Zamani (6 page)

Alex sat for a few more
moments in silence before she stood and quietly said, “Please, call me
Sasha.
 
Alex is dead.”
 
She rose and slowly walked out of the
church, Lucy trailing behind her.

Ch
apter
Nine

Even though it was clear
Lucy had money beyond what her salary could possibly account for, Sasha hadn’t
asked Lucy where her money came from.
 
As old as Lucy was, she’d certainly saved many relics that people today
would pay top dollar for. Her house alone had to be worth close to half a
million, not counting the antiques inside.
 
Sasha didn’t know how much coroner’s techs made, but she knew it wasn’t
enough to pay that mortgage.
 
Lucy
also lived a pretty high-end life on the other side of the river.
 
She chose to live in Algiers Point as it
allowed her some distance between her identities.
 
Her bohemian VW-driving alter ego was
quite different from the Lucy of Algiers.
  
She’d explained to Sasha that the
van was also handy not only for transporting newly awakened vampires across the
river but also as a discreet spot for donations.
 
“I’m not above a little romance on the
run now and then, either,” Lucy joked.

Sasha asked the car service
to simply drop them at the ferry, as she wanted some air. As they rode the
ferry home after the memorial service, Sasha turned to Lucy and asked,
 
“So how does a coroner’s tech manage a
house at Algiers Point?
 
I suppose I
should also ask how it is I’m supposed to manage financially as a vampire.
 
I can’t go on sponging off of you
forever.”

Lucy looked across the
water.
 
“As a donor, my vampire
family contributes a lot to my upkeep.
 
I suspect someday you, too, will repay my kindness in various
ways.”
 
She lit two cigarettes and
handed Sasha one. “I’ve arranged for your mentor to start working with you on
Sunday.
 
That will give you today
and Saturday to process the memorial service.
 
I’ve taken off work, as well; it’s not
hard for me to get coverage.
 
As you
noted, coroner’s techs aren’t usually well off, so extra shifts are usually
welcome.”
 

She looked at Sasha.
 
“Now that you’ve had a funeral, we’re
going to have a birthday party for Sasha.
 
I invited a few friends--donors--who are looking forward to meeting
 
you.”

Sasha sighed as she stared
at the water and St. Louis Cathedral receding in the distance. She was happy to
be putting the Mississippi between herself and Liz. All she’d wanted to do
after the service was run to the house they’d shared just a few days ago and
reveal she was still here, an undead among the living.

As they walked up to the
house, she could see that Lucy’s friends had been quite busy in their absence.
 
Someone was cooking, and she could smell
the spice of the low country boil as she entered the courtyard to change in the
carriage house.
 
She smiled as she
passed the early arrivals to the party, relieved that there was something
festive to focus on and new people to meet.

As she changed clothes and
looked around she realized that everything in her space was either Lucy’s or
was something she’d acquired since coming from the morgue.
 
They’d even thrown out the shoes she was
wearing at the time of her murder. Her biggest regret was that she didn’t have
anything of her own from her past life, nothing of her relationship with Liz to
hold on to. Lucy was a wonderful hostess, and Sasha realized that even though
she might not have all she had before, what she did have she owed to Lucy.

She thought to herself that
it was probably for the best; she couldn’t be Alex anymore, so why hold on to
those things that were Alex’s?
 
The
task before her—to completely invent Sasha West—suddenly seemed
overwhelming. She realized the charade of preparing herself for the memorial
had kept her going. Now she would have to continue reinventing herself.
 
Death seemed easy by comparison.
 

She pulled on some jeans,
irritated that she didn’t have any well-worn ones yet.
 
She pulled on a t-shirt and checked
herself in the mirror.
 
She tucked
in the t-shirt and pulled on a wide brown leather belt.
 
She’d always been slender for her
height, but since her awakening, her body seemed far more efficient in its
processes. Where she had been slender before she was lean now with fine curves
that followed her muscles when she moved.
 
The tiny pooch on her abdomen had smoothed out, and she could see some
muscle definition on her stomach when she lifted her shirt.
 
She wondered if this was all part of the
process of transition.
 
There was so
much she didn’t know about her new existence.
 
Until today she’d had little interest.
Ever since the morgue she’d been numb and detached.
 
The memorial service made clear to her that
it was time to embrace her new identity.
 
Doing so would be the only thing that would allow her to survive.
 

She ran her hands through
her short, white-blonde hair and pulled out an eyeliner pencil, drawing thin
lines around her eyes.
 
She pulled
out some red lip stain as well.
 
She’d never really cared about make up before, but it helped her feel
more confident that she wouldn’t resemble her old self.
 
No one that she knew would imagine that
Alex would paint her lips.
 
The
effect of the make up made her skin even more porcelain white.
 

Back in the courtyard, she
took a beer from one of the guests prepping ingredients to go in the shrimp
pot. He looked her up and down as he popped the top off the bottle.
 
“Happy birthday, Sasha.
 
My name is Caleb.”
 
His fingers brushed hers as he handed
her the beer, and she was keenly aware of the stark contrast between the cold
glass and his warm skin.
 
She took a
pull off of the bottle and thanked him.
 
She was surprised by her reaction to him; she’d never been sexually
interested in men, but she’d felt a stirring when their skin made contact.
 

“Good to meet you,
Caleb.
 
Thanks for the beer.”
 
She decided to find Lucy. “I’m going to
seek out our hostess, but I’ll see you around, ok?”

Entering the house, she
passed a few new arrivals. They all smiled at her and seemed to know who she
was immediately.
 
The whole donor
network idea fascinated her, but she felt unmoored and like an outsider. She
decided she wanted some ground rules from Lucy.
 
Sasha found her hostess in the kitchen,
setting up a bar area and cutting up limes and lemons.
 

“Hey, birthday girl.
 
I would have come and got you, but I
thought you might want a minute or two to yourself.
 
I see you’ve found the beer cooler
outside.”

Lucy’s presence comforted
Sasha.
 
“I did!
 
Can I help with anything?”

Lucy shook her head.
 
“Oh, no.
 
This is all about you.
 
I want you to just have a good time;
you’ve had enough work to do already and today was a rough day.”
 
She scooped the lime wedges she’d just
cut into a bowl and sat the bowl on the counter, wiping her hands off on a
towel before picking up her gin and tonic and raising her glass.
 
Sasha brought her bottle up, clinking it
against Lucy’s glass, and took another long drink off of it.

“You can make me one of what
you’re having if you get a chance.
 
While beer is good, I prefer something a bit stronger.”
 
Sasha drained the bottle and tossed it
into the recycle bin.

While Lucy worked on making
a gin and tonic for Sasha, she also pointed out guests as they came in, making
a few quick introductions.
 
Sasha
noticed an attraction similar to the one she felt when her hand brushed Caleb’s
whenever she touched another donor. The sensation wasn’t exactly the same for
each person, but she felt a bit relieved to realize that it wasn’t just Caleb
that she felt an affinity for.
 

When the kitchen finally
cleared out a bit, she asked Lucy, “So, I’m not really sure what to ask or how
to ask it when it comes to my role at the party.
 
It’s a bit overwhelming.”

Lucy smiled and put her arm
around Sasha’s shoulders.
 
As the
only donor Sasha had fed from so far, Lucy was like a sister or an old friend.
As they’d worked together to turn Alex into Sasha, they’d grown to like each
other.
 
From the start, Lucy made it
clear that while she was a willing donor, she was definitely straight in
orientation, so there would be no romance, no matter how close Sasha felt to
her.

“Just go with it.
 
Everyone here knows you’re new and they
are here to celebrate your joining the fold.
 
There are a few things to keep in mind;
it is best to let any romantic impulses come from the donors.
 
One of the ways this works is that as
you feed from someone you’ll feel things they are feeling.
 
So, you’ll be able to tell if someone is
interested or not.
 
Also, I should
warn you that you’ll also feel things more strongly than the donor
does—it’s like the volume gets turned up really loud for you, according
to what I’ve been told by vamps in the past.
 
So, if you feed from someone who is
pretty drunk, expect that drunkenness to hit you pretty hard.”
 
She pointed to Sasha’s drink.
 
“If you want to get drunk, you’ll find
that feeding from a drunken donor is more effective than trying to get drunk
from your own drinks.
 
I suspect it
has something to do with your new metabolism.”

This new piece of
information was interesting. She decided to try it out.

It was her birthday, after
all.

She took her drink back to
the courtyard area and noticed Caleb watching her.
 
He’d finished his prep work and grabbed
another beer before heading over to where she was standing.
 
She smiled at him, feeling
self-conscious.
 
“Looks like you
found a better drink.”

“Thanks.
 
The beer was a good starter.
 
Lucy’s got the bar set up in the kitchen
now, if you want something else.”
 
She tried not to look at him directly, as she was still uncomfortable
with the attraction she felt.
 
He
made it harder for her to ignore it, though, as he put his hand on her
shoulder.
 
She could feel his
attraction to her as clearly as if he had pulled her close and kissed her on
the mouth.
 
She closed her eyes and
considered giving in to the attraction.
 

He helped her out.
 
“Lucy tells me you’re not typically into
the fellas.
 
If you’re ever
interested, though, I think I could be a good donor for you.
 
I’m happy to be your wingman,
though.”
  
He smiled and moved
his hand from her shoulder.
 
She
could look at him now that he wasn’t touching her, as the stirring she’d felt
when they first touched seemed to emanate from him, rather than being something
truly internal for her. Now that she allowed herself to look at him squarely,
she saw that he was handsome. His eyes were friendly and his smile was quick.
Caleb seemed to genuinely be interested in being friends rather than seeing her
as a sexual conquest.

“Thanks, Caleb.
 
I might take you up on the donor offer
before the night is over, but Lucy’s right.
 
I’ve never really been interested in
male companionship romantically.” She sipped from her drink and waited for his
response. “And I’m sure she’s told you that I’m a reluctant vampire. I have to
say though that being surrounded by donors seems to be weakening my resolve to
not feed any more than I have to.”

He nodded.
 
“That’s pretty standard.
 
Lucy’s good at what she does.
 
Part of the purpose of this party
 
is to help you realize that donors are
willing participants.
 
We know what
we’re doing and things are pretty civilized among our network.”

“So, who is that?”
 
She nodded toward the woman just
stepping into the courtyard.
 
She
looked a lot like Liz in terms of build, curvy but not heavy.
 
Sasha could imagine her hands in the
woman’s coppery hair, her mouth on the curve of her neck.

“Her? That’s Steph.
 
She plays for your team.”
 
He finished his beer and used it as an
excuse to walk over to Steph who was near the cooler.
 
Sasha saw the two of them talking.
 
Steph held a drink in her hand, and
Sasha saw she was drinking gin and tonic too.
 
She drained her own glass and went to
the kitchen, refilling her glass and making a drink for Steph before going back
out to the courtyard and joining Caleb.