Free Warrior Rising by Linda Winstead Jones Page A

experienced Warriors. There were times when she could barely think — much less strategize — because everything within and around her was so new and different. She had indeed been reborn.
    She needed to call her parents, and soon. In the past couple of days, she’d replayed the conversation in her head, again and again, and the imagined call never ended on a good note. Maybe it was just as well that she had no idea where her cell phone was. Not that she couldn’t borrow one if she was so inclined. She just didn’t know what to say. I’m a vampire, and I don’t trust myself to be in the same room with you just yet .
    She worried less now that the sanctuary spell was back in place. Neither of her parents saw well enough to drive at night. They were creatures of habit, settled in before dark; in bed no later than ten. And they were well away from D.C., in Atlanta where maybe the rebel vamps were not so active.
    But that conversation… sooner or later she had to figure out what to say.
    It hadn’t been long since Luca had fed her from his own wrist, and already she was hungry. He had told her, more than once, that constant hunger was normal for a newborn.
    Newborn. She’d spent so many years of her life dying, thanks to the aortic aneurysm, that to be a newborn with an endless life ahead of her was beyond amazing.
    Everything looked different . Normal sounds were like music to her ears. The simplest view was like a master’s painting, the colors brighter, the lines sharper. Had she really seen the world she lived in as a human? Not like this. She hadn’t wanted to be turned, not until the moment when she’d literally had to choose between leaving this world for good or staying in it with the man she loved. Luca.
    There might be days to come when she regretted her choice, but today she did not.
    All day she’d felt uneasy in a new way. Something was wrong. Something inside her was different. Well, a lot was different, but this… yeah, something was off. She’d adjusted quickly to the change from human to vampire, much more quickly than normal, according to Luca and his friends. Maybe it was Luca’s blood that made the difference. Maybe it was her. Perhaps beneath what she’d always thought of as an ordinary body and brain something that made her special had lurked. She’d been a conduit, after all, and not every human was capable of hearing the call of an Immortal Warrior.
    For the first time in days Chloe stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She didn’t need to breathe, not really, but there was something normal and calming and ordinary about breathing in and out. She listened, calling on her newly enhanced hearing. She focused on the faint heartbeats of those in the room. Vampires, humans, and Warriors all had beating hearts. It was perhaps the one thing they had in common. Thump, thump. Luca’s heartbeat was slow, the slowest in the room. His two vampire friends also had slow heartbeats. Jimmy’s heart rate was dangerously high. It raced, but at least it raced steadily. He was in no danger. The two Warriors who also stood over the map had heart rates somewhere in between.
    Then there was her own heartbeat, which was not as slow as Luca’s but was in line with the other vampires in the room.
    And…
    Chloe cocked her head to one side, closed her eyes again, and took yet another deep breath she did not need to take. Another heartbeat, one faint and fast and new, came from inside her .
----
    How much sleep could one human need? Indikaiya, tired of waiting, pushed past Rurik and into Nevada’s room, where the girl had been sleeping for going on ten hours. “Bring food,” she instructed sharply.
    Rurik was not accustomed to being ordered around, but he huffed a bit and then left to do as he’d been told. Indikaiya called after him. “Meat! She will need protein.”
    Even her raised voice didn’t rouse the girl.
    Indikaiya stood beside the bed and called the witch’s name. The girl still