Sabrina Strong Series

1. Night Visitations-3

Earlier this month, and at his request, I went to where he was being tended to, in the middle of Kansas. He was on his deathbed—literally dying in front of me. I donated my plasma to him that very night.

This was a new experimental treatment they"d told me. Parts of him were flaking off, fingers and part of his nose were gone. His hair was falling out, and the stench was awful. It had been a last ditch hope that plasma instead of blood would cure the silver poisoning. A second donation was needed, and I obliged once I got home after twenty-four hours.

Obviously, it had worked. Our relationship had made a few weird twists and turns since we"d met back in October. Who was I to question how he would take care of me in my time of need, since he owed me his life? Seems we had been paying each other back ever since. I supposed it was his turn to help me mend.

I had to soften my bitchy attitude toward him. I didn"t know why I was so upset—no! I knew. Bitter from him trying to trick me into bed with him. Which he had. It was all to impregnate me and assure him of being returned to magnate status and get the demons off my a*s. Didn"t work. Sure. Tonight, I wanted to sulk and be left alone, but maybe this was better. A master vampire in the other room while I slept. I was still on the demons’ “death wish” list, and he could watch over me. How sweet of him. Yeesh.

Tremayne sat in my living room, enjoying something on TV. Sounded like a talk show; there was laughter, clapping, and such. He chuckled twice at something said. One of those weird twists in our relationship had gone from his wanting to bed and bite me, to him handing me over to his son, Stefan, in order to mate with (yeah, that went well, didn"t it?), and now he was keeping me safe from demon boogie men. The whole let"s-get-the-sibyl-pregnant-so-that-the-demons-will-stop-hunting-her-because-she-would-theoretically-be-pregnant-with-the-Dhampir scenario had been put on hold … had it? When had that happened? I didn"t trust that. Besides, I had other fish to fry. Or not fry.

Stefan had begun to scare the pee out of me when he was in charge after my husband, Vasyl, had left. I was happy at the news that he was now out on the west coast, nowhere near me. I was into Bill right now. He wasn"t here tonight because he had been hit with several disasters at once. First of all, Emma (aka Mrs. Bench), his grandmother, had died and the will was going to be read tomorrow. He"d also had had a break-in at some point around the same time she had died. And Mrs. Bench"s cat had somehow disappeared the night of the break-in. The theory was that the cat (who Bill claimed hated him), ducked out when the burglar came in. He didn"t sound extremely worried about it, but it had been his grandmother"s cat, and he needed to find it.

“Is the TV too loud?”

Tremayne"s voice so close, coming through the six inches of open door, that it startled me, and I jerked my head around to see his large head there in the opening. “No,” I replied.

“If it is, I"ll turn it off.”

“I"m fine,” I said. “I really didn"t feel like turning in anyway.”

“You need your rest.”

I gave him a wet raspberry.

“I"ll make you sleep,” he threatened.

I didn"t say anything to that. He"d had my plasma. He"d be able to tell if I was awake or sleepy, or hurting or frighten … or thinking about s*x. But he couldn"t make me do squat. I had the mystical ring which had forever cauterized any and all vampire t****l of any sort. So there.

He turned off the TV (or muted it). “Hello?” that deep voice of his said.

He was answering his phone, I slowly figured out.

“U-huh. Why should I care? … What?” He paused. “Oh. Alright. I"ll ask.”

I perked my ears.

“Sabrina?” he called from the next room.

“Yeah?”

“Hobart said someone"s inside the woman"s house across the street.”

“Really? What"s happening?” I asked.

“Says there"s a light on over there.”

“Maybe it"s Bill.” I hoped it was. That meant he"d come here next and shoo Tremayne away. Me and my thrilling life.

“She says it might be Bill,” he said, sounding exasperated to be bothered like this. “I don’t know. Why do I care what the f**k is going on across the street?”

“What sort of car is in the driveway?” I called out and used my crutches to get me to the door, which I slid back enough so I could hobble through.

“I didn"t ask,” he said, sounding put out.

Bill"s car was white. I thought it was a Lexus, or something like that. Expensive, in any case. “Why is Hobart still here anyway?” I asked, looking down at the large vampire trying out my father"s relaxing chair, his feet up. He fit in it better than I did. Go figure.

“She wants to know why you"re still here,” Tremayne said into the phone. He listened and said to me, “He was plowing your drive because it was drifting shut.”

“Oh. Let me talk to him,” I said, reaching for his phone, leaning on one crutch. He handed over his phone. “Hobart?” I said into the phone, leaning on my good leg to hold the phone.

“Yeah,” Hobart"s gravelly voice came in my ear.

“What do you see?”

“Well, right now—oh … the lights went out, just now.”

“Is Bill"s car in the drive?”

“There ain"t no car in the driveway,” he said.

“You"d better drive away.” I moved a little closer to my picture window. It was difficult to maneuver with a phone to my ear and crutches in both hands. I did the shoulder scrunch people did when they had their hands full to hold the phone.

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“You want I should call police?”

“No. I"m the neighbor. You calling would sound odd. I"m going to call Bill first. Good night, and thanks,” I said. After he said good night, I hung up and looked at Tremayne"s phone in my hand. “Here.” I held out the phone to him. “I"ve got the sheriff"s police on speed dial. But I need to call Bill first.”

“Is it really necessary?” he asked.

“Yes. I need my phone.” I looked around, thinking where I"d had it last.

“Where"s your phone?” Tremayne rose to his feet. He reached and took his phone from me.

“Uh,” I said, still thinking. Eventually, it came to me. “In my bedroom.”

“I"ll get it.” He walked back into my bedroom.

“I don"t believe you"re here to babysit me. What gives? You don"t go out of your way to do charity. Fess up.”

He strode out of my room with my cell phone in hand. It looked tiny in that huge paw. “Actually, I have a job for you, but I had no idea how badly you"d been hurt … again,” he said and handed me the phone. “I could heal you with my blood,” he offered.

“No!”

He looked like I"d slapped him.

“I mean, thanks, but no. I have to be seen in public.”

He gave me a what-the-hell? look.

“If people see me walk around like I"m fine, no crutches, people will ask what happened to the story that I"d been shot by Mrs. Woodbine.”

He still looked like I had to connect the dots for him.

“I have an appointment to see a lawyer tomorrow.”

“Oh. I see,” he said.

If I had wanted to, I could have asked Bill to heal me—which didn"t require me drinking anyone"s blood. But the reason was still the same. I had to look as though I were recovering, and I didn"t think I could fake it too well.

I hit Bill"s number in my contacts. He answered almost right away.

“Bill, it"s me. I wouldn"t have called, but is there anyone who should be at Mrs. Bench"s house tonight?”

“What? No. Why?”

“Hobart said he noticed some lights on. He was leaving my place, telling me about it, and then the lights went out.”

“Oh, hell. I have no idea,” he said. He paused for a breath. “I wouldn"t think that anyone has the right to be there, and I"m the only one with keys.”

A chill went through me. “Then, I"m calling the police. I wanted to make sure with you, first.”

“Yeah. Call the police, and then call me back,” he said and hung up.

I was about to do that when I felt it: the Knowing, combined with something else. I could only feel it as a vibration in the atmosphere. I went completely still, listening with all six senses. I was a touch clairvoyant. Nothing got past me that was off-the-grid. I had that quirky supernatural knowing-the-future and magical auric field. The slight jarring of the atmosphere came up through the balls of my feet. Yep. Magic. I would know this atmospheric change anywhere. I had felt it when I was in Mrs. Bench"s house when I was about to receive the mystic ring. The whole house had shaken as though a 6.8 earthquake had erupted beneath us. At the moment, this was slight, but it was building.

Then a slight trembling started under my feet.

“Did you feel that?” I couldn"t hide the panic in my voice. I shot Tremayne a look.

“What?” Tremayne looked at me expectantly. “I feel nothing out of the ordinary.” He shrugged.

The vibrations were so slight that I would think no human would pick them up, but certainly a vampire would. Then it kicked up a notch, or maybe it was moving.

“Don"t you feel that? It"s like when we were in the woods looking for Lindee, and we felt the ley line vibrate. Only, it"s really building.”

“You have an affinity for it, Sabrina. But yeah. I do feel something.” He paused while we both assessed the weird sensation. “You have a ley line going through your house, don"t you?”

I nodded. “Mine and Mrs. Bench"s. Someone is using it.” I paused. “Oh, God.” I moved toward the curtains where he now stood.

We both peered out toward Mrs. Bench"s house. The lights were out. It was dark there, like it should be. But I thought I saw some sort of weird glowing through the windows.

Tremayne looked down at me. “Someone with powers is visiting your neighbor"s house?”

I nodded again. I figured he"d see something, or someone, roaming around in the dark. “Yeah. Someone more powerful than she was.” I licked my lips. I hadn"t ever been able to “read” Mrs. Bench"s house until I was inside it. I knew now it was because of her wards. But a few minutes ago, although I could not get a read on who or what was inside Mrs. Bench"s house, I"d gotten the signature of someone with a lot of power.

“Demon?” he asked.

“I-I don"t think so. Why would a demon need lights to see?” My skin prickled and I shivered.

“Good question.” Tremayne"s last words were barely out of his mouth when the whole house shook. Like a locomotive had derailed right next to the house and fell over on it.

“s**t!” We both said, and I jumped with a little shriek.

But then I went into a full-blown vision. I had no time to think or say anything; it came on like g**g busters and I blacked out.