Read Online After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle (Book One) by Mary Ellen Gorry - Free Book Online Page A

“The thing is, Lorenzo, and the reason I brought her here,” Christian continued, “is that they must know that she knows. She is in danger. I have already failed her in not protecting her family. I won’t fail her a second time by not protecting her.”
                  “But she is a civilian ,” Lorenzo insisted. “What will you tell her?”
                  “The truth,” Christian said simply, walking past Lorenzo and opening the door to fill Caroline in.
                  He was too late.
     
                  “They were real, weren’t they?”
                  It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement. Christian had entered the room where they had just left Caroline a few minutes ago, planning on telling her everything. He would need to explain to her everything in order to convince her to stay with him and Lorenzo for her protection, even if it meant revealing for the first time ever a secret that had been kept for hundreds of years. He noticed immediately, however, upon entering the room that something had changed.
                  Caroline was no longer sitting on the sofa, but rather, was pacing angrily, though she had stopped when he and Lorenzo came back into the room. She glared at him, a book in her hand. Because they never had visitors, it hadn’t even occurred to either man to hide or cover any of the neatly stacked books on the windowsill and end tables.
    She had a look of utter betrayal on her face. Considering the fact that she looked like she wanted to kill someone, particularly him, she spoke very calmly. It was a dangerous calm.
                  “Vampires, you mean,” he said, hesitating only a second before continuing, his voice much calmer than he felt. “Yes, they’re real.”
                  “You have all these books,” she said, waving the one in her hand in a furious gesture. “All these books, about signs and prophecies and…vampires!”
                  Christian didn’t know what to say, though he was certain she wouldn’t listen even if he did know. He felt Lorenzo’s presence at his back, but he was sure Lorenzo was as much of at a loss of what to do as he was. Caroline threw the book down on the floor, and the fury in her eyes was replaced again by betrayal as she glared at Christian, but there was something else there too, that took Christian only a moment to identify - extreme hurt.
                  “You never spoke to Father Reed about me, did you?” she asked, her tone accusatory.
                  “No,” Christian admitted.
                  “You’re not in counseling, either, are you?”
                  It was a rhetorical question, and didn’t warrant a response.
                  “You lied to me,” she said in a watery voice, as if she would start crying any minute. “I suppose it’s my fault, really, for being so stupid. I mean, I just met you. I just met you an hour ago and yet I felt like I could trust you.”
                  “You can, Caroline-,” he tried to protest, but she cut him off.
                  “You didn’t follow me to the coffee shop to counsel me. You didn’t follow me to help me. You only wanted to know what I knew. You lied to me.”
                  Christian had never felt so horribly dirty and rotten in his whole entire life; he hadn’t lied to her, but he hadn’t been honest with her, either. It was just another thing she hadn’t needed added to an already horrible day. He took a cautious, conciliatory step towards her, but he could sense her bristling, and so he stopped.
                  “I was trying to help you, God’s honest truth. I’m still trying to help you, if you’ll just let me explain-“
                  “I trusted both of you. For God’s sake,” she said, suddenly turning her