The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls Read Online Free PDF Page A

agree to that?"
    "My parents are dead." Michael replied,
quietly.
    "I see." He answered and sat forward,
folding his hands on the table. "Did you believe that going off to
war would help ease your loss? Maybe, lessen the need for revenge
against something?"
    "I thought that if I was fighting for a
cause, then I wouldn't be quite so alone." Michael replied, not
looking at him. "But, I found out that I wasn't all that fond of
killing someone that I didn't know."
    "So, you believe that if you knew them,
it would make it better, easier to kill them?" He
questioned.
    Michael shook his head. "No." He
paused, trying to think of a good reason, but he could think of
nothing and looked at Charles, with anger on his face. "I'm just a
coward, plain and simple. I ran away, leaving everyone that I knew
to die and the problem is I never want to go back."
    "You're not a coward, you're just
thinking about your future. This war will end, just like every
other war, and people will be dead on both sides, and not all that
much will have been accomplished, except families will have lost
children, husbands, and fathers. Don't be ashamed, Boy, I would
have done the same thing, and have, many times before." Charles
replied. Michael glanced back at his dish, knife in one hand, fork
in the other, and looked back at him.
    "How many wars have you been in?"
Michael asked. Charles, seeing to realize that he slipped on his
choice of words, shrugged it off.
    "A story for another time, perhaps.
Finish your dinner, Boy, and then come out onto the porch." Charles
got up from the table and left Michael to sit there and finish the
large meal in front of him.
     
    His eyes opened slowly, as daylight
began to pour into the room. Michael ran his hands over his eyes
and down his face, and then he stretched and threw the covers off
from himself. He stood, and then grabbed a pair of jeans, slipped
them on and headed downstairs for brunch.
    Ashley sat at the table, her small son
ran around in the grass just beyond the patio, where she was
reading a newspaper. Michael's presence didn't slip passed her as
she looked up just as he stepped out. They were connected by blood,
Michael having made Ashley a vampire when she lay dying of wounds
that had been inflicted on her during a run in with Victor and her
late husband. She looked at him, at his worried face, as he sat
down at the table across from her.
    "You haven't heard from them, have
you?" Ash, as they called her, asked him, softly.
    "No." He said, quietly, and took a roll
from the plate in front of him. "I probably won't until tonight at
the very least."
    "I've never seen you quite this
distracted before." Ash whispered as she reached across the table
and took his hand. "What's on your mind?"
    "The last time I saw them." He smiled
softly, and then looked up at her. "It was such a long time ago,
what if they've forgotten?"
    "They are part of you, Mike; they're
not going to forget you, ever." She smiled at him. "You said that
they were protecting each other; so, believe in your heart that
they will come here, to protect you."
    "I don't want them to protect me, Ash.
I want to protect them. I want them to see who they're connected
too, but what if it turns out that they hate each
other?"
    "What happened between you and Justin,
Mike, happened a long time ago. He's probably already forgotten it,
why can't you?" She questioned. He forgot that she was connected to
him, that she could see what he felt, what he thought, if he let
her and right then he was thinking about the last time that he and
Justin were together.
     
    "I don't believe you!" Justin said as
he stormed into Michael's room. The two of them looked at each
other. Michael could see the fire in his blood brother's eyes.
Michael was eighteen then, a new vampire, along with Justin and
Cristian, and the three of them had made a pact and became blood
brothers shortly after Charles had taken Michael in.
    "Excuse me?" Michael said and stood up
from his chair. He walked over