Revisited (Redemption Series) Read Free

then.
     
    Lily recapped her pen and closed the journal. After she placed them on the nightstand, she retrieved her mug. The combination of human and animal blood, along with what she swore to be nutmeg, settled in her stomach. Her eyes drifted closed and she welcomed any thoughts of her uncertain future. 

    Ryan wandered into the living room where Sam and Abe were seated.
    “How is she this morning?” Sam asked.
    “Still a bit weak, but better I think.” Ryan sank into the couch with a sigh.
    “I’m sure she’ll perk up soon.” Abe sipped his coffee.
    “I don’t have much experience to go by, but she seems . . . off .” Ryan rubbed his hands across his stubble-covered cheeks.
    Abe snorted, which caused Ryan and Sam to turn and glare at him. “What? It’s not as if she’s always a ray of sunshine. She gets moody when she’s stressed.”
    Ryan responded with a nod. The memory of the whirlwind courtship they’d experienced in the weeks before their wedding, and the franticly beautiful mess Lily had become, filled his mind. He thought that now, since Lily was a vampire, stress would be the last thing to plague his wife. Still, he had so many questions, and to move forward he knew he would need answers. “I don’t know if it’s a Lily mood, or a vampire mood. I don’t know much about her life. Would you two mind filling in some of the blanks?” 
    Sam shifted in his chair to rid himself of the slight unease the conversation made him feel. “What do you want to know?”
    Ryan took a deep breath, and hundreds of questions swirled in his mind. He picked through a few before narrowing it down to the most important ones. “First off, I’d like to know about Manchester. What is your agenda and what does it have to do with Lily?” He directed the question to Sam, but saw that Abe was deep in thought
    Sam cleared his throat and sent a look to Abe, letting him know he would handle Ryan’s inquisition. “I should start by explaining what The Manchester Group is.” 
    Ryan nodded. 
    “Like you, the members of the group are a physical presence of God on earth. Abe and I both have transgressions in our pasts we’re determined to find redemption for. Sometimes even the mightiest of us fall, and that’s where Manchester steps in. We work together fighting the world’s evils to redeem ourselves and serve God’s will.”
    “And Lily? How does a vampire fit in with God’s will?” Ryan asked.
    Abe waved his arm in front of him when Sam turned to him. “This is your show. I’m just here for the coffee.” He sipped from his mug with a smirk on his lips.
    “Even I don’t know how vampires came to be, but God has always held them in the same regard as anyone else. They are His children just as much as the rest of us. His belief is evil does not come from what you are, but who you are.” Sam smiled and shook his head as the next thought came to him. “You know, Martin and Lily were the first vampires I had ever met. I knew they existed, of course, but had never come face-to-face with one. They were a minority in the community of vampires as they mainly drank animal blood. They both had their humanity very much intact, and the thought of harming a human by drinking the blood from their veins, willing participant or not, just wasn’t . . . appetizing.”
    Ryan and Abe both laughed softly at Sam’s word choice before he went on.
    “Martin had been very religious while he was human, and had a strong faith that was not marred when he was changed into a vampire. I met them at a little chapel, if you can believe it. I went to meet with Peter when I was introduced to two of the newest members of The Manchester Group. I worked with both of them for many years. After Martin died, I took Lily under my wing, and we worked side by side in Boston. She’s always been like a daughter to me, not a vampire, just Lily.”
    “So, nothing nefarious then?” Ryan asked.
    Sam smiled. “No. She is a magnificent woman