Page 2 of Resurrection

The man stared down at Gabe, expression mostly blank, but he reached up to push a button and said, “No. He’s mostly mobile. How much blood does a vampire need when they come back? I don’t need much.”

“If it’s not from his Focus, he’ll need a lot. And he was down a lot longer than you ever have been.”

“Ronnie is not going to be feeding him any time soon,” the man said.

“No…”the headset crackled a slow response.“We’ll get him to Max. Get him fed and back on his feet. See where his head is before exposing him to the witch.”

“I’m not worried about the witch,” the man said. “Give me a minute to get him moving.”

“Sam, be careful. He’s weak, but that doesn’t mean he’s not lethal.”

The man, Sam, let out a sarcastic laugh. “I’d be thrilled to put him back in the ground.”

“Not forgiven?”The voice crackled through the line.“He might not even remember.”

“Too bad for him then. He’s got a lot of bullshit to make up for. And I still fucking feel our bond. How is that possible when he cut me off?” Now he sounded mad, though he still didn’t move from the ledge.

“Those sorts of bonds are never completely gone. Not until true death. It’s similar to a past lover and how you always remember bits of them, good and bad.”

“Ain’t loving this shit,” Sam said. “Fuck, things were going well. Why now?”

“Some things will always be a mystery.”

Sam stopped chatting with the voice in the earpiece and stared down at Gabe. Gabe sucked in air, his chest aching as the slow beat of his heart steadied, though his hunger was barely eased. He felt more in control, though very disoriented and tired.

“I’m a vampire,” he said, his voice little more than a raspy whisper. Not a zombie, but still undead, tied to the grave and death. The boxes in his head checked as he filled them with what he knew about vampires. The lists were long, but had a lot of holes. More missing pieces.

“I was disappointed, too. It’s not all the phenomenal cosmic power that romance novels lead us to believe,” Sam said. “But here we are.”

Gabe tried to sort through his thoughts to clarify. “I went to ground.”

“Yes,” Sam agreed. “Better late than never, I guess. How much do you remember?”

That was a loaded question. “Too much? And not enough? Nothing fits together.”

Sam let out a long sigh. “You look like shit. All zombie-like. But your eyes aren’t red. They’re black, meaning you need blood, and the revenant is close. If we put you in a car, will you attack anyone who’s not a vampire?”

“I don’t know,” Gabe answered honestly. He felt as if his control was in place, but he knew that the hunger was intense enough to take over. “Maybe not?”

Sam reached for the button again. “Bring the box.”

Box?

“Once I open the door, I’ll need you to get in the box,” Sam instructed. “We will add grave dirt to it.” He waved his hands at the contents of the tomb. “I think you came back here because it’s where your grave dirt is. I know Ronnie added most of it from your apartment after he moved everything out. I’m glad you woke here. Waking up in the witch’s backyard would have meant war, I think. Especially with the kids there…”

Kids? Witch? “Vampires aren’t allowed to touch witches,” Gabe whispered, feeling something tug at his memory. The glimpse of a face, there and gone. Too fast to catch much of it.

Sam laughed. “Yeah? Maybe in the old days. I haven’t seen that in a book anywhere, and Max insisted I memorize that shit. I’ve read them all. Maybe something from your sire?”

The woman’s face popped up in his mind, clear, but with no name. The emotions, however, were potent, as Gabe felt himself lurch upward as if to attack. He stopped himself only inches from grabbing Sam, though Sam hadn’t moved at all. The thought of her made him homicidal. Good to know.

“That’s a trigger, yeah?” Sam asked after a moment.

Gabe cycled through a handful of memories attached to that face. “She was a monster.”

“Who said you couldn’t touch a witch?”

“Yes.”