Tainted Happiness {Formerly Returned} (Book 4) (Completed)

Chapter 1

Kait POV

**********

As we all began getting adjusted to our daily lives once more, I had an undeniable feeling of uneasiness. It was as if something was going to happen, something unexpected. Once more, I began getting paranoid like I had been when my ex husband was stalking me. I was locking all the doors and windows, closing the blackout curtains at all times, and always had the security system engaged. Part of it was habit from living in constant fear for so long. Laura, not being used to all this, thought I was completely nuts.

"Kait, why are you locking everything like a crazy person?" She asked.

"Habit, I suppose. Before I Awakened myself, I had an ex-husband that would stalk me. He once kidnapped my kids, Melanie's kids and husband, and my fiancé and almost killed him. He was the second person I killed as Strigoi, and one of the two people I don't regret killing." I explained.

"And the other one is Profe Steel?" Laura said.

"Yep. I killed her, gave Melanie my keys, then left and never looked back."

"Why did you choose to be Strigoi? That's like the ultimate sin." She said.

"Because Spirit's madness was too much to bear. I couldn't take it. It was driving me literally crazy. Before I Awakened myself, I'd blown up at Melanie, debated cutting myself, and other unthinkable things. It seemed like the only half-ways reasonable option. I'd never have to hurt her again, Spirit's mess could never touch me, I could do whatever I wanted without having to worry about what anyone thought simply because if anyone got in my way, I could easily kill them. At the time, the supposed 'benefits' seemed to outweigh the problems."

"I'm now a Spirit user and it hasn't affected me like that." She replied. 

"I think it reacted to me like that because Melanie and I are both Spirit users, so it never truly has a chance to escape. It just stays in one person or the other." I said.

Unfortunately, we never got to continue that conversation because I got an unexpected knock at my door.

"Who the hell could that be?" I mumbled.

"It can't be you know who, because as far as we know, he's dead." Melanie shouted from the kitchen.

"Guys, we've got some bad new!" I called out after looking through the peephole.

"What is it?" Cory called out.

"He's back."

************************************

Author's Note:

Sorry for the short first chapter! I kinda ran out of ideas and it took me forever to get this far.... Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Returned :)

~Kait.