Fate of the Vampire Read Online Free Page B

screamed.

Chapter 3
    “What’s going on?” Mom shouted, charging into the room followed closely by the doctor.
    Grandma Gibson released my arm so suddenly that I stumbled backward and crashed into an empty gurney. “Mom,” I sobbed, running over to her and collapsing in her arms.
    “I shouldn’t have let her in here,” Dr. Kalla said, mostly to herself. “I should have used better judgment.”
    “What happened?” Mom asked, wrapping her arms around me. “Grams? What’s going on?”
    “I was just giving my great granddaughter a lesson in what happens when a girl gets involved with the wrong boy,” Grandma Gibson said, not the least bit remorseful for having terrified me.
    “Well, I hardly think frightening her with a dead body is the way to do it,” Mom said, her temper rising. She always tried to give me my space but, like any mom, was also very protective of me. “Besides, I don’t think that’s a lesson that Aurora needs to learn. She’s not boy crazy , and I meet everyone she dates.”
    “Do you know that she’s seeing someone right now?” the crazed woman formerly known as my great grandmother demanded.
    “Yes,” Mom said, straining to hold back her anger. “He came over last night, and he’s a very nice young man.”
    “You invited Jessie Vanderlind into your home?” Grandma asked, the color draining from her face.
    “Yes. I said he came over,” Mom repeated. “He’s very nice.”
    “You let a killer into your house!” Grandma Gibson shrieked. “He killed Colette , and now he’s coming after Aurora!”
     
    Dr. Kalla eventually got Grandma sedated and held for observation overnight. “I think after all these years, the grief just overpowered her,” the doctor said. “I’m sure she’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
    I was crying so hard , I wished I could be sedated, too, but I wasn’t the one screaming about how a seventeen-year-old boy had murdered a girl who disappeared before World War II. It was absolutely horrifying to see Grandma Gibson so upset, and I felt doubly guilty knowing that there was a strong chance she was right. None of the hospital staff knew that, of course. They all just thought she was losing her battle with dementia.
    I managed to pull myself together a little once we were in the car and headed home. Mom must have been a little shell shocked herself, but she still tried to comfort me. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she said, reaching over and rubbing my back as we waited at a red light. “I don’t even know how to explain Grams’ s behavior. I’m really sorry I asked you to go with me. I just …” She gave a big sniff as the light turned green and she turned to concentrate on the road. “I was just frightened and didn’t want to face everything by myself. That was stupid of me. I shouldn’t have put you through that.”
    “No, it’s okay,” I assured her, forcing myself to sound less upset. None of this was my mom’s fault , and I didn’t want her suffering because of choices Colette and I had made. “I feel bad that I lost it. But Grandma really freaked me out. And then the body was just so horrible. It’s just …” I forced myself not to break down into tears again. “It’s just, Grandma Gibson always talks about how much I look like her sister. I never thought I did from her old photographs, but looking at the body … Well, I could really see it. I really do look like her. And I was just wondering … Do you think it’s possible …”
    “What?” Mom asked gently, giving me the space to breath e.
    “Do you believe in reincarnation?” I finally blurted.
    “Oh.” Mom nodded her head up and down several times. “I understand. I wasn’t putting the whole thing together, but now it makes sense.”
    “What does?” I wanted to know. I felt a mild sense of alarm, but there was no way she could have figured everything out.
    “Aunt Colette was working at the Vanderlind Castle when she disappeared. Grams told me once that she