Chapter 3
3
“ B ring her in here,” Vera ordered, ushering Vanessa to a room at the end of the corridor, past the opulent staircase that led to the upper floors of the Queen Anne mansion that had once belonged to a railroad baron.
Vera held the door open, and Vanessa carried the unconscious Ginger into the room and placed her on the bed. “She lost consciousness a couple of minutes ago.”
Vanessa continued pressing her hand over the gash on her neck to stop the blood loss. Ginger looked white as a sheet already, and she hoped that she wasn’t too late.
“What happened?” Vera asked while she grabbed a towel from the ensuite bathroom, folded it, and pressed it over Vanessa’s hand. “I’ll put pressure on it.”
Vanessa removed her hand, extended her fangs and bit into her wrist. With her other hand she pried Ginger’s mouth open and let the blood from her wrist drip into the injured woman’s mouth.
“She was attacked by a vampire.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“A brief one, but I didn’t recognize him. He’s not one of us.”
“Out-of-towner?”
“I assume so.” Vanessa pressed her ear to Ginger’s chest to listen for a heartbeat. It was so faint that even her sensitive vampire hearing barely picked it up. “Her heart’s still beating.” She looked up, her wrist still bleeding into Ginger’s mouth. “She’s got a chest injury too.”
“I can heal that,” Vera offered, motioning to the towel.
With one hand, Vanessa pressed the towel to Ginger’s neck, so Vera could remove hers. She watched as Vera’s hands transformed into claws, and she ripped her top to shreds to remove it. There were four long cuts across one breast and down to her abdomen, claw marks. Blood seeped from the wounds, and together with the blood that drenched Ginger’s clothes and the towel, the small room was filled with its metallic scent. Vanessa couldn’t help her fangs from extending, even though she had no intention of drinking Ginger’s blood.
Vera’s fangs were peeking past her lips too, but Vanessa knew she could trust the petite Asian woman with the porcelain face and the long black hair. She’d been a vampire for a long time, and she had her needs under control. It was a godsend that Vera’s brothel was close by, sitting on the top of Nob Hill not far from the famous Fairmont Hotel.
Vera lowered her face to Ginger’s breast and began to lick over the wounds, depositing saliva onto the cuts. A vampire’s saliva had healing properties that could mend a human’s skin without leaving any scars. The wounds on the woman’s torso were shallow enough for the saliva to work. Unfortunately, the wound on Ginger’s neck was too deep to heal by licking it. The vampire blood Vanessa gave her would heal her from the inside.
Vanessa felt her head spin suddenly, and realized that she couldn’t give Ginger any more of her own blood. She removed her wrist and licked it to close the puncture wounds. At the same time, she felt heat crawl up her spine and engulf her head.
Fuck! She didn’t need this right now, but she knew there was no stopping what always started like a fever. She closed her eyes, trying to push down her rising needs.
“You all right?” Vera suddenly asked, her hand on Vanessa’s shoulder.
“Just a little faint and hot.” She pulled her cell from her pocket, while still applying pressure to Ginger’s neck. “I need to call HQ. Tell them what happened.”
“I’ll take over,” Vera said, nodding toward Ginger’s neck.
Grateful for the help, Vanessa tapped on the main number of Scanguards’ headquarters. She rose from the bed and walked toward the ensuite bathroom, where she had to brace herself for a moment in order not to lose her balance.
“Vanessa, what’s up?” It was Benjamin, one of Amaury’s twin sons who was on duty at the central command center that triaged all incoming emergencies and vampire-related incidents.
“One of my girls was savagely attacked by a vampire,” Vanessa said. She knew every single woman who plied her trade on the streets of San Francisco, and she considered them her girls to protect.
“Fuck! How is she? Is she alive?”
“Barely. I’m with her at Vera’s. She’s got a pulse, and I gave her blood.”
“Good. I’ll put the ambulance on standby.”
“Thanks, I’ll let you know when to send it.”
“Who’s the vamp?”
“No idea. Never saw him before. He must be new in town.”
“Okay, describe him.”
“About five foot nine, mouse-brown short hair, not sure about the eye color—they were red the entire time I saw him.” She heard Benjamin tapping away on a computer keyboard.
“Where did it happen?”
“On Waverly Place, between Sacramento and Clay. He escaped down Clay Street, probably headed toward the waterfront. But I couldn’t follow him. Ginger would have bled out.”
“You did the right thing,” Benjamin assured her quickly. “We’ve got this. I’ll send patrols out to look for him. Did you see him well enough to help us with a sketch?”
“Yeah, I can do that. But I need to stay with Ginger until she’s more stable. She’s still unconscious.”
“Good. Stay there. When she comes to, ask her where he grabbed her before they went into the alley; maybe a traffic cam caught him. And then you know what to do. I don’t need to tell you—”
“I know. I’ll wipe her memory. See you later.”
Vanessa disconnected the call and shoved the cell phone back in her pocket. In the bathroom mirror she caught a glimpse of herself. Her face was blood-smeared, one side of her jacket and T-shirt drenched in Ginger’s blood. She was surprised that nobody had stopped her and called the police when she’d brought Ginger here, walking a good four blocks mostly uphill. Without her vampire strength, she would have never made it. But now, even she felt drained. One reason was the fact that she’d fed Ginger her blood. She looked over her shoulder back at Vera.
“Do you have bottled blood here?”
Vera nodded. “In my apartment upstairs. I’ll get you some. And some clean clothes too. You can’t go outside like that, or you’ll draw the wrong kind of attention.”
“Thanks, Vera.”
“Why don’t you take a shower, get the blood off you?” She motioned to Ginger. “She’ll be out for a while. And I’ll be back in five minutes.”
Vera left the room, and Vanessa studied Ginger. She appeared peaceful now. She snatched a clean washcloth from the bathroom, let warm water run over it, and then used it to clean the injured woman’s face and torso. The cuts on her torso were already closing, and no more blood seeped from them. Vera’s saliva had done a good job.
Vanessa carefully wiped crusted blood off Ginger’s face, before gently cleaning her neck around the area where the vampire had fed from her. The wound looked as if the vampire hadn’t known what to do. There were several incisions and tear marks as if he’d had trouble latching on to her.
What the vampire had done to Ginger was barbaric. She understood that vampires needed to feed directly from humans if they didn’t have access to bottled blood like everybody associated with Scanguards. But a vampire’s bite didn’t have to hurt, and it certainly didn’t have to leave such life-threatening injuries. On the contrary, a vampire’s bite could be sensual and bring pleasure to the human host, not just the vampire. So why had this vampire acted so cruelly?
By the time Vera was back with a bottle of human blood and clean clothes, the wound on Ginger’s neck wasn’t bleeding anymore. But it would take a couple of days to heal. Vanessa took the bottle of human blood and unscrewed the top. She took a deep gulp from it, letting the cold liquid coat her parched throat and revive her tired senses.
“I’ll have Ginger transported to Scanguards’ med center a bit later,” Vanessa said. “Mom can take care of her there.” She set the bottle back to her lips and knocked back more of the delicious liquid.
“She’s no bother here, if that’s your concern,” Vera offered.
“That’s very kind of you, Vera. But you’re doing so much already. Scanguards is best equipped for this. She needs to be monitored for a few days. We’ll move her in a few hours. I’ll arrange it a bit later.”
Vera nodded. Then her forehead creased, and she stretched her arm out to touch Vanessa’s cheek. “You’re burning up, Nessie, is it your time?”
She knew what Vera was referring to. “No, it’s not.”
A few times a year, she went into heat like a feline, because she wasn’t just a vampire hybrid, she’d inherited the satyr gene from her parents. It was the gene that equipped her father and her two brothers with a second cock, and sent her mother and herself into sexual heat several times a year. Without sex, the heat would rise to a high fever that was unbearable. But this wasn’t her time. She wasn’t due to go into heat for another month.
“But it looks like it,” Vera said, concern coloring her voice. She took the empty bottle from Vanessa’s hand.
“It feels like it too.” She looked toward the bathroom, feeling as if she was dying of thirst. “I need a cold shower.”