Midnight Outbreak Read Online Free Page B

organized.
    She stepped out of the bathroom already dressed, the smell of her strawberry lotion filling the bedroom. She leaned down and kissed him quickly on the lips, a small rushed peck. “I’m not gonna wait for you. I need some sleep.”
    “Okay. Get some rest, babe. I love you.”
    “I love you more.”
    The next morning Myra wouldn’t get out of bed. She had called in sick to work. She felt feverish and was holding onto her stomach but wouldn’t let Josh look.
    “It’s just something I picked up from the office. I’ll be fine. Love you; go get ready,” she said.
    So Josh did what he was told, even though he was worried sick and knew that he would be for the rest of the day.

Chapter Four

    Two Weeks Earlier
    At Miguel’s urging, Lexi took a break from tending to her father to get her daily dose of food. Her thoughts spun wildly out of control, too fast to catch and hold on to. After Samuel’s confession, Miguel went to work, his fingers flying over the keyboard trying to find some article, some story about a vampire feeding off a dead human before. For the first two hours, he had no luck and he cursed in Spanish.
    It seemed like after confessing, Samuel’s rate of decay began to intensify. Almost instantly, he shrank, and Lexi was struck with horror. He writhed and moaned in pain.
    She tried to deflect his attention, get his mind off the pain that was raging inside. She brought up stories from years ago.
    “Remember Mother would get so mad at you for bringing in the snow on your boots? She would swat you with that old dingy towel of hers and say, ‘Samuel, you have no sense in that handsome head of yours.’ Remember?” Lexi half-laughed, half-croaked as she knelt by her father, her hands encircling his.
    “Or that time Andrew stole that apple from the neighbors’ house? And they were so mad. But that was our Drew, always the most mischievous thing in the neighborhood. I wonder how he turned out. He was on his way to be quite a handsome man that was for sure.”
    This was doing no good. The memories hurt her dead heart. Her father shut his eyes and smiled, though, so she kept going.
    “Our first train ride was quite the memory, huh? Me, petrified of everything, clinging to Mother’s dress so tightly my hands ached for days. But then once it started, oh how I was mesmerized. So enamored with the clinking and clanking. It was such a splendid day. One that I will always hold dear to me no matter how old I am.”
    Miguel came in at one point and watched quietly. He slumped against the doorframe and crossed his arms, adopting a smirk that was a mixture of sadness and affection. He’d always liked hearing the old stories; the early 1900s were interesting years to him. There was a longing in Lexi’s spirit, for Miguel to come and hold her. To comfort her and tell her everything would be alright.
    Their relationship was comfortable. When she had found him, he was a maniac, so full of self-loathing that was so intense he was reckless in everything he did. He had been turned at the age of nineteen in 1980, but didn’t come to Louisiana until the late 80s. He was born and bred in Brazil, having learned English only after he was turned. That’s what happened when you had lots of time on your hands: You learn new things; you study something that you never had a chance to while you were human.
    Lexi was drawn to his exotic look at first. She knew it was shallow, but her attraction to how he looked was so strong. He was a beautiful man. Every so often they took a break from each other, not to fuck other people, although she had once or twice, but to have solace, time alone. Nobody ever realized just how much vampires preferred their alone time. And if she was truthful, his wild nature scared her. She could not imagine being that out of control. She preferred self-control, knowing exactly what was happening and when. That’s just how she operated.
    Thankfully Miguel calmed down after the first separation. But