Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (9 page)

CHAPTER SIX

    S
HERIFF ALEXANDER AND HIS GERMAN SHEPHERD VAMPIRE DOG
Tessy
had been called to an ap
artment building in the Bronx. There had been a
report that someone had been moving very fast outside the building, and the people inside were sca
red.
Super-fast movements always meant vampires. People were told not to leave their apartments until
the danger had passed.

   
The atmosphere
was dark,
humid
and dangerous
.
A vagabond with a bottle of wine in a bag
and a gun under his belt
stepped out of the shadows and wandered off
muttering to himself
, but not before he
staggered and fell into the wire fence
.
When
the handsome sheriff arrived
five minutes later
in his black trench coat he realized that there was no immediate threat. The dog’s happy demeanor told him that she sensed nothing untoward in the area.
Therefore, if there was a vampire it wasn’t one of the bad ones.
The dog sensed the new vampire but knew immediately that she wasn’t of the notorious variety.

    “She’s back here.”
The female voice that originated from the back of the building was obviously stressed.

    The red sheriff blurred
behind
the building where he discover
ed a 13-year-old girl
. The girl had been crying softly as her mother stood beside her. The mother had beautiful brown hair
caught in the bright
security
lights of the building
and
she
was pretty but looked distraught. The dog ran up to the girl and licked her face.
The dog
then
rushed to the side of the building and jumped a short man with a shotgun; he was there to kill the vampire. He
was questioned and released
as he was part of the building’s security.
The
dog’s
fangs made him drop the gun and soil himself.

   
The sheriff turned his attention to the woman and her daughter.
“
I’m
Sheriff
Alexander. Is there a problem here?” In fact he knew what the problem was but he wanted to hear it from them. The girl’s aura was almost as unstable and unpredictable as she
was; it was one of the telltale signs of a newly made vampire
.
The girl was frightened of herself and her new capabilities. She could smell the blood in her mother’s veins.

    Abbey was thirty-two and quite attractive.
Her hands were shaking.
“She
’s
been turned
and the building has a no vampire policy. She doesn’t know what to do with herself.
And people from the building have seen her
, and
they’
re scared of her
.”

    “When was she turned?”

   “Last night
.” Arym’s mood seemed slightly elevated because of the dog.
“
He gave me the choice of being killed or turned.”
Tessy gav
e her paw to the girl forcing
her to smile
as
she
then
attempted to lick her tears away
.

    Abbey sighed deeply. “What are we going to do?
They won’t let her into the building.
Her father was killed by a vampire.
What is this world coming to?
I ju
st don’t know what to do
.
”

    “That is so sad. What’s
the girl’s
name?”

    “Arym.”
Tessy gave her yet another kiss
as she smelled the dog’s face
.
Arym thought that there was something very different about the dog, but she wasn’t sure what.
It was the strangest thing.
The dog appeared to be telling her in her mind that she was going to be o
kay.

    “Well,
Arym
, your life has changed and you’re going to need a little help. I’d like to take you to get some
counselling
, you’ll be there for three
or four
days as they evaluate you. We’ll get permission for you
to stay in the building
then you’ll be able to
go
home and get on with your life.”

    Her mother was encouraged. “You can do that? You can get permission for her to come home?”

    “I’ll vouch for her. The dog could sense her good heart as we approached.
One day they might be happy to have a vampire in the building.
That’s usually the way it works out.
”

    The girl half cried and half laughed. “Can my mother come with me?”

    “She can come for a visit.”

     “Will there be other vampires there?”

    “Yes.”

    “
Then
I don’t want to go. I’m
scared.
I don’t want to be around vampires.
”

    There was silence for a moment as Alexander thought about it
, and he saw her mother’s pleading eyes
. “Tell you what. What if I send the dog with you? She’s a
vampire,
an official sheriff and she’ll protect you.
She’ll stay right by your
side while you’re there.
”

    “She’ll
really come with me?”

    “I guarantee it.”

  
She stared at Tessy and liked the idea.
“
Okay.
I knew there w
as something different about the dog
. Her heartbeat is so loud
, and I can hear some of her thoughts
.
Everything is way too loud.
There’s a rat way over there by that bin, scratching. I can hear the blood pumping through it
, and it’s a male
.
Isn’t that totally weird?”

    Arym
w
ords made her mother want to sob
but she managed to hold it in, but just barely. Her only child was forever changed and she could do nothing abo
ut it. Life had just kicked them both in the face
, again
. They
were permanently changed through no fault of their own.
Life had been a quagmire before all of this.
She knew what her neighbors would say and how they would now be shunned
, at least in the short term
. Abbey wished that s
he could go to sleep and awake to discover
that
it
was
all a dream
.

    “You’ll n
eed a period of adjustment.
I’ll be around to help if you need me. Now let’s go inside and get things going. If you have a computer I can do the paperwork from here and then take you over.”

    “I
’m not allowed inside.”

    “You are with a
red s
heriff for an escort.”

    The girl’s response was meek but positive. “Okay.”

    “Thank you so much sheriff. My name is Abbey Hale.”

    “Well, I wish we were meeting under different circumstance
s
Abbey.”

    “Will I have to drink blood?”

    “Yes,
Arym, but you don’t
have to hurt anyone to do it.
There are places that deliver the stuff now. I’ll get you an account set up at one of the reputable locations and because of what happened
to you it’ll be free. I’ll call as soon as
we get in there.
”