Gabriel's Mate (7 page)

She’d always been aggressive when it came to dating and sex, but the way she’d acted with Gabriel had been purely wanton. His arms had been gentle enough to comfort and soothe a child, yet she’d reacted with lust and passion. She remembered how hesitant his kiss had been, how reluctantly he’d given into her advances. But the more he’d held back, the more she’d gone after him, pressing herself against his muscled body like a bitch in heat.

The tears she’d shed in his arms had taught her one thing: she was not dead. Whatever she was now—vampire or not—her heart hurt as much as a human’s, and her emotions were as deep as always, if not deeper.

What her new life would bring, she didn’t know, didn’t even want to guess at this point. What would she tell her family? She thought of her parents. She was an only child. How long would she be able to hide from them what had happened to her? She wondered whether she would be a danger to them, if she would attack them when she was hungry like she’d practically attacked Gabriel.

Would she have to stay away from her parents to keep them safe? Never see them again? She couldn’t do that. She loved her parents. They’d given her every opportunity in life, supported all her endeavors. She couldn’t divorce herself from them. The thought hurt too much.

And her work? If she was truly a vampire, she could kiss her job goodbye—she couldn’t remain a doctor if the sight of blood made her hungry and think of dinner. Just remembering the few drops of blood on Gabriel’s lips made her salivate. She’d never smelled anything so delicious. Her stomach growled at the thought. Oh God, how she wanted blood. This was more severe than any of her chocolate cravings had ever been.

Besides, who wanted a doctor who could only work when it was dark? She wouldn’t be able to serve her patients when they needed her. She would have to hide what she was. For sure, nobody would want to come close to her once they knew she was a vampire. Hell, she herself wouldn’t want to get close. She couldn’t really blame anybody else.

They would see her as a monster that hurt people. And wasn’t that what she would have to do? Instead of helping people, she would have to hunt them and feed off them. An ice-cold shiver went down her spine at the disturbing thought. It was probably what Gabriel had meant

when he’d whispered to her that he’d take care of her and teach her everything she needed to know. Teach her to bite humans?

Frustrated, Maya slammed her fist into the tile wall. It instantly cracked. Stunned, she pulled her fist back. With horror, she stared at the tile, then back at her fist. She felt no pain when clearly the impact should have hurt a little. She was too strong. She could easily hurt somebody without even wanting to, without knowing what she was doing. No, she could never see her parents again—what if she crushed her mother just by hugging her?

She pushed the tears back, not wanting to fall apart again. Somehow she had to deal with this, come to terms with her new life. Gabriel and his friends seemed to have themselves under control. So, somehow they must have managed to deal with their lot. There was no reason why she couldn’t. She expected full well that it would hurt, that her transition wouldn’t be easy, but she was a strong woman. Somehow she had to try.

Maya swallowed hard. She had to forget what her old life was like. The more she cried over it, the harder it would be to settle into this new one. She tried to cheer herself up by reminding herself that the attack—of which she had no recollection– could have killed her.

As hard as she tried, however, she couldn’t remember what had happened. All she recalled was the sound of her heels on the pavement, the thick fog that night, the darkness. Even thinking back now, a cold shiver ran down her spine despite the hot water of the shower. Why couldn’t she remember? Had she been so traumatized by the attack that her mind blocked out all recollection of it?

She’d heard of patients who’d temporarily lost their memory of a traumatic event. Was that what had happened to her? She closed her eyes and forced her mind back to that night. She’d parked the car, then she’d walked to her apartment building. And then, nothing. Only fog, darkness—a burned out light. Maya concentrated and tried again until her shoulder tensed and she spun around and opened her eyes. The white of the tiles was all she saw.

She reached for the faucet and turned the water off. It was useless to try too hard. Things would come back to her when she was ready, she was certain. She would take it one day at a time. Or maybe that was one
night
at a time: days were probably off-limits to her from now on.

She had questions, hundreds of them, and somebody better be answering them very soon.

As she dried off, she heard the bedroom door open and light footsteps echo in the room. A scent drifted into her nostrils: it wasn’t Gabriel. She would have recognized his scent anywhere. It was strange and fascinating how her sense of smell, as well as her sense of hearing, was so much stronger now.

Maya wrapped the towel around her torso and walked into the bedroom.

Yvette stood next to the bed and laid a few pieces of clothing onto it. Without turning, she spoke. “You’re about the same size as Delilah. I’m sure she won’t mind if you wear some of her stuff.”

“Thanks. Yvette?”

The woman turned and Maya had another chance of admiring her beauty. Her model looks were only diminished by the slightly sour look on her face. “Yes?”

Maya shifted from one foot to another. “I’m thirsty.” She felt as if she’d just confessed that she needed a shot of heroine. And in her own eyes it was just that: forbidden and dark.

Instead of giving her a disgusted look, Yvette actually smiled. Maya could easily imagine how men flocked to her when she turned on the charm. “That’s to be expected. I brought you a couple of bottles.”

Bottles of what? “I mean, at least I think … I want some blood.”

“I know. Over there.” Yvette pointed at the bedside table. On it were two bottles with unrecognizable contents.

Maya approached. As she inched forward, she read the labels. The only thing printed on them was
O-positive.
Was this what she thought it was? “Is that—”

Yvette responded before she had a chance to finalize her thoughts. “Human blood. Not all of us actually go out and bite humans. We have evolved.”

They drank blood out of bottles? No biting? For the first time since she’d awoken, a sense of relief spread inside her. She wouldn’t turn into an animal that attacked humans.

“You don’t bite people?”

“No, not for food anyway.”

Maya decided not to have Yvette explain her comment. Thinking back to her kiss with Gabriel, her instinct told her that biting wasn’t reserved for the purpose of food intake. And right now she didn’t want to think any further about what had happened with Gabriel.

She picked up one of the bottles and unscrewed the top. She sniffed and inhaled the metallic scent. Her stomach recoiled. It smelled nothing like Gabriel’s blood. This wasn’t what her body wanted.

“It smells awful,” she commented.

“Awful?” Yvette’s incredulous tone gave her pause. “I thought you were thirsty.”

Maya nodded. “I’m famished. But this is not what I want.” Gabriel’s blood had smelled delicious, and the enticing package it had come in—well, she didn’t even want to think of it or she would charge downstairs and try to find him to get what she wanted.

Yvette shook her head. “We all drink this. It’s first-quality; Samson only buys the best. Drink.”

Maya set the bottle to her lips. The moment the blood touched her tongue, she virtually gagged. She tried to swallow, but couldn’t get the repulsive liquid down her throat. She spat.

“It’s God-awful.”

A shocked look passed over Yvette’s features. “But you
have
to drink human blood: without it, you can’t survive. We all feed once a day, sometimes more often if we are injured or expend more energy.”

Maya still had the vile taste of the blood in her mouth. All she could think of was to get rid of it. She didn’t care what the others did—she wasn’t going to drink that disgusting liquid. “I’m going to puke.”

She ran into the bathroom and scooped water from the faucet into her mouth to wash out the taste. When she turned, she saw Yvette standing at the door.

“Maybe you’ve got it all wrong. Maybe I didn’t turn.”

Yvette shook her head. “The signs were all there. And besides, I can sense your aura.”

Maya didn’t understand. What kind of new-age junkie was she? “What aura?”

“Every vampire has a certain unmistakable aura. Only other vampires or preternatural creatures can see it. It’s how we recognize each other.”

“I don’t understand.” She couldn’t see any aura.

“You will. You’re weak right now because you haven’t fed yet. Once you’ve recovered, you’ll slowly find your new senses. So feed or I’m calling the doc and tell him there’s something wrong with you,” Yvette said.

That was all Maya needed: not only was she a vampire, no, now something was wrong with her. She couldn’t accept it. “Let me try again.”

When Yvette handed her the open bottle, Maya held her breath. Maybe if she didn’t breathe the scent in, she would be able to swallow. Again, she put the bottle to her lips and took a swig. A second later, she spewed the red liquid over the white-marble counter and the pristine mirror. The droplets on the mirror created little rivers and ran down toward the counter, creating an eerie pattern of long strings meant to trap her and tie her up. Like a net in which she felt captured.

“I’m calling the doc,” was Yvette’s only comment.

Maya braced herself on the counter. “Maybe I need real human blood.”

“This
is
real human blood. It’s fresh, it’s bottled. There’s nothing wrong with it.” As if to prove it, Yvette took a sip and swallowed. “See?”

There was no denying it. Yvette drank the blood without problems.

“Maybe I’m allergic. Are there any other brands?” Even as a human she’d had a few minor food allergies, so maybe this was all it was: an allergy to one type of blood.

“Allergic? Impossible. I’ve never heard of a vampire who was allergic to blood.” Yvette’s dismissal came without any hesitation.

“Is that the only blood you have?” Maya asked in desperation. She was starving, and her body told her she needed to eat, or drink, or whatever vampires called it.

“Samson keeps some O-neg somewhere. Let me check with Carl.” She started toward the door. “Get dressed in the meantime.”

The moment Yvette left the room, Maya slipped into the clothes she’d brought her. Whoever Delilah was, Yvette had been right. Delilah’s size was almost the same as Maya’s. The faded jeans fit her almost perfectly, and the soft, red t-shirt was only marginally too tight around her toned biceps.

By the time she was dressed, Yvette was back with another bottle. Maya read the label when she took it:
O-negative.
She prayed that this tasted better than the previous bottle and unscrewed the top. The whiff that hit her was even more vile than what she’d spit out only minutes earlier. They expected her to drink
that
? Nobody in their right mind would touch that awful stuff!

She pushed the bottle back into Yvette’s hand. “I can’t. This is even worse than the other stuff.”

Yvette gave her another skeptical look. “This is the best blood out there. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to get O-neg? It’s like a bottle of the best champagne.”

“I don’t care what it costs. I don’t like it,” Maya snapped. “Why don’t
you
drink it?”

Yvette raised an eyebrow. “I think I will. The bottle’s already open. No use in wasting good stuff.”

Maya’s stomach growled again, and she hugged herself trying to counteract the hunger. “Maybe I’m not a vampire.”

Yvette
tsk
ed. “I know it’s a hard thing to come to terms with, but denial isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’re a vampire, just like the rest of us. Get used to it.”

“But then why wouldn’t—or couldn’t—I drink human blood? That can’t be right. Have you ever heard of a vampire who won’t drink human blood?”

Yvette pursed her lips. “I haven’t, but maybe the doc has. Let’s go downstairs and wait for him.”

“What’s his specialty, vampirism?”

Yvette shrugged. “I’m afraid all they’ve got here is a psychiatrist. This is a bit of a quiet backwater. In New York, we could get you a real doctor, but in San Francisco he’s the only one.”

“There are plenty of doctors in San Francisco.”

Yvette gave her a meaningful look. “Sure there are, but not one who’s a vampire.”

Of course Yvette was right. Maya couldn’t go to a real doctor. How on earth would she explain her hunger for blood on the one hand, but her body’s refusal to drink it on the other? She needed to see a vampire doctor. How a psychiatrist could help her was beyond her, unless he could hypnotize her into drinking the awful stuff. Maybe that was what Yvette was getting at.

For sure, he must have heard of cases like hers. If not, then her own theory made much more sense: she couldn’t be a real vampire if she didn’t want to drink human blood. They had gotten it all wrong—she hadn’t turned. She was still human. Maybe her freakish strength and lack of reflection was just temporary. There was still hope that this nightmare she’d awoken into would end.

Seven

Gabriel kicked the gas pedal down and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in Samson’s Audi R8 with a speed of close to ninety miles. Traffic was light, and an occasion like this didn’t present itself very often. Besides, racing Samson’s sports car was the perfect outlet for his frustration.

The kiss with Maya had turned him inside out. If she hadn’t accidentally bitten him—and he was certain it was an accident since she was still unaware of her true strength—he wasn’t sure where things would have stopped. Well, he was lying to himself. He knew exactly where it would have stopped: with him fucking her until she’d used her new strength to fight him. Until she would have looked at his naked body and called him a monster.

Gabriel turned off the freeway and headed down the steep road into Sausalito, the once sleepy artist’s enclave where these days no struggling artist could afford the rents or the high home prices. It had become a playground for the rich. No wonder: the views into the city were stunning.