Vindicated (37 page)

Dr. Knight nodded, reading something in my chart.
 
“Had you contracted malaria when you were a young child it would have been more difficult to diagnose.
 
Those symptoms could be numerous childhood diseases from the flu to leukemia.
 
As an adult this is a little easier to pinpoint.
 
All it takes is some blood work and a few other tests.”

I glanced over at Alex, another knowing look passing between us.

“What is the treatment?” I asked, looking back.

“You’re already on IV medication.
 
You’re receiving a drug called Quinidine.
 
Normally this would be taken care of quickly but yours was a very advanced stage.
 
You probably wouldn’t have made it more than another day or two, at the most.
 
But you’ll be ready to go home with your medication in two days.”

“Really?” I asked, my tone disbelieving.
 
This was the third time I’d almost died from this thing, and now I was just ready to go home?
 
That was it?

“Really,” he said cheerily.
 
“You still won’t be feeling on the top of your game for a week or so but yes, you’ll be fine.
 
Though you might want to stay away from any tropical areas for a while.”

“Oh my gosh,” I breathed, tears starting to roll down my cheeks.
 
“I’m going to be okay.
 
It’s… it’s really over.”
 
I looked over at Alex, his own blue eyes filled with tears as well.
 
“I’m going to be okay.
 
I won’t have to go back.”

“Not for a long time,” Alex said, squeezing my hand in his.

The nurse who had entered the room with Dr. Knight bustled about the room, changing my IV’s, recording my blood pressure and oxygen levels.
 

“Things aren’t going to be easy for the two of you when you get home but you’re lucky to have such a strong support group behind you,” he said, indicating the balloons and flowers.
 
“You two are very loved.”

Dr. Knight then excused himself, saying that he would be back in a few hours to check on us.
 
The nurse finished up and left as well.

“Oh my gosh,” I repeated, still not able to believe what I had been told.
 
“I don’t have to go back.”

Alex leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
 
“It’s all over.”

“What…” I tried to make my thoughts coherent again.
 
“What did you tell them happened to you?”

Alex chuckled, his eyes falling into his lap for a moment.
 
“I told them that you had collapsed and I ran to get the phone to call 911 when I tripped and took a nasty tumble down the stairs.
 
I told them I pulled myself back up and into the bedroom before I passed out.
 
Then miraculously Emily and Austin showed up and called 911 for me.”

I chuckled, shaking my head.
 
“We’re a couple of liars, you and me.”

Alex chuckled too, shaking his head.

There was a light knock on the door before it was opened.
 
In walked Emily, Austin, Amber, and Rod.
 
Followed by my parents.

“Hi,” I said, tears rolling down my cheeks again.
 
My chest swelled at the sight of them.
 
This time in a good way.

“You’re awake!” Emily and Amber cheered at the same time.
 
Mom started crying immediately and flung herself at me, covering me with her body, squeezing me in a slightly painful hug.

“I just had a feeling that you two going to South America was a bad idea,” Mom choked on her words.
 
“You almost
died
!”

“I know, Mom,” I tried to reassure her, rolling my eyes at the ceiling.
 
“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry,” she chuckled as she sat up, wiping at her eyes.
 
“You have nothing to be sorry about.
 
What a crazy thing to pick up.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled again, reaching for Alex’s hand again.
 
“When did you guys get here?”

“Your sister called us the morning after you and Alex were admitted,” Dad answered.
 
“We flew out here that afternoon.”

Everyone spent an entire hour gushing over the fact that the two of us were alive, how worried they had been, and how happy that we were going to be able to leave in just two days.
 
I didn’t miss the changed way Austin looked at me.
 
I wondered how much Emily had told him.

And when everyone else was distracted, she whispered to me how she’d slept the night before.
 
And hadn’t had a nightmare.

But I knew Emily had redeemed herself.
 
The afterlife wasn’t going to risk a screw up like what happened to me again.
 
Emily was free too.

My dad informed me that he, Rod, and Austin had been back at the house for the last four hours making it wheelchair accessible for Alex to use over the next few weeks until he could use crutches.
 
Mom and Dad would be staying down in the guest apartment for a few days after we went home to help us get along.

I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at everyone around me.
 
I finally had what I wanted.
 
A normal life.
 
A family.
 
People who didn’t think I was crazy anymore.

“I have a weird question,” I said as everyone settle down.
 
“Did we ever go on any trips out of the country when I was really little?” I asked my parents.
 
“Like before I was four?”

“My parents took us to Puerto Rico when you were about two,” my mom answered.
 
“Why do you ask?”

I smiled just a little bit and shook my head.
 
“No reason.
 
I just wondered.”

And when I was two, while we were in Puerto Rico, I had been bitten by a mosquito, malaria had sat dormant in my blood for a few years.
 
And when it nearly killed me, difficult to diagnose when I was so young, my father made a plea that had saved my life but put me through hell in exchange.

But it had all been worth it.

“Are you sure her eyes are so strange because of the malaria, Alex?” my mom asked suddenly, her eyes narrowing at me.
 
“I’ve never heard of something like this happening.”

“That’s what the doctor said,” Alex said.
 
I detected another of his necessary lies.

“My eyes?” I questioned.

Alex looked at me, something in his eyes saddening, his entire countenance shifting.
 
He looked over at the table next to his bed and pointed to something.
 
“Would you hand that over, Rod?”

Rod picked up what I realized was a mirror and handed it to Alex, who extended it to me.
 
Before looking into it, I looked at Alex for a long moment, my stomach filling with prickly butterflies.
 
He just nodded.

Swallowing hard, I lifted the handheld mirror and looked at my own reflection.

My eyes had changed.

One was blacker than black.
 
Just like Cole’s.
 
The other was bluer than Alex’s.

A judged human.
 
Split fifty-fifty.

“She’s beautiful as ever,” Alex said firmly, taking one of my hands in his and squeezing.

I swallowed again, and looked back at my reflection.
 
I touched my fingers to the cool surface of the mirror.
 
My mismatched eyes stared back at me, taking in every detail of my natural looking face.
 
It felt just a little strange, not to see all the little things, every tiny hair that covered my body, every fleck of dust that clung to my clothes.
 
But it was better this way.
 
This was the way it was supposed to be.

I couldn’t help but smile.
 
I was human again.
 
One hundred percent human.

I thought about all the times I had wanted to give up.
 
It would have been so easy to let the angels win, to let the afterlife rule my life.

As I glanced back at all the people I loved that surrounded me, I knew I had finally won.
 
Being there with all of them, my very being alive was proof that no matter how hard things might get, you must always fight.

Because in spite of everything that had happened, I was still there.

Don’t miss
AFTERLIFE
, the novelette companion to VINDICATED.

Cole Emerson never was and never will be a good man.
 
He has his position for a reason.
 
But there are consequences for returning to the world of the living.
 
He is about to lose the one thing he still has, his leadership of the condemned.
 
As if that wasn’t enough, one of his brothers is hell bent on exposing what has happened to Jessica and Cole has no choice but to protect her.
 
And he’ll stop at nothing to do it.
 
Even if it means ending a few lives.

Cole never was and never will be a good man.

Available on Amazon for Kindle NOW!

Acknowledgements

Wow, this is it, the Fall of Angels is really over!
 
This has been an incredible journey, these last two and a half years.
 
And I really couldn’t have done it without the incredible support I’ve received.
 
I first have to thank my husband Justin for his never ending support, for always listening to my endless talk about writing stuff.
 
Next I have to thank Jenni Merritt, for her unending support and encouragement.
 
Thank you to my editor, Steven.
 
And thank you to every one of my readers, you really do mean so much to me, there are just too many people to thank to begin to list.
 
Thank you all for allowing me to live my dream!

Keary Taylor
is the independent author of BRANDED, FORSAKEN, VINDICATED, AFTERLIFE (
Fall of Angels
series), and EDEN.
 
She lives on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their two young children.
 
To learn more about Keary and her writing process, please visit

www.KearyTaylor.com

or

http://KearyTaylor.blogspot.com

Don’t miss the action packed post-apocalyptic novel by Keary Taylor

EDEN

Available Now!

Eve knew the stories of the Fall, of a time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. She’s seen the aftermath of the technology that infused human DNA with cybernetic matter, able to grow new organs and limbs, how it evolved out of control. The machine took over and the soul vanished. A world quickly losing its humanity isn’t just a story to her though. At eighteen, this world is Eve’s reality.

In their Fallen world, love feels like a selfish luxury, but not understanding what it is makes it difficult to choose between West, who makes her feel alive but keeps too many secrets, and Avian, who has always been there for her, but is seven years her senior.

The technology wants to spread and it won’t stop until there is no new flesh to assimilate. With only two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction. While fighting to keep Eden alive, Eve will discover that being human is about what you will do for those you love, not what your insides may be made of. And even if it gets you killed, love is always what separates them from the Fallen.