Rebirth Read online

  Rosalee

  -Rebirth-

  DC Alexander

  Copyright © 2019 DC Alexander

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are products of the author’s mind. Any resemblance to any event or person or place is entirely coincidental.

  For all the people who love to read, I hope you enjoy reading this. I enjoyed writing it.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To those who helped me – there are a lot of y’all.

  Thanks!

  One

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  Three

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  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty One

  Twenty Two

  Twenty Three

  Afterword

  One

  A ndy’s skullcap of thick, rich black hair stuck up wildly in all directions. Even vampires get bad hair days. Or nights, it was dark, which is why he wasn’t sizzling.

  He should’ve made sure I wasn’t bleeding before he showed up so he wouldn’t want to bite me.

  I opened the door the rest of the way holding the shotgun by my side, finger along the trigger guard.

  Andy talked while I opened the door “Somebody took Megan and Armando! They were gone when I got up.” Mags pressed against my leg watching Andy, vibrating with tension and growling low and steady.

  “Andy, slow down, hang on.” I held my free hand up at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Megan and Armando are ghouls, who the fuck would steal a ghoul? What would they do with them? You couldn’t give ‘em away.”

  “We need to get them back. I need them.” He turned away and took a half step, raised his fists, turned back. “I don’t know what else I can do. I’ll pay you. Please!”

  “Maybe they shopping or they hit a graveyard for snacks. They off eating somebody’s pet, shit, did you look for a note?”

  “Armando doesn’t leave notes; he waits for me. They never leave without telling me. Not ever. I need to get them back. Rose, I’m dead to the world in the daytime. They wouldn’t leave me alone.” His face puckered, hands open, shoulders slumped, if he cried I’d slam the fucking door in his face. He moved close and put his hand on my arm, Mags rumbled low and serious. She never approved my deal with Andy. Human or dog, her opinion didn’t change. He didn’t pay her any mind. I leaned the shotgun against the wall, safety on. It’s sad when things ignore your damn shotgun.

  “You can find them, you can track. Something strong took them. You know they wouldn’t be easy.” “You want me to track somethin’ that overpowered two ghouls. Find, and take ‘em back from whatever or however many, in the dark.”

  “Rosalee, they’re my people. Megan’s pregnant. That only happens once in a decade, maybe.”

  “I said I’d help you get stronger, you was gonna keep the vampires down. I didn’t take you on to raise. It was just a deal.” My heart raced. I tried to keep it down.

  “In a couple weeks, I blowed up and died! Floated out to fuckin’ sea for Christ’s sake, got shot by something that says it’s a goddess.” Andy opened his mouth, I stuck my finger in his face and stepped close. “You just fuckin’ listen, its my turn, I am sick and fed up with all this shit. Did you know I even turned into a mothafuckin’ zombie?” my sight blurred, damn it! This shit wasn’t fair.

  “I made that evil, ass suckin’ bastard into a zombie his himself by god. I was gonna KILL the fucker, with a FUCKIN SCREW! And go to HELL! I JUST found out ghouls was a thing when them fuckers eat my ass up like I was a fuckin’ ham sammich.”

  Fucking stupid tears overflowed and dripped and my nose made a couple quarts of fucking stupid snot. “I met my first vampire and killed it.”

  Fuckin’ snot made me sound whiney, DAMN! I reached up and blowed my nose into my pointy finger hand. Andy held both hands up and backed away making a ‘eeeew’ face. Fucker sucks blood outta varmints in the woods at night, he’s gonna ‘eeeew’ at me over a little…well, a handful, of snot?

  “Got my big ol’ ass rebuilt in which event I lost over half my body weight. Shit, I need clothes.” I looked for somewhere to wipe my snot hand. Andy backed away and looked around for a rescue. I took a step and noticed furry Mags, the dog She looked up at me holding my hand out and ran out into the yard. Fuckin’ traitor.

  “Just a few days ago checkin’ the mail was the most excitement I got in a day.” Panting. I slowed down. Where did all that shit come from?

  “I was thinking about reading a little. Make a sandwich.” Hoarse, gasping.

  “Oh, wait, all that other shit totally fucked me up, thinking about eating meat or processed food makes me want to puke. I can’t even have a damn sandwich.”

  “Here.” He offered me a cloth handkerchief. What the hell? I took it and blotted my eyes, then blew my nose and then wiped my hand. Damn. What did that blowing snot in my hand look like? Cringe. I needed to hide. Andy took my pause for an opportunity to continue,

  “I think it’s the guy who turned me, the vampire. He’s stronger than me, a lot. Look, this is what you got to think about.” He reasoned with the insane snot blowing bitch, projecting calm, nice.

  “Till now this guy was not making waves. Now he’s claiming this area as his territory. When he took those two, he was free to do anything he wanted with me. I was out, dead to the world. He was up, day walking. Do you understand?”

  “Ok. That helps a lot. Thank you. I am real stupid and emotional and uncultured.” I shoved the snotty fucking rag in the neck of his shirt despite his efforts to avoid it. My nasally voice delighted me, there was still juice in my head that could come out I guess.

  “Use little words.” I had to get a grip before I jumped on him and bit his fucking head off. Seriously. I wanted to bite him, sink my teeth into his meat and shake my head and tear…fuck, that was psycho. I giggled.

  “Andy. Please...” I snorted, argh, mouthful of snot, I spat on the porch. Oh shit, that was nasty. “Ha..a.ha..hee” I struggled to not laugh.

  Mags lurked at the corner of the porch, human, naked, snickering. No wiping snot on her fur. This shit was normal now? Good looking naked white bitch in the middle of the hood and nobody even looks? Giggles bulged my guts trying to get out. I backed up and Andy followed, he had no problem coming inside.

  “Fuck my life. Look, I’ll see if I can find ‘em. We’ll see what happens. I ain’t making no promises. Can you drive?”

  “Yes, I, um I don’t reckon I can drive legal, I don’t have a license, but I know how.” He gingerly picked the handkerchief out of his shirt with finger and thumb.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was asking. You might a noticed its dark out, you bein’ a vampire and all. Guess this won’t wait till tomorrow. Oh, thanks” I waved at the handkerchief, “And well, sorry.”

  “Ah, its all good. Time of the month, it happens.”

  I hunted up the flashlight. Picked up the shotgun, grabbed a handful of shells from the dresser top. Oh My God. That condescending, supercilious, nosy mother fucker. How did he know? Did he SMELL me? Embarassed, yeah, and pissed.

  I debated, hit him? Shoot him? Punch? Kick? All the way out to the car where he leaned in the front door.

  “Where are the keys?” He glanced at me, then blurred to the other side of the car.

  “What up homies?” Carl was halfway to us from Wanda’s place. I wanted to give him a hug, glad to see a
normal, friendly human. That’d have to wait.

  “I’m gone beat this ass sniffing, smug, superior, highly intelligent, white mother fucker into a puddle of shit and goo. Then we’re goin’ huntin’. You want to go? We prolly gonna get killed and et.” He never slowed down, came trotting across the road pulling the keys from his pocket with a big grin on his face. “Sounds fun, what’re we waitin’ on?” He tossed the car keys idly.

  Andy crouched behind the car. “What did I do? Whatever it was, I didn’t mean it! Sorry!”

  “You fuckin’ smelled me, you sonofabitch! That’s what you did, that shit is private, you don’t go ‘round smellin’ people so you can tell if they shit or somethin’!” He opened his mouth. Carl grinned from ear to ear and looked from me to Andy and back.

  “Get yo ass around here, I’m gone fix yo nose so you don’t go plunderin’ in my business. Come on.” Andy raised his hands and looked both ways, so desperate it tickled me. Just a little.

  “You want to go? Get yo ass around that fuckin’ car and come here.”

  He stiffened up his spine and came around the car. “You do what you got to. I don’t know what I did but I swear, I’m sorry, I won’t do it anymore.” I admired his conviction. Between that and the funny I lost a little anger.

  I grabbed his shirt near the neck and pulled his face close “You don’t fuckin’ smell me. Don’t smell my ass. Don’t smell my privates. Don’t smell my pits.” I wanted to slam my knee between his legs, god, the embarrassment and humiliation pissed me off.

  The noise broke my train of raves, I glanced at the source, Carl and Mags pummeled each other on the ground, haw hawing, living it up. I teetered on the razors edge between blind, frustrated rage and rolling on the ground laughing at my ridiculous, infantile ranting. It is so hard to cut loose and act childish when you got those observers in your head.

  “Ahhh, fuck it anyway. I’m sorry. Crazy shit gettin’ me.” I released Andy’s neck-when had I grabbed his neck? Patting his shirt, “Something took Andy’s ghouls, maybe a vampire. Megan’s preggy. I’m gone go find them. Y’all in?”

  Carl helped naked Mags stand, Yeah, he had a good time laughin’ and rollin, fuckin’ horndog. “It’s about time, been gettin’ bored. Did you say vampire? Is they a vampire town near here or what?” He glanced away from Mags boobs. Just a darting glance though.

  “Man, I don’t know, reckon they were sneaky till lately. I’d like a little downtime, some boring, I need to go shoppin’!”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I can see that with your new look. Where we headed?”

  “We need to go out to Andy’s place. That’s the last we know the ghouls were, we’ll track ‘em from there. Is that right Andy?”

  “Yes, that’s the last place I knew they were.”

  “Mags, honey, run in and get you some clothes. Lock the door. If you comin’ with us. Stay here if you want.”

  “You not need me, I stay here.” Maybe that would give us both a break. We were cycling together, just luck she was taking it easy on everybody.

  The familiar drive out was relaxing if I didn’t think about what we were doing. My face had tear residue and needed a wash. I didn’t see the big deal with vampires. The little thing in the basement with the kid was ugly, strong, but it moved like an old cripple. Andy wasn’t all that scary; he was an accountant, I had him in a hole, down for the count, the first time I met him. Something stronger than Andy didn’t sound all that bad. We unloaded in Andy’s front yard and milled around.

  I slipped my shoes off and felt for traces of a fight, someone getting hurt, something different. Nothing interesting showed. I tried at each door, the cemetery, by the road, everywhere I thought to look. I picked up no recent ghoul movement.

  Andy stayed right on my heels, wringing his hands. “Andy, you sure they ain’t here? I don’t see ‘em leavin’. The last time I got either of them, Megan went in the front door. That’s a couple days old. They didn’t come back out.”

  “I’m sure. I smell them. They went out the back door and past the cemetery. There’s blood and what I think is a vampire.”

  “Well hell, you do the trackin’ and we’ll follow.”

  Andy walked around the house, “They go this way. Scent’s usually stronger close to the ground, it floats here.” He waved his hand at the hedge bushes that lined the drive.

  “Something carried them? Should take at least a couple people to pick them up and carry ‘em.”

  Still moving, “I can carry them both. It’d be harder if they fought. You know how strong they are.” He crossed the road into the undergrowth on the other side.

  “Seriously?! The fuckin’ woods?” I’m not a woodsy sort of girl.

  “I tracked them a little ways in before I came to get you.”

  “Shit man, you didn’t need me to track. If you knew where they went why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I need help. Chen will beat me to death.”

  Thankfully the woods opened up once we got away from the road. The briars, blackberry bushes and other bush things had small sharp limbs and vines and stickers. Pine straw, fallen limbs and cones littered the ground.

  I moved easily through the stuff, limbs and stickers slid off me or moved or something. Carl staggered and crackled and clumped his way through; Andy sounded about like Carl without the grunts and muttered curses.

  “Can y’all make any more noise? Try to be a little quieter, maybe step around one of them bushes ‘stead a stompin’ through it.”

  “I never claimed to be no injun, this is the fuckin’ woods in the middle of the night.” Carl blinded me swinging and pointing the flashlight. He shined it up in the treetops ever now and then.

  “Stop for a second.” I stood waiting for them to stop crashing. Carl pointed the light at my face, I guess to see if my mouth moved. I covered ny face with my hand.

  “Turn the light out. Let your eyes adjust. There’s a moon, we ought to see good enough without the light.”

  Carl turned out the light and fidgeted. I saw as if it were daylight. Carl didn’t want to admit he had trouble.

  “I don’t need the light. I can see fine.” The distinctive sound of stickers ripping loose from denim backed Andy’s statement up.

  When we moved again, the light didn’t blind us. We made better time and made less noise. Carl was still loud and slow, Andy attempted to tiptoe. I tried to stop gritting my teeth, happy nobody had an air horn or pulled a wagon.

  An hour later we’d struggled another mile, Andy and I stood on and partly in a little creek. The bushes and shit were thick enough to walk on. Briar vines thick as my wrist with thorns long as my thumb guarded the edge. Mosquitoes were to the point of cutting open veins and drinking, I worried the bigger ones might rape me. There had to be moccasins in here big enough to ride. Carl writhed in the slimy mud and rotted leaves and shit, he’d slipped and fell. Again. He didn’t scream this time about the thorns. Maybe the commotion would run off the snakes.

  “This is takin’ all night. I’m gonna change into a dog. Y’all take my clothes back to the car. I’ll follow this and come back.”

  Carl wouldn’t hear of it. They were the men. They’d protect me.

  “Carl, you wanna protect me, lure a couple these skeeters off me. This is what we’re going to do. Will you help me?”

  He finally shut up. I stripped back in the woods a little. I didn’t need my clothes in the way. It was a strange, getting them off out in the woods.

  I triggered the change, holding the picture of the dog. It dropped my point of view. Sight became irrelevant, unimportant. Smells were rich, three dimensional, incredible. A bright, clear picture of my surroundings emerged. Crisp sounds full of meaning filled in any gaps. I pulled myself away from the picture the sounds and smells made and trotted over to the two men.

  Carl and Andy were distinct. A muddy swirl of other presences underlay them. The strong scent of blood, nothing I had the knowledge to identify, old… mixed, from several times and different ani
mals. Carl and Andy talked. I ignored it and investigated the scents.

  I followed the trail, wavering from side to side; the scent weakened, I changed direction. Like a bright banner, the tunnel made of smells strengthened again. It sucked me in and took all my attention.

  Carl stepped in front of me. “No, wait! Listen!” he kneeled down and caught my head, ah, that was luxury. I pushed my head against him. Oh I needed my ears scratched, what an amazing goodness.

  Hands on either side of my head, ignoring the itching clamoring for attention at the base of my ears, he said “Wrong way, baby, you’re going toward the house we came from. Trail’s the other way.”

  The words had so many extra noises and pitches they didn’t make sense. My scalp might get off my head and go with him, my body moved to those incredible hands, oh, my tail wagged, I pressed against him. The words sunk in. Wow, yeah, I was going the wrong way.

  I laughed, embarrassed, a small ‘woof’ came out and I trotted back to the creek. The cool water touched me and pulled the heat away. The more I opened my mouth the better, the air on my tongue cooled my entire body.

  I scented them crossing the creek. Images were a little lighter, less textured. The creek didn’t hold smells and it was harder to ‘see’ than on land. Scents became strong and solid again on the other side.

  I followed the stream of odor. The ghoul-stealer (What the hell?) brushed bushes and left tags, they emitted a cloud of body odor that hung and stuck to everything. Carl and Andy crashed through the woods away from me. I reveled in running through the underbrush, I was made for this.

  Time had no meaning. Scent pictures of small furry animals showed trails where they had moved. Older trails faded and dimmed. I had to restrain myself from investigating. They pulled at me, fascinating, irresistible. I’d come back and get closer to what made them, taste, the challenge was amazing.

  I ran on pavement. The stench of car exhaust coated everything. Grease and bread, vomit, burned paper, sweat, rubber, plastic, so much more information attached it was blinding.