For the second time in her life, Sabine felt a tickle in her consciousness. The last time had been when she'd been dancing, and had ended with her becoming a monster. She panicked, fresh waves of anger building. Never again. Sabine felt Esmerelda enter her mind, and released a wave of power back through the link. Suddenly, the world went black.
Sabine found herself in a featureless wide open space, filled with white light. She stood alone in a white gossamer gown, except for a young woman in a matching gown gliding toward her. The woman had long dark hair like hers, only with a darker complexion. Sabine somehow sensed that this was Esmerelda, though a younger version. Sabine's fear spiked. How was this happening? She stood her ground, unsure what Esmerelda would do.
Esmerelda gave her a deferential nod. "You're a powerful one. You took me by surprise with that burst of energy, but you underestimated my powers. You won't take control of me that easily."
Sabine's mind spun in confusion. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"You used some kind of glamour on me," Esmerelda replied. "Fae, perhaps?"
"You tried to read my mind." Sabine felt her cheeks flush with guilt, which was a real trick for having barely any pulse, but things seemed different here. "The last time I felt that tickle, bad things happened. I didn't mean to do this, whatever this is."
"You didn't. You're trapped in my mind, so you couldn’t control me."
"I didn't want to control you. I just didn't want you controlling me."
Esmerelda smiled and relaxed. "I just wanted to poke around in your head and find out what you are."
Sabine laughed, remembering Doug's reaction to her attempt to read him. "You could've just asked."
"Would you have told me?"
Sabine crossed her arms. "Nope."
Esmerelda began to pace. "We all have secrets, my dear. The werewolves don't want their existence known any more than true witches do. My husband called me out here to find out if you're a danger to us. Would you welcome a mysterious and possibly dangerous stranger into your home?"
Sabine watched as the witch paced, and stood there silent for a few moments. "I don't want to tell you what I am."
Esmerelda narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You have incredible power, and power tends to hurt people."
Sabine sat on the imaginary ground. "I don't want to hurt anyone, especially not a friend. Doug is my oldest friend in the world, and if you're protecting Doug then we're on the same side."
"You know our secrets. Why is it such a concern to you if we know yours?"
"I don't want Doug to find out."
Esmerelda sat down in front of Sabine. "If I give you my word that I won't tell anyone, will you tell me?"
"Ha! You could broadcast it telepathically or something and I'd never know until it was too late."
"You could bind me to my promise. I'd be compelled to keep your secret. The spell is called a geas. We use it on uncooperative humans who want to talk about us."
Sabine laid back on the imaginary floor and contemplated forcefully binding the witch. Would she want someone taking away her own choice like that? No. She couldn't help but be impressed that Esmerelda was willing to subject herself to that to know the truth. What would the witch be willing to do to protect her family? What would Sabine do? She let out a sigh, stretching out on the pillow-soft floor. "I don't want to control you. This is really soft. What is it?"
Esmerelda laid next to her. "Memory foam."
Sabine laughed, then sat silent for a few moments to contemplate. She hated having to keep secrets and having to deceive people. The truth will set you free, she thought. "Swear you'll keep my secret. I wouldn't compel you, even if I knew how."
Esmerelda turned her head to regard Sabine. "To bind me, you just-"
"Don't tell me!" Sabine interrupted, holding up her hand. "I'd be tempted to use it."
Esmerelda closed her mouth, and spent a long few seconds regarding Sabine. "You don't want power?"
Sabine felt her stomach churn with frustration. "I have more than I ever wanted already. I'd trade it all for a chance to go back to blissful ignorance."
"You have honor, Sabine. And you have my promise. I'll keep your secret."
Sabine took a deep, calming breath. "I'm a vampire."
Esmerelda sat up. "No, you're not."
"I'm pretty sure about it," Sabine said, showing her fangs. "I drink blood to survive."
"But you're awake during the day. That's not possible for a vampire. You're something else."
Sabine shrugged. "Well, Michaela and Regina resurrected me."
Esmerelda jumped up. "What? How?"
"The vampires had this ancient book. They had already turned me into one of them, and chained me to a slab at one of those old forts on the north side of the bay. They told Regina and Michaela that they could save me if they did the spell. Regina and Michaela brought me back. Then the vampires made them stake me and bury me." Sabine held out her hands. "See? Regina had to carve these in my hands and feet with silver."
Esmerelda studied the tattoos for a few seconds. "Let me see your feet."
Sabine lifted the gossamer gown to show her naked feet.
Esmerelda paced back and forth. "Well, you clearly have a conscience. And I think the fact that you can walk around during the day means that you still have a soul."
"But today is the first day since I was turned that I've been awake during the day."
Esmerelda pondered for a moment. "What did you do differently in the last day?"
"Um," Sabine hesitated, then decided that it was too late to make something up. "I kinda bit a werewolf."
"You did what?"
"I... he was a bad werewolf. He was trying to hurt Doug."
"But you didn't explode from the energy overload." Esmerelda paced. "By the Goddess, this is unheard of. You should be dead right now. If you were a year-old vampire, you'd be dead. The energy would have exploded out of you. Probably taking your head with it."
Sabine swallowed back the lump in her throat. "Well, I felt like my head might explode, but then it passed and I felt more like I was drugged out of my mind."
"Yes, well, I think your soul saved you, by holding all that energy in. That could also explain your lack of aura. Your soul is trapping the vampire energy inside you."
Sabine stared at Esmerelda. "But shouldn't I be alive, if I have a soul?"
"If you were killed after binding your soul into a vampire's body..." Esmerelda's eyes started to drift as she contemplated what might happen.
"Why wouldn't my soul just fly the coop when I was killed?"
Esmerelda rubbed her chin. "If your body was mortal, then your soul would leave, but it's possible that your soul couldn't leave because of the spell."
"So I'm what? A ghost walking around in a vampire body? A walking, talking spell? A mystery wrapped in an enigma?"
"I'd go with 'it's complicated' myself," Esmerelda said with a smile.
Sabine laughed. Esmerelda grasped Sabine's hands and Sabine felt the old woman's warmhearted affection. She saw flashes of Esmerelda's memories of raising her kids, and seeing them grow to adulthood. She saw those children get married and have children of their own. She saw them go to the woods on the full moon and run free as a pack, with Esmerelda watching over them from high in the trees.
Sabine saw love that she herself had never experienced growing up, and her eyes melted into tears that she couldn't hold back. Sabine let Esmerelda see her own memories of a totally different youth, growing up with an absentee mother and a workaholic father. She showed the pain of neglect still twisting like a knife through her heart. She let Esmerelda see the hope that drove her.
Sabine wiped away her tears. "Sorry, I just..."
"It's okay dear," Esmerelda said, cradling Sabine's cheek. "Those weren't your true parents."
Sabine blinked a few times, not sure she'd heard correctly. "What did you say?"
"You'll find out when you're ready," Esmerelda said, patting Sabine on
the hands she still held.
"No. No way you can drop a bomb like that on me and not explain. My parents... what are you saying? That I was adopted and didn't know it?"
"Try to see your earliest memories. Focus. I'll take you back further. I see your crib, your favorite blanket. Do you see the mobile? There, you see your mother's face; how angry she was? No mother would be that angry with a baby as wonderful as you. We'll travel back in time a little more... and the hospital-"
"Everything's blurry. I can hardly see."
"That's what happens with old childhood memories. Now you're in the nursery."
Sabine struggled and tried to run, but couldn't move. She saw a girl who looked too much like a teenage version of herself, crying in a hospital gown. Could this be her true mother? Sabine thought back to what she could remember of the woman she thought had been her mother. They hadn't looked that much alike. Looking at the memory of this girl, the heartbroken look on the girl's face, and she just knew. Mom! Don't leave me!
A woman in a crisp pinstripe gray business suit put a clipboard with some legal papers in front of the crying girl in the hospital gown. "Sign the papers. She'll have a better life than you could provide her."
The memory dissolved, and another memory of her new parents holding her came into her mind.
Tina Christiansen, the woman Sabine had known as Mom, said "She's so cute. She's the quietest baby we've seen so far. Let's take her."
"She'll do," the man she'd known as Dad said. Robert Christiansen, total stranger at that moment, had approved of her.
Sabine closed off the memories. She curled into a ball on the soft imaginary ground, and tried to feel nothing. Instead, she felt like throwing up. Then she thought about where she was, and looked up to see Esmerelda's compassionate stare. She forced back the bile and sat up to face the young version of the old witch.
"So do you think I'm a danger to your family?"
Esmerelda smiled. "Not unless we get on your bad side."
"I can't imagine that happening," Sabine said, smiling through her tears.
"Then no, I don't see you as a danger."
Sabine wiped her tears away. "Okay, so how do we get out of this place?"
Sabine stood on the porch, everything still in place like it had been frozen in time. She pulled her energy back out of Esmerelda's mind and they both staggered forward.
Everyone paused. Apparently the whole conversation she'd just had with Esmerelda had happened in the blink of an eye.
Mike grasped Esmerelda's arm. "What just happened?"
Esmerelda gave him a cheerful smile. "Sabine is a good woman. We had a nice chat, and I think she'll fit in just fine."
Mike looked shocked, checking his wife's eyes. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Now let's get inside and get comfortable. I'd like to find out more about our guests over lunch. Justin, please take Doug's bag to the purple room. Taylor, please take Sabine's bag to the flower room."
The two teen werewolf boys flexed their muscles and smiled as they took in the bags. The surfer-blond was apparently Justin, and the brown-haired boy with the shorter haircut and bigger build was Taylor.
Mike introduced Sabine, Doug and Tiana to the whole clan. Mike and Esmerelda were Val's parents, and the Alphas of the pack. Mike explained that it was rare for a non-shape-shifter to be the Alpha female. It said a lot for Esmerelda's talent at witchcraft.
Esmerelda's granddaughter Elise had inherited some witch skill in addition to being a werewolf. Elise's dark brown eyes glared from a moody sixteen-year-old face. She wore black goth makeup, frustrating her parents. Even her hair was dyed black. She wore what looked like totems on her necklace, earrings, and bracelets. She seemed glued to Esmerelda's side.
Mike introduced six or seven more people, but Sabine lost track of their names.
After introductions, Sabine escaped to her room to rest. She had just put her head on her pillow when there was a soft knock at the door. She groaned and turned to face the sound. "Come in."
A young Esmerelda stepped into the room and quietly closed the door. "I'm sorry to bother you Sabine, but do you have any idea when your resurrection ceremony took place?"
Sabine yawned. "I'm pretty sure it was a year ago today. Although getting buried may have messed with my internal clock."
"Thank you dear. I have some phone calls to make. Rest up. I have a feeling you'll have a busy night."
Sabine was going to thank the nice young woman, but she was already gone. She felt sleep tug at her again until she realized that she had gone to bed with the door locked and Esmerelda wasn't really young-
Sabine snapped up awake, and looked at the door. Locked.
Sorry for intruding on your dreams, Sabine. I didn't think you'd want anyone to hear that conversation, and the werewolves have extremely keen ears.
Sabine shook her head, realizing with shock that Esmerelda was communicating telepathically. You came into my dream?
We have a link now. You could probably block me out, but it would take some effort.
Sabine started to panic. She did not want someone – especially a witch – rooting around in her mind and confusing her reality. Especially when that reality had just started to get good again after a year. She imagined the young Esmerelda out in a field, looking up at a growing stone wall.
I'm going to block you out now Esmerelda.
Sabine imagined the wall growing around her mind, and felt the link with Esmerelda sever.
Blessed silence filled her thoughts. The barest whisper of noise came from downstairs as the denizens of the house quietly went about their daily regimen. She heard Tiana laugh outside.
Sabine rested her head back on her pillow just as her phone beeped. She let out a curse and grabbed the foul device.
A message on the forum had triggered an alert email. She tapped the screen on the annoying little bundle of technology and opened the message. It was from VanHelsing451:
"Hi MourningGirl; I just heard that some witches and vamps are planning a ceremony tonight. A few friends are getting together before dark to hunt for them. We're hoping to get lucky. We're meeting at the Stinking Rose at 5pm if you're interested. We'll be the ones dressed like famous vampire hunters from movies and such."
Oh. God. Was she being invited to a gathering of vampire hunters during the day at a restaurant that specialized in garlic dishes? Would they want her to eat? Would they recognize her? Could she face them?
Sabine checked her watch: two in the afternoon. It would take her an hour to get across town to the restaurant if she took the bus or got a ride. She wondered who the friends were. Could they be the four she had bitten that night? Were they going out hunting vampires after dinner?
She groaned and got up, sitting on the side of the bed. She decided that this was too good to pass up. If she chickened out, she could always wait outside and just stalk them.
She wrote a short but sweet reply: "I'll be there."
Maybe she could postpone sleep until night time. It was worth a shot, since fate apparently didn't want her sleeping today.
But what about Doug and Tiana? She'd be missing out on a chance to see Halloween through Tiana's eyes. She'd be passing up time with Doug. She had to go clean up her past though, and that meant going to a garlic restaurant and facing the people she had wronged.
Now she just had to convince the werewolves to let her leave.
CHAPTER 6
"No."
Sabine stared at Trent, wondering why he'd object. Charlie had said he would drive her if Trent let him use the Cadillac. They stood in the living room, Sabine dressed in her all-leather vampire hunting gear.
Trent shook his head.
She thought about compelling Trent to let her go, but Esmerelda would know what was going on and probably wouldn't approve. Besides, even if Trent was a jerk, these were the good guys. She wouldn't use her powers on them anymore. "I can take care of myself."
Trent moved between her and the door. "We took on
the responsibility to protect you, so you can't just go traipsing around the city."
Sabine walked up to Trent, poking him in the chest. "For one thing, I'm only here because Doug is here. I don't need your protection. You of all people know that."
Trent's eyes narrowed. "You took us by surprise in the hall. It won't happen again."
"Tony and Gus are probably saying the same thing." She stepped back and held out her hand, holding his car keys. "I'm faster than you."
Trent stared in shock for a second. He reached for them but she snapped them back.
"Give those back."
She held out the keys. "If you can grab them, you can have them. Otherwise, Charlie and I are going for a drive."
Trent's hand moved faster than a normal human could see, but Sabine saw it like it was moving in slow motion. She pulled the keys back just slowly enough to keep them from him.
Trent snarled in rage and surprise as he stared at Sabine's mordant smile. He seethed and rolled his shoulders.
"I wasn't ready that time. Best two out of three."
Sabine sensed his emotions and knew that she was treading on thin ice. She nodded her acceptance, holding out the keys.
Trent snapped the keys out of her hand faster than she imagined possible. Her hair blew slightly in the wind created by the motion of his arm. He put the keys in his pocket.
Sabine pointed at him. "Hey! You said 'Best two out of three.' We have one more round."
The werewolves had gathered around, and Trent saw them nodding. Val was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed, watching intently.
Trent gritted his teeth and pulled the keys out. "Fine. Catch them and we go."
Then he tossed the keys at the ceiling.
Sabine grabbed for the keys lightning fast, and Trent moved to block her hand. The exchange happened so fast she had trouble keeping up. Trent had apparently pulled all the stops and was giving one hundred percent. She matched his speed and blocked his counter-attempts to grab the keys. They traded a half dozen blocked attempts before the keys hit the ceiling and another half dozen on the way down.
Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) Page 7