Free Lengths For Love by CS Patra Page A

“Seriously, I doubt I’ll be spending nights braiding his hair and telling him every deep, dark secret that lurks in the depths of my mind.”
    “You are amusing. I swear. No one has made me laugh since John.” She said, letting out a deep sigh. “He was my husband back in the day. We had such a good relationship up until the moment I was turned. I couldn’t stand there and let him deal with a vampire wife, so I ran.”
    “Did he ever find out about you?”
    “No. I’m sure he searched long and hard, but I couldn’t face him. I let him believe I died in the woods. He’s dead now. I found out when I went back to my town to get his whereabouts. Apparently, he caught pneumonia and I died. I assume he didn’t want to see the doctors. I never really revealed myself there.”
    “I’m sorry.” I said. I felt like I had been apologizing a lot. “It must have been tough to leave him and not tell him why.”
    “It was, but it’s for the best. I’d rather him die not knowing than live with the fact that his wife had turned into this deadly creature. I don’t remember very much about my turning, but I knew I couldn’t let him suffer. He deserved better than to be burdened with such knowledge.”
    “And everyone else? Are they here for similar reasons?”
    “Some are, some aren’t. Just like humans, we’re all very different. But our goal is the same. We just want to live in this world without everyone hunting us or hating us. We can’t help what we are. But that doesn’t mean we don’t think or care.” She looked down at the floor. “I should stop now. I think I’ve said enough.”
    “But I still didn’t understand...”
    “I’ve said enough,” she repeated. “You should go back to Alexis. I’m sure she’s waiting for you upstairs.”
    I got up and started to head out. Alexis was waiting upstairs and I had to spend time with her, too. I had left her alone to talk with Vince. Now I was missing her. She was still very much human, but I was afraid. We had a long way to go before the transformation, but I missed her.
    And now, after hearing what Kristine said, I had a horrible feeling that I was not getting her back.

Chapter 9
    Try as I might, I could not stop thinking about Kristine’s story. It was slightly disturbing how she had run away from her life after being “turned”. She had left behind a husband in fear of scaring him and maybe even killing him. It kept reminding me of Alexis. Would she leave me once she got turned? Would she kill me? While I still found the whole thing to be ridiculous, a part of me was scared. What if everyone was right? What if I was in greater danger?
    Kristine was the only one who could answer my questions now. She had given me some insight to all this and I knew she would lay it to me straight. She wouldn’t loop me around the way Vince would nor would she convince me I was silly, like Alexis. It might have annoyed her, but I needed to know. I had to hear it from someone who lived in this situation.
    I knocked on the door, which made her look up. For some reason, she seemed relieved by my presence. “Hey there. Do you have a minute?”
    “Mr. Augustin isn’t here,” she began.
    “I know. It’s you I want to talk to,” I explained. “I’ve been just waiting for a moment where Vince left and Alex fell asleep so we could continue our conversation. So much is going through my head that I don’t know where to begin. I know I haven’t been positive about this place, but I need to know more. I always get this weird feeling that Vince and his family are hiding something.”
    She snorted as she closed her drawer and headed to the refrigerator in her room. It was the first time I noticed it. “Just a feeling? You mean you haven’t seen him?”
    “Seen him?”
    Kristine opened the fridge and began looking through it. Letting out a sigh, she got what she wanted and closed the door. “Then I guess you haven’t seen how upset Vincent can be. Sure, he’s nice to