Chapter 4
Luckily, there were no missions for my team, so I spent the weekend recuperating. Arriving at school on Monday, I felt refreshed and ready to start the school week. Taylor and Kyle met me in the school parking lot when I arrived.
“Hey,” I told them as I got out of my car.
“What’s up?” Taylor said.
“Actually I am ready for school for once and not sleep deprived.”
“Oh, not me,” Taylor giggled.
“Did you have too much fun this weekend?” I asked.
Kyle shook his head. “I’m pretty sure she made appearances at ten different parties.”
I laughed. “Going for a party attendance record?”
“Nope, but I missed you.” She smiled.
“Sorry I needed the rest.” I glanced around. “Where is everyone else?”
“Sam is riding with Ben, and Lucas is going to be late,” Taylor stated, raising an eyebrow at me.
I immediately caught on to what Taylor was implying. “Sam and Ben, huh?” I’d always figured that it was just a matter of time before they started seeing each other. “When did this happen?”
Taylor giggled, “Well you see when a girl and a boy meet, and they well -”
Kyle interrupted, “Will you two stop before you get started? I don’t want to hear you two gossiping about my cousin and Ben. I am getting sick just thinking about it.” Kyle visibly winced, and we couldn’t help but laugh at his obvious discomfort.
Taylor and I started to make jokes about what they could be doing. Just as we were sobering up from our giggle fest, Sam and Ben walked up. Taylor and I looked at each other and started laughing again. Kyle’s annoyance was just too much fun. He thinks of Sam like a sister and wanted to protect her from any guy even if it was just Ben.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know. You tell us,” Taylor said, and we started laughing again.
Kyle sighed rolling his eyes. “You don’t want to know. Certain young ladies are acting like twelve year old boys.”
Sam and Ben just looked confused.
While I walked to class, I thought about Sam and Ben dating. I knew I shouldn’t be surprised that Sam and Ben were a couple. It was bound to happen at some point, I believed. And as much as I did not want to date and then marry one of my teammates, I had to be honest with myself; it might happen. It was truthfully easier than meeting someone from another team or introducing an outsider to the horrors of what was out in the world.
I cringed thinking about it. Our whole team was nearly paired off. Kyle and Taylor had secretly had a thing forever. Even though the two of them denied everything, we all knew about it. Now Sam and Ben were an item. That just left Lucas and me.
Thinking about Lucas and me in a relationship?
No way. I shuddered at the thought and shook my head to clear it.
Never would I be able to see Lucas that way. It was not like he wasn’t attractive, because he truly was. He was just more like what an annoying older brother would be like. The guy seriously used to pull my hair and try to cut it when we were kids. In fact, he still pulls my hair. Besides I think Lucas has a thing for Hannah; he is way nicer to her than the rest of us girls.
As I sat down, I glanced back to see Nick already slouched in his seat. He looked up at me and nodded in greeting. I gave him a nod back, deciding to be polite, and started to pull out my notes and book for class. When the bell rang, the stragglers hurried to their seats and Ms. Johnson came into the classroom. Halfway through class, my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a text message from headquarters.
Meeting at 4:00 p.m.
I looked toward Kyle and saw him putting his phone away. I wondered what the meeting could be about. Would it be about a mission since it had been a few days or about the confusion and miscommunication from a few days before?
After history class ended, the rest of my classes seemed to pass by in a blur. I felt ready to get this meeting over with. I looked around the parking lot and saw the rest of my team getting into their respective cars or rides. We waved at each other as we all started to head in the direction of headquarters.
Headquarters is located in the downtown area of the city and appeared to be a regular office building that identified itself as an investment firm. I pulled into the adjacent parking garage and saw that the only ones that had arrived were Taylor, Lucas, and Kyle. I parked in the spot next to them, and we all gathered around the back of my car. We had to wait for Sam and Ben because my grandfather would not see us until we were all together. I didn’t understand why he was that way, but according to my mother, that was just how it has always had been done with the teams.
“I swear Ben drives like a grandpa,” Lucas complained while we waited.
I looked at my phone and saw that we had twenty minutes. “They still have time,” I told him.
He ran his hand through his curly black hair and rubbed his hands over his face. “I know,” he groaned. “Waiting just drives me crazy.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Grow up.” I looked at Taylor and nodded in agreement. Lucas had trouble waiting in any situation, which always annoyed us girls, and more often than not, got him into trouble.
Kyle and Lucas started talking about some sporting event that had been on TV the night before. Taylor and I sat on the back of my car and talked.
“Are you still worried about the other night?” she asked. Taylor may have seemed like a silly teenage girl most of the time, but she was one of the most considerate people I knew. She had always been there for me and was someone that I could trust with anything.
“I don’t know,” I told her, and it was the truth. I was trying to believe it was because of faulty cell phone signals.
She gave me a sympathetic look. “You’re alive, and it was probably just a cell phone error or something.”
“Probably,” I told her as I watched Sam and Ben pull into the parking garage. After they parked, we all greeted each other and headed inside the building.
The offices of the headquarters were just like any other offices that one would visit seeking investment advice. At least I thought so anyway; it was not like I had ever been in one before. As we walked the hallways, we actually ran into several of our parents and relatives. Even my own mother who was heading down to the basement stopped to speak to us. In addition to family, we also ran into other teams that actually patrol and go on hunts in other parts of the city. I would guess that a hundred or maybe more people are involved in the organization within our city alone.
When we reached the top floor, we were greeted by the floor receptionist and a couple of security guards that were stationed on the floor.
“Mr. Spencer is waiting for your team in conference room B,” Amanda, the receptionist, told us.
“Thank you,” Ben said to her, and we walked down the hallway on the left of the reception desk.
“This always feels like a trip to the principal’s office,” Taylor said on our trip down the hall.
“Yep, it does,” Sam said.
We all looked at Sam incredulously because she had never been to the principal’s office, unlike the rest of us.
“What?” Sam asked at our looks. “I can imagine what it must be like.”
“Sure you can,” Lucas said and sympathetically gave her a pat on the back while Ben knocked on the door to the conference room.
Phillip Thompson, our trainer, opened the door for us and waved us inside. Phillip had been with us throughout our training since we were young children. He no longer went out in the field because of an accident during a hunt that he had many years ago. It caused him to walk with a limp and left him unable to run. He is also around five years older than my mother and is tall with dark greying hair and brown eyes that still twinkled even though he had seen all kinds of horrible things.
Inside the conference room, there was a long table with chairs on both sides. At the head of the table, my grandfat
her was standing, waiting for everyone to come in. Someone else was sitting adjacent to my grandfather’s seat with his back turned to us. As I walked around the table to a chair, I realized that it was Nick sitting at the table.
What is he doing here? I asked myself, choosing not to say anything out loud and taking a seat across from Nick and adjacent to my grandfather’s other side. I gave Nick a questioning look.
He smirked in return. It was totally arrogant and passed the whole message of I told you so to me. When everyone was finally seated, we all turned our attention to the head of the table.
My grandfather looked around at the questioning looks on our faces. “Okay, everyone, we will get started. I can see you probably have some questions, but I assure you that they will all be answered shortly.”
“As you all know, you kids are one of the best teams we have had in years, and while that greatly benefits the cause of the organization, we think that your team could be even better. We recently had Nicholas move here from another area, and I think that he would be a welcome addition to your team.”
My self-control was not always the best, but around my strict grandfather, I always kept my mouth shut. “You’re kidding, right? I think our team is perfect the way it is.” I could not control my outburst. “No offense,” I said to Nick, not meaning the words I said one bit. Nick mocked looking hurt.
My grandfather was not amused. “I assure you, Alexandra, I am not kidding,” he said using my first name.
I chose to shut my mouth because Joseph Spencer was not a person to question. He was also not a terribly fatherly person and not much of a grandfather. He was cold and hard with eyes the color of steel and hair that was so black that it had to be dyed. I always wondered how it felt to be my mother and grow up with such a man as a father. Watching him and my mother always made me thankful that I didn’t have a father. Especially one like him.
My grandfather started to speak again, but instead of listening, I drowned him out and let my eyes wander around the room. As I zoned out I wondered what it would be like if I were not part of my family, and didn’t know that such things as vampires and werewolves even existed. I liked to think that I would be normal.
If I didn’t hunt vampires, I would be able to worry more about what to wear to prom or the upcoming Homecoming dance instead of what technique is best to decapitate a vampire with. I refused to think about fighting; I did think about needing a dress for the dance.
When we were at the mall on Friday, I kind of glanced around at them, and there were a few that caught my eye. Maybe if this meeting is short and we don’t have a training session after, I would drag Taylor and Sam to go shop for dresses.
“Those unique abilities and qualities are why I think that Nicholas here will be a great addition to your team,” my grandfather said, catching my attention.
What is so remarkable about him? I thought and looked across the table at him. Did being an arrogant jerk work as vampire repellent? He was looking at my grandfather again, but instead of looking arrogant about my grandfather’s statements, he actually looked kind of nervous.
“So he is a half-breed?” Sam asked. “His father was one of the born vampires, and his mother was a member of the organization?”
“What?” I asked finally realizing what was being said. “How is that even possible?”
“As you have been taught, there are two different types of vampires,” my grandfather stated. “And, as you should be aware, some are made the way they are and of course others are born vampires.”
“Yes, we know this,” I told him, “but having a child with a human? That is just absurd, especially a hunter.”
“There are a few known cases of a child being born between a human and vampire,” Sam said.
We all turned to look at her. “How do you know?” Lucas asked.
“I read it in one of the books in the archives when I was younger.”
“Well, why do you expect us to work with him? We were taught that all vampires are evil, and so the offspring of one must be as well,” I told him, “half human or not.”
“Do not worry about our choice,” my grandfather said to me. “There have been times in the past where we have worked with half-breeds and even born vampires. I want you guys to train this evening with Phillip and Nicholas’ trainer John, and tomorrow you will check out the area around the fair for vampires as a team.”
“Yes sir,” I said and got up to leave so fast that I made it all the way to an elevator before the others caught up with me.
I was torn about having Nick on our team. It went against everything that we had ever been taught, and it didn’t help that he was an arrogant ass.
During the ride down to the second basement floor, I considered the possibility that just maybe Nick was not wrong and that he did save my life the previous Thursday night. When the elevator dinged and I got off, I turned right down the hallway and entered the women’s locker room that my team always uses.
I changed from my school clothes into workout attire of black yoga pants, a red tank top, and black sneakers from my locker. By the time I was dressed, Sam and Taylor had come into the locker room.
“They said for us to go to the gym and spar with each other,” Sam informed me.
“Ok,” I answered and turned to them. “Do you guys think that Nick did actually save me on Thursday night?”
“Truthfully, because of what we now know about him, he probably did,” Taylor said and looked over at Sam, who had a faraway look on her face. “Hey, are you ok?”
I leaned over and snapped my fingers in front of Sam’s face to get her attention after she didn’t answer Taylor.
“Sorry, I was just thinking,” she said shaking her head.
“About?” I asked Sam.
“I don’t know, about everything that has happened recently.”
Taylor and I knew Sam well enough to know that she did not want to talk about whatever it was that was on her mind until she had processed everything and had an idea in place. All three of us let the current topic of conversation go. When they were finished getting dressed, we left the locker room and turned left down the hallway and past the elevators to the gym.
On the way to the gym, we ran into a few others from other teams. There were six total teams inside the city in charge of hunting in different areas. There were even teams in some of the large suburbs surrounding the city. We nodded greetings and said hello to some because we had known each other for years. We had even trained and hunted together from time to time.
When we made it to the gym, we found that all of the boys had already arrived and were waiting for us.
“What are we doing?” Taylor asked as we entered the gym.
“When Phillip and the other guy get here, we are supposed to spar with each other,” Kyle answered. I walked over to the training weapons rack and started looking over the different wooden swords available to choose from. “Taylor and Sam, when we are done do you guys want to go shopping?” I asked them.
“Let me see how I feel when we are done here today,” Taylor said while stretching on the floor.
“I can’t. I have to meet my parents for family dinner night,” Sam said quietly from her position sitting on the floor by the wall.
“Okay,” I told them, “we will go another day after school.”
I smiled to myself about Sam’s response because I think it is wonderful that her family always has a night where her parents, her younger brother, and she make time together. I was sure it was way better than Taylor’s parents bickering or the takeout leftover nights my mother and I are so fond of. I looked over at the guys and wondered if their families had times like Sam’s family does. I did know what their living situations were all like, but it was just not something that the guys had ever talked about with me before. I glanced over at Nick who was talking to the other guys about different weapons that they all used or had used in the past, and I wondered if he had a family. Not that I cared. I was j
ust curious.
The door to the gym opened, interrupting my thoughts about my teammates and their lives away from hunting. Looking up I saw Phillip and another guy that was a bit shorter than Phillip with nearly black hair and eyes so green I would think that they might glow in the dark. If he didn’t look my mom’s age with his finely chiseled features, I would think that he was handsome, alright exceedingly handsome. But he was too old to think such things about. I assumed that he was John, Nick’s trainer that my grandfather had mentioned.
I looked more closely at him and recognized him as the man my mother was arguing with on Friday night. I wondered how I could find out why my mother seemed so angry with him that night. He seemed to sense me staring at him, so he turned his head toward me and proceeded to scrutinize my appearance.
We were in the middle of an undeclared staring contest when Phillip interrupted us. “Team, this is John Rossum. He is Nick’s trainer and was actually a part of this branch and on a team with some of your parents years ago when he was active.” That confirmed what my mother had said about him being an old friend. “John, this is Lucas Monroe, Kyle Franklin, Samantha Franklin, Benjamin Moore, Taylor Richardson,” he said pointing to everyone in turn, “and Alexandra Spencer, but she goes by Riley.”
John nodded at this knowledge and for the first time spoke. “It is nice to meet you all,” he said in a quiet, deeply smooth voice.
“Oh, and if there is any trouble out of these kids,” Phillip added, “I can promise that Riley is probably at the center of it.”
“Whatever,” I muttered in response.
For a few moments, we all stood in silence until finally Phillip spoke. “Okay, everyone, today we are going to spar in pairs and then everyone will try to get a workout in.”
We all nodded but looked at him questioningly since there was an odd amount of us. “Who are we going to be partnering with?” I asked.
“Alright, Lucas and Sam, Taylor and Ben, Riley with Nick, and then I will spar with Kyle,” Phillip told us.
I groaned in annoyance as we all went to different mats around the gym. I slowly made my way to one of the mats that had not been taken already. Nick and his teacher followed me to the mat and waited, I assumed, for me to be ready.
“Do you want to fight with weapons or hand-to-hand?” Nick asked breaking my staring contest with the mat.
“Weapons,” I answered and turned to the nearest rack with Nick on my heels. At the rack, I chose one of the wooden swords that I had used many times during spars. I looked at Nick and saw that he had picked up a similar weapon and walked back to the center of the mat. While vampires rarely ever fought with weapons, we still used weapons to hunt with, and sparring with them kept us prepared for hunts.
Nick was staring at me. “Okay now, let’s get started,” he said. I frowned at him and slowly walked to the center of the mat. “You are not scared are you?” he taunted when I finally reached him.
That was it. I decided I was not going to respond to his arrogance with words; I was going to use my weapon.
“Not a chance,” I said and raised my wooden sword.
I brought my sword down at him, but he was ready and blocked my blow. I decided that if I was going to take him down that I had to move quickly. I slashed at him from the left and right repeatedly as quickly as I was able to, but he managed to block everything that I threw at him. I slashed at him from the right one last time, and as he blocked it, I kicked him with my right leg in the side and managed to throw him off balance. He stumbled, and I came back with my sword from the left, knocking his weapon from his hands.
“Alright you got me,” he smirked and threw his hands up. I started to lower my sword, but before I realized it, he had grabbed my sword and twisted me around in one motion, planting me with my back to his front and my sword to my own throat.
“Dammit,” I said and tried to move, but he had me locked in place. “Maybe not, I win,” he laughed.
“Nope,” I informed him and started to move around as much as I was able to. Though he did have me held about six inches from the ground, I wiggled around and put all of my weight on his foot. This distracted him, and I was able to get free. I turned and kneed him in his stomach. His stomach was harder than I imagined it to be, and when he grunted in pain I shoved him to the ground.
“I guess you didn’t win after all.” I looked around the room and saw that we had an audience with the rest of the team watching us fight. “Spars over,” I said and walked out of the room.
I walked down the hall to the weight room. Inside, I put on a pair of discarded boxing gloves from off of the floor and started beating on the nearest punching bag.
“Ugh.” All I could hear was the sound of my heavy breathing as I tried to bust open the punching bag with just my fists. I heard the door open, and I paused to look over at Taylor walking in.
“Hey,” I said to her catching my breath, “how is your day?”
She just rolled her eyes and walked over to the other side of my punching bag to spot. I started to punch on the bag again. As I concentrated on my workout, I found it hard to keep my mind from thinking of everything that had happened recently from the attack on Thursday, the arrogance of the new guy, and now the fact that we were just told he was a half-human and half-vampire and on our team.
“I mean seriously,” I paused my abuse to the punching bag as I looked over at Taylor who was using all of her weight to hold the punching bag that I had been beating with all of my strength, “where do they get off allowing that….that Thing into the organization.”
“Well, I think,” Taylor started to tell me, but I wouldn’t hear of it.
“It is crazy. He is nothing but a beast and will try to kill us all,” I interrupted her and punched the bag again harder. “They must think we are all weak for them to be doing this,” I ranted on. “I don’t think the founders of the organization would have stood for such blasphemy. What do you think?”
I finally took a moment to look over at Taylor, but she was not answering me and she seemed to be frozen in shock staring behind me. I turned to look to see what had gotten her attention.
I turned around, and the aforementioned beast himself was standing there. He wasn’t saying anything but sending me a glare that would probably freeze hell if possible. I honestly did not care if he heard what I had been saying because it was all the truth.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked him. “It is rude to listen to people’s private conversations,” I told him just as coldly as he was looking at me.
Taylor took the moment to flee. Even though she was my best friend, it did not surprise me. She never had been one for confrontation of any kind, well, other than fighting vampires out on the field.
He looked at me and snorted. “I don’t consider it a private conversation when most of the building can hear you,” Nick sneered at me.
“Well excuse me for just being honest,” I retorted at him.
He smirked at me and turned to leave. “You might want to consider what you say; your life may be in my hands again one day.”
He left the room, and I indignantly screamed and yelled and hit the punching bag with all of my might. After I took my frustration out on the punching bag, I stopped and tried to catch my breath. I tried not to think about what had just occurred, but I couldn’t help but to think about him. I would be lying if I were to say that I did not find him attractive despite what he is. It was a shame really.
After I gained my composure, I turned to leave and noticed John, Nick’s teacher, waiting by the door.
“Excuse me,” I said as I started to leave the room.
“He isn’t so bad once you get to know him.” He stopped me “Nick is just a little abrasive but otherwise a great fighter and more loyal to the cause than any other member of the organization.”
I nodded at his words, thinking them over. He had the chance to kill you already, I thought to myself. I started to leave the room, but his last word
s caught my attention. “I am sure Elizabeth can give you some insight into this situation.”
I started to turn around and ask what he meant about my mother knowing something about it, but he had already left. Asking my mother later would be on the top of my to-do list. For now though, I decided that the best thing for me to do was to shower and head home. A shower seemed to be what I needed to wash the day off, and hopefully I could sleep and wake up tomorrow and just maybe Nick would no longer be around.