Chapter 2
Not much happened after I got off the phone with Dan. It had taken me several minutes to get myself back together before I wandered back into the kitchen. Kailee had stared dejectedly at her charcoaled bacon until she noticed me and quickly tried to force feed me. I managed to fend her off and stuck with part of a stale loaf of bread I found in the fridge. Between bites, I had filled her and Zainah, who had re-entered the kitchen after shoving Nick into his bed, on our new status. Kailee had shrugged, not caring in the slightest. Zainah, on the other hand, had practically danced with excitement. Not because she wanted new people either. I knew she was actually plotting how to scare the piss out of them.
After a few hours of discussing new sleeping arrangements, grocery lists and other mundane topics that needed attention, Kailee and I departed to our respective bedrooms as dawn began to break. Zainah stayed behind to close all the shutters in the house in case Kailee woke up and wandered around for a while.
Unlike what’s generally written about vampires in literature, the sun doesn’t purify them. Rather, what happens is a severe allergic reaction. The flesh, bone and skin of vampires are made of different compounds than humans. We have better immune systems, strength, endurance, speed and far greater healing abilities than humans could ever engineer for themselves. In exchange, the allergic reaction to UV rays is so severe that a pure blooded vampire would turn to ashes in moments. Turned vampires are better off. Because their bodies can’t ever become completely vampiric, they have a sixty second burn time. Enough for them to save themselves.
The next night I woke at dusk. I guess I was the first to rise as I could only hear the sounds of deep breathing. I looked over my shoulder and found Zainah on the other side of the bed. The downside of having such a small house; we had to double up, except for Nick. Nick got his own little pullout while I shared one bed with Zainah. Kailee shared the guest bed with Sira and Sulphur.
I rolled out of bed slowly as not to wake the feline woman next to me. I showered, dressed in my usual black and prepared myself for the arrival of our new team members. They may not live long in this line of work. Our last rookie had herself killed by a Taint who had taken the form of her father. Stupid, stupid girl.
I heard a small knock on the door just as I heard the rustlings of everyone else stirring themselves from sleep. I yelled at whoever was outside to wait for a moment, and rushed into the bedrooms to inform everyone of the rookie’s arrival.
A bit more than a minute later, Zainah’s eyes had taken their feline form, giving her a higher overall intimidation score as she stared down the door. Nick just stood in the kitchen drowning himself in a Coke from the fridge and Kailee still sat on the bed, patting Sulphur. I opened the door and allowed the rookies to enter. Lia entered the room followed shortly by Duskin.
As they stood side by side in the middle of my living room, I gawked at Duskin. Holy shit; he’s just like my fucking dream. And just like Devin would have… No, don’t think about that.
I took in the familiar shaggy brown hair, height and then looked at his eyes. They’re green. What the hell kind of trick is this? He stared right back with the same bewildered look I was sure was on my own face.
I swallowed my emotions and set my face into a stone cold look as I stepped forward to introduce myself. “I’m Katrina, your new boss. You can call me Kat if you get on my good side. Dan told us your names. You’re Duskin, right?” He nodded, “and you’re Lia?” the girl nodded too. But Duskin still kept right on staring, at me. It was a little too obvious and disconcerting. I looked back at Lia and decided that if I could set Nick up with her that he’d find her attractive. Her velvet black skin, sleek brown hair and well-formed curves could entice almost any man. Hopefully enough to get him to stop drinking.
Zainah stepped forward with her feline eyes and followed my lead. Nick and Kailee continued the introductions once they bothered to walk to the hall. When they were through, I motioned toward the animals, “The sashira is Sira and the evarius’ is Sulphur. I’ll assume you can tell the difference between the two creatures. Either way, you’ll remember by Sulphur’s smell who she is.”
Duskin only looked at the others for as long as he had to, then switched his gaze right back to me. I decided to eliminate a reason as to why he seemed so interested. “I don’t think Dan filled you in on our statuses here. Kailee is our resident vamp,” she flicked her gaze towards me momentarily and then reverted her attention back to tiny Sulphur, who purred contentedly. “Nick and Zainah are our Weres. Nick is a Were bear and Zainah is a half cat Were of the tiger variety.” Nods from the two of them, “and I’m also a vamp halfling if you were wondering.” He still stared at me; slightly more relaxed, but still, staring. Fuck, it didn’t work. Why the hell is he still staring at me?
I clapped my hands together, feeling slightly on edge and asked, “Well, since intros are done, Nick, do you think you can dig up the old mattresses from the basement? Zainah, the sheets and Kailee, how about breakfast? I won’t bug you if you torch it again.” They all smirked and went about their newly assigned tasks. Lia followed Kailee into the kitchen, suggesting what we could eat in a very nervous fashion now that she knew who she was dealing with. Duskin and I stood where we were left, until I backed up a step and leaned into a wall in a casual manor, quite the opposite of my spinning mind.
Damn it, why didn’t he leave? What the hell does he want from me? Oh shit he’s talking…
“I recognize you.”
I just stared at him, my face blank but I felt extremely awkward. I felt my eyes finally change from their normal green tone to a subtle blue with icy undertones. I breathed in deeply and asked simply, “From where?”
He looked taken aback slightly, as though I had asked an unexpected question. He ran his fingers through his hair and replied, “I’m not really sure, but I know you from somewhere.”
Well, this is awkward. “If you had ever seen me, it may have been during the case of your family’s death.”
He inhaled sharply, as though I had punched him in the chest. Damn it Kat, you just met him and you’re already bringing up the bad memories. Quit being the bitch and be nice to the rookie. “Kailee and I did track down and eliminate their killer if that makes you feel any better.”
He calmed down slightly at that statement. But he said in a whisper, “I thought their death was an accident.”
I wish it were. But nothing is ever an accident when it has a Taint’s marks all over it. Wait a moment, what is he talking about?
“…I remember talking to a woman who looked like you, but halflings age, don’t they? The crash was over eleven years ago and you don’t look much older than I am.”
Oh shit, what did he say before that; maybe I should train my mind not to wander…like it’s doing now. Fuck.
I took in another breath through my mouth and I could taste the tension in the air; thick, heavy but similar to paper. It’s one of benefits of having a vampire for a mother. The boy deserved an answer, “I did cover your case, but appearances are extremely deceiving to you now. Your eyes see me as I have been since I was twenty three, in reality I’m almost ninety two. I don’t know if I’ll start aging again, if I’ll die like a human, but I’m not going to worry about it until it comes.” Another breath.
Damn this is hard, but it’s his own fault. He invaded my dreams before I even met him. If that’s not playing dirty, I don’t know what is. “You on the other hand," I pointed at him, "can worry about helping Nick with the mattresses. I don’t know whether he’s got himself drunk enough again to form coherent thought.”
He inhaled sharply again, only this time it seemed like he had trouble getting air into his body rather than a punch. He turned and went to help Nick retrieve the mattresses and only looked back once. I, on the other hand, went to find Zainah.
I found her sitting on top on the sheets in the den, waiting for Nick to dig up those damn mattresses. When she saw me, she sent a knowing smile. I was pretty sure she knew that seeing Duskin had thrown me off.
Oh shit, I talked to her about my dream. Maybe after I introduced them she knew? That damn cat. “You knew, didn’t you cat?”
She morphed into her tiger form, the giant white one that she always is whether physically or mentally. She seemed to take up the whole room. That’s Zainah for you.
She started talking. Although it was English, it was tainted with the gravelly deepness and purring of a tiger. I think she had to change the shape of her tongue and muzzle slightly to even attempt it. “Yes I did know. I saw your face when you were talking to Dan last night and the same face again for only a moment when the boy walked in. It wasn’t hard to connect the two. He’s the same one you were…speaking to in your dream isn’t he?”
I told myself to breathe. I couldn’t lie to her in her current form. I was fairly sure she would pick up on the smell of fear and lies. I knew full well how the concoction would smell. I tried to keep my voice flat as I said “He is, and I’m not sure how to go about it. And are you a tiger simply to scare the shit out of our new members? It wasn’t long ago that you were one yourself.” I tried to steer the conversation away in a pathetic attempt at distraction.
She gave the tiger equivalent of a smile as she lay down on her stomach. Zainah morphed back, but only part-way. She had a human shape, but her eyes were the same green slits and her skin covered in the same white and black fur of her tiger form. I was a little taken aback when she asked “So, are you claiming him or can I?”
We’ve both only known him for five minutes and you’re asking me that? “Oh don’t look at me like that Kat. If you don’t give me the go-ahead to try my luck, I won’t. I know what you’re thinking; I can tell he’s single. It’s in his scent. There’s no trace of ‘woman’ on him. Use your mind-things to reach out or whatever. You’ll feel it.”
Fine then I’ll play your game cat. I reached out with my senses until I found everyone around the house. Kailee and Lia seemed to be getting along decently well, although I’m not sure if Kailee enjoyed so many suggestions about how to cook. Nick was in the basement, dragging a mattress along the floor with Duskin running after him trying to pick up the end.
I mind-probed Duskin a little harder and I picked up only traces of other people’s signatures on him. The most recent of which seemed to be on his hand where I assumed he had shaken hands with Lia as her signature was present. Both of them were still a little alien to me but from experience, I knew that I’d get used to them very quickly. I felt rather than heard the phone ringing as I pulled myself back to within my body’s borders.
“Katrina?” asked a new female voice. Must be Lia. “Dan’s on the phone. He says he has an assignment for you.”
Ugh. Why does he always call at the most inopportune moments? “Lia, tell him I’ll be there in a moment, there’s something I need to finish first.”
I looked back at Zainah. She had finally allowed herself to be pulled back into human form. She stared at me with her brown eyes that said simply, We are not done with this.
My eyes itched momentarily and I knew that they had changed colour, probably to brown again. I can’t hold my annoyance in enough for my eyes not to turn into a kaleidoscope on me. I gave her a look that said we’ll finish this talk later, I can’t think straight, and I left the living room to get the phone in the kitchen.
“Dan?”
“Finally, what the hell took you so long Kenyon?”
Why is he pissed at me already? “I was talking to Zainah to make sure she won’t scare our rookies shitless by walking around half morphed.” I heard a snort. It wasn’t that funny Dan. “What did you call for this time?”
He tried to swallow his laughter but it didn’t work so well. I could still hear it in his voice when he said “We’ve received your shipment of blood. How soon do you want it? And I have a new assignment for you.” He was tapping a pencil against his desk or maybe his glasses. Something was bugging him.
Finally, if I don’t get that blood soon I’m going to wake up and be sleep-biting someone. I’m shocked Kailee hasn’t yet. “The shipment we need ASAP, and what’s the assignment?”
“Alright, it’s on the way,” Good. “You’re to take out the head of a major drug company named Miracle. He’s a suspected Taint and he’s been experimenting on hybrids to find out what makes them so different from either parent. You and Zainah are at a real risk here. You know what to do if you can’t get out neatly or be rescued in twenty four hours right?”
“Yes I know,” I said hotly. He'd reminded me before every little mission to escape no matter the cost. He could cover it up for me.
“Don’t get mad at me Katrina,” Crap, he never calls me by my first name, what’s up with him? “We would prefer you didn’t die in the course of this mission. You have your…faults,” Isn’t that a nice way to say that I can freak our so bad in the middle of blood lust that one time I nearly killed Nick? Or is he talking about the time that I… no, he’s not that mean. “But we’d like you to remain alive to continue your work. You’re one of our best Shifters. Try to not get caught?”
Sigh. Does he always have to bring up bad memories and then attempt to apologize with a compliment? “Fine,” Kat, sound nicer dammit, Dan’s trying to be nice. “Who’s the target and do you have any preference on how he is to be killed?”
“Dmitri Lesage. His assassination is up to your discretion. Have fun Keni.” With that, he hung up.
I stared at the phone for a moment before replacing it on the receiver. It was odd for his goodbyes to be so brief. Something was definitely up with him.
I left the kitchen even as Lia was still trying to reach the stove past Kailee, who wasn’t having any of it. What do I do now? I went back to the living room where I had last seen Zainah, only to find that the tigress had left.
“Nick,” I called, “Where’d Zainah run off to?”
“How the hell should I know? I’m teaching the new guy the benefits of having a stress reducer.” His voice sounded muffled, so I assumed that the two were playing poker on the table in the basement. Men.
I pulled Lia off Kai, much to the vamp’s relief, and proceeded to lecture Lia on what could happen to her if she pushed Kailee past her breaking point.
“I saw that smirk Kailee. Don’t think I can’t lecture you just because you’ve got me age-wise.” She kept right on smirking. Dammit, she knows she can beat the crap out of me so my words won’t do shit. “Be that way then. Lia, leave Kailee alone, I’m not kidding. She’ll end up biting you.” Lia paled considerably. With that reaction saved in my mind, I left the room.
I asked my old bedside clock what time it was. It silently replied that it was five am and that dawn would be in just under two hours. I felt someone enter the room.
“So, what was Dan talking about for a mission?”
it reallyy catches your attention. It's probably the first thing i noticed before I clicked on this. So far I haven't really found any flaws. It's actually perfect- good grammar and spelling, at least I think.