Vampire Reborn, a novella

VAMPIRE REBORN , a novella from The Calling/Reborn

Vampire Novel series by Caridad Pineiro

A life alone . . .

For nearly two centuries, vampire Ryder Latimer had lived alone, uncomfortable in the vampire world and unloved in the human world.  Ryder had never dared hope that he'd find love in his endless existence.

Brought together . . .

Fate brought FBI Agent Diana Reyes into Ryder's world and in the five years since they met, they've battled long and hard for a life together.  With Ryder's love, Diana has climbed out of a dark abyss that had kept her prisoner for far too long.

A Vampire Reborn . . .

It's been a month since Diana and Ryder became man and wife.  A month since Ryder almost lost his life to protect his wife and their newborn child.  But now something is happening in Ryder's body that is making him more human at a time when he needs to be at full vampire strength to protect his loved ones.

Will fear and doubt drive Ryder to embrace his vampire self and be reborn at the cost of his new family?  Or will Diana's love battle back the darkness that threatens?

Look for FIGHT FOR LOVE, the continuation of Diana and Ryder's story and a new romance for slayer Benjamin, in Early Summer 2014.

Chapter 1

Ryder Latimer wiped the steam off the mirror and stared.  For the first time in nearly two hundred years, his image stared back.

Granted it was barely there.  Almost ghostly, but it was definitely his image.  It was weird to see himself, to see how others might see him, after so long.

He gingerly rubbed his hand over his jaw and the beard there.  Shifted his hand upward to drag his fingers through the longer strands of his hair.

It had been nearly a month since he’d had his ass kicked by Connall Burk, psycho vampire.  Nearly a month since he’d almost died, but worse . . .

It had been nearly a month since he’d failed his family.

He had no intention of failing them again.

He pushed off the edge of the sink, wincing as his bones and muscles complained with the action.  He had worked himself hard that afternoon, running through a series of martial arts drills in addition to an intense workout in the gym.  Plus, he still hadn’t fully healed from that beating.  It was part of the reason for the beard and the longer hair.  The most basic grooming hurt much like the rest of his body still ached from the damage he’d sustained and the way he had been pushing himself.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from protecting his newlywed wife and newborn daughter.

My family, he thought, and smiled through the twinge in his jaw.

Charlie’s mewl drifted in from the bedroom and his gut tightened with both joy and fear.  Driving away the fear, he whirled from his almost spectral image and hurried out to where his wife sat in a rocker, nursing their month-old daughter.

The sight of his lover never failed to stir him.

Diana's head was down turned and her nearly seal-black hair fanned forward to hide most of her face, except the faint smile that graced her lips as she watched their daughter nurse.

At his entry, Diana met his gaze and her smile broadened, but then her exotic gold-green eyes narrowed.  Her cop’s eyes were way too perceptive. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Never better,” he lied.  He walked to her side and kneeled, still amazed by the miracle with which they’d both been blessed.

The baby’s soft full cheeks moved with each suck and at a strong pull, Diana jumped a bit.

“Hungry little thing, isn’t she?” he said and gently skimmed his index finger along the baby’s face.

“Like her dad,” Diana teased, cupped his jaw, and tenderly forced his head upward.  “You’re not a very good liar, you know.”

Chagrined, he said, “Maybe you’re just more observant than the average person.”

She frowned.  “You’re still hurting.  I don’t get how that’s possible.”

He didn’t either.  He was a vampire for Christ's sake.  In the past, he’d healed from a number of injuries virtually overnight.  But then again, he’d never been beaten to within an inch of his life.

 And he’d never fed from a slayer elder who was now also a vampire.

“I can see myself,” he said and held his hand out in front of him, searching for other differences.  Skimming his gaze down his naked body to examine himself before facing her again.

Diana’s forehead furrowed and she looked at him as if he was losing it.  “Of course, you can see yourself.”

He shook his head and even that simple movement caused a throb of pain at the back of his head where Connall had smashed it into a solid brick wall during his fight with the sadistic vampire.  “No, darlin'.  In the mirror.  I can see myself in the mirror.  Just faintly, but my image is there.”

He waited for her disbelief, but instead there was only calm acceptance as she trailed her hand across his cheek and then skimmed it along the bare skin at his shoulder.  “You’re warmer, too.  When you’re not in your vampire state that is. I noticed that you were warmer the other night in bed.”

He’d thought so also, but had been afraid that it was just his imagination or maybe even the changes in Diana.

Much like he’d had a taste of slayer blood, so had she in order to save her life during the birth of their daughter.  Combined with his turning her, she was now a dhampir like their newborn child, and gifted with some vampire strength and healing, but also saddled with mortal limitations like aging.  Albeit very slow and prolonged aging.

“Do you think it’s possible that . . . I’m different?  That the slayer blood did something?” he asked.

The baby squirmed and mewled again.

Diana raised Charlie to her shoulder, softly rubbed her back, and after a healthy burp, his wife shifted the baby to her other breast, where Charlie greedily latched on again and resumed her suckling.  His groin tightened at the thought of how much he wanted a taste as well, but it would have to wait until his daughter had satisfied her needs.

“Do you feel different?” he wondered aloud, surprised that in the weeks since Charlie’s birth and both their near deaths, they had never discussed it.

* * *