Free The Way of Escape by Kristen Reed

been spooned before.”
    Augustus smiled at my answer as I sat up, prompting him to do the same.
    “You seem awfully contemplative for someone who just woke up,” he observed. “What is on your mind this early?”
    “Everything about my life will be different after I become a vampire,” I replied. “I’m going to have to find a new job, stop going to daytime church services, and find somewhere new to live before people start noticing that I’m not aging. Since my church streams all of its sermons online and has a few evening services, that snag is manageable, but I don’t know how I’ll find a new job as quickly as I’ll need to.”
    “That’s what The Vampire League is for. Once we’re off this island, I can help you begin your life by personally setting you up with everything you need as a new vampire.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes. You’re helping me accomplish a major victory, so it’s the least that I can do. As far as relocating, I will be able to help with that as well. We have very talented employees who can forge identification, credentials, references, and everything vampires need to seamlessly change their identities in this exhaustingly connected day and age.”
    “That’s impressive.”
    “As the times change, so do the league’s duties. The best way for us to protect our kind is to make sure no one knows that we exist.”
    “Since you haven’t been exposed yet, does that mean vampires don’t attack humans regularly?”
    “That depends on your definition of attack,” Augustus began. “Some vampires get their blood from a few choice humans and others drink from strangers. Every now and then, a vampire gets carried away during a feeding and calls in The Vampire League’s cleaning crew to help cover his tracks. Most vampires have the self-control necessary to feed without killing and to ensure that no one discovers their nature. That usually means altering someone’s memories.”
    “What about bite marks?”
    “A vampire’s bite heals immediately after feeding if the person bitten is still alive. Otherwise, vampires try to make the death look like something other than a vampire feeding.”
    “Is that what The Vampire League does when someone calls in?”
    “That’s not our preferred method. Forensic science has made a staggering amount of progress in the last century. Therefore, it’s safer to simply destroy the body,” he answered. “We’ve done some DNA testing on our own kind and found that there are enough genetic differences between humans and vampires to cause some alarm if someone working in forensics found a vampire’s DNA on a victim. Our preferred method of disposal is cremation.”
    My stomach turned at the thought of The Vampire League swooping in and making dead bodies disappear. I quickly reminded myself that the bodies were just that — bodies. While the victims’ souls had gone to their eternal destinations and their bodies were nothing more than decaying husks, my heart still ached for their loved ones. Not having closure could no doubt make the grieving process more difficult than it normally would have been.
    “So these people basically wind up being missing persons,” I inferred.
    “Yes, but the cleaning crew sometimes leaves behind enough evidence for the authorities to deduce that the victim has been killed and not just kidnapped.”
    I didn’t want to ask what kind of evidence they left behind, so I opted for a less nausea-inducing topic.
    “Have any vampires ever been arrested?”
    “They have been questioned but never arrested. Being able to manipulate others definitely has its advantages.”
    “I bet,” I said, crossing my arms.
    “You don’t approve of our methods, do you?”
    “No, but I get why you have them. You want to protect yourselves.”
    “Our actions protect humans as well. Could you imagine the unrest and paranoia that would occur if vampires were exposed? There would be men and women with torches and stakes accusing every Wiccan,