Dracula Hearts of Fire Book two of Dracula Hearts
CHAPTER SIX

SHERIFF ALEXANDER AND HIS GERMAN SHEPHERD VAMPIRE DOG Tessy had alerted to an apartment building in the Bronx. There had been a report of someone moving very fast outside the building, and the people inside were scared. Super-fast movements always meant vampires. People were told not to leave their apartments until the danger had passed.

The atmosphere was dark, humid, and dangerous. A vagabond with a bottle of wine in a bag had a gun under his belt. He stepped out of the shadows and wandered off, muttering, but not before staggering and falling into the wire fence. When the handsome sheriff arrived five minutes later in his black trench coat, he realized there was no immediate threat. The dog’s happy demeanor told him she sensed nothing untoward in the area. Therefore, if there was a vampire, it wasn’t one of the bad ones. The dog detected the new vampire but knew she wasn’t of the notorious variety.

“She’s back here.” A stressed female voice originated from the back of the building.

The red sheriff blurred and discovered a 13-year-old girl. The girl had been crying softly as her mother stood beside her. The mother had beautiful brown hair caught in the building’s bright security lights, and she was pretty but looked distraught. The dog ran up to the girl and licked her face. The dog then rushed and jumped a short man with a shotgun; he was there to kill the vampire. He was questioned and released even though he was part of the building’s security. The dog’s fangs made him drop the gun and soil himself.

The sheriff turned his attention to the woman and her daughter. “I’m Sheriff Alexander. Is there a problem here?” He knew the problem, but he wanted to hear it from them. The girl’s aura was almost as unstable and unpredictable as she was; it was one of the telltale signs of a newly made vampire. The girl was frightened of herself and her new capabilities. She could smell the blood in her mother’s veins.

Abbey was thirty-two and quite attractive. Her hands were shaking. “She’s bitten, and the building has a no-vampire policy. She doesn’t know what to do with herself. And people from the building have seen her, and they’re scared of her.”

“When was she turned?”

“Last night.” Arym’s mood seemed slightly elevated because of the dog. “He gave me the choice of being killed or turned.” Tessy gave her paw to the girl forcing her to smile as she attempted to lick her tears away.

Abbey sighed deeply. “What are we going to do? They won’t let her into the building. A vampire killed her father. What is this world coming to? I just don’t know what to do.”

“That is so sad. What’s the girl’s name?”

“Arym.” Tessy gave her yet another kiss as she smelled the dog’s face. Arym thought the dog was very different, but she wasn’t sure why. It was the strangest thing. The dog appeared to be telling her in her mind that she would be okay.

“Well, Arym, your life has changed, and you’ll need a little help. I’d like to take you to get some counseling; you’ll be there for three or four days as they evaluate you. We’ll get permission for you to stay in the building, and you’ll be able to go home and get on with your life.”

Her mother was encouraged. “You can do that? You can get permission for her to come home?”

“I’ll vouch for her. The dog could sense her good heart as we approached. One day they might be happy to have a vampire in the building. That’s usually the way it works out.”

A mixture of crying and laughter. “Can my mother come with me?”

“She can come for a visit.”

“Will there be other vampires there?”

“Yes.”

“Then I don’t want to go. I’m scared. I don’t want to be around vampires.”

There was silence as Alexander thought about it for a moment, and he saw her mother’s pleading eyes. “Tell you what. What if I send the dog with you? She’s a vampire, an official sheriff, and she’ll protect you. She’ll stay right by your side while you’re there.”

“She’ll come with me?”

“I guarantee it.”

She stared at Tessy and liked the idea. “Okay. I knew there was something different about the dog. Her heartbeat is so loud, and I can hear some of her thoughts. Everything is way too loud. There’s a rat way over there by that bin, scratching. I hear the blood pumping through it, and it’s a male. Isn’t that totally weird?”

Arym’s words made her mother want to sob, but she managed to hold it in, but just barely. Her only child forever changed, and she could do nothing about it. Life had just kicked them both in the face again. They were permanently altered through no fault of their own, and it was a quagmire before all of this. She knew what her neighbors would say and how they would now be shunned, at least in the short term. Abbey wished she could go to sleep and awake to discover that it was all a dream.

“You’ll need a period of adjustment. I’ll be around to help if you need me. Now let’s go inside and get things going. If you have a computer, I can do the paperwork from here and then take you over.”

“I’m not allowed inside.”

“You are with a red sheriff for an escort.”

The girl’s response was meek but positive. “Okay.”

“Thank you so much, sheriff. My name is Abbey Hale.”

“Well, I wish we were meeting under different circumstances, Abbey.”

“Will I have to drink blood?”

“Yes, Arym, but you don’t have to hurt anyone. Some places deliver the stuff. I’ll get you an account set up at one of the reputable locations, and it’ll be free because of what happened to you. I’ll call as soon as we get in there.”

“Okay.”