Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) (6 page)

"Heads up," she said as she tossed the bottle.

He caught it easily, and stood. Fast as lightning, he grabbed Sabine by the hand that had been holding the water bottle and twisted it behind her back, coming up behind her.

Sabine didn't resist. "Watch it, will you? I'll spill my drink!"

Trent dropped the water bottle and grabbed for a set of handcuffs he carried. The door to Sabine's office opened and Doug appeared, rubbing his eyes. Little Tiana stood by his leg.

Doug took in the scene. "What's all the racket? Can't you and the boyfriend do that in your room? There's a child present."

Trent froze. He let go of Sabine's arm and walked over to the counter. He retrieved his gun and holstered it before turning to Doug and schooling his expression. "It's not what you think."

Sabine shook out the arm Trent had bent behind her and took a sip of her soda. "He was just showing me how to take down a bad guy."

Doug laughed. "Like you need lessons."

The edges of Sabine's mouth tilted up. "Trent is actually a fountain of information. You'd be surprised by what he has to say."

"Daddy, I have to go potty," Tiana said.

"Okay honey. Right over there." Doug led his little girl over to the bathroom by the front door, and shut her in after making sure it was properly stocked.

Sabine watched as Doug went to the fridge to grab a Pepsi. She recalled the days when they used to visit with each other as kids and always raided the fridge regardless of whose house it was. Just like old times. Except for the nasty werewolf P.I., and her being undead. "Trent here is a Private Eye. He says he wants to protect you."

Doug nodded, then took a swig of Pepsi. He gave Trent a once-over look. "Do you know him or something?"

"Nope."

Doug fidgeted with the soda can. "Who hired you?"

"Nobody. I'm part of a group of people with a vested interest in keeping you and the other staff from the hospital incident safe."

Sabine snorted. "Furry people. He's a werewolf from a rival pack to Lance's."

Doug's pulse jumped. "So what are you going to do to protect us?"

Trent stared daggers at Sabine before turning to Doug. "We'll need to get you to a safe house with a few of my people."

Doug sipped his drink and paused. "What about my daughter and Sabine?"

Trent glanced Sabine's way with disdain. "Your daughter comes along." He pointed to Sabine, "But
she's
not welcome."

Doug ground his teeth. "She's my friend. They might find her here and hurt her. Isn't she worth protecting too?"

Trent glared. "She can take care of herself; so she's not welcome where we're going."

The toilet flushed and Tiana opened the door.

"Wash your hands sweetie," Doug said, looking her way.

"I'm washing them," the little girl squeaked as the sink started.

Doug stood by the bathroom door and stared at Trent. "I'm not going anywhere without Sabine. She saved our lives this morning."

Sabine admired her old friend as he stood up to this much larger man with preternatural strength. Doug had always been courageous. Except when it came to explaining what happened that night when he ran out. Not that she dwelled on it.

She thought about the sun shining outside, and the literature she had read about vampires. Most said that sunlight burned a vampire to ashes. Daylight dispelled the force of darkness that allowed vampires to cheat death. Even when vampires hid from direct sunlight, most stories said that vampires could not move during the day.

There was also the vampire hunter forum; where real people supposedly had real encounters with "dead" vampires during the day. She
should
be in a death sleep right now. What if being awake now meant that the sun wouldn't hurt her? Maybe the resurrection spell was helping? But why had she been forced to sleep all year? Was it because she'd starved herself? Was the energy from the werewolf blood so potent it overcame the sun? She'd have to test her limits.

Tiana came out and made a bee-line for Doug. She hugged his leg.

He picked her up and rested her on his hip. "Tiana, honey, this is Sabine. I've known her since I was your age. Say hi."

Sabine patted the little girl's arm and smiled. "Hi sweetie. It's really nice to meet you."

The girl hugged her father. She mumbled "Hi."

Sabine reached up and mussed Tiana's dark brown hair. It was almost the same color as her own. For a moment, Sabine wished that things had been different, and that Doug had chosen her instead of Tiana's mother. Sabine wondered what her own children would have looked like. That dream was dead. Doug had a beautiful daughter, whose eyes looked at Sabine with a sense of wonder.

"She's adorable, Doug."

"We really need to get going," Trent said, looking at his watch and pulling out his phone.

Sabine finished her soda and tossed the empty can in the recycle bin. She walked to her bedroom door. "I'll just freshen up. If I'm not ready in ten, you can leave without me."

"Hold on-" Doug started, but Sabine shut the door.

Sabine threw open her curtains, then the steel shutters. Her bedroom window faced east with a great view of the bay, so the Noon-time sunlight didn't enter the room directly. She squinted against the brightness as she worked the crank to rotate the window open. The light stung her eyes, inducing an instant migraine. She went to her closet for her box of old sunglasses. The spots in her vision faded as she put on a pair and looked out again.

She slowly reached her hand out through the window. Her fingers inched towards the sunlight. Just a little more, and she'd know whether she'd burn or not.

"Are you okay in there?"

Sabine jumped at the sound of Doug's voice. "Just give me a minute!" She reached out, and for the first time in a year, she felt the sun on her.

She gaped at her hand in shock.

It's not burning!

The sun felt like an oven, and she noticed a tingle in her palms and feet. The pentagram tattoo on her extended palm seemed to glow and ripple. She giggled as she closed the window and drew the curtains.

Sabine did a happy dance, suppressing a squeal. She could stay with Doug. She could pass for human.

Okay, what do I need to pack?
She was so giddy she felt like bouncing off the walls.
I have a duffel bag someplace. This is so awesome! Maybe I could just leave everything. No, need at least a change of clothes.
She ran to the attached bathroom and turned on the shower. She stripped and showered vampire-fast, then brushed her hair out while looking through her closet. What to wear?

A few minutes later, Sabine walked out wearing dark sunglasses, her knee-length black leather coat with the sword in the back sheath, a black leather bustier over a black turtleneck, tight leather pants, and black leather knee-high boots with buckles up the sides. She wore her hair loose and topped with a wide-brimmed dark hat. She dropped her duffel with spare clothes and the werewolves' guns on the floor. Her gold cross hung on the chain around her neck, safely hidden under the turtleneck.

Trent glared at her costume. "What's that?"

She smiled. "It's my vampire hunter costume. It's Halloween. It could double as a werewolf hunter costume."

Trent stretched his neck from side to side, cracking the bones. "I wonder if you know the meaning of discrete."

Sabine's grin widened. "You want me."

Trent choked on a laugh.

Doug and Tiana came out with their suitcase, and little Tiana's eyes went wide as she stared at Sabine's costume. Tiana whispered "Cool."

Sabine looked back at Trent and raised an eyebrow. "See? From the mouths of babes and all. I have the Kid Stamp Of Approval."

Trent sighed. "Let's get out of here."

They followed Trent out of the apartment, with Sabine locking everything up after them and activating her security system.

"Can we have Mickie D's?" Tiana asked as she walked down the hall, holding Doug's hand.

Doug smiled down at her, and without even hesitating he said, "Sure, sweetie."

Trent scowled. "You should make her say 'please'."

Doug smiled at his little girl. "It was implied in the way she asked. Wasn't it, sweetheart?"

The little girl skipped to keep pace. "Yep!"

Sabine tried to remember a loving exchange like that with her own father. He had always been cold and distant, preoccupied with work. She shook off the bad memories and smiled as they entered the elevator. Today would be the first time in a year that she would stand in the sunshine.

"What are you smiling about?" Trent asked Sabine, hitting the button for the lobby.

She glanced at his surly expression as the elevator doors closed. "I've figured you out."

"Oh really?" He said as the elevator started to drop.

She took off her dark glasses and leaned towards the polished steel doors. She pretended to check the reflection of her teeth, watching for his reaction. She smiled as his eyes went wide with the realization that she was casting a reflection. Lucky there wasn't any silver in the metal.

She looked at his scowling face in reverse in the metal. "You're a party-pooper."

Tiana giggled.

Sabine decided that from now on, she would consider Halloween her birthday. It had more meaning now than May 7th did anyway. She had no idea how long she'd live this half-life, but she pledged to celebrate the anniversary of this day as long as she could. She tried memorizing every detail as if she was seeing it for the first time. Her darkest sunglasses turned out to be a wise choice. Even with them, she squinted against the painful brightness.

Charlie looked nervous, driving Trent's beat up eighties' Cadillac like it was made of glass. Trent rode shotgun, watching Sabine through the vanity mirror. Trent's jaw worked as he gritted his teeth. He broadcast thoughts about what preternatural creature she might be. Doug sat in the middle of the back seat while Sabine and Tiana played airplane with their hands out the opposite back windows.

The little girl warmed up to Sabine, sharing a sense of wonder at little things. They looked across Doug and smiled at each other; each mimicking what the other was doing.

Sabine knew it was only about sixty degrees outside the car, but where the sun touched her leather, the heat reminded her of a sauna. Her body seemed unable to sweat, but she could feel her energy evaporating, taking her strength with it.

They arrived at the McDonald's restaurant across from Golden Gate Park. They piled out of the car and walked to the door. A small band of homeless people sitting by the door scattered at the sight of Trent.

As Sabine stepped inside the restaurant, she stopped to savor the cool air flowing from a vent in the ceiling. When Trent gave her a suspicious look, she pointed outside. "What was that about? Those homeless people took off in a hurry."

Trent shrugged. "They know this is my territory."

Almost half the customers were in Halloween costumes already, and Sabine smiled at how Trent actually stood out most, because of his surly demeanor.

The werewolves ordered several burgers each, while Sabine decided to have water. She knew the water wouldn't help, but they didn't exactly have blood in the fountain drink lineup. She noticed a large woman dressed like a clown heading to the bathroom. She hated herself for the thought, but excused herself from the group. She casually followed the woman through the bathroom door.

Sabine entered the woman's mind as the door closed, and wedged a foot against the door so nobody would disturb them. She used telepathy to draw the woman to her, still afraid to use glamour to cloud her victim's mind.

The woman's pulse began to race, and joy started to radiate off her in waves. Confused, Sabine held back and looked at the woman, who then seemed to feel longing and loss.
What the hell?
Everyone she had bitten up until now had been afraid, and she'd had to wipe their memories. At least after she learned how with Chad.

On an impulse, she released her control over the woman and pulled her sunglasses off. "Do you know what I need?"

The woman nodded, tilting her neck. "I love it. I thought I'd never feel the joy of a vampire bite again. I... miss it."

"You know about vampires?" Sabine asked, shocked.

The woman nodded. "I should warn you, rules and all, that Logan Ericsson claims me as Blood Host. I haven't sensed him for months, and I'm afraid something might have happened."

Sabine wasn't sure what the woman meant by a Blood Host, so she put that aside. "There are other vampires in the city?"

"There were," she said, her eyes sad.

"But... you like being bitten? You don't mind the pain?"

"Just send pleasure into my mind when you do it, and there's no pain at all."

Sabine hadn't tried that before, and wasn't sure how, but she was willing to try. This situation seemed too good to be true. "But what about you? You really don't mind losing some blood?"

"Oh, please. I have high blood pressure as it is, so you're actually helping me. I'm also diabetic, and something in vampire saliva tends to level that out too. You're helping me as much as yourself."

"Oh. My. God," Sabine started to get misty eyed with joy. "Where have you been this last year? I never thought I could actually
help
people!"

Sabine considered reading the woman's mind, but she was nervous about doing the wrong thing, and somehow offending the woman. "What's your name?"

"Janet Davis. But you could have read me, it's okay. I know how it goes."

Sabine gave the woman a big hug, surprising her. "Sabine Christiansen. It's truly a pleasure to meet you Janet, and I'm very grateful."

Janet looked a little confused. "I actually have to pee here..."

"Oh, Sorry," Sabine laughed. "I'll make it quick then."

Sabine did her best to send lots of pleasure and gratitude into Janet's mind, and sank her teeth into the first willing neck ever offered to her. Aside from Chad's, but she blamed that on Renfield Syndrome. Janet's blood was sweet, but didn't have the kick of werewolf blood. The pleasure thing seemed to be working. Janet moaned, obviously enjoying it. A lot. Sabine started to feel a rush of pleasure herself, as it echoed back between them.

Suddenly uncomfortable, Sabine closed the wound and stepped back. She couldn't help doing a mental comparison between this and taking blood by force. This was... victimless.

Janet staggered back against the counter in a daze of pleasure. Her limbs shook with little tremors, and her voice was husky. "That is an
awesome
high, I have to tell you."

"I wasn't sure I could do the pleasure thing," Sabine admitted.

Janet walked like a drunk into a toilet stall. She closed the door and called back "Well, you totally nailed it."

Sabine washed her face clean. There was no mirror in the bathroom, so she used her compact to make sure she didn't have any blood on her that might tell the werewolves what she had been up to. "So there's a vampire named Logan in San Francisco? I thought I was the only one, except I guess for the one that attacked me last year."

Janet finished her business and flushed, coming over to the sink to wash her hands. Her eyes were dreamy as she recalled her favorite vampire. "Yes, Logan. He told me he was born in 1250, but he looks like he's in his twenties. He's tall and ruggedly handsome. I never really felt worthy. I think he may have ditched me."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm very glad we met."

Janet looked up from washing her hands. "Hey, can we exchange numbers? Or...", then her eyes went wide at the reflection in Sabine's compact. "Oh my-"

Sabine felt a familiar presence outside the bathroom door and entered Janet's mind to quiet her. She put a finger to her lips, then released Janet so she could send her a thought telepathically. For some reason, she felt a stronger link with Janet than she had with anyone else before.
There's a man standing outside the door, and I don't want him to hear us talking about vampires. Just think what you want to say.

I remember doing this with Logan; it's so cool. You have a reflection! And you're out in the middle of the day!

Sabine didn't want to talk about the resurrection, and how that might play a part. She pulled out her cell phone. "Let's exchange numbers."

Janet pulled her phone from her purse, and they programmed each other's information in.

Can I trust you, if I leave your memory of me?
Sabine asked when they were done.

"Of course!" Janet said, feeling it to the depth of her soul.
I'm a Blood Host. I know the rules. You don't have a Blood Host or thralls?

Sabine shook her head, not sure what Janet was talking about. She wished she could tell Doug and that he'd accept her. She was pretty sure Doug would run for the hills.

You're like the nicest vampire I've met, Sabine. You're not a monster. And you could help other people like me.

Sabine sighed, still in shock and not fully understanding what Janet was thinking. "I should get back to my friend. Thank you so much, Janet."

"Call me. Anytime. Really. There are more people like me that you could help."

Sabine put on her sunglasses and opened the door to the bathroom.

Trent stood there with a scowl on his face.

She walked past him. "There a line for the men's room or something?"

Trent watched Janet walk out, eyeing her neck. His nostrils flared. "Or something."

He watched the women walk back to their respective tables before returning to his seat next to Sabine. He turned to her. "What was that all about?" She sipped her water from a straw, looking for all the world as though nothing had happened. "Would you like a full report of my bathroom activities?"

"As a matter of fact-"

Doug cut in. "Is that really necessary?"

Tiana watched them over her chicken nuggets with curiosity. "Daddy doesn't make me tell him what I did. You must be in trouble, Sabine."

Trent eyed Sabine, then unwrapped a burger. "Never mind. So why didn't you at least order a Coke, Sabine?"

"You said yourself, vampires can't drink Coke." She smiled sweetly at the big dumb werewolf. "Now, if they had Pepsi..."

Trent's jaw worked as he gritted his teeth. His glare looked like it could cut steel.

Doug shook his head, smiling. "My uncle used to work for Coca-Cola so my family was all about their stuff. When we were kids, Sabine always used to bring Pepsi over just to get a reaction from my folks."

"I could see her doing that," Trent said.

Charlie, the smaller werewolf, paused between bites. "Trent, she's feisty! Just like-"

"Shut it, Charlie," Trent interrupted.

Sabine gave Charlie a questioning look. It would be so easy to pick Charlie's mind for the whole story on Trent. Did she really want to know him? Did she want a relationship with Trent? The one time she'd slept with a guy since becoming a vampire had ended with him becoming obsessed with her. Chad might have already been obsessed in his own bizarre way before, but it got worse after she had started using her powers on him.

She shrugged and decided to put Trent out of her mind. He would be gone soon enough anyway.

Tiana finished chewing a chicken nugget and took a drink from her Coke. Then she paused before taking another bite, regarding Sabine. "If you're a vampire, where are your fangs?"

Sabine stopped sipping her water with a surprised look, for a second thinking that the girl knew. Then she smiled, thinking that little Tiana was a clever girl. She rubbed the girl's head.

"Technically, I'm dressed as a vampire
hunter
. But if I was a vampire, I'd have-" Sabine held up a finger. "Just a second."

She reached into her pocket and turned around. She held her hands to her mouth for a few seconds, and then turned back. Everyone watched her as she paused.

"How about now?" She said, smiling with fangs showing.

Trent jumped back from the table in a fighting stance, and Charlie followed his lead.

People stopped eating and stared at them.

Sabine shook her head and pulled one of the 'fangs' off and held it between her thumb and forefinger. "Caps, you big babies! They're not real."

Tiana laughed. Doug's expression was unreadable.

Trent grabbed Charlie by the jacket. "This never happened, you understand?"

Charlie nodded. They sat back down and Trent looked pissed. Tiana giggled. Doug patted her head, but his eyes stayed glued to Sabine.

Sabine wondered if Trent would spontaneously grow fur if he got too upset. His eyes had a slight glow to them.

Everyone settled back to their meal. Sabine put her fake fangs back in their case. She caught Trent glaring at the container, and winked at him. His mouth formed a hard line, and she wondered how much she could yank his chain before he lost control.

Watching everyone eat, Sabine could only regret that she couldn't eat solid food anymore. So she pulled out her phone and logged into the vampire hunter forum. She wondered what would drive someone to join this site. If vampires erased any memory of their existence, then nobody would know that they existed. So these people were either crackpots, or people who had never had their memories erased.

She had a sudden recollection of the people she had bitten before she had learned how to wipe memories. She ticked them off in her mind. After she learned to wipe memories, she had tried to track down everyone she had bitten. The first four - from the night she rose out of the ground - still eluded her. And also the morgue attendant from the night of the resurrection. The news had said an attendant had died from heart failure that night. She had hoped it wasn't the man she'd bitten, but she didn't have the courage to check in there and see. She'd been a soulless monster that night. Literally. She had felt no remorse as she drained the attendant. She wanted to forget that night ever happened.

The werewolves started on their third burger each, with more burgers and fries still left to consume. Sabine opened the internet browser on her phone, curious if the first four people she had bitten had turned to this very vampire hunter forum for support when police and friends thought they were insane. She typed into the search bar "vampire attacked me" and clicked "Search Threads".