Redemption (Jane #4) Read Online Free

bed. I climbed in, falling back onto the pillow as
the world began to spin.
    Ibuprofen and acetaminophen,
your typical mortal pain killers, do nothing for vampires. The
pills I'd taken were experimental, a concoction Dr. McCora came up
with to combat the brutal symptoms of a vampire migraine.
Unfortunately, they had some nasty side effects. First, and most
disconcerting, was the dizziness. Without fail, those pills would
cure a headache. They would also put you on your ass for a good
hour or more. Dr. McCora kept strict control over the medication,
doling it out personally and watching over every patient until the
headache and side effects passed. She used the information she
gathered to tweak the drug, but so far, she had been unable to
remove the dizziness, or even figure out the cause.
    I lay on the cot in the dark
with an arm over my eyes, desperate to block out the meager light
that was offending my sensitive corneas. According to the doctor's
instructions, I took deep, slow breaths, hoping to calm the roiling
storm in my stomach. As I inhaled, I focused intensely on the rise
of my chest, refusing to give in to the threatening nausea. After
an eternity--really it was only about five minutes--the tempest
inside my guts faded and I was able to relax. Shortly after that,
the world stopped spinning rapidly and I no longer felt like the
room was going to tip over and send me plummeting to the ceiling.
Dr. McCora returned while I lay there with my eyes closed, still
breathing slowly and steadily.
    "How are you feeling?"
    "Less like I want to die."
    "I hate to tell you this,
Jane, but you're already dead."
    I opened one eye slightly and
appraised the doctor through the haze of eyelashes. She laughed at
my slightly raised eyebrow and patted my arm. "Stay here for a bit.
I'll send Ricky in in awhile and have him check on you, but you
should be alright after an hour or so, as long as you're not
feeling any other side effects."
    She meant as long as I wasn't
vomiting up blood or leaking it from anywhere else on my body, I
would be free to leave. That was another downside to the
experimental medication--blood loss. And not just trickles of it.
We're talking full on body purges. Luckily, she'd perfected the
drug enough that it wasn't as frequent an occurrence now, but poor
Ronin had been knocked out of commission for two weeks when she
first put the drug into use. He had to have 24-hour blood drips to
stay alive.
    I nodded and thanked Dr.
McCora for her help. She patted my arm once more and left, pulling
the door shut to block out the remaining light. I sighed and turned
to my side, drifting off to sleep. A light knock woke me and Ricky
came in. He checked my vitals, humming to himself. Then he grinned
and told me I could leave. I patted him on the head, a gesture I
knew irritated him to no end, giving him a weak grin as I left. The
light still hurt my eyes and head, but I could handle it without
wanting to barf.
    Walking slowly and taking deep
breaths, I wandered back through the maze of tunnels and found
Father Bellini's office. My knock went unanswered, though, and I
couldn't hear any movement inside. Frowning, I turned to head back
to my room and nearly trampled the frazzled priest. His hair was
disheveled and it looked like he hadn't slept since the last time I
saw him. His robes were rumpled and he had dark bags under his
eyes. The weariness on his face had been ever-present since Ado's
death, but it seemed worse than normal.
    "Jane. What a pleasant
surprise." Bellini's voice was raw and raspy, more evidence of his
lack of sleep. "Please, come in."
    "I'm sorry, Father. I don't
want to disturb you if you have other business to attend to."
    "Nonsense. We haven't had a
one-on-one chat in too long. And I've been meaning to talk to you,
anyway. There have been some, uh, developments that you should be
appraised of."
    As he spoke, his smile, while
still plastered across his face, lost its genuine touch and the
twinkle died from his