Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (28 page)

Heather's eyes went wide and she grabbed the phone.

The two other witches grabbed their things and ran out the door as fast as they could move. "We're heading there now!" they yelled on the way out.

***

Back at the hotel, Sabine felt like she had done all she could do from a distance. She wanted to get everyone to Mike and Esmerelda's house to help. If Lance's pack wanted a war, she'd give him one.

"Maybe we can stick with you today?" Doug asked Sabine as they headed to the elevator.

"Sure. We can drop you with Trent and Esmerelda, and see if there's anything we can do to help. Has anyone handled introductions?"

Doug looked nervously to the group of vampires. "Not really."

"Doug, my oldest friend in the world, and his daughter Tiana, meet my new Family," Sabine said. She gestured to each and gave Doug and Tiana their names.

"You guys look like escapees from a leather convention," Doug said, after nodding to each of the women as they were introduced, and shaking hands with the men.

"I think it's cool," little Tiana said.

"So do I," Shelby said, winking and smiling at Tiana as they loaded in the lift.

Tiana stared at Shelby like the teen was a rock star. "You're only nineteen?"

Shelby nodded.

"We're dressed for battle," Ernesto said, his face solemn.

"What he means, is that the leather is armor-grade; to ward off costly damage from swords and such," Melina added. "It's not totally a fashion statement." Then she smiled. "But it's also kind of a fashion statement."

Doug looked at Melina and Shelby, noting Shelby's tight mini dress and Melina's short skirt and bare midriff, each wearing thigh-high leather boots. While their coats were open, they didn't look too armored.

Melina caught his look and smirked. "The better to distract the enemy."

Doug blushed and watched the lights showing the elevator's progress. "So when you say 'family', I presume-"

"Yeah," Sabine said. "Don't worry though, they won't ever harm you or Tiana. Right guys?"

"We wouldn't even dream of it," Lorenzo said. "A friend of yours is a friend of ours. But Sabine, having him know about us isn't healthy. You know this."

"He's a psychic. Like you said, he's immune," Sabine replied.

Lorenzo nodded, then sent Sabine the thought:
he has a most impressive defense.

So we might not be able to wipe his memory if we wanted to. He's a trusted friend. He's the only link I have to the life I had before. I couldn't keep this from him. What does the Council do with such people?

It's handled on a case-by-case basis, but the person is usually killed. Case-by-case, of course.

If someone tries to kill Dougie, they have to go through me,
Sabine thought.

And to kill you, they'd have to go through us,
Lorenzo replied, smiling to her.
We will protect Doug also.

The elevator doors opened and they filed out, Doug walking slower than the rest.

Sabine looked back. "What's wrong, Doug?"

Doug's eyes seemed a little unfocused, and his arms went slack, allowing Tiana to slide down to the ground.

Sabine rushed over, but the little girl put up her hand, a finger over her lips.

"He's having a vision."

The vampires gathered around and waited, watching the humans around them. Shelby took a turn shrouding the surrounding humans' sight with glamour, and Sabine could feel the girl struggling. Shelby hadn't known how to use glamour before the blood bond. Melina helped, guiding the exercise into a lesson.

Doug snapped back, looking around. "We have to get across the bay. Now."

"Oakland?" Sabine asked.

He shook his head. "North of the Golden Gate."

Sabine stared at him as he grabbed Tiana and started moving.

"Are you kidding? Doug?" Sabine marched fast to keep pace with him. "What's north of the Golden Gate?"

"Someone who needs us."

As they stepped off the bus to cross the Golden Gate on foot, Sabine's anxiety level started to rise. They were headed toward the place she had been buried. The closer they got, the greater her sense of dread.

Doug led the way across the bridge, jogging behind some runners and keeping pace with them. He carried Tiana on his back, and Sabine couldn't help but be impressed at his endurance.

The afternoon sun made the waves in the channel shimmer like a moving carpet of diamonds far below them. The vampires squinted and got distracted by all the daylight wonders. Sabine was forced to take on the glamour that obscured them after noticing a few frightened glances in their direction.

Sabine fought to keep her own focus from drifting. She worried about Trent. Esmerelda had told her that Trent was healing now that the silver had been removed. He had come to the phone and assured her that she didn't have anything to worry about.

They reached the north shore and Doug walked up a small flight of steps to the visitor center parking lot. Doug disappeared down some steps to the right, and took a path underneath the road. They passed under the bridge and through another parking lot. Doug slowed as they marched up Conzelman road.

This was it. The road she'd traveled on that horrific night a year ago. They passed the scenic view stop and turned down the dirt path to Kirby Cove. They rounded a bend in the road and then another. Doug stopped in a part of the road shaded by tall pines. Sabine became dizzy with the recollection of this place. Her burial place.

Doug wandered around in a circle. "I don't understand."

Sabine stepped off the steep edge of the road and clambered down the hillside. She fell to her knees on some freshly disturbed ground, fifty feet from the road. She took a ragged breath, emotion gripping her chest.

She started to dig.

The rest of the vampires felt what she was doing and realized what it meant. They followed her down the hill and dove to their knees to dig.

"I've got something here," Shelby said, answered by echoes from the others.

They each exposed a piece of body; a hand, a leg, hair, an arm.

Doug grabbed Tiana, covering her eyes. "Come on honey, we'll go look at the bridge," he said as he carried her back up the road the way they had come.

Tiana squirmed to get a look as they walked back up the road. "Is that the person? I wanna see!"

Doug shushed her as they rounded the bend in the road.

As the vampires uncovered more, they found the parts were all still connected. Sabine found the wooden stake, sticking straight up from the middle of a woman's chest.

Sabine sat back, shaking with emotion. She stared at the stake, lost in a world of déjà vu. She felt a tear fall down her cheek. She sat there on her heels, staring as the others moved the dirt away until the woman was completely uncovered.

"I couldn't save her. I wanted to, but I failed her," Sabine said.

The woman looked to be in her twenties. Her straight dark-chocolate brown hair was cut shoulder length. A tattered button-down plaid blouse was pulled askew to make room for the stake. Ratty jeans with bell-bottom ends spoke to the woman's style. She was barefoot, with markings seared into her feet and palms.

"This year's victim, I presume," Lorenzo said, turning a palm up.

Sabine nodded as another tear fell down her cheek. She felt an overwhelming desire to find Neville Harcourt and make him pay. She gritted her teeth as rage swept through her, envisioning her hands around his aristocratic neck.

"I was buried just like this, a few yards over." She shared the memory with the group.

The others gasped.

"You survived a stake through the heart," Melina said.

Sabine nodded again, staring now at the stake poking out of the poor woman's chest. "Maybe not all the way through."

"Maybe she's like you. Maybe the stake is as ineffective as sunlight."

"You think if we pull it out-" Sabine reached forward.

"No! Wait," Lorenzo leapt forward, holding her hand. "If she was like you, then she'll awake thirsty. We need to think about feeding her."

"Without hurting anyone," Sabine added. "We'll need a ride back to the city, too."

They heard the footfalls of joggers coming down the path, and Sabine nodded to Ernesto. "Start collecting people. She may need five. Ethan, Deirdre... head back to the scenic outlook and find us a ride. A van or a truck or an RV. Preferably someone who isn't in a hurry."

The three vampires nodded to Sabine and climbed the hill to the dirt road.

"Shelby? Can you hang out with Doug and Tiana? It might make them feel better to know what's going on."

"Sure thing boss-mama," Shelby said, hopping up and dusting herself off.

"Boss-mama?" Sabine asked, looking up at her.

Shelby shrugged and smiled. "Hey, you're in leader mode. It suits you. Unless you prefer Mistress?"

Sabine sighed, shaking her head. "Just go and do my bidding, minion."

Shelby laughed and headed up the hill.

Sabine did her best to wipe all the dirt out of the dead woman's face, eyes, and hair. She wanted this woman's awakening to be less traumatic than her own had been. If she was going to awaken. Finally, Sabine sent Melina to handle the obscuring glamour in case anyone approached close enough to see them.

A few minutes or an eternity later, Ernesto returned with a half-dozen humans in hiking and jogging clothes.

Sabine grabbed the stake and pulled it out of the dead woman's chest. The sucking sound threatened to make her sick.

They sat there, watching the woman for several minutes. Sabine looked at their human blood donor buffet, and hoped the humans wouldn't notice the gap in time.

"Should I feed her my blood?" Sabine asked.

Lorenzo gave her a questioning look. "Do you want her blood-bonded to you?"

"Not really."

Sabine stared at the wound again.
Did it shrink? It doesn't look like it. This is hopeless. She's dead.

Minutes turned into hours, and Sabine started taking pictures of the wound with her cell phone to compare as time went by. The wound seemed to be closing, but very slowly.  They fed from a few of the joggers and released them, picking fresh ones, not wanting to have anyone miss too much time in their day and notice. Sabine had everyone stay in the shade to keep her energy up as the sun crept toward the horizon.

Finally, the sun set, and Sabine felt a wave of relief as her Family could once again support themselves.

The woman in the grave gasped and opened her eyes. She looked up at Sabine, then at the other vampires. She took a deep, gurgling breath and screamed for a half-second until it turned into a cough.

"It's okay! We're not here to hurt you," Sabine said, dropping the stake and holding up her hands.

When the woman crawled back and saw the humans standing around, her fangs descended. She stared at Sabine with eyes so dilated they were almost black, squinting against the glare of the sunlight.

Sabine tried to look as harmless as possible, wishing she'd worn more normal clothes. "We're here to help. I know what you're going through."

The woman shook her head. She coughed out dirt, clearing her throat. "Where am I? What did you do to me?"

"We just dug you up," Sabine said. "You were left for dead on Halloween night. Look at your chest."

The woman stole a glance down and did a double-take, touching the healing wound and wincing.

"Check your palms," Sabine said, holding up her own.

The woman stared at her own palms and saw the symbols on Sabine's palms.

"They did the same thing to me last year. I'm sorry we didn't get to you sooner, to save you. We tried."

"So thirsty," the woman choked out.

"You need blood. We need to show you how to feed without killing."

The woman shook her head. "Blood? You're kidding." She moved her tongue and winced as a fang stabbed it. "Omigod. I have fangs. You're not kidding!" She moaned out a cry. "This isn't happening. I'm having a nightmare." She looked around, seeing the seriousness in everyone's expressions. "It's daylight for God's sake! See? Not a vampire."

"Actually, the sun just set," Sabine said. "It's twilight. You need blood. Let us help you. My name is Sabine Christiansen. What's your name?"

"Kelly," the woman said, crawling to her feet. "Kelly Jacobs."

"Hi Kelly. I wish we could have met under different circumstances."

Kelly started walking towards the humans. "They smell so good!" She stopped in her tracks, whimpering. "Oh God, what have I become?"

Sabine read Kelly's mind and found a swirl of emotions that felt very familiar. The woman started to shake her head as Sabine probed deeper to see her memories. She had been a barista at a coffee shop and a part time protestor for anything related to peace, love and harmony.

"What is that? My head feels funny," Kelly said.

"I was reading your mind, to see what type of person you are," Sabine said. "Now it's time for you to get your vamp on. We'll make sure you don't hurt these people."

Kelly stared at Sabine. "This is insane. You realize that?"

Sabine lifted the nearest jogger's arm. His pulse felt like a throbbing dinner bell. She let her fangs descend and bit into his arm, making sure to send a little pleasure in as she did. She pulled back and held the arm out for Kelly.

Blood welled up in the open wounds. The smell had all the vampires' fangs out.

Kelly moaned, and descended toward the arm with a fierce look on her face, totally overwhelmed by the thirst.

Sabine put a hand on Kelly's sternum to hold her just out of reach of the bleeding arm, and was surprised by Kelly's growl. Sabine whispered through her fangs. "Gently."

Kelly took a breath, barely in control. She nodded; a gesture that Sabine figured took every bit of focus the newly minted Damphir possessed.

Sabine let go, and Kelly immediately suckled on the bleeding arm.

A minute passed, then another. When Sabine felt that Kelly had taken enough from the one jogger, Sabine touched Kelly's shoulder. "Lick the wound to close it. We'll move to another donor now."

Kelly whimpered and kept suckling.

Sabine grabbed a handful of Kelly's hair and pulled, forcing Kelly's head up. She stared into Kelly's frantic eyes.

"Lick it closed. We have more joggers. You have to let this one go so we don't hurt him."

Kelly moaned and did as Sabine told her, and they moved to the next jogger. Kelly bit into the woman's arm and started drinking.

They worked their way through four people, Sabine coaching and Ernesto releasing the humans for Melina to take over and guide back to the path.

Kelly looked at the fifth and sixth humans, and shook her head. "I don't want to be this! I could catch a disease from these people. Oh God, I hope I'm not infecting them!"

Sabine noticed that Kelly's eyes were less dilated, making them a deep mahogany. She tried to make her voice as soothing as possible. "You're not infecting them, Kelly. You'd have to share your blood with them to do that. I know it takes some getting used to, but you're pretty much immune to disease now. We aren't hurting these people. They'll never know they stopped here, much less that they were bitten. Do you feel the thirst still? Your stomach will hurt if you need more."

"I'm okay. It doesn't feel right, feeding off innocent people like this," Kelly said through her fangs. "I can't believe I just bit those people."

Sabine smiled. "I wonder if Neville has radar for our personality type or what."

"Who?" Kelly stopped and stared at Sabine.

"Do you remember anything about the resurrection ceremony? Regina? Michaela?"

"Regina and Michaela? They're regulars at the coffee shop. What do they have to do with this?"

"Spend the evening with us and let's trade life stories. In the meantime, we have to let these people go."

Kelly nodded, and Ernesto walked the last two humans back to the trail, sending them on their way. The vampires scrambled up the hillside, and walked to where Shelby stood with Doug and Tiana.

Tiana stared wide-eyed at the woman covered in dirt residue. Doug glanced back and forth between all of them, his eyes settling on Sabine. He asked with his eyes, and Sabine knew the question without being able to read his mind. It would be the only question that mattered: would Tiana be safe?

Sabine gave him a small nod, smiling when he looked visibly relieved. "Kelly, this is Doug and his daughter Tiana. Doug's a psychic and led us to you."

"Hi Kelly," Doug said, a slight edge to his voice.

Kelly nodded, looking anywhere but at Doug and Tiana.

Sabine realized that Kelly was trying to make her fangs go in. Kelly was probably still thirsty, and Doug and Tiana would look like food. Maybe a distraction would be good right about now. "We need to get going."