Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (4 page)

Doug shook his head. "I can't go. You don't understand. If I don't go over the edge, they'll hurt Tiana."

Bite the human. Bite the werewolf. Feed. Now.

She almost whimpered, swallowing back the horrific image the thirst had conjured of biting her best friend.

Bite something.

Already on edge, Doug's noble intentions infuriated Sabine. Did he want to sacrifice himself to protect some girlfriend? Talking through his issues would have put her over the edge, so she tried to force her way into his mind instead.

She got static where his mind should have been, and she tried to fight through it and grab a way in. Why was it so hard? She saw his expression change. She could feel that he had understood somehow what she was trying to do.

That never happened before.

Doug's eyes grew wide. "What the hell? Are you trying to read my mind? Since when did you learn how to do that?"

Sabine chewed her bottom lip, surprised at his reaction. She looked down so her hair would hang around her face as she spoke. "Sorry, okay? I just wanted to find out who Tiana was."

"You could just ask, for Christ's sake. She's my daughter."

Sabine stood there stunned for a few beats of Doug's heart. "But... you're only two years older than me! How did you...? When...? Where is she?"

"I'm twenty-seven Sabine. People have children. She's six years old and she's in a car down there with Tony's partner Gus."

"Who's her mother? And
where
is her mother?"

"Someone I met in college. She bailed after Tiana was born and left her with me." After a pause, he added "It doesn't matter."

Sabine couldn't believe her ears. "My Dougie has a little girl?" His back was turned, so she allowed herself a smile.

Doug had always been a nice guy. She imagined that he was probably a great dad. Any dad who was willing to give his life to protect his daughter had to be a great father. "We'll go retrieve Tiana and then we can talk at my place, okay?"

Doug laughed. "Yeah, like you could take on a..."

Sabine eyed him, waiting for him to come up with more. She held her mouth tight. "A what, Doug?"

"...A professional killer."

Sabine raised an eyebrow, gave him a look, and gestured at Tony with a flourish of her hands, including Tony's gun. "I think I can handle it."

Doug wiped his face in frustration.

Sabine ignored him and leaned over the front of the building to look for the partner.

A black Lincoln Town Car with tinted windows idled in the street below. Sabine recognized Gus from Tony's memories as the driver behind the wheel, his head out the window as he watched the ledge. Their gazes met, and she could see Gus mouthing a swear word as he turned off the car and opened the door. He darted across the street faster than she'd ever seen anyone move.

"I guess we'll find out how tough Tony's partner is now," Sabine said, walking over to the roof access door. It stood cracked open, held by the stone the tenants used to block it for rooftop parties. Sabine often thought the landlord should have used one of those arms that closed the door gently, but he was a cheap S.O.B. and spring loaded hinges were less expensive. Sabine pulled the door open as far as it would go, loading the springs.

Doug whispered behind her. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna show Gus the door."

Sabine listened in amazement at how quickly Gus climbed the stairs. Gus came up the last flight a few seconds later. She pushed hard, and the door slammed shut as Gus reached it.

The sharp sound of breaking bones and twisting metal jarred the early morning air. The impact left a head-sized dent in the door and sent it wobbling back into Sabine's hands. She grinned demurely to Doug as they listened to the gruesome sound of Gus hitting the far wall and bouncing down the stairs. "Let's go get Tiana, shall we?"

Doug gaped for a few seconds, then followed as she trotted down the stairs.

They paused to check on Gus where he had fallen. Sabine smelled that same musky-woodsy scent she had on Tony, and she realized from being close to both that they both gave off a similar type of warm energy. Gus was bleeding badly from his forehead, and his nose looked broken. His leg looked bent at an unhealthy angle as well.

"I think you broke his leg," Doug said, moving past Gus's body.

The blood sang to Sabine. She made sure to look away from Doug. She couldn't fight the craving any longer. She had to get rid of Doug, and quick. "Go get Tiana and meet me in the lobby. I'll check Gus for weapons."

Waiting for the sound of Doug's footsteps to recede down the stairs grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. Her body rebelled against her willpower. As soon as she was sure Doug wouldn't hear, she yanked back Gus's sleeve and sank her aching fangs into his arm. She moaned when the blood magic flooded her senses.

Her body jerked as though she'd been struck by lightning.

So different! So much power! After fasting a week, it should feel good... but not this good
. She felt tossed in the wild river of energy flowing into her, and grasped at rational thought like a boulder in the midst of rapids.
Something's wrong
. Drowning in light, her consciousness filled and felt enormously empty at the same time. Hot molten lava baked her synapses and unfolded parts of her she hadn't known existed. Pressure built in her head until it felt like it might explode. She clung to lucidity through sheer desperation, managing to lick the wound closed after only a few gulps. She fell against the wall in a daze.

Time slowed. Space expanded. Sabine felt every life form in the building. Their dreams floated to her. She stared at a bug flying around the fluorescent bulb in the stairwell, seeing it in slow motion as though the wings were beating once a second.

She'd starved herself her whole first year as a vampire, barely drinking enough to stay alive. She had always felt weak and tired, like the day after staying up all night studying for finals in college. When daylight had come and sapped what little strength she had, she'd welcomed the respite.

But now she felt full of life. Overfull. She felt like a kid on Christmas morning. She felt like she could run a marathon. Or climb Mount Everest. In a year of being undead, she had never felt so alive.

With her heightened awareness, she felt Gus starting to regain consciousness long before she heard his animalistic growl. These guys healed at an amazing rate. She snapped out of her haze, and put the suggestion in his mind to sleep. She felt her glamour extend beyond what she'd intended, reaching a dozen nearby humans, but didn't care. She always used the wrong amount.

Sabine staggered to her feet and searched Gus, noticing that his nails were longer than normal, and sharp. He seemed to have sprouted more hair. His teeth were more pointed than normal too. She checked him for weapons and found a pistol just like Tony's, a few mags full of bullets and pair of knives in wrist sheaths.

She strapped the wrist sheaths on her forearms. The tightest setting could still almost slip over her hands. She liked them, and decided to get a pair that fit. The blades were small, throwing style, and looked really cool. She toyed with one of the blades for a minute, admiring it. Her reflection looked translucent in the metal. Her reflection had returned after the resurrection, except when reflected by silver.

A silver-plated knife? Who carries silver plated throwing knives in wrist sheaths?
She put the blade back in the sheath, careful not to touch her skin with it.

She bundled the guns into the front of her "Battitude" T-shirt, holding them with one arm against her stomach. She ran down the stairs, feeling light on her feet. Pausing at the door to the lobby, she steadied herself on the wall. She wiped her mouth to make sure it wasn't bloodstained. Her fangs retracted, obeying her at last. She hoped she could pass for human enough to fool Doug. She opened the stairwell door just as Doug carried his daughter into the lobby from the front. The cute little dark-haired girl looked asleep, holding a stuffed bear.

Doug rushed up to the elevator. "Where's your place?"

"Tenth floor" Sabine replied, hitting the call button for the lift.

"No kidding! I'm on five! How long have you been in the building?"

Sabine did the math in her head. Moved to S.F. in April, not wanting to have another birthday in May alone, looked for Doug, then spent a year as a vampire. "About a year and a half. Would I sound like a stalker if I said I moved here to find you?"

Doug looked like he didn't hear her as he tried to watch the stairwell door and the front door at the same time. "Do you visit the other floors often?"

Sabine gave him a questioning look. Her skin felt like it was buzzing, and the cacophony of other people's thoughts roiling in her mind made her dizzy. She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to center herself mentally so she could focus on Doug's question.
What was it he asked? Oh, yes. Should I mention that I stop by your door every night?
"I haven't really felt like socializing with the other tenants."
Between all their random thoughts and wanting to eat them alive, it's better to be a hermit.
"Just the roof lately. Why?"

"They'll be tracking us."

The elevator made a soft ding, and the door slid open in slow motion. Doug rushed in with his little girl and started pressing the buttons for every floor.

"What are you doing?" Sabine asked, leaning against the back wall. She tried for casual, even though she felt unsteady.

"Trying to throw off the scent."

"The scent?"
So he knows they're werewolves.
"So you want to tell me what those guys are?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Sabine laughed. "You'd be surprised how open minded I am these days."

He gave her a look as his daughter mumbled something in her sleep.

Sabine's eyes moved from the girl to Doug, and his worried look. She lifted an eyebrow. "Look, I know what they are. You can be straight with me."

"How do you know?"

"It's a long story. Maybe as long as the story about why werewolves want you dead."

Doug closed his eyes and drooped. "We're in such deep shit."

"We're doing okay so far."

"Luck," Doug exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. "There are a lot of them. A whole pack. You haven't seen what they look like in wolf form. They kill to keep their little secret. We're so dead."

"Let's agree to disagree on the whole deadness thing."

Doug stared at her, then focused on her eyes. His gaze dropped to her mischievous smile. "Are you drunk or something?"

Sabine shrugged, her mind still spinning from the discovery that werewolf blood was her new favorite drink in the whole world. She made a measurement with her forefinger and thumb, and looked at him through it, squinting. "I might have had a drop or two."

Doug just shook his head and pulled the emergency stop button as the door opened on the second floor. The emergency buzzer was silent, disabled to help people move furniture and stuff. He walked out, rubbing along the walls. "I need you to put your scent on the walls too, trust me."

Sabine suppressed a giggle and played along as they "left their scent" on all the floors of the building. They stopped briefly at his apartment so he could grab a large suitcase. The sun was only seconds from cresting the horizon when they reached her apartment. She ran inside and closed the shutters and curtains as Doug locked the door.

"Do you have someplace I can put Tiana?"

Sabine put the guns on her coffee table and motioned to the bedroom on the left of the apartment. Chad's stuff was gone, and she'd planned to use it as an office from now on. It still had the convertible sofa she'd let Chad sleep on, alone. She breathed a sigh of relief that she had changed the sheets. She unfolded the sofabed and pulled some pillows from the closet.

Doug settled little Tiana in, tucking her under the covers. He gave her a kiss on the forehead before the little girl rolled on her side to snuggle her stuffed bear.

Sabine smiled at the way Doug fawned over the little girl. If only her own father had shown that much affection. She slammed the door to those thoughts.

Doug stepped back, admiring his handiwork.

"You make a great Dad, Doug."

Doug stared at his little daughter, then motioned for them to step outside to the living room. Once they were past the door, he closed it gently and whispered. "I was doing my internship at St. Francis Hospital. One night I saw too much in the ER. One of these guys came in with gunshot wounds all over. We got the guy on the operating table, and his body started rejecting the bullets. The wounds were pushing the bullets out, Sabine. I've never seen anything like it. He woke up and turned into a huge wolf, the size of a pony. He tore into a doctor. We scattered, and locked down the room as that
thing
made a meal out of a good man."

Sabine thought back to all the times that she had made meals of men. And women. If Doug knew what she was now, he'd probably think she was a
thing
too.