"What the hell are you talking about?"
Sam leaned in and whispered: "You have no idea the power of the blood running through your veins, what it could mean for the world-a world caught in the grips of fear over a virus that is not curable."
It was true, the Anima Mortem Virus had changed the world. Vampires and ash. Dividing the world of humans even further.
I was in a bit of shock over how much Sam was saying. Today he was channeling the love child of Chatty Cathy and Debbie Downer, with all of his ominous news and crazy insight. This was beginning to scare me.
"You act like you know something, something I don't know … "
A flash of animation flickered across his face but it was replaced with a cold hard gaze. "I'm just looking out for you, little rookie. See you in ten days. Be safe."
He jumped up and was gone.
Sam was … seriously? He barely ever talked, and the one time he does speak he gives me vague and cryptic information on how much shit I was in and how scary my life was-information I already knew, so why bother? I could have sworn he wanted to say something more but had stopped.
Damn. I stayed a while and threw rocks into the creek, trying not to think about Sam's warning.
Eventually, I had to make my way back to the enforcer locker room. Ryder had only given me so much time to clean up and get blood. It was time for my first shift as trainee. Hells yeah. Screw Sam and his depressing drama. Screw Tessa and her vamp obsession. I was gonna shoot some shit today.
Two hours later, I sat on the bench with my head in my hands.
"Seriously? No calls?" I griped.
Ryder and Kyle were playing cards. "That's a good thing," Ryder reminded me.
Oliver was lifting some weights. He sat up and wiped a towel across his forehead.
"So what's up with Sam's lonely-guy fishing trip to Alaska twice a year? Think he has some hot human chick he shacks up with in a hotel?"
The boys chuckled, but I perked up at one detail I had not known. "Alaska? It's winter. Who fishes in the winter?"
Ryder looked at me, that intelligent gaze probing into my inner thoughts. "There's king salmon this time of year. He brings a bunch back." He directed the rest of the conversation at Oliver. "We all know Sam is a standoffish guy. Let him be."
Yeah, standoffish when he isn't scaring the shit out of you.
Markus distracted us all then with a subject change. "Just because there are no calls doesn't mean you don't have to train, Charlie. Ryder might be easing you in, but I'm not taking your cute unicorn ass out into the field until you have a little more training under your belt."
I kicked out my right leg then, shooting the chair across from me in his direction before jumping to my feet, a wicked grin on my face.
"Now we're talking."
Twenty minutes later I was standing at the end of a long firing lane, cold Glock in my hands. We were on level seventeen of the Hive. Apparently this place had more secrets I didn't know about, like this gun range for enforcer training only. We were alone. Markus stood to my right and pointed at the target.
"Bullets can disable and even kill an ash, but the only true kill spot is right here." He tapped the center of his forehead.
I nodded, flexing my hands across the grip. Guns didn't scare me, I had been training with them ever since the attack a year ago, when two random ash asshats almost had their way with me. Thankfully they'd been thwarted by some blond hottie Viking vamp. He'd saved my ass before disappearing, never to be seen again. I'd been keeping an eye out in the Hive, but no one even came close to looking like my memory of him.
I focused on my trainer again. "So headshots are the best for ash. Like zombies."
Markus cracked a small smile. "Not every day I get compared to a zombie."
"What about killing vampires?" I asked.
His face tightened with concern and he actually looked over his shoulder and up into the corner of the room. Following his gaze, I saw a small camera with a red light. WTF? Should have known we'd be under surveillance. Ash were not to be trusted, even though they were happy for us to do their dirty work.
"Generally we don't train in disabling or killing vampires, they don't like their weaknesses advertised. But the six of us have had to do some training. It's rare, but sometimes the vampires in rival Hives can be a concern to the Quorum. In that case, grenades work well."
My eyes bugged out. Grenades. That was a swift reminder that our official job title was protector of the Quorum and vampires. The other shit, bringing in new ash and policing stupid ash, seemed like PR work. Since vampires stayed away from ash as much as possible, it was easy to forget that they were the true power in our world. They used ash for their own gains; we were nothing to them.
"Right, so no need to worry about killing vamps." I nodded, and said no more.
I understood that we couldn't really speak freely with cameras around. Still … why the hell not? Some horny-ass vampires seduced our mothers and we were the ones being treated like shitbags? Like we owed them something? As more angry thoughts filled my mind, I realized my chest was heaving.
We were the vampire's children and they treated us like the help! My rage over the culling had been pushed down and locked away in a place I didn't go very often, mostly because I'm a big believer in not dwelling on shit you can't change – that does nothing but drive a person crazy. But I hadn't gotten over the culling. Not even a tiny little bit. Just barely hidden below the surface was my burning resentment that they had turned me into a murderer. That they used the killing of ash as a form of entertainment. Sure, I knew life was unfair for more than just ash, but things here needed a major shakedown.
Raising my arm and positioning my elbows correctly, I squeezed off six shots into the target dummy. Five of them went where I intended. Yes! Badass enforcer trainee with a gun. Shooting the dummy was quite therapeutic, enough that I could force the anger back into its box. The cage was a little shaky, but for now I was managing to keep it together.
I saw Markus squint. "Not bad," he said with a shrug.
I narrowed my eyes at him as he patted me on the back, his hands massive enough to cover my entire shoulder blade.
"It's just quite obvious that you were trained at a shooting range."
My expression morphed into something mulish. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Markus went over to the wall and pushed a large red button. Suddenly my mannequin target started zigzagging towards me, fast-like vampire fast. Crap, the enforcer was right, I did not have much experience with moving targets.
The heavy mechanical whirring of the machine filled the room. "Now try," Markus shouted.
Glancing down, I swapped out the first gun for a 9mm Glock; it would be more accurate for this type of shooting. Trying to focus on the zigzagging figure coming at me, I squeezed the trigger-missing. Damn, my concentration was not at its best with all the zipping around the figure was doing. Forcing my breathing to slow a little, I sighted along the gun again and shot until I heard an empty click. I lowered my weapon as I waited for Markus to halt the figure and bring the target toward us. It took a second for it to make its way across the long range. I counted the holes. Still my five from the first time.
"Well … shit," I groaned.
Markus' belly laughter caught me off guard. "You'll get there, rookie. We all did."
Rookie? Really? Was this shit going to stick too? I was kind of becoming partial to unicorn-it had a certain magical flare.
My walkie-talkie squawked. "Showtime, rookie." It was Kyle. "We've got a call."
My heart hammered in my chest as I quickly loaded my weapon and holstered it. Markus bolted from the room and I was hot on his heels. One of the first and most important lessons had already been drilled into my head. When we got a call, we needed to haul ass. A few seconds could mean life or death. Luckily, the elevator was open and waiting. Markus and I piled into it.
"You stay in the van. You do not enter the residence at any time," Markus said to me.
"Yes, Ryder," I replied, saluting him. Dude was channeling the head enforcer with his over-protective demands.
He gave me a serious gaze, uncharacteristic for the Scottish charmer. "You got off easy with the broken ankle last time. What's that you and Jayden call us?"
We were almost at our floor. "The sexy six … " I said cautiously, wondering where this was going.
He nodded. "Well, there used to be seven of us. So stay in the van."
The doors opened and he took off running. Holy shit, there used to be a sexy seven? That meant … okay, maybe I would be staying in the van.
The rest of the guys were waiting in the garage for us, one of the Humvees already loaded, engine running. I was not at all surprised to see everyone decked out in all black. Even I had worn my blackest of army-style outfits for my first shift as an enforcer rookie. It was an unofficial uniform since there was no official uniform. That had just been their totally clever ruse so that I'd fall for their really funny trick with the chocolate.