"I happened to read something in Robert's thoughts that really bothered me, and I think you need to know what it is before you go hunting with him anymore."
Gabe sighed, and stared at the fountain. "Assuming I believe you."
"Robert's planning to put a crew of vampires to work robbing banks. He's hoping to capture a vampire or two and have you guys forget what part you played, courtesy of a vampire mind wipe. He wants to make sure that he doesn't get hurt, so you're the muscle."
"What about Darren?"
Sabine smiled. "Darren has some pretty detailed fantasies involving female vampires."
Rawr, Shelby thought into the Family's minds, imagining toying with Darren the vampire hunter.
The collective mental laughter kept Sabine from concentrating for a second. She worked on walling off her thoughts from the group as Gabe spoke.
"You're right. I didn't want to know that. There are vampires out there, biting people and sucking their blood. You expect me just to do nothing?"
"I've learned a lot about them in the last couple of days, Gabe. Most vampires try to keep what they do hidden, and they almost never kill anyone. They have rules and laws. They prefer to take blood from willing donors. I screwed up big time, letting you all run around knowing what you know. It turns out there's a Council that governs everything vampires do, and I could get in big trouble if I let you all go with your memories of vampires intact."
Gabe stared at her for a minute. "You mean you're going to erase the last year from our minds? Or kill us?"
Sabine stared at her feet. "It's either that or..."
"What?"
Sabine searched her people's memories for a second before answering. "I could make you a thrall or a Blood Host."
"From what I've heard from the witches, a thrall is basically a slave to vampires. A Blood Host means what? That I'd be a donor?"
"Blood Hosts are like allies. Sympathizers. And yeah, donors. But I'd never ask you to donate."
"What about Robert and Darren?"
"Darren might like being a thrall."
"And Robert?"
Sabine sighed. "He's evil, Gabe. I can feel it."
Gabe swallowed.
"He's a threat to humanity. People will suffer at his hands if we don't do something."
Gabe's gaze fell to the ground, thinking about the last year and what he'd lose if he gave up the memories. He was surprised to realize that his fondest memories were of Kim, the girl who had brought these hunters all together. "What about Kim? Sam?"
"Sam is a decent guy, and Kim is an angel. But I have to give them this choice too."
"Don't erase my memory," Gabe said, the thought of Kim, and how alone and scared she might be, foremost in his mind.
"We could be friends, Gabe, if you could get past the part about me being a blood sucking fiend." She did air quotes with her fingers. "You're one of the good guys, deep down."
He snorted. "Thanks."
"So which will you choose? Thrall or Host?"
"As a Blood Host, do I still have free will?"
Sabine nodded after checking with her Family. Perk number one for the blood bond: instant access to answers. "Blood Hosts have a telepathic link with their vampire. You might hear my voice in your head from time to time, and you'd know if I needed help. You could also send a message to me if you needed help. As a thrall, you're basically like one of those people who are hypnotized to do a certain thing when they hear an activation word; except anything vampire-related triggers it."
"I want to talk to Kim about it."
Sabine sighed, then rubbed her chin in thought. "If you take too long to decide, and some random vampire finds you, then you could end up dead and I could end up running for my life."
"I promise to decide soon. I just want to talk it over with Kim."
She put her hands on his cheeks. "I'm going to have to at least compel you not to mention vampires except when only Kim or I can hear you."
"If that's my only option."
Sabine shot a little power into his mind. "I so compel you."
Gabe blinked when she stepped back.
"So maybe you should give me that crossbow and let me introduce you to my new Family. I promise that no harm will come to you."
"New family?"
"The six vampires you and the guys passed by in the hotel. I beat them in a contest, so I became their leader. If I tell them not to hurt you, they won't."
"Look, maybe you mean well, but I'm not okay with just helplessly walking into the lion's den. I don't like that you can just," he wiggled the fingers of one hand for emphasis, "do a mind trick and make me do stuff. I'm not okay with this whole world of yours."
Sabine toed the side of the fountain, doing her best aw-shucks pose. "I'm not exactly okay with this world of mine either, believe it or not. I understand. Go chat with Kim then."
Gabe hesitated, curiosity welling up. "They're all like your followers or whatever?"
"Come on. Meet them. At the very least, I want you all to be able to recognize each other as friends on the street at night."
Gabe sighed, debating it with himself for a minute. He looked around for a minute before shrugging off the Guitar case and handing it over. "Why am I trusting you?"
"I have an innocent face?"
He shook his head.
Sabine smirked as she led him back to the room.
Sabine introduced Gabe to everyone. The formalities were for Gabe's benefit, since the vampires had read her memories of him and knew him as well as she did. Each smiled and carefully shook Gabe's hand.
"So what do we do? Exchange life stories?" Gabe asked, then chuckled.
Shelby looked out the window of the hotel room, which faced east. "We could chat until dawn. I'm really wondering how this view looks in the morning."
Sabine shook her head and looked back to Gabe. "Maybe we should make sure you get home early enough that you don't spend a shift at the Fire Department half asleep."
"Can I get you a drink, Gabe?" Lorenzo asked. "We have an assortment here."
Gabe nodded and grabbed a water, and they all sat around the room.
Sabine sipped her soda. She knew everything about her Family now, but thought Gabe might feel more comfortable if she could put a more human face on them. "So, what do you guys normally do for fun?"
Lorenzo laughed, sensing her plan. "We have been so wrapped up in managing our problems that we barely had time for leisure. But as you know, I like to fly. I have studied every airplane ever made. The concept of flight has never failed to fascinate me, ever since I heard of the first balloon flights when I was seventy."
"I love to read, dance, and play the piano," Melina said.
"Deirdre and I spend most of our time planning for the catering business we were going to open," Ethan said. When he sensed the rebuke from the others that he should be talking about leisure activities, he added "Deirdre likes to knit."
"We also like to go antiquing," Deirdre added, understanding what Sabine was trying to do for Gabe. "The challenge has been finding stores that are open after dark. Much easier in winter, with the shorter days, that's for sure."
"What about games?" Gabe asked. "At the station where I used to work, the guys would play poker all the time."
"We tend to avoid gambling," Lorenzo said, "since we are easily tempted to influence the outcome. We have an unfair advantage."
Gabe raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to be ethical about it."
Lorenzo shrugged. "This group is like that. Not all are. Many fall victim to the allure of power. Who said 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?'"
"Lord Acton," Melina said without missing a beat.
"This is why we don't play 'Trivial Pursuit' with Melina," Ethan said, smirking.
"I guess I should read more," Shelby said, amazed at how Melina knew the answer.
"I would be happy to share my library with you, Shelby," Melina replied, sipping her drink.
"That wou
ld be awesome," Shelby replied. "Listen to me. I guess maybe I should register for classes too while I'm at it."
The group spent the next hour chatting about the city, and what they liked most about it; then the men talked politics while the women chatted separately about stores and clothing and people they knew.
Before long, Gabe felt totally at home with the group, joking with everyone and trading horror stories about burning buildings for battle stories from Lorenzo about the American Civil War.
The conversation eventually came back to what had happened on this last Halloween, since Sabine was curious.
"The witches found the ceremony site on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge," Gabe said in answer to Sabine's question.
Sabine leaned forward in her chair. "Did they find any clues?"
"Those witches you mentioned, Regina and Michaela, were definitely the ones that had done the magic. Phoebe and her friends cleaned up the site after using a spell to see what had happened. They said it was pretty horrible, and this guy named Neville was the one behind it. Phoebe said the vampires did some horrible things to Regina and Michaela, but wouldn't go into detail."
The room fell silent.
CHAPTER 19
Sabine walked Gabe to the lobby, wanting to make sure he got out of the hotel without incident. She handed him the guitar case.
"Gabe, you should come jogging with Kim and me tomorrow night. She wouldn't mind, I'm sure," Sabine said. "She really likes you, and you really like her. The two of you should get over yourselves and give love a chance."
Gabe laughed. "Love advice from a vampire."
Sabine sighed. She thought about Trent, and how she had given him a chance, but how that wasn't exactly working out.
Gabe stopped and stared out the front doors. "Why do you care, anyway?"
"Because it would make you both happy. I feel it. You're a kind and generous person, and so is she. You're still angry over what I did to you and over your old girlfriend Patty leaving you, and the trouble at work. Getting to know Kim better would help you both heal."
Gabe shook his head. "I don't understand why you want to play matchmaker."
"Because I care about people and want the best for my friends."
"You don't even know me," Gabe said.
"Gabe. I can read your mind. I know you better than anyone else on this planet."
Gabe swallowed as his heart rate spiked. "Well, I don't know you."
"You know me enough to trust me with your life. And by the way, I also know Kim better than anyone else on this planet," Sabine added. "Just think about joining us for the jog."
"She called about you wanting to get together before our next hunt," Gabe said, then shook his head. "Why do I bother saying stuff if you can just read my mind?"
"Because you don't want me replying in your head," Sabine said.
Gabe thought about it and decided she was right.
"I could have invited Kim to the hotel if I'd known you were coming."
Gabe chuckled. "I thought you were psychic."
"Telepathic, yeah. Psychic, no. So you didn't know that I was here?"
Gabe shook his head. "Robert just got a bead on some vamp energy."
She smiled at him, and backed up toward the elevator. "I'll call you tomorrow about the jog."
"Fine," he said, shaking his head before he turned and left the hotel.
As Sabine reached the elevator, Melina went frantic, distracting everyone in the Family. Melina's gleeful squeal from within the bathroom drowned out the other conversations going on.
Shelby leaned back in her chair and smiled, feeling the exuberant emotions coming from Melina. "Oh, cool! We have reflections again."
Ethan and Deirdre scrambled into the bathroom to look in the mirror, and jumped into each other's arms, laughing.
"What's the big deal?" Shelby said, contemplating her nails.
Ernesto picked Shelby up and hugged her, smiling. "Because some of us haven't seen our reflection for hundreds of years. But you know this, trouble-maker."
They all started dancing around the room, laughing with joy they hadn't felt in as many years as they'd been without reflections. Sabine had to focus to block them out, and pressed the call button for elevator again, hoping to make the elevator speed up.
"Hey," Trent said, startling her.
"Where have you been?" Sabine asked, recovering. Had she really missed him approaching?
"I thought I'd keep an eye on our unexpected guests, since I smelled them come in. Turns out Darren and Robert just went down the street to take up a spot where they could watch the hotel. I overheard them planning to come back after dawn."
Sabine stepped into the elevator as the door opened. "I'm going to have to erase their memories. Like the whole year." She chewed her lip.
Trent followed her in, and pressed the button for their floor. "Sounds like that bothers you."
Sabine stared up at Trent, searching his eyes and finding him closed off. "You should know me well enough to know that I try to avoid hurting people that don't really deserve it."
"So you're looking for me to validate you."
She sighed. "Maybe a little."
Trent nodded. The elevator door opened, and they made their way back to the room in silence. Two doors away from her room, they heard the music. Sabine shivered as her skin crawled at the vampire energy flowing through the hall. Sabine opened the door, and the sound Gipsy Kings' Bamboleo spilled out.
Shelby was showing everyone her best hip grinding dance moves. "This is the happiest day of my life so far, and I'm not even sure why!"
Melina twirled away from Lorenzo as they danced the Tango and smiled at Shelby. "It's because our emotions are blending, and this is the happiest day of my life!"
Lorenzo pulled Melina back. "Melina and I have not seen ourselves in a mirror since before the American Revolution. This is a day of days."
Sabine walked over to the stereo and turned it down to the level of a whisper. "Let's not wake the neighbors, shall we?"
"It's okay, Sabine," Shelby said, still moving to the beat. "Melina has the people around us under a glamour."
"Everyone, can I have your attention please?" Sabine asked, and the vampires stopped dancing. They seemed to be confused, and she realized that she was still blocking them out of her mind. She let go of her block and heard everyone's minds at once. She staggered back, overwhelmed, and Trent caught her.
"What's wrong?" Trent asked, and the echoes from her Family's minds blurred with a similar concern.
Sabine took a calming breath. "Just need to get used to all the voices in my head. Maybe everyone can go easy on me?"
The vampires nodded as Trent let go.
"So I need to go erase a year's worth of memories from a necromancer and his friend. Any suggestions?"
Lorenzo stepped forward. "I don't think it's possible for us to control the mind of a necromancer. If anything, it will be the other way around. He'll be controlling us."
"Necromancer?" Shelby asked. The others explained telepathically, and Sabine added in what she knew about Robert's plan to use vampires to rob banks. Shelby swallowed sudden fear. "Um. Okay. Don't leave me here alone. In those slasher movies, the cute girl they leave alone always ends up being the first to die."
Sabine laughed. "Don't worry Shelby. I've faced Robert before, and we were evenly matched when I had a hundredth of the power floating around in me that I have now. Trent, can you point out where you saw them go?"
Trent gave a quick nod and stepped out into the hall.
I've seen a necromancer in action, thought Melina. I would caution you not to be overconfident, Sabine. They can make you do things-, she finished the thought by sharing a memory of a vampire walking into a burning building.
Sabine took a calming breath and sent the memory of her test fight with Robert. I'll be cautious.
On the way down in the elevator, the vampires made funny faces at each other in every reflective surface they could find. Sab
ine didn't like the glow of her eyes reflected back at her, and pushed her sunglasses back over her eyes. The Family's joy was infectious, and Sabine let it overcome her worry about what was coming. By the time they stepped out of the elevator, even Sabine was smiling.
Their expressions soured, and they stopped in their tracks when they took in the scene in the lobby. The staff and one late arriving guest were all standing still with glazed looks in their eyes. Five men stood in the center of the lobby, wearing dark leather from head to toe. Their auras were smooth, and Sabine could sense that the one in the middle was the oldest of them. His aura felt like velvet, similar to Henry Bondurant's.
She sized them up and compared them to her Family. She almost laughed. All the vampires in the room were wearing black.
Lorenzo sighed. "Pierce."
The man in the middle nodded. "Lorenzo."
Lorenzo walked forward. When he did, Melina and Ernesto went with him like they were tied together. Sabine followed as well, and the rest didn't want to be left behind so they took up the rear. Sabine glanced back and saw that Trent was straining to fight someone's control. He gritted his teeth and nodded to her to go ahead without him.
"Is this a social call?" Lorenzo asked, stopping in front of the men.
Sabine looked around as she felt more auras and noticed several female vampires in the background. They were obscured behind decor and furnishings, blending in so as to appear insignificant. She suspected that they were anything but.
The one called Pierce narrowed his eyes on the group. "You and your Family belong in Nevada, Lorenzo. I thought you understood that your welcome here had expired."
"We convinced the witch to give up on her crusade. Nobody will be traveling to Nevada by Ley bubble anymore; so we are returning." Lorenzo replied.
"That sounds unbelievable. The witch was quite motivated. Regardless, your House's territory in the city has been claimed as forfeit. You'll have to challenge to get it back."
What does he mean by that? Sabine asked Lorenzo silently.
It is a ploy, to see our House decimated. We must fight with the other vampires to get our territory back, Lorenzo thought back.
Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) Page 24