Winter's Touch (Immortal Touch Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and lost track of time.”
    “What are you working on?”
    “Just getting an early start on my psych paper.”
    Abby leaned over her shoulder and read the title on the monitor screen. “ Primary Parasomnias as the Result of Dissociative Amnesia. Heavy.”
    “Yeah, well, Professor Baumgartner doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being lenient when it comes to term papers.”
    “What’s somnambulism?”
    “Just a fancy word for sleepwalking. You’re a nurse - you’re telling me you didn’t know that?”
    “ Hm. Do you remember the time you walked in your sleep?”
    “Only vaguely. What was I, like eight or nine?”
    “ Ten. You were all the way down the street before you woke up and started screaming bloody murder. Almost gave poor Mrs. Pendergrast a heart attack. She was sure you were being abducted.”
    “Really? I don’t remember screaming.”
    “Believe me, you did. Woke just about the whole neighborhood. Strange that you only ever did it that one time. After that, I was afraid for the longest time that you’d sleepwalk yourself into traffic or out a second-story window. I actually thought about nailing your bedroom window shut.”
    “You did?”
    “Mm-hm. I always wondered if maybe it had something to do with those nightmares you used to have. You don’t ever have them anymore, do you?”
    “No,” Eva lied. It was pointless to worry her mother by confessing that the dreams had persisted throughout the years, arriving to torment her once a month as regularly as menstrual cramps. And about as welcome. She’d come to accept them as an inevitability. One thing the loss of her father had taught her - there were some things in this world you just couldn’t change no matter how hard you tried. Accept the bruises and get on with life.
    “ You never did it again, though,” her mother continued. “Isn’t that weird? Just one of those random unexplainable childhood things, I guess. Well, I’ll go warm up a veggie to go with the chicken. What sounds better, peas or green beans?”
    “Mom, you know I hate green beans.”
    Abby gave her an exasperated look. “Maybe you should do your term paper on kids who grow up with the preconceived notion that they hate a vegetable they never even tried.”
    “I don’t have to taste them to know they’re gross. They smell gross.”
    “So does Rio sometimes, but you love him.”
    “ True. Oh, I almost forgot. I need to take my car in to the dealership tomorrow.”
    “Why, what’s it doing ?”
    “It’s making this squealing noise and smells funny, like burning rubber.” Eva pinched the bridge of her nose. Her head ached from staring at the screen for so long. She’d taken advantage of the afternoon off from work to get a head start on her research. “Maybe one of the belts is about to break or something. I don’t know - with my luck it’ll be something that isn’t covered under the warranty. Can you maybe follow me over there?”
    “ Sure, if you can be ready to leave by eight. Now why don’t you shut down that computer and come help me with dinner? I’m ravenous.”
    ~ *~*~
    He was ravenous.
    C ould it really be time again already? The days, months, years...they flew by so quickly. He’d been in Oregon for two years now, and preferred it to any of the previous places he’d lived. It was a shame he couldn’t stay in one town for any length of time. Too many unexplained deaths in one area coupled with one young man who never aged could only equal suspicion. And though twelve random deaths a year didn’t sound like much, when one was constantly forced to invent creative solutions for covering up the murders, the whole situation could become somewhat overwhelming. In the past year he’d taken to feeding primarily from the elderly, as their abrupt departures from this world were unlikely to be questioned. This temporary solution served to make things less complicated. The only downside was that aged blood was just so damned unpalatable.
    Still, he