Anarchy (Hive Trilogy, #2)(9)
When the doors opened at ground level, Sam strode out flashing the front desk ash his badge. Fumbling in my pocket I found my own special magic card and quickly did the same thing. No more signing in and out? Hells yeah!
Once we were outside, the sunlight and fresh air knocked into me with a welcome burst of energy. I should have mentioned this to Tessa—no more sunlight if she was changed. That girl was a big fan of Hawaii and the Caribbean, a beach baby through and through. After college we had planned on spending six months travelling through the islands. But as a vamp she would never suntan again.
The darkly handsome enforcer, with his few days of stubble on his jaw, looked menacing as he continued striding across the outdoor area. He didn’t look back to see if I was following.
“Sam?” I said, stopping where I was.
He still didn’t turn, just kept walking briskly, disappearing into the woods that dotted the front of the property. What the hell? This guy was all kinds of quirky. I debated whether to follow him, but in the end my curiosity was the strongest emotion. Groaning, I jogged to catch up with him, weaving through the woods to find him perched on a rock overlooking the creek. Damn he was fast.
I let out a big huff of air as I collapsed down next to him.
“Another rookie prank? Gonna throw me in the creek?”
He didn’t smile, only looked sideways at me. “I’m going away for ten days on my bi-yearly fishing trip.”
I gave him a deer in headlights look. “Okay … that’s nice.” First snowboarding and now fishing. Who knew?
Still, as interesting as that information was, why was he telling me this? As if he’d heard my thoughts he turned more fully toward me, his steely gaze penetrating. “Look, I think Ryder is blinded by his affection for you. I think this situation is much more serious than you know and you need to watch your back. Since I’m not going to be here to keep an eye on you, be extra vigilant.”
“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.