Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) by C.A. Kunz Read Free Book Online Page A

softly into her ear.
    “What?” Cat asked absently. Hearing the attic stairs creak slightly, she glanced at her door. “Ryan, you better get out of here, someone’s coming!” Turning back to look at him, her eyes grew wide at the sight before her. Gone were his baby blue eyes, and in their place were jet black ones. Two long fangs framed his mouth as he grinned. Cat screamed involuntarily, and the sound of the creaking stairs grew faster and louder. As her bedroom door flew open, she spun around to see her mom rushing in. Cat turned back quickly to look at Ryan, but he was gone. The window was open and her curtains were billowing in the rain-soaked wind.
    “Cat, what’s wrong? I heard you whispering up here, and then you screamed.”
    “I thought I saw something outside, but it was nothing,” she replied, as she rushed forward to shut the window, still stunned about what just happened. Rachel raised an eyebrow at her daughter.
    “But it sounded like you were talking to someone. Were they here? Tell me the truth, Cat,” Rachel demanded.
    “No, they weren’t, I swear. I just spooked myself. I’m going back to bed now,” she replied, climbing under her covers. Rachel gave Cat one last questioning look, and then closed the door behind her. Cat panicked. “Oh crap, I didn’t cover my mouth!” she said and then felt her teeth. There were no fangs. How did I make them go away? Did Mom see them? Did Ryan? Staring at her ceiling, Cat tried to take in all that just happened. Wait a minute, Ryan’s a vampire too? What the hell’s going on? She sprang out of bed and grabbed her cell phone from the top drawer of her desk and dialed Ryan’s number. The call failed to go through. She tried to text him, but it wouldn’t send. “No bars, damn storm,” she huffed. Frustrated, Cat tossed the cell phone back onto her desk. She plopped back onto her bed, and shivered, realizing that her gown and the sheet she pulled over her, were soaked. Sighing, she yanked the wet sheet off of her and tossed it into the hamper along with her night gown. She put on a pair of comfy pink and white pajamas and hopped back into bed. Cat picked up the tattered copy of Red Twilight , written by her favorite horror author, Robert Craven, and tried unsuccessfully to occupy her mind with reading.
         
    Cat dialed Ryan’s number, and in frustration, threw the phone on her bed when she was immediately sent to voicemail. So this is what it feels like to be ignored , she thought. It had been days since the incident where Ryan revealed himself to be a vampire, and Cat had called so many times she lost count. All of her texts went through, but there were no replies . Maybe this is how my friends feel. I’ve totally shut them out of my life. I can’t keep this up, they don’t deserve this. So what if I’m adopted? They can handle that. The other thing maybe not so much, but I’ll just keep that to myself, she thought while picking up her phone to call Amanda. Cat wavered, putting the phone down, and groaned at her stubbornness. Wanting to ease her frustration, she decided to go for a drive. She headed downstairs and was stopped by her dad.
    “Where are you off to, young lady?”
    “Uh, I need to get out of the house, Dad. I think I’m coming down with a case of cabin fever. Just going for a quick drive.”
    “Oh, well aren’t you worried you’ll bump into your friends while you’re out? You know the ones you’ve been ignoring for the past couple of weeks?” he asked, frowning at her. Cat didn’t respond. “Honey, you’re going to have to talk to them eventually, you know that, right?”
    She looked down at the floor and then back to Sam, her eyes filled with guilt. “I know, Dad, I will,” she sighed. “But right now I need to drive. Is that okay with you?” Sam nodded with slight disappointment on his face, and then headed toward his study to read his daily paper.
    “Cat, please be careful,” he said over his