Read Online MIDNIGHT HUNT: Book 3 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles by Arial Burnz - Free Book Online

gazed at the book, aching to wrap it in her arms.
    “Thank you for all you’ve done today. I look forward to your return on the morrow.”
    She nodded and dragged her eyes away from the tome. “Good day to you, Herr Carr,” she whispered. Monika left the inn and stood outside, waiting for Herr Schmidt. However, the more she thought about the text she’d translated, the more excited she became. Too fidgety to wait for the farmer, she strolled down High Street, through Vollstadt’s townsfolk milling about on their daily business, and headed back to Kostbar at a brisk pace.
    Monika finally had her mother’s book. Everything else of her parents had burned in the fire. This was a precious piece of not just her mother, but generations of her family. Absolutely irreplaceable. Many of the pages had been handed down as far back as her great-great grandparents. When her father had created the wooden binding, her mother had organized and transferred all the pages from the family journals into this one tome. What a treasure! And I’ll have the cure! Almost an hour later, Monika returned home, exhausted but inspired by today’s developments.
    Grabbing a few of the fresh vegetables Herr Schmidt had given her, she set them aside for the soup pot already at the hearth and stored the rest in the small root cellar dug in the corner of the room.
    She chopped a quarter of the cabbage, a carrot, a turnip and a leek, plopped them into the soup pot and stirred. Sprinkling in a few more herbs, she covered the iron pot and swung it back over the hearth, where she coaxed the fire with a wave of her hands, keeping the flames modest but warm enough for the brew to simmer.
    The door rattled from a knocking visitor. Monika swung it wide to reveal a grumbling Edda. “Behave yourselves, boys!” She released an exasperated sigh as her three boys filed into the cottage with dirty faces, skinned knees and elbows, and arguing over who had won their wrestling match. Edda put her covered basket on the floor by the threshold. “Peter, sit!”
    The twelve-year-old did as his mother commanded and clamped his lips tight.
    Edda grabbed Michael and Wolfgang—seven and nine respectively—by the scruff of their necks and shoved each of them into chairs…and Wolfgang smacked Michael across the table. “Enough, Wolf!” Their mother pinched each of their necks and silenced them. Shaking her head, she turned to Monika and donned a broad smile. “Good day, dear.”
    Monika chuckled and fetched some ointment—which Edda’s husband Helmut used frequently for burns—and knelt before each of the boys to clean their scrapes and dab on the liniment. Since the boys couldn’t sit still for anything longer than a few minutes, Edda shooed the three of them out of the cottage to go back home. She picked up her basket from the floor and handed Monika two loaves of warm barley bread as payment. “Fresh from the oven and made with love,” the older woman said with a wink.
    Monika hugged her neighbor. She peeked out the door at the boys skipping across the platz, smacking each other and running around in circles, and chuckled. “Would you like a slice with some honey and butter?” she asked as she held up a loaf. “Irma and I just churned some yesterday. I thought you might like to indulge.”
    “Don’t mind if I do!” Edda pulled up a chair. “I see a certain twinkle in your eyes, girl. What has you so cheerful?”
    Monika brought a wooden slab to the table, on which she placed the loaf, then positioned two small, round trenchers before her and her friend. With a serious calm belying the overwhelming joy in her breast, she said, “After ten long years…I’ve finally found it.”
    Her friend’s mouth popped open. “Your mother’s book?”
    Monika smiled and bit her bottom lip.
    “How wonderful! Pray, let me see?” Her eyes darted about the cottage.
    “Unfortunately, I don’t have it as of yet.” Monika fetched a long knife from the chopping block and