Vampires of the Sun by Kathyn J. Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

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                  The sun felt amazing against Norah’s skin, warming and chasing away all of the bad feelings that seemed to be welling up inside of her. Relaxing felt like just what she needed.
                  Getting up on her knees, she goaded Maxine into playing a round of tug of war. It was too easy to pull the little rope toy away from Maxine and have her go fetch it and come back. She didn’t even mind Maxine nipping at her in anger for not being able to keep it in her mouth.
                  Hunger was creeping up on Norah the longer they stayed and she thought about a lovely outdoor café she knew of where she could take Maxine. Packing up her stuff, a black spot on the horizon caught her attention. Behind one of the heftier trees in the park, she noticed a guy kneeling down, facing her direction. She couldn’t be sure but it looked like he had a camera. Unnerved, Norah packed up her stuff more quickly. The man’s gaze was masked by sunglasses but it looked like he was following her with his eyes all the same. Once she’d reached her car, Norah sped off. With the events of the last evening and the strange man in the distance, Norah thought she might have a stalker.
                  An empty ring tone greeted her ear as she tried to dial her father’s number. For the first time that she could remember, Norah wanted his opinion on whether or not she was being overly paranoid. She didn’t actually expect that he would pick up but the feeling of being let down was all too real when he didn’t. Norah steeled her nerves and hoped that Jack would call her instead since she gave him her number.
     
     
                  “Tell me about your weekend, Norah. I’d like to know how you put yourself in active situations involving other people. Don’t spare any details.” Mauve’s soothing voice reached out as Norah opened her eyes and focused on the carpet. She was determined to do a bit of sleuthing on her own.
                  “Can you tell me something first? I’ve had something on my mind since our last visit. You know my anxiety meds? I’m appreciative that I don’t have to go far in order to get them filled as it’s done in-office but I was trying to do some research on side-effects this weekend. I wanted to know what a side-effect might be if I decided I wanted to have an alcoholic beverage. If I spend the summer with my parents in Paris, since I’ll be of age while I’m there to have a glass or two of wine and I do continue to take the meds, I don’t want to worry about any adverse effects.”  She’d thought about how to bring up the meds since Saturday and thought she’d come up with a pretty convincing lie if she had to judge herself.
                  “If you spend the summer with your parents, there won’t be any issues if you have a bit of wine. But all alcohol should be drunk in moderation. I don’t think it would be a good idea to go out and have an entire bottle of wine. I wouldn’t advise you to drink before then though. Keep your body clean and healthy. A healthy body means a healthier mind.” The tone of Mauve’s voice was reprimanding although the words were kind and she had this way about her when she spoke that was eternally matronly.
                  “What’s in the pills anyway? What brand are they?” Norah questioned, not wanting to drop the conversation.
                  “I wonder what your cause of concern is all of a sudden. You never cared to know about them before.” The flow of the conversation was deflected back to Norah.
                  “Our conversation last week really got me to thinking. about all sorts of things really. Mostly I thought about what you said about being an adult. You wanted me to think about how I should make a decision about how my life will progress. A thought struck me that I don’t really think about things very in