Chapter 5
Beca's POV
So the girl from the club is a vampire. Totally not expected. For some reason, she doesn't have the same dark eyes as the others. When I look her in the eyes, a cold feeling doesn't rush through me. Instead, it's this slow, antagonizing heat that drives me nuts. All I want to do is pull her close and kiss her senseless. Sitting across from her during dinner had been torture.
She changed out of her dress and is now in skinny blue jeans and a blue blouse. Somehow, she's just as beautiful out of the club's dance lights. Even more so now actually.
"Is that him?" I point to a young kid in the corner playing on a gameboy and Chloe nods. I'm not good with people. Never have been thanks to Reed. For several years, the only people I knew were Reed and the few housekeepers that never talked to me. I had the nanny but she was horrible. Always yelled at me, locked me in my room for hours just so she could go screw my dad or some of the other staff. I was 7 before I met a kid my age and somebody who would actually talk to me.
Instead of saying anything, I just walk over and sit next to him, taking a peek at his gameboy. My eyes focus on his hands which are clenched and his back is stiff. His fingers fly stiffly over the keys as he shoots down his opponents. When I recognize the game, I smile. This is my in.
"You have to throw a grenade, then run over and grab the launcher." The kid's head shoots up.
"What?"
"Here, let me see." Reluctantly, he hands the gameboy over and watches me cautiously as I do exactly what I just told him. When everybody is dead, I give it back to him and gently push his jaw up from it's gaping position.
"How'd you do that?" His big, round eyes stare up at me, curious. The cold feeling starts to spread, but I ignore it, wanting to see him for more than what he is. So, I tell him what I did and show him how. An hour later, when he beats the level himself, I finally ask him what I came here for.
"What's your name kid?"
"What's yours?" His sarcastic remark makes me laugh which throws him off guard.
"It's Beca Mitchell or Agent Mitchell, but that's only in professional situations."
"Agent?"
"They didn't tell you?" He shakes his head, completely engrossed in listening to me. "Well, I work for an agency. I do undercover stuff and everything. I'm actually considered one of the best."
"Wow! That's cool. I want to be an agent someday." The fact that he will never age again doesn't occur to him, but hits me straight in the heart.
"To be an agent, you have to give out your name. They don't just accept anybody you know."
"It's Luke Peterson." Filing his name away, I smile at Chloe, who remains on the other side of the room. I wave her over and am mesmerized by her long legs as she walks. When she sits down next to me, I turn my attention back to the young vampire.
"Thanks for trusting me Luke. So you have no idea who turned you?" He shakes his head. "Could you identify him?
"No, I don't think so. It was dark. I wasn't even supposed to be out, but this girl I liked told me to meet her in the park. I never made it there. The guy had on this dark coat, really creepy, you know?"
"Could you show me where this all happened?"
"Yeah." Luke's eyes light up at the prospect of helping.
"Awesome. You might make a great agent one day, Luke. Now, why don't you get some sleep? We'll go tomorrow."
"Okay!" Luke puts the gameboy down and goes over to the sofa, whispering to himself. "Agent Luke Peterson. Special Agent Luke Peterson."
"That's impressive," Chloe says once we leave the room.
"What?"
"You got him to talk. I gave him a blood bag earlier when he needed it and yet that still wasn't enough to get him to tell me his name." I shrug.
"So?"
"So," Chloe puts her hand on my shoulder, "giving blood to a vampire when they need it is enough to get them to do or tell you anything. Even though I helped him, he kept his mouth shut. Some serious trust issues, most likely thanks to his mother."
"It's my job."
"So, what are you going to do with him?" I open my mouth to answer, but Aubrey speaks first, coming up the stairs with the other girls. She's the blond vampire I was watching at the bar. She had the look of a hunter and I was supposed to catch her before she could drink blood from someone.
"I'll tell you what she's going to do. She's going to turn him into her boss where they'll be able to do whatever they want to him. Most likely kill him after torturing him for information first. Isn't that what you guys do, Agent Mitchell?" My face burns with barely controlled fury at her assumptions.
"One," I growl, stepping up to Aubrey, "you will never associate me with being like the other agents because trust me, they wouldn't want you to and I sure as hell don't. Second, my boss won't listen to anything other than John's case right now so I'll be dealing with this myself. Now, if it's alright with you, Luke will stay here for the time being. Just until I can find him a place to stay. A safe place."
Aubrey and the girls all stare at me while I take deep breaths trying to calm myself. If there's anything I hate, it's assumptions. I would've thought that out of anybody, vampires would understand that.
"Thank you," Chloe whispers, breaking the awkward, tense silence.
"Once again, it's my job." Chloe just shakes her head, not satisfied with my answer.
"A normal agent would've turned him in, got rid of him so they didn't have to do more paperwork. We've all seen it happen."
"I guess y'all will just have to learn that I'm not a normal agent."
"What's going on here?" Gail asks from the bottom of the stairs. Shit, first night here and I'm already in trouble. Reed would love to hear that.
"I was just about to show Beca the training house." The what?
"Well, go on and do that before bed." Gail moves to the side as we walk down, watching us until we pass her and go out the back doors.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Huh? Oh that? I just didn't want to cause anything. Gail's punishments are the worst." Any hope that Chloe was standing up for me is snuffed out and I look at the ground as we walk.
"So what's the training house?"
"It's just a barn behind the main house that we converted into a training area. Since we're not a big corporation like what you work for, we don't need a whole bunch of space. There are other vampire branches, but this is the one here."
"Budget must be less too?" Chloe shrugs.
"It's not too bad. Of course, I don't handle that. Gail does that now that John is gone." Grief flashes across her expression and all I want to do is make it go away.
"I'm sorry. Sounds like you really cared for him."
"Yeah. He was like a father, you know. If we needed anything, he did everything he could to give it to us. It seemed like he could solve any problem no matter how big."
"Sounds really nice." A small smile comes over Chloe's face.
"It was. I was able to go hundreds of years without a father and yet when I met John, I couldn't go an hour without talking to him." Hundreds of years?
"How old are you, Chloe?"
"I'm not sure. It's been a while since I thought of it." We reach the barn doors, but Chloe pauses to answer. "I think almost 700 years."
"Damn," I whistle and try to process that the smoking hot twenty year old in front of me is actually several centuries old.
"I hope you won't think less of me," Chloe opens the barn door and I follow her in. She flicks the lights on and I instantly fall in love. There's a boxing ring in the middle and around weapons and workout equipment.
"This is…" I stop, not sure what word to use. Homey? Can you really call a training center homey?
"What does yours look like?" Chloe's voice jerks me out of my awe filled thoughts.
"Oh, it's nothing like this. Quite the opposite actually. I'll show it to you someday." We both freeze at my words and I instantly regret them. Chloe's face goes emotionless and her eyes go cold. Strangely, it doesn't spread through me like it should.
"I don't think your friends would appreciate a blood sucking creature like me to interfere in their personal space."
"Chloe, I'm sorry. I should've thought before I said anything." Chloe dismisses it with a wave of her hand but I see the hurt flash in her eyes. "I'm serious and you wouldn't like it anyway. Too uptight and to be honest, boring."
"You don't have to try and make me feel better," Chloe moves over to the boxing ring and hops up in it.
"I'm not. What I said is the complete truth. Well not the complete truth. It is kind of entertaining especially to mess with the instructors. They all walk around like they have a stick up their ass so it's fun to say something about it." Chloe gives me a hand and pulls me up. Suddenly, we're too close and I have trouble breathing.
"You're not afraid of getting in trouble?" Joy shoots through me at hearing her being just as affected by the closeness as I am.
"Afraid of getting into trouble for what? Being the only one with a personality?" A bark of laughter shoots out from Chloe and into my heart. I grin, wanting to hear it again.
"For real though, I'm sorry about what I said. One day though, I will bring you there. I don't care what they think."
"But why?" Chloe leans forward, her startling blue eyes on mine. "Why do you care enough to do something like that?"
"I know what it's like to be judged from one little detail about yourself. Whether or not you chose this life, it doesn't define who you really are deep down. If people want to judge, let them fucking judge. By not doing so, we're better than them already."
"Wow," Chloe's warm breath hits my face as she studies me. Something happens then. Something that I can't explain. A bond begins to grow between us and it's like I can suddenly see clearly. All I want to do is lean forward and press my lips against hers. See what she tastes like. But before I can, she steps back.
"We should probably head back to the house." Nodding, I jump down and hold out my hands to help her. She takes them and even when her feet are planted firmly in front of me, I don't let go.
"Chloe?"
"Yes?"
"I could never think less of you." With that, I lean forward and kiss her cheek before letting go of her hands and leaving the barn.