by Bob Dattolo
“Right.” I agreed. “Your physical strength doesn’t grow as you age quite like some of your other vampire traits, so that’s improved immediately. But you should start to see that you’re more powerful than others. At a guess, based on what I saw in the book, you’re probably stronger than a 100-year-old right now. Maybe up to 150, depending on who they are. A 200 year older isn’t quite double the strength of someone that is 100, so by the time you’re 100 you’ll probably be stronger than a 300-year-old? That’s a guess, though. The book didn’t quite explain everything.”
She pulled her hand back, “But…I don’t have anything close to the amount of money that it’d take to afford a ring like this!”
“We’ll think of something. Don’t worry about it. I have to charge a good amount, but it can be reduced based on need and ability to pay. And it doesn’t all have to be money. We’ll think of something.”
She let me slide it onto her finger, and her skin vibrated as the spells kicked in.
“Holy fucking shit…this is crazy!”
The group laughed with her and began to put her through her paces. Huh, she really is stronger it seems. Nice.
Chapter 20
My friends had plans for the weekends and the kicked me to the curb, with Zach spitting on me.
No, I’m kidding. They didn’t kick me to the curb and Zach didn’t spit on me. He did something on me, but that’s okay, because Christine licked it off afterwards. Then again, he wasn’t the only one to do that.
Once our little wake-me-up escapades were done, Rachel let me take over the driver’s seat of her car and we were off. Where, you might ask? To New Jersey.
No, I’m not kidding.
Why New Jersey? Because that’s where she lives. Or, you know what I mean. She lives at school right now, but that’s where her family is from.
She got a call late last night from her mom, asking her for advice on her little brother. Until then, I didn’t know that she even had a little brother. Not that 15 is all that little. Apparently, he’s been having issues. Her mom didn’t elaborate enough for her to be able to answer, so she told them that she’d be there Saturday morning to get more information.
Why am I with her? Partially because everyone else had plans. I could have piggy-backed with almost any one of them without a problem, it’s just that her situation seemed ready-made for someone to go with her. Since no one else could, it only made sense for me to do it.
Plus, it allows me to get some practice driving. I let Mom know what my plans were, and she was excited for me. I wasn’t quite expecting that, but it’s still nice to see. My parents were never really excited about much when it came to us. Certainly not something like this.
Come to think of it, they were always excited when the kids moved out into adulthood. And they were able to kill them.
Man, I hope they die.
During our drive, Rachel filled me in a little on her parents and her brother. It’s just the two kids, so there isn’t a gaggle of others out there to run into. Kevin is 15, and she lost touch with him when she was turned. Amazingly enough, being thrown into the deep end of the pool as a vampire doesn’t make it easy to think about your siblings.
Otherwise, beyond the fact that they have money, there didn’t seem to be much else to think about there. They sound like a normal family. Just one that keeps secrets from each other. Why her mother would call her for advice and then not give her the details needed to give that advice is beyond me.
Just over three hours later, we pulled into a gated drive.
“Holy hell, did I turn at the wrong place?”
She sat forward, “Nope, this is it. Hit the button up there?” She nodded to the roof of the car, and I hit the one that looked like a gate…and the huge iron gate in front of us began to open. “Jesus, you live here? With a gate like this?”
She laughed, “Yeah. You know how much school costs. Where else would we live when they had to pony up more than a million bucks a year for me?”
“Freaking hell, it’s hard to remember that you guys are all loaded like that.”
She nudged me, “Oh please, you’ve mentioned your bank accounts. You’re loaded too. More loaded than I am. My parents have money. Not me.”
I debated arguing with her, but then threw in the towel, “Okay, you got me there. Then again, a lot of what I have is from my parents. If your parents died and left you everything, you’d be loaded too.”
“Huh, okay. Then again, you haven’t talked to Rasphael about what she took from Corey’s family and the others.”
That made me groan, “Yeah…no I haven’t. She sent me an e-mail with some of the information, and it’s an absurd amount of money. That doesn’t even count the value of the property that I fucked up.” Yeah, my mouth is getting worse as the days go by.
“I bet. Maybe next time don’t do as much scorched earth?”
I spared her a look as I drove down the huge driveway, “I hope to never have to do anything like that again.”
She didn’t say anything back as I continued driving until my foot slipped from the pedal at the sight of their house. “Uhh, holy…you live here?”
My friend pushed on the pedal, reaching across the floorboards to do it, “Yup. C’mon, I gotta pee.”
I nearly drove into the grass at that, “You what?”
She laughed hard, “Just kidding. C’mon, let’s go find out what they wouldn’t tell me.”
Her car slid into the garage easily, and I got to see cars that I knew were crazy expensive. Not that I knew that before running away, but my time at school has broadened my horizons that way.
“C’mon, this way.” She took my hand and tugged me towards the door to the house. The inside is breathtaking.
“Wow.”
She snickered, “I know, right? My mom is really good at decorating.”
“She really is!”
We crossed into a kitchen that could double as a baseball stadium, and a woman of maybe 35 turned to face us, “Thank you. I try.”
“Hi, Mom!” My friend raced to her mom, grabbing her up in a hug before her mom could even respond.
“Jesus Christ!”
Rachel put down her freaked mom and stepped back, “Sorry about that. I’m just a bit faster than I was before.”
Her mother leaned against the countertop behind her and held her chest, “My God…what was that? How is that possible?”
My friend shrugged, “Normally, it wouldn’t be, but Ceri created a charm for me that makes me stronger across the board. Speed is one of them.”
Her mom didn’t say anything as she looked at the ring that her daughter flashed her.
“Mom, this is Ceri. She’s a new classmate as of a couple weeks ago. I mentioned her a few times in my e-mails.” She tugged me forward, “This is my mom, Marcie.”
“Umm, hi? Nice to meet you, Marcie.” I didn’t offer to shake her hand. It’s just not something I see most girls doing, so I don’t do it either. Not that I was raised with it.
“Hi. Nice to meet you as well. You…you created this ring for my daughter?”
“Yeah.”
She looked between us, “Uh, is this a sudden coming out of the closet or something?” She settled on Rachel.
My friend fell into me laughing, “No, Mom. Nothing like that. Although, like I told you, everyone is sort of carefree that way?”
Marcie rubbed her eyes, “I’m not sure I’m ready for my 17-year-old daughter’s sex life.”
“I know, Mom. Why do you think I don’t tell you anything about that? At least now there’s no force involved.”
Her mom stood up, “What? Who forced you?”
Rachel snorted, “Who? Try every vampire I ran into on the streets, almost? A ton of kids at school?”
Her mom began to cry and touched my friend’s face, “You were raped?”
“No! Or, yeah, sorta? It’s not the same thing, though!”
Somehow, I caught her mom before she fell, and I moved her to a comfy
looking couch in the nearby great room at Rachel’s urging.
It took her mom more than a few minutes to be able to see clearly from what I could tell. “What…what did we get you into! Can you ever forgive us?! We didn’t know! We’ll pull you from there immediately and have our lawyers…”
“Mom! Stop! I’m sorry, that’s why I haven’t told you about any of this!”
Her mom’s tears continued, “My poor baby! How long has this been going on?”
Rachel sat back on her heels where she was kneeling, “I don’t even know what to say. You have anything that’ll help, Ceri?”
Her mom looked at me as I shrugged, “I’m not sure if it’ll help, but I can try?”
“Try what? Why aren’t I calling my lawyers?”
“Wow, I’m so not the right person to explain this, but I’ll try.” It took a second to figure out a way to proceed. “Umm, so yeah, from your perspective, Rachel’s probably been raped. Arguably, from hers as well. Then again, from what I’m learning from our classmates, it’s not the same thing. Not really. Supernaturals are, umm, crazy…uhh…”
“Horny, Mom.”
I groaned and rubbed my face, “What she said. Sex is used for almost everything. Favors. Hobbies. Boredom. This took a bit for me to understand, but I’m getting it a little better than I had been. So, before Rachel went to the school? She’d already run into various vampires that she tried to talk to. They all wanted a piece of the new girl, and they got it.”
“They raped you?” Her mom started crying harder.
“No, Mom! It’s not quite like that like you think!”
“No, please, just listen. I know this won’t make much sense, but it’s not to supernaturals. We all have a choice when that happens. Give in and do it. Fight and possibly win. Or fight, get torn to hell, and then they still have sex with us. The huge majority of us will simply give in and do it. Most don’t want to kill the aggressor, which is almost what has to happen. There’s a huge issue in our world of people holding grudges for 100 or 200 years and then going back after someone that doesn’t even remember what they did. In that case, do you want to say no to a blowjob if 100 years from now someone’s attacking out of the blue and kills everyone you know? Everyone weighs that and just gives in. It doesn’t help that almost all of us are constantly on-edge that way. I never would have believed it before starting to turn into whatever I’m turning into, but it’s true. I came to school a couple weeks back as a virgin, having never even touched myself before, and I ended up having sex with my roommate and all of the girls in our dozenal that night. Then with the guys starting the following night. It’s been daily since then. I can’t even explain it, although I get their viewpoint now. I still won’t allow someone to be forced, but I won’t stop an honest request.”
Her mother frowned, “What do you mean what you’re becoming? And how would you stop someone? You’re just this little thing!”
Rachel laughed, “Mom? The first time I saw her she stopped Corey from forcing me to have sex with him. She tore out his eyes and drained him of energy then tore out the eyes of one of our teachers and was only stopped by the headmaster. At dinner she put two strong shifters in the hospital. She heals faster than I do.”
I nodded at her, “What she said. There’s only one person that knows what I’m becoming, and they won’t share with me. As far as I knew, before all of this happened, I was just a normal human. I was raised thinking that even talking to a supernatural would send me to hell. Then it turns out my parents are more than 400 years old. Now they’re wanted by the FBI for murder and hundreds of other charges and I’m becoming something else.”
I gave it a minute before nudging her leg, “So, yeah, is it rape? It sort of is, but we don’t seem to have the mental connection to it the way that normal humans do. Not even remotely. Our bathroom and showers are coed. On any given day I shower with a guy. They don’t even notice the difference. Please trust me on this, as much as you think it’s bad, it’s really not to that level. Not even close.”
She sat up a little, “You saved my little girl from that?”
“I guess so, yeah? She’d been with him before, but she didn’t want to do it that night. So yeah, I stopped it.”
She stared at her daughter, “I know I’m missing details here, but thank you for that. I need to overlook the other stuff you said, because it just doesn’t make sense. I can tell that you both mean what you said, but even the fact that you’re sitting here with a girl that you’ve had sex with is…yeah. Odd isn’t big enough.”
We both laughed, and I raised my eyebrow at Rachel. She smirked at me. My senses are doing a weird growth thing again, so I’m smelling more than before.
“Oh come on, Mom. I haven’t said it before, but I can tell that you and Dad have a girlfriend. The same girlfriend, mind you.”
Her mother put her hand to her chest and turned red. “What? I never!”
She looked at me as I touched her knee, “We can both smell her on you. You were with her earlier today. Don’t bother denying it. We can both smell it. We can even tell that you slept in the same bed with her last night, otherwise the smell wouldn’t be as strong on you. We can also tell that you were with your husband. So, yeah, her sense of smell is way stronger than mine is, so you’re not hiding anything that way. Nor do you need to. There are 12 of us on our floor, and we spent nearly five hours last night in every combination you can think of. I’m learning that it just doesn’t mean as much to supernaturals as you’d think.”
Marcie turned bright red and covered her face, “I…you’re not supposed to know about her!”
Rachel patted her leg as well, “Mom, I’ve known about Mindy since I was turned. Heck, I knew about her three years ago, but I didn’t know about the rest of it until after I turned. I didn’t say anything, figuring you guys would say something at some point if you needed to.”
“I…I don’t know what to say. I need to talk to your father.”
“Mom, seriously, don’t worry about it from my standpoint. While I have issues with some of the changes that I’m going through, that’s not one of them. So if you love her, then you love her. I just need to know if you guys are going to be in it together or if there’s a divorce coming. Otherwise, who you have sex with doesn’t even remotely matter to me. Having this conversation should be making me all squiggy, but it doesn’t. Not even close. Does Kevin know about Mindy?”
Her mom nodded, short and quick, “He figured it out. That’s sort of where the issues started. Well, not entirely, but sort of.”
It took her another five minutes to stop blushing horribly, and we waited through it, “Now, can you tell us what’s going on with Kevin?”
She began to talk, but then stopped not even two minutes later when the door to the garage opened and a young sounding voice called out, “Hey love. We’re back!”
Marcie froze as a woman just around her age came in, holding hands with someone that looked suspiciously like Rachel’s father. Neither of them saw us before they were most of the way into the room. When they did, their faces fell, making both of us fall over laughing.
“Oh…uhh, this isn’t what it looks like.” Her father tried to control the situation by letting go of Mindy’s hand, “Rachel! What are you doing home? Mindy and I were just, uhh, looking at her car? There’s a problem with the, err, engine!”
We laughed more, and Rachel wiped at the red-tinged tears as I helped her sit up. “Don’t bother trying to hide it, Dad. We already figured out what’s going on that way.”
Mindy turned bright red while her dad blustered, “What? There’s nothing going on!”
She visibly sniffed, and I followed suit, picking up a bit but nowhere near what she is picking up, “Oh please. I already told Mom that I can smell that you guys slept in the same bed last night and that all three of you had sex. I can smell that you two were just out in the barn having sex again. Anal, if I need to be clear.” Huh, I managed to pick up most of that, so things are looking up th
at way.
Her father stepped forward, “Now see here, young lady, I love your mother!”
He froze when I raised my hand, “She never said you didn’t. Let me be clear on this that she doesn’t care who you two have sex with. At all. If all three of you are in love then so much the better. If not, then she only needs to know if there’s a divorce in the works. Don’t even try to deny it or skirt it, we can smell that Mindy’s in this house nearly constantly. It doesn’t matter to your daughter. So…is this an actual relationship? Poly?”
Her father’s shoulders slumped as he sat on the edge of the couch next to Marcie. Mindy took the bull by the horns and nodded, “It is. We planned on telling you, but thought you might get upset?”
Rachel nodded, “I can see that. I’m not, though. Things like that don’t hit me the way they would have before. Not even remotely. You guys could be having sex right now right in front of me and it wouldn’t bother me. Our shifter friends are worse. Or better, I guess, it depends how you look at it. So, if it’s love and you’re living here, congratulations?”
Rachel’s dad tugged Mindy down between himself and his wife. “Thank you?” She answered.
I rolled my hands, “You were telling us about Kevin? What’s the problem there?”
Mindy blushed again as Marcie nudged her, “I didn’t know you’d actually come. He’s…umm, he didn’t handle our news well. We told him three weeks ago, and he sort of didn’t want to hear it. Then he began disappearing and staying out all night. I happened to see him one night with a gang in Philly, and I tried to get him in the car. That, umm, didn’t go over well.”
“What happened?” Rachel asked.
“It’s a vampire gang, from what I found out. They sort of attacked just a bit and I ended up getting away. Barely.”