Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (31 page)

Sabine imagined Terence as a Zulu warrior, and began to wonder if he had been born with such a European name. She wondered what the etiquette was about asking vampires about their histories.

"And a new Representative will be chosen," Pierce said, watching Sabine.

Roland, one of the Hispanic men, spoke. "We have much to discuss. I suggest we gather at Sabine's new Pacific Heights house tomorrow night to handle transfer of Neville's Trust, and vote on allowing Sabine to attend our City Council meeting."

My new what?
Sabine wondered.

It's vampire law,
Melina sent back.
We defeated Neville and you took over his Family, so we inherit his House assets.

Shelby smiled and nudged Sabine, whispering "We get all his stuff."

And his hunting territory,
Lorenzo added.

Henry took out his book again and scribbled in it, before tearing out the page and handing it to Sabine. "There's the address. Be there tomorrow night, and the lawyers will have all the paperwork for you to sign."

Sabine stared at the address. She hadn't been to that part of town much, so it was just a number as far as she was concerned. "Okay. See you there."

The Masters and Mistresses each nodded to her before departing, taking their Families with them. Before long, the only vampires left besides her Family were the fifteen men that remained of Neville's followers, watching her with calculating eyes.

"I suppose none of the other Masters or Mistresses of the city want any of you?" She asked Neville's former minions.

Logan, the tallest and broadest of them, nodded his Viking shoulder-length mane of blond hair. "Many of us were the bearers of bad news and the agents of Neville's wrath one too many times. Neville punished us if we associated with a member of any other House. Neville would have considered friendship with someone in another House a betrayal. And Neville punished betrayal with death."

Sabine took in the sight of Logan. Of all these men, he seemed like the biggest contradiction. He was clean-shaven and well dressed, but he had the face of an ancient barbarian. She hadn't noticed before how sturdy he looked, standing over six feet tall. The suit he wore stretched over impressive muscles when he moved.

"As you saw earlier tonight," the one called Dominic said, walking up and spitting on Neville's remains. "That be my thanks for forty years of slavery."

Dominic followed that with a series of foul names that had Sabine's ears burning, before he stepped back and bowed to her. Dominic reminded Sabine of a pirate. Rough and tumble, a free spirit at heart. He even looked like a pirate, with shoulder length black hair, a face covered with rebellious scruff, and dressed more like a rock star than a brawler. She could tell from his aura and his thoughts that being under anyone's thumb had been difficult for him, but Neville's thumb had been especially difficult to tolerate.

"May I pay my respects as well?" One of the others asked, gesturing towards Neville.

"Your name?" Sabine asked. She had not seen him doing any of the questionable deeds in Darby's memories.

"Godfrey," the man replied.

Sabine nodded, recalling again Darby's thoughts about the man. He had been on Neville's blacklist for a while for borderline treason. He had resisted doing Neville's bidding, and had been punished often. Godfrey was taller than Sabine, but not quite six feet; with dark hair and a small pre-turn scar on his cheek.

Godfrey lifted Neville's severed boney arm and carried it over to where Neville's head was laying, staring up at them. He placed both hands on the decaying forearm and snapped it like a twig.

"That's for killing my Family. And all of my friends," Godfrey said, then he broke the upper arm and tossed it against the corpse. He faced Neville, squatting so they were eye to decaying eye socket. "I'm going to dance on your ashes, Neville."

The scene repeated a half dozen times, with members of Neville's former Family "paying their respects" by abusing his remains until every bone was crushed but the skull. Sabine scanned the thoughts the rest were broadcasting with open minds. Most of them feared what she would do next. Half of them hoped she'd release them to go back to their home cities, even though they had no means to get there. Half were intrigued by the idea of living with a Damphir.

All of them hoped she wouldn't declare them Rogues.

Sabine sighed. She didn't want these vampires in her house, but she didn't want them running around either.

Can I send them home?
She asked her Family.

Their home cities would need to accept them, or they'd be declared Rogue,
Lorenzo replied first.
They'll need a place to stay while they call to make requests for safe passage, and they may get rejected.

Could she control all these men if she had to? She recalled Sun Tzu:
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

From what she could see of their thoughts, she could deal with most of them. All but two. "Phillip and Jason, come forward," Sabine called to them.

Phillip and Jason fingered the hilts of their swords and stepped forward.

"You two are a problem," Sabine said, watching them.

"I would be a most devoted servant, Milady," Phillip said, bowing theatrically. His unctuous tone dripped with what might have been sarcasm.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll take me in," Jason said, eying her. "I know all the House's secrets, and I'm smarter than all these other guys."

Sabine raised an eyebrow. "You two were very devoted followers of Neville's, and I think the witches will decide your fate."

Before anyone could react, the two vampires ran off at super-human speed. Sabine tried to reach out to control them, but by the time she thought to try, they were already out of sight.

"Should we follow them?" Lorenzo asked.

Sabine shook her head. "As of this minute, I declare those two Rogues. Logan, stay with me. The rest of you former members of Neville's house, I'm giving you the task of finding Phillip and Jason. Bring them back, dead or alive. Go!"

She watched as the vampires ran after their former associates before turning to Logan, the tall Viking-looking vampire. "I want a tour of the House Neville owned."

"Which one?" Logan asked.

Sabine did a double-take, then recovered. Of course he'd have more than one house. Eventually she'd need to visit them all.

"The one in Pacific Heights, where the Masters want to meet."

Logan nodded. "As you wish."

Sabine turned to her blood-bonded Family and smiled. They gathered around her and hugged her, patting her on the back and congratulating her. Trent hugged her too.

Her gaze swept the group. "I would have died tonight if it weren't for all of you. Claudia, that was brilliant. You saved us all by getting the werewolves to help us like that."

Claudia bowed her head. "I'm thankful it worked."

Sabine gave Ernesto and Lorenzo the task of cleaning up the decaying vampire remains, and left Claudia to protect Heather and Julie. She sent Shelby to socialize with Kelly the new Damphir, so that Kelly wouldn't be alone.

"I have to help Mike with the other pack," Trent said, aiming a thumb over his shoulder. "Can we catch up later?"

"Sure. Good night Trent," Sabine said, giving him a hug. She could practically feel him thinking about handling his ex-girlfriend. Maybe the lustful way she'd looked at him after the battle had been Sabine's imagination. Maybe the way he'd noticed and smiled was just a figment of her imagination too. "Thanks for being there for us tonight."

"The witches are planning some attitude adjustment for them. We're thinking there might be some resistance. I really hope Gus and Tony resist," he said, cracking his knuckles. He said his goodbyes and jogged across the bridge with the other werewolves.

Logan led the way to Neville's former house, setting a blistering pace at vampire speed.

Sabine loved the run, and following the parkour moves Logan did through traffic. They barely had to use glamour to hide themselves, running and jumping at freeway speeds through the late night traffic.

Melina, Ethan and Deirdre kept pace, enjoying the run too. They ran between cars and pedestrians as though the human world was standing still. The air whipped around them.

This is what freedom feels like.

Sabine felt the thought from Melina, echoed through the others. She found herself smiling. She remembered an old joke, about how you tell a happy motorcyclist by the bugs in his teeth. She figured it could apply to vampires too, and laughed at the mental picture. It took them roughly three minutes to cover four miles of urban jungle before they came to an abrupt stop on a residential street.

Sabine stared at the beautiful Pacific Heights mansion as the others gathered around. It was the type of house her father would have loved; dark brick, white accents, palladian windows.

She stared up at the elegant edifice and frowned. "For some reason I was expecting bats and fog and some kind of pipe organ music or something."

The vampires stared at each other.

Ethan shrugged to Logan. "She's young."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sabine asked, and got a lot of chiding about her preconceptions through the Family's telepathic link.

Sabine felt a surge of power from Logan and heard the click of the lock as they climbed the stairs to the front door. It opened as if by itself.
Did he use telekinesis?

He did,
Lorenzo replied.
We can teach you, in time.

A muscle-bound man in a tailored suit appeared from behind the door.

Logan stood so he could see the man and Sabine. "Bruno, this is Sabine, the new Mistress of the House. Sabine, Bruno. He leads our daytime security."

Sabine searched Bruno's thoughts and came up with practically a clean slate: orders, duties, faces. She felt no emotion from the man at all. "Pleased to meet you," she said, wondering how he'd react.

Bruno nodded.

"Is he a thrall?" Sabine asked.

Logan nodded and walked in the door.

Ethan kissed Deirdre on the cheek and spoke to the Family's minds.
I'll wait out here in case Neville's devils show up.

"Neville's devils?" Sabine asked, not realizing she spoke out loud.

Logan turned back to face her. "That was one of the more flattering things we were called. What made you say it?"

Sabine shrugged. "The name doesn't seem to fit you or Dominic or Godfrey."

"We will forge ourselves anew, now that Neville is gone."

Sabine smiled and followed him into the grand foyer. She stared at the grand staircase with cast iron railings, which split into two staircases halfway up. Portraits of Neville through the years decorated the walls. Sculptures of him filled nooks at regular intervals.

Sabine spoke to Melina and Claudia through their shared telepathic link.
Claudia, I need you to talk to the witches and get a description of the spell book Neville used in the ceremonies. Melina, I want you and Deirdre to look for the book while I'm getting the tour. If you come up dry, I'll start reading people's minds to get a location.

Sabine let Logan guide her through the house from room to room, as he talked about them and she listened to his thoughts as he did. She split her concentration, listening to Claudia's description of the book.

As they walked, Logan told her about himself, even though he could feel her reading his mind. "I was a Master of my own House until this last year, when the witch expelled us all. Neville forced his power bond upon me while we were in Nevada and my Family was not around to provide support."

"What happened to your Family?" She asked, not having dug in his thoughts for that answer yet.

"Neville killed them one by one as the witch sent them to Nevada. To keep me in line."

Sabine cursed as she saw the memories in his mind. "I'm sorry for your loss, Logan."

His lips thinned almost to a smile. "Your condolences are appreciated."

Sabine sensed that his aura was very old, and tinged with loneliness. She remembered Janet mentioning a Logan, and decided to see if this was the same vampire. "I met a woman named Janet Davis a few days ago. She said she knew a vampire named Logan. She was thrilled to feel a bite again."

Logan crossed his impressive arms, his eyes narrowing. "You insult me by drinking from my Blood Host without permission?"

"I didn't know," Sabine said, studying the change in his aura. Did he want a fight? "I meant no offense, and I didn't even know that other vampires existed until she told me."

Logan nodded, uncoiling his arms. "If you were truly ignorant of our ways, I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did. Janet is very special to me. I'm not surprised she would help you. I kept her existence a secret from Neville, to keep her safe."

"I consider her a friend. You're welcome to invite her over, or visit her if you like. I promise not to bite her again."

"It may take some time for Neville's former followers to make the adjustment to your more lenient leadership."

Sabine sighed, not looking forward to the work ahead. "I'm sure you're right."

Logan showed her The Parlor, The Den, The Sitting Room, The Kitchen, The Dining Room, The Library, and the nine suites with their attached bathrooms. Each suite was set up with two or three coffins, depending on how many of Neville's vampires were housed in the room. It took nearly twenty minutes to go through all the rooms before coming to Neville's personal quarters.

The doors were sealed, and looked to be solid oak; real medieval-type things with metal spikes protruding from them.

We searched every nook and cranny, and didn't find the book,
Melina thought to Sabine.

Did anyone try the big oak doors?
Sabine sent back, hopeful.

I tried, but the door was locked and it felt weird,
Deirdre thought.

Sabine sent them her thanks, staring at the door. She turned to Logan. "So how do we open it?"

"Neville is the only one who ever entered here," Logan said as Sabine stepped up to the door.

She felt something tickling at her hand as she reached for the knob. As her hand got closer, the tickle turned into an itch, and she pulled her hand back. "Are there any other rooms?"

"We have a basement," Logan said, looking slightly nervous. "For... supplies. There are secret entrances from the kitchen and the closet under the back stairs."