C.O.T.V.H. (Book 2): Judgment by Dustin J. Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

clenched his fist tightly around his fork.  “Of course after Dad died we didn’t have any money coming in, and Mom was no longer able to work, so the only hope for her was the free hospital, which in reality wasn’t any hope at all.  It was a death sentence.
    “Mom went to the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium outside of Chicago and I was sent to live with my great aunt and uncle in Oklahoma.  I didn’t know them at all, had never even met them before.  Even my mother had only met them once, way back when she was a kid, but we didn’t have any other family, so that’s where I ended up.  At least for a little while anyway.”  Billy grabbed a toothpick out of clear glass container in the middle of the table and placed it in the corner of his mouth.  He offered one to Jake.
    “No, thank you.”  Jake shook his head.  “So what happened after that?”
    Billy chewed on the toothpick. “It didn’t take long for me to realize my Uncle didn’t care for me much.  Didn’t care much for anyone .  That man was meanest, most miserable person I have ever known.  He was a cotton farmer with a dusty little stretch of land outside of Redbird Oklahoma.  It was small compared to most farms in the area, no more than thirty acres.”  Billy suddenly laughed.  “Man I tell you he was the worst damn farmer!  I mean that man could not get a weed to grow in that hard packed earth!  And he took every bit of that frustration out on me.  He’d beat me senseless for no good reason at all.  One time I spilled a glass of milk and he damn near killed me with a leather strap.  Said, I was wasting his money.  My aunt just sat there and watched.  I guess she figured better me than her.”
    “Man Billy . . .” Jake said, thinking back to the beating he’d received at the hands of his grandfather’s butler, Paul.  He still had the scars across his back.  “That’s terrible.”
    Billy dismissed it with a wave of his hand.  “Ancient history son.  Ancient history.”
    "So what happened with your mom?  Did she ever recover?”
    “No,” he said sadly.  “Mom died, leaving me alone with Mister and Missus Satan.” He pulled the toothpick from his lips and tapped it on his empty plate.  “It was hell, Jake.  There’s no other word to describe it.  My own personal hell.
    “When I was barely fourteen I decided enough was enough, so I got the heck out of dodge.  I ran away and never once looked back.  I have no idea what happened to them.  Maybe a vampire chewed them up.”  He laughed.  “I shouldn’t say things like that.  I wouldn’t wish those people on even a vampire.”
    Jake nearly spit out the ice tea he’d been drinking, then joined in Billy’s laughter.  “So how did you get into hunting?”
    "I hitchhiked for a couple of years doing odd jobs wherever I could, sleeping wherever I dropped.  It went on like that for a while until one night I got busted stealing eggs out of this farmer’s coup.  The Sheriff tossed me in a cage and it wasn’t long before the locals decided to string me up.  All kinds of rumors started spreading around town. One was that I’d been caught in bed with the farmer’s daughter another that I’d killed his dog.  Pure lies of course, but it was enough to stir up the local ‘good ole boys’.  ‘Lucky’ for me an eccentric old rich fella spoke up for me and said he'd take responsibility for me.  He paid off the Sherriff, the farmer, and his trigger-happy friends and late one night snuck me out the back of the jail.
    “So at sixteen I was essentially adopted by a man by the name of Burrows.  I couldn't believe it.  A sixteen year old being taken in by a rich man is pure fairy tale nonsense.  It just doesn’t happen.  Especially to a young black man in 1950's Oklahoma!  As it turns out my luck wasn’t so good after all as I found out my first day there.  The good Mr. Burrows turned out to be a vampire.  A Maker."
    "Did he adopt you to feed on