Living in Darkness (Bloodbreeders) Read Online Free Page A

examine me. As he pulled down my lower eyelid and peered into it, he asked my
father, “When was the last time she ate?”
    “Well, we got some tea down her yesterday, but that was all she’d
take.”
    “In all my time, I ain’t never seen nothing that would turn a healthy young lady
into a full blown anemic in two days’ time. Especially not one that was up and
around just days ago,” the doc said, as he continued his exam.
    “So, how can we fix her, Doc?” he pleaded more with his eyes than his
words. “My girl can’t even talk. She’s worse now than she was yesterday.”
    “I would say to take her on into the Brownwood hospital,” Doc Macaphee sighed heavily. “But I really don’t think she’d
make it.”
    “And if we just sit here and do nothing? You want us to not even try?”
my father said just a little too loud, and my mother came rushing back into the
room, wanting to know what was going on.
    “If she makes it through the rest of the day and starts looking better,
then we’ll take her on in, first thing in the morning,” the doc said. My father
nodded hesitantly, although he still wasn’t pleased. It was about that time
that I began to stir. My mother came and sat next to me on my bed.
    “What’s the matter baby? You hurtin ’?” she
asked. I shook my head, but touched my lips with my hand.
    “You thirsty?” the doctor asked. “ Wanna try
some tea?”
    I nodded the best I could. What was going on? I was so weak that I
could hardly move. I wanted to ask these questions badly, but I couldn’t speak,
no matter how hard I tried. As my mother was walking toward me with a cup in
her hand, the doctor stopped her.
    “Little bit of Laudanum will help her rest,” he said, mixing the
substance into the cup of tea.
    With her help, I managed to get down more than half the cup, and
quickly began feeling the effects of the drug. The last thing I remember was
the doctor gathering his supplies, and my father stepping out to smoke his
pipe.

 
    Chapter 3

 
    I woke up later that night, no longer in my bed, but in the arms of
Martin, somewhere in the woods south of our farm. I was surprised to discover
that I could speak, but before I could ask how it was that I had ended up
there, Martin spoke.
    “I am sorry, but I had no choice but to take your voice. I knew it
would not have been good if the others had known it was I you were with the past
few nights,” he said, then sat on the ground next to
the base of an oak tree with me in his arms. “I must finish this.”
    “Finish what?” I sluggishly asked, puzzled at his statement.
    “I will not be able to shield your mind from the pain that I must place
upon you this night, my sweet, and for that I am truly sorry. When it is over,
the next time that you open your eyes you will understand a great deal more
about what I am speaking.”
    “I don’t think I’ll be around much longer for anything Martin, I think
I’m dying,” I softly whimpered, fully knowing my death was close
at hand .
    “ Shhh ,” he soothed, pulling me closer to his
chest.
    He slowly rocked me while we were sitting on the ground, Martin
cradling me in his arms as if we had been passionate lovers for years. He
pulled me close—so close it was as if we were one, and that’s when he looked
down into my eyes and said, “It is time.” He pushed my hair from my face,
laying me back just a little, and then leaned his face closer to mine. I closed
my eyes, waiting for him to kiss me, but what happened instead was the end of
my life as I once knew it.
    He bypassed my mouth altogether, whispering the words “Forgive me” in
my ear as he nuzzled his face against my cheek. I thought to myself, what on
God’s green earth is he doing, and why would he need my forgiveness? He kissed
my neck, his lips as soft as the petals of a freshly bloomed rose. I will never
forget what happened next. Pain worse than anything I’d ever felt coursed
through my body, as each of his teeth sank into