The Vampire's Redemption, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #3) Read Free

he would have hesitated. When her family discovered she’d married a Protestant boy with Pawnee roots, they disowned her. On the inside, Selena had been devastated by the rejection. But what was done was done. And it wasn’t long before she discovered she was pregnant. Robert was thrilled, of course.
    Selena found out about me four years after Katie was born. In her calculating, self-serving way, she convinced me that making her into a vampire would be the only way she might escape the life that she claimed had destroyed her ability to be a loving mother. By then, Robert and I had become friends and I knew what agony awaited him if he continued to be married to Selena. She would resort to anything in order to abandon the detestable existence her life had become since she’d married Robert. She was also quite capable of harming the girls and Robert. That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
    So I did give her the gift of my blood. As soon as her powers of speed and strength made themselves apparent, she disappeared. I didn’t really care where she went, as long as it was far enough away from Robert and the girls to keep them from harm. I never did regret that decision. Not even when I saw how desperately forlorn my human friend became once he realized she had left.
    Shaking my head, I climbed up the steps at the front of the house and knocked lightly on the wooden frame of the screen door. I had to stop thinking about the past. It certainly did me no favors to recall all that had brought us to that point.
    I smelled the familiar homey essence of Nelly before she unlocked the door and invited me in. She’d worked for the family for decades and had essentially been the mother that both girls lacked once Selena had left. I smiled and took another short breath of her scent. Another of my gifts, that relentless sense of smell.
    “You can go on in, Michael. Sarah’s in the library.” She touched my arm briefly when I turned away. “How is Katie?”
    “She’s doing quite well. Victoria is with her now. The transformation was completely pain free.”
    Relief spread across her weathered face. “Thank goodness. I was so worried. When do you think it will be safe to see her?”
    “A few days at least. She needs time.”
    “Of course.” She patted me gently on the shoulder and headed back upstairs towards her room.
    I watched her for a moment, perplexed by the capacity of some humans to maintain such a fierce loyalty to each other. Her relationship with Katie would never be the same. But perhaps it didn’t matter. Nelly was an entirely giving type of person. Her earlier jealousy and anger towards Selena had mellowed. The years she’d spent with the girls had been a great gift to her, and it was likely that nothing would change the love she felt for either Sarah or Katie.
    Turning from the staircase, I moved towards the library.

 
    CHAPTER TWO – Sarah
    I was reading in the window seat of the library, feeling like a somewhat normal person again. I had put on my favorite pair of flannel pajamas, pulled my hair back into a ponytail and wandered downstairs. Nelly was finishing up a few things in the kitchen. The stranger staying in one of the guest rooms had already turned out his light. I was glad I wouldn’t have to see him that evening. Jackson Bennett could wait. I just wanted to lose myself in something totally normal and feel like a real person again.
    I was deep into the first half of Gone With the Wind when a familiar deep voice startled me.
    “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
    Only one light was on in the study, and its muted golden tones contrasted sharply with the shape of Michael’s body in the dimness. It was too dark to determine the expression on his face. I put the book face down on top of the chenille throw in my lap and leaned back against the cushions behind me.
    “Would it matter much if I said you were?”
    He remained where he was. Only his low voice moved across the room, like a soft tendril