Free Discovery of Death by A P Fuchs

hand.
    As gently as he could, he put the tip of the knife to his wife’s chest, holding it upright above her skin.
    “ May God have mercy on the lives we led. May you find peace in His presence, and may He also explain to you why He let these creatures of Hell take the lives of so many, especially yours.”
    Tears blurring his vision, he raised the knife . . . and brought it down.
     
     
    16
     
    R ose wasn’t far from home, and good thing, too. She was getting cold and her legs were sore from walking.
    But it did you good, the walk, she thought. Got some of the frustration out. Took your mind off things. Fresh air does wonders and all that. Going to rub it into Parker whenever I see him.
    She turned a corner and headed down her street, looking forward to getting into bed for a good night’s sleep.
     
    ♦ ♦ ♦
     
    Zach and his mother stood on top of the Richardson Building, looking out over the city. The streetlights below created a golden grid dotted with the white and red lights of cars.
    “ I’m proud of you, son,” Mira said. “How do you feel?”
    He heard his mother’s voice, but was too lost in the sights below to offer a reply.
    “ Zach?”
    He turned to her. “Changed. Complete. It’s like before I was on the ledge of this building, learning what I am and who we are. Once I fed, it’s like I dove off the ledge and plunged down to the city below to be among the people, really be encompassed by them.”
    She nodded.
    “ Do you understand?”
    “ I do. A vampire’s first feed is the final step in their transformation. Though you still have much to learn about your heritage, you are now truly one of us. There’s no going back.”
    “ I don’t want to. I don’t remember what it was like, so I’m not missing anything, and based on what you’ve taught me, why would I want to be something less than I am now?”
    She smiled. “When you drank, what did you feel?”
    “ Pure pleasure, Mother. My whole body shook with it.”
    “ Good.”
    “ I felt my strength grow. I feel like I can do anything.”
    “ You can.”
    “ My thoughts are so clear, no longer fuzzy images and muted voices. I can see everything I want and need so clearly now.”
    “ As it should be.”
    “ And—” Zach dropped to his knees as his equilibrium disappeared. Darkness covered his vision and he sensed the transition of the images in his mind actually appearing before him.
    He saw the woman on the tree, bound and blindfolded. A bright white flash snatched the image away, fading into the same woman walking the streets of Winnipeg in her long coat, moving through the forest by the river. Another bright flash and the woman was in an armory of some kind, gathering weapons and dressing herself. Another flash and the woman kissed a man.
    There was a white flash between each image, Zach following the woman back through moments of her life before her death. The woman was kissing a man in a kitchen, in a bed. She walked the hallway of a house that Zach thought was familiar. A darkened room and a young girl lying in bed, her head turned away from the door. Putting in a sign outside a house reading sold ; arguing in a kitchen with a beautiful young woman that reminded Zach of flowers; the same three people sitting around a dinner table, eating. Another flash and they were around the dinner table again, but someone else was with them.
    A violent tingle swept through Zach’s body when he recognized the other person: it was himself.
     
    ♦ ♦ ♦
     
    Rose entered her house, flicked on the light in the landing, took off her shoes and went to the kitchen.
    “ Hello?” she called into the dark house.
    No reply.
    She checked the kitchen table and saw her note, and immediately recognized her father’s handwriting beneath her own.
     
    Had to run back to the office. Should be back soon.
     
    Sorry.
     
    Dad
     
    “ Well, whatever,” she said, used to her parents’ haphazard schedule. What about Mom? And it’s really late,