Breathless Ch. 04

"Go," she whispered.

"Sadie --"

"You . . . need . . . fluids," the vampire replied, her eyes meeting his. They weren't quite angry, but rather projected a profound sense of disappointment in herself. "The EMTs will actually have what you need." She slowly made her way to her feet, refusing her fellow officer's offer of assistance. "Please?"

Vlad knew she probably shouldn't be alone, but she was a proud woman who needed to collect herself. Looking her over, the bleeding had stopped and she looked physically much better than when they'd caught up with her. "Give me your keys," he said. When she looked at him like he was crazy, he just stuck his hand out and wiggled his fingers. "So you don't go driving off before we get a chance to talk. Hand 'em over, or I'll shoot the tires."

Sadie wondered if he really knew her that well, or if he'd just guessed lucky. She wanted to leave. She wanted to go hole up in her trailer, crack open a blood pack and a Guinness (not necessarily in that order) and let her pride heal. She tossed him the keys, watching him grab them deftly out of the air before walking back to the crime scene.

She placed her back against a tree and just listened to the sound of crickets, trying to phase out the din of human voices, sirens, and general bustle of investigation. She wondered if Vlad knew just how badly she'd wanted to devour him whole. She thought over the evening's events. 'The fire will have destroyed my blood evidence,' she thought. 'The survivor will be written off as lucky. My blood will have done its job and run its course before they get him to a hospital. I'm safe . . . I know I'm safe.' That comforted her somewhat, but not completely. Now she had to figure out what a representative of the Council was doing started magical fires in abandoned warehouses.

After several minutes, she composed herself. If she waited too long, they'd think her even weaker than they probably already did. 'I'm not weak,' she told herself. 'I'm not.' She walked out of the grove and towards the assembled masses. She saw Vlad sitting casually on the back bumper of an ambulance with an IV in his arm, looking somewhat absent. She wondered what he was thinking of, then she blushed. 'That's twice I've forced myself on him.'

"Arbiter," one of the medics said, glancing at her nervously. "We're really supposed to check you out before you do any more . . . whatever."

She rolled her eyes and sat down, making sure to stay away from Vladimir. He had probably had quite enough of Sadie to last a while. She let the EMTs look her over, checking her eyes and cuts. It wasn't like they could check her vitals, since she didn't actually have any. Once they were convinced that she was not in danger anymore, they got out of her way. About then, Devlin wandered over.

"Are you alright?" he asked, twitching a bit.

Sadie vaguely remembered the cavalier way that he had blown off the worth of the homeless man earlier, so she just shot him an unforgiving glare.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said, and she melted a little. "I didn't mean that you shouldn't have done it. I guess I'm not used to seeing anyone do what you do."

She could tell he was trying to apologize, albeit badly, so she cut him some slack. "How is he?"

"Actually, he's doing pretty good," Devlin said, actually looking a bit perplexed. "Considering, I'd say he got lucky. The slashes weren't too deep, and he seemed less burned than you were." He was looking at the cigarette burn on her shoulder, as well as the dried blood. "Would you like a towel?"

"Please," she said, wanting to get rid of him. A couple of other officers came over and started asking her questions. She answered everything she could, cleaning herself off a bit when Devlin returned. She didn't mention Dazza by name or what she had done with her blood, but the rest was safe. She could probably arrest the vampire, but it would still be up to the courts to decide his fate. 'Dazza's a small fish,' she thought. 'Let's see who the shark behind the scenes is. And I'll be damned if his name doesn't wind up being Lord Frost.'

She saw them wheeling the man she had saved towards one of the ambulances, so she hopped down and walked through the crowd to get to him. She doubted he'd even recognize her. She was wrong.

"You," he sputtered, pulling his oxygen mask away. The man's eyes were very clear and he looked on her with awe. "My angel! Whatever it is you did, thank you!" One of the medics replaced the mask and they wheeled him into the back of the ambulance. The other EMT stopped beside her.

"Strangest thing," the man muttered.

"What?"

"We've been working this beat for years, and we've picked up Tommy a bunch of times. Exposure, overdosing on some damn thing or another . . . the guy's one of the regulars."

"So what's strange?"

"He's a schizophrenic, and full blown. Voices, illusions, the whole works. Stark raving loonie. We've tried getting him into public care, but he keeps wandering out, and no one much cares to go looking. But when I was checking him over --"

"Yes?"

"He was clear as day. Understood everything we asked, answered coherently . . . like he was never sick."

'Oh hell,' Sadie thought. "Probably backlash from a screwed up spell," she said hastily. "Break a circle in mid-casting, and who knows what the magic is going to do. Looks like he cut a break," she finished.

The EMT bought it. "I've heard of stranger things," he said. "We may have a shaman look him over, but I doubt the hospital will spring for one. Seems he's damn lucky you came along Arbiter."

"Yeah," she muttered. "Lucky."

She turned around to find Vlad standing there, staring at her. For the un-life of her, she couldn't figure out what he was thinking. But she could most definitely remember how sweet his blood had been in her mouth, and how hard his body had been when she was wrapped around it.

"I think I should go home," she said.

"I'll drive," he replied. He waved off her forthcoming objection and yelled over to another officer, making sure that things were well in hand. CSI had boots on the ground now, so there wasn't much else to do.

Sadie pouted all the way to the police station, trying to assure her comrade that she was fine and could take care of herself. That didn't stop him from following her back to her place. When she got back, she found she had yet more visitors.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Sadie asked haughtily when Melissa got up off the half-finished deck. She and Mary were both looking anxious. She had never found out why Mel was angry at her, and at the moment she didn't care.

"I took the rest of the night off," Mel said, blanching under Sadie's stare. She didn't feel that she was in the wrong, but Sadie DID deserve to know why she'd been acting that way.

"I'm here because based on our brief association, I can assume that you have no intention of taking proper care of yourself. Therefore, I will as necessary," Mary said sternly.

"Says who?" Sadie said, a little uncomfortable at Mary's matter-of-factness. "I'm going to get a beer, some blood and then --"

Mary was shaking her head. "You will have blood, then a shower, then rest. I've experienced the kind of blood lust you went through tonight, and I know that you must have used a great deal of energy to feed and to heal." She looked at Vladimir, was was more than a bit skittish around the wraith. "You look well. You did as I asked, and it may very well have saved someone's life. Besides some weakness, are you otherwise intact? Sadie wasn't too . . . forward, was she?"

"Mary?!" Sadie blurted. She was humiliated enough as it was, she didn't need the wraith reminding Vlad of how she'd dry humped him while out of her mind with hunger.

"No, I'm alright," he said. "I didn't know that . . . that IT would be that strong," he said, actually cracking a small grin as he looked at the Arbiter. She in turn blushed like hell. He didn't know that vampires could blush involuntarily.

"I tried pulling it!" she objected. Normally, she didn't mind being viewed as wanton, but here --

"That was pulled?!" Vlad asked, his eyes opening wide.

Sadie went from blushing to pale, turning on her heel and going inside.

"Melissa," Mary said, "please accompany her and make sure she gets cleaned up."

Mel nodded obediently and followed the Arbiter inside.

"What about the beer?" Vlad asked.

Mary shrugged. "Young Melissa has a key to the residence. All things non-nutritional have been hidden and will be returned by nightfall."

"Where's my Guinness?!" came a shout from inside.

Vlad's apprehension almost evaporated when he saw Mary smile. She was a beautiful woman, and it was good to see her acting normally. "She's going to be pissed."

"She will get over it. She's the first friend I've had that I could meet face to face in over a century, and I refuse to let her kill herself out of pride." Mary nodded at the werewolf. "What you did tonight took courage and compassion. She's lucky to have you for a friend. I talked with her about the incident at the bar." Mary's eyes lit up a bit. "She greatly regrets any discomfort that she may have caused or damage to your friendship that may have resulted from her actions. She is ruled by her heart it seems, and her head only sometimes gets a vote."

Vlad nodded. "I think I should be getting home," he said. "I'm assuming she'll want to come into work tomorrow, so tell her I'll talk to her then."

"I will do that." Mary went inside as Vlad left, a prisoner of his own thoughts. Mary found Melissa shoving Sadie's blood soaked clothes into the washing machine. Mary patted the girl on the shoulder. She'd even thought to pre-treat the fabric.

Sadie was in the shower, rinsing the remaining caked blood off her body. The shoulder still looked to be causing her pain. Mary looked it over and saw the exit wound around the back. That was a good thing, since the bone wouldn't heal if the bullet was still in there. Sadie wouldn't be doing much gun-slinging with that arm for several weeks, but she'd be fine. "Melissa, see if you can find find a scarf to improvise a sling with."

"Yes ma'am," Mel said.

Mary was very drawn to the young woman. Very few people seemed to have any manners these days, and Melissa appeared incredibly well behaved around the wraith. And she was certainly nice to look at. Mary shook the thoughts from her head and went to check on Sadie.

"I can shower myself, you know," the vampire grumbled.

"Yes, but I'm making sure that you go directly from getting dried off to bed. I'll bring you a blood pack, and you can consume it while we create a sling for your arm."

"I don't --"

"You WILL promise to wear the sling until your shoulder is better, or I will materialize in your home every day and continue to steal all your alcohol until you comply. Understood?"

Sadie was just staring at Mary, her eyes wide. "What the hell did I ever do to you to deserve this?" she groaned.

"You befriended me," Mary replied with a smile. "Get used to it." She doubted that she'd get much more trouble out of the vampire that night, as it looked like the woman's body was beginning to crash. "Promise me that you'll make at least a minimum amount of effort to look after yourself for a while, and I'll return your alcohol and those deplorable chocolate snack items this evening."

"You took my Hostess Cupcakes?!" Sadie replied loudly. "You're a monster!"

Mary grinned. She'd actually eaten the rest while waiting for Sadie to arrive, so she needed to buy time in order to procure more. She got a blood pack out of the fridge and handed it to Sadie, who began muttering like a small child as she headed to bed.

Melissa approached and whispered into Mary's ear, "Could I have a few moments alone with her? There's something I need to talk to her about, and I'm afraid I'll lose my nerve if I wait."

"Very well," Mary said. "She misses your conversation, so I hope that whatever your grievances are with her can be resolved."

As the wraith vanished into thin air, Melissa steeled her shoulders. "Before you even ask, I have no idea where she put your beer."

"Damn!" Sadie growled, then her face softened. "So --"

Melissa sat down at the edge of the bed and looked questioningly at her friend. "Who are you?" she asked quietly. "And don't say Sadie Hewitt, since we both know that isn't true."

Sadie's heart began to beat against her will. It probably wasn't wise to be straining that particular organ at the moment, but she couldn't really help it.

The goth chick blundered on before her courage failed her. "Lord Frost managed to bring pressure on the Bureau, and your supervisors told Grom to cooperate. Apparently they didn't realize that you weren't registered either. So the Captain told me to find a copy of your birth certificate and forward it." She decided not to tell Sadie about Bart at the moment. She had enough on her mind without plotting to kill the demon. "After I found it, I . . . I did some more looking. I just wanted to see if I could find out more about you. It wasn't for anyone else . . . just me."

Sadie had drained the blood back, so she placed it in the trash next to the bed, then closed her eyes. 'This can't be happening,' she though. 'For a hundred years, this has worked.' She heard Melissa rummaging through her purse. Sadie opened up her eyes to see a scanned page of an old newspaper.

Melissa's eyes were questioning. "Sadie Hewitt died when she was three years old. She was killed by the same rogue vampire who killed her mother. They weren't Turned . . . they knew the difference, even back then. You can tell by the description of the bodies --" She stopped. It had almost broken her heart to think of what the rogue vampire had done to the woman and her little girl. "I just want to know who you are, and why you lied to me. Why you lied to everyone about it."

Sadie fell back all the way into her pillows, wishing she could open her eyes and have this moment . . . hell, this whole night wind up being just a bad dream.

"I'm still here," she heard Mel's voice say. "And I'd like an answer." She saw Sadie's eyes open and the blue had expanded to cover the white. Melissa had never seen anything like it before.

"I AM Sadie Hewitt," the vampire started. "Clark Hogan may not have Turned me vamp, but he sure as hell made me her. She was just a kid," Sadie continued, in her own little world for a moment. "I thought if I took her name, it might let her live a little longer, ya know. At least through me."

"Clark Hogan was the rogue vampire, right? He didn't die because of some werewolf did he?" Mel made this last part sound more like a statement than a question.

"Oh no." Sadie's voice had become bitter. "I'd been traveling through Texas at the time when I heard about the killings. I couldn't let it stand, and none of the Local Lords seemed all that concerned with a poor widow and her brat. So I found Hogan and showed him what it was like to be in the power of someone stronger than himself. People assumed that just because his head got ripped off that it had to be something as powerful as a were --" The vampire stopped when she saw Melissa go pale. 'Maybe I shouldn't be quite so graphic,' she thought.

"Who were you before?" Mel asked. "Why change your name at all?"

"There are bad people in the world, and there are some folks that would be very unhappy if they caught up with me, particularly since I'm no longer supposed to be amongst the still-kind-of living." Sadie bit her bottom lip for second. It would be so nice just to come clean with someone, but she had her secrets for a reason. "I won't tell you who or why," she continued, "but believe me there's a reason. What you don't know, you can't tell. And knowing would put you in danger. Melissa, I am exactly who I've shown you to be. I care about you and don't want you to get hurt. I'm a little wild when it comes to sexual favors. I don't like snobs or beings who think they're better than everyone else."

"So being an army pilot and all that --"

"It's all true. Everything that I've claimed to have done since becoming 'Sadie Hewitt the vampire' has been true. I figured I had about twenty more years of being Sadie Hewitt, then I'd move on, assuming that I'm still alive. But I like being Sadie . . . it just seems to fit somehow."

'Now for the million dollar question,' Melissa thought. "How many names have you had?"

Sadie smiled. "Not too many. Tracking specific identities has only become easier in the last couple of centuries. Before that, it wasn't such a big deal.

Melissa's eyes widened a bit. "So you're a bit older than a hundred and twenty then?"

"A bit," Sadie replied with a nod. "And no, I'm not going to tell you. Just . . . just trust me that I don't mean you any harm. I love my job and I love helping people." She cocked her head. "Are you going to tell anyone? You're legally obligated to you know. I lied on my Arbiter application --"

"No," Melissa said, breathing a little easier. She wasn't surprised that Sadie wound up being more than she appeared. Hell, it made sense. She sat closer to Sadie. "I believe you. And I hope someday you'll tell me the whole story. But if you still want me as a friend --"

"I do," Sadie said, grasping Melissa's hand. "Believe me I do."

"Do you . . . want company tonight?" the girl asked, bring her submissive shyness to the front. "Even as just a friend?"

"Normally I would say yes," Sadie said, "but Mary would tan my hide. I might wake up with hunger pangs due to my recovery, and if a tempting young morsel was closer than my refrigerator --"

"I get the idea," Mel said, almost subconsciously covering up her neck with her hand. "I think I could handle getting bitten, but I'd rather not be an appetizer."

The vampire grinned, and it seemed to bring some light back to the room. Things were good when Sadie was smiling. "Could you drop by and tell Mary that I'll behave myself, but I want my damn Guinness back! And my cupcakes."

"I'll go tell her."

Sadie thought it over. "Tell her everything," she said.

Melissa looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

"She deserves to know. She told me her story, and it was a hell of a lot worse than what I told you. I would just rather not go over it again."

"Okay, I'll do it." Melissa leaned over and kissed Sadie twice, once on the forehead and once on the lips. Sadie's cat, still nameless, jumped up on the bed and wormed her way between Mel and her new person, giving Mel a look as if to challenge her for dominance of cuddling rights. Mel chuckled, scratched the creature's hears and was promptly forgiven. Then she turned and left, letting Sadie get the rest she badly needed.

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Across town . . .

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Dazza was pacing a trench in the incredibly expensive oriental rug, hoping his Lord didn't hold it against him.

"Stop that," Frost said from behind his desk, not ever bothering to look up. "You're sure she didn't see you?"

"Even I had problems seeing in that place. It's why I stayed home as long as I did. If she knew it was me, she would've arrested me by now."

"And you didn't want to bring them directly here," Frost said. Dazza might be a toadie, but he was a smart toadie. "I was rather hoping we could have turned her thinking by now and made her more of a team player. That may be my fault," he admitted.

"How so?"

"She's rebellious by nature, it would seem. If I'd spent more time observing before approaching her, I would have avoided being so directly confrontational. She is like a mongrel," he continued, obviously annoyed. "Rather than baiting her with something tempting, I backed her into a corner until she growled. It is no matter. We WILL have the Arbiter on our side. Can you imagine? An Arbiter of her cunning and ability at our disposal? And to think you almost killed her," Frost added.