The engines vibrated and the wind rattled
the fuselage. My twitching muscles kept in tune while I held myself steady and
tightened up the seatbelt.
We had boarded the plane a few hours
earlier and stored our gear in the green webbing along the inside of the plane.
We took our seats against the sides and under the storage. The shutters on all
the windows were closed to stop the dim light inside from escaping.
Fingers squeezed my knee, and I twisted
around to meet Ruby’s light
green eyes. She smiled and tucked her red hair back under her helmet.
“Don’t
worry, Jon. You have practised this many times,” she said, shouting above the
din of the engines.
“I am
not worried.”
“I
may not have your psychic skills, but I have seen that look on people’s faces
before.”
“Maybe,
just a little,” I admitted.
“Stand
up and let me check through your gear. It will help reassure you,” she said,
her face tinted red from the glow of the jump lights. I unbuckled my seat belt
and stood up. She did the same with the top of her helmet level to my chin.
She
knelt and checked my boots were fastened up and wingsuit trousers in the
correct position. She tugged on the gun holster strapped to my thigh and
checked the clip in place over the pistol. She grabbed the parachute straps
around my groin and across my chest and yanked them tight.
‘Oh please, she is doing that on purpose. I
checked your gear before we left,’ Thorn’s psychic thoughts jumped into my head.
I
looked across the dark plane, illuminated only by the red of the jump
traffic-lights, to where Thorn sat on the side bench with her human training
buddy, Dunk.
‘Thorn, she is just checking my equipment
as I am a bit nervous. It is her job. She is supposed to train me and learn
from me.’
‘Ha, I am your mentor. Don’t you ever
forget that.’
‘Different type of mentor. You know this. You
have Dunk to teach you squad tactics and Special Forces techniques and for you
to teach him how to fight vampires.’
‘But Ruby is obviously there to annoy me.
The red hair and the code name is supposed to remind you of Scarlett. To remind
you of being partly human.’
Ruby
patted my chest. “Turn around and let me check your parachute and rifle are on
properly.”
I
turned around and continued to talk to Thorn psychically.
‘This again. You are jealous of her working
so close with me.’
‘Not of her, but of what she represents.
MI5 are continually trying to get you to join them.’
‘They haven’t asked me to join them.’
‘The actions they have taken infer it,
refusing to let you use the formula while on their base, offering you the
reversing formula that could start to make you human again. Naming your
training buddy Ruby and dying her hair red. All of it is to keep you human and
remind you of your past.’
‘Maybe. Do you think I would fall for it
and try to seduce her?’
‘No. I don’t. You’re not Ruby’s type. I
am.’
‘I know. I don’t think Mary’s MI5 team knows
that.’
Ruby
patted my back and I spun back around. She checked the helmet strap and stood
on tiptoes to pull the goggles off my helmet onto my eyes. She held a thumbs up
and I responded with the okay sign. I sat back down and buckled in, and Ruby
sat next to me. Directly across the plane, Rip sat with his training buddy,
Bradders.
Rip
nodded. ‘Is Thorn still in a state about
Ruby?’
‘Every day.’
‘Don’t worry. The training is nearly over.
This is our first proper mission altogether. Hopefully, this will get us the
information we need to take the war to the Turned and Hunters.’
‘I hope so. It has been a long six months
training with these guys.’
‘They will need to pass on what they have
learnt from us if they are to set up a new Hunters organisation. And we need to
focus on practising the control of magic and putting this military training
into action,’ Rip
said.
‘I agree.’
Six
months ago, following our fight with the Turned and the revealing of Cyrus to
be South, the Dragan leader of the Turned army, we spent a few days recovering
and enjoying the relative peace and quiet. Then a couple of nights later, a
private jet flew us to England from the Spanish Air Force base. We landed at a
military airfield and then were escorted straight into an army transport
helicopter. We flew over the speckled lights of towns and cities, linked by a
network of half-lit roads and surrounding areas shrouded in the dark of night.
After
a while, a patchwork of dark green fields, forests and mountains replaced the
urban sprawl underneath. The helicopter descended into a valley towards half a
dozen brick buildings, and through the trees, four houses lined down either
side of a fake street.
The
pilot radioed through. Floodlights focused into the centre of the camp, and out
of the buildings, a flurry of figures appeared, steam rising off their bodies
as they hit the frosty night air. The group of soldiers formed a circle, with
guns held at their waists but ready to fire. We landed in the middle of the
welcoming committee.
The
blades kicked up dust and dirt, buffeting the surrounding soldiers, who stood
their ground and covered their eyes. To the side of the helicopter, Mary stood
next to a line of four soldiers clothed in green combat gear, who stood to
attention. Mary had also dressed in military green combat clothes, but her top
button was undone and sleeves rolled up, and she wore earrings and rings.
The
engine turned off, and the blades slowed down. The pilot gave us the thumbs up,
and we unstrapped and stepped out. We had dressed ready for training in urban
grey combat gear borrowed from the Spanish military.
Thorn
pulled me to one side. “Be on your guard. Sooner or later, these people will
betray us,” Thorn said, smiled over to Mary, and held out her hand. Mary walked
over and shook it.
“Flight
okay?”
“Fine,
not so sure about our welcoming committee,” Thorn said, looking around at the
armed soldiers.
Mary
shook her head. “They insisted. It is standard practice when soldiers from another
country arrive. It’s a reminder of who is in charge.”
“Well,
that is pleasant.”
“Please,
don’t take it personally. They are scared of your group. This show of strength
is to make themselves feel more comfortable.”
“I
will try my best. But don’t get any silly ideas about who is in charge. This is
an alliance. We agreed on a set of rules. We train you and you train us, and we
find a way to work together to defeat the Turned and build a new Hunter’s
organisation. The command is fifty-fifty between you and me. We both need to
agree on any joint actions.”
“No
worries. I understand the agreement,” Mary said and escorted us over to the
four soldiers lined up. “Let me introduce you to your training buddies. During
the course of your stay, your training buddy will personally look after you
here. They will train you in special forces tactics and weapons. In return, you
will teach them close combat against vampires and brief them of the Turned
history and behaviours.”
“Agreed.”
“First
in our line-up is Captain Ruby. Ruby is not her real name. She was one of the
first female entrants in the SAS and has distinguished herself in the field of
combat. She is a specialist in combat tactics and strategies. She is the leader
of your training buddies and reports directly to me.”
Thorn
smiled and stepped forward and held out her hand. But Ruby saluted her instead.
“Ma’am.”
“Ruby
will be Jon’s buddy,” Mary said.
Thorn
glared at Mary. “Are you joking? Ruby with the red hair is Jon’s buddy.”
“No
joke. I have matched the buddies to each of you based on psychological
profiling. Jon responds well to older and more experienced women, as he has
issues with authority father figures.”
“What
do you mean, father figure issues?” I said.
They
both just raised their eyebrows, and Mary pushed onto the next soldier in the
line-up.
The
next person was a man, about Thorn’s height, with broad shoulders to a tapered
waist.
“This
is Dunk. He is an unarmed combat specialist. He is your training buddy, Thorn.”
Thorn
nodded and Dunk saluted. “Pleasure to work with you, ma’am.”
“Good.
I will look forward to getting close and uncomfortable with you,” Thorn replied
and moved on to the next person, another man, shorter with a lean frame and
shaven head.
“The
next buddy is for Rip. His name is Bradders. He is a specialist sniper,” Mary
said.
Rip
stepped up to the man and sniffed him. “Garlic doesn’t work.”
He
grabbed the man’s crucifix necklace. “Nor do crosses or holy water. Not on us.
But on vampires like the Turned, they might.”
Bradders
smirked. “Sorry, sir, but aren’t you a vampire?”
“That
is enough, Bradders,” Ruby shouted. “Sorry for Bradders. We briefed him before
your visit. He thinks he is funny.”
“Ah.
The class clown. This is why I have him as my buddy. You think we are the same?”
“No.
We were hoping you could wipe the smirk off his face,” Ruby answered, and
Bradders straightened up and frowned.
“Lastly,
we have Smash. He is a specialist in comms, first aid and explosives.”
Cassius
stepped forward, eye to eye with the other man, both at the same height and
size. Cassius had to be paired with someone he could respect, as per his
profile.
“This
little man is for me?” Cassius said.
“Little!”
the man replied; his big beard bristled.
“You
are at least one centimetre shorter than me,” Cassius said and roared with
laughter.
“Or
maybe you are wearing your mommy’s high heels,” Smash replied.
Cassius
stopped laughing and his eyes turned red. Smash eyeballed him without
flinching. Cassius pushed through his fangs and contorted his facial muscles.
Smashed stared ahead, unblinking.
Bradders
held up his hand. “Miss, can I un-volunteer, please?”
“You
didn’t volunteer, remember. You signed a contract,” Mary responded.
Cassius
stopped and stared at Smash, then laughed again and patted his hand on Smash’s
shoulder. “I like you. We are going to get along just fine.”
“Good.
Introductions over, now let me tell you the ground rules. Number one, we don’t
want Jon to be using the vampire formula while on the base.”
“What!
He needs to complete his transformation,” Thorn yelled.
“We
disagree. He is a human, and we would like him to re-think his current path. We
are working on a formula that would reverse the transformation. When it is
completed, it is on offer for him to try,” Mary said.
“No
way. You can’t force him not to take it or use this reversing formula. How are
you going to stop us?”
“Thorn,
it is okay. I have more than enough power when using Rip’s training. When we
leave, I can finish taking it. There are only two injections left. Let’s not
turn this into a big issue,” I said.
Thorn
growled under her breath. “Fine. We will let you have that one.”
Mary
smiled. “Thank you, Jon, for humouring an old friend. Rule number two, everyone
is to stop in the one barrack room.”
“No
way. We have private rooms,” Thorn said.
“Private
rooms,” I repeated, along with Cassius and Rip.
“It
would be better for team bonding,” Mary said.
“It
is a definite no,” I said, “I let you have the no formula taking.”
“Okay,”
Mary replied, and Ruby’s breath streamed out in a sigh of relief.
“Number
three, no feeding on any of the humans at the base. We will bring you in blood.”
“Oh
please, have some respect for us. I would not treat my hosts with such
disrespect. Of course, we will not feed on anyone here unless they ask us to,”
Thorn said, and crossed her arms and grinned.
“I
don’t care if anyone asks. No feeding on us.”
Rip
put up his hand. “Not even if it is part of the training?”
“How
is that training for us?”
“Who
said it was for you?” Rip said. Cassius laughed again, and I clamped my hand
over my mouth to stop myself.
“Yes,
Rip. We definitely paired you with the right person. Just to be clear, no feeding.
If you want to train us in detecting a vampire hunting for a meal, then please
do so, but without the actual biting and blood-sucking part.”
“Are
we done with the rules now?” Thorn asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay.
My turn. Rule four, we train at night, so kiss the daylight goodbye. Rule five,
none of these lights better have UV bulbs hidden in the background. Rule six,
anyone attacks us, and it will be a full on massacre. Rule seven, don’t call us
vampires,” Thorn said and glared at Bradders, who stared straight ahead to
avoid her gaze. “Rule eight, we want the wi-fi password with unlimited data.”
Mary
nodded along. “I agree to all the above. But the internet access is monitored
but feel free to use it. The password is vampires_suck. Oh, I forgot one, rule
nine, no seduction or psychic control over the personnel at the base. Remember,
we are your allies, not your playthings. We are working on countermeasures to
block out psychic interference.”
“Understood.”
“Good.
Let me show you to your rooms and get you settled in before we start the
training.”
Rip
coughed. “Excuse me, have you brought the training equipment I requested?”
Mary
looked at the helicopter where two soldiers were carrying off crates. “They are
unloading it now.”
“You
got the good stuff?”
“Yes,
we got the vintages and years you were asking for. I hope this isn’t a joke. Thorn
has assured me that red wine is essential for your training.”
“Of
course, I would not lie to you. But this is Dragan training only. Unless your
team would like to learn how to taste test red wine, then I can spare some
time.”
Mary
headed off to a long, one level brick building. “This way.”
We
followed her in and she showed us to a set of private rooms. Thorn’s and my room
had a double bed, table, wardrobe, fridge and TV mounted on the wall. A basic
army bunk room. Nothing fancy and all painted a dull military grey. The rooms
were already prepared for us, and they knew we would refuse to stop altogether
in a barrack room. It was just a negotiation tactic. The others all had similar
rooms down the same grey soulless corridor.
We
didn’t have much night time left, so Rip broke open the crate of red wine and
started training Thorn and Cassius on controlling their magic. I assisted Rip
by demonstrating how to withhold the natural course of magic to heal my body.
Firstly, I cut my arm and prevented the healing and then burnt off the alcohol.
It took a few attempts and glasses of red wine before Thorn and Cassius started
to prevent the healing. They didn’t adapt to it as quickly as I did.
Rip
explained he was the same. Hundreds of years of letting magic find its own way
made it difficult to break their natural instincts. In contrast, I only had a
few months of bad habits to break. I enjoyed training Thorn for a change and
being better than her at something.
The
following night, an alarm woke us and our training buddies appeared at our
doors.
“Get
dressed and meet in the courtyard in ten minutes,” Ruby shouted.
We
pulled on our combat clothing and hurried outside. Rip sauntered out five
minutes later while lighting a cigarette. Our training buddies were already
lined up, and they waved us to stand next to them. At the front, a man stood on
a box, flanked by another two men all dressed in black clothes. Once we were all
lined up, the man on the box scanned up and down the line.
“Rip,
take that cigarette out of your mouth. This is a training camp, not a holiday
park.”
Rip
took a long drag and slowly blew it out, and then flicked the cigarette onto
the wet, muddy ground.
The
man continued. “I am your instructor. I will be running your first night’s
training program. Tonight, you will pair up with your buddy and compete against
the other pairs through a set of physical challenges. Firstly, let’s get your
blood pumping.”
The instructor yelled out exercises and tried
to beast us. He soon realised he wasn’t tiring us out. Next, we buddied up and
went off in intervals for a run in the forest. Along the route, we went through
an assault course, climbed over walls, crawled under wire fences, swam under
obstacles, carried each other, and then carried a massive log between us. At
the end of the course, they handed us a rifle and we had ten shots at a range
of targets. They added the scores up and converted it into time off our run.
Rip and Bradders won, mostly down to the shooting at the end.
The
next night, Ruby led us in squad formations to perform house clearances down
the fake street next to the base. The other Dragans and I watched our human
buddies perform it on CCTV, breaking into the houses, covering the entrances
and exits, clearing out each room. We then completed a walk through with them.
Thorn
asked them to run through it again and if during it, they would allow us to
link to them psychically. We could be in the moment and learn a lot faster.
After some discussion, they agreed, and we sat down and closed our eyes while our
buddies ran through the exercise a few more times. We lived each thought and
movement as the squad worked together. After a few runs, we had developed a
level of psychic muscle and memory. Next, we ran physically through the
exercise close to perfection.
The
psychic linkage set the tone for the rest of the training. Whatever they showed
us, we were able to live the moment and then repeat. We did the same for them.
We showed them how to fight a Turned; we linked them into our thoughts and
movements, so they could feel and react the same way.
We
accelerated through the training programs and covered everything from weapons
training, explosives, comms, high altitude parachute jumps, wingsuits, scuba
diving, and hand to hand.
In
return, we taught them how to fight vampires, how to detect vampires, the
behaviours of a vampire and how to resist a vampire’s powers. Towards the end
of the training, we worked out joint battle strategies; how could Dragans and
humans fight together.
We
also fitted in some Dragan only magic training. Rip continued with his basic
drinking training until Thorn pushed him into something more practical. We used
it to re-run the assault course, accelerate our healing, block our recovery,
and power up our combat skills.
It
had been six months of intense training with our buddies, when a call had come
in that MI5 had located a target, The Original. He was the first-ever Turned
created by Cyrus, the General of his army, and the leader of the Turned
Revolution until overthrown by Bramel.
We geared
up straight away and soon found ourselves flying over Argentina, wearing
wingsuits, parachutes and weapons.
#
In
the plane, the human buddies checked over their Dragan counterparts, who then
returned the favour. I stood up to do the same with Ruby.
“No
need. I am fine,” she said.
“Come
on. You are making me look bad.”
She
stood up, and I performed the same checks on her wingsuit, parachute and weapon
straps, and then her helmet and goggles.
I sat
back down when the jump lights turned from red to amber. Bradders lept out of
his seat and hit a button at the back of the plane. The end of the aircraft
unfolded down to a ramp, with the wind whistling through the plane, tugging us
towards the exit. We all unbuckled and lined up, tensing our muscles to stop
the pull to the rear of the aircraft. I put my goggles on and checked the GPS
on my wrist.
“Comms
links on,” Ruby shouted. I flicked the button on the wire leading to my
earpiece.
“Thumbs
up if you can hear me,” Ruby said. We all responded.
The
jump light turned green, and Bradders turned to us and pumped the air with his
fists. “This is when the fun begins.” He spun back and ran out the back,
shouting as he lept off the ramp into the night.
“Idiot,”
Rip said and walked down the ramp and dropped off the edge.
Smash
and Cassius nodded at each other and ran down the ramp and jumped off.
Thorn
slapped Dunk on the shoulder. “You first.”
Dunk
jogged down and jumped off. Thorn walked backwards to the end of the ramp,
smiling the entire time.
‘See you down there.’
On
her last step, she crouched down, back flipped into the air and flew away,
looking back as the darkness engulfed her.
“Your
next,” Ruby said, “as the captain, I always go last to make sure the plane is
clear.”
I
walked down to the end and leaned forward into a handstand on the edge of the
ramp. I held it for a second, lowered down, and then thrust up and out, letting
the wind snatch me away from the plane and into the dark expanse.
