History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) by Gayla Twist Read Free Book Online Page B

everything. I wanted to set the world on fire. I wanted to cause pain. I wanted to see mortals quaking with terror so that I could delight in their agony.
    “Jessie?” My mother stared at me, her eyes wide with fear.
    I’d always loved Mother dearly and I didn’t want to frighten her. I didn’t want to cause her any more pain than she’d already suffered with a monster for a father. And it was that conviction that centered me. The plague that I was tempted to let spill from my lips abated. I felt my old self again. “Yes,” I finally managed to say.”Yes, I think I’m…” I could not even think of the words to describe how I was feeling. “Calm,” was what I ended up saying.
    “I’m so sorry.” Mother burst into tears. “I should have known my father would try something like this. I should have guarded the door.” She hung her head and released a deep sob. “I should have taken you all away years ago.”
    “I think we both know Grandfather would have never allowed that to happen,” I said, sitting up a little in my bed and stuffing a pillow behind my head and shoulders. “He would have pursued us to the ends of the earth.” Grandfather was a very controlling man. He did not like the idea of anyone disobeying him, especially his own flesh-and-blood. His word was law.
    “That’s true,” Mother said with a large sniff, her eyes glistening. She always looked beautiful, even when she cried. That was one of the things I remembered about her, even before she was turned. Her beauty had been enhanced by becoming a member of the undead, but it wasn’t created by it. “But still…” she said. “I should have tried. I should have thought of something.”
    I put my arms around her. “Please don’t cry.”
    She suddenly straightened up, pulling away from me and looking into my eyes. “You haven’t changed. Have you?” she exclaim. “I thought for a moment there…” She brushed at her tears. “But it’s not true. Is it? You’re still my wonderful boy.”
    Running my hand through my hair a couple of times, I thought things over. I didn’t feel any different. Not really. Not deep inside. There had been a moment where I’d felt like I could have let the world tumble into the darkest pit of human misery, but that moment had passed. Yes, my sense of smell was better than a bloodhounds and I could see clearly without there being a light in the room. Yes, I craved human blood. I could already feel I would need more of the red nectar before much longer. But no, I did not feel innately different. I no longer felt hate in my heart. That moment was gone. I had no desire to kill or torture mortals. If anything, I felt sad for the life I would never live. I mourned for the girl I would never marry and the children I would never cradle in my arms.
    “I think I’m the same,” I finally told my mother. “I don’t feel any cruelty in here,” I said, tapping on my chest.
    “Thank God,” Mother said, wrapping me in her arms. “Thank God.”
    I held her for a few minutes and let her cry in my arms. Then she pulled away from me and dried her eyes. “Now I only have Emily left.”
    My poor little sister. She was a dear girl. The weight of continuing the family line would fall upon her shoulders. “We must find a way to protect her,” I said. “We must get her away somehow.”
    Mother thought about it for quite some time before saying, “No, there is no way to take her away from my father.” She turned to look me in the eye, her face quite solemn. “If Emily is to be saved from the curse of eternal life, then it is Grandfather who must be removed from us.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
    Colette
     
    “You didn’t like Herschel either?” my sister exclaimed as I walked my bike along side of her. “You’re impossible.”
    It was Sunday and I had ridden out to the castle after