I meet a couple, Fergus and Fiona. She has bright red hair with streaks of black that she assures me are natural. He has black hair with streaks of gray that he assures me were natural. Duh, who would dye their hair gray? I don’t ask what they are, honestly, the school has practically brainwashed me into thinking it not acceptable to ask. They don’t volunteer the information. They have a son around my age but never had a daughter.
They don’t seem to mind that I am messed up and when I tell them why we were taken away, the woman cries and they proclaimed to still want to adopt me. Weird, but okay. They agree to multiple visits a week with my sister as long as it doesn’t interfere with my school... they are those kinds of parents. Wanting me to get a good education and have a bright future.
They are nice. Fiona talks about taking me shopping, how impressed she is that I am so interested in a variety of subjects, and how I choose to use my gift for only good things (apparently most people in my situation are bitter). Fergus is not as open but watches me; forming God only knows what opinion. Likely he thinks I am insane. I am open and honest; I want them to know what they are getting into so I don’t get sent back.
"Are you sure you want a human? You aren't going to sleepwalk and chew off a leg, are you? I know a lot of Faes eat people."
Fiona laughs and assures me that won’t happen, they don’t eat people. Well, yay me. They look normal. Glamour Fae, maybe? He looks like a warrior. Blacksmith, Fae? Not knowing might make me go insane with curiosity.
"If you agree, we will bring you home this weekend, as soon as the papers can get through. Sally is a friend of mine, she will make sure your sister and you are both placed as soon as possible."
"My sister liked Helen. She seems nice."
"She is. She has horses, cows, chickens, pigs, goats, and a painting studio where she teaches art to interested kids or adults looking for a hobby. She's a wonderful lady."
"Yeah, the horses are what had my sister batting an eye. She loves them. Her friend back home has some and she willingly cleans out the stalls just to spend time with them."
"She and Helen will get along well then."
At least Fiona can be counted on for conversation. I am not sure about Fergus. I have a feeling he is doing this for his wife.
"So why did you want me? I mean, there are tons of kids in the foster system; younger even, so you could raise them as yours, knowing about your world from the beginning. I come with my own set of ideas and morals and teenage rebellion."
"Our son. He talked us into this. I've always wanted a girl, but we were so busy we barely had time for him while he grew up. Taking on a teenager means you can care for and amuse yourself if we have business trips, and we can still have the daughter I have always wanted. He used logic against us when we were asked to foster you since Helen offered to take your sister and we live across town."
Makes sense. So my new parents won’t always be home to breathe down my neck. Not a problem with me; and I will have a stepbrother. Maybe he will be nice and beat up Adam for me if he gives me any more trouble. Will he and Alastair get along? I hope they don’t hate each other. Siblings and friends fighting are the worst.
"Tell them to bring in the papers."
She smiles and we spend the next hour completing paperwork. In a couple of days, Clarissa and I will have new families.
I go with Clarissa to Helen's. Helen is great about letting me help my sister unpack. She calls Fiona after Clari is settled in so I can go to my new home. We hug, cry, and once Fiona gets there make a plan for the four of us to go on a girls-day-out next weekend. Both new moms think we need new clothes and things to personalize our rooms. We agree and I feel better already, having a planned time to see my little sis again.
Chapter Five
When we get to my new home I look it over. Helen's place was a refurbished farmhouse. Old world charm outside and artistically modern inside. The barn was much the same. My new home is classic suburbia. Two story house, likely a basement as well. A three-car garage, white with blue trim, roses under the windows and a fenced yard. I am guessing there is more to the backyard than the sides. It looks nice. Trees, flowers, green grass, a well-maintained house.
"The bedrooms all have their own balconies in the back."
"It looks so nice. I've never lived anywhere nice before."
"You will have your own bedroom. Fergus and I have a master bath, so you and our son are the only ones using the other bathroom. There's a guest one downstairs as well. No one has any reason to be in your room unless you invite them in. It's your own personal space."
Space I greatly appreciate.
"Thanks. For trying this. I know a human isn't likely what you wanted for a daughter figure."
She stands on the front porch, looking at me completely serious. I try not to look away. I want her to know I mean it.
"Our son said you were strong. In our family strength is greatly prized. There are many kinds. My husband is physically strong. So is my son. Yours is different, but it's there. He admires your strength and spoke highly of it. I think you will make a wonderful addition to our family."
Who the hell is her son? The only person that talks to me is… NO WAY! I rush in behind her, practically vibrating in place because I am being forced to walk slowly when I want to run. Alastair comes down the stairs slowly as we enter. Geez. You'd think he’s never met me before.
"Alastair!"
I jump at him, hugging him as he reaches the bottom step. He catches me but stiffens and pushes me back as fast as humanly possible. Can he move faster than that? I know wolves can.
"Amber."
"I can't believe you are my new brother, and here I worried we wouldn’t get along. Well, color me relieved."
Fiona hands my bag to Alastair and he nods, walking up the stairs. I figure that means ‘follow me to your room now’. We have to work on our communication.
"Alastair, I don’t mean to nitpick, but you really need a nickname if I am going to be yelling at you for hogging the hot water and everything."
He tosses my bag in a room that has white walls and the bare minimum. Maybe it won’t be a lot different than home after all.
"My mother wants to take you shopping to pick out your own bedroom set tomorrow. A new mattress too. This was the guest room. She said something about painting it whatever color you want. Father and I will paint while you shop."
Way to be super friendly. "Alastair you don’t have to be so formal, I mean we know each other, we work together at school. You don’t have to think of me as your sister, but we should still be able to be friends. I mean, we were before, right?"
He nods and turns going into a room down the hall. Let's see… my room at the top of the stairs, the bathroom we will share, his room and the double doors are the master bed and bath, I am assuming. The carpet throughout is a nice chocolate brown. It is the same in the bedrooms, well mine, anyway. I toss my backpack and plop down on my mattress. New furniture, I will need some bookshelves. If I get an allowance I will spend it all on books, I usually do. Well, my birthday and Christmas money, anyway, since I never got an allowance before.
I lay back and sigh. I need to learn the lay of the land. The rules, the regulations, the type of supernatural or Fae they are. All important. I will do it after a nap though. Yeah, a nap sounds good.
I wake up to Fiona telling me dinner is ready. At least whatever they are they eat food. I won’t starve. As long as they don’t eat a lot of icky foreign stuff. I like my good old American food. Americanized Chinese food, Americanized pizza, hot dogs. Basically, I eat very unhealthily.
"Just grab a drink from the fridge. Anything you want."
I nod as Fiona sits down and sips from a glass. Her husband is doing the same. Frosted colored glasses. That they seemed to keep far from me. Oh geez, what are they drinking? I don’t care if they drink alcohol, honestly.
"Alastair, you are way too young for alcohol!"
I grab his glass and hold it back while he gl
ares and put his hand out, expecting me to turn it over without a fight. Ha, shows what he knows. AKA nothing!
"It's not alcohol; it’s a nutritional drink we all require to be healthy. As you do not, you can stick with the traditional things. Make a list of juices and such that you like, so we can add them to the grocery list from now on."
I nod at Fergus's stern tone and hand the glass back to Alastair, trying and failing to get a good whiff.
I open the fridge and see a colored container with a thick liquid in it and a variety of other things. I look for something for me, but I am too curious not to investigate. So I grab the container and opened it, getting one solid look before it is torn from my grasp.
Blood. There is blood in there. They are drinking blood. They are vampires. Holy shit, I am living with vampires! It couldn’t be witches, no; it had to be people eaters!
"Vampires. Real vampires?"
Alastair snorts.
"Because it's such a stretch from werewolves and Fae."
"No, it’s just you never told me what you were and I never saw you drink blood. You weren't eating lunch alone so you could drink from the teachers, were you?"
His look says I should have known better. Hello, I didn’t even know what kind of other he was until I was living in his house!
"No."
He goes back to filling his plate up while Fergus glares at me and Fiona looks worried. I grab a soda, sit down, grab food, and start eating. They make a good pot roast at least. I keep my mouth shut all of five minutes before the questions start.
"How come you eat real food? Does it hurt to be out during the day? What happens when you die? Can you die?"
Fergus gives an annoyed sigh, looks like Alastair got his no-nonsense attitude from his father. Alastair just looks at me like I have lost my mind. Well, we haven't covered vampires in my Fae history class yet, so excuse me. Fiona clears her throat and answers my questions.
"We eat real food because it diminishes our need for blood. If we don’t eat we get incredibly thirsty and are more likely to drain someone dry. Real food isn't necessary to live, but it helps us control the cravings. It also makes us able to drink from donor bags instead of a vein. Not everyone does, but we do unless in a life or death situation. The sun doesn’t bother us at all. The rumor that vampires are creatures of the night exists because vampires used to only hunt at night. We have excellent night vision and since our prey doesn’t…"
"It's easier to catch them off guard that way. To make sure you don’t get hurt or killed when hunting."
She nods before continuing. She is so waiting for the running and screaming part.
"Fresh blood helps us heal faster if injured. But it can also form a bond between the two sharing the experience if the donor doesn’t die, so we don’t hunt from humans anymore, we just get blood donor bags. Some keep humans as pets, they get a comfortable life in exchange for their blood, but only the royals and upper nobility do something so brash anymore.
"As for death, well, we do die. It's not exactly like yours though. When a vampire dies it becomes what you would consider a zombie. We hunger and kill. Not entirely mindless, but not capable of extensive thought. We are usually burned for a true death or put into the military. A dead vampire can be bound to a living one and follow simple commands such as protection and what not."
"Wow." Not my most articulate response, but seriously, what do you say to that?
"If we have finished talking about how to bring us about to this demise…"
"I never asked how to kill you." I am in shock. Had to be. Why else would I be so calm finding out that I live with vampires? Well, maybe because honestly, them draining me dry wouldn’t be the worst thing that has ever happened in my life. I have seen true monsters and so far all this family has done is save me from them.
Fergus doesn’t answer, he just points at my food then up the stairs. Eat and go to bed. Okay, so no arguing with the adopted dad. He looks angry. Is there going to be an explosion tonight after I leave the room or what?
I finish quickly, realizing fairly early on that they are going at a snail's pace so they have an excuse to sit around and talk without me. I finish eating, rinsing off my plate before putting it in the dishwasher. What do I do now? I smile, thank them for the lovely meal, and go upstairs, making sure I shut my door loud enough for everyone to hear.
Alastair:
"She shouldn’t be here. She's just a human."
Sometimes one would think my dad is the royal, not my mother. He is much more of a snob.
"She's our daughter now…"
"She is not our daughter! She will never be our daughter! I let you talk me into this foolhardy plan, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good one or that I want anything to do with it!"
Way to be subtle, dad. Amber may not have vampire hearing, but she won’t need it to hear my father. Mom is at least keeping her calm. Too bad her opinion is the one Amber will prefer to hear.
"Regardless, we adopted her and she is ours now. I won't turn my back on her. Where's the honor in that?"
Mom is big on honor. Damn nobles. They really are honorable. To their families and no one else, but still. It is annoying to poor dad, and me, at times like this. For once though I am with mom.
"She didn’t run screaming, threaten to stake us or even ask how to kill us. She asked questions most people would have after seeing Hollywood's movies. You can't blame her. Vampires are one of the most overdone movie subjects, and there are so many different versions… the point is, she hasn’t done anything to hurt us and you two did adopt her. What's the issue with her staying?"
"Alastair, would you remind me why you wished us to do this?"
What can I tell them? I sure as hell don’t know. I just feels like I owe her.
"She helped me."
"Yes, the cream she made. You saved her from Adam, isn't that payment enough? In fact, she was paying you back by helping you…"
"It wasn’t just then. I know you wished me to assimilate and blend, but it doesn’t work. Everyone knows who and what I am. They avoid me like I have the plague. I do partner projects alone. Or I did. When Amber joined school she was paired with me in shared classes and she didn’t mind. She was friendly and actually made an effort. She understands my weird habits and my dislikes and goes out of her way to make things easier for me."
"Son, if this is the 'I love her' speech, you had better swallow it now…."
"It's not like that! She's just a nice person that's helped me a lot and I wanted to help her in return!"
I slam my hands down before pushing my chair back and stomping upstairs. At the top, outside her door, sits Amber. She gives me a small smile and scoots over. I sit beside her and she shrugs. Guess she doesn’t feel guilty about spying. I wouldn’t either, in her shoes; it is her life.
"That was well done, Fergus. You know how hard it is for him to make connections to anyone…"
"And that's our fault, isn't it?"
His sarcasm is not appreciated by me and I know mother won’t take it either.
"Yes, it is! We had a child and didn’t stop to change our lives for his sake... he grew up so far from others, alone more often than not. Perhaps the reason he bonds with her so easily is that she isn't Fae or other. She isn't strong; she isn't going to challenge him for dominance. She's friendly, open, honest, kind. He hasn’t met anyone like that before. He grew up in barracks or away from contact of any kind other than war. We should be thanking her for opening him up, not pushing them both away."
I touch my finger to my lip. After a nod, I pick Amber up and we go into her room, closing the door quickly and quietly before hearing my mother push away from the table. Mom is like that. She gives speeches and leaves so they can sink in. Sometimes it leaves you feeling less than a foot tall. I hope this is one of those times for dad.
Amber sits on her bed and sighs. I lean against the door, looking around. We had emptied the room of all the furniture before she showed up. Mom said it needed to b
e a blank canvas so Amber can make it her own without feeling obligated to keep the guest room furniture. Women think about feelings too much in my opinion.
"Your dad really hates me, huh?"
"It's not you personally."
Saying it doesn’t make her feel any better… she doesn’t look comforted, anyway.
"I appreciate you going through the trouble of trying to help me, Alastair, but I wasn’t nice to you so I could get something. I didn’t know why everyone avoided you and I still don’t. So you are antisocial, big deal. If it's because you are a vampire, I don’t get that either. We are all freaks there. Me more than anyone because I don’t fit in at all. I never figured you would feel the need to help me back. I was just trying to be your friend."
"I know." I do. That's why I decided to help her. She helped me without asking for or wanting anything in return. Just because she is kind.
"You didn’t have to help me."
My mother starts to walk by but stops when she smells that I am in Amber's room. Amber can’t tell, but I can. Guess mom is doing some spying too.
"I wanted to. You needed help. I was in a position to get it for you."
She nods and sighs.
"I'm sorry I have caused so much trouble with your family."
Her knees come up and she rests her chin on them, looking toward the balcony. She looks fragile. Emotionally and physically.
"It wasn’t you. Mother and I pushed this plan. We didn’t wait for the father's agreement."
"Why do you think your mother agreed before meeting me?"
"She liked the sound of you."
"I was brave or courageous or whatever. Without it making me bitter."
"Yes."
She says nothing more, just sighs and looks around. She lays down staring at the ceiling like it has a secret code embedded in it.
Adopted Into the Supernatural Page 4