Special Agent Cole D.

-Special Agent Cole D.-      Word Count- 4330



         “Cole?”, a faint high pitched voice broke the brief silence. A short young girl with long brown hair, sat Indian style on a pillow surrounded by a circle of friends and looked bright eyed at the boy across from her.

         “Truth or dare, Cole? C’mon”, she said smiling, yet with a sense of irritation hinting in her voice, practically waving at him with long eyelashes.



         He stared at her for a second with a blank face. He didn’t understand this game and thought of it as a girl’s way of torturing a boy. “Well, I like to take action rather than talk, so…Dare”, he said slyly, repositioning his right leg, preparing for her response.

         

         “Okay, I dare you…to choose Truth, and answer my question”, she said a bit annoyed, arms crossed and a bit of a glare forming in her eyes.

         “Hm, I’m not sure you can do that, Fay?” he responded after thinking about her dare for a matter of seconds.

         “Do you …like anyone in our class, Cole?” she asked politely, smiling a bit as her friends giggled in anticipation. She moved her chin up slightly as if giving Cole a better view of the side of her face, a come-and-get me kind of gaze. He stared at her in response, blank face once again taken over.

         He shook his head in disbelief. “Guh! Girls are so stupid.” he said in his mind. He looked up at her fluttering eye lashes and around at her blushing, giggling friends. “No”, he said calmly.

         “They just want someone to hold them, someone they feel can protect them. Why would anyone want to feel as weak as this?”, he said to himself slowly, gazing at the carpeted floor. He smiled slowly, glancing at her. “Because it feels good, and I wouldn‘t want it any other way.”



         Bright colors exploded as strobe lights circled the dance floor. Loud bass shook the building as if the earth had a heart beat. Massing crowds jumped and twisted on the floor as the colored lights emptied its neon illumination. These people danced with no care, no responsibility. Women wore skimpy outfits, barely covering themselves. They threw their heads back letting their hair fly in any direction, as long as they kept moving. Men threw themselves as well, held captive by the loud pulsing rave music, a victim to its infectious beat.

         

         “They’re cattle, all of them”, a shady figure stated loudly over a cell phone, leaning against a far wall, watching as the lights pass by. His hair was medium length and gelled. It was spiked in sections yet scraggly and messy in others. He was muscular, but not bulky. He was a young man, too young for the party he was attending.

         

         “These are the only ones you’ve ever befriended, Cole. Mingle a bit. Show them you’ve made something of yourself. It’s not a necessity to explain who you really are. And besides, don‘t lose focus on why you’re here. You‘re hidden here, and we can‘t afford to let him find you right now”, a dainty voice was barely heard through the other end of the phone, also young, but definitely that of a woman.



         “I understand. Don't expect me to like it. Cole out.”, he said just as he pressed the end button. He looked around the party. He hadn’t seen many of these people in over 10 years. They all resembled that of their younger selves, but time hasn’t been nice to most of them. Weight, scars all wore on them on a daily basis. They were all in their late twenties or early thirties. He felt sorry, yet envied them.

         

         “Cole D. Back from the dead, I see?”, a voice caught his ear from behind. Cole turned quickly, catching the cuff of his suit jacket on a chair nearby. He stood looking at a well fit man, late 20’s with a semi-shaved head. His dark purple button up shirt was barely seen through his suit jacket.

         “Remember me? I’m Davis. I was the first string quarterback, the one that always made sure you had the ball”



         “Cole, don’t let me down. The ball’s going to you for a Hail Mary. Everyone else, just keep the tackles off of him. He’ll catch it, that’s not something we have to worry about. Now Break!”

         Cole smiled and ran for his position and the far left of the field, lining up as a reciever, “Feeling heroic, Davis!”



         “Yeah, I remember”, he responded recalling their state final, before he was pulled out of school. “How’ve you been? What do you do now?”, Cole asked with genuine interest.

         

         “I’m a cop, nothing really interesting. Now, I wana’ know what happened to you. After our senior trip, you didn’t even stick around for graduation. You didn’t talk to anyone on the trip, you didn’t say goodbye before you left. Your parents moved somewhere, no one knew where, and it was like you fell off the face of the planet. She didn’t even know where you went”, he said worriedly, eyes staring at the pale boy’s face.



         “Remember the project I did for Political Science: The  ’Anti-Terrorist Prediction Grid’? The CIA came across this some how and discovered that they couldn’t find a flaw, so they recruited me. Through out my senior year, I was put through private training after school everyday. Before I left on the senior trip, they told me I’d have to leave everything behind before I could completely commit to them. I wanted to see the world…so I did”, he said without a second thought, no restraining feelings about the incident.

         Davis looked at Cole as if there were a universe between them. “Huh.”, he let the air exhale out of his lungs. “Are you aloud to tell me …where you went? Or what you …did?”, he said moving his hands into the pockets of his black khaki  pants.

         “Sure, I can”, Cole responded with a smile on his face. “I spent a few years in Germany and settled a few negotiations here and there, and things were great. At least, until I was bit by a …diseased animal. After that I was sent into higher division of the CIA, and well…I had some off time, so I came here”, Cole said shrugging his shoulders, genuine smile still gripping his face.

         “You were promoted…into a higher division? That’s weird, especially after being attacked by a diseased animal”, he said confusedly.

         

         “So, you think this is some Terrorist attempt to take over the world? You think too shallow, Cole. Let me give you a taste of what my organization is really all…about. Muhahaha!!”

         “Cole! We’ll get you out, Don’t move, It‘ll be a few minutes!”

         “Seems you’ve been saved, Cole D. I’ll just have to give you a gift before we part ways, so you can stay in the game ‘till next time we meet… Cole D.”

         “AH!”



         “it’s a division you never hear about, and I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. And trust me, there’s nothing 'not' strange about my job”, Cole said seemingly regretful, memories clouding his mind.

         He looked at Cole more sorrowful now, something else had entered his mind that childhood memories made certain, yet proved wrong. “Did you ever talk to her?” Davis said looking more at Cole’s feet than at his face, eyes not focusing on one aspect but moving slowly to the right, to the dance floor.

         “Yes, before I left, I told her. She understood”, Cole said without a pinch of doubt striking him, eyes as professional as any other day on the job.

         

         “Then I’d avoid talking to her tonight, for both your sakes”, Davis said as he began to turn and walk away, a bit ashamed of what had become of the two. “You two were …perfect. The first few years of college, I thought she was going to die. Then at the end of her sophomore year, she perked up and started living again”, he said as he began stepping in between tables towards the dance floor, lights still beaming in its random directions.

         “I told her everything. She said she under…stood”, Cole said, voice breaking before he could finish his sentence. He shook his arms a bit as if he were waking them and placed his hands in black pants pockets, ruffling his jacket around the edges, looking into the crowd gaining an attraction to the dancers and their flexible ways.

         

         Cole’s phone broke his thoughts and buzzed into his mind. He quickly received his small black foreign style cell phone and opened the top, speaker part of his phone.

         “Cole here”, he answered sternly, eyes more focused and hands and arms more sturdy.

         “We lost him, Cole. You’re not safe there anymore, no one is”, the female voice stated loudly, no sense of emotion in her tone.

         “What does that mean? You lost Dracul’ in a sting operation, and suddenly my life’s in danger again”, he said turning slightly and beginning to pace between tables, placing his right hand behind his head, ruffling his hair in uneasiness.

         “…yes, we have an address for-”, his mind suddenly lost focus as a scent struck him like a field of roses. Childhood memories of climbing great oaks and getting scraped knees. Years of school dances, moving to slow music and laughing at others who thought they had something even close to his possession. No one truly could compare to what he had.

         “Asshole!”, Cole was pushed from his right side, pushing a table to his left as he grabbed on to stay standing. His phone was quickly closed and returned to his pocket.

         He turned to see her in true form. Her clothing was skimpy and short and her long black hair laid over her shoulders lazily, more wavy than straight. She wore cut off converse that had been colored with a sharpie, and her socks were two different neon colors. Her shirt (if considered a shirt) was a resemblance to a wife beater sleeveless with very well drawn digital ninjas fighting neck to neck (also drawn in neon colors). Her skin was slightly pale and her figure was thin. She was the exact same to Cole. But she was obviously here for the rave, not the reunion.

         Cole couldn’t help but smile. His girl was all grown up. He didn’t have a role in her life anymore, but she had always been his it seemed.

         “What happened to your clothes?”, he let out a small laugh, not poking fun, but just incredibly happy, happier than he had been in ..8 years.

         “You’re laughing, really? After 8 years, not even a phone call. “I’ll call, I promise, Its for your own protection we don’t see each other, Fay. Please understand.” It would’ve been easier to understand if you had actually called. And did it ever occur to you, I didn’t care about my well being”, She stated in a mad haze, hair bouncing as her head moved.

         His smile slowly faded and his face became grim. “You said you wanted to live a safe normal life. You wanted to be safe-”

         “I wanted you! You had left for 2 years already, I moved on and convinced myself I didn’t need someone who would just run off at an opportunity. I needed someone who would be there. You couldn‘t have expected me to wait! You didn’t even say goodbye!”, she yelled, small tears forming in the edges of her eyes, arms hanging limp.

         “I said goodbye”, he said slowly as his face faded into a dimmer light as a neon one zoomed by, the music turning to a softer, slower tune.

         

         “Fay, I have to tell you something”, Cole said sternly making his way through the unfamiliar hallway, between to sets of marble staircases towards the unsuspecting Fayla.

         “Where…did you go?”, she asked as she dropped her books to the floor in disbelief, tears began to flow before he even began to explain.

         “I’m sorry I left like I did. If I knew it would be my last day to see you, I would have told you then. You knew I had an after school job, but what I didn’t tell you was it’s the CIA. I can’t see you anymore, Fay”, he said, voice shaking and losing its effect.

         She was already sobbing, wanting Cole to hold her, almost begging him in her mind, but she was strong. She depended on herself. “Why? Just come back to me. CIA analysts have wives, have kids? Just take me with you, please”, she said through tear stricken eyes, trying to maintain a stern voice.

         “I’m not an analyst, and my job would have people looking for you. I’ll call, I promise, Its for you own protection we don’t see each other, Fay. Please understand.



         Remembering back, he couldn’t recall saying goodbye. Maybe subconsciously at the time  he planned on taking up her offer of just leaving with her, or taking her with him. It never really mattered who made the money between the two anyways. They spent as if they earned it together. They suffered if either was broke.

         “I’m sorry”, he said glancing down at the concrete floor, sticky with spilt drinks and tracked gum.

         She stared at his stunned grip on reality with more care now than hatred. “Well, at least that hasn’t changed”, she said coldly, looking towards the dance floor, the music slower and the dancers hanging on to each other’s every move. “Lets dance”, she said just as she grabbed his wrist around his sleeve and jerked him in the direction of the dance floor.

         She walked past the series of tables and chairs, and stepped on to the hard dance floor. Fays hands instantly jumped to Cole’s shoulders as his were placed gently around her waste, stepping into the mass crowd of slow moving cattle. Looking to his left, he saw two friends, Mark and Samantha, the two had been fighting like cats and dogs since their prom. It proved to be in their favor at this moment.

         His eyes retreated to Fay, she was studying his face, wondering if anything had truly changed. “You really haven’t changed at all, have you, Cole?” She said in a soft voice, nodding her head side to side.

         Cole smiled, and looked down into her eyes. “I’m something entirely different, Fay. The years have changed me in ways you couldn’t imagine. You, however, are the same girl I fell in love with years ago”, Cole said smiling, speaking softly and with passion and care in his voice. They slowly moved to the rhythm of the music now, stepping to a slow beat, keeping rhythm with themselves and each other.

         “I’m not that girl anymore. She left when you did”, she moved her hands farther around his collar, as if her hand grooves had been left there from years before. She looked up slightly into his eyes as well, staring into the light grey abyss in search of something new. “You said you would never dance with anyone else, or hold anyone else like me. And I …just knew you would be my first”, she said quietly, longing for the man she had, stepping to the left as the rhythm called for, and two steps to her right shortly after.

         

         “I haven’t danced since I left you, or held anyone else. And you know as well as I do, I could’ve never been the first person to dance with you. You knew how to dance already, so someone had to of taught you”, he said sternly, returning his focus to her eyes as well, lips barely moving to pronounce his words.

         She smiled a bit, and her cheeks began to turn pink and blush. “I wasn’t talking about that”, she said almost biting her bottom lip in embarrassment. As a beacon of bad timing, Cole’s phone once again sirened for his attention, and he responded quickly, retrieving his hand from Fay’s waist to his pocket and twisting his phone into speaking position.

         “Cole here”, He said quickly and forcefully.

         “Agent 32-A, Cole D. My name is Bloodhound, Operations manager for project Dracul’. My reconnaissance team lost track of a German Sikorsky CH-53 Super Stallion chopper only minutes ago. We’ve confirmed that at least 12 men, plus the war criminal Dracul’, had boarded it. Shortly after, contact with my team went cold, and it seemingly dropped off our radar. We realized you were only 10 miles from our location. You are in immediate danger. Your orders are to get out of there and return to HQ for a proper briefing. Don’t let anyone around you know there’s any possibility of danger”, the voice was raspy and clearly aged. The line went dead and clearly, Bloodhound didn’t need a response.

         Fay looked at him confusedly, no sense of emotion gripping her. If he left again, she wouldn’t cry…she wouldn’t care. Years of emotion seemed to be weighing on Cole, and simply throwing it off balance and walking away again wouldn’t help matters. He had to make a choice within the next few seconds or lose everything that was ever important to him.

         It wasn’t a hard decision.



         He returned his hands to Fay’s waist and began to move with the rhythm again, checking the windows that lined the roof of the building and the doors around the walls. “I won’t leave you again”, he said not looking at her directly, yet keeping perfect rhythm with her steps.

         “You honestly think that a five minute conversation can’t result in ‘me’ taking you back”, she said a bit surprised, releasing his shoulders slightly and staring at his face as if he had lost his mind.

         

         He remained looking at the doors, not ignoring her, simply noticing the odd occurrences that seemed to be happening simultaneously. A figure dressed in police armor seemed to walk by the front doors in a glance, standing for a matter of seconds, pulling them slightly as if to make sure it would lock properly, and move on to an excess side door. Small glimpses of light showed through the roof windows if could be seen through the blinding strobe and neon lights in the current room. It was a set up.



         In response to her question, he returned his attention to her. “Yes. When I say so, stay low”, he said quickly, seemingly out of breath. They had moved fast, much faster than a normal CH-53 was able to move, but nothing involving Dracul’ ever worked as it was supposed to.

         “Yes? Cole, are you insane-”, something breached Cole’s conscience. There was danger nearby, and he could feel it. He saw the a glimpse from a roof window, not of a light, nor a neon. It was a sniper scope.

         Cole quickly pushed Fay to the left while he flung himself to the right, reaching into his coat as he stepped back. The glass shattered as the sound of 50. Caliber rifle dimmed the music, and falling glass covered tables and chairs, spilling drinks and forcing women to scream. The shell went in between Cole and Fay, plummeting into a man walking directly behind them, spilling a bloody half-corpse to the floor without a scream.

         Cole pulled out a handgun from under his coat and aimed upward. He fired once, and pivoted up slightly and fired twice more, all in a matter of milliseconds. The first entered the barrel of the rifle, exploding the large shell in the chamber, throwing shrapnel. The second nailed into the sniper’s chest, followed by the third, striking him in the head.

         Cole twisted slightly to aim at the other side of the roof, shooting 3 more times, moving to the next window after each shot. The glass shattered there as well, just as three men swung through, lifeless before entering.

         A shot rang in his ears before even thinking as a bullet screamed through his hand, throwing his CIA custom .45 across the floor. His left hand had already retreated into his inner coat pocket, retrieving a cylindrical green grenade. Flicking off the pin with his index finger and hurling the grenade, almost in unison, filled the room with blinding light, filling the ears and eyes of all for seconds.

         As the deafening ring and blinding light subsided, the bystanders on the dance floor had ceased their screaming and commotion and stood silent. The lights had been turned on in the mist of the chaos and was barely noticed. The stage in front of the dance floor was lit as well revealing a new occupant of the community center. His long blonde hair fell over the shoulders of his bullet proof vest, and his skin was pale as paper. Simply a glance at the solid figure would send chills down the spine.

         The room was silent for several seconds. “I’m looking for a vampire”, he said loudly and calmly, searching the room for a familiar face. “He lives among you as a fake, afraid to know his roots, terrified to follow his instincts. He put you all in danger in just being here”, there was no response from the crowd. Confused faces riddled them.

         They looked at each other through dazed and lost eyes, wondering if it’s a prank, until hearing sputtering of dying organs from the corpse strewn across the floor. They even wondered of its reality.

         “If you won’t show yourself… I’ll have the occupants of this room killed until your all that remains”, the bold figure turned to his right and made a head nod toward the blocked exit closest to him. The door windows shattered and automatic weapons were pushed through, firing before even completely through the door. The screaming began again as the crowd began to fall.

         “STOP!” screamed Cole as he climbed the steps to the stage, running quickly, hands held open raised in the air. He stopped just short of the blonde terrorist just as the figure raised his right hand, instantly signaling the gunfire to stop.

         “Cole”, the pale vampire said coldly, looking through dead eyes at the agent. “I’m here to offer you a chance to live among your own kind, an opportunity to live what you‘ve become. Even those eyes-”, he trailed off, speaking to low for the crowd below them to hear, even though they still panicked, running about holding each other. The vampire looked into Cole’s eyes. He looked around the room, scanning for something that Cole would die for.

         “You’re an immortal. Yet your eyes… they long for …something so simple. You’re willing to throw away your blood line for… an experimentation of love? You’ve studied this. You know how it ends when you can’t die. Your last name is Dracul‘. You were the only remaining human descendent left”, he said staring back into his eyes.

         “I’m not my ancestry. I’m not your spawn. I’m in control of my own life”, he said glaring right back.

         “The friends I’ve made here are the only ones I’ve ever trusted. You’re friends…their your vampiric ghouls, right?”, Cole said studying his face, knowing full well his answer.

         “If you don’t leave with me Cole, she dies”, he points to Fay leaning against a back wall. Upon looking at her, he noticed Davis, his football friend from high school, leaning against a door where a ghoul had leaned his gun through the small window and awaited orders. Davis was smiling as his thoughts became apparent to Cole. It was almost as if he were glancing at the ill handled weapon as a football.

         “You came here to hunt me if I didn’t agree, right? The men and women you try to turn, become ghouls and slaves, no heart or fathom of existence to them. You came here because vampires are hard to come by nowa’ days…You came here to either recruit me as a partner in your terrorism, or kill me with ‘silver bullets’”, he said quietly, eyes staring through the old vampire.

         “Yes…your point being?” he said just as quiet, confused expression giving rise. Cole let a small smile out and looked towards Davis.

         “Feeling Heroic, Davis!”, he yelled out as he thrusted his left fist into the stomach of Dracul’. He immediately arched over in pain as Davis hit the barrel of the automatic weapon, slinging it into his hands. The doors surrounding the dance floor busted open as the armed ghouls sprang in. Davis flung the weapon towards Cole just as Dracul’ began to recover.

         Cole caught the stock of the gun, but it seemed to late. “If you die, Your ghouls go with you!” Dracul’ quickly reached towards his leg and pulled out his sidearm. The two stood still, staring down one another’s barrels.

         “You can never be human. You will never know love”, Dracul’ shouted angrily, face searing red and hands shaking.

         A small clicking sound was heard from behind the elder vampire. “I love him. He knows me”,

The hammer of a .45 CIA custom handgun fell and fired. Cole was instantly showered in the warm blood, as a crevice appeared in Dracul’s chest.

         Fay stood behind the falling body, breathing heavy and dropping the weapon to the floor, shaking like a leaf and moving her right hand to her elbow. Cole stepped over the body grabbed Fay by the waist, walking beside her and pulling her toward the vacant doors.

         “I’m not leaving again”, Cole said as he stepped into the parking lot, hand still around her waist, leading her over the curb. She didn’t say a word. She shivered as the night sky danced with moving clouds and glimpses of stars. She pushed her head against his chest and her hand around his waist.

         She just wanted ‘him’ to hold her. She wanted ‘him’ to protect her. Cole wondered why anyone would want to feel this weak, not because of his lack of humanity or his vampirism. It was because he saw deeper into this human complex. All he really knew in the matter…was that it felt good, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.







-V-