The Vampire Diaries: Stefan’s Diaries #3: The Craving Read Online Free PDF Page A

attention back to me. “Pleased to meet you.” Where Bridget was full of life and the plumpness of youth and Lydia was the elegant, cultivated one, Margaret had something of a practical and inquisitive good sense, an earthiness that showed in questioning blue eyes. Her hair was black and inclined to straightness.
    “We were just discussing what prompted my child’s rash actions,” Winfield said, bringing the conversation back to the previous night.
    “I don’t know why I ran off,” Bridget pouted, drawing deeply from a cup of orange juice. The older sisters gave each other looks, but their father leaned closer, worry lines marring his forehead. “I just felt that I absolutely had to leave. So I did.”
    “It was foolish and dangerous,” her mother reprimanded, shaking her napkin. “You could have died!”
    “I am glad to see you are doing so well today,” I said politely. Bridget grinned, displaying teeth that had little bits of orange pulp stuck in them.
    “Yes. About that.” Margaret spoke up, tapping her egg spoon on the side of her plate. “You say you found her covered in blood in the park?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I answered warily, taking the smallest piece of bacon on my plate. This sister sounded more astute than the others and wasn’t afraid to ask uncomfortable questions.
    “There was a lot of blood, and Bridget’s dress was torn.” Margaret pressed, “Did you find it odd that there was no actual wound?”
    “Uh,” I stammered. My mind raced. What could I say? The blood was someone else’s?
    “I thought there was a knife wound last night,” Mrs. Sutherland said, pursing her lips and thinking. “But it was just clotted blood, and wiping it down cleared it away.”
    Margaret pierced me with her eyes.
    “Maybe she was afflicted with a nosebleed . . . ?” I mumbled lamely.
    “So you’re saying that you didn’t see any attacker when you came upon my sister?” Margaret asked.
    “Oh, Meggie, you and your interrogations,” Winfield said. “It’s a miracle that Bridge is all right. Thank goodness Stefan here found her when he did.”
    “Yes. Of course. Thank goodness,” Margaret said. “And what were you doing in the park last night by yourself?” she continued smoothly.
    “Walking,” I said, same as I had answered her father the night before.
    In the bright light of morning, it struck me as odd that Winfield had asked me nothing more than my name and why I’d been in the park. In times like these, and after his daughter had just suffered a great blow, it was hardly standard to accept a stranger into one’s home. Then again, my father had offered refuge to Katherine when she’d arrived in Mystic Falls, playing the part of an orphan.
    A nagging piece of me wondered if our story could have ended differently, if the entire Salvatore brood would still be alive, if only we’d pressed Katherine for answers about her past, rather than tiptoeing around the tragedy she’d claimed had taken her parents’ lives. Of course, Katherine had Damon and me so deeply in her thrall, perhaps it would have made no difference.
    Margaret leaned forward, not politely giving up the way Winfield had the night before. “You’re not from around here, I take it?”
    “I’m from Virginia,” I answered as she opened her mouth to form the next, obvious question. In a strange way, it made me feel better to offer this family something real. Besides, soon enough I would be out of this house, out of their lives, and it wouldn’t matter what they knew about me.
    “Whereabouts?” she pressed.
    “Mystic Falls.”
    “I’ve never heard of it.”
    “It’s fairly small. Just one main street and some plantations.”
    There was some shuffling movement under the table, and I could only assume that either Bridget or Lydia was trying to give Margaret a good kick. If the blow was successful, Margaret gave no sign.
    “Are you an educated man?” she continued.
    “No, ma’am. I planned to study at the University