Renegade (Shadow Realms): An Urban Fantasy Dragon Shifter Romance Page 12

  It was too early in Elaina’s contract to forget her family and friends. She didn’t know that she would ever forget them, but it was her duty now to remain at a distance and protect from the shadows. She still had many memories. Her memories were her own and no one else’s. Nobody could take that from her. But that didn’t change the fact that she was still bound to District 5’s mission.

  “Ma’am?”

  Elaina’s attention shifted to the server, standing to the right of her.

  “We have a seat for one,” the server continued.

  She followed the server to an empty stool near the serving bar. Three cooks manned their individual stations directly in front of her. They seemed to be working quickly despite the number of order tickets the waitresses threw at them.

  Eggs were being cooked on the griddle, sunny-side up. Sausage and bacon sizzled. Steam floated up from the pancake tray. This was the closest she’d get to a home-cooked meal.

  Elaina looked down at her watch again just as a waitress approached her. 8:07AM. From the looks of it, she’d have just enough time to pig out. She ordered the breakfast platter that was chock-full of protein. She’d need it. This was the last training session of the season for trackers. If she passed with flying colors, the District 5 heads would be more likely to hand her an assignment worthy of her skills.

  For the past few months, all she’d been doing was knocking off the occasional rogue or wayward vampire. Those assignments were getting too easy for her. She was getting bored…and curious about the other, inner workings of the District—an organization whose mission was to prolong the existence of mankind by capturing, destroying, and salvaging vampires.

  Elaina worked from the shadows at night and trained and rested during the day. Whenever she or one of her colleagues knocked off a rogue vampire, they were ordered to collect the blood. In very rare cases, if they could capture one, they were ordered to bring it to the labs. The District 5 lab techs were interested in vampire blood the most. The older and more powerful the vampire, the better.

  To date, there had been under two dozen accounts of vampires being held captive and taken in. Likewise, there had been several dozen accounts of District 5 recruits and trackers being murdered by vampires while on assignment. It was a dangerous job…but Elaina was being paid to do it. She didn’t get a thrill from killing vampires, but she did gain a sense of achievement from killing vampires who slaughtered humans mercilessly and without reason.

  Of course, there were vampires who slipped out at night, fed, and kept their donors alive, but those numbers were small in comparison to the rogues who killed to feed. During training, recruits were told to presume that if a vampire revealed itself, he or she was there to kill. Elaina didn’t need to test that theory. Even though she had sacrificed her life to become a member of the District, she wanted to live.

  However, she wanted to be more than the recruit who took orders and followed her superiors without asking questions. One day, she wanted to be a leader who gave orders. She wanted to make a difference, and she wanted to stand for something greater than she could ever imagine.

  Her father always told her, “Be careful what you crave. Sometimes, your cravings can turn out to be your worst nightmare.”

  Other than the occasional bruise to her ego after losing a fight or two or letting a rogue vampire get away, she hadn’t experienced any nightmares. Yet. Something told her that she should still heed her father’s warnings; but so far, she hadn’t done so. Some of her cravings were just too persistent. Sooner or later, Elaina would find out that one relentless craving could change her life forever.

  Chapter 2

  “I can see that District heads are still hiring and promoting girls ‘round here.”

  The statement came from Danny, a colleague in Elaina’s unit. He was more than a colleague, actually. He’d recently been selected as the leader of her work unit. She may be required to follow his orders, but she certainly wasn't keen on putting up with his bullshit comments.

  Elaina lowered the chilled bottle of water she was chugging down and gave him a quick glance. He grinned smugly and used the hand towel around his thick neck to wipe sweat from his face.

  “I’m not your optometrist. I’m not the one you need to convince that you can see,” she said and moved to the other side of the courtyard.

  Her unit was only five minutes into a break after two and a half hours of grueling physical maintenance drills. Danny had followed her, but her idea of rest didn't include talking to a guy she couldn't stand.

  "Why'd you walk off like that? Can't I have a chat with you?" he asked.

  "Just because we're in the same unit and you've been assigned as my superior, doesn't mean that I want to engage in small talk with you."

  Danny shrugged. "Why not? If we're going to be working together for the next few months on assignments, you've gotta learn to love my influence around here. Especially now that you've been promoted as next in line under me."

  "Influence?" She almost laughed. "I don't have to like the people that I work with, and that includes you."

  "Girl, who's fucking you the wrong way for you to carry such an attitude day in and day out?" he asked.

  "You keep calling me girl, but does it bother you that I've beaten every one of your scores since we started training together?"

  Danny's grin disappeared. "It doesn't matter. You're still under me, and you'll always be. You've beaten my training stats but when we're in the real world, fighting those vamps, can you apply the same skills, girl? Or will you watch from the sidelines as your partners take them out? Those cold-hearted scumbags don't have a taste for tits and ass like half of these men out here who've been distracted by the women training beside them do. Pretty women like you, flaunting your assets all over the training field. The vamps are interested in blood. They kill to drink and nothing distracts hunger."

  "You're so sure of yourself," she shot back. "It also sounds like you're frustrated because you don't get laid at all. Too bad. But if you want to put your money where your mouth is, our next session includes hand-to-hand combat. I've been yearning for something bigger and meatier to punch in the face, and these women don't measure up."

  Danny scoffed. "You're delusional."

  "Scared?" she taunted.

  "D-33!" One of the drill instructors yelled her number from across the field.

  Without another word, she turned and jogged over to him to acknowledge her presence. "Here."

  "Injection time. Report to Level E, Station B1."

  As part of her employment contract with District 5, Elaina was required to receive a drug injection on a periodic basis to ward off vampire infection. Humans had been known to die after coming in contact with vampire blood, which was said to be poisonous to humans if not taken directly from a vein.

  One of the missions Elaina was bound to undertake was to fight and execute vampires, so coming in contact with their blood was likely. During her unit’s training period, they'd been presented with numerous accounts of District 5 trackers perishing after failing to undergo the injections.

  On her way to Level E, Elaina walked slowly through the corridors. Recruiters and trackers weren't given many opportunities to explore the entire District headquarters, which was at least two football fields long and had seven levels, two of which were underground. The underground levels were completely off limits to unauthorized staff, mostly because they contained captured vampires, both dead and alive. Well,…they were all dead. But the vampires that had expired were kept on ice for further testing.

  The other levels of District 5 required controlled access, but the District operations were so complex that Elaina had yet to uncover all of the inner workings. She was a vampire tracker, and her duties never crossed over to the business or operations side of the organization. She was hired on purely to assist with tactics. But what person wouldn't be grossly interested in other areas of an organization they'd signed their life over to?

  The overall mission
made sense: Ensure human continuity. And she didn't want to die. Not by a vampire's hand, anyway. If vampires took over, human downfall would be eminent. But there were politics in the ongoing structure that warranted her attention.

  She passed one of the labs that kept live humans. LBs or Live Bodies were what she'd heard these people referred to as. Basically, they were humans who'd given up their bodies in the name of scientific research. More often than not, the humans were sick or had terminal illnesses, but there were a few accounts of healthy individuals agreeing to have tests performed on them.

  The shades weren't drawn closed in one of the labs, and she caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man sitting on a metal operating table. He was stark naked and devoid of all body hair. A nurse pulled a machine up beside the table and took his blood pressure reading. The middle-aged man wasn't the only subject in the room. There was at least a handful more being monitored by the nursing staff.

  The man caught her stare through the glass. He didn't look happy. His expression was cold and unfeeling.

  Elaina was loyal to the mission, but she often wondered if she would acquiesce if it came down to her being sent to labs for testing in that manner. Her passion was in tactics, so she knew without a doubt that becoming a lab rat wasn't a desirable choice for her.

  There was already a staff member waiting for her when Elaina arrived at Station B1.

  "D-33?" the young woman asked. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties.

  After confirming her identity, Elaina sat down in the hard metal chair and placed her arm on the rest. She'd gotten the injections many times before, mostly when there was a big assignment coming up. It was never a surprise anymore. In a couple days, she would probably get another email with an assignment order attached to it.

  "It says here that this will be your last monitored injection. Today, you will go home with your own kit. Do you understand how to administer the injections yourself?"

  "I do."

  The woman handed her the elastic strip and a needle filled with clear blue liquid. "Go ahead, D-33. Let's see what you can do."

  In less than a minute, Elaina had found a vein and injected the serum.

  "Do you understand when the injections need to happen?" the tech asked.

  "Right before every assignment."

  The woman nodded and scribbled on her clipboard. "I need you to sign here, here, and here, indicating that you will not misuse, under use, or over use the injections." She pointed to three read X's on the page. "They will be replenished as assignments are given. You agree by acknowledging you were informed."

  Elaina grabbed the fountain pen and wrote her new alias: D-33.

  Just as Elaina was about to exit through the double doors, a loud boom echoed from the other side of the space. She spun around to see two male staff members hauling a screaming girl into the room. The high-pitched squeals were unnerving. The girl managed to claw one of the male staff across the face, cutting into the skin and drawing blood. The screaming girl broke free, and yet another man joined in to drag her farther into the room.

  Elaina was so shocked that her feet were rooted to the floor as she processed the scene before her.

  "Let me go," the girl screamed.

  "She's infected! Get her on the table and in the straps!" someone yelled.

  The girl's gaze was wild with fear and filled with something else. Her eyes were shaded with a red filter, something that only happened when an individual came in contact with vampire blood. Dresdan blood to be exact. The whites of their eyes turned a muted red when they were riding high on aggression.

  The girl let out another blood-curdling scream that could have shattered the glass in the room. She bared her teeth and hissed, and her eyes glossed over as if she were possessed.

  They managed to slam her down on a hard metal table where she flopped about until all of her limbs plus her midsection were strapped tightly to the slab.

  "The infection has set in for far too long. She's gone. We're going to have to turn her over to Level B."

  Level B. It was where the infected staff was placed in small observation rooms. Many of them perished there. Hardly any of them crossed over or changed while in that state.

  "D-33! Exit the room!" the young woman who had injected Elaina earlier ordered.

  Elaina could not tear her eyes away from the sight of the girl. Infected and crazed out of her mind, but yet she looked so young and innocent. What had happened to her?

  One of the straps on the table popped as the girl fought against her bonds. She began to choke on her own blood, puddles of it pouring out of her mouth and onto the lab floor.

  "Blood! We need blood!" one of the male staffed yelled.

  "D-33! Out!"

  Elaina tore her eyes away from the sight and pushed the double doors open. Her legs shook as she quickened her pace, and before long, she was running down the corridors back to the training fields.

  When she reached the outside again, she exhaled violently and doubled over in exertion.

  "Oh my gosh," she whispered softly to herself. She prayed the girl received help. No one should have to go through that.

  But in her mind, Elaina somehow knew it was too late for the girl.

  There was no known cure for the infection. There was only prevention. There was no going back now. The young girl's death was imminent.

  Chapter 3

  Just as Elaina had expected, she received a text alert that evening. The message instructed her that the details of the night’s assignment had been emailed to her. After training class had ended, her plan was to sleep in until her real shift began, but as soon as she drifted off, memories of the infected girl's screams came back to her.

  The insides of her mouth were now raw from biting her lips in worry and aggravation over what happened on Level E inside Station B. What had happened to the girl?

  The fear that had been instilled in all District 5 contractors and employees was if they didn't take the injections as supplied and prescribed, then the same fate might await them.

  Only a small percentage of the human population could sustain life with a vampire infection. One of D5's missions was to find out how to identify those people, and talk them into willingly supplying their DNA or giving access to their bodies in the name of scientific research. There had been many leads since the research project began—and even before Elaina signed her employment contract—but as soon as the key researchers insisted they had something, the individual would turn up missing.

  The only way to determine if someone could actually live with a vampire infection was to let him or her become infected.

  If the person turned out like the girl in the labs, then it ultimately meant death. But what D5 was trying to obtain was a person capable of contracting the vampire infection without dying. A person that could become a hybrid, a cross between a human and a vampire. A breed that would stand up for humans to prevent bloodsuckers from taking over the world.

  Elaina rose from the hammock on her patio, took one last look at the tops of the city buildings and towers below her, and walked through the sliding glass doors to enter her condo. D5 paid the room and board for all contractors, but trackers were required to use D5 housing. The best thing about the job was probably the downtime, free room and board, and the fact that she didn't have to cook, clean, or do any of the things she’d had to do when she had her own apartment. The condo she lived in was quite elaborate. Top of the line structure. Valet parking, courteous staff, and thorough cleaning services. She had nothing to complain about here.

  Her laptop was already open on her bar. She used her thumbprint to power it on and entered a series of passcodes to get into her email.

  "Vampire crew sighting in the area 25 miles north of your location in the vicinity of Heagert Community College where 2 students were murdered while walking home from a party…witness confirmed 3 vampire entities carrying the bodies away and they were found in a remote field drained and dead within hours by campus security
.…vampire attacks have been attempted nightly with the same description of the suspects: 3 deadly vampires. 6PM campus curfew in effect. Risk level: 7/10 - Unit Members Assigned: D-209, D-33, D-0008, D-57. Assignment: Track and Execute. You have 24 hours from midnight to complete this assignment."

  Elaina's last track and execute assignment—which she and her unit had successfully completed—had been just three nights ago. A risk level seven wasn't all that bad. It probably meant the vampires were young; not the older, stronger ones that the District wished to get their hands on to study and take blood from so that they could farm a hybrid in the labs.

  Her highest risk level ever had been an eight, where she and six other D5 trackers were sent to take out rogue vampires responsible for the murders of five families, all in one neighborhood. Fledgling and rogue vampires usually rolled in cliques. They needed numbers where they lacked in strength because they weren’t as strong as a full-fledged Dresdan. Her unit had found the slumbering place of each one and then set fire to them during the day. Fire weakened vampires just like UV light. Concentrating the fire to one area had weakened them beyond reason, stripping their strength. The seals to their coffins had broken open, exposing them to the sun. Since her unit had the upper hand, two or three shots to the head had ensured an instant kill.

  Elaina peeled out of her pajamas and pulled her work attire from the closet. A black leather jumpsuit that she wore because it allowed free and quick movement. She owned exactly five jumpsuits. No pastel colors were allowed. Light colors attracted vampires the most. Not that she was interested in wearing pink and yellow dresses to a vampire slaying anyway.