Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul
If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn
Chapter Forty-Nine
The three gothic males were standing in the center of the living room staring at Jess in awe. The one with the purple streaked hair started towards her and she backed up a step in alarm.
He stopped moving and held his arms out to the sides with his palms up in a non-threatening pose. “No, please don’t be afraid, oh shit, I can’t believe this!”
Grins broke across all of their faces and the lankiest of the three punched his fist in the air and whooped.
“The bathroom’s down the hall, second door to your right,” the blonde told her, his voice a little unsteady.
She nodded and hurried into it shutting the door and leaning heavily against it. They had looked…joyful.
But of course they would, she reminded herself, I’m a female vampire and they are few and far between.
She took care of her needs then went to the mirror hanging over the sink and studied her reflection. Her hair was a little greasy, but other than that she still looked like herself. In fact she was surprised she didn’t appear a bit more haggard after her long ordeal. She turned the water on in the sink and splashed water on her face then turned back to the door and gathered courage to face them.
She emerged slowly and peered down the hallway. They were still standing in the center of the living room.
The blonde motioned to her, “Please, come talk to us.”
She figured it wouldn’t serve a purpose to ignore him, so she went.
“I’m Jay,” he held out a hand and she took it gingerly. “That rogue there is Chris and that’s Aerik. What’s your name sweetheart?”
She stared at him mutely, trying to think of what to say to that. “You don’t know me?” she finally asked in a small voice.
Aerik’s brow furrowed. “Know you?”
She didn’t have to force the tremor in her voice, particularly now that she was seeing them close up. Though all three of them were exceedingly good looking, which all vampires seemed to be, they were the exact type of guys she would avoid at a club for fear of being mugged or raped. There were tattoos covering every inch of the skin she could see, except for their faces which were filled with piercings.
“I don’t remember,” she felt her chin quiver. “I don’t know who I am.”
All three sets of brows flew up at this declaration.
“You don’t know who you are?” Chris asked slowly.
She bit her lip and shook her head. “I…,” she frowned and looked at her feet, pretending to try and recall, hoping they wouldn’t see through her.
Jay let out a low whistle.
“Well maybe that’s temporary, you’ve been through a lot. It’s probably your mind’s way of coping with the shock,” Aerik put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’m sure it will come back to you.”
She nodded slightly.
“Why don’t you sit and watch the movie with us,” he gently took her hand and led her to the couch.
Once seated she couldn’t concentrate on the screen, her eyes kept darting to the males around her. They seemed determined not to frighten her as they stole glances her way without speaking.
When the movie ended they disappeared into the other room for a minute, then Jay and Aerik announced they would be back shortly and slipped out the door.
The brothers blurred to a nearby farm to partake in some bovine blood. For them the blood of humans was recreational, they drank it for the high but were careful not to imbibe too often and risk addiction.
After they were sated they headed to a nearby tavern and ordered a couple of ales.
“I think her memory loss could be a good thing,” Aerik began when they’d settled into a corner booth.
Jay tugged on the barbell ring in his brow and nodded. “Merciful really, since her life as she once knew it is over anyway. I keep trying to imagine what it would be like to be her, to go from fragile and weak to immortal…especially if she didn’t know vampires existed in the first place.”
“Which is pretty damn likely. Most humans believe we’re fiction.” Aerik leaned back against the wooden chair and smirked. “So what do we know about her? She’s obviously American, though I can’t quite place the accent except to say she doesn’t come from a city or the south.”
Jay nodded thoughtfully. “Well, we have to get her out of Europe, that’s a definite, in fact I think the sooner the better. If any of our kind were to find out about her, particularly of the fallen variety, there’s no doubt we’d be either running or fighting them off. And the females would probably kill her.” He frowned fiercely at the thought.
Aerik nodded, “Oh yeah they’d definitely try to take her, although I’m not so sure about the killing, even females are rumored to now want an increase in our numbers.”
Jay’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you don’t think she’ll be able to breed do you?”
“Who can say? It’s as possible as the fact that she survived the change with a functioning brain.”
Jay shook his head in wonder. “This whole thing, her, I don’t know what to think. Except thank God we didn’t kill her.”
Aerik took a long swallow of his beer his stomach clenching out how close they’d come to doing just that. He set his mug down and pulled out a cell phone. “I’m going to charter a plane, we’ll leave as soon as possible.”
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire
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Just checking in on you and saying hi. Looks like I am a bit behind/lost on this series of posts you have been doing.
I do quite like that painting cover though.
Blessings~*~
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I read your next chapter @dreemit and of course it's terrible to lose memory :)
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I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.
- Albert Einstein
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Okay so, first of all this was great. I like how Jess is enacting the plan of pretending to have amnesia. I'm sure that won't last too long, but it would be good to see how all the players react. I mentioned previously how her situation mirrors with Anna's especially when she first meets Michael's group. I don't know if you remember this, but I had a terrible time telling them apart. This time however, I had no trouble telling them apart. Perhaps because of the number, or maybe the names or the characteristics. With every chapter, it strengthens my sentiment about how Jess' tale is far more compelling.
They seem to have a clearer purpose, and Jess' rather weak personality doesn't chew up the scene. I think that contributes to the dynamic meshing well together. They all get the chance to shine without making the whole scene about one person.
I do have to say that I would've preferred this chapter without head hopping from Jess to Jay and Aerik. Perhaps it would've been better if the focus was kept on Jess here, and then for the next chapters, the perspective of the others were visited individually.
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lol jedau is practically drooling over Jess' character and despising Anna. I am enjoying them all, and I know Jess will bring herself into trouble when they find out she's been lying to them this entire time
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