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Chapter 91
Edwina had been back inside the vampire caverns for just a short while when Stefan approached her.
“I trust you enjoyed your outing,” he said, moving close in front of her. There was a hint of controlled anger in his voice.
Edwina took a half step backwards, startled by his comment and his tone. What was he saying? How much did he know? She decided that if he knew she had been with Leesa, his anger would have been far more furious. It had to be something else.
“What do you mean?” she asked, buying time.
“Don’t act the innocent with me. You have taken human blood. I see it in your eyes, and I can smell it.”
“So what?” Edwina straightened her posture and pushed her shoulders back. She had to show him she would not be cowed. “I was careful, and I disposed of the body where it will never be found. No one will ever connect his disappearance to our kind. He is just another missing human.”<
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 92
She saw a tiny hint of surprise in Dr. Clerval’s eyes, but that was the extent of his reaction to her claim. She could only imagine how skeptically any of her science professors would have reacted to such a claim.“What do you mean by ‘came true?’” he asked.She described the dreams, and then told him about the news stories and the YouTube video. “I remember hearing about that thing in Higganum,” Dr. Clerval said. “I didn’t pay too much attention to it—I just figured it was a prank of some sort, probably teenagers with too much time on their hands. Your dream certainly casts a different light on it, though.”“I might have chalked it up to coincidence,” Leesa said, “except for that tri-cornered hat. And then I had the dream about the dead girl at the window.”Dr. Clerval took another long pull from his pipe and blew the smoke out through pursed lips.“Pre
Leesa's Advent Chapter 93
Sixteen-year-old Nicky Kappes and fifteen-year-old Teri Smith would have preferred to be almost anywhere on this frigid Friday night instead of where they were right now—huddled in down sleeping bags inside a canvas tent in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. The campground was officially closed for the winter, but that hadn’t stopped their fathers. For the past three years, the divorced dads had brought their kids here for a weekend of what they called “uninterrupted bonding time.” That meant no cell phones, no computers, no nothing—not even other people, except for their pesky little brothers, who hardly counted. Their fathers had their cell phones for emergencies, and Nicky’s dad always brought his rifle. Why, the girls didn’t know, since nothing was in season to hunt, and the Berkshires were not exactly known for harboring dangerous predators. The few bears that still roamed the mountains were all hibernating comfortably in their dens. It could have been wo
Leesa's Advent Chapter 94
Leesa paced in small circles around her room, unsure what to do with herself now that she was awake. Her friends probably weren’t even home from their dates yet. If they were, their boyfriends would still be with them and wouldn’t be too thrilled if she suddenly showed up at their door. Some of the girls on her floor were still up—she could hear music and voices down the hall—but she didn’t really feel like hanging out with anyone but her close friends.She thought about using the time to do some studying, but the way she felt right now she knew she wouldn’t retain anything she read. There was always the TV, if she could find something that wasn’t scary, stupid or boring—not always the easiest thing this late on a Friday night.On a whim, she sat down at her desk and switched on her laptop. When it booted up, she went right to the Google search page. She stared at the screen for a few moments, trying to decide exactly how
Leesa's Advent Chapter 95
Leesa and her perfect guy lay side by side again, this time on a dark gray cotton blanket they had spread out in the middle of Brennan Field, a wide, grassy meadow a short distance from the Weston campus. They lay on their backs, Leesa’s head cushioned by Rave’s arm, looking up at a bright blue sky striped with wispy cirrus clouds. Dral and Bain sat comfortably on the ground on either side of them, twenty feet from the blanket. No one expected any trouble with vampires on a bright sunny day like this, but the two volkaanes maintained their vigilance nonetheless. Leesa had seldom felt so happy and relaxed. She wanted to try to mimic last night’s dream as closely as possible, to extend the wonderful feelings it had brought her, and Rave had readily agreed. Of course, there were no meadows filled with flowers within a thousand miles this time of year, so the thin green and brown grass of Brennan Field had to do. That was okay with her, though. An outing like this would normally
Leesa's Advent Chapter 96
“It’s another zombie nightmare, but this one is different from the first two. This dream was much more frightening and seemed so much more real. I swear, I could almost smell one of the zombies. In this one, they actually attack a couple of families camping in the woods. The fathers try to fight them off to save their kids, but I don’t know if they survive or not. The dream ended before I could see.” Rave shifted around so he was sitting next to Leesa. He put his arm around her back. “That does sound scary. I hope you’re not going to tell me you saw this one on the news, too.” “No… not yet, anyhow. I just had it last night. I was so upset when I woke up I couldn’t get back to sleep. That’s when I really started wishing you were here.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Maybe that’s what you felt.” “Perhaps,” Rave said. “I wonder why it hasn’t happened more often, though.” He grinned, wanting to lighten the mood. “Maybe most of the time you don’t mi
Leesa's Advent Chapter 97
Only thirty miles to the south, the man Leesa was hoping would find her again exited a grimy bus at the edge of the Yale University campus. Neither Leesa nor he knew how close to each other they actually were, but until Dominic found her, the distance did not really matter.With no clues to guide him about what college Leesa might be attending, Dominic had been systematically working his way up the Connecticut coast. Yale was the sixth school he had visited in the last five days. Searches of campuses in Stamford, Fairfield and Bridgeport had all come up empty. The New Haven area contained six different colleges he would have to check, so he expected to be here five or six days, at least. Then he would have to decide whether to head north toward Hartford and its collection of colleges, or to continue east along the coast. He thought he would probably go north, since there were more schools in that direction, but he didn’t have to make that decision until
Leesa's Advent Chapter 98
Sunday morning, Leesa slept late. Her sleep had been peaceful and relaxed, the result she guessed, of leftover feelings of contentment from Rave’s visit. He had departed late last night, but the chance to spend an entire day with him had been wonderful.She got out of bed and slipped into a comfortable pair of sweats. Turning on her stereo, she fixed herself a breakfast of bran flakes and raisins and a big mug of hot chocolate. Part way into her meal, Semisonic’s “Closing Time” started up on the stereo. She stopped chewing and listened to her favorite line about new beginnings. She had experienced so many new beginnings in the last few months and most of them had been great. There was Rave, of course, but also Cali, and college, and Aunt Janet, Uncle Roger and Max. Some of the beginnings were not so good, like her troublesome dreams, but maybe even they would turn out to be positive eventually. There had been a number of “ends,” too. Good o
Leesa's Advent Chapter 99
“I hope that stops one of these days soon, though.”Dr. Clerval chuckled. “I don’t blame you,” he said. “So, what do you have for me this time? Another dream? More objects moving about? Or are we perhaps back to vampires again?”Leesa wasn’t sure how to reply. “I did have another dream—more zombies and much scarier this time. But that’s not why I’m here. At least not directly.”Dr. Clerval leaned back on his chair and clasped his hands on his lap. His posture was one of relaxed ease, but his eyes sparkled with keen interest.“Go on,” he said.“Have you ever heard of a bunch of wizards called the waziri?”Professor Clerval raised his eyebrows. “I have, yes. But I’m surprised that you have.” He smiled. “You never cease to amaze me, Leesa.”“Yeah, me, too,” Leesa said wryly.“May I a
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