on the target, the team, and the plan playing out exactly as it had been laid out.
“Smell is one thing,” Dr. Carlisle said as he stood. “What if someone gets a taste . . .?
“They won’t,” Ben interrupted. “Even if that does happen, they’ll drink regular human blood and once the effects have worn off, they won’t remember it. It’s kinda perfect.”
Dr. Carlisle pushed the papers on his desk around absently. He forced out a hard breath then looked up at Ben again. “I’m glad you’re so confident, but from what I can tell, that only works on those who’ve been turned. What about those born vampire? We have yet to capture and test the effects on a pure blood. And we can’t be sure what will happen in an environment we don’t control.”
“Sure we can,” Ben sighed as he rose from the chair. “Your operative is ready to enter her life as a best friend, so don’t worry. It’s time for her to go out into the real world and see what happens. She’s the real deal—first female human/vampire hybrid in 600 years! Right now we have the advantage. But one day, she will find out what she is, then we’ll have to pay for what we did to her.” Ben stared at the doctor without blinking. Dr. Carlisle didn’t seem as scared about what would happen to all of them when Alex realized she wasn’t on the drugs. Ben was scared shitless. “If that’s all, I’d like to grab a shower and get downstairs. We have a celebration to get started.”
Dr. Carlisle followed him to the door.
“Tell her ‘happy birthday’ for me, would you?” Dr. Carlisle asked as he shook Ben’s hand.
“You’re not joining us?” Ben asked.
Dr. Carlisle smiled and shook his head. A hard slap on Ben’s shoulder was followed by a small push out the door. He locked it with a key and led him down the hall to the elevator. “No. I’m afraid I have too much work to do, but enjoy.”
“Don’t worry, we will,” Ben said as he pressed the button to take him down 30 stories, “but, you should at least stop by for a few minutes. I mean, she’d want her father to . . .”
Ben stepped inside the elevator while Dr. Carlisle held the door open with his wing-tipped foot as Dr. Carlisle interrupted him.
“She’ll understand if I don’t,” he replied. “She always has.”
Ben narrowed his eyes and sighed, “Sure doc. I guess you know her better than we do.”
“I do,” Dr. Carlisle continued to grin. “Besides, I don’t want to intrude, so let’s not be hypocrites. She hates me and I’d like to keep it that way. Have a good time Commander Palmer.”
Twenty Years Later . . .
Chapter 1
“Are you watching the news?” Ivy Rose huffed as she walked in without knocking, which she always did. “I can’t believe you’re not watching the news!”
Ivy turned on the flat screen attached to the far wall of the office. With a little trot, she returned to the desk, pushed the pencil cup out of the way and slid on top of it. Her dark brown hair hung half way down her back in huge bouncy curls. The natural light from the floor to ceiling windows across the room gave a warm glow to her slightly bronzed skin. Alex watched her back as Ivy sat on the edge of her desk with all of her attention on the screen.
“Good morning to you too,” Alex said. Her business partner and best friend stayed focused on the news report, but Alex couldn’t care less. Ivy seemed hypnotized by the action. “Don’t mind me, I’m just working.”
“Trust me, you wanna see this,” Ivy answered, eyes still glued to the television screen.
The tap on her head was a little irritating and Alex was forced to redirect her thoughts and attention to the news report as Ivy pointed toward the television on the wall.
She shivered when the perky blonde newscaster stepped into the frame with a mic in her hand and a somber look on her shiny round face. The little logo in the corner of the screen read ‘live from Las Vegas’.
There was plenty of action behind the reporter. With the background looking like that of the latest crime drama, the reporter said something about a murder on the set of a movie. The man had been discovered around two in the morning in a dumpster. The details of his demise spilled from her lips with ease similar to giving directions to the nearest burger joint. Every blink of her blue eyes preceded a new detail, a new lie she had been instructed to read. Then the scene shifted to video of a witness—the makeup artist.
“He was just in the trailer,” she sniffed with a quick wipe of her pointed nose. “I finished his makeup and he walked out headed to the set.”
The shift back to the live scene felt deliberately abrupt. The reporter, with a tone of cold indifference, explained that the cause of death and the victim’s identity would not be released until the next of kin had been notified. With that, Alex was suddenly uncomfortable in her perfect leather desk chair. She was uncomfortable with the stillness of the air around her too.
The blurred image of the body bag being wheeled away was something Alex had never gotten used to, no matter how many times she’d seen it before. The heavy plastic showed the slightest outline of a body; someone’s son or father or brother was in that bag. Someone was going to have to tell his family he was dead. And not just dead, but bled dry and dumped like trash. But that detail would never see the light of day, and no one would ever be told the real cause of death, not anyone in the real world anyway.
A slight chill made its way up her spine again as she thought how hard it must be to give notice to a family. Then she thought they also had to lie about how that person died. Who was going to believe in vampires anyway?
“That is so sad, right?”
As Alex took a seat next to Ivy on the edge of the desk, her mouth went dry and her heart began to race in her chest.
“Who would do that?” Ivy whispered.
“I can think of about dozen people off the top of my head,” Alex answered, still focused on the news.
“Of course you can,” Ivy replied with a soft elbow to Alex’s side. “So, what do you make of that?”
“Nothing,” Alex sighed under her breath when she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. “Like I’m watching a rerun of a bad movie.”
“What?” Ivy asked.
“Nothing. Guy gets killed in Vegas. What am I supposed to think about it? I don’t know him.”
Back behind her desk, Alex let out a long breath. When she picked up the paperwork again, she hoped Ivy would just leave, but she didn’t.
Ivy turned and dropped the remote on the paper in Alex’s hand to get her attention.
“That doesn’t bother you at all?”
“No,” Alex laughed. “Just goes to show, you gotta be careful who you cross in this life.”
“Cross,” Ivy chirped. “You know what happened to this guy, don’t you?”
“No,” Alex replied. “Maybe he owed somebody some money and didn’t pay.”
“That was not some bookie that didn’t get his payment on time,” Ivy huffed. “Dead men can’t pay back their debts.”
All Alex could think to do was shrug. It didn’t matter anyway, did it? That guy was dead and nothing was going to bring him back. A clean up team was on sight, she knew that for sure. They would take care of everything, including making sure he didn’t come back from the dead.
Ivy had all kinds of questions swimming aro
und in her head, and Alex could hear them clear as a bell. With all the excitement, Alex’s control had begun to slip a bit. Maybe she was just tired and stressed like always. The last thing she needed right now was for her past to make an appearance in her present.
“Do you think it was one of them?” Ivy asked.
“No,” Alex replied. “I don’t see vampires behind every bad thing that happens in the world anymore Ivy, but thanks for the confidence in my recovery.”
“Quit being such a drama queen,” Ivy sighed. “It’s just that you seem kinda spooked, that’s all. I was just wondering.”
Alex gave Ivy all of her attention. “Don’t.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Alex replied waving her off. “I thought I recognized someone in the crowd for a second, that’s all. I was wrong.”
“Ok,” Ivy answered as she turned to the screen again. She didn’t like that answer. Her face flushed red as she grinned awkwardly. Alex’s sensitive ears picked up the sound of Ivy’s heart as it raced in her chest. Why did she care anyway?
_______________
Inside his office, he could ignore the ringing desk phones and busy people on the other side of his door. But he couldn’t ignore his personal line.
“Jason Stavros.”
He always chuckled when Jason answered the phone. He could almost smell the alcohol he likely started the day with.
“Catch you at a bad time, did we?”
“I thought maybe I’d be spared the accusatory call from Strategic,” Jason laughed back. “For the second time this week.”
“Well I just left another crime scene wondering why my victim was drained dry,” Coop replied. “And dumped behind one of your casinos this time.”
“That’s a good question, Agent Cooper. I was just wondering that myself.”
“And what did you come up with?”
“Coincidence,” Jason answered. “But don’t worry, we are on it.”