Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (5 page)

He seemed to be waiting for her to react.

"I'm waiting for the part that explains the rooftop."

Doug took a shaky breath and continued. "A group of werewolves came in before the police could get there. They grabbed our ID cards and records and everything, and they took us all in the back of a cargo truck out into the woods. They made us all write out suicide notes and sign them, and told us that we needed to keep quiet about what happened or we'd end up dead."

"What about the blood? Evidence?"

"They drenched the place in ammonia. We couldn't go back to work for a week."

Sabine's eyes narrowed. "Did anyone go to the cops?"

"One of the nurses went. Gladys. She was close to fifty years old and didn't believe in being bullied. She filed a report and everything, and then she
fell
off the Golden Gate Bridge." He added air quotes with his fingers.

Sabine had seen the news report. "Wow. They called it a suicide on TV. So you suspect she was murdered by the pack?"

"Definitely. She told us she was going to stand up to them. She was a fighter."

"Okay, so why come after you?"

"About a year ago I had lunch with a cop. I had no idea the werewolves were watching me, and the guy I talked to didn't even take an official statement. He just asked me about the report that Gladys had filed, and I confirmed most of what she had said. I let him convince me to go into protective custody with Tiana."

Sabine felt the sun rising over the horizon. Where it usually felt like a lead weight, today it didn't even faze her. She didn't feel sleep pulling at her at all. Was it the werewolf blood that gave her so much energy? Or could she have stayed awake before if she had just taken more blood from Chad?

She snapped out of her thoughts about the sun to focus on Doug. So Doug had been gone all year in protective custody? "That explains why we never ran into each other here."

"Yeah." He chewed on a thumbnail looking around the apartment like a trapped animal.

Sabine realized that she was spoiled by being able to read people's minds. "So why are you here?"

"It's a long story. Do you want some coffee or something?"

She thought about what was in the fridge. "I don't have any coffee. Just Pepsi and juice and stuff."

Doug nodded, smiling. "No Coke?"

She smiled back, remembering their age-old childhood soda war. "Never, my friend."

Doug stifled a yawn. "Maybe we should get some rest. It's been a long night." His eyes wandered to the walls of her apartment, which were covered in sketches of dark, violent scenes, and the lone painting of a field filled with flowers, bathed in sunlight. “Are those all yours? I remember you used to sketch–"

Sabine nodded. She couldn't help herself, and she reached out and hugged him. He hesitated, but opened his arms. She put her hands around his waist, and buried her face in his chest. Ten years of her childhood memories flooded back, and her eyes grew wet. Her heart thumped once.

"I've missed you so much, Doug."

He patted her back, hesitant at first, but then hugged her shoulders and rested his chin on her head. "We were just kids. You realize you sound a little psycho, moving here to find me."

Sabine stepped back out of his embrace and smiled. "Yeah, but you like crazy. You dated that whack-job Rosalee. You remember her?"

"I vaguely recall hiding in your backyard for a week."

"See? I'm a step up from that."

He shook his head. "I know, but ya know, I have a kid now. Thanks for sheltering us, but I can't really stick around here. You might be part of this now, but I have to focus on getting Tiana someplace safe."

"I want to help," Sabine said. She fought down her panic. She didn't want to lose him so soon after finding him.

He turned back to the guest bedroom. "We'll talk in a few hours."

Sabine grabbed the guns from the table and walked to her room. She closed the fireproof steel door and dropped the bar across it. Her bedroom was a fortified panic room, with concrete and steel all around. Nobody would walk in to find her without vital signs. Paramedics were so narrow-minded about a heart rate of one beat every two minutes and no respiration.

She fell into bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering why sleep hadn't taken her when the sun rose.

The pounding on the door was enough to wake the dead.

"Apparently not just a figure of speech," Sabine grumbled, cursing her vampire hearing. She stared at a knife sheath on her wrist as the events of the previous night came back to her. The room seemed extraordinarily bright. She groaned and got up. She stretched and loosened the kinks out of her muscles, then checked herself in the mirror.

The bedroom vanity didn't have a silver backing, so it showed her reflection just fine; along with what looked like sunlight spilling from the edges of her heavy curtains.

Sunlight?

She ignored the tangled mess of her dark hair. Her hair usually looked like she hadn't moved at all during her sleep, but that made less sense than sunlight peeking from her curtains.

More knocking. It sounded like the front door of her apartment. She pressed the small button to activate her security camera display. The screen came on and showed four views: the living room, office, balcony, and the hall in front of her apartment. Sure enough, two guys in suits were out in the hall. Doug and Tiana looked sound asleep in the office. How they could sleep through that racket was beyond her. The balcony showed a sunny view.

She checked the clock by the bed.

"Noon!?" She practically shouted it. It was the first time in a year that she had woken up before sunset.

She raised the bar and opened her bedroom door. As she tiptoed toward the front door, the men on the other side knocked again.

"Ms. Christiansen? Sabine? Open the door please."

They must have heard her. Sabine reached out with her senses to read the men's minds. One was easier than the other, so she focused on reading his surface thoughts.
Charlie Carpenter, private detective. Doctor Kimball could be here. Pack wants him. Stay behind Trent, he's Alpha. Tenant records said a Sabine lived here, they might be together.

She connected with the other man's mind too, even though he put up a decent resistance.
Need to retrieve Doug Kimball. Wonder who this Sabine is.

Sabine's skin crawled as the desire to try glamour on them fought with her fear. Using that dark power scared her more than anything else about being a vampire. It felt like trying to control an erupting volcano. She could alter the men's perception of reality and send them away with the idea that they hadn't found Doug; assuming Sabine could control it. She'd had a lot of practice with telepathy, so she focused on that instead.

She reached out and forced her will into their minds, taking control of their bodies. The Alpha, Trent, put up a good fight, but he succumbed after a few seconds. She opened the door and regarded the werewolves in her hallway.

Again, she smelled the woodsy, musky scent and sensed their energy. She now identified that smell and their energy with werewolves.

The thirst called to her.
Euphoria
.

Her fangs ached, and she almost lost her concentration as she fought to keep them from descending.

Feed.

I can't. I might lose control if I'm power drunk like I was with Gus.

She walked out into the hall and put a hand on each of their chests, which doubled her mental hold on them. She needed the boost, feeling her concentration slipping.

"Now boys, what are you thinking? You're making such a racket out here. You're going to disturb the neighbors."

They both apologized in unison when she sent the command, and she laughed. Then she held Charlie's face in her hands. She stared into his eyes, and shivered as she released a small burst of glamour, hoping it wasn't too much.
Trent wants you to wait in the car. If he doesn't come out in fifteen minutes, drive home.

The handsome young detective walked away down the hall towards the elevator. Now that the command was set in motion she could concentrate on the big guy.

And was he ever big. Sabine stood five and a half feet without heels, and she had to look up to see the stubble on his chin. He was taller than Doug and broader. Her gaze traversed him from top to bottom and back. He was athletic and strong. Not lanky like a runner but firm like a fighter. She ran her hand over his shoulder, the contact increasing the bond between them, noticing that his muscles corded with the effort to break free from her mental control. She tried to tilt his face so she could stare into his eyes, but he fought her control.

"What am I going to do with you, Trent?"

He didn't respond. His rebellious brown eyes stared straight ahead. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face from the strain.

She grabbed his hand. "Come on, big guy. Step inside and let's talk about where we go from here, shall we?"

Sabine pulled him gently and he stumbled after her, fighting every step. She closed the door behind them and marched him into the room. She pointed to the sofa. "Sit."

He struggled against the command but finally sat.

She could hear Doug stirring in the next room, and cursed under her breath. She couldn't have this guy here when Doug came out. She grabbed his face, and stared into his eyes, but he slammed them shut.

"Damn, you're a pain in the ass. Has anyone ever told you that?" She could feel his anger spiking and strengthening his will. She decided tact might be easiest. "If I let you talk, will you stop fighting me?"

He blinked once.

She released control of him from the shoulders up.

He glared, staring at her chin in an apparent attempt to avoid her gaze. "What are you?"

Sabine laughed. "Me first. You came here looking for Doug. I'm guessing you want to kill him for talking to the cops about your werewolf pack's terrorist activities. I need you to leave him alone. Forever."

Trent opened his mouth, shock on his face, then closed it. "My what?"

Sabine put her hands on her hips. "Give it up, wolfie. I know what you are."

Trent stared at her for a minute. "What are you?"

"Let's keep the subject on the big bad wolf and how I want Doug's little piggies left alone."

Trent shook his head. "Look, you have it all wrong. We're here to help Doug, not hurt him. We can take Doug and his daughter someplace safe."

"They're safe with me. But you came here looking for me. Tony Diamato knew someone named Sabine foiled their plan to kill Doug.
Ipso facto
, you talked to Tony Diamato. Tony and Gus tried to kill Doug last night; so tell me again how you're not just here to finish what they started?"

"How much do you know about those guys?"

Sabine paced. "I know that Gus, Tony, you and Charlie are all werewolves. I know that a guy named Lance is your pack leader. One of the wolves from the pack accidentally went to a hospital where Doug was working, and killed a doctor in the ER. Lastly, the wolf pack threatened to kill all the humans working in the ER that day to keep the story from getting out."

"So you know about werewolves." He sniffed. "And you're what? I've never smelled something like you. You're not human either. Witch? Sorcerer? Demon? Vam-"

Trent's eyes went wide as Sabine gave him a closed lip grin. "We were talking about you, not me."

"A witch could have bespelled us, but you don't smell like a witch. A demon would smell like brimstone. Sorcerers don't have mind control spells, so that leaves Fae, angels and vampires; and your hand was cold. But you don't smell of the grave."

Sabine stared at him. "All those things exist?"

"How could you not know?" His brow furrowed in confusion.

Sabine tried to keep her shock from showing. "Let's talk about how you're going to leave Doug alone for the rest of his life."

"But it's noon, and you're awake. You can't be a vampire." Trent stared at her, deep in thought.
She can't be a vampire. There shouldn't be any vampires in the city. The ward...

Sabine heard his thoughts and wondered what they meant. He was shielding her to some degree, so it wasn't clear. "It sounds like you know a lot about paranormal types."

"We prefer the term 'preternatural'."

Breathe like you need to
, Sabine thought. Maybe this man could help her, but she couldn't let her curiosity and excitement hurt Doug and Tiana. "Let's get back to your pack leaving us alone."

Trent eyed her. "There's a problem with that."

Sabine gave him her best annoyed look. "Nothing you can't overcome, I trust?"

"Tony and Gus are from Lance's pack, yes. Charlie and I... are not. We're from a rival pack. It's in
our
pack's interests to protect Doug and the other doctors from Lance and his pack."

Sabine laughed. "Bullshit. You can't let the secret of your existence out any more than they can."

"Our pack believes in peaceful coexistence with humans. We prefer to talk to people and convince them that it's in everyone's best interest to keep quiet. Failing that, we turn to the witch council for help. Lance's pack doesn't. They think it's easier just to kill people. They're trying to take over control of our territory, the San Francisco peninsula. Doug and the others are leverage we can use to keep them from going too far."

Sabine felt honesty in what he was saying, but couldn't read deeply enough into his thoughts to verify the truth. Emotions were easy to pick up, but he might be an expert liar. "So you're the good guys, and they're the bad guys."

"Right. And you're holding me against my will, which makes you one of the bad guys."

Sabine shook her head, a grin brightening her face. "I'm just careful. Do you prefer a girl who takes chances?"

She knelt down in front of Trent, sliding her hands up his knees to his waist. She pushed his legs apart and inched closer to him. She could feel his ragged breath on her cheek as her hands caressed up his sides. He drew air in through his nose, smelling her. She almost lost her focus as her hands explored him. She looked into his eyes, and tried to remember to breathe like a human.

His thoughts scattered for a moment. Sabine sensed his bewilderment, and a confusing sudden rush of attraction.

Bite him. Feed.

She fought the thirst, swallowing hard and taking a few quick shallow breaths that probably sounded like panting to Trent. She tilted her head, her lips so close to his pulse that she could pucker and touch it. She pulled back to whisper in his ear. "I like taking chances."

His pulse throbbed. She heard his thought that her eyes were beautiful. He wondered why she was protecting Doug. A primitive urging drove him to want a female that would be a challenge. He thought he sensed her desire. He wondered what passed over her expression.
Guilt?

She popped the safety snap of his holster and slid his Beretta 92 out.

"What the hell?" He strained against her control but gave up after she stepped back holding his pistol.
What game is she playing? She could have taken my gun without the tease. The way she looked at me... there was something there.
"Give that back."

She tried not to smile at the thoughts she had overheard. She turned around and walked over to the kitchen, casually placing his gun on the counter. Facing away from him, she tried to calm her nerves and make her fangs retract so he wouldn't see them. She took a calming breath and forced her fangs to recede. She went to the fridge. "Want anything to drink?"

His Alpha male pride boiled over as he threw everything he had against the invisible force that held him. He teetered on what felt like the brink of regaining control but fell back, his mind exhausted with the effort. He glared at her with a sneer. "Do you have anything besides blood?"

"I see what you did there. That would imply I was a vampire," she said, glaring back at him. She could have a fridge full of bagged blood if she hadn't read the minds of the staff at the blood bank. Their supply barely kept up with demand for transfusions to save lives. But she did have two bags of Chad's blood in the meat drawer.

She bent over to rummage through Chad's leftovers. She sensed Trent's heart rate pick up and guessed he was staring at her backside. "I have beer, Pepsi, orange juice, and bottled water."

She straightened and turned toward him, popping the top on a can of Pepsi. She took a swig, watching him.

His gaze narrowed as he watched her slowly. "Do you have Coke?"

Sabine smiled. "No Coke, Pepsi."

He watched her take another sip. "How can you drink that?"

"Pepsi is way better than Coke. It's sweeter and the bubbles are smaller."

He glared at her. "That's not what I meant. If you're a vampire, you shouldn't be able to drink Coke."

"It's not Coke, it's Pepsi."

"Damn it, you know what I mean."

She smiled at him, and wondered if she wasn't a garden-variety vampire. Did typical vampires really have trouble with drinking Coke or Pepsi? They definitely had trouble with being conscious during the day. And with stakes in the chest. She put those thoughts aside. "Do you want a drink or not?"

He took a calming breath. "Water is fine, thanks."

She grabbed a bottle and closed the fridge. The effort to hold him felt like carrying a huge weight, and she didn't know how much longer her energy from that morning feeding on werewolf blood would last. She shivered at the thought of biting Trent, but snapped out of it.
I'm not an animal
. What was the worst he could do if she released him? As Sabine approached, she dropped her hold on Trent.