Lahat ng Kabanata ng Leesa's Advent: Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

That same evening, Jarubu and Melissa reached the outskirts of the Hartford area. They had fed the night before, up near Springfield, but they were both feeling hungry again. Jarubu had noticed he felt stronger and more powerful since drinking Josef’s foul blood. His thirst also seemed to have grown more powerful than normal.The farther south they went, the deeper the snow had become. In southern Vermont and Massachusetts, it had finally become deep enough to be an obstacle even for a vampire. They had been forced to leave the cover of the woods and travel in the open along the shoulders of the roadways, which slowed their pace considerably. Whenever there were no cars or buildings in sight, they moved at vampire speed, but when there was any chance they could be seen, they slowed to a walk.Melissa possessed some slight familiarity with Connecticut. She had lived here with her husband more than one hundred and fifty years ago. He had gone off to fight with a Co

“That’s why I call it everywhere/nowhere,” Leesa told him, smiling. “It wasn’t easy to do with you holding me like that, believe me.”“Well done, Leesa,” Dominic said. “You’ve come far in just one week. I think it’s time we moved on to something new.”“Before we do, I have a question. I love the breathing thing. It totally relaxes me and really gets me ready to concentrate. But it takes such a long time to do. What if I ever have to use magic quickly? Surely you don’t go through that every time you use magic, do you?”“No, of course not,” Dominic assured her. “And neither will you. That’s one of the things I want to you start working on. You can practice it on your own, so we don’t have to work on it now. I want you to choose a trigger word—something simple, like ‘breathe.’ Repeat it three times every time before you start cou

A tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice sat at each setting and there was a basket of rolls in the middle of the table.Leesa took the seat at the far end. Bradley sat to her right, with Aunt Janet opposite him. They saved the end nearest the kitchen for their mom, who emerged through the doorway a moment later carrying a spinach quiche in one hand and plate of bacon in the other.“Dig in,” she said. “Don’t wait for me. I’ll be right back.”She returned to the kitchen and came back this time with a big bowl of scrambled eggs and another of hash brown potatoes. After placing the two bowls onto the table, she sat down.“Since Roger’s not here, we’ll save the cinnamon rolls for dessert,” she said jokingly. She grabbed her glass of orange juice and held it up for a toast. “To family,” she said.Everyone clinked classes and then settled in to eat.The food was delicious

Saturday morning, Leesa and Cali were sitting on Cali’s bed chatting when Caitlin rushed into the room, red-faced and breathing heavily. Her blonde-tipped hair looked like she had started using her curler but had stopped half-way through. One side looked full and fluffy, the other hung close to her head. She was wearing black sweatpants and sandals, with a yellow and white striped pullover shirt that was twisted in the front, as if she’d thrown it on just before leaving her room and hadn’t bothered to take the time to straighten it. Her face was bare of any makeup, which was rare for Caitlin.“Did you guys hear about the serial killers?” she asked excitedly.Leesa looked up worriedly. She hadn’t heard anything about any killings.“Calm down, girl,” Cali said to Caitlin. “You look like you’re about to explode.” She patted the mattress beside her. “Have a seat.”C

When Caitlin left to finish getting dressed and fixing her hair, Leesa and Cali were free to talk about the subject on both their minds—vampires. They each scooted backward on Cali’s bed until their backs rested against the wall.“Do you think it’s vampires doing it?” Cali asked.“I’m not sure. But it sure sounds like it could be.”“I wonder if they’re vampires from Stefan’s coven.”“I don’t know.” Leesa drew one leg up against her chest and wrapped her arms around her shin. “For all we know, Stefan could have done one of the killings himself.”“You really think so?” Cali frowned, clearly troubled by the idea. “He seemed so nice.”Leesa twisted her body around so that she was facing Cali.“Stefan is a vampire, Cali. Never forget that. He drinks blood, sometimes from people. That’s how he survives. A