Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) by Sydney Bristow Read Free Book Online

illness hadn’t warped her mind. Still, I clung to her few lucid moments because Grams was the only person who had ever loved me. And I couldn’t deny that I was scared to face the future without her.
    The person she’d become, however, tarnished her warmth. At this moment, I didn’t know how to handle someone who was unaware that her mind had gotten out of whack.
    Grams clutched my shoulders and nestled closer to me, her nose dipping into my hair as she inhaled deeply through her nostrils. “Youth! So vibrant. So potent.” She exhaled and added in a gravelly voice, “Wasted on ignorance and immaturity.” She looked me up and down, a look of revulsion on her face. “Tell me, darling, have you rutted with a man?”
    I swung around, incredulous. Cheeks blazing bright, I shook my head, unable to form a reply.
    “Have you permitted him to grind into your core?” She narrowed her eyes, and hunched down a little, approaching me.
    I stepped back. “What? Why are you talking like that?”
    “Allowed him to pummel you with his rod of shame?” She quirked an eyebrow with curiosity and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose again. “Hmmm, yes, you have. I can sense it, almost smell it.” Her eyes snapped open. “But our princess has not granted another man such proximity again, has she? No, I think not.” She cackled with delight and turned her back on me.
    “Grams,” I said, at a loss for words. “What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this?”
    She pivoted back to me, her odd expression fixed. “Whatever do you suggest?” she asked with an inquisitive expression. “I am in fine spirits.” A malevolent smile flashed. “Rather, it is you I worry about.” A moment later, however, the severity of her appearance disappeared, and she now looked pleasant, albeit tuckered out.
    Terrified by her swift transformation, I swallowed and tried to grasp the situation. “You weren’t yourself a moment ago…and now you are!”
    She stiffened and had a faraway gaze. “Perhaps.”
    Realizing that her eccentric behavior remained, I said, “Tell me about it.”
    “There isn’t time.” Her expression fell. “You graduated and you’re twenty-one.” Her face brightened. “Congratulations!” She held out her arms and folded me into her embrace. “And Happy Birthday!” Tears slipped from her eyes. “There’s so much you don’t know, and now I don’t have enough time to explain everything.”
    Hugging Grams always left me feeling invulnerable as though her body was a shield that negative outside forces couldn’t penetrate. It felt that way now. Then her last statement echoed in my mind. “Not enough time?” I pulled away from her. “Why? Are you leaving?”
    “Yes.”
    That admission meant she’d be leaving this world, not simply going on a trip. My eyes misted with tears, and I found it hard to speak.
    Grams’s eyes turned glassy as well. She placed her hands on my shoulders. “I’m going to tell you something that you’ll find difficult to believe, but just know that I wasn’t forthright because I wanted to protect you.”
    “You mean that demons exist? And the same goes for vampires, werewolves, and ghosts? Or that I’m a witch?”
    Her mouth fell open. “How did you know that?”
    “Did you plan on telling me that I have a mother? Or an identical twin sister? And a niece?”
    She placed a trembling hand to her right temple, and kneaded it as though trying to relieve a migraine. “How did you find out? What happened?”
    “A demon attacked me, but someone intervened and snapped its neck.”
    Grams scanned me for injuries.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Who…” she stammered, finding it difficult to speak. “Who saved you?”
    “Sharp fangs? No sense of humor? Acts like a stuffy university professor? Any of this sound familiar?”
    “Darius saved you?” Grams asked, distrustful.
    “Then he crushed my cell phone in his hand.” I sighed with annoyance. “A true gentleman.”
    Grams put a