“I see you dressed for the occasion,” Daniel observed a bit icily, but Kyle ignored his sharp tone.
“Had to see if the soon to be human would like a date with the finest wolf east of the Mississippi once she, you know, is human again.”
“I’d love to,” Jude said, smiling. She caught Daniel’s glum look out of the corner of her eye and made a show of looking around Kyle.
“What are you looking for?” Kyle said, glancing behind him and seeing nothing.
“The finest wolf east of the Mississippi,” Jude said, straight faced. “You did bring him with you, right?”
Kyle looked flabbergasted for a moment before shaking his head and stalking off, muttering something about “human girls” and “stick with she-wolves” as he did so.
Jude smiled at Daniel whose lips had the slightest upturn. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it.
“Do you think that was rude of me?” she said. “I think he might have been serious.”
“He was serious, alright,” Daniel said, “but you’re well within your rights to say no. Don’t worry about being rude though; werewolves practically invented the thing.”
“I might be able to say the same thing about vampires.”
Daniel opened his mouth to respond, but didn’t get the chance as Mafe appeared and asked him to see to her child before Daphne made too much of a spectacle of herself.
“I’m sorry, Jude,” Mafe said. “My child is normally-”
“More composed,” Jude interrupted. “Yeah, I kind of figured that when I met her, but then Daniel explained she’s got some weird relationship with champagne that turns her into a blonde airhead. No offense.”
Mafe brushed her dark blonde locks off her shoulder absentmindedly.
“No worries,” she said, “I don’t actually consider myself a blonde. Jemima, however, most certainly does.” The older vampire pointed over Jude’s shoulder and she cringed when she turned and saw Jemima glaring at her. The blonde vampire wasted no time turning around and disappearing up the stairs.
Jude made to go after her, but Mafe stopped her.
“What do you plan on doing?” the vampire asked her and Jude shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Be her friend?”
Mafe’s brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side, a trait, Jude noted, the Ward clan seemed to have in common.
“You would befriend her after all she’s done to you?”
Jude thought about her own days as a sixteen year old and how hard it had been to make friends in school. Heck, the only friend she really had was Lux, who made sure to include Jude in group activities with her other friends, but Jude had never really felt like one of the gang. She could, she admitted, actually relate to Jemima.
“I’m going to try,” Jude said and Mafe released her, pointing to the top of the stairs before gesturing to the left.
“Third door on the right,” she said. “Good luck.”
Jude nodded to the ancient vampire before speeding up the stairs, coming to a halt outside a bright yellow door that stood out like a beacon of light in the otherwise gloomy house. Knocking, she heard Jemima moving around before the door swung open. Vampire Barbie, as Lux had called her, wasted no time in fixing Jude with her best glare.
“What do you want?” she demanded, daring the human girl to step out of line.
“I just want to talk,” Jude said, raising her hands in a placating manner.
Jemima looked disgusted by the idea, but nonetheless stepped out of the way and held the door open, gesturing for Jude to enter.
Upon seeing Jemima’s room, Jude had to admit it wasn’t what she’d have pictured for the spiteful and vindictive vampire. The walls were painted a bright yellow color, shot through with stripes of teal and pink. A four poster bed had a lace coverlet and sparkling curtains Lux would’ve loved. And all around, scattered about, were dolls and stuffed animals and pretty little trinkets obviously picked out with care. The only part of the room that fit with Jude’s image of Jemima was the white wardrobe left open to reveal skin tight dresses and leather pants.
“You’re just a girl trying to grow up,” Jude said and then silently cursed when she realized she’d spoken aloud. She turned to find Jemima standing right behind her, a murderous look on her face.
“I am not a child!” Jemima shouted and Jude recoiled internally, but externally remained the picture of calm.
“Maybe not in age,” Jude said, “but you are in body. You’re trapped, aren’t you? You want nothing more than to grow up, but at the same time, you can’t let go of a childhood you never had. Why is that?”
“Shut up,” Jemima barked, stepping around Jude to slam her wardrobe shut. “You know nothing about me.”
“We can fix that,” Jude said. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you and maybe I can help.”
“You can’t help,” Jemima said. “More importantly, why would you even want to?” She glared at Jude, a challenge written in her eyes, but something in Jude refused to back down.
“Because you need a friend,” Jude said, “and I’m willing to be that for you.”
Jemima scoffed.
“You’re just a human,” Jemima said and Jude nodded.
“You’re right, I am just a human. But I’m a human who knows a lot more about friendship than you.”
“Oh right,” the vampire snapped, angrily picking up a few errant stuffed animals off the floor. “You have what, one friend? That makes you an expert?”
“Actually,” Jude said, “it does. Not only does that mean I have one more friend than you, but it also means I know what it’s like to not have friends. I know how it feels to be surrounded by people just like you and none of them notice you; they all pay attention to your best friend or your older brother, who isn’t all that social, but at least people notice him. But you know how aggravating that is, don’t you? You know what it’s like to have an older brother who can hang out with the people you want to notice you and yet he doesn’t. He has the world at his feet and he just throws it all away.”
Jemima hiccuped, a childish sound, but that’s not what caught Jude’s attention. Awestruck, she watched Jemima’s eyes change from their deep brown color to a vibrant blue. As she continued to stare, Jude realized Jemima’s glamour was still intact. Furthermore-
“You can cry,” she said and Jemima dashed away the tears, hurrying over to her vanity to fix her smearing makeup.
“I’m a vampire fluke,” the girl hissed bitterly as she tried to salvage her smeared eye makeup.
Jude stepped up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder, keeping it there even though Jemima flinched.
They stared at each other in the mirror, neither girl wanting to be the first to break eye contact. At last, though, Jemima looked away.
“Don’t tell anyone,” she whispered. “Even Daniel doesn’t know.”
“You know,” Jude said, silently acknowledging Jemima’s request while simultaneously changing the topic, “if you really want to look older, there are things you could do with your hair and makeup. You won’t look that much older, but still.”
Jemima sniffed and grabbed a tissue, blobbing away her ruined mascara before looking at Jude in the reflection of the mirror. Her eyes still watered, but they were starting to fade back to the dark eye color all vampires seemed to possess.
“Like what?” the girl said, sounding much younger than usual.
Jude smiled at her and gathered her long blonde hair in her hands before twisting it.
“It’s pretty,” she said, grabbing a clip from the vanity, “but a bit too much.” She clipped Jemima’s hair up until the length mimicked that of a chic bob. The young vampire frowned, not entirely sold on the look, but Jude didn’t let that deter her.
“And I know the girls in magazines wear mini dresses, and I don’t mean to offend you,” Jude said, “but you look like a little girl playing dress up.”
“I never finished,” Jemima said, awkwardly
gesturing to her body.
“Developing,” Jude said and the girl nodded. “Thankfully, I’m glad you didn’t, because had you, you would’ve been the definition of a blonde bombshell. Every man would fall madly in love with you and there would be no one left for me.”
Jemima actually laughed at that, a light, bubbly giggle that escaped before she could stamp it down.
Jude smiled at her before spinning her around in her chair and setting to reworking her makeup.
“Even if every man fell in love with me,” Jemima said, “Daniel would still be in love with you.”
Jude caught herself before she smeared lipgloss all over Jemima’s face and frowned.
“I don’t understand how he could possibly love me considering how little we know about each other.”
“Vampires just know,” Jemima said. “You get to the point where you just know people are going to change your life.”
“Or you get to the point where you know they’re going to be an easy snack,” Jude said and watched with a hint of satisfaction as Jemima’s face fell.
“That’s not why I attacked you,” Jemima said. “I know Mafe and Daniel and even Daphne think I attacked you because you were an easy target, or because I was jealous, but that’s not it.” She stared down at her fidgeting hands.
Jude was surprised at how rapidly human Jemima was becoming, as though once the initial wall had been breached, the rest were falling like dominoes.
“Vampires just know,” Jemima said, repeating her earlier comment. There was something in her voice that made Jude think there was a deeper meaning she was supposed to pick up on, but she couldn’t figure it out.
With an indignant sigh, Jemima clutched her hands tightly and quickly glanced at Jude.
“I didn’t attack you because I knew you were going to change Daniel’s life,” the vampire said. “I attacked you because I knew you were going to change mine.”
Jude frowned at this statement, but quickly recovered and shrugged off her blue blazer.
“Here,” she said, holding the jacket up, “put this on.”
Jemima did as told, allowing Jude to help her into the blazer before doing up the button in the middle.
Jude turned the young girl around and pointed towards a floor length mirror propped up against the wall.
“Just an idea of what you can do,” Jude said and watched Jemima step closer to the mirror to get a better look at herself.
With her hair up, her flawless facial features were put on display, Jude having emphasized the younger girl’s eyes and lips in a way that was not only mature, but still appropriate for a girl forever trapped in the body of a sixteen year old. The blazer gave Jemima a polished look and helped cover up the revealing minidress the girl was sporting.
“I look... mature,” Jemima finally settled on. She stared at Jude in the mirror for a moment before a grin spread across her face.
Jude stepped up and placed her hands on Jemima’s shoulders, taking a minute to look beyond the glamour. There was Jemima, sickly and on the verge of death, but she could see in the girl’s eyes the same vitality Daphne had seen all those years ago.
“Now you’re beautiful,” Jude said. “No glamour required.”
•§•
“Are you girls doing alright?” Daniel asked as he entered Jemima’s room after being granted permission to enter.
Jude and Jemima were in the process of sorting through the blonde vampire’s wardrobe in search of clothing that suited her new look, while tossing clothes that were, as Jemima had decided, “tacky and tasteless.”
“Actually, Daniel,” Jude said, “I need to talk to you. You are, after all, Jemima’s older brother and I’m going to need you to sign as her guardian, assuming Jemima agrees.”
The young vampire’s ears perked up at the mention of her name and she emerged from scouring her wardrobe, looking between Jude and Daniel, who looked confused as well.
“Agree to what?” Jemima said and Jude smiled.
“I was wondering,” she said, “if you’d like to go to prom with me?”
Jemima gawked at Jude for a moment before hurtling herself in the girl’s arms and screaming with delight.
“I’d love to!” she said and hugged Jude tight, a warning from Daniel keeping her from squeezing too hard.
“Oh Daniel,” Jemima said, “please say yes. Please say I can go.”
Daniel hesitated, glancing between his sister and Jude and not looking at all convinced.
“If you want,” Jude said, “I’m sure the school could always use another chaperone. They might let you, and maybe Daphne. Would that make you feel better?”
“Much better,” Daniel said and then smiled down at his eager younger sister.
“Is that a yes?” Jemima dared, staring up at her brother.
Daniel nodded and caught his sister as she jumped up to hug him.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said before zooming out of sight, no doubt to tell Mafe and Daphne the good news.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Daniel said, turning his attention back to Jude who looked out of place in her sweater in jeans as she stood amid the colorful, glittery realm that was Jemima’s room.
“I wanted to,” Jude said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but Jemima didn’t have a happy childhood, did she?”
Daniel closed the bedroom door before coming to lean against one of the bed posts. He frowned and shook his head.
“Our mother died giving birth to Jem,” he said. “She’d always been the compassion to our father’s cruelty and with her out of the picture, Jem suffered. I was our father’s firstborn and a son, which gave me more favor in his eyes. Jem also looked just like our mother, which didn’t help matters. She was raised by nannies just as mean as our father. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do. In a way, it’s a good thing Daphne turned her so young, because I don’t think Jem could’ve handled the harshness of her life much longer. At the same time, though, she is stuck in the body of a child and never really had a childhood.”
He paused in his telling and took in Jude’s calm demeanor as she mimicked his posture, leaning against the post opposite from him.
“What gave it away?” he said and watched as Jude swept an arm around to encompass the expanse of the room.
“I remember my room looking a bit like this when I was eight,” Jude said, “but there are knickknacks here and there that say Jemima wants to grow up. She’s sort of stuck in the middle of childhood and adulthood, and that’s a difficult place to be, even if you’re just human. I can’t imagine being stuck there forever.”
“So is that what the hair and jacket were about?” Daniel said, gesturing in the direction his sister had disappeared. “Are you trying to make her feel older?”
Jude shook her head.
“I’m trying to make her feel good about herself,” she said. “I want her to know she doesn’t have to flaunt her body and hurt people just to feel something. I want her to feel capable and in control. At the same time, I’d like her to have the childhood she never had, hence asking her to prom. What do you think?”
Daniel pushed off the post and strode over to Jude, catching her face between his hands.
“I think,” he said, “that if I didn’t love you before, I certainly do now.”
Jude shook her head, dislodging his hands and stepped back.
“What if you’re wrong about me?” she said.
When Daniel tried to argue, she cut him off.
“Jemima told me why she really attacked me. It wasn’t because she was jealous, it was because she was afraid. It wasn’t that she thought I was going to change your life, it was that she knew I was going to change hers. What if what you felt when you first saw me, wasn’t the effect I was going to have on you, but the effect I was going to have on Jem?”
Daniel looked down at his feet as he sighed. He took a moment to regain his composure before looking at Jude.
“Why are you so against m
e loving you?” he said.
Jude shook her head.
“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just not about to give up my life for someone I don’t know. I don’t mean to sound cruel, but your love doesn’t mean anything to me, Daniel. Yes, I’m flattered, but when it comes to the argument of me being a human or a vampire, your love isn’t a valid reason. I’m not the kind of girl who falls madly in love in a heartbeat and then uproots her life to be with that person forever. I’m sorry if that’s what you want-”
“It’s not,” Daniel said, cutting her off. “I don’t want you to be anyone but yourself, but I wish you’d accept what I’m saying as true.”
“Give me time, then,” Jude said and laughed when Daniel looked surprised. “I’ve got a few years before I’ll start looking older than you; stick around and get to know me. Maybe you’ll see that I’m right, or perhaps I’ll come to accept that vampires really do know the love of their life when she walks into a room.”
“Or a lake house,” Daniel said and smiled at Jude. “You’d really do that?”
Jude shrugged.
“I don’t see why not,” she said. “You obviously have feelings for me and while I don’t fully understand what I feel for you, I know there is something there. While there is the possibility I may never be willing to give up my human life, I’d at least like more than a week to decide.”
“Fair enough,” Daniel said and took Jude’s hand. “But just in case things don’t go right in the next twenty-four hours, please know I’ll look out for you. I would like to get to know you, Jude, be it as a human or a vampire.”
Jude nodded and gave Daniel’s hand a squeeze before dropping it. Seconds later, the bedroom door burst open and Jemima appeared, Jude’s cellphone in her hand.
“Your mother called,” Jemima said and handed over the phone. Sure enough, Jude had a missed call and a text from her mother wondering where she was.
“I should get going,” Jude said and smiled at Daniel and Jemima before walking towards the door.
“Hey Jude?”
She turned back to see Jemima looking impossibly small next to her older brother. She smiled at the picture the pair of them made, Jemima with her blonde hair and party girl clothes, juxtaposed next to Daniel’s dark looks and conservative dress.
The Week I Was A Vampire Page 13