Healer (The Healer Series) by B.N. Toler Read Free Book Online Page B

We’re not babies anymore,” I pleaded.
    She sighed heavily, and a look of defeat washed over her. As if this was something she had battled with for a long time. “I was going to. I thought maybe once you graduated I would.” She pulled the arm back on her recliner she sat in so the foot prop came up.
    “So there are vampires?” Hudson asked with shock in his voice.
    “We already established that, dumb ass,” Whit replied annoyed, elbowing him in the side.
    “Whit!” Lucy shrieked.
    “Sorry.” He shrugged.
    Lucy darted her gaze to me, as if it was my fault Whit cursed.
    “What?” I asked defensively, unsure why she was mad at me for Whit ’s offense. Lucy shook her head as Whit laughed to himself, humored at my expense.
    I connect ed to him and pulled hard, glaring at him as I did. He snapped my draw and rolled his eyes.
    “Stop it you two.” Lucy must have sensed what was happening.
    “What do they want with us?” I tried to move the conversation forward.
    Lucy wiped under her eyes.
    “Are you crying?” Hudson asked softly.
    “No.” She cleared her throat and continued with her knitting.
    “What do they want with us, Lucy?” I asked again.
    “Well, lots of things. They like our blood. It energizes them in a different way than humans.” She coughed and cleared her throat again. Her voice cracked. “We can heal ourselves, so it’s a win/win scenario for them. We can also heal any human they may feed on.”
    “That do esn’t sound so bad.” Hudson shrugged.
    Lucy leaned forward in her chair. “Oh, do you want to be fed on by a vampire?”
    “No.” Hudson looked down at the floor avoiding Lucy’s lethal stare.
    “Has a healer ever been turned?” I asked curiously.
    “Haevarzois is what they are called. It means Blood Healer.” She focused hard on her knitting. I later learned Lucy used knitting as a coping mechanism for stress, but I didn’t understand this back then.
    “ So when they are turned, they can still heal?” I questioned.
    “Yes. In fact, their ability is magnified.”
    “So why is it so horrible if a vampire turns a healer?” Whit asked. He was very young and very stupid to ask such a question.
    “Whit.” She put down her knitting and made eye contact with him. “They are dead. Life may pass through them, but the second element of life is gone.” She paused.
    I thought about this for a moment. The second element, the strongest element. “Ensouled,” I whispered.
    “Yes.” She nodded.
    “The soul?” Hudson questioned.
    “Yeah, ” I confirmed, rolling my eyes
    “You really believe that?” I scooted to the edge of my seat, completely fascinated by the thought of vampires.
    “It’s what I was taught.”
    “Have you ever met one?” Whit tapped his fingers on the side table.
    Lucy’s hands tremble d. “No, I haven’t.”
    “So if they are dead and evil, why would they still heal people?”
    Lucy exhaled loudly. “They have to drink blood to heal, Aldo. The energy only comes from the blood. They can walk in the daylight because they possess our gift, but are immortal. Vampires pay them to heal their victims, and guard them during the day. That’s not what we are meant to do.” She continued knitting, refusing to look at me. “We do God’s work, Aldo. They clean up the mess of Satan’s spawns.”
    “So Thomas is a blood healer?” Hudson questioned. Poor Hudson. He just seemed to always be four steps behind. Whit smacked Hudson in the forehead with the palm of his hand, annoyed by Hudson as well, and darted out of the room as Hudson moved to retaliate. I rolled my eyes. Of course they would act like this when our aunt just told us there are vampires.
    Lucy struggled to keep her hands from shaking.
    “Is there something else you’re not telling us, Lucy?”
    “That’s all you need to know for now, Aldo.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine!” she boomed.
    “I’m going to see him again, Lucy.” She gave no response and continued with her