Free The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) by Holly Hudspeth Page B

which I thought was strange. He never seemed to sleep.
    Then even worse luck hit us…the Black Death was spreading in our tiny village. I became very sick and quarantined myself from the rest of the household. Lucius did not seem to be frightened of catching the plague, and came to me every day to tend to me. I knew I would not make it through, I could feel my life slipping away a little bit more each day.
    I was deep in a fever sleep when he came to me and made me the offer. He was a vampire, he told me. I thought I was hallucinating. Everyone knew the folklore of the walking dead, but it was all just superstition. This man told me he could save my life by giving me eternal life. He told me that he could also save my mother, if I desired it.
    It all seemed like a dream, and what could possibly be worse at this point anyway? I was about to die, I didn’t care what happened to me. So the man began the process of changing me into a vampire. I remember him biting me, and the taste of his metallic blood in my mouth, then I just slept for what seemed like years. It was only a few hours though, and then I woke up. Totally healed, completely healthy.
    Lucius had gone from our house, but left behind a letter for me. Telling me how to transform my mother if I chose to, what to expect, and many other things including how to erase people's memories and “hide in plain sight” from mortals. He also left me several vials of blood. Lucius wasn’t the only person who had left, my sister Aileas had fled the village terrified of catching the Black Death.
    So now it was just my mother and I, she was slipping fast. The man had left some of his tonic with us, but I knew she was going to die. I could smell the illness in her as a vampire. My senses were being flooded, I could see and smell everything now, it seemed one hundred times better than my former self. And more importantly I could smell her blood and hear her heartbeat, which I found out was a downside of my new existence. I drank the vials of blood as instructed by the letter the man left, but found myself craving more.
    Whether I was going to choose to transform my mother or not made no difference. My instincts took over, and I went into a blood lust. I attacked my mother, sinking my fangs into her flesh and drinking the warm blood that contained her life force. I could feel her heartbeat and pulse fading as I drank more and more. Finally I stopped when I heard her moan softly and begin to cry. Enraged with myself, I quickly grabbed the letter Lucius left with instructions on how to transform her.
    I sat up all night waiting nervously for her to wake up. Whatever this new life was that I had been given seemed to be a curse, but there was no way I could live with murdering my mother on top of it. I was the only child who stood by her side, even in the end my sister abandoned her.
    And she did wake up, several hours later. She was a vampire as well now…so beautiful and healthy. She had no memory of me attacking her or of the last few days of her illness before I transformed her, and I kept it that way. The man had also left us some money and some deeds to property in different locations in Europe. He told us never to linger too long in one location. So we packed up and left the tiny village behind and headed towards London, England.
    And that is how my mother and I became vampires. Have I put you to sleep?”
    I realized I had been sitting there with my mouth hanging open almost the whole time he was talking in awe. I know it was a tragic story but it was so interesting and amazing to hear.
    “No way, I’m still wide awake. I don’t even know what to say. That was amazing, thank you for sharing that part of your life with me,” I said.
    “You know, you are the first person, living or otherwise, that I have shared that story with. It still feels like it was yesterday when I think back to it,” he said as he sighed.
    “Are you sorry it happened? Do you like your life now?” I