CHAPTER ELEVEN
Four people sat at the back of a van: Mattie, Daniel, Jess and I and we were on another case. It was a linked case and apparently only the assassination division of Rose could take people out which was why Mattie and I were here.
Daniel, the vampire who takes my blood for the donation purpose, and his feeder and friend had point on the case involving a possible man Rose was either looking for, or he was going to be a problem.
Over the couple of years I had been here I did what I was supposed to. I attended the will writing every February and studied. It wasn't like what I experienced at uni. But that was basically it. Despite how busy Rose was, I still felt too shy to head down to the dip and introduce myself to other vampires and humans. Mattie and Iain seemed to think that they were the only two people I should know personally and professionally. Out of everyone I had been introduced to, Sarah was an exception. But with Daniel, I didn't know he had a feeder and met Jess Hawkins and she quickly became a friend. She was in her fourth year with Rose, after finding a vampire who was affiliated here and started soon after. Daniel, she told me, was not her first vampire partner. She had been through everything I had been through so we could relate to each other. Like me she could not understand the weird but welcoming atmosphere at Rose.
It was the night after the Davison dance and damn, my feet still ached. If I needed to get somewhere I'd have to hobble along like a penguin.
Iain called me after a few hours sleep saying it was an emergency and I needed to get to Rose fast. Mattie was already there, because of the sun and frankly his mood had turned sour again. When he left, it was of a worse state than his usual grumpy moods. Should I even ask him what was bothering him?
He didn't want to wait for me. Said he preferred to be alone with his thoughts even though as his feeder, I should be pry to it. But even I had trouble reading a vampire's facial expression.
So when I got there I found Daniel in his telltale white science coat pacing back and forth in a quick manner. I was the last to arrive and after being forcefully ushered into Iain's office, our briefing began.
I was happy. I swayed and bobbed my head like a bobble headed toy humming a tune. Jess was here! I had a chance to see her and it'll be my first case with her!
Daniel who was sat diagonally to me near the front seats, noticed my excitement. "Not sure how you are happy right now, Alice."
I stopped what I was doing when I heard my name. It sounded weird after being called Lucy last night. Heck, if I felt like this after one night, what will I feel like going undercover for a few months? I'd have to train my lying to a better standard.
"I'm happy because of Jess." I wrapped my arms around her shoulders almost rubbing my cheek against hers. "I love you, Jess."
She laughed. "Aw, I love you too!" Wrapping her arms around my waist we completed the set.
"Why don't you guys get a room." Mattie said grinning. He sat in front of me. "Or on second thought, don't."
"Technically this is a room..." Jess winked.
"...so get ready for some action!" I giggled pulling on her sleeve.
I love her so much. She understands the crazy shit going in my head.
"Argh. Not now!" Daniel cried, looking away.
"Yes, now!" Mattie grinning like a school boy. He was absolutely glued on us to which Jess and I burst out laughing. It caught onto Mattie and Daniel so the whole van was shaking in fits.
"Well, shit." Daniel said once they died. It was weird hearing him swear.
"Need an ice breaker after the hours we spent in here!" Jess said. It was true. Right now it was almost twelve pm and Iain called at six. We left Rose at six thirty. We hadn't left the van.
"Stake out duty. One of the most boring things you'll come across." Mattie said, leaning back. Rose's version of stake out duty was different to what you see on TV. The van was parked on the opposite side of the road to a building made mostly of glass. This was where a meeting was to take place. A camera was trained on the entrance which should beep every time someone was in radius of the double doors.
"By the way Alice, is there something wrong with your feet?"
Of course he'll realise. Although I thought he would have said something sooner.
"They ache because of last night." Not that I regret anything.
He patted his lap. "Let me give you a massage while we still have time."
What?
A light poking on my ribs from Jess told me I should take it.
"Jeez, Jess, are you trying to get Mattie and Alice set up?" Daniel said teasing. He had binoculars on looking toward the building. He didn't even look our way.
"What?" Mattie and I cried out together.
Fuck! Stop blushing!
This time he did turn. Only to grin at us.
Mattie laughed, "Fuck you, Dan." Turning to me he added, "Alice, feet," to which I obliged.
Ah, it feels good…
Ever since the dance at Davison's, Mattie and I started joking around a lot and many of the things we do are playful. Well, apart from his departure earlier.
I'm not sure what happened that made me feel this way - probably it only exaggerated how I felt about Mattie - but it seemed to have had an affect on both of us.
A continuous beep pierced my thoughts. The one that indicated that our time playing around was up.
Daniel put the binoculars away. "Everyone knows what to do?" We all nodded.
A man nicknamed 'Bruno', was hosting this meeting of six. Bruno was linked to a number of vampire murders that happened over the course of three months. I didn't know the exact link but I knew somehow he was involved and needed to be dealt with. I thought about talking to him when he was apprehended for more information but Iain and Angie - Daniel and Jess's manager - thought against it.
Prior to our being in this van, Daniel had kidnapped one of the women set to be at the meeting tonight. She was living in a cell at Rose unconscious. I was supposed to mask as her. Daniel was another showing his face at the meeting. Mattie would stay in the van to monitor everything and Jess would be hidden in the same room the meeting was held in for backup. Having a surprise attack would be an advantage and as such she was going to be armed. Alpha and Beta hung hidden on either side of her waist not to mention I suspected several other knives and other weapons were concealed around her slim frame. Alas only the vampires in the van would know what exactly she carried.
"I suppose I should head off now." Jess said getting up.
"Be careful, okay." I said. I meant it. I know it's wrong because of the lifestyle we chose - or didn't choose - if anything happened to Jess…
"I will." Climbing out the side door she had to move quickly to avoid the glare of the external cameras.
I sighed before taking my feet off Mattie's lap reaching over for the makeup box.
In an hour I was ready. Actually it probably would have been forty minutes or so but I demanded Mattie and Daniel to turn around or sit in the front seats whilst I changed clothes. I seriously don't want my naked body in a vampire's mind! Knowing that will definitely be the death of me!
I wore a black suit with a frilled white blouse tucked in a red skirt that poofed below the waist, designed to hid the two guns strapped around my thighs. My hair was tied back in a ponytail. Lips matched my red skirt to tie the whole colour scheme together.
Daniel had already got changed. He wore a beige suit, white shirt with a red tie. Blond hair combed back, he looked the part of a businessman looking to make a deal.
"Alice, you're disguised as Miranda Bell, with two 'e'" Daniel said.
Belle. Okay.
"You're the representative for Starling Publishing."
"What?" Starling Publishing was the firm to get your real break in the publishing world. That is if you managed to even have a manuscript that impressed them. How was I going to impersonate this woman from an international well known company? And how did a publishing company get mixed up in all this?
"There's no time to explain." Daniel checked his watch as Mattie leaned over to the control panel next to me, where Jess sat in front of a moment ago. Over the arch of his back, Daniel added: "I'll go ahead. Remember the penthouse apartment and the key code is 0674." This was sent out via emails to the people involved. "Well then, I'll be off." Nodding goodbye Daniel opened the passenger door and hopped out.
I hardly knew what the meeting was about. All I knew was how to act. Kind of. And not acknowledge anyone in the room.
"You'll be fine, Alice." Mattie said smiling. He had put on a headset, one ear listening whilst the other was directed at me. "It may be your first time acting like this but remember we should have an advantage. Plus if it turns bad, Daniel will intervene being the vampire there."
I nodded swallowing hard.
He handed me something small, like a thumbnail but slightly smaller. "It's a receiver so you can hear me," he pointed to his mic, "I'll be with you all the way, Alice."
Oh. I placed it in my ear. I could hear Daniel's voice "...well it's ten minutes to right now." It was followed by someone mumbling.
He then gave me a small microphone, the kind you see on the TV. "Can you clip this on your inner lapel?"
"Won't people see it?" even if I did clip it on the inner side, there would be a lot of noise from material rubbing against each other as I moved.
"No. I'll be able to hear your voice."
"Right…" I keep forgetting he's a vampire…
"Alright! Time to go!" Mattie spun me around and got me out. "Ten minutes till deadline, you heard Dan."
"Right." I headed off to make a turn into the neighbouring block ready to make it look like I didn't just emerge from a white van.
The building was almost completely out of glass. Through a rotating door a seating area housed a couple sofas and a small coffee table. At an angle on my left was the reception table in golden brown wood with a glass top. It was empty.
Straight ahead of me were the lifts. I took no trouble mounting it, remembering the pass code for the penthouse apartment.
I found it wasn't really a penthouse apartment when the doors opened to a corridor surrounded by three meeting rooms each with a large table and chairs. The two rooms beside me were unlit. I could see because the walls separating each one was… glass. Why the fuck call it a penthouse apartment then?
The one straight ahead had five people, including Daniel who stood at the corner. The door to the room was open so I could hear their conversation.
"Is this the last person?" A guy said. His eyes bored into me as I walked through the short hallway. Then I realised something. Will they know I'm not… Belle? Miranda Belle. Shit!
"Last person." The host stood up. It was Bruno, a bald guy with glasses in a tailored black suit. I hadn't noticed him because there was a group of four around him that you see on a first day of school.
Looking around this meeting room I wasn't sure where Jess was. I'd assume she was hiding in the other empty and darkened rooms.
I suppose they don't know who I am.
"Now, if everyone would sit down." Bruno gestured to the table. Almost everyone around me picked a seat and I joined them. Daniel sat two seats opposite me. "I'll go straight to the point." He said as he took his own chair at the end. "Before I get to the details. We're going to change location."
Jess!
"Why? Is something wrong with this room?" A woman who sat next to me absolutely caked in makeup said. "It clearly is secure."
"Not when I have impersonators in this room." Bruno simply said. A silence descended upon us.
Shit! My pulse quickened. It was hard to calm myself down when the only thing that flooded my hearing was the rush of blood and the dizzyness at the new revelation.
Control yourself!
"And who are the impersonators?" Daniel said. The guy was calm checking his manicure. His voice came delayed in my earpiece. I also thought he was repeating words for Mattie's sake.
My palms were getting sweaty so I wiped them on my skirt discreetly. It sounded like things were getting out of hand.
"Shit." Mattie said. Damn, I almost jumped in shock at how crystal it was. Almost like he was one of those sitting right next to me. "Jess, standby for a change in location."
"I don't think this meeting would have gone this far." I said. "Surely those impersonators would have been dealt with beforehand?"
"It was on short notice." Bruno said. "Now please make your way to the lift. We're heading to the basement."
"The basement, huh?" Daniel murmured.
I heard Mattie order Jess to get there before we got there.
All of us shared the lift. No one talked. No one made eye contact. Having Bruno so close was an advantage but with the other people…
A sense of dread filled my gut. Something was going to happen. Bruno knew we were here and I felt a warmth on my face. A tale tell sign I was embarrassed.
Calm down. Take a few breaths.
Mattie's voice came in my ear. "I can't reach Jess or she's not responding. I might have to go in."
Communication was down in the basement? Shit…
It wasn't long till the doors opened to a large, unlit, concrete room. There were two columns of a blue metal shelving housing absolutely dozens of boxes and plastic. They separated in the middle making a wide pathway down. I could know just see the forklift tucked away at the end of one isle.
We stopped in front of the lift. A nasty chill crept up my spine with the foreboding feeling I will have to use Alpha.
Bruno was ahead. He clapped and a bunch of people stepped out from out behind us. In each of their hands was a bottle and a napkin. I didn't know what was in that bottle but shit, those people almost had me reaching for Alpha if didn't see Daniel not react from the corner of my eye.
He clapped again and the people advanced. The woman caked in makeup went down first. The guy covered her face with the napkin and after struggling, she collapsed on the floor after a few seconds. Chloroform!
After seeing that I kept my distance watching a woman who had eyes for me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Do I pull Alpha?
She lunged at me. Practically flying through the air. I ducked rolling forward. She landed a few metres from me. One of her buddies helped her get up and suddenly like four people were advancing toward me.
Another guy from the meeting room went down. I think it was the guy who stared at me. He was followed by another person.
How many people had gone down? I saw flashes of blonde hair but was that Daniel?
I felt something at my back. Shocked I turned realising it was Daniel. Thank God!
He was actually doing the same thing I was - dodging anyone.
Bruno stood arms folded in the centre with the large pathway making his stance look a lot more menacing.
"Why don't you stop?" He called out. "After all I do have something you want." He gestured for the people with the chloroform napkins to step down, I think. They moved to the lift and stood there with their backs to the wall.
Daniel murmured to me, hands twitching beside me. "He has an eye cam in his left eye. That's how he could tell we're the abnormalities."
Shit!
"What do you mean?" I called out.
Daniel froze. "Dan?" No, he wasn't frozen. I could see him clearly being so close. He was restraining himself.
Then his eyes turned red.
I panicked. I had my hand on Beta.
Rule number two! Shit if he turns to me, I'm dead.
Then I heard it. Cries echoing through the concrete room. It gradually got louder and louder until I saw where it was coming from. She hung by her hair, cuts trailing along her arms. A pool of blood followed her at her feet which dangled in the air.
"Je-Andrea!" I almost said her real name. Jess! Not Jess. Anyone who hurts Jess, I'll beat them up. I'll make sure of it. But first I need to get to her.
"Lucy." Daniel's voice sounded weird. Like he was keeping a lock on it. "I won't aim at you. These bastards need to pay for wasting her blood. For now aim at Bruno but do not kill him. I want my share."
Bruno had pulled out two guns. They looked alike and exactly like mine.
"Tell you what, Rose." He called out, spinning one of the guns around his finger. "These are pretty neat. Lightweight, durable and you don't need to reload one! I could shoot my share of filthy vampires all day and not get bored. Heck, I'm glad you got the leak." He stopped spinning it. The finger laid against the trigger at Daniel. Beta! "You should feel honoured I'm starting with you."
Shit. This is why Bruno was on the list.
"Do you want her?" Walking towards Jess, he laid a finger to stroke her cheek. "You can have her." The crony threw her on the ground. She landed in a crumpled heap.
I rushed toward her. "Shit, shit, shit, Jess!" I straightened her out so she lay on her back. Her injuries. They were too severe. A stab wound had punctured her side. There was another along her shoulder. She had so many cuts.
I took my jacket off to wrap it around her waist and used the sleeves to tie together. Applied pressure. She groaned against the pain. My fingers were soon soaked in her blood. I didn't know how to even wrap her shoulder wound up.
"He took them." She rasped, "took my weapons."
"We know, Jess. Just don't speak, okay." Tears pricked my eyes. I knew I won't be able to save her. "Oh, Jess. Jess. Jess…"
I kept the pressure on her side. It kept leaking.
What do I fucking do? She'll die at this rate.
"Mattie." Jess whispered. "Don't…"
Just then a shot pierced the air. I snapped my head off Jess to look at Daniel who was fighting Bruno and to fight at vampire is at brave thing to do. Daniel had stood still. He grasped his thigh.
Alpha hit him. Thank God.
I don't know what I did but I found myself pulling my Alpha out. To aim at Bruno.
But as Daniel went down, Bruno clipped off several shots with Beta. I couldn't see where they hit but I knew they were fatal.
"Daniel!" I momentarily forgot Jess, standing up as he turned slowly toward us. The shock. The disbelief on it. There wasn't any words to describe it.
He looked at his hand and I saw it was falling apart turning to dust. It wasn't long before it spread to his whole body.
What the fuck! He killed Daniel!
I was going to take him on. I took took a step forward but something tugged me back. Jess!
"It's okay, Alice." It was barely a breath. "It's okay." She closed her eyes.
"Jess? Jess!" Checked her pulse on her hand. I couldn't find any. No, no, no… checked her pulse on her neck. Still no.
"Jess!"
I heard the lift doors open. There wasn't anyone there. Only one person emerged: Mattie!
He stared daggers at Bruno who was being whisked away by the chloroform people. I couldn't see where they were going. I had to take care of Jess.
"Mattie!" I cried. "Jess and Daniel…" Tears ran freely down my face. "He killed them."
"What?" In a second he was at my side kneeling next to Jess. Checked her pulse and pressed his ear on her chest. If I couldn't find a beat, Mattie will.
"Is she... she's not… is she?" my voice broke. Not Jess. My much loved friend.
"I can't find one."
I shut my eyes. Cries of despair rang around the concrete. It rang. On and on before-
"Help her." I said. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "You can do it, right? I mean, you're a vampire."
"Alice…" He looked at me in disbelief.
"Mattie. Jess means everything to me." I remembered our giggle in the van earlier.
Earlier? It feels like it happened a long time ago.
"I can't." He ran his hands through his hair. "I can't do it, Alice."
"Why?" Jess knew. She was the other person apart from Iain who knew I loved him. I didn't tell her explicitly either. She just knew.
I didn't get an answer. "Mattie, it's not in the rules even if it were you said they were guidelines for me." I don't get it.
He stood up and looked at me. "Alice I can't and that's it. It's morally wrong."
I hung my head. Had to wipe the streaks of tears away. Cried loudly.
I… Jess… I'm sorry. I'll… miss you so much.