Gabriel's Mate

After Drake had left the house, Gabriel had changed into clean clothes and had assembled everybody. One hundred percent professional, he’d informed everybody that it was time to find the rogue. Maya’s sharp sense of hearing had picked up the short conversation he’d had with Drake. True to his professional oath, the doctor hadn’t revealed Maya’s confession, other than telling Gabriel that he was looking into the problem of her not drinking any human blood and would come back with a solution soon.

If Gabriel was still concerned about Maya, he didn’t show it. His face was a stony mask, showing no emotions. His scar seemed menacing again. Maya wondered whether she had imagined the handsomeness she’d seen in him only hours earlier. Maybe even the kiss she’d stolen from him had been imagined, because the hard man who looked at her now couldn’t possibly have been so gentle and whispered all those sweet encouragements to her.

“What’s the last thing you remember about that night?” Gabriel probed.

Maya sat back and let the sofa cushions support her. “I was on my way home from the hospital. It was late, well after midnight. I’d gotten called around eleven, and by the time my patient was stable, it was after twelve.”

“Were you walking home?”

Maya shook her head. “No, I had my car, but I couldn’t find parking that late at night, so I circled around the block a few times. In the end I had to walk two blocks.”

“Did somebody follow you from where you parked the car?” Gabriel’s questions came at her like bullets. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was a police officer, not a vampire.

“No. I didn’t hear any footsteps. Just, uh …”

Gabriel gave her questioning look. “Just what?”

Maya made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Nothing, really. Only, I had a strange feeling.” She forced her mind back to that moment, and a cold whiff of air seemed to blow past her neck, raising the tiny hairs on her nape. But no memory of the fateful night was forthcoming.

“What happened then?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember anything after that.”

“You don’t remember being attacked and being bitten?”

Instinctively Maya’s hand went to her neck and rubbed the spot where the skin was still tender. “No.”

Gabriel’s gaze traveled to her neck. “That’s where he bit you. He drained you until your blood pressure dropped so low it made your heart stop. Then he fed you his own blood.”

Maya swallowed back the bile that rose from her stomach. She was glad she didn’t remember anything about the attack. “I’d rather not know what happened.” It made forgetting easier.

“I know.” Gabriel gave her a sad smile, and at that moment she could have hugged him for his show of compassion. Then he looked at his colleagues. “Maybe the shock made Maya forget? A way of her mind to protect itself?” he asked them.

Thomas shrugged. “Not so sure. Many of us were turned in the most horrible fashion, and most of us remember our turning. More like somebody messed with her memories.”

Gabriel nodded. “One way to find out.”

“Don’t mind me—I’m going out to have a snack while you demonstrate your gift,” Zane announced and walked toward the foyer.

“There’s blood in the pantry,” Gabriel offered.

Zane gave a half-smile, if it could be called that. The man didn’t seem to be capable of a true smile; instead, his lips merely twisted slightly. “Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer my food fresh.” He gave Maya a salacious look and seemed to revel in her shock. “Back in an hour.”

As Maya’s mouth gaped open, Zane sauntered out of the house. Was he really going out to bite somebody? Hadn’t Yvette told her that they were all civilized vampires who drank blood out of a bottle?

“Don’t mind him. He’s got his own rules,” Yvette explained. “Not all of us can be as civilized as Gabriel. Isn’t that right?”

Maya followed the look Gabriel and Yvette exchanged. Suddenly there was a tension in the room she couldn’t explain. Was something going on between the two?

Thomas brought the conversation back on topic. “Well, Gabriel. Pry into her memories then and get us something we can work with. It’s kind of hard to find a rogue when we’ve got nothing to go by. Even a bloodhound needs a little bit of a scent to spur him on.”

There was something about the words Thomas used that made Maya listen up. A scent. That was it. She could clearly distinguish the different vampires by their scents now, and Gabriel even more so because she’d had his blood. She leaned forward on the couch.