Homecoming (4 page)

Ben Carmichael leaned in and nodded to Chad. “Like what?”

“Like there was a major battle that went down in the desert. They called in
all
the squads from  across the globe.” Chad’s eyes narrowed on Little John. “I don’t guess you’ve heard anything about that, have you?”

John shook his head. “That’s all in the past, guys. We’re here to work in the present.”

Carbone nudged John again. “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it, brother.”

John leaned forward in his chair and glanced away from the other rookies. “Trust me, guys, if there was something we needed to know, they’d have told us.” He stood up to leave. “They’re not going to keep us in the dark if it’s something that could mean the difference in saving a life.”

Chad sat back and smiled at him. “Says the guy who works for a super-secret, black operations, military group that fights monsters and volunteered to be genetically augmented with werewolf genes.” He laughed half-heartedly and looked around at the rest of the new recruits. “Tell me you knew anything about this group before we were recruited, and I’ll buy your argument.”

John paused and bit back the retort he wanted to shoot at the man. His mouth formed a tight smile, and he secretly counted to five. “No, I didn’t know anything about the squads before we were recruited. But I know for a fact that if there was a big battle in the desert, and any part of it was key to our training or becoming better operators, they would have already told us.”

Carbone lowered his voice, “Just because they don’t talk about it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

John sighed. “I’m not saying it didn’t happen. Hell, I’m not even saying that if it did happen, it was important. I’m just saying that they aren’t purposely holding back anything just to keep us in the dark.”

“How do you know?” Ben asked.

John flustered a moment. “Because, we’re all part of the same team here, Carmichael. That’s how I know.” He didn’t mean for his voice to rise in volume, but it did. Most of the heads in the room turned toward Little John who stood above the others, his face flustered, making his desire to leave that much stronger. “Just drop it, will ya? If they decide to tell us, they will.” With that, he turned and marched out of the room.

Spalding set down his ping pong paddle and approached the group still muttering amongst themselves. “What was that about?”

Chad looked up and shrugged. “Nothing, sir. He’s just a bit wound up still from being in the field tonight.”

Spanky watched John’s retreating form a moment then turned back to the group. “What did he mean, ‘if they decide to tell us’?”

Ben cleared his throat and glanced away sheepishly. “He was just…well he had heard some rumors about the big fight in the desert. I think he’s a bit bent out of shape because it seemed important, but nobody is really talking about it.”

Spanky eyed the man a moment and gave a curt nod. “Some things are best left alone.”

Ben simply nodded. “Understood, sir.”

“Stop calling me ‘sir’. I’m not an officer.”

“Yeah, but you’re still a team leader,” Chad interjected.

“That doesn’t change protocols.” Darren looked again at the doorway that Little John had disappeared behind and saw Apollo enter. He excused himself and worked his way over to meet him privately. “Let’s talk.”

“Okay. What about?”

Darren glanced over his shoulder then lowered his voice. “The big guy on your team. Little John.”

Apollo groaned as Darren pulled him back outside.

*****

A large white panel delivery truck pulled into the driveway and as the backup lights came to life, so did the annoying beep that accompanied it. The driver slowly backed the truck up to the loading dock until the familiar thump of the rear bumper meeting the thick pads shook him. He shifted the truck out of gear, set the emergency brake, and then turned off the engine. Reaching above the visor he pulled down a set of reading glasses and flipped through his manifest.
Three crates, one address, night delivery
.
Joy
.

The driver slipped the manifest under his arm and stepped out of the cab and into the chilly winter air. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself and moved to the rear of the panel truck. He stepped up onto the step bumper and unlatched the rear door, rolling it up and out of the way. He walked into the cargo box and placed the manifest on a built-in shelf as he rifled through his belongings and came up with a flashlight. Flipping it on, he scanned the shipping numbers on the sides of the boxes and crates in the rear of the truck and eventually found the three that were to be delivered here.

All three crates were bulky, but none were exactly heavy. He slipped the handcart under each one and wheeled it to the loading dock then stacked them carefully. Securing the back of the truck, he looked around for either a night watchman or some kind of employee that could sign off on the delivery. His eyes fell upon a button on the side of the roll away door, and he chanced that it might be a buzzer of some type. Mashing the button, he listened intently as an old school bell sounded within the building.

The driver stepped back and waited for someone to open the door and nearly jumped out of his boots when a voice sounded behind him, “May I help you?”

After clutching his chest and catching his breath, the driver held out the manifest. “Delivery.” His hands shook as he extended the clipboard, and the man behind him took it.

“Ah, yes, we’ve been waiting for this.” He pulled the pen from the top of the clipboard and scribbled something along the bottom of the sheet.

The driver pulled the yellow copy from below and handed it to him. “You scared the bejeezus out of me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” The man pulled a device from his coat pocket and pressed a button. The roll away door began to rise as he addressed the driver again, “Do you mind bringing those inside? I don’t have a dolly, and my back isn’t the most trustworthy.”

The driver paused a moment then turned back toward the crates. “Sure, I can do that.” He scooted the hand cart up to the stack of boxes. “They really aren’t that heavy. They’re just sort of bulky. Besides, you’re my last delivery for the night.”

“I truly appreciate it.” The man waved the driver inside. “If you could just put them over here.”

As the driver positioned the boxes a woman approached the two from within the building. “Darling, do we have company?”

“The delivery man was kind enough to bring our packages inside for us.” The man then pressed the button for the roll away door again, closing off the chilly wind from outside.

“How sweet of him.” She approached the two men and eyed the driver like a cat would eye a cornered mouse. “How deliciously sweet of him.”

The delivery driver’s head swiveled between the now closed door and the extremely attractive woman that stared at him as though she were undressing him with her eyes. At his age and weight class, he knew that wasn’t a real probability. Chubby chasers only existed in bad porno movies and in the fan written erotica of men’s magazines. “Yeah, well, I really need to be going now. It was really nice meeting you two.” The driver tipped his ball cap to the two and pulled the cart toward the now closed door. When he realized that the man wasn’t opening it, he glanced to either side to see if there was maybe a standard door that he should be heading toward. He paused and turned back to the couple. “Do you think…um…maybe you could open the door for me again?”

“Oh, sweetheart, I think he wants to leave us,” the man said in an almost teasing manner.

“Darling, he’s simply
too
sweet. We can’t let him leave just yet.” Her eyes flashed with erotic mischief as she licked her lips. “Not until I’ve had a chance to thank him properly.”

The delivery driver began to quiver with fear. He had no idea what these two were up too or what they might be capable of. He wished now that he had simply unloaded the crates on the dock, rang the bell and drove off. He would be a good ten minutes into his return trip home if he had. He watched as the crimson haired woman stepped seductively toward him, slowly pulling the top of her dress off of her shoulders. He could feel his jaw tremble and heard his voice stammer, “W-what are you doing?”

She paused and practically purred at him. “Why, thanking you properly, of course.” Her smile made his knees go weak and he felt his heart rate nearly triple. She pulled one side of her dress further down until he could see the top of her breast, and his mouth went suddenly dry. “You do like women, don’t you?”

His eyes never leaving her ample chest, his head bobbed up and down. “Things like this just don’t happen to guys like me, that’s all.”

She laughed and he watched as her breasts jiggled. Definitely real. “They do tonight, my sweet, sweet man.”

She took long seductive steps toward him and his eyes were transfixed to her breasts as she pulled more of the material down.  He felt a familiar pang in his crotch as she continued to tug at the top of the dress and he was just about to see her nipple when she closed the gap between them and brought her mouth to him. He opened his own mouth to kiss her when she suddenly turned his face and sunk her teeth into his throat.

The driver froze for just a moment as his blood-starved brain tried to make sense of what had just happened. By the time he finally realized the severity of the situation, the crimson haired seductress was greedily sucking the very life from him, and he found himself nearly paralyzed. His eyes widened with the shock of the betrayal, yet somehow in the back of his mind, he knew it had been too good to be true. Still, he had that little glimmer of hope that maybe…

“I love how you do that.” The man stood behind her as she drank from the driver, slowly lowering him to the ground.

She lifted her blood smeared face and smiled at him. “Makes you hot, doesn’t it, lover?”

“Everything you do makes me hot.” He knelt beside her and fed from the other side of the driver’s ruined neck. When the two had drained the driver and rolled his corpse to the side, they stripped each other’s clothes away and had violent sex in the blood pool of their feeding.

Afterward, as they both lay naked and covered in blood, the red haired vixen ran a long nail along her lover’s chest. “That was breathtaking.”

“I loved every moment of it.” He rolled over and licked the dried blood from her belly. “You are such a naughty girl.”

She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. “Are you sure you couldn’t be happy with this body, lover? I’m starting to get used to it.” She held out her other hand and admired the long fingers and thick, pointed nails.

“I’ve told you, darling, I want the
real
you.” He nipped at her flesh again and she flinched, smiling.

“This one is very close.” She pushed him slightly so that she could stand. “When I first saw this one, it reminded me so much of the real me.” She spun quickly and pulled him to her. “It really is uncanny.”

“Perhaps, but it’s not
you
.” He nuzzled her ear and nipped at her lobe.

“This one has heavier breasts.” She teased him by lifting them to his face and alternating them in front of him.

“But they aren’t yours.”

“They could be.” She smiled at him then spun around. “This one is much younger.”

“Are you trying to convince me because you want to keep this one, or are you testing my resolve?” He pulled her close and bit her lightly along the collar bone.

“Maybe both?” She kissed him hard and pierced his lip with her fang. He hissed and pulled her tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. When he finally pulled away, he pushed her against the crates and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What now, lover?”

“Now the choice is yours, my darling.” He pulled the cover from the wooden crate and removed the filler from the top. “We can continue our search or we can torch these. You decide.”

She visibly stiffened and her eyes grew wide. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you truly wish to keep that body, then keep it. But there’s no going back.” His voice was low and husky in her ear. “Otherwise we stick to the plan.”

She spun on him and stared at his blood covered naked body. “Why would you give me such an ultimatum?”

“Because one way or the other, I intend to spend the rest of eternity with you.” His eyes pierced her as he spoke, and she felt something inside that she hadn’t felt in millennia. “But you need to be the one to decide.”

She shook her head. “Maybe I want to sleep on it.” She smiled at him, her indecision evident.

“No.” He pinned her against the crate again. “I’ve seen the real you. I fell in love with the real you.” His voice had dropped to barely a whisper. “I’ll still love you no matter what, but the decision is yours. Yes, this body is close. It looks a lot like you did, but…”

“But what?” She searched his eyes for some underlying truth.

“But it’s not
you
.”

She pulled him into her embrace and stroked his hair. “It could be.”

He nodded. “If that’s what you want, yes. And I’d still love you like no other.”