Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

but depression and frustration gnawed at her. The tequila burned as she drank it, adding to the half bottle in her gut already. Her body tolerated the liquid as "non-blood" that didn't satisfy the thirst, but other than that it had no effect. Her mother had been a drunk. Sabine had been headed that way herself after her parents died. Then she had decided to sober up and find Doug.
    "Eighteen months sober!" She smiled. Chalk up another good thing about being a vampire.
    She lifted Fangs off and got up. Tossing her long dark-brown hair aside, she gazed over the side of the building to contemplate the drop. She rested her chin on her forearms and tipped the last bottle from her liquor collection to watch it fall to the alley below. It crashed in the empty dumpster, joining the shot glass. She'd start her second year as a vampire with a clean slate.
    A divot in the alley's asphalt, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a negative of her face, mocked her from beside the dumpster.
    Somebody really needs to fix that. Turning away from the ledge, she called out to her former boyfriend. "Chad!"
    Her blond minion scampered over the pipes and ducts from the spot where she'd left him by the roof access door. "Ooh la la! What's a gorgeous babe like you doing up here?"
    She shook her head. Part of her regretted using him for memory wipe practice so many times. "Do you remember anything about the last year? About living with me?"
    "I lived with you?"
    Sabine breathed a sigh of relief. She could read his thoughts, and knew the last year was a blur to him. After discovering how many times he'd cheated on her, and the truth behind his lies, she had only a smidgeon of remorse for fucking up his mind.
    "No, Chad. You lived with Karma. She can be a real bitch. But now you're going to say goodbye, go find a job, and forget I ever existed, 'kay?"
    "Okay, bye!" Chad smiled and climbed back over the pipes.
    Sabine listened to him leave the rooftop, trot down the flights of stairs and walk out the building, whistling as he went. Gotta love vampire hearing. Sometimes.
    Feed.
    Sabine ignored the cramp tying her stomach in a knot. You're a shitty companion, you know that?
    Tires squealed on the pavement a few blocks away, and a car engine revved, getting closer. Predawn was too early to be rushing to get someplace. Even the stockbrokers weren't up yet.
    A car screeched to a stop below, sounding like it was on her street.
    Sabine rested back on her pillows. Her ears twitched at the sound of footsteps in the stairwell a dozen stories below. A pair of men's shoes pounding up the stairs in a hurry was definitely not normal at oh-dark-thirty in the morning. None of the residents of this building would have the energy to take the stairs two at a time. A dragging sound accompanied the footsteps.
    Was someone coming for her?
    A thrill ran through her body. Maybe it was a vampire! She jumped to her feet, wishing she had her sword. Her gear was back in her apartment, so she'd have to rely on her fists.
    The roof access stairwell door opened. The muffled sound of pleading, and elevated heartbeats came from the other side of the roof.
    Sabine sighed. Heartbeats meant not vampires. She couldn't catch a break.
    A deep voice interrupted her thoughts. "Shut up. You had your chance to play ball. Now you're going to see what happens when you defy us."
    Curiosity got the better of Sabine, and she tiptoed along the ledge of the roof, circling around to the front of the stairwell to get a look at the intruders in her sanctuary. She watched as a tall man with broad shoulders pushed a gagged man with tied hands toward the front of the building. Was this poor guy going to get executed? She couldn't just let that happen.
    She hopped down to the flat roof, her boots crunching on the small gravel. "Hey guys, what'cha doin'?" Maybe they were play-acting. It was the morning of Halloween, after all.
    The big guy turned and pulled a huge pistol from a shoulder holster under his jacket.