Vampire in the Woods (Merlin's Hoods Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

well. Adela had also taken on the hunting duties and did whatever she must to keep meat on the table. Truly, the girl was a marvel.
    “Mother. Mother.”
    Suddenly Angeline realized that Adela had been talking to her for some time—the tone of voice betrayed it. She only hoped she hadn’t missed anything important.
    “Yes, dear?” she asked, dazed.
    “I asked whether you wanted me to add ginger root to the stew, to ease the aches in your joints,” Adela said pointedly. “I know that we have pushed you hard today. And you will need your strength in the coming weeks.” She added this last phrase with a meaningful tilt of one eyebrow, and Angeline’s breath caught in her throat.
    Yes, it seemed that the girl had heard far more of her conversation with Merlin than she should have. Still, it was kind of her to think of her mother and plan for such eventualities.
    “Yes, dear, if you don’t think it will unsettle the flavor,” she answered, smiling. After all, if Adela was going to plan ahead, to help ease Angeline’s coming battles …
    “Darling,” Angeline said suddenly, “what if there were no coming battles? What if … what if this sort of life ended, and we began to live a normal life, as the people around us live?”
    Adela turned back to the stew, her shoulders tense, and was quiet for a long moment. Then finally: “What do you mean, Mother?”
    “I just wonder whether this is the best choice for you. For Alison. For any of us. There are other ways to live, you know. We would be able to support ourselves quite nicely here in the woods, with peace and quiet. If I were … if I were to give up the hood, and raise you two as normal girls—”
    “Then we would be nothing but normal girls,” Alison cut in snidely, suddenly entering the room. “And we are anything but. What can you be thinking of, Mother?”
    Angeline narrowed her eyes at that. She’d sought to have a conversation with the older girl, not the younger. Adela might have had some insight on this idea that had been stewing in her mind, while Alison would offer nothing but the most shallow and self-serving of answers.
    “I’m thinking of you, and your safety,” she snapped. “Neither of you is safe while I wear the Red Hood, and one of you will find even more danger if she becomes the Hood herself. As a mother, it is my job to consider such things. I had thought I had a choice to make—to choose one of you as Red Hood. But I’ve just realized today that there is a third choice. If I will but reach out and take it.”
    “And then neither of us will wear the hood, and someone else will get it!” Alison screeched, furious. “Someone else will get the glory of it all, Mother! How could you even consider such a thing? How could you think to do such a thing to us?”
    Angeline drew a deep breath, trying to control her temper at this irrational reaction, but before she could say anything, Adela was at her side, laying a hand on her arm.
    “And who would do the hood justice, Mother?” she asked quietly. “You wore the hood while each of us was in your womb. You know it better than anyone. Would you turn it over to someone else? Let go of the bond, curse the hood itself to learning a new ally? More than that, you’ve raised us to take the mantle. The hood knows us, and though it has not bonded to either of us as yet, it expects one of us to be its new partner. Would you take that away from yourself? From us? From the hood?”
    This was not something Angeline had considered, of course, and at Adela’s words she subsided. Yes, Adela was right. There was a way of doing things within the realm of the Hoods, and this was not it. The hoods themselves had feelings and powers—hadn’t this hood already indicated that it was bonding with Adela?—and she couldn’t take that away. More than that … no, she wouldn’t trust anyone else with the hood. Her conscience wouldn’t let her.
    “You’re right,” she sighed. “I just—”
    A knock