Birth of a Vixen (Shadow Faith Book 1) Read online

  Her power raised the hairs along my wet skin. My bones cracked and skin stretched. She ran her hands up and down my lower extremities and smoothed any imperfection. I was splashed in the face by small waves her movements created. Soon my short, toothpick legs were so long that I had to bend them so they stayed in the tub.

  When she finished my legs she moved her attention to my pelvis. “Wrap your hands around my neck.”

  I did as instructed. My hands cramped when I let go of the tub. We sat straight up with our bodies close together. Then, with Sasha straddling my lap, she rounded my hips like an artist molded clay.

  “Okay this isn’t working for me. Give me one second.” Sasha, planted her feet, lifted me from under my armpits, and flipped me over. Some of the water splashed out of the tub. “Much better.”

  Sasha dug her hands deep inside my hips and thighs. Blood from the fresh wounds dyed the water pink. Yet, still she continued to primp and fluff my sides till they were curvy enough to her.

  After piecing my flesh together again she took a minute to rest. Soaking wet Sasha leaned her elbow next to the faucet. “Whew. I will have to give credit where credit is due. Whoever did this to you knew their stuff. They did a hell of a number on you. Thankfully, we’re about halfway done.”

  “Oh goody,” I said with my face smashed against the tub wall. I slipped farther into the water. I perched my new feet on the opposite head rest for support and relaxed. The time it took her to regain her strength gave me the time I needed to get past the pain I endured and prepared myself for the next round.

  “You were a gymnast, right?” It amazed me how casual she acted. Little nip and tuck here and there along with small talk. Women never failed to surprise me.

  Blood infused water poured into my mouth as I tried to speak. I spat it out and tried again. “Yes, I was.”

  “What was your specialty?”

  “Rhythmic floor routines.”

  “Sweet. Okay, well then I have a slight change in plans then.”

  “What do you mean?” I pushed out of the water to look back at her.

  “Well.” She wrapped her arms around my waist then flopped me onto my back again. Another giant wave of water spilled onto the floor. “I’m gonna have to give you a bigger bust.”

  Sasha took hold of the two little bumps of fatty breast tissue. Her House’s power to manipulate the human body rose and a tingling sensation spread across my chest. When her power reached its peek she gave me the ultimate titty twister. I couldn’t help but scream. “It’s not that bad, you big baby. We haven’t even gotten to your face yet.”

  I tried to focus on anything but the pain. I stared off into nothing. I caught glimpses of the sink, the clothes waiting for me, the open skylights. When this was done I will have to ask Lucian why a vampire needed skylights. Was it something about the moon? It would be horrible if one of us walked in here at dawn. I supposed that was what a broom was for. All the while I barely noticed that Sasha lengthen my abdomen and my arms. I heard each digit brake, extend, and heal. Shock had settled in.

  Before Sasha traced those powerful hands to my face I snagged a glimpse of the work so far. The tiny bumps on my chest were now full, ample mounds punctuated with dark nipples. The water skewed my perception, but a couple of inches were added to my waist. I appeared to have an hourglass figure.

  “Ready?” Sasha stared down at me.

  “Are you going to do my face now?” I asked, nervous as hell.

  She nodded vigorously. There was a sparkle in her eyes that lightened up her entire smiling face but in a freakish kind of way.

  “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

  “You bet your new sweet ass I am.” She chuckled. Her laughter was contagious and I laughed with her.

  When I couldn’t laugh anymore I asked, “This is going to be the worst part isn’t it?”

  “Oh yeah, brace yourself.” Sasha shifted gears from playful friend to serious surgeon in one simple motion.

  This time she allowed me the chance to grip the edge of the tub first. The porcelain had chilled. The water was colder, too. I had lost track of how much time passed. Far in the distance a bird chirped. Its song came in through the skylights. We had to wrap this up fast. I closed my eyes. “Ready.”

  “I need your eyes open for this part.”

  “What? Why?” One eye opened.

  “How else am I going to change those baby blues into pretty brown eyes?”

  “Point made.”

  Sasha resumed her work. Once her power flared to life, like before, she started from the bottom and worked up. She wrapped her hands around my throat and lengthened my spinal column. Her fingers slid into my neck and pulled back the tender skin of my throat. I felt her roll my vocal chords like a child creates clay snakes. “Time for the throat condom!” She pinched and tugged at my esophagus. I had no clue what she had done, and to be honest, right then I didn’t really want to know.

  Moving up, she snapped my chin as she enlarged it. Her fingers smoothed the skin out. With her index finger she added a tiny dimple under my bottom lip.

  I held back a scream so I wouldn’t yell in her face. But I wanted to shout. I wanted to release the pain. I chalked this up as a lesson in how one took a good beating for future references.

  From my chin she massaged my cheeks with her thumbs. The facial bones crumbled under her disciplined touch until she was satisfied with the higher position. Then as if she waved a magic wand her fingertips sealed the bones in place.

  Using her index finger and thumb she twisted my nose. The cartilage became more elongated than a nine year olds nose. Her last twist created a ball at the tip.

  Her fingers slid up. Sasha sculpted my forehead till her palms stretched the length of my brow. The end of her wrists lay over my eyes. “These next two things are going to be the worst.”

  She cradled my head in one hand while she wrapped her other hand in a fistful of wet blond hair. “Sorry.” She tensed, and in a show of her inhuman brute strength Sasha jerked a fist full of hair out.

  The scream I had held back let loose against her chest. It sounded a bit deeper than I was used to hearing. The childlike ring in my voice was gone.

  “I said I’m sorry.” She repeated the wrapping and the yanking until I was bald. Then with the tips of her fingers played along my bleeding scalp. Shivers ran down my back as she stimulated new hair growth. The first few timid strands sprouted. “Come on you cute little hairs. Come to mama.” She coaxed more hair growth. An eruption of thick, mahogany waves cascaded from the top of my head down into the water.

  “Very nice.” Sasha kept talking to herself. She brushed the hair off my face. When I saw her again she was licking her thumbs. She smoothed out my eyebrows. The miniature blond hairs fell into the water. I felt the tiniest pinprick of each new hair that popped from the brow line.

  She saved my eyes for last.

  Sasha held my left eye open with one hand and worked with the other. She laid one finger directly on the iris. The screaming started with the barest of touches. That one manicured finger was a red-hot poker that rested against my eyeball. When the first eye was Sasha moved faster than lightening to the right eye.

  She relinquished the hold on my eye.

  I closed them tight. I cried dark crimson tears that stung. I opened my eyes to wipe the tears away. That only made things worse. I splashed cold water on my face to wash away the burn. When that didn’t work I shoved Sasha over and buried my face into the water, but not before screaming. “It burns.”

  Chapter 5

  The water filled my ears and caused everything to sound like I was in another world. I heard Sasha laughing. I did not hear the door open, but I heard Lucian’s voice as he ordered her out.

  I bolted up from the water afraid to open my eyes. My hand brushed across someone’s hand. “Lucian?”

  “I’m here.” His voice, his touch was a welcome comfort. He took my hand and assisted me to my feet. Lucian wrapped a towel around
my waist. Then lifted me from the tub.

  I was not used to my newfound legs. They wobbled like long strung out rubber bands. The weight of my body collapsed against him. I allowed him to guide me to the floor. The contrast between the cold water and the freezing tile verses the burning in my eyes made me flinch. “It’s so cold.”

  With my eyes closed my other senses sharpened. The fresh night air smelled sweet as morning fast approached. The birds outside sang. The one thing I wished to feel lay next to me, but the touch of his skin was overshadowed by pain. After all the fighting and the eviscerating Thais stirred deep within me. She clawed at my insides in search of a way out.

  My defense mechanisms were brushed aside. By now I would have mentally run away and Thais would have emerged. I kept my promise to Kaelanna, but too much had happened. I remained in control. Now my willpower faltered. “I don’t know how much longer I can stay in control.”

  “What do you mean?” He rubbed over the fluffy soft towel. “Do you need more blood?”

  “I don’t think blood will help with this problem. I have another person living in my head and she is pissed.” I wanted to look at him, to find comfort in him like I had before, but there was no way to see beyond the burn.

  “Who?”

  I didn’t want to answer.

  “Angela, who?”

  “Thais. My sire.”

  Lucian stopped rubbing my arms. He clutched my upper arms and held me as steady as he could. “Look at me.”

  I bowed my head. “I can’t. It hurts too much to open my eyes.”

  “Damn it, Angela, look at me now.” He shook me hard.

  I forced myself to think past the pain, to ignore Thais as she crawled up from my subconscious, and opened my eyes. Through the burn I saw his beautiful hazel eyes staring back at me. The green of his eyes had darkened to a deep pine and the grey specks faded to black. The rest of the world seemed to fall away into oblivion because all that I sensed was Lucian.

  “Listen to me very carefully.” His tone slipped into a peaceful hypnotic pattern. Those few short words exuded confidence and held me spellbound. “Let her out Angela.”

  “What?” I didn’t want any one to see that side of me, least of all Lucian.

  His piercing gaze saw past the fear. Instead of pulling her out, like I thought he would, Lucian’s power roared to life. All that strength smashed against my shields.

  “We need to get to the source. Let me see how this began so I can figure out how to make it stop.” A growl of primal power reverberated under each word.

  Without trying I fought Lucian’s control. I envisioned a wall between the two of us. It grew higher with each push from him. The more I fought him the stronger Thais became. Thais’ essence teetered in my mind ready to spill over.

  “Don’t fight me on this, Angela. Even with the work Sasha did it won’t stop her from taking over your mind. Let me in.”

  “I can’t” My resolve failed. My will faltered. I didn’t want to remember it. “I haven’t thought about that night in years.”

  “Start at the beginning. Remember it is just a memory. Whatever happened can’t hurt you and when we are through neither will Thais. Just let go.”

  I needed to stop fearing the past. I embraced my fear, accepted it and tried braving it long enough to get rid of Thais. Lucian took my mind on a trip down memory lane to the point in time where Thais became a part of me. We went back to my seventeenth birthday party. I remembered the happiest part of that night, even if it led to the worst moment of my life.

  Chapter 6

  A dozen red, blue, and green helium filled balloons bounced against a white ceiling. Seventeen purple and white striped birthday candles lit the dinning room on top the double-layered chocolate cake. Cursive, white icing on top read ‘Happy Birthday Angela’.

  My mother laid a hand on my shoulder. “Happy birthday.”

  Looking up at her I saw my own dark eyes reflected back at me. Her long, brown waves of hair were pulled back off her face clasped together by two gold barrettes. The white silk shirt she put on for that night’s celebration shimmered in the candlelight. She smelled of vanilla lotion.

  Across the table sat Caelyn, my mother’s vampire master. He held a wine glass full of her blood high for a toast. His own raven curls billowed out around his face and brushed the top of white, silk clad shoulders. Caelyn smiled at me like I was his own daughter. His stunning eyes looked black in the candlelight. “To Angela; may you always get your heart’s desire.”

  I held back my dark mahogany hair and tried to think of a wish. I blew out sixteen candles before a shot was fired into the room. I stopped in mid-blow and screamed.

  Blood splattered across my face, my forest green cotton t-shirt and full length black flowered skirt. My mother fell headlong onto the table. The whoosh of her body falling blew out the final candle.

  Three troopers dressed in SWAT gear stormed the room. They circled Caelyn with their machine guns aimed at the ready. The kitchen light came on. A man’s silhouette blocked most of the glow. In his hand was a smoking 9mm.

  “Matthew?” Caelyn said, with a perplexed expression wrinkling his forehead. His vampire eyes saw so much more than mine.

  The man I once called dad stalked into the room. The closer he got to me the better I saw him. His steel blue eyes stared down at me. He was dressed in a men’s white dress shirt with the collar opened, black dress slacks and black loafers. I was too afraid to move or speak, paralyzed by fear.

  Caelyn started to push up from his seat. The trooper closest to him nudged him with the barrel of his gun. The troopers around him shifted their weight on the balls of their feet. Caelyn sat back.

  “Happy birthday Angela.” Matthew brought my attention back him by uttering a sweet, meaningless blessing. There was no love in his voice, no joy in his tone. He sounded like a robot repeating back an order. Then he pistol-whipped me across the temple and knocked me unconscious.

  The memory faded and I was back in the bathroom with Lucian again. He slumped away from me against the bathroom cupboard exhausted. “We can’t be done yet?”

  “No, we’re not, I just need a second. All the fighting you did before I got to see anything took more out of me than I expected. You are a lot stronger than your age implies. Give me a moment and we will get back to work.”

  “Should I have Sasha get you some blood?”

  “Thank you but that won’t be necessary, yet.” He sat back on his knees more determined this time to complete the task. It was as if I challenged him by trying to be helpful. “Let’s try this again.”

  “Okay, this time I won’t fight you.”

  “Yes you will, perhaps not by choice, but instinctively you will.” He put both his hands on my face, wrapped his fingers under my damp hair and jump-started my memory where we left off.

  “Angela. Angela, it’s time to wake up.” I was roused by the giddy voice of a vampire I hadn’t heard in a long time.

  My head ached. There was a small knot on the back of my skull. I must have hit my head against the table when I fell.

  I found myself lying on a mound of assorted pillows in what appeared to be an unfurnished basement. It ranked of dirt and mildew. A single watt bulb swung without a cover from the ceiling.

  “Morning sleepyhead, I thought you were going to sleep the whole night away.” Thais pounced on the pillows beside me. She looked bright as sunshine and chipper for being stuck at the age of nine for the last few hundred years. A bright green nightgown with fluffy sheer sleeves decorated her pale, tiny body.

  “Oh god, shoot me now.” I dropped my head back against the pillows.

  “I wouldn’t talk like that if I were you.” My father said.

  I cracked an eye open and saw the man who murdered my mother standing under the only light in the room. Seeing Matthew there with a devilish grin on his smug oval face lit a fiery rage that built inside me. “You son of a bitch.”

  I attempted to jump at him, but before I got o
ff my back Thais pushed me back down one handed. I wanted to kill him. I would have, too, if it hadn’t had been for Thais. “Don’t be mad at Matthew. He was only doing his job.”

  “What job?” Killing my mother! Why?” I gritted my teeth and clenched the pillows on either side.

  “He was sent to bring you here. We both knew Constance wouldn’t let us have you willingly. It wasn’t anything personal.” Thais’ insanity sparked a light deep within her eyes. If not for her madness there would be nobody home in that devious mind of hers. Her insanity was the glue that held her together after hundreds of years of being denied puberty.

  “You had my mother killed by the very sperm donor you had sent to impregnate her. How is that not personal?”

  “When you put it that way I suppose you have a point.” She shrugged. “But let’s not allow the past to get in the way of the now. Because now we can be playmates forever, you and me.”

  “I don’t want to be your playmate, you fucking psycho.” I tried to get up again. This time I tried to run away, but to no avail. Thais shoved me back onto the pillows for a second time and laughed at me like a kid watching its dolly fall over.

  “Your mouth is going to get you in trouble little lady.” Matthew said. For the first time since he interrupted my party I saw a glimpse of a father’s instinctive protective nature in his expression.

  His concern for me was too little too late. “Fuck you.”

  “Enough with the small talk.” Thais said through fangs, and socked me in the jaw. The pain shot up my cheek and into the back of my head. She sprang on me and landed on my lap. Her eyes shifted from side to side as she peered down at me. I saw the thoughts that ran through her head in her eyes. She judged me, weighed the pros and cons of my existence. She grabbed my ponytail, ripped back my neck, and bit. Her teeth pierced my flesh, my artery, and she drank in my blood.

  At first the pain was sharp, agonizing, but soon the pain faded as my mind was whisked away to a happier place. Sweet ecstasy vibrated through my body -cell by cell. I floated high above the world wrapped in the warmth of her touch. I smiled, happy to die in her arms. Knowing I was dying helped her wash away all fear with her kiss upon my throat. I didn’t have a care in the world. I almost cried out, I might have, because I wanted this to last forever even as my heart slowed to a crawl.