Fangs In Vain by Scott Nicholson Read Free Book Online Page B

one of her boys to me, the youngest, and
I could tell she would willingly sacrifice herself a million times over just to
keep her child alive. I smelled him, the sweet, sustaining substance of him,
the water of life and renewed unlife.”
    Sabrina cringed and pulled her
blouse over her bare chest. Her nipples were hard and cold, and an ache tickled
something deep inside her immortal heart. “No,” she whispered, the denial
inaudible even to herself.
    But Luke’s hearing was
preternaturally keen. “Yes,” he whispered back.
    “You couldn’t.”
    “I couldn’t not do it. That
is what I am, Sabrina.”
    “But you were a life saver .”
    “No. I was—and am—a vampire, doing
whatever it takes to survive.”
    “But you did save people. Lots of
people. You just said so.”
    “History records that the U.S.
Life Saving Service of Portsmouth Island saved 174 people on that turbulent
night. Six unfortunate souls were lost to the waves despite the crew’s valiant
efforts.”
    “Did you—”
    “I only fed on those three. The
others died of natural causes, at least if you consider drowning a part of
nature.”
    “What…what did you do with the
bodies?”
    “What any self-respecting vampire
would do. I tore their heads off so they wouldn’t be cursed to the same fate,
and then dumped them in the water for the sharks. Although in their bloodless
state, the corpses likely ended up feeding blue crabs on the bottom. It’s all
part of the cycle, Sabrina. The universe isn’t as pretty as you would like it
to be, with your white clouds, golden stairs, and endless harmony. Sometimes
it’s just meat and hunger.”
    Sabrina took a lungful of air and
tried to savor its sustaining power. It tasted like seaweed and burned. “But
you joined the Life-Saving Service, and now you’re in the Coast Guard. You want
to be good. You want to do the right thing. And that means there’s hope of
redemption.”
    “Hope is your currency, Sabrina.
Not mine. I joined the Life-Saving Service because of opportunity. Why worry
about having to hide bodies where people would eventually notice and cause trouble
for me? Where better to claim victims than in a place where victims are
expected?”
    She took his hand despite the
hammering alarms in her head. “You…you’re not a monster, Luke. I know you are
good. At your core, you are good.”
    He smiled a little, and his lips
held ancient sorrows, all the weariness of a world that would never get it
right. “You are what you eat. And I am a bottomless pit of death, pain, horror,
and blood.”
    Sabrina dug her fingernails into
his arm. “Damn you, you are on our side. My side. Why do you care if the
Gog and Magog take over the world, then? If all you care about is your own
selfish needs, then why are you helping me? Seems like you’d be better off just
waiting for the apocalypse so you could feast to your rotten heart’s content.”
    He shook free of her grip and
turned his gaze from the wreckage of his past. His eyes burned into hers.
“Maybe there’s just enough humanity left in me to commit the sin of pride.”
    “But you came here as a watchman
first. Not as a blood-drinking member of the Life Saving Service. That proves
you are on our side.”
    “I’ve only been here a couple of
hundred years. I haven’t had time to make up my mind about which side I’m on.”
    “I suspect your loyalties change
with each new opportunity.” Sabrina rose and gathered her clothes, pulling them
into place and buttoning her blouse. Her bikini bottoms were sodden and the
elastic had sprung, so she wadded them up and stuffed them in Luke’s back
pocket. “And I guess that’s all I am to you: just another opportunity.”
    Luke shrugged, gazing past her and
up across the dunes, the moon making a iridescent streak in his long, dark
hair. “I never promised anything, so I can’t break any promises.”
    From the direction of the
abandoned village, they heard a voice on the wind. “Hello! Anybody