Obsessed (Book #12 in the Vampire Journals) Read Online Free PDF Page A

helping the trapped parts of
her mind break free. She tried to speak and at last a noise came from her
throat.
    “War.”
    The two officers
stopped arguing and looked back at Maria.
    “What did she
say?” said Officer Waywood, a frown across his face.
    Officer Marlow
rushed to the bed and sat beside her.
    “Maria?” she
said. “Say that again.”
    “W…” Maria
tried. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her lucidity was returning to
her. Her mind was becoming her own again. Finally she got the word out. “War.”
    Officer Marlow
looked up at her colleague. “I think she’s saying ‘war.’”
    He nodded, a
worried expression on his face.
    Maria took
another deep breath, willing the lucid part of her to take control, to tell
them what she so desperately needed to.
    “Vampire,” she
said through her gritted teeth. “Vampire. War.”
    Officer Marlow’s
face paled.
    “Go on,” she
urged Maria.
    Maria licked her
lips. It took every ounce of effort she had to stay present.
    “Kyle,” she said
through a grimace. “Leader.”
    Officer Marlow
squeezed Maria’s hand. “Kyle will lead a vampire war?”
    Maria squeezed
back and nodded.
    “Scarlet,” she
added. “Only. Hope.”
    Officer Marlow
exhaled and sat up straighter. “Do you know where Scarlet is?”
    Maria gritted
her teeth and spoke as carefully as she could. “With Sage…the castle.”
    Suddenly, a deep
pain started inside Maria’s brain. She screamed out and clutched her head,
pulling her hair into her tight fists. Instantly she knew that the sane part of
her was being overpowered once again by whatever damage Lore had done to her.
She was slipping away.
    “Help me!” she
screamed.
    She began
pulling against her shackles and thrashing wildly.
    Panicking,
Officer Marlow stood. She looked over her shoulder at her partner.
    “Call it in,”
she commanded him.
    She tried to
calm Maria but the girl had lost it. She was screaming over and over. The door
bleeped and the psychologist rushed in.
    “What happened?”
he cried.
    “Nothing,”
Officer Marlow said, backing away. “She just flipped.”
    She paced away
as the psychologist tried to calm Maria and stood beside her partner.
    “Did you call it
in?” she said, panting from anguish.
    “No,” he replied
tersely.
    Officer Marlow
frowned at him and reached for her walkie-talkie. But Officer Waywood leaned
forward and grabbed it from her hands.
    “Don’t,” he
snapped. “The Chief doesn’t want to hear this crap. He’s got his whole squad to
look out for and you want to bother him because some crazy kid thinks there’s a
vampire war!”
    Over the sound
of Maria’s screams, Sadie Marlow spoke in a hurried, insistent voice.
    “The Chief sent
us here for a reason. Why would he want to question a so-called ‘crazy kid’ if
he didn’t think she could help? Kyle wants Scarlet Paine. That girl,” she
pointed at Maria, “is the closest we’re going to get to finding her and maybe
ending this thing. If she knows something then I’m pretty sure the Chief will
want to know.”
    Officer Waywood
shook his head.
    “Fine,” he said,
shoving the walkie-talkie back at her. “It’s your career on the line, not mine.
Let the Chief think you’re a lunatic.”
    Officer Marlow
snatched the device from her partner and clicked the button.
    “Chief? It’s
Marlow. I’m down at the institute with the witness.”
    The
walkie-talkie crackled.
    Officer Marlow
paused, weighing her words. “She says there’s going to be a vampire war. Led by
Kyle. And the only person who can stop it is Scarlet Paine.”
    She looked up at
her partner’s raised eyebrows, feeling like a fool. Then the walkie-talkie
buzzed again and the police chief’s voice rang out.
    “I’m coming.”

CHAPTER SIX
     
    Scarlet coughed
and wiped dust from her eyes. Her mind swirled as she tried to make sense of
what was happening around her. One moment the Immortalists had been advancing
on her and Sage, the next moment