Race To Sate

by Lori Meyer

  Race to Sate

  by

  Lori Meyer

  Race To Sate

  Lori Meyer

  Copyright ? 2011 Lori Meyer

  For my husband and two daughters

  Chapter One

  Returning the phone to its cradle, Jane D'Nassio slumped down onto the couch. Valerie hadn't shown up for school again - apparently she hadn't been there all week - forcing Jane to lie once more saying her daughter was home sick. This made no sense; Valerie had always been a good student. What was going on with her sixteen year old daughter and this strange behavior?

  The first two days, because of Jane's work schedule, she was there in the morning and knew Valerie was staying home. Her daughter had gotten up both days, complained about a headache, and went back to sleep. Concerned about her daughter's health, Jane was going to make her a doctor's appointment. But the next morning when she had called Valerie from work to check on her, she had assured her mother that all was well and she was going to school.

  However, with these disturbing phone calls, it was quite obvious that something was keeping Valerie from school. And even more alarming was the fact that, other than the first two days, Valerie was not only not in school but she wasn't at home either.

  Uneasiness began growing in the pit of her stomach, so Jane stood up and began pacing about the room. During her third lap, her attention was drawn to a pile of Valerie's favorite novels, stacked on the coffee table, the corner of a folded piece of paper sticking out of the top one.

  Curious, Jane walked over to the stack of books, pulled out the note, and unfolded it. Keelie, you are the only one I can trust. You may think I'm crazy but I think I'm turning into a vampire. I need your help.

  Jane stopped dead in her tracks. Oh, her poor daughter! Why didn't she come talk to her about this? And hopefully she hadn't said anything to Keelie yet. Keelie was a sweet girl and would never do anything to harm Valerie intentionally, but this was a situation that needed handled delicately. You could never tell how people would react to this type of news.

  Staying out late at night, wearing long sleeved clothes - even on the occasional warm September days, - avoiding her friends, barely eating anymore, and feigning being sick; her mom had been so stupid to miss the signs. Good one, Jane. But when it didn't happen at thirteen, how was she to know that it was still a possibility. And really, what could she have done if she had noticed earlier? It's not like she could have stopped the inevitable.

  Refolding the note, Valerie's mom placed it back inside the book and resumed her pacing. She had hoped her daughter's behavior of late could have been explained by raging teenage hormones. That would have been easier to deal with - lock her in her room until she was at least twenty four.

  Dread began creeping into her chest, stealing her breath. She and Valerie's dad were confident when, by the age of thirteen, Valerie hadn't shown any signs of transforming into a vampire; she wasn't going to go through the change. Valerie's father was a vampire - that was why he insisted they live near the thick woods of Montana - but Jane was not, so they hoped since the teenage years began without any bizarre happenings, their daughter would remain human.

  It seemed things weren't going to work out that way. That being the case, she guessed it was time to sit down with Valerie and let her know what was going on.

  But there was an even bigger problem lurking; Valerie's dad left them last year. She and Valerie didn't miss him . . . really. However, in the not so distant future, Valerie was sure to miss him more than she could ever imagine. Without her first taste of blood coming from a parent vampire, the bloodlust would become intolerable. Only after her initial feeding coming from her father would Valerie then be able to be sated living on bagged blood. If Valerie thought she had it rough right now, she couldn't imagine what her daughter would think when things grew ruthless.

  But now what? Aside from explaining to Valerie what was going on, she needed to find her father. But how would she begin to track him down? She didn't even know where he went? Was he still even in the area? Damn Renard. Even if he didn't want anything to do with her, he could have at least kept in touch with his daughter. After all, Valerie had her own cell phone so it wasn't like he even had to speak with Jane, ever.

  Realizing it was probably her best and only option, Jane headed to her bedroom to snatch her address book. Hopefully one of Renard's friends would be kind enough to share with her his whereabouts.

  Chapter Two

  With the sun on its descent in the late afternoon sky and trees casting enough shadows along the sidewalks, Valerie headed home. For the past week, during the day, she had been hiding in an abandoned cabin in the woods, mulling over what to do about her current situation.

  The pain was growing more vicious with each passing day and she was beginning to fear the worst. What a sick joke. How had this happened anyway? She wasn't bit by anyone and who knew vampires even existed. Well, wasn't she just living proof? Was she even living anymore? That thought grossed Valerie out even more than the craving for blood. As if that were even possible.

  Just thinking about blood not only made the physical pain worse but the emotional as well. What a way to find out she was different. She thought the intense attraction to Trey McCreed was because of his sandy blond wavy hair, baby blues, and gorgeous muscular body. But no; it was his blood that was calling to her. And thanks to her last interlude with him, he wouldn't be calling her anytime soon.

  At the lunch table, Valerie had been sitting beside him when he cut his finger on a soda can. In that instant, Valerie's life transformed into something horrific and appalling. Her mouth began to water and something intense inside her awoke, demanding to be released and satisfied. She grasped his hand and tried to put it to her lips. What was she doing? But man, did it smell so delicious. Just a taste. What was wrong with her? The frantic thoughts bounced back and forth in her brain like bumper cars at an amusement park.

  Where she had drawn the willpower to pull away before it was too late was anyone's guess. After he ripped his hand away from her, Trey gave her a look of utter disgust.

  Broken hearted, Valerie couldn't have beat feet fast enough to get away from that humiliation. No sooner had she escaped the room, she felt her fangs descend. Yes, fangs! She was a freaking vampire!

  For a week now, she was dealing with this horrible infliction and was about to lose her mind.

  Desperate for help, Valerie decided it was time to talk to her mom. She couldn't keep hiding this from her. But what would she think? Would she deem her a freak too? All of her friends did now. After the cafeteria incident, no one talked to her anymore.

  Well, Keelie Simon tried to, but Valerie had been doing her best to avoid everyone now, including her closest friend. But there was a really good chance Keelie would stand by her, as long as Valerie didn't try to take a bite out of her.

  Just as Valerie came through the front door, another wave of gut wrenching pain crashed over her. Hand clenching her stomach, Valerie barely made it into the living room, where she quickly glanced at her mom before dropping into fetal position on the loveseat. "The pain! Make it go away!"

  Dropping the book she had been looking at and rushing over to her writhing daughter, Valerie's mom wrapped her arms around her and tried to console her. "I'm so sorry, Valerie. There isn't anything we can do except just ride it out. It should pass. I know it sounds like I think that is so easy because I'm not the one who is enduring it. I'm so sorry."

  In utter disbelief, Valerie pushed some long strands of her jet black sweat soaked hair from her face so she could fix her dark eyes on her mom. "What do you mean it will pass? How can you possibly know what I'm going through?" She took a deep
breath and let it out slowly, trying to gain control over the pain.

  Her mom placed a hand on Valerie's cheek and focused her warm brown eyes on Valerie's. "I know why you are having the pains. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but we hoped you were going to take after me. You're transforming into a vampire, like your father."

  Scrambling to a sitting position while still managing to clutch her stomach, Valerie narrowed her eyes at her mom. "A what, like who? Are you freaking kidding me? You knew this was a possibility and couldn't have at least warned me?"

  "We were hoping you never needed to know. We wanted you to have a normal life."

  "Yah and that seems to be working out so great for me right now." The sarcasm was thick as it dripped from her words.

  Her mom corralled her brown wavy hair into a small pony tail and then let it fall back to her shoulders. "You'll get through this. I will help you."

  She paused for a moment, her eyes growing sad. "The only thing is we need your dad to help you too. You must take your first drink from him to take care of your bloodlust. After that, bagged blood will be sufficient and you won't feel like this anymore. Although if your first taste of blood is taken from anyone else, you will never be sated and the bloodlust will become insufferable."

  Pain subsiding a bit, Valerie removed her hands from her stomach to catch her forehead in her palms. "That's freaking great. We have no idea where he is or how to contact him. I can't last much longer, Mom."

  "Leave that to me. We'll find him. Also, there are a couple more things I need to tell you. You don't have to avoid the sun completely but limit your exposure and make sure you use sunblock. Also, you will be sensitive to the sight and smell of blood for some time, but it will ease."

  Raising her head to peer at her mom, Valerie rolled her eyes. "Yah, I think I've figured that one out on my own already. And I guess this explains why dad always ate his burgers and steak 'not even quite medium rare'. Yuck."

  Valerie's mom reached over and patted her leg reassuringly. "Come on. You should eat one of those yucky steaks right now to take the edge off your craving. That's why your dad ate them like that. It satisfied him in between bags of blood, which you will need to drink only twice a week then. Your normal appetite will return soon after that, too."

  Reluctantly, Valerie followed her mom into the kitchen. Well, if it would help at all; she would do it. She needed something if she was going to make it until they found her dad.

  Chapter Three

  The next day at school, Valerie hoped she could keep her bloodlust under control and that enough time had passed that the students forgot about her bizarre incident with Trey. She just wanted to get through the day.

  While she was busy at her locker, Keelie came out of nowhere and smothered her with a huge hug, her blond curls brushing Valerie's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're back. I've missed you. I haven't even talked to you since?" Breaking from the embrace, Keelie gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring that up."

  "It's okay. I know you're not doing it to make fun of me." Valerie finished at her locker and the two of them headed to class. "You're a great friend, Keelie."

  Keelie's brown eyes searched her friend's face, she knew Valerie was keeping something hidden, but she didn't pry. "You know you can always count on me, for anything. If you ever need to talk, I'm here. Do you want to talk about what happened that day? If not, we don't have to. And I won't bring it up anymore." Following Keelie into their first period class, Valerie took a seat across the table from her.

  Valerie tried for nonchalance. "No big deal, really. Hey, you know me. I've always been awkward around guys. And I've had a crush on Trey for some time now and just acted really absurd. You know when you get a cut on your finger and then instinctively pop it into your mouth to numb the pain and stop the bleeding a little? Well, I thought if I did the same for him it would be like a loving gesture or something. I know, stupid. I don't know what came over me."

  It was a believable excuse, but such a lie. Maybe in the near future Valerie would find the courage to confide in Keelie because she was someone she could trust. Best friends since second grade, Keelie never once betrayed her.

  And yes, Valerie did know exactly what had come over her that day. It was the same thing creeping over her right now, so she grasped the table with both her hands until her knuckles turned white. Fearing she was about to launch herself across the table and tear into her best friend's throat, Valerie was frantic. She didn't know what to do. The teacher had just walked in so she was stuck in the classroom and didn't want to cause another scene.

  Sensing her friend's distress, Keelie reached across the table. "Are you alright, Valerie? You look pale and your eyes are glassy."

  Slouching back in her seat, Valerie grabbed her stomach, trying to will the pain and the craving away. "Yah. Just cramps. I'm still not feeling well."

  As she pulled her hand back, Keelie gave Valerie a concerned look. "I hope you get over this soon."

  So did Valerie.

  Class dragged by painstakingly slow as Valerie put every bit of her concentration on listening to the teacher, desperate to distract herself from the cravings trying to overtake her.

  At one point, she felt her fangs begin to descend and slammed her head off the table in hopes of the pain causing them to retract. Thankfully, it worked. But it also managed to grant her a few curious stares - so much for not drawing any more attention to her outrageous behavior of late.

  As soon as the bell rang, Valerie dashed out of the classroom and headed to the bathroom. She was leaning over the sink, splashing cold water across her face, when she heard someone else enter.

  Grabbing a paper towel from the dispenser, she tilted her head and met Keelie's worried eyes.

  "I'm okay, Keelie. I just needed some cool water." No, she needed to get away from her intoxicatingly sweet scented best friend and get a grip. "I'll head to class in just a minute. You go on without me."

  Keelie started toward the sink. "Are you sure I can't get you something? Or walk you to the nurse's office?"

  Valerie held up her hand. "Thanks, but really I'm okay. I love you, Keelie, but just give me a few moments."

  When she was satisfied Keelie wasn't going to move any closer, she put her hand down and rubbed it across her forehead. "Besides, if it's contagious, I don't want you to get it."

  After Keelie studied her face for a few moments, she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

  After the door closed, Valerie let out a deep breath she didn't realize she had been holding. God, she really didn't want to lose her best friend too. She had to get this under control. Hopefully her mom was having some luck locating her father, because she didn't think she would be able to go through another day like this.

  Chapter Four

  Sitting in the living room, Jane thumbed through the pages of her address book and sighed heavily. Was she kidding herself thinking one of Renard's friends would actually help her? Which ones would even know how she could reach him? She was sure he had kept in touch with some of them but he didn't always leave people a way to get back in touch with him. He was very private that way. What had she seen in that man anyway? Mystery, good looks, charm, that's what. Oh, to be young and stupid.

  Coming out of her musings, she abruptly stopped flipping pages when her eyes were dragged to a name. Forest Walker. Now he would surely know how to get in touch with Renard, considering the two of them grew up together and were as close as brothers. But getting Forest to speak with her, now that was another story entirely.

  For reasons unknown to her, Forest despised Jane. Just seeing her number pop up on his caller ID was sure to prevent him from even answering. And on the off chance she did manage to catch him off guard - which was highly unlikely, he was a vampire after all - as soon as he realized it was her, a loud click in her ear would be all she would receive for her troubles.

&nbs
p; Swallowing down the fear inching its way up her throat, Jane realized if she wanted any answers she would have to speak with him in person. Good thing she had called in sick to the office today, because no better time than the present.

  After a quick drive - before her brain could talk some sense into her - and putting on a false bravado, Jane ascended the stairs of a quaint brick house and rapped on Forest's door.

  What greeted her knocking did nothing to calm her anxiety. When the door opened, a tall, muscular figure with auburn hair past his shoulders, and cold gray eyes with a hint of golden specks glared at her like she was filth.

  "Jane D'Nassio." He said her name like a curse. "When are you going to stop using his good name? You don't deserve it." His words dripped with venom.

  Refusing to cower in fear, Jane took a step forward. "I need to find Renard. Valerie is transforming into a vampire and she needs his blood."

  Grabbing her by the front of her shirt, Forest yanked Jane inside, closing the door and slamming her against the inside wall in one smooth motion. A snort hushed hot breath across her neck, which eerily contradicted his cool skin.

  She could feel the scrape of his fangs across her throat. "I don't care what you do to me. You have to help me help my daughter."

  Stepping back, he shoved Jane aside. "Brave, stupid woman, your daughter is of no concern to me. Renard left after he realized what a fool he was. I owe you nothing."

  Catching her balance on a side table, Jane tried to steady herself. "She will go crazy with bloodlust! She may slaughter many innocents!"

  "Once again, no concern of mine." His tone was callous.

  It was so dark in his house; Jane feared she would run into something. But she needed to make him see the gravity of the situation. She had to convince him to help her; she couldn't back off. She approached him again, chin up in defiance. "When her actions lead to the discovery of your kind, then what?"

  When he raised his hand as if to strike Jane couldn't help but flinch, ducking and covering her face with her forearms. But when nothing came, she dared to peek up at him. He stood there, arms crossed over his chest, eyes boring holes into her. So that gave him pause; she sighed ever so slightly. But would he just threaten to destroy Valerie and then wipe the minds of all the humans involved. She prayed his hesitation meant he would help her find Renard?