Read Online Corben's Thirst: The Thirst Within Part 1.5 by Johi Jenkins - Free Book Online Page B

her, because as far as I knew, Charlotte only healed people that were either very ill or dying. But I underestimated my mother’s condition. I thought people did not die of colds; that she would be alright in no time.
    Yet her health declined sharply about a week after she fell ill. The physician finally shook his head and declared that my mother may not recover. The thought of her imminent death shocked me, and I was finally moved into action. I asked Charlotte to help her the way she helped everyone else.
    “You have cured more sick people than the most prominent physician in the country. You cured the man with typhoid. You can save her,” I reminded her. “Your way.”
    But to my dismay, Charlotte shook her head. “My love, I… I do not think that is a good idea. Your mother is not young,” she said. “I have tried to heal old people… but I only ended up killing them faster.”
    “How so?” I asked. This was news to me.
    “I believe the body heals with the help of my blood,” she explained. “But if the body is too frail, it might not be able to bear the additional stress. There my blood is of no help. The effort to heal her may just cause her heart to fail.”
    I considered this for a moment, but not for too long. “She is going to die, regardless,” I said. “Please help her.”
    My wife smiled at me and I saw a mixture of love and pity in her eyes. “I will try, for you. After your brother leaves her room tonight.”
    Thierry had finally come back to Brunsfield when our mother’s condition worsened, some days before. I had not seen him for two years. I had finally seen him at the Great House after visiting my mother one evening; he was staying there and I had not been informed. When I first saw him I tried to catch his eye, but he ignored me. He looked so different; he was paler than I remembered, his dark hair was longer and disheveled, and his expression was grave. His green eyes looked lost and were hard to read. I didn’t know what was on his mind—my transgression? Was he still mourning his wife? Or was he worried about our mother? Whatever it was, I could tell he had not forgiven me.
    Charlotte left late in the evening to heal my mother while I stayed behind worried sick. She wasn’t gone for two hours when she returned with a somber face, dragging a dazed Sara. The maid’s eyes were unfocused, and she couldn’t hold herself up.
    “What is the matter with Sara?” I immediately asked when they came inside.
    “I am sorry, my love. Your mother is dead,” Charlotte announced as she came in, ignoring my question. She led Sara towards a chaise. “And this one is almost gone.”
    “What!”
    “Your mother. Her body did not endure the substantial healing by vampire blood, and she passed away.” She bowed her head. “I really am sorry.”
    “I… I understand,” I said, not meeting her eyes. I didn’t know what to feel. I knew this was a possibility, and I was the one who had forced Charlotte to do it. If anything, it was my fault, not hers. “I do. Thank you for trying, regardless.”
    “I promised you I would.”
    Then I turned my eyes to Sara. “So what is wrong with her ?”
    Charlotte frowned. “Sara was at the Great House, doing what, I do not know. I did not know she was there. She came to see me when I was announced inside. She must have thought I was just visiting Mrs. Ashby and followed me to her bedchamber. So I asked her to make Mrs. Ashby a tea, but of course I only asked to keep her out of the chamber while I attempted to heal your mother. I had ordered her to leave me alone, but a few minutes later she came back into the room and saw what I was doing. The wound in my arm, the blood on your mother’s lips I had tried to feed her. She called me a demon and started to scream. She would not listen.”
    “What did you do to her?” I asked, bending over the chaise and touching Sara’s face. She was cold and had an absentminded expression on her face. “Did you hurt