Shadow Lake Vampire Society - Wendi Wilson Page 0,41
too. Demons, shapeshifters, and things that go bump in the night,” she replied, her voice holding no evidence she was joking. She sounded dead serious. “But also magic. Second-sight. Visions of the future.”
Her voice lowered on that last bit, emphasizing it. My eyes widened as I stared at her. She was serious.
“So, you think I had a vision? Of the future?”
I couldn’t help it. My voice was laced with skepticism, making it sound like I was mocking her. I flinched as her facial muscles tightened, then shot her an apologetic look. I didn’t intend to ridicule her or whatever belief system she held. But, come on. Visions of the future?
“According to my aunties, the gift of second sight runs in our blood. They knew I was coming, even though my mother had been told by multiple doctors she could never have a baby. They told her they’d both had the same vision of me, at the same time, so I had to be true.”
The corners of her mouth lifted, and I smiled back. “That’s why your parents named you True?”
She nodded, and her expression turned serious again. “My mother didn’t inherit the gift, so she didn’t believe them. Even when they were kids, she thought they were trying to prank her or something. She was so mad that they’d teased her with the one thing she wanted more than anything—a baby. When a doctor confirmed she was pregnant, her opinion of her sisters and their claims completely shifted. She finally believed.”
“That’s really cool, True, but what does it have to do with me?”
“Cool your tits. I’m getting there,” she said, lightening the mood with a smirk. “When I turned eight, my parents sent me to stay with my aunties for a few weeks in the summer. They prayed over me, did some ceremony that included chicken bones and feathers—don’t ask.”
I snapped my mouth shut against the questions that wanted to pop out. Was True talking about voodoo? Or were her aunties some kind of witches? So. Many. Questions.
“They determined that I had the gift,” she continued. “I was enthralled by them and their rituals, so I learned everything I could that summer, and each summer after that for five years. But none of the knowledge helped. I felt nothing. Saw nothing. Nothing supernatural happened to me. By the time I was thirteen, I’d decided they were a couple of kooks. I knew that would be my last summer in New Orleans.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“A week before I was scheduled to go back home, I left their house to wander around the neighborhood. I had earbuds plugged into my phone so I could listen to music as I walked. I was in the middle of the road, reading a text from my mom when a streak of pain shot through my head. I fell to the ground, and everything went black. I couldn’t see or feel anything.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” she said. “It was scary as hell. I tried to call for help, but my voice wouldn’t work. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath me, almost like I was floating. The only one of my senses that seemed to be working was my hearing. I could hear sirens, and my aunties crying. I heard a man introduce himself as an officer. He told them he was very sorry for their loss. That the man driving the truck was drunk, and his reflexes were too slow to stop by the time he saw her. Her equaling me.”
“What?! What do you mean? He thought you were dead and told your aunts before he confirmed it?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I was dead. Killed by a drunk driver that very day.”
“I don’t understand,” I mumbled. Her story got more confusing by the second.
“My vision cleared, and as the world came back into focus, I realized I was still lying in the middle of the street. My aunties were nowhere around. There were no cops. No sirens. No drunk driver. No truck. It was just me in the late afternoon sunshine on a normal day in July.”
I cocked my head at her and opened my mouth, but she held up a hand to stop the questions.
“I ran,” she said. “I got off that road as fast as I could. As soon as I reached the sidewalk, an old Ford careened around the corner, the driver lost control, and the truck slammed into a tree on the far side of the road.”