Vanse glanced around the table, neither acknowledging nor reacting to the looks thrown his way, until his eyes rested on Tatya. She looked away as the weight of his intent pressed on her; even without eye contact, she was aware of his gaze.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I'm calling this meeting to order. Let's begin. We are part of a new task force. Except for Seigneur Vanse, that is. We have requested the help of the FBI," Corwin nodded to the suits, "and the rest of you spend far too much time in each other's company to need introducing. Bellamy, your report."
The young, fresh-faced officer shuffled his papers. "In the last week, ten young men have been admitted to St. Raphael’s. They're between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, and are, or were, extremely active in various sports. All are in excellent physical condition with no known health problems, but every single one is now in a coma. Despite running exhaustive tests, the doctors are at a loss as to any possible cause for their condition."
As Bellamy talked, Tatya thinned her shields and scanned the group. The usual mix of colors visible in the auras of people sitting together showed varying shades of the blues and greens of intelligence mixed with smears of maroons, yellows, and browns from whatever else was going on in their personal lives.
One FBI man's aura spiked red every time he raised his eyes to Vanse—probably some history there; and one of the young policemen showed flashes of a bright yellow.
She picked up puzzlement from some, curiosity from others. So far, she detected nothing too much out of the ordinary. Except of course, Vanse had no aura to read.
"Thank you, Bellamy. Seigneur Vanse."
She found it hard to concentrate on the group while Vanse was speaking. He was using a trace of glamour to hold their attention. She sent the faintest flush of energy, strengthening her barriers. Vanse's gaze flicked toward her. She ignored the trace of a smirk, turning her focus to the others, whose eyes were fixed on him in total concentration.
"Sheriff Corwin asked me to find out if any of my people were involved in this. I have made extensive inquiries, and I assure you, even though there is something unusual about the condition of these men, no one that swears allegiance to me is connected to this."
"How can you guarantee that?" The sharp-faced woman in the FBI suit spoke.
Vanse turned the full force of his gaze on her. To her credit, she only flinched a tad.
"Because I can. That is how our society works."
No one argued with the master vampire. Tatya knew he'd not used any glamour while making that statement.
In general, people accepted vamps. As long as they kept to their own, they were considered just another race. Yes, their habits and beliefs were different, but if they observed the rule of law the same as everyone else, they were tolerated. They had little impact on most people's lives, but there were always those who were fascinated by the dark promise vampirism offered. Other paranormals, werewolves, the fae species, and those with darker magic kept to their side of the human/supernatural divide most of the time. It was better that way for all concerned.
"Smith, Burton, liaise with Bellamy here. You suits can use your contacts and determine if there are any similar incidents happening anywhere else."
The four FBI members stiffened, and one glared at the Sheriff.
Tatya stifled a grin. They'd have to get used to Corwin's bluntness quickly, or sparks would fly.
"Everybody else, make this a priority. Didion, Leipman, check out the victims,"
"Patients," Bellamy said.
Corwin gave him a dirty look. "Call them what you want, but check out their background, recent activities, and see if you can find anything, even the smallest detail, they have in common. Do they hang out at the same place, and so on? Bellamy will tell you when the next meeting is scheduled. Seigneur, I'll keep in contact with you myself."
Vanse nodded.
Chairs scraped as the group stood, the local officers talking among themselves as they left, and making a point of excluding the FBI.
"Thank you, Seigneur. We appreciate your help."
"It is my pleasure, Sheriff." His glance lingered on Tatya. "We'll keep looking." Vanse swept out of the room.
When he left, Tatya let out the breath she'd been holding.
"Well, what's your impression? Did you get anything from the suits?"
"The guy at the end has a lot of anger toward vamps, but otherwise, their emotions were pretty well shielded."
"Yeah, it figures. I believe those suits get special training to block empaths reading their minds. What reactions did you catch when Vanse walked in? I asked him to wait; I wanted his entrance to have maximum impact."
"Oh, it worked. Mostly surprise, but Didion, is it? The young blonde guy?"
Corwin nodded.
"Interesting reaction. I'd call it horrified fascination."
"Bellamy, change him for Rathmore. He's worked these kinds of cases. We don't need someone freezing at a vital moment or deciding he wants to join the chorus, now do we?"
Bellamy scribbled a note and waited with his pen hovering over his notepad.
"That's it, kiddo. Off you hop. Chop, chop."
Bellamy didn't bat an eye, picked up his jacket and left.
"He's a good kid, and given time, he'll make a good cop."
Tatya and Corwin followed Bellamy out of the room.
The Sheriff escorted her as far as the front entrance. "I want you in on this one, Tatya. I got a feeling."
Corwin possessed more than a smidgen of intuitive talent and when he got a feeling, Tatya had learned from experience, it was best to pay attention.
"Afternoons I'm at the hospital. If..." she left the thought unspoken.
"That goes without saying. Your aunt's the priority. But if any of your pals get wind of anything, give me a ring straight away."
"You'll know as soon as I know."
He gave her arm a fatherly squeeze. "Take care of yourself. I'll be in touch."
Tatya buttoned her coat tight as she left the building, stopping at the bottom of the steps as a whisper of something caught her attention. Darkness pressed against the pools of pale yellow shed by the car park lights; the hum of a car engine increased and faded on the main road. She touched the image of her protective deity, scanned the area, letting her senses probe beyond her immediate line of vision. Something was off kilter. Something unknown and yet familiar.
She checked her shields, sweeping a cloak of invisibility over her. Another of Aunt Lil's early spells—learned when a few kids at school had thought they could bully her. It was an easy spell that worked a treat. It didn't make you invisible, but somehow when people saw you, their eyes slid by you, and they never registered your presence.
With warning signals sparking, Tatya hurried toward her car, her psychic radar checking in front and behind as her heels clicked a loud staccato. She pulled the car keys out of her jeans pocket, flexing her other hand, readying to draw on her power if needed. Something wasn't right. She paused. The silence. That was it. She couldn't hear a thing. No leaves rustling in the wind. No evening birds. Absolute silence.
"Excuse me." The voice, deep, melodious, pleasing, dripped an overwhelmingly dominant glamour.
Tatya froze.
The speaker continued, "I only need a minute of your time."
She couldn't move.
A hand on her shoulder dug into her flesh, turning her bones to liquid as someone turned her around. "Ah, Tatiana. How good to see you again."
Her heart sped up, a current of panic surged through her. She struggled to break the holding spell, but the granite wall of someone else's will blocked her power.
"Don't fight me."
Tatya managed to look up and gasped as she took in the startling blue eyes and thick red-gold curls falling forward as the vampire bent toward her. Taking hold of the chain around her neck, he snapped it off and tossed it on the ground. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
With one hand, he grasped a handful of her hair, s
lowly pulled her head back, and exposed her throat. She stared up at the sky as the clouds parted to reveal a full moon. It was the perfect moment. He stroked her jugular, pulses of euphoric pleasure emanating from his fingertips. His fangs pierced her skin, sliding in deeper as he drank, and she gasped as an exquisite thrill spread cell deep throughout her entire body.
Chapter Five: Metamorphosis
The world was different. Even with her eyes closed, Tatya knew. How was it different? That wasn't clear yet. Opening her eyes, she immediately squeezed them shut as a cascade of colors flew along her optic nerves, flooding her brain. She tried again, this time squinting through barely opened lids. The blaze persisted, moving, vibrant.
She reopened her eyes, adjusting to the light. A living rainbow quivered with movement in front of her. Her gaze left the rainbow and traveled up to the ceiling. That, too, moved, synchronized with her breathing, descending and rising. She felt incredible, had she ever been more alive?
Her attention shifted, drawn by delicious waves of fragrance emitted by a nearby object. She stretched out her fingers until they came into contact with the object and she lifted it close to her nose. The perfume was heavenly, and she leaned back, closing her eyes, inhaling the scent for several minutes, lost in pleasure. Examined up close, the object shone not with one color, but with deeper and lighter shades swirling together. Extraordinary how she'd never noticed any of these details before.
Moving her fingers along one part of the object, something sharp pricked her finger. Letting the item fall, she observed a tiny red globule where it had pierced her skin. She licked the red droplet. Sensations, liquid black iron, and rich earth ran along her tongue. The craving for more consumed her. She sucked harder, but the liquid dried up.
Someone was coming. She recognized this person, and she loved him. His love for her was a stream of golden crystal connecting their hearts. She would do whatever he wanted. She was his to command. Her purpose in life was to please him. She loved him, and he loved her. Nothing else mattered.
The gold link thickened, swirling, rippling, her emotions heightening as the source of these feelings approached. He was the most beautiful creature in the world. He reached out toward her, and pulses of ecstasy radiated from the point of connection. From one second to the next, it vanished. She gasped in horror as Vanse loomed over her, his hand heavy on her head.
"Take your hand off me."
"Good. I’m glad to see you're feeling better." He picked a yellow rose off the floor placing it back in the vase on the bedside table.
Her neck throbbed. She raised a hand and touched a thick, padded bandage, The area was tender, and she was lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed. Then the memory surfaced and she saw the face of the other vampire leaning toward her. She shuddered.
"I will do my utmost to make sure Angelus does not repeat last night."
"Angelus? Is that his name? And if you're reading my mind, stop! I remember getting to my car." She struggled to recall last night's events. "Tell me what happened after that."
"That's when Angelus attacked you." Vanse took out her protective amulet; the image of Lord Narasimha, the half-lion, half-man incarnation of Vishnu, swung back and forth, light glinting on the silver chain. "This was on the ground." He placed it in her hand.
"Did he drink my blood?"
"Yes. He also gave you his."
Why couldn't she remember?
"Do you wish to remember?"
She gritted her teeth. "Stay out of my head."
"Or else what? I hardly think you're in a fit state to blast me across the room right now." He smiled indulgently.
She clenched her fists. "You were watching me?" She hated to admit it, but she was glad. Otherwise, she would be a slave to some passing vampire; carrying out whatever orders he gave, helpless to exert her own will.
"Tatiana! Where do you get these ideas? Few vampire lords conduct themselves in that way. Most of us don't have to impose our will on those we turn. We have more entertaining ways of occupying our time than being enforcers."
"Don't change the subject."
"Yes, I was watching you. I didn't have any proof, but I suspected something might happen. This was more than I expected."
"You think he's responsible for the coma victims?"
"Oh, there is no doubt he's the origin of that problem. We are looking for his lair. It can't be far."
"So, you saw this, this Angelus having me for supper and came to my rescue?"
The smile he gave her made her think of a naughty boy caught stealing cookies. She squashed the thought. Was he mocking her? What wouldn't she give to wipe that expression off his face? He was a vampire; an evil blood-sucking creature by nature.
"Angelus drank a lot of your blood."
"Isn't that what your species is famous for?"
He gave her that sad look as if he had feelings, and she'd hurt them. "In order to preserve your life, I had to give you my blood."
"What?" He'd turned her? In less than a breath, he went from mischievous child to cold killer.
"Listen, Tatya. You're not a vampire. Well, mostly not a vampire."
"Oh, well, I'm overjoyed it's mostly not." Her belly tightened in anger. Waves of resentment forced bile into her throat.
Vanse touched her wrist. A quick intake of breath as the shaft of sunlight shining in through the window morphed once more into a rainbow of living colors, before disappearing. She stared up at him.
"That is what a newly turned vampire experiences. But I am an old vampire, Tatiana, and… how shall I explain it? I am, in certain circumstances, able to halt the transformation."
"Get. Out." She laid a power command on each word. She didn't want to hear any of his explanations.
"If that is what you wish." He stopped at the door. "You should know those charms have no effect on me whatsoever."
She lay fuming, glad of the distraction when Sheriff Corwin bustled in through the door. He sported a red welt across his forehead, and what looked likely to be the makings of a black eye of champion proportions.
"Wow! What wall didn't you see coming?"
"You're one big ball of sympathy, aren't you?" They grinned at each other. Corwin had a special place in her affections. No pretending; what you saw was what you got. "It was the same wall you ran into. But how are you?"
"Oh, me? I'm fine. Vanse informs me I'm half-vampire or something. But if he expects me to thank him, he can sing."
Corwin adopted his serious business expression. "He jumped that bastard, Tatya. That redheaded vamp had sucked the life out of you and was taking off across the parking lot with you over his shoulder when all hell broke loose. I heard the noise and went outside thinking how sweet the local drunks were to save us the trouble of leaving the station to arrest them by partying outside our front door." He paused for a second, replaying the event. "And, I've seen things in my time that I wouldn't want to see again, but I've never witnessed anything like last night."
She pictured every cop in the station standing at the windows, their mouths hanging open, with a front row seat watching a once in a lifetime opportunity. Vamps generally dealt with their business out of sight of humans. Corwin stopped again.
"Go on, the suspense is killing me."
"Okay. To start with ol' fire head lays you on the ground, real careful I might add, and then the pair of them start going at each other. That's when I get this." He indicated his forehead, "’cause I go over to get you, and instead catch a passing whack. When I come to, I'm lying halfway across the lot and the two of them are flying—honest, literally flying at each other, with the redhead taking a swing with this huge sword, trying to hack off Vanse's arm. But our hero has the drop on this dude. He pulls out this fancy Colt 1911 and shoots him full of silver bullets."
"Did he kill him?"
"No, he took off real fast. That was when Vanse gave you his blood," he hesitated. "I know you hate his blood being inside you, it's written all over your face, but Tatya, you were a
goner. He saved your life."
She pushed herself up and looked around. "Where am I, anyway? This isn't St. Raphael's."
"St. Mary's Hospice. It’s the other side of the Catholic church, next to the station."
"I'm fine Bill. Honest. I just need to go home."
"Sure, but I'm sending a doc along to check you over first." He held up his hand. "I insist. If the doc says you're okay to leave, I'll have someone drive you home. Deal?"
"Send the doc. You are aware vamp blood has great rejuvenating properties, aren't you? I mean, those guys live forever."
"Yes, I know and, no, they don't always."
The doctor agreed to Tatya's release, told her to rest and she'd be back to normal in no time. She thanked him, thinking she'd never been normal. It was the degree of distance from normal that had exponentially increased. Corwin insisted on providing a driver, so Tatya sat in the passenger seat of a police vehicle while a deputy drove her home, followed by the neat and tidy Deputy Bellamy driving her Ford.
Later, Tatya sat staring out of the kitchen window, nursing one of her special recovery teas; lavender, lemon balm, rose, and cinnamon with a generous dollop of honey added.
The small orchard at the far end of their lot had a crop of late apples and pears waiting to be harvested, and the weeds they'd fought since they started growing herbs had reinvaded. Most plants, except the ones you didn't want, died off as autumn departed. She should do something. Aunt Lil wouldn't approve of her lack of attention to their cultivated herb garden.
She took her tea and crossed to the living area of the room, and sank into her favorite armchair. The comfy brown leather chair had been her father's favorite whenever they'd visited Aunt Lil when she was a young child, and she always found comfort sitting where he'd once sat.
Warming her hands on the cup and sipping her drink, she enjoyed the flush of warming herbs spreading through her body, and let her thoughts roam. Changing Sky had taught her that when your mind is in the right place, it's easier to observe those patterns invisible to the busy mind.
She went over yesterday's events, trying to make sense of what was happening: Aunt Lil with an illness the doctors couldn't diagnose; Vanse’s hints about its possible supernatural origins; young men in their prime collapsing in comas with no apparent cause; and a powerful unknown vampire had attacked her right outside the police station.
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