Wanton With a Vampire Read Online Free Page A

her and stepped into
the room. “Who told you about that?” she demanded. “We’re not
supposed to tell patients about that unfortunate suicide.” The
nurse was a stout woman in her sixties with a drill sergeant
demeanor.
    While she wasn’t sure what had prompted the
man to jump out the window, Trish had spent the last twenty minutes
watching his death in a continuous loop. There was no denying that
the man had jumped out the window, but Trish was pretty sure there
was more to it. The man had been terrified of something in the
room. No matter how many times she watched his death, when Trish
looked toward the corner the man was staring at, all she saw was an
empty chair. It was frustrating to see the past in one part of the
room, but not the part she wanted to see most.
    “I’m going to get the doctor, dear,” the
nurse said, shifting from drill sergeant to sweet grandmotherly
type. That’s when Trish realized she’d said some of that out
loud.
    “You might want to keep that stuff to
yourself,” Ivy said with a conspiratorial smile. “Otherwise, people
will think you’re crazy.”
    “I am crazy,” Trish said. “When I got up to
look out the window earlier, I saw the parking lot and the medical
buildings across the street. For just a moment, everything was
normal. That is, until I saw open fields and a farmer yelling at
his wife. The craziest part of this is that those things are easier
for me to see than the stuff that’s really there. Guess I still
hallucinate in 20/20 vision.”
    When she looked back at the window, the man
was gone.
    “Do you remember what happened?” Ivy
asked.
    “Someone bumped me, and the heel broke off of
my shoe. I remember getting hit by the car, and I remember dying.
Despite what some people might want to tell you, dying hurts a lot.
No angel came to release my soul early so I wouldn’t suffer.”
    “Do you remember what happened after that?”
Ivy asked. “Before you opened your eyes.”
    Trish nodded. “I saw my dad. He told me he’d
made a mistake and taken something that belonged to me. The next
thing I remember is waking up in the middle of the street.
Suddenly, things didn’t look right. Honestly, they don’t look right
most of the time now.”
    “How do they look?” Ivy asked in what Trish
realized was her psychologist voice.
    “You think I’m crazy,” Trish said with a
resigned sigh. “It could be the head injury. What am I saying? Head
injury or not, I’ve gone off the deep end.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ivy said with
a laugh. “You’ve met my sister, right? My whole family has strong
psychic abilities. Why in the world would I assume you were
crazy?”
    “I’ve never had any psychic abilities,” Trish
pointed out.
    Whatever Ivy was about to say was interrupted
when a nervous looking young doctor walked into the room. Maybe she
wasn’t used to treating crazy people. “Good morning, Ms. Williams.
I’m Doctor Hollis. How are you feeling this morning?”
    “Like I got hit by a car,” Trish said. “Other
than that, I’m okay.”
    Doctor Hollis didn’t seem amused. “I need a
few moments alone with Ms. Williams. There should be time for you
to grab a cup of coffee,” she said to Ivy.
    “I want her to stay,” Trish said firmly.
    “That’s fine,” the doctor said patiently.
“How much pain are you in?”
    Trish shrugged, which made her wince. “I’m
still in some pain, but I’ve already been told nothing is broken.
Can I go home?”
    “Have you had more hallucinations?” the
doctor asked.
    “Just after she woke up, she was a little
confused,” Ivy answered for her. “She’s been lucid since then.”
    Doctor Hollis spared Ivy a brief impatient
glance before returning her attention to Trish. “I’d like to keep
you an extra day to monitor your condition. While nothing is
broken, you’ve suffered a serious head injury, and I’m more than a
little concerned about your hallucinations.”
    “She’ll be coming home with