Awakened (Book #5 of the Vampire Legends) by Emma Knight

This
information is confidential and must strictly remain within our side of the
family. You are never to tell your children or your husband. You have to
promise me that you will not share our family’s history with anyone and you
will take it to your grave. For I am the only remaining survivor from the time
and the only one who holds the secrets. Meet me in the cemetery at the tomb of
your grandfather, and I will share with you what I know.
    Love, your
mother.
    Rachel didn’t
know what to make of this letter and its ominous sounding text. She felt
worried and scared by everything she’d just learned. She couldn’t help but
wonder what this all meant and why her mother was never allowed to tell her. She
had no idea what her grandmother was talking about and wished she were still
alive to ask her. The letter almost sounded like sorcery or witchcraft to her.
Her body began to shake in fear as she reread the letter over and over. How
she’d wished she could talk to her grandmother about this, but the only person
who would know about this now was her mother, but she was in a coma in the
hospital and she didn’t know what condition she was in or if she’d even want to
discuss it with her.
    She folded the
letter back up carefully and put it back in the envelope. She knew she had to
confront her mother about this letter and she had to do it soon. It might shed
some light on what’s been going on with her recently.
     

CHAPTER 9
     
    Rachel couldn’t
wait one more minute to see her mom. She needed to find out answers and she
needed to talk to her about the letter. She quickly ran out of her house with
the letter safely zipped in her coat pocket as she headed out for the local
hospital. The freezing cold air hit her face as she walked briskly into town.
    The thought of
seeing her mom in a hospital bed frightened her. She’d never seen her in a
vulnerable state before and she didn’t know how she felt about it. To her, her
mom was a strong, fearless woman, but now she was sick, laying in a bed with
nurses and doctors around her. It was night and day to how she’d remembered her
mom.
    She hoped that
her mom would be able to speak to her and she hoped she’d be able and willing
to talk to her about her grandmother’s letter. Her anxiety about seeing her mom
was rising as she neared the hospital. She stopped as she approached the
parking lot of the hospital and then turned around, and started walking away. She
couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mom in the hospital. She
figured if she never saw her mom there, than it wouldn’t be real. Then, she
stopped again and turned back around and headed towards the front doors of the
hospital. She had to see her. She couldn’t live in a fantasyland anymore. She
had to get to the bottom of things and she had to see her mom, for her own
peace of mind.
    As she walking in
through the large automatic sliding doors, the smell of hand sanitizer filled
the air. She looked around at the stark white walls and fluorescent lighting,
and the hustle and bustle of the nurses and doctors and they ran from one room
to the next and then back out to their stations. She stood there and watched
for a moment and then, a nurse came over to her and said, “Can I help you?”
    “Oh, right!”
Rachel snapped out of it. “Yes, I’m looking for my mom.”
    “Your mother,
Dear?” the nurse asked sympathetically.
    “Yes, I think
she’s at this hospital,” Rachel answered.
    “Well, what’s her
name, Dear. I will look her up. Follow me,” the nurse said, ushering her over
to her computer station.
    “Betsy Wood is
her name,” Rachel said.
    “Let me see
here,” the nurse said as she clicked away at her computer.
    Rachel watched as
she scrolled up and down on the computer screen searching for information on
her mother. Then, she saw the nurses eyes open wide and then make a frightened
face.
    “Yes, she is
here,” the nurse answered. “I’m so sorry.”
    Rachel didn’t
know