The Recruit Book One (EBOOK)

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“How’s she doing?” Richard stood next to Will and watched the recruits trickle in from their morning run through the woods. Hannah trailed behind the other five, her grey t-shirt completely soaked in sweat and her face pale. They stood panting in the cool sunshine, and Richard winced when Hannah staggered away from the others and vomited behind a large tree.

“It’s been three weeks, and she’s still throwing up after the morning run,” Will said. “She can’t do a pull-up to save her life, she can barely get through a hundred push-ups, and her hand-to-hand combat training is, in a word, pathetic. She’s not going to make it.”

Richard frowned. “Give her a chance, Will.”

“I am. Anyone else I would have kicked to the curb by now,” Will said. “I’m keeping her as a personal favour to you, Richard.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I’m not sure how much you’ll appreciate it when she dies at the hands of a vampire,” Will said.

Richard sighed. “Her sister’s death will destroy her if she isn’t given a chance for revenge. It’s better for her to die trying than stand by and wish she had.”

“I’m worried about your conscience, Richard. How will you feel if she dies trying for this revenge?”

“We all die eventually, Will,” Richard said. “I’ve never seen you care so much about the life of a human before.”

Will flushed. “It means nothing to me if Hannah lives or dies. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy leading a lamb to the slaughter. We should cut her out of the program before she thinks she has a chance.”

“Give her another month.”

“Richard, you’re making a -”

“Enough, Will,” Richard said. “I have always trusted your judgment when it came to the babies. Now I’m asking you to trust mine.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” Will scowled. “I just work here.”

* * *

Hannah cursed as the rice fell off her spoon and scattered on the table. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold the utensil, and Selena, sitting beside her, gave her a sympathetic look. Jeremy, Frank, Tyler, and Allison shoveled the food hungrily into their mouths and ignored the two of them completely. In the last month, Hannah and Selena had bonded a bit, mostly over their mutual misery in what Jeremy called ‘Slayer Boot Camp’. Her bed was next to Selena’s in the women’s dormitory, and they had begun the cautious process of getting to know each other.

Selena patted her leg under the table and then continued eating her dinner. The recruits did nearly everything together. Mannie, one of their three instructors, had informed them that it helped bond them as a team. They rarely spoke during dinner. The grueling physical training schedule left them all ravenous, and none of them wasted precious eating time with casual chatter.

Hannah willed her hands to stop shaking and carefully spooned rice into her mouth. She shook nearly all the time from the lack of sleep and the intense physical exercise, making it difficult to do everyday activities like eating.

Her stomach growled loudly as the spoon fell from her fingers and clattered to the table. She was considering just picking up her plate and tipping the food into her mouth when she realized Will was staring at her with pity and disgust. She blushed, stared fiercely at her hands until they went from a palsy-like shake to a mild tremble, and continued to eat her dinner.

“Five minutes, babies!” Will shouted from across the cafeteria. Hannah flinched and ate faster. She hated Will - loathed him from the depths of her soul. She could barely remember the Will from the hallway, the Will who had told her she smelled like strawberries and had made desire course through her body.

That Will was long gone, replaced by a shouting, caustic hard ass who seemed to enjoy breaking their spirits.

She was convinced he was the hardest on her. Once, after a ruthless morning run, he yelled at her for five minutes while she vomited helplessly. She felt only slightly vindicated when Selena later asked her what she had done to piss off Will.

“He hates you, Hannah,” Selena said. “I’m not sure why, but he hates you.”

“Fuck Will,” she’d said grumpily. “I don’t give a rat’s ass whether he likes me or not.”

Now, as she stood with the other recruits and limped out of the cafeteria, she could feel Will’s eyes burning holes into her back. She straightened and forced herself to limp faster, breathing a sigh of relief when she was in the hallway and away from his hot stare.

* * *

Hannah peered into the hallway. It was empty, and she crept silently through the maze of hallways until she arrived at one of the training rooms. She eased the door open, moving confidently across the room in the dark.
She reached up, grabbed the metal bar above her head, and pulled herself up with a grunt of effort. Her already tired and strained arm muscles screamed at her, but she fixed Sara’s sweet face in the front of her mind and continued to haul her body up and down.

After a few minutes, she let her body drop to the floor. She was panting harshly, and her arms were shaking and burning, but she had done nearly fifteen pull-ups – her best effort yet. She gave herself five minutes to rest, lying on the soft mat and staring blindly at the ceiling as she shook out her arms.

She forced herself to stand and move to the far side of the gym. She knew from experience that if she waited much longer, her body would seize up, and the rest of her exercises would be brutally painful. There was a heavy bag hanging from the ceiling, and, using touch only, she located a pair of gloves and fumbled into them.

She’d been in the program for five weeks, and for the last two weeks, when the rest of the recruits had tumbled exhausted into their beds, she would sneak out of the dormitories and return to the gym. She forced herself to run laps, lift weights, and practice her pull-ups and push-ups. Afraid of being caught, she did all of it in total darkness. The first few nights, she had tripped over exercise machines, stubbed nearly every toe on rows of weights, and once even ran face-first into a wall, but now it seemed her night vision was improving, and she could easily navigate in the blackness.

She punched the heavy bag, the vibrations running back through her arms and into her aching shoulders and back. She ignored the pain. Even with her extra work at night, she was barely keeping up with the other recruits, and she knew Will was dangerously close to kicking her out of the program. She could see it every time he looked at her.

It wasn’t just physical exhaustion either. When the recruits weren’t training, they were in classes with Isabelle. Isabelle was in her thirties with long blonde hair and a slender body. She was gorgeous. Her eyes were an impossible shade of blue, and she had the softest-looking skin Hannah had ever seen. Over the last few weeks, she had taught them the history of the vampire and, to a limited degree, other paranormal creatures.

Hannah could still remember the day Will joined them for one of their classes, sitting quietly in the back as they discussed the various weapons used against vampires over the years. Alison and Frank were in the middle of a heated debate over whether make-shift weapons from household items would be helpful in a pinch when Will snorted loudly and stood.

“If you find yourself weaponless around vampires, your greatest chance for survival is to run.” He looked at each of them, his gaze landing on Hannah’s face last. “You run, and you hide.”

She shook her head, wiping his face from her mind, and concentrated on hitting the bag with firm, hard punches like Mannie had taught her. She snatched gulps of air into her burning lungs. She wanted to quit and go back to her bed in the dormitory. She wanted to soak her pillow with the tears always so close to the surface, but she thought of Sara.

She thought about Sara’s tenth birthday and how excited she was when her parents had rented out the movie theatre for her and her friends. She thought about the first night Sara came home drunk as a teenager. Hannah had squirreled her away to the bathroom before their parents could see her. She held Sara’s hair back as she threw up wretchedly, vowing breathlessly between each bout of vomiting that she would never drink again.

Memory after memory of Sara flooded her mind, and she punched the bag in front of her harder and harder. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps and tears mixed freely with the sweat dripping down her face. So engrossed was she in her memories and the rhythmic thumping noise of her gloved hands that when a hard hand fell onto her shoulder, she screamed and turned, punching wildly at the huge shadow behind her.

* * *

Will cursed as one of Hannah’s gloves caught him on the chin. She had screamed only once before falling silent. As he wrapped an arm around her waist, she writhed and squirmed like a wild cat, panting harshly and pounding his back with her gloved fists.

“Hannah, stop!” he said as her foot connected solidly with his knee. He yelped like a wounded puppy, stepped backward, and tripped over his own feet. He fell onto his back, dragging Hannah down with him.

She headbutted him in the chin, and he just managed to protect his balls from her knee before she landed a blow to his stomach.

“Enough!” he roared and flipped her onto her back, covering her struggling body with his own and pinning her arms above her head.

“It’s Will!” he said into her ear as she panted and wiggled under him.

Her body froze, and then she sagged against the floor. “Will?”

“Yes.”

“You scared the hell out of me!”

“What are you doing in here?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she muttered.

“Don’t lie to me,” he warned.

“I’m just – just practicing, okay? I’m not breaking any rules.”

“Actually,” he said, “there is a rule about leaving the dormitory after lights out. You know that.”

“I highly doubt that going to the gym after lights out is what they meant by breaking the rules,” she scoffed. She tried to heave him off her, but Will settled his weight more firmly against her.

“I would think you get enough physical activity during the day. If you’re looking for night activities, I can think of something entirely more pleasant for you to participate in.” He said the last sentence in a low whisper, and her curvy body shivered against his.

“Could you get off me, Will? You’re too heavy,” she said.

Will had excellent night vision, and he studied her face. Her dark eyes were huge, and, despite her steady tone, her lips trembled, and her entire body shook under his. He took a deep breath. He could smell the sharp tang of her sweat and the scent of strawberries. She must eat a lot of strawberries. The smell almost always lingered on her.

“Will?” she prompted and pulled against his hands holding her arms captive.

“Why are you practicing at night?” He tugged the gloves from her hands, tossing them to the side before propping himself up on his elbows above her but keeping her pinned to the floor with his lower body.

She flexed her fingers experimentally and then pushed at his chest. He refused to move, and she sighed in frustration.

“Tell me,” he said.