by Martha Woods
The Vampire’s Rebirth
(Book 11 of Fatal Allure Series)
Martha Woods
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
© 2018 Martha Woods
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
Night was falling over the city, working men and women forming their lines to get back home and the night owls finally perking up to take over, even though the city may have rested it never truly slept. Home to thousands, prison to just as many, it was a city of many faces. Until just recently the denizens had been rocked by a widespread corruption scandal, the head forensic investigator turning himself into his fellow officers at the scene of an extraordinary arms smuggling operation, informing that he and a number of other officers had been intimately involved with the arms dealers and party to a number of other corruption cases over the years.
That was my mentor, Rick, and even though things never could have healed between us after what happened, I still miss him every single day.
Of course, there was no arms smuggling, and the massacre that had occurred at the hotel had absolutely nothing to do with territories of crime syndicates. There was widespread corruption in the precinct however, and he did his part to take care of it, not much to do when you’re going to spend what little is left of your life behind bars. It wasn’t enough to prevent me from resigning in disgust at what it had become, but I could at least rest easy knowing that some things may be improving in the near future. I didn’t regret any of the time that I spent there, I’d had a good effect whenever I could place myself into the scene, I have no doubt that I’ve saved a lot of lives in my time, but it was time to call it quits, it just wasn’t my place anymore.
As for what I’m doing now, I think that I’ve really managed to find my place after all this time being miserable. Months have passed since I stepped down from my position and said goodbye to law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been idle in the slightest, in fact you could say that I’m busier than ever. Joseph has spent all his time reaching out to vampires across the world, much easier now that we have the internet, and as such a large part of the duties for the Alliance have fallen to me. Now I’m not complaining, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to help so many that have been mistreated and discarded over the years, but I’d be lying if I said that all the pressure that had been placed on me wasn’t a little overwhelming. The vampires with their theatrics, the werewolves with their interclan disputes, hunters with their improving but still present prejudice and the witches with their… distinct lack of caring were all a fragile cocktail of emotions to balance, but so far, I felt like I was doing a decent enough job at keeping everyone happy and involved.
But with that good fortune and luck… maybe it was just me being cynical but I can’t help feeling like something is going to go wrong soon, I’d like to say that everything is going to be calm and easy from now on but… when was the last time that happened?
Well, in regards to my personal life I suppose that things are good, things are really good actually, now that the three of us have had some time to ourselves to just decompress. Its no small deal having your life on the line for so many months in a row while some madman thinks that you’re an abomination that needs to be slaughtered, that’s not exactly what I would call a good opportunity to connect and love. But we still managed it, even in the face of overwhelming odds we managed to find ourselves and fall even deeper in love than I had ever thought that we would, though it wasn’t without tremendous danger and heartache all the while. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the hole that opened up in my heart when I saw Damon so close to death, when I felt his heart stop in my hands… I thought that was it, I thought that I had managed to lose one of the men that I loved so much when we were so close to finding a way to be together.
But Vincent was right there to save us both, and though it’s something that I’m so grateful for I have to admit that it’s one of the biggest sources of guilt in my life. I’m so happy to still be able to still move over in bed and feel him underneath me, even if his chest doesn’t rise with breath the way that it used to but… I can’t help feeling selfish that he’s here to begin with, as though my neediness was the thing that’s doomed him to become something that he never wanted to be.
He’s putting on a brave face, but you can tell just by the way that he carries himself now that becoming a vampire was something that he never anticipated, and certainly hadn’t wanted. He was adapting slowly to his new life, never being able to stand in the sun again, having that irresistible thirst whenever he saw me that would never be fully quenched, all of these things were driving him mad and even with Vincent guiding him every step of the way with a patience and understanding that just spoke of how he had once had to go through it himself there were very few ways to comfort someone who had to make peace with the fact that they were for all intents and purposes dead.
Maybe I’m being dramatic, in fact I would love to believe that was all it was but… I just want to see him smile again, without all the sadness that you could clearly see behind his eyes. I just want to be able to hold him and not feel like I have to squeeze even tighter lest he decide that his existence isn’t one that he can spend with the two of us anymore. I just want…
I just want him.
* * *
“Cara, for the love of god, can you please slow down?” I didn’t mean to snap at her, but sometimes Cara really could get too excited for her own good. If she was going to be the person in charge of getting information from everyone else to me it was pretty important that she got the information to me in the first place, I don’t think I’m being too unfair there.
“Sorry Amy, sorry…” She apologized, “It’s just… there’s been some strange rumblings on the outskirts of town, a bunch of the werewolves have come to me telling me that their clans have spotted a few convoys of people moving in. No word if they’re, you know, here to hurt anyone but… I don’t know, they don’t know what to make of it.”
“Remember when the biggest problem we had was what party to go to?” I sighed, resting my cheek on my hand and staring up at her, “I hate getting older, don’t you?”
“It’s agreeing with me actually, now that I’ve got a plan for what I actually want to do and all.” She smiled. “Thanks for helping me and Tariq with everything, but you could stand to have a rest every now and then.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That was a lie, I knew exact
ly what she was talking about, but I’m not going to be the person to gloat about setting two of my friends up in an apartment that they’d had their eye on and none of the finances to secure. They were wonderful people, but too headstrong to actually accept any help on something like that.
So I just… didn’t tell them before I went to Joseph, being that he apparently had his fingers in every single pie in the city.
“Sure, sure,” She said, rolling her eyes, “Now, about this convoy…”
“I know, we need to find out what it is and what they plan to do here. We’re open to more paranormals, but we’re not stupid, we need to handle this carefully.”
“You think there’s a chance they could be hunters?”
“No, there’s no chance of that. Hunters would have done something by now, especially if they passed by as many clans as you say they have. What I think is that we need to make sure that they don’t feel threatened by us, because if they’re on the run from something and we make ourselves their enemy then we’re going to do nothing except cause more violence. All that bullshit is over with, we’re mending bridges.”
“Hmm…” Cara purred, “Has anyone ever told you that commanding is definitely a good look for you?”
“Oh my god, get out,” I laughed, “Say hi to Tariq for me, it’s been too long since we hung out together.”
“Well if you ever stopped working and came by the apartment…”
“But at least we’re working together now, can’t complain about that?” Seeing her unimpressed eyebrow, I waved my hands in apology. “Fine, fine, I’ll come around sometime soon and bless the place with my presence, happy?”
“Getting there,” She answered, laying a stack of papers on my desk, “Finances, I keep telling you that you can hoist that off on someone else, I don’t know why you want to do it so badly.”
“I said that I would be responsible for everything, I meant it. I just wish that Joseph wasn’t so busy all the time…” I drifted off in thought, snapping back to attention when Cara cleared her throat. “What? You’re not my secretary, you don’t have to take care of everything for me you know.”
“I’m not still here for that…” She tapped her fingers along her forearm, clearly wrestling with telling me something. “How’s Damon doing? We haven’t really seen him for a while either.”
I groaned, so it wasn’t just me who was noticing the change in his presence around here. I had an advantage in being able to see him when he came home, but his appearances at the meetings had dropped more and more until he was almost like the loch ness monster. Did he ever really come here? Or was he just a joke that some of the older members made up one night over drinks?
Being honest, it might have been easier to date the loch ness monster. At least I’m pretty certain that it’s emotions wouldn’t be as hard to figure out.
“It’s complicated Cara, trust me, that’s really all that I can say about it.” Seeing her look of sympathy, I waved it away. “Don’t give me that, it’s just going to take us all a while to get used to everything, that’s all. He was a hunter for most of his life, how can you possibly reconcile that with suddenly being one of the creatures that you swore you would kill without exception?”
“I would have thought it would be easier if he was sleeping with one…” Ok, that was a little funny, but I’m not going to laugh. “We’re all just worried about him, can you tell him that? I don’t want him to think that we think any differently of him, we all still think that he’s the same moody, gaudy idiot that we always did.”
“I’m sure he’ll be thankful for the concern,” I laughed, standing to my feet and walking around in front of her, “Thank you for being here Cara, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Probably have to print out your own financial reports, that might take you a whole ten minutes.” Wrapping me in her arms and squeezing gently, Cara had a way of taking you back to when you were younger. I wasn’t even that old for Christ sake, but after everything that had happened over the last few years I felt about fit to retire. “I’ll leave you to it, seems like you need to get back to it and I… guess I should go and see what everyone else is up to. Call me if you need anything?”
“Always.” I smiled. “Always.”
* * *
Walking through the city at night wasn’t as… nerve wracking as it had been only a year ago. It wasn’t just the fact that now I knew for sure what was going bump in the night, it was that I knew that for the most part the things that go bump weren’t generally looking to hurt you, not anymore. Sure, there had been isolated instances over the last few months, vampires who had refused to join up or hunters that came into town looking for prey, but they were dealt with… quietly, in whatever manner that Joseph decided was best. I didn’t want anything to do with that part of how we handled things, and he was more than happy to accommodate me on that. He still needed something to do after all, and why shouldn’t it be the part that he enjoys most?
There was still the human element of crime to worry about, but now that I knew that I had the entire underground acting as de facto bodyguards I wasn’t too worried about that, a far cry from how I had felt when I was delving head first into the mindsets of some of the most twisted men and women that this city had ever seen. All in all, the city was actually feeling like it was turning around for once in its miserable existence, I was fully confident that in the next five years this place would almost be something approaching a home for the people that lived here.
So why didn’t I feel right about everything? Everything was going a lot better than it ever had before, that much was clear, so why didn’t I feel like it?
Well, I’m sure that I’ll be reminded of the exact reason when I get back home and see what isn’t waiting for me. Not sure who’s to blame for that, but it’s hard not to blame myself. It’s hard, but I’m going to give it a go anyway.
It’s ironic really, the exact person who has some of the most responsibility for dragging me out of my old life and into this new one is in it less and less nowadays, and though I completely understand why he may need some time away it’s not going to stop me from being bitter about the whole thing. I get it, he’s having a hard time adjusting to the way everything works now, but he could just come to us about it, he doesn’t need to shut us away.
I just want my boyfriend back, and if the sad looks that I caught on his face whenever he thought I wasn’t looking were any indication, Vincent wanted him back too.
“I’m home,” I said as I passed through the front door, “But I’m sure you could tell already.”
Vincent barely perked his head up from the couch, too engrossed in whatever book it was that he was reading to be able to give a proper greeting. Far be it from me to interrupt anyone’s hobbies, I was happy that he still had things to do that didn’t involve me, but not even giving me a proper hello… that was something that would need to be rectified.
“I said… hello!” Leaping over the couch into his lap, his superhuman reflexes were the only thing that prevented his book being crushed between our bodies as he tossed it to the side and caught me. Giggling while I wrapped my arms around his neck, I pulled him down into a slow kiss and poured every ounce of care and longing that I’d built up in our short time apart, feeling him smile against my lips even as he grumbled in irritation.
“I was just up to a very good part of the story I’ll have you know, it’s rude to interrupt.” Placing a gentle kiss at the end of my nose, he stared into my eyes with so much love that it almost hurt, so many things that both of us wanted to say to the other and finding ourselves saying none of them. “How was work?”
“Ugh,” I groaned, the moment broken and my body slumping against his, “More reports, more minor squabbles that need to be fixed before we can get on with whatever it is that comes next. Plus, I keep getting minorly threatening emails from some of the higher ups at the department, apparently, they’re not big fans of the fact that I’m helping back up Rick’s claims
of corruption, they think that I’ll cave if they throw some harsh words at me.”
“And I’m guessing you won’t?”
“I didn’t cave when some of the crooked cops were shooting at me, I’m supposed to be scared of what some glorified janitor who hasn’t even worked a case in twenty years says? They give me an excuse and I’ll drag them so hard their ancestors will die from it.”
“There we go,” He laughed, “That’s the Amy that I was hoping to see again.”
“She never left,” I giggled, laying my head against his chest and closing my eyes. I didn’t want to ruin the moment but… I had to know. “Has he come back today?”
“Not yet.” Vincent shook his head, sighing gently and placing his hand on the back of my head. “He’ll be back soon, I’m sure of it. It took me a while to get used to my condition when I first turned as well, and I took it much worse than he did I’ll tell you that much.”
“Really?” I asked, “How long did it take you to get over it?”
He was quiet at first, which was never a good sign but I’ll admit that it was fun to see him sweating to find the correct answer. “Give or take… fifty years?”
“Oh wonderful, so he’ll be over it in no time at all?”
“Ok, maybe not the most comforting thing to say I’ll admit that,” He chuckled, tapping the back of my head with his knuckle, “But what you need to remember is that when I was turned, I didn’t have anyone to ease me through it, I didn’t have a family, no friends, I was more or less on my own. He has us, and he has the alliance, and even his old hunter friends haven’t turned their backs on him, with all their prejudice and problems he’s still considered one of them.”