Nick drew their attention again as he said, “Your daughter has a problem. She has unique needs and we came here for two reasons. First, we wanted to let you know that she is still alive. Second, I want you to sign over guardianship to me. She needs help that you can’t give her.”
Her father finally snapped and through a punch at the voran. Nick caught his hand effortlessly and lowered it for the man. His eldest son fearing for his father lunged, but was intercepted by Nicola, though the voran was more than capable of stopping him without harming him as well. Moving at speed beyond human and noticeably so before the accumulated family, Nicola caught his arms and set him back on heels stopping his momentum. She bared her fangs at the boy as he started to question what had happened.
“Stop it,” the vampire said calmly. It was no glamour, just a voice of reason, where reason was beginning to disappear.
“Vampires!” the aunt screamed and turned to run, though to where no one really knew.
Charlotte stopped her by grabbing her arm and the woman looked at the brunette in awe and asked, “What are you?”
“A werewolf, it’s a long, sad story; so don’t ask,” she said giving Nick a look as she added, “What now Nick?”
Sami stood and moved to her mother gripping her shoulders and looked the elder woman in the eyes and said, “When I fell down the shaft I had lost a lot of blood, mama.” She revealed the fading bite marks on her arms as she released her mother. Pulling the neck of the shirt away to reveal the nearly healed bites on her neck, Sami continued, “Nick said that the floor of the basement flows to the shaft I fell through and that both human and vampire blood trickled down onto me. It probably got into the holes in my arms or maybe some got in my mouth before I fell to put their blood in me before I died. I thought that I had barely survived the fall, but I must have died.
“Nick found me in a pile of garbage where I tried to hide. I was nearly dead, but he made me bite his hand and drink a little blood. He saved me by giving up some of his blood, and then carried me out of there; but I’m different and can’t stay here with you.
“We didn’t want you to wonder and cry over me. Nick let me come back to let you know that I survived. He wants me to finish high school, but I can’t go to a school during the day; so can you sign the form he brought to make him my guardian? Nicola, Charlotte and Nick will take care of me. He can keep me from needing to hurt people.”
“And what kind of monster is he?” Sarah breathed numbly to her daughter.
Nick said simply, “I am a voran. We can’t be turned into vampires or werewolves and hunt monsters to kill them. A few drops of my blood can keep her nearly human, but it can’t reverse the curse. The sun will make her tired and irritate her skin, though she wouldn’t die from it easily; but she can eat and live like a human being for the most part, just in the night.”
Nicola stared the men down as she stated, “We came hoping that you all could handle the truth and keep her secret. Revealing vampires and werewolves to the world is not likely to end very well for anyone. We will keep hunting the killers, keeping people safe and ignorant; but we need to know if you will help us to protect her.”
Her father frowned and asked, “You are saying that she isn’t a monster, correct?”
Nicola had already withdrawn her fangs and she shook her head, “I’ve never killed a human with Nick’s blood to keep me sane. A few drops of his blood every few days keeps me human, though I still have these cool vampire abilities like speed and strength.
“Like he said, sunlight makes me tired, but I can stay up if I really want to and it really only itches beyond that.
“The only things I kill are evil vampires, though I mainly leave that up to Nick and the scouting squads most of the time.”
She finished with an award winning smile and stepped back to stand next to Nick. “I am so close to human that I love Nick. He’s my boyfriend, but being what we are, we have incredible stamina. I mean the sex... the sex is...”
Nick’s hand covered the blonde’s mouth and he shook his head saying, “No, that’s private, so no more of that talk.”
The humor caused the men in particular to start to laugh before they realized that they had been afraid and ready to attack the creatures. Nick released the vampire and she mouthed something to the boys to make them grin, who suddenly remembered that Nicola was a beautiful girl. Their father was a little less smitten, but he couldn’t help smiling.
Moving towards Nick, Paul asked, “So what do we need to do?”
The four stayed with the family for quite awhile as tensions eased. Nick knew that Nicola managed to set a single glamour on them, however. The vampiress had been subtle catching them singly or even a few together. She merely reinforced that the family forgot about their daughter being a vampire to the point that they wouldn’t talk of it. They still knew that she was different and could even grasp that she was a vampire; but a block for discussing it outside of these few made it impossible to say more than Sami had gone to stay with someone who would help her after her difficult time.
Stress from telling her family and having them turn on her for a small time had caused Sami’s fangs to protrude. Even her mother had to laugh at how small hers were compared to Nicola’s. Like a baby vampire, Sami’s teeth didn’t seem capable of growing very long. Helping her and even showing the family how a little of his blood helped set her right as she suckled from his hand a moment making her fangs retreat; Nick thought that it helped settle their worries for the girl even more.
Her mother Sarah asked, “Isn’t that dangerous to have her draining your blood?”
Nick shook his head. “My blood tends to fill them quickly. Some, like Nicola, tend to bite to be coy more than to feed. Your daughter didn’t want to feed to stay alive when I found her, but I made her take enough to gain her strength back. I heal quickly, so a little extra blood taken doesn’t take long to regenerate.”
Sami looked from him to her mother looking sheepish and added, “I’m still new. Nicola said that new vampires need to take more of his blood the first day or two before they don’t need it very often. When he tells me to stop, I can.”
Nick nodded and said, “Your daughter has more control than I’ve ever seen in a new vampire. We hunt killers all the time that have to feed and can’t resist the hunger. Sami isn’t like that at all.”
By the time, they left the house it had been a few hours. Assurances that she would try and call regularly to check in with her parents, as well as visit when she could, made them feel better. Nick wasn’t sure how often the girl should return, but with such excellent control he thought she could visit safely even without him.
Lenora found being a vampire very advantageous. While she had rarely needed to buy her own drink in a bar since she was a teen sneaking in with a fake I.D., with the ability to glamour it wasn’t even a challenge.
Gazing at a particularly cute boy talking with his girlfriend, she caught his eyes and said, “Buy us a drink?”
Nodding in a slight daze, the young man waved the bartender to his end of the bar, where the girls ordered a couple drinks. As he parted with his credit card, his girlfriend parted in a huff. Vicki shook her head as they found a table near the dance floor and said, “That was pretty mean of you. If that was his girlfriend, he’s not going to even know what he did wrong after you glamoured him.”
The blonde shrugged. Both vampires were in show stopping dresses that revealed a lot of leg and cleavage. They were being noticed by other men and Vicki knew they would have had offers without Lenora’s toying with the man.
Lenora tapped her chin looking thoughtfully at the humans dancing, drinking and generally having a good time. “You know we could have something like this. Then we wouldn’t have to listen to those bossy vampires.
“Nicola and Audrey act like they are better than us and Marek’s too busy trying to hunt stray vampires to really pay attention to the club or what we’re doing for him there,” she complained.
V
icki listened to her friend’s thoughts and worried where it was taking her. For a blonde, Lenora really acted more like a red head than she did. Being a lot more cautious, Vicki was afraid of leaving the Lair, especially for good. She felt safe there and, unlike her friend, the red head got along well with the others. Her room was nice and Marek had given them money to decorate them as they liked.
It felt a little odd that they were in the rooms of vampires who had died fighting Cyrus, the elder vampire; whose army had also turned the women. Vicki felt somewhat of a visitor if just because the losses had been so recently felt by the coven. That wasn’t the coven’s fault and she couldn’t say any of them hadn’t tried to welcome them warmly; but Lenora seemed fixated on Nicola and, in her absence, Audrey. She wanted to be the most important woman in the coven; but even Vicki, who was equally new to Marek’s clan, knew that joining a group that had been together decades would require building trust and relationships. They could hardly expect to walk in and run the show.
Lenora didn’t see it that way. She had been a sorority president and had been the queen of her castle. Leaving college, the young woman used her connections to get a good job; but enjoyed her evenings and weekends. The two had met before being thrown together by Cyrus and been friends, but now they were still in need of one another. Vicki was quieter and watched people feeling them out and Lenora was certainly beginning to rub some of the coven in the wrong way.
“You would rather be alone than stay in the coven?” Vicki asked speaking just loud enough to be heard over the music blaring. Being vampires made it easier to hear even through the noise.
Shrugging her shoulders once more, the girl said, “We don’t have to be alone. We could find a few people and turn them or maybe find a couple vampires to join us. I think I could get Justin to come with us also.”
Justin had been a martial artist and teacher at a gym. Thinking he would be a good protector for the pair of vampires, who had no idea of how to really fight; Vicki simply nodded. Though she was still reluctant to leave Marek’s protection, the redhead wasn’t sure leaving was a bad idea. There was just one major problem, “We won’t have Nick’s blood to keep us normal. How will we survive without it?”
Giving her a smug look, she looked over her friend’s shoulder and curled her finger enticing one of a few men watching the beautiful women. When the man dressed in a t-shirt and jeans walked over, Vicki thought he was good looking and must work out to have the kinds of lean muscle he had. He leaned closer to speak to Lenora and she turned her head as if to speak in his ear. Instead the blonde’s fangs came out tapping a little of the man’s blood. It was brief and he didn’t struggle.
Before he moved away too quickly, the blonde seductress pierced the tip of her finger with her fang drawing a little of her blood. She pressed it to the little holes she had created. Moving close to lick away both his blood and hers, the little wounds were already healed over and hard to see any damage.
Wiping her lips, Lenora winked at the man and said, “Thanks, sweetie, now why don’t you go buy us a couple more of these?”
He wandered to the bar saying nothing and Lenora glanced to her friend. “We taste a little and clean up after ourselves so no one notices. The boys buy us drinks and life goes on as usual.”
Vicki had to admit that it had been smooth. If she hadn’t known better, the red head doubted she would have caught the move in the crowded room. Lenora added, “Sneak a boy to the bathroom or once we have a place of our own we can take them home, have a little fun and drink before sending them on their way.”
“It’s easy to do with Nick’s blood taking the edge off, but I remember the call of blood being a lot stronger. I couldn’t eat anything else either, and I like eating normal food,” pouted the red head still unsure of the idea. They had it easy and they were relatively spoiled from it. Certainly Vicki was comfortable in the Lair. Both her home and a place to socialize, they could sample liquor and men equally if they wanted.
The blonde sniffed in derision and retorted, “Then stay there and be an employee of Marek. Maybe he’ll officially make you a bartender or hostess. That might be to your liking. Take orders from Audrey and Nicola, I don’t care.”
Showing hurt and a fear of being abandoned by her only truly close friend in the Lair, despite being friendly with the rest of the house; Vicki finally shook her head and asked, “But how will we get a place as good as the Lair? We’ll need money to set up a place, won’t we?”
“I have an idea about that too,” Lenora said smugly keeping her plan to herself. “We don’t have to leave right away. I’ll work on it, but we should go out like this more often. Maybe we can take Justin or the other new guys with us.
“They can do their looking for vampires while escorting us and be less noticeable, right?” Lenora questioned rhetorically still smiling at her ingenuity.
The girls talked on and found a few guys to dance or buy them drinks; but that was the last they spoke of the matter. Vicki hoped it was just idle talk and tried to enjoy her night out. It had been awhile since she had left the Lair and it was nice to get out once in awhile.
Chapter 23- Cleaning Day
The sounds of Sponge Bob played from the TV while Nick tried to concentrate on his laptop. With Sami sitting cross legged in her cotton shorts and pink t-shirt eating milk and cereal beside him, it was certainly a change having a young teenager in the house. She was glued to the TV and virtually ignored him until the commercials, and then the girl liked to talk with him about anything and everything.
Nicola had spent a little time reading a book though she often looked over at him as if wishing that she could be alone with her boyfriend. One of the best things to come from Charlotte’s condition had been taking their relationship to the next level. For Nick being with Charlotte, even if it was at the same time as the vampire; was also quite enjoyable.
With the addition of Sami, who was on the same time table as Nicola; that kind of alone time was now going to require more arranging. He liked having the girl here, but there were obviously drawbacks and the growing pains of getting used to a second vampire being around would take time to work through.
It was daylight before he knew it and the two vampires were still awake by the time Charlotte wandered into the living room. She smiled seeing Sami looking just like any other teenage girl watching television and eating cereal for a snack. Even her slightly pale complexion hardly marked her as a vampire as much as a girl who had been in school for the winter and rarely spent time outside getting a tan.
The werewolf was still getting her coffee when Nick heard the key in the door. He had been so wrapped up in his studies and trying to ignore the vampires that he had missed the feeling of Geni and Lena coming up the building with the elevator.
“Cleaning day,” he remarked making the other women all look at him in surprise before hearing the door open. As they walked into the stares of three women, one of which was a stranger, the college girls looked up in surprise.
Geni noted the teenage girl sitting beside the man on the couch eating her cereal and joked, “What do you collect girls now, Nicky? Every time we come here it seems like another one shows up.”
While they shared a laugh, Lena tilted her head curiously. She could tell that the new girl was a vampire, though she felt like a muddled form of vampire and voran as well; since she had never fed on a human other than Nick.
Ignoring her look, Nick introduced the girls, “Lena and Geni, this is Sami. She had some issues come up at home and her family asked me to look after her. Sami, this is Geni my friend and house cleaner. The dark haired girl with her college books is our friend, Lena, who had an unusual time this year as well.”
Lena was a smart girl and understood that he was hardly telling them the whole truth, though it was a modified version of it at least. While she might be blond, Geni was smart enough to be able to tell that there were certainly things left unmentioned, but it wasn’t her job to pry. “So more people to clean up afte
r, Nicky?”
Another pair of presences walked from the hallway drawing Geni’s eyes and Logan said, “It might get easier pretty soon. Kate and I have leads on new jobs and a place to live, so we can get out of your hair. You might need the room, if Sami’s going to be here for awhile.”
Being talked about, Sami answered, “Charlotte volunteered to tutor me, since I can’t go to school right now. She’s going to home school me.”
Her brother looked at his sister looking only slightly surprised as he commented, “Well, if anyone here could get you through high school courses as a teacher, it would be my sister.”
Lena followed up on that idea and said, “I actually have homework that she might be able to help me with or maybe a combination of Charlotte and Nick, since he seems to find so much on the internet.”
Nodding at the dark haired girl, Nick figured that she must have something to talk to him about in particular. Though she most likely did have homework, as the girl continued to work on catching up on her courses before the end of the semester; Lena likely brought it as an excuse.
Geni sighed and said sarcastically, “You all enjoy yourselves and I’ll get started with the bedroom and master bath, if that’s all right.”
Getting up from her chair, Nicola said, “I’ll give you a hand. Nick’s been pushed out of his bed as we rotate between those of us who work at night needing to sleep during the day and normal people sleeping at night. I’ll help you pull the bedding and see if I can get some of the girls’ clothing put away.”
She gave a smile to the pretty vampire, who she knew was also Nick’s girlfriend; though Geni still wondered what was going on between him and Charlotte. In discussions with Lena, she had sided with Nicola thinking the two made such a nice couple. While Lena knew about the supernatural side of the creatures in the apartment, her guess was as uninformed as Geni about his dating life.
Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) Page 31