Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (30 page)

"I saw you at the laundromat, picking up the cloaks."

"Did you notice the thralls surrounding us?" Regina asked.

Sabine thought back. The sidewalk had seemed very crowded.

Michaela moved in and hugged Sabine from the other side. "They did things to us Sabine. Neville wanted to see if his underlings could resist Regina's Necromancy without him there to help. His men-" her voice hitched.

"Before Kelly's ceremony-" Regina tried to continue, but she couldn't.

Sabine's heart sank, and her eyes filled with tears. "He's going to pay. I promise you both."

Regina and Michaela pulled away and went to tear-filled reunions with the other witches. They explained how the vampires had held them hostage in a silver-plated room somewhere in the financial district. Sabine was intrigued to discover that silver might block spells, but they didn't elaborate.

Sabine listened until she got distracted by her Family staring at her. "What?"

Lorenzo bowed his head to her and the Family shared hundreds of memories of fights between werewolves and vampires. Lorenzo's thoughts were loudest.

I've never seen a vampire move faster than a werewolf in wolf form.

Sabine wiped blood from her face and licked her fingers. "Anyone have a towel?"

Deirdre pulled some wipes from a pocket in her jacket and wiped the blood off Sabine's face and neck as the others went to their bags to reload their guns.

Sabine caught sight of Doug, rocking Tiana in his arms with her face buried under his jacket. Would poor Tiana have nightmares about this? Sabine used her link to Deirdre to see herself, and imagined Tiana seeing her like this. That would make everything worse.

"The only thing that'll help at this point is a shower," Deirdre said.

"Or magic," Heather said, approaching.

She mumbled something and tossed some powder at Sabine. The powder sparkled as it landed on her and swirled around her. A second later, it twisted in a mini-tornado and vanished.

Sabine looked through Deirdre's eyes again and gasped. She looked better than she had before they'd left for the battle. "Thanks Heather."

"Don't mention it," Heather replied. "I mean that literally. If you do, the magic could reverse."

"Seriously?"

Heather laughed. "No, I'm totally screwing with you."

Sabine shook her head at Heather and walked slowly over to Doug. She knelt in front of him and Tiana. "We beat the bad werewolves. You and Tiana are safe."

Doug shook his head. "Lance was out of town. He's still out there. And this island is surrounded by vampires."

Sabine let out a sigh and patted Tiana's head. "I'll see what I can do about that."

Sabine scanned the vampires on the other side of the Rustic Bridge. She stared down the hill at the vampire named Neville, smug in his long black wool coat, red tie, and dark gray scarf. She ground her teeth as she thought about his various crimes, and how he stood there like he was untouchable.

Sabine continued to stare down the hill as her Family gathered around her. "I'm going to challenge Neville."

Lorenzo turned to her. "Neville has fought hundreds of battles in dozens of wars. He has killed thousands of men. Hundreds of vampires."

"How many Damphir has he killed?" Sabine asked, glaring at Lorenzo.

Lorenzo swallowed, seeing the blazing fury in her bottomless black eyes. "Just you and Kelly, that I know of."

"Someone has to stand up to him. We're here. He's here. I'm juiced to the max. I'll never be more ready."

"We're ready if you are," Lorenzo said, relaying memories of past battles with some of the vampires below.

Sabine shifted in her bulletproof vest and long coat, making sure she could move easily. The coat hid her two guns – the latest ones taken off Gus and Tony. She looked around and surveyed her people, seeing determination in their eyes.

"You're actually planning on using those huge-ass Desert Eagles?" Trent asked from behind her, surprising her.

Sabine faced him and smiled. "Jealous?"

Trent laughed. "They're too big for you. You should try a nine-mil. Or one of those little girl guns."

Sabine shrugged, glad for a way to annoy him. "They're loaded with silver. The vampire who killed me is standing down there on the other side of that bridge. I'm thinking big-ass silver bullets might help him explain himself."

Trent looked down at the assembled vampires. From their vantage point, they could see a good deal of the opposite shore, and it seemed like there were vampires everywhere. Thirty vampires stood near the bridge, and more in the shadows beyond. Sabine and her vampires numbered eight. "I'm not sure I like the odds, if you're taking them head-on."

"We're not fighting them all," Sabine said, shaking her head. "We can always wait them out behind the ward. They'll have to leave by dawn. But then they might hunt us down tomorrow night. Or the night after. We'd have to be on our guard for the rest of our lives. As long as they're here, I can use the opportunity to challenge Neville. Maybe I can end this."

Lorenzo spoke up. "Neville is not likely to take you on alone. He'll sacrifice his followers before facing any real threat. You may need help."

"I'm going with you," Trent said, pulling the pistol from his holster and working the slide to chamber a bullet.

"Me too," Charlie said, as a few more of the other werewolves approached, checking their weapons: Justin, Esmerelda's grandson, Trent's father Jeff, and Justin's father Sean.

"I thought you guys used up all your silver ammo," Sabine said.

"We did," Trent replied. "Lead might not kill those vamps, but it might distract them."

Val joined the group, glaring at the vampires. "We planning an attack here?"

"We'll start with a chat, and see what happens," Sabine said, turning and heading down towards the bridge.

As they approached the bridge, Sabine took stock of the vampires on the opposite shore. Their numbers swelled as she walked, apparently sensing that this was where a confrontation would occur. She counted more than fifty now. Half of the city's vampires. She could sense motion around the lake, and guessed that more were coming.

Neville stood taller than the vampires around him, and his shoulder-length blond hair didn't have a strand out of place. He had a slight scruff, and a lopsided grin that flashed a fang. His dark brown eyes held menace and he tapped the hilt of a gilded medieval longsword, sheathed at his waist.

Sabine and the others stopped at the ward.

Neville surveyed them and addressed Lorenzo. "Di Gastini. Your House was exiled from this city. You're in violation of a Council Order."

Sabine stepped in front of Lorenzo. "You don't remember me, Neville?"

Neville's eyes never left Lorenzo. "Teach your bitch protocols, Lorenzo. Only Masters can address the Council."

Lorenzo stood there, eying the vampires in the gathering. "She is the new Mistress of our House."

Neville laughed. "Is she now?"

Sabine stepped forward, entering the ward at the center of the bridge. She walked through it, coming out the other side. She felt the others at her back. As they came free of the ward, she could sense the tension in the auras of the vampires around them. They stared dumbstruck that vampires had crossed the ward. She looked them in the eyes, and each could see hers.

Sabine could sense a growing fear among the assembled vampires. She stopped at the end of the bridge, listening to the voices from her Family about the tactical advantage of the choke-point; they'd be just like the 300 Spartans versus the Persian army.

That didn't end well for the Spartans,
Sabine thought.

Lorenzo smiled at her and shrugged.
It's as good a night as any to die.

Neville's aura bathed them all like a turbulent sea. The extent of it shocked Sabine, even though it didn't feel like he was focusing it. She watched Neville's eyes as he met her gaze, a brief moment of surprise flashing across his face before he schooled his expression.

"Hi everyone," Sabine said, addressing the group. "My name is Sabine Christiansen, and Neville here turned me against my will, then abandoned me. I believe that's punishable by death."

The tension in the auras of the vampires ratcheted up a notch.

"You have no aura. You're lying," One of the men standing beside Neville said.

Sabine reached out with her power, until hers roiled against all the fifty or so auras in the group. As they gasped, she poured a trickle more into the man who had spoken.

His guard came up, and he fought her. He sent out as much power as he could manage.

Sabine gauged him to be a few hundred years old, roughly Lorenzo's age. Sabine doubled the trickle of power she was sending at him, and then doubled it again.

He staggered slightly before his mind gave in to her, and she held him still.

She read his thoughts and his memories, witnessing all of his three hundred and fifty years of life. A lot of it involved doing horrific things for Neville, his Master. His name was Darby, and he had participated in both resurrection ceremonies. She saw in his thoughts all the faces and roles of the other participants, which Sabine matched to the half-dozen men standing closest to Neville.

Sabine read Darby's thoughts about Neville: his motivations, desires, and pet peeves. Neville loved power, and was stingy with it. He never used a blood bond because it was too intimate and would mean sharing his power. He reasoned that nobody but another Council member would be able to overcome his power bonds anyway.

Sabine smiled at how that hadn't exactly worked out for Neville, and kept reading. Neville loved killing things. He loved to watch the life drain out of formerly happy people. He didn't tolerate betrayal. He had killed several of his underlings over the years for even the hint of betrayal. One last thing she saw, that sickened her to the core, was that Darby had enjoyed his part in raping Regina and Michaela. That condemned him in her eyes.

"Darby here will bear witness to your crimes," Sabine said, watching as many of the vampires looked to Darby.

Darby nodded, as Sabine sent the command to do so.

Neville's aura flared, and he stared at Darby. He tried to enter Darby's mind, but Sabine was able to block him out. Neville's jaw tightened in rage, and Sabine sent Darby the command to glare back at Neville.

Neville drew his sword. In a lightning move, he sliced off Darby's head. He moved so fast, Sabine could have missed it if she had blinked.

Darby's head toppled off his body as the whole mess collapsed onto the ground.

"Saladin is a witness too," Sabine said, pointing to another man. Saladin had also attacked Regina and Michaela.

The vampire called Saladin barely had time to raise his arms in denial before his head toppled to the ground.

"Orpheus will back up my claim," Sabine said, sending a wave of power at the other vampire she'd seen in Darby's memories.

Orpheus barely got out an "I-" before Neville struck and he fell beside the others.

Sabine smiled, drawing her sword. "Thanks Neville! You're saving me a lot of work."

Neville sent out a blast of power at Sabine and her group. She responded by bolstering the vampires with more of her energy, but then the wave dissipated. She sensed with relief that all of her vampires were still with her, even Shelby.

Neville glared at her. "You have no witnesses to corroborate your accusation, and I am the Representative of the Council. For bringing false witness against a Council Member, I sentence you to death."

The sound of movement, and a vague sense of something being wrong behind Sabine brought her attention around.

Justin, Sean, Jeff and Charlie all had blank looks in their eyes. Trent's eyes blinked, his mouth stuck in a snarl as he fought the hold. They all had their guns up and ready to fire.

Aimed at her.

Sabine threw all her power at the werewolves. The burst of energy sent them flying back through the ward, but two managed to get off a shot under Neville's command. She barely managed to dodge by diving to the side.

Sabine heard the clang of metal and Lorenzo's cry behind her as she rolled on the ground and got back on her feet. She turned to see Lorenzo and Ernesto trading sword blows with Neville, who had attacked when her back was turned.

Everywhere Sabine looked, vampires were drawing their swords and charging toward the fight. Their numbers wouldn't give them a huge advantage at the choke point of the bridge, but Sabine's Family didn't have any cover. In the confined space where blades met blades, the odds would be roughly even. Claudia, Deirdre and Ethan took up flanking positions at the mouth of the bridge, as Melina drew her pistols and started shooting.

The werewolves started shooting too.

Sabine spun and ducked, thinking they might be firing at her, but then she saw them.

Trent smiled at her from the other side of the ward, where he and the others had landed. Several vampires were hit, but soon realized that the bullets weren't silver.

Sabine turned again, just in time to see Neville slice off Ernesto's arm at the elbow.

Ernesto fell back, cradling the stump that had previously been his sword arm. Lorenzo redoubled his fight, but that only appeared to amuse Neville. The older vampire moved to press his advantage just before several bullets struck him in the chest and face.

"Take that, dirt-bag!" Trent yelled, firing again.

Neville did his best to dodge the bullets, but the hail of lead forced him to fall back with a few serious wounds.

Lorenzo took the opportunity to grab Ernesto's fallen sword arm and retreat to help his friend.

As Neville forced the bullets out of his body, Sabine lashed out at him with all her power.

He pushed back.

For a second, she thought she might overpower him right then. His counterattack staggered her. She felt the weight of power built over centuries. She faltered, but held him back. Her willpower crashed against his. Their energies leveled into a stalemate.

As her power drained, Sabine weakened.

Neville didn't. Instead he smiled. "Foolish whelp. I'm almost a thousand years old. You don't have the reserves of a great Master such as myself."

Wave after wave of power hit her, causing her to drop her sword and hold her temples to focus. She barely noticed when Claudia ran past her, retreating behind the ward.

The others started to run away too, leaving her alone against Neville. His people surrounded him, watching as she weakened even more.

How could she have imagined beating Neville? He still had seventeen vampire followers with him. She had hinged everything on the hope that her power would be enough. If she could reach out with it and touch the whole city, it should have been enough.

How could he be more powerful than that?

She knew he wasn't. But his power never dwindled. Where her power seemed to rise and fall with no reserve, his was steady; like a river flowing from a huge lake. In that moment, she understood why older vampires won battles. All they had to do was wait until the younger vampire ran out of energy.

Then it would all be over.

Sabine heard the desperation in her people's thoughts. She fell to her knees from fatigue as she saw Neville step closer. His onslaught was relentless. She saw the evil grin on his face, and felt hopelessness smash into her like a brick wall.

I know what to do.
Claudia's thought came through like the blaring of a foghorn in the mist.

As Neville raised his sword over Sabine's head for a killing blow, energy flowed into her. Her vision cleared. The force of Neville's assault shuddered as she forced it back. She dove to the side as his sword came down. Her hand closed on the grip of her own sword where it had fallen, and she brought the blade up to strike at Neville's legs.

Sabine felt another flood of power as Neville jumped back to avoid her sword. She rolled to her feet and faced him as he charged and slashed.

Their blades sang against each other again and again, Sabine defending herself and trying to spot a weakness.

Then another flood of power hit her.

She staggered and too narrowly avoided another attack from Neville. But he was moving slower. Sabine felt her mind slip into overload as her eyes refocused on a thousand things at once, and suddenly the world stood still as another burst of power flowed through her.

She was able to read the thoughts of all her people again, and knew in that instant what they'd done.

While all the attention had been focused on her, they had slipped back behind the ward with the werewolves. Claudia had convinced the werewolves to help by allowing themselves to be bitten. She and Ernesto and Melina and Shelby had bitten into the werewolves, who had each willingly given them an arm. The vampires stood just outside the ward feeding on the werewolves who were just barely inside it.

Neville sliced at her from the side in slow motion. She ducked under his sword, drawing her blade across his stomach as she passed him. Her cut went deeper than she intended, slicing halfway through him.

He tried to spin and react, but his muscles weren't able to obey. Instead, his intestines started to spill from the gaping wound.

Sabine brought the razor-sharp blade of her sword down on Neville's sword arm, hacking it off at the shoulder.

Two of his men charged in, and she danced easily between their slowly swinging blades. The power flowing through her gave her an insight into their minds; the one to her left was called Merrick, and he was as evil as evil could be. The one to her right was called Logan, and he was a very reluctant follower of Neville's, who harbored almost no hope for himself.

Sabine sliced off Merrick's head as she sent a jolt of energy into Logan, bonding him with her power and freeing him from the power bond that Neville had placed on him.

As Logan staggered forward, Neville fell to the ground and ignored his spilling entrails to send a wave of power at Logan to reestablish control over him again.

Neville's aura radiated shock as his attempt failed.

Three more men came at Sabine, and she read them as she dodged their swords. She sliced off the head of another thoroughly evil vampire. The other two hadn't done anything horrible. Like Logan, they had been forced to serve. Their names were Dominic and Salvatore, and she freed them from Neville with a jolt of power.

Sabine read the rest of Neville's vampires and sent out enough power to break their bonds as well.

The vampires that weren't part of Neville's entourage stayed back. The audience had swelled to nearly every vampire in the city.

Sabine turned and walked over to where Neville was kneeling on the ground, trying to reattach his arm. The men who had been his followers stood and watched, unsure what to do with a new leader.

She knocked the loose arm out of his hand with her sword and stood over him. "Neville Harcourt, I bear witness against you. I have stripped you of your followers and by the laws of your own people, I sentence you to death."

"Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?" he spat, blood in his mouth as he tried to hold his intestines in with his remaining arm.

"I'm Karma," Sabine said, surveying the crowd of gathered vampires with her glowing black eyes. "And I can be a bitch sometimes."

Neville coughed out a laugh, as Sabine's Family stepped forward and joined her.

Claudia's eyes filled with tears, and Sabine could feel the combination of pain and triumph filling the woman. Claudia relived her hope that she'd one day witness an end to the vampire that had killed her husband and wrought terror on her and others for centuries.

"Claudia, do you want to do the honors?" Sabine asked.

Claudia faced Sabine, a look of conflicted emotions swimming in her eyes. She took a deep breath and gripped her sword tighter, her jaw setting. She nodded.

"You can't kill me! I'm a member of the Council," Neville shouted, glaring up at them.

"Not anymore," Claudia said, raising her sword. "This is for my husband, you piece of shit."

Her sword sliced across his neck, and Neville's head rolled away.

Sabine took a breath, basking in the moment. Regina, Michaela, everyone Sabine had bitten, Claudia's husband, and Kelly the new Damphir had all been avenged. Every bad thing in the last year could now be forgotten. This should make it all right.

But it didn't. Instead of feeling complete, she felt hollow. What would she do now?

Live
, came the answer from her Family.

Over a hundred vampires stared at Sabine's Family. For a good two minutes, nobody moved or said a thing as the reality of what they had done sank in.

Then a few vampires approached. One here, another there. Sabine counted four women and seven men coming toward them. They didn't have weapons drawn, so she carefully wiped the blade of her sword on Neville's pants and sheathed it at her back.

The auras coming off the eleven were solid. They were all Masters. Each carried himself or herself with bearing and purpose. They wore dark clothes, preferring leather, silk, wool, and lace in varying old styles. One of the women looked east Indian, one looked Mediterranean, and the other two looked northern European. Two of the men looked Hispanic, one looked like he was of African descent, one was Asian, and the rest looked European.

Two of them looked familiar: Pierce Carmichael, Lorenzo's old friend; and the vampire from the alley, Henry Bondurant.

The eleven vampires stopped a discrete twenty feet from Neville's corpse, which made hissing and gurgling noises as it rapidly decomposed.

The tall statuesque blonde woman among the eleven vampires cleared her throat. She glanced over at the Chinese man, and after receiving a nod from him, spoke. "My name is Brenna, and we are the Masters of the City."

Sabine regarded them, taking in their schooled expressions and auras tinged with excitement. They didn't seem hostile.

"I thought you were going to meet the dawn," Pierce said, glancing between Sabine and Lorenzo with a mixture of curiosity and distrust.

"We did," Lorenzo replied, smiling at the memory. "It was glorious. I have to tell you all about it sometime."

Sabine took in the skeptical looks from the group. She took a breath and addressed them. "I'm what you call a Damphir, and our blood bond lets my Family share in my abilities. I can walk in daylight."

The skepticism was evident on their faces.

Pierce gestured to the other vampires with him. "Sabine, was it? Damphir are only legends."

Melina huffed. "Masters and Mistresses, I know it sounds incredible, but we walked through the ward there. She's a friend to the witches and werewolves. She can walk in daylight... oh, and we all have a pulse now!"

There was silence for a long moment as the vampires listened to the sounds of the night. The faint sound of a heartbeat - and another - came to their ears through the relative din of the insects, rustling leaves, and the steady beating of the werewolves' hearts.

Brenna sucked in a breath. "Amazing."

The man who looked Asian spoke. "You have no aura, Sabine. Your eyes are those of an Ancient, and you moved faster than Neville. I believe you could be what you claim to be."

"Damn it all," Henry said, reaching into his coat.

For a second, Sabine thought he might be reaching for a gun to take a shot at her for having slammed his head into the pavement in that alley. Several of the vampires tensed at his sudden movement, but relaxed a moment later as he produced a small leather-bound notebook.

"Is something wrong Henry?" Sabine asked, arching an eyebrow as he fished out a pen from another pocket.

He cursed, flipping pages until he found the one he wanted. "I need to amend a passage in my memoir."

Sabine laughed, but stopped in response to the inquisitive looks from the rest of the group. "Henry and I met the other day in an alley. He mentioned how he might describe me in his memoirs as... what was it again, Henry?"

"A misunderstanding," Henry said, scratching out something before closing the book and putting it away.

Sabine smiled. "I'm glad to see that your skull healed. I hope there wasn't any permanent brain damage."

Pierce did introductions. Sabine shared a nod with each in turn. Through their auras, she sensed relief that Neville was dead in some, concern in others. One name blended into the next, and she struggled to keep them straight.

"The North American Council will demand an explanation," Brenna said, glancing at Neville's shriveling skin and bones.

Sabine tried to imagine Brenna as a Norse goddess or a Viking shield maiden with long braids. Her blonde hair was tied up, spoiling the illusion, but her face had the hard Nordic lines.

Terence spoke, his darkly-tanned fingers steepled in thought. "They may insist on retribution whether they accept the explanation or not."