Moon Child (Vampire for Hire #4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

ago, after your attack, when did you first
realize that you were something, ah, something different?”
    “When did I first realize that I was a
vampire?”
    “Yes.”
    “Weeks later. But I knew something was vastly
wrong only a few days later.”
    “But did you suspect you were a vampire?”
    “No. Not at first. I just knew something was
wrong.”
    “When did you crave blood?”
    “A few days later.”
    “How many days later?”
    I thought back to my time in the hospital,
and then to my first few days at home. “Four days. But I thought I
was low on iron or something.”
    I had an image of my son drinking blood and
it was almost too much to bear. I started pacing again and hating
myself all over again.
    “Calm down, Moon Dance,” said Fang, despite
the fact that I hadn’t said anything, so pure was our mental
connection. “The way I see it, you have four days to find him a
cure.”
    I stopped pacing; he was right.
    He went on. “You have four days before your
son realizes that something is wrong, that he’s something
different.”
    “Four days,” I said. Relief flooded me. My
God, he was right. I had four days to find a cure.
    “Four days, Sam, to unlock the secret to the
medallion.”
    “I gotta go,” I said. “Love ya.”
    The words caught him by surprise, as they did
me.
    “Love ya, too,” he said after a short pause,
and clicked off.
     
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    I checked on my son.
    According to the doctor on staff—a young guy
who could not have looked more bewildered—Anthony’s fever was
dropping at an astonishing rate, even though the fever hadn’t
appeared to break; as in, my son hadn’t yet broken out in a
sweat.
    More astonishing, at least to the doctors,
were his eyes. Red, swollen eyes were a hallmark of Kawasaki
disease. Anthony’s eyes, however, had shown marked improvement. In
fact, there was no indication of redness and the swelling was
nearly gone. Same with his tongue. “Strawberry tongue” was common
with children with Kawasaki disease. His tongue was a normal,
healthy pink. Same with his hands and feet, which had earlier
developed severe erythema of the palms and soles, now appeared
normal and healthy.
    The doctor just stood there by my son’s side,
blinking and stammering and smiling. He was certain he was
witnessing a miracle. He had—just a very different kind of
miracle.
    When the doctor left to order some blood
work, I sat by my son’s side, holding his warm hands. He continued
staring at me quietly, and I was having a hard time looking him in
the eye. Did he know what I had done? I didn’t think so, but I
suspected he knew on a very deep level. The soul level, perhaps.
His outer level, the physical level, was still confused and
wondering.
    Finally, he spoke, and my son’s little voice
sounded strong. He told me he felt weird and sick to his stomach. I
remember feeling sick to my stomach, too. Years ago, I had been
attacked in the woods while jogging, an attack that had changed my
life forever.
    Why? I asked myself again. Why attack me? For
what purpose? What good was a vampire mama?
    For now, though, I comforted my son as best
as I could. I asked him if he was hungry and he shook his head
emphatically, his black locks whipping back and forth about his
forehead. I really needed to get him a haircut.
    I told him to rest. He nodded and I hugged
him tightly and did my best to ignore the guilt that gripped my
heart. Six years ago, after my attack, I had slept often throughout
those first four days. Perhaps the length of time necessary for the
body to fully assimilate the vampire blood, for the transformation
to be complete. I didn’t know.
    Anthony would be sleeping often for the next
four days, and for that I was thankful. After all, I was going to
be busy looking for answers. And since his health was now assured,
I felt free to leave his side.
    I gave him a kiss on his cooling forehead
just as he was drifting off to sleep. I got up from his side and
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