Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (32 page)
Read Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) Online
Authors: Mark Gronwald
Sabine squinted and read his thoughts. There were a dozen women being held prisoner in the basement. They were guarded by several more thralls with guns. She decided that she'd need to carefully interview her new vampires. She would read them all for malice in the treatment of their humans.
She telepathically called to Melina and Deirdre and explained what she wanted. Free the women. Get them dressed. Read their minds and find a way to get them back into society without having nightmares for the rest of their lives.
Sabine turned to her guide. "Thanks Logan. Go to the den and wait for me there, please."
Sabine flipped open her phone and dialed Esmerelda's cell. When Esmerelda answered, she told her about the door and the weird feeling.
"It's a good thing you called," the old witch said. "Give me your address. I'll come over and see what you've got."
Esmerelda and Mike, along with most of the witches and some of Mike's pack, stood on the front porch of Sabine's new mansion when Bruno answered the doorbell. Kelly had wanted to come too, so Shelby was there with her. Claudia was present as Heather's bodyguard. Trent wasn't with them.
Regina and Michaela stepped up to Bruno and glared at him.
"Should we make him a toad, or a cricket?" Michaela asked.
"Now, now," Esmerelda said. "He never harmed you. Directly, anyway."
Regina and Michaela harrumphed and walked past Bruno.
Lorenzo and Ernesto joined the group at the porch, having finished their vampire remains cleanup. Melina and Deirdre chatted in Sabine's head while getting the former women prisoners bathed and dressed. Some of the women had been missing from their lives for years. Figuring out reasonable stories was going to take some time, but Melina was coming up with some awesome ones. She was working on a memory involving the Peace Corps, and another for a trip to Zimbabwe because of an email about a huge inheritance.
"This is fantastic," Esmerelda said, taking in the grand foyer. Then she focused on the paintings and busts and statues of Neville. "Except for the artwork..."
"Spoils of war," Sabine said, shrugging.
Regina and Michaela approached her and they all hugged again. They whispered thanks to Sabine for defeating Neville, and apologies for everything.
"So where are my Louis Vuitton boots?"
Regina swallowed and raised her hand, a guilty expression on her face. "They're at my apartment. I couldn't bury them, you know? You can absolutely have them back. They're yours."
"Okay, great," Sabine said. "Now that we've settled that, I have a door that needs unlocking."
Sabine walked towards the hallway that led to Neville's Chambers.
"I can help with that," Michaela said, following. "I set the sigil ward that secures that door. He had us booby trap a lot of his things."
As Regina and Michaela got to work removing all the magical traps they'd placed in Neville's chambers, the rest of the witches and werewolves and vampires gathered in the kitchen and dining room. Melina ordered Chinese food and pizza for the guests.
"Would you like to try some blood chocolate?" Deirdre asked Sabine, as she passed the tray around.
The group was already sharing thoughts about how good the treats were through their bond, so Sabine took one. Biting into it, she could hardly believe it wasn't real chocolate. Looking at it, the content was obviously tinged more red than the real thing. She knew that normal chocolate wouldn't taste like it used to with her changed senses, but the fact that Ethan and Deirdre had managed to compensate for their modified taste buds and make something so reminiscent of the real thing was nothing short of amazing.
"This is great," Sabine said, echoing the rest of the group.
Deirdre just kept walking, but her thoughts were filled with ideas about the profits they'd make selling their creations to vampire-kind.
Sabine mingled with the witches, greeting each and letting them take surreptitious readings of her with their magic. They probably didn't realize she knew what they were doing, but it tingled. The other vampires shared that they hadn't felt anything; so Sabine guessed it was some byproduct of her unique condition.
At last, she made her way to where Mike and Esmerelda were chatting with Heather.
"I brought you drinks," Sabine said, handing them each a glass of tea. "I heard from Claudia that witches are big tea drinkers."
Heather took a sip of hers. "Thanks Sabine."
"Good Earth Sweet and Spicy," Esmerelda said, sniffing. "I recognize the smell. It's one of my favorites."
"I remembered from when I was staying with you."
Mike sniffed the glass in his hand. "Mine's plain Earl Grey on ice, just the way I like. How'd you know? I didn't drink any while you were there."
"I might've said something," Heather said, half-raising her hand.
Mike laughed.
Esmerelda took a sip of her tea and regarded Sabine. "So now that Neville is defeated, what will you do?"
Sabine took a deep meditative breath and let it out, chewing her lip. "I don't know. I have a new Family to think about."
"You mean your birth mother?" Esmerelda asked.
Sabine opened her mouth to say no, but then thought about the revelation Esmerelda had shared with her. "I meant my vampire Family, but I guess I'll have to find out more about my birth parents too. I just don't think I'm emotionally ready to deal with that right now."
"And what about Doug?" Esmerelda asked. "With Lance's pack all but defeated, he insisted on going back to his apartment. But Lance is still out there."
Sabine smiled, thinking of her friend. "I think he's probably not emotionally ready for me. But maybe I can keep an eye on him."
"We put an anti-werewolf ward on his building," Esmerelda said. "So he's safe as long as he's at home."
"So I guess you'll focus on the vampires until you're settled," Heather said, looking over her shoulder at Claudia, who was talking with Heather's daughter and another witch.
"I feel like Dorothy after the tornado dropped her in the Land of Oz," Sabine said. "I barely feel like my feet are on the ground. I need to get used to this. And I think Kelly Jacobs is feeling about the same. Except for not being ready to face it yet."
"I understand that the vampire leaders will be meeting with you," Esmerelda said.
Sabine nodded. "I have to face an inquiry from something called the North American Council. They're gonna send a representative. They might kill me."
"I certainly hope they don't," Esmerelda said.
Regina and Michaela approached them, carrying a large book. The cover and binding looked like human skin, with tattoos in the shape of glyphs. The center of the cover had the same tattoo as the ones burned into Sabine's hands and feet.
"This was the book Neville had us use to perform the spell to resurrect you," Regina said. "Apparently he found it a few years ago while on a trip to Iraq. The writing in the book is Archaic Sumerian, apparently transcribed from tablets onto human skin by a warlock during the reign of Hammurabi. His notes at the beginning were written in Babylonian. We had to use a spell to translate it all, so we could understand everything before we could speak the words with any meaning behind them."
Sabine stared at the book for a minute before looking to Regina. "Why you? How did Neville get you to do the spells, anyway?"
"My father was a necromancer," Regina said. "I've always had a little talent in that area. I saw a dog get hit by a minivan full of kids one night. The kids were all traumatized, and I couldn't help myself. I animated the dog as a zombie, and made it get up and run away so that the kids would think it was okay."
"And one of Neville's people saw her do it," Michaela said.
Regina nodded and continued, her focus on Sabine. "He started watching me. Then he saw us out drinking that night before Halloween, and I guess he saw a way to manipulate me. Kill someone I cared about, and make me bring you back."
Michaela interrupted. "But Neville knew enough about the spell to know that it took a witch and a necromancer, combining their powers. Neville confronted us on Halloween night. He told us that the only way to save you was to surrender to him."
Sabine could feel her eyes getting wet. "You guys shouldn't have done that for me."
Michaela grabbed Sabine into a fierce hug. "Shut up. You would have done the same for us, and you know it."
Sabine nodded and hugged Michaela back.
"After we raised you and he told us to kill you-" Regina said.
"-And we said we'd rather die-" Michaela said, stepping back.
"-And I told you to just do it," Sabine interrupted, adding "because at that point I figured my life was toast anyway-"
"-Which proved to be wrong-" Regina said.
"Anyway," Michaela interrupted, "they made us bury you and then put us in a silver-lined jail cell downtown. We spent the rest of the year locked up. Except for that trip to get the robes."
Regina smiled at that. "Our magic couldn't reach out, but we had plenty of time to create enough charms in that cell to help us escape when the time was right."
"But his men–" Sabine started to say, when Regina interrupted.
"Let's not talk about that."
"Ever," Michaela added. "You made sure the ones involved all died. It's over."
Sabine nodded, hoping that ignoring the trauma would help them heal in a way that would never work for her. They didn't need to know the Phillip and Jason were still loose right now. She couldn't help adding "I'm here for you, if you ever need me. I can't ever repay you for what you've done."
"Just make your life count for something," Regina said. "That's all that matters."
Sabine smiled. "I'll do my best."
Regina patted the book. "So what do we do with this?"
Esmerelda took the book and studied the cover. "I think this book could be in very high demand among vampires. Whatever Neville had planned, he probably won't be the only vampire to want what that spell does."
As if in answer to Esmerelda's comment, Deirdre and Ethan stepped forward. Sabine realized that they'd been eavesdropping.
Ethan spoke for both of them. "Can you use it on us?"
Read the ongoing adventures of Sabine, available soon:
RELUCTANT TO BITE
FORCED TO BITE
…
Mark started writing in 2008 after reading the Harry Potter stories by JK Rowling. Mark is an avid reader of fantasy and romance, mostly the books his wife reads first (and three times as fast) on her Kindle. After reading several vampire books, he started getting ideas about writing as-yet-untold vampire stories. The result is this series.
Mark is the organizer for a 180 member group of local writers, which he joined in 2011.
Mark lives with his loving and patient wife Susan, sons Jared and Cody (Zack is off at grad school making them proud), a beagle, a bijon-poo, and a pair of cats. And yes, the cats get a thrill out of leaving “fur graffiti” on any black pants in range.
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