Fate of the Vampire Read Online Free

grandmother through this?”
    “Of course, we will do a DNA test,” the doctor assured her. “I was just about to ask to do a cheek swab. That is the easiest way to get a good sample.”
    “So all this is really unnecessary,” Mom said, gesturing toward the room.
    “I want to see her,” Grandma Gibson interrupted. “I’m perfectly happy to give you any sample that you need, but I am here to see my sister.” There was no mistaking her determination as she got to her feet.
    “Are you sure, Grams?” Mom asked, touching her on the arm.
    Grandma Gibson ignored her granddaughter. She turned to the doctor and said, “Is it best to do the swab first or after?”
    Dr. Kalla replied, “It’ll just take a minute. I think we should get the sample out of the way. If you’ll just follow me.”
    “Aurora, I think you should stay here,” Mom said as we all moved to follow the doctor.
    “No,” Grandma Gibson and I said simultaneously.
    “I think Aurora should come with us,” Grandma said, clutching tightly at my hand.
    I had the feeling that Grandma wanted me there for more than just moral support. She was the only person who knew the truth about Jessie , and she had done everything within her power to keep us apart. Colette Gibson had disappeared on the night she snuck out of her home to elope with Jessie Vanderlind, and my great grandmother was convinced that her sister’s death was his fault.
    I knew Grandma was trying to teach me a lesson. It felt like when a parent catches a kid smoking a cigarette and forces him to smoke the whole pack. Catch your great granddaughter dating a vampire? Force her to look at a dead body. The idea terrified me, but I also felt compelled to see Colette. I didn’t know if I was somehow her reincarnation , but I thought that maybe if I could see her, it would clarify things for me. I felt like I had to see her.
    “How old are you?” the doctor asked me. She gave a little frown, obviously unsure if it was suitable for me to be in the morgue.
    “Seventeen,” my mom supplied.
    “I’m going to be eighteen,” I told the doctor. It wasn’t exactly a lie. I had every intention of being eighteen one day, but my birthday was still a good ten months off.
    “I guess it’s okay in this specific situation,” Dr. Kalla said. “As long as your family approves.”
    My mom relented , and we followed the doctor down a hallway to a small examination room where a swab was used to scrape a few cells off the inside of my great grandmother’s cheek. I was surprised she even knew what DNA testing was, to be honest. It seemed to me that after a certain age, people just couldn’t absorb any more modernization.
    After that , we followed the doctor as she yanked open an insulated metal door. It felt like we were entering the meat locker at a butcher shop. Grandma Gibson got a hold of my arm again in a very tight grip. The smell of spoiled meat and disinfectant assaulted my nose and made my stomach roil.
    “This is a unique case for everyone here at the hospital ,” the doctor said as we entered. “The body is very different from that of a victim of a car crash or something like that.”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Well,” the doctor said, clicking the button on her pen up and down several times against a clipboard. “It’s more like a mummification. That’s as close as I can get to describing it. I’m sorry to have to phrase it like that, but I want you to be prepared.”
    There were several gurneys in the room, but only one had anything on it. The body was covered with a sheet. The doctor walked over to the top of the gurney. “This can be very difficult,” she said to Grandma Gibson. “If you need a chair or want to step out of the room or anything, please let me know.”
    As the doctor pulled the sheet down, Grandma Gibson gripped me even tighter, her nails biting into the flesh of my arm. “Lettie,” she said in a small gasp.
    The body was curled in a ball; in her last