What Kills Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

at
anything for too long without focusing intensely on the object. It
made me dizzy.
    “My vision is a little messed up,” I
said.
    “That’s normal,” Lettie said. “Aren’t
you hungry? Aren’t you thirsty?”
    “Maybe a little…”
    “Lettie, that’s enough,” Uther
admonished her. He swept her from the room and closed the door in
her disappointed face.
    “I’m sorry, Axelia,” Uther said,
returning to my side. “Lettie was very worried about you when we
found you. She just wants to make sure that you are doing all
right.”
    “I’m fine. But I should go,” I said,
my voice breaking. “I want to go home.”
    “I know, my child,” he said, resting
his hand on my forehead. It was neither warm nor cold, and offered
little comfort. He softened his tone. “I’m sorry, but you cannot go
home.”
    I sighed. “Okay, but when can I
go?”
    “You can never go home.”
    “What?” Dread pooled and clotted in my
chest. “Why can’t I go home?” I whispered.
    “Axelia,” Uther said. “When you fell
into the well, you died.”
     
     

Chapter
6
     
    What frightened me most was how he
spoke. He had said it with such sadness, with such certainty. It
was something that he truly believed.
    “What do you mean?” I said. I propped
myself up on my elbows. “I’m fine.”
    “When you fell into the well, you
died,” he repeated.
    “Uther, I’m not dead. I’m right here,
talking to you.”
    “You died. Your heart stopped
beating.”
    “What are you talking about?” I said,
sitting up so that we were closer, so that he could see me more
clearly. “Look at me.”
    He placed his own hand on his chest
and shook his head. “Your heart beats no longer,” he
said.
    I pressed my palm into my ribcage. I
felt nothing. I placed two fingers against my neck. I could not
find a pulse.
    “That’s not possible,” I mumbled. I
froze, my hands under my chin, waiting for the small beat against
my skin that would drive away the onrushing panic.
    “I’m not dead,” I told
Uther.
    He took my hand, enveloping it in
his.“Lettie and I are also dead,” he said.
    Oh God. I shook my head. “What are you saying? That we’re
ghosts?”
    “We’re not ghosts. We are
vampires.”
    “No.”
    I snatched my hands back as if his
touch burned, and I rolled away from him. I summoned my strength to
run for the door. My legs were like tree trunks and with each step,
my roots were burrowing into the floor, holding me down. Uther did
not try to stop me. He didn’t have to because Lettie was standing
in the door. I screamed and reeled away.
    “Stay away from me,” I said. I backed
away but I was cornered. I bumped against the bookcase, sending a
few books tumbling from the top shelves. The sound of them striking
the ground was like thunder.
    “Please,” I said. “You have to let me
go.”
    They spoke at the same
time.
    “We’re not holding you captive,”
Lettie said.
    “I know this is difficult to
comprehend,” Uther said.
    “We’re not going to hurt you,” Lettie
said. “We just want to help you.” She walked into the room on her
tiptoes.
    “Don’t come any closer.”
    “Shh. Calm down,” Lettie
said.
    “Who are you?” I said.
    Uther stood up. “I am the vampire
Cleric Uther,” he said. “Lettie is my page.”
    These people are
sick. Then I remembered Paolo’s
plan. “I’m going to drink your blood until
your heart stops beating.”
    “Okay,” I said.
    Then I ran for the door. But my body
was so heavy.
    “Oh no, you don’t,” Lettie said. She
wrapped her arms around my waist, raising me off my feet. I
screamed but I was too tired to struggle. She dropped me in front
of the bed and my legs crumpled beneath me. I used my arms to scoot
away from her. She shook her head.
    “Please, don’t kill me,” I
said.
    “We’re not going to harm you, Axelia,”
Uther said. “I just want to understand you, and have you understand
us. I protect this church. My descendants have guarded this sanctum
for