Origins (A Black Novel, #1) Read Online Free
Author: Jessa L. Gilbert
and I was born this way.”
Is my mom crazy too? Does she think she’s a vampire as well and is now locked up in some insane asylum? “Then why did she have to leave if she’s alive?”
“It was necessary. She didn’t want to put you in danger- from herself or others. Imagine growing up with a mother who had so-called ‘super powers’ and never aged. Kids like to talk, what if you’d told someone your mom was a vampire as you call it? Do you think it’d be easy to pack up and move, start over, every few years as people realized there was truth in what you said? She did it for you, to make sure you grew up with as normal a life as she could ensure.
And what if she had hurt you? Made Immortals suffer from horrible bouts of blood-lust…especially right after the change. What if she had attacked you, or killed you? Or your dad? She’d never have been able to live with herself. She did it to protect you. She loves you- still, even though you’ve never met.”
Dad appears in the doorway, holding three coffee mugs in his hands. He hesitantly surveys the scene before him, Dr. Thorne relaxed into the armchair, me rigid on the couch, before he tentatively walks over and places the cups on the table to sit down beside me. “Are you all right?” he asks me as he eyes Dr. Thorne carefully.
“I’m…..”I falter, glancing at my hands sitting numbly in my lap.
“What about the disease? You said I have it, does that mean— Am I going to become….like you?” My eyes flash to Dr. Thorne, horrified at the thought. I didn’t want to go crazy! What if this disease was real and I start thinking I’m a vampire as well and I attack someone and they lock me up forever?
“That depends entirely on you.”
“Huh? I don’t understand.”
“You have a choice, Adelin, one your mother did not. She was attacked by one of us and was close to death when she arrived at the hospital. I only turned her because of how distraught your father was. I knew what had happened to your mother, that her attacker was an Immortal, and I wasn’t about to let her suffer and die when there was something I could do to prevent it. She was made into what she is, you were born .”
“What difference does that make?”
“For your mother it was either die or become Immortal, you can choose to remain as you are now, human, or you can become like us….” Dr. Thorne trails off dramatically as she glances at me. “You are what we call a hybrid. Your mother was mortal when you were conceived but Immortal at the time of your birth. In effect, you have both types of blood in your system and either one can win out over the other but the choice is yours alone to make. The two types of blood should have been at war with each other a long time ago, which is why we thought you were safe. Apparently, we were wrong, but that only goes to show that the human blood in you is very strong.”
“What Marissa is trying to say is that you can choose to remain human,” Dad says, startling me. I had been so caught up in what Dr.
Thorne had been saying that I had forgotten he was sitting right beside me.
“What does that mean though?” I ask uncertainly.
Dr. Thorne speaks up softly from the chair, a stoic expression on her face. “It means that you don’t have to complete the change. You can stay as you are now but you should know that if you choose that route, then you can never see, or try to contact, your mother.”
Chapter Four
Present Day
‘ W hy did you tell me about her then?!” I accuse, more angry than I had been all night.
“Adelin, calm down,” Dad gently urges. “We have decided that in order for you to make a choice you will need to know all the facts, everything about what you could become, and in order to do that, you need to see your mother. In person. We have arranged for you to meet her and to stay with her for a while.”
“What?” I question in disbelief.
“Sera has been living on a small island off the coast of
Is my mom crazy too? Does she think she’s a vampire as well and is now locked up in some insane asylum? “Then why did she have to leave if she’s alive?”
“It was necessary. She didn’t want to put you in danger- from herself or others. Imagine growing up with a mother who had so-called ‘super powers’ and never aged. Kids like to talk, what if you’d told someone your mom was a vampire as you call it? Do you think it’d be easy to pack up and move, start over, every few years as people realized there was truth in what you said? She did it for you, to make sure you grew up with as normal a life as she could ensure.
And what if she had hurt you? Made Immortals suffer from horrible bouts of blood-lust…especially right after the change. What if she had attacked you, or killed you? Or your dad? She’d never have been able to live with herself. She did it to protect you. She loves you- still, even though you’ve never met.”
Dad appears in the doorway, holding three coffee mugs in his hands. He hesitantly surveys the scene before him, Dr. Thorne relaxed into the armchair, me rigid on the couch, before he tentatively walks over and places the cups on the table to sit down beside me. “Are you all right?” he asks me as he eyes Dr. Thorne carefully.
“I’m…..”I falter, glancing at my hands sitting numbly in my lap.
“What about the disease? You said I have it, does that mean— Am I going to become….like you?” My eyes flash to Dr. Thorne, horrified at the thought. I didn’t want to go crazy! What if this disease was real and I start thinking I’m a vampire as well and I attack someone and they lock me up forever?
“That depends entirely on you.”
“Huh? I don’t understand.”
“You have a choice, Adelin, one your mother did not. She was attacked by one of us and was close to death when she arrived at the hospital. I only turned her because of how distraught your father was. I knew what had happened to your mother, that her attacker was an Immortal, and I wasn’t about to let her suffer and die when there was something I could do to prevent it. She was made into what she is, you were born .”
“What difference does that make?”
“For your mother it was either die or become Immortal, you can choose to remain as you are now, human, or you can become like us….” Dr. Thorne trails off dramatically as she glances at me. “You are what we call a hybrid. Your mother was mortal when you were conceived but Immortal at the time of your birth. In effect, you have both types of blood in your system and either one can win out over the other but the choice is yours alone to make. The two types of blood should have been at war with each other a long time ago, which is why we thought you were safe. Apparently, we were wrong, but that only goes to show that the human blood in you is very strong.”
“What Marissa is trying to say is that you can choose to remain human,” Dad says, startling me. I had been so caught up in what Dr.
Thorne had been saying that I had forgotten he was sitting right beside me.
“What does that mean though?” I ask uncertainly.
Dr. Thorne speaks up softly from the chair, a stoic expression on her face. “It means that you don’t have to complete the change. You can stay as you are now but you should know that if you choose that route, then you can never see, or try to contact, your mother.”
Chapter Four
Present Day
‘ W hy did you tell me about her then?!” I accuse, more angry than I had been all night.
“Adelin, calm down,” Dad gently urges. “We have decided that in order for you to make a choice you will need to know all the facts, everything about what you could become, and in order to do that, you need to see your mother. In person. We have arranged for you to meet her and to stay with her for a while.”
“What?” I question in disbelief.
“Sera has been living on a small island off the coast of
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