The Family: Countdown To A Curse

by Ford, S. M.

  Chapter 6

  THE WHOLE STORY

  Right then, I felt like barfing again. My head was spinning crazily, like the time I sneaked too many sips from Gramps’ glass of scotch. “Hold on! What? Wait a stinking minute! Your telling me that your vampires?! Oh. My. God. Come on! Wouldn’t I have noticed that my parents are vampires?! You’ve been out in the sun a million times! I haven’t seen you sleeping in a coffin or sucking the neighbor’s blood!” Dad put his arm around me, but I didn’t want to be confined. I jumped up and crossed my arms, staring at my parents. “Well?” I yelled. Mom stood up and looked me straight in the eyes. “No Calli, your Dad is NOT a vampire. I am. And you will be. On your fifteenth birthday. That’s why we had to bring you here before then.” Mom paused and breathed deeply. She reached her hands out and touched my arm. “Once you turn fifteen, there will be some changes that you’ll have to adjust to. By the time you turn sixteen hopefully we can have you back in the mainstream again. And no, I don’t make a habit of drinking the neighbor’s blood. Filthy habit. There are other ways to deal with that. I promise to teach you everything you need to know over the next year. I’m more sorry than you could ever imagine, but none of this was our doing honey. It all came from Great Sophia and her damned indiscreet libido.” I just sat there, not moving. Numb. My mind was racing a million miles an hour. Yes, this was super shocking. Mind blowing and life changing. But also ... maybe just the teeniest bit ... awesome! Once my head cleared I might feel differently. I wasn’t sure yet. I came back to reality and found that Mom was still talking. Hope I hadn’t missed anything important. “...so what that means is that you have one year to figure the whole thing out. If you can break the curse before your sixteenth birthday, we will all be free!” Oops. I probably needed to have been listening to whatever she said before that. “Sorry, what Mom?” I muttered. “I said that during your fifteenth year you have a once in a lifetime opportunity. We all did. There is a small window of opportunity that opens during the fifteenth year of life. YOU could be the one that breaks the curse Calli! I tried during my fifteenth, and so did Thyia and Iezabel and Gramps and Fred and everyone else before them.” Wait. “Who’s Fred?!” I frowned. But then I felt like Mom needed a hug. So I grabbed her and squeezed her tight. I whispered “Can I ... feel your teeth?” Mom stiffened in my arms. Uh-oh. Probably not a good joke after all. Then she chuckled and said “That’s my Calli. You always were a tough cookie. I knew this would be a big challenge for you. But I also knew in my heart that you were going to be okay. No matter what. Oh, and Fred is Umfredo, my Uncle. Gramps’ twin brother.” I hugged her even harder. “Gramps has a twin?! This could be fun Mom. Watch and see. Now, if that’s all the horrific life changing news you have for me...I think I’ll crash for the night! I’m sure I’ll have twenty-thousand questions for you tomorrow, though!” I shot them each a smile and headed up the stairs. Dad called after me. “Your Aunt Iezabel said she fixed your room up before we arrived today. It should be all ready for a good night’s sleep Muffin. Oh, and not everyone in the family knows about the curse. Until we sort it all out, just keep it quiet. What do you kids say, keep it on the down low?” Dad smiled, obviously proud of himself. I paused on the steps. “Okaaay. Thanks Dad. Wait, I thought Iezabel was Mom’s cousin? Wouldn’t that make her my second cousin or something?” Dad rubbed his head and then grinned at me. “Honey, let’s just call her Auntie. You’ll see why tomorrow. We’re having a family reunion. You might want to get some good rest to prepare for it.” Dad winked and Mom socked him in the shoulder. What now, I thought? What could possibly be weirder or more exhausting than finding out you and your mom are secretly vampires?!

  I climbed the three long staircases to the top floor. I was thrashed and my head was fuller than full. But I was excited to see my new room in this new old house. I ran the last few steps. Just as I was about to grab the brass doorknob, my cell phone rang. It was Donna. It seemed like a million years since I had seen her! The time on my phone screen said it was 11:47 p.m. Crazy, but it had only been 15 hours since we left Berkeley. “Hey girl!” I shouted into my phone. “Hey Cal, how’d the move go? What’s Freedom like? And how’s your house? Any cuties next door?!” I could not possibly tell Donna anything over the phone. She’d never believe me. And she might not come for the weekend. Or ever. So I kept it short. “OMG, Donna. Your not gonna believe this place. You’ve GOT to come this weekend! I have SO much to tell you already! Your coming right?!” Donna squealed in my ear. “Of COURSE I’m coming! I wouldn’t miss it even if my Dad offered to take me car shopping. Which he did. And I, clearly the best friend in the entire world, said no. No way am I not coming.” Donna was almost 16 and would have her drivers license pretty soon. Her parents were buying her a car for her Sweet 16. Ironic. She was getting ready to get a car and some freedom. I moved to Freedom and was getting ready to get some fangs. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I took a deep breath. “You totally are the best, D. I gotta dash though. I’ll text you the address. See you Friday night!”

  When I stepped into my new room it was completely dark. There’s got to be a light switch near the door, I thought. I ran my hand up and down the wall till I found it. A flip of the finger and the room was bathed in soft light. I held my breath for a moment. Before me was the biggest bedroom I had ever set foot in. The first thing I saw was a wall of windows that looked out across a valley. In the moonlight I could see the dark outlines of houses and barns. Some houses had warm yellow lights in the windows and some were just dark. There was a big square bed in the middle of the room. Directly over the bed was a bed-sized skylight. The night sky above was cram-packed with bright white stars. Two of the bedroom walls were lined with bookshelves that were chock full. In a cutout at the center of the bookcases hung a huge square chalkboard. Someone, probably Aunt Thiya, had written “Welcome Callidora!” across it. The carpet was extra thick, like in the hallway. When I walked my toes sank deeply into it. To the left was a gigantic table. On the wall above the table was an old wooden cabinet. There must have been about 100 tiny drawers in it. Each drawer had faded, swirly writing on it. I made a mental note to check THOSE out tomorrow. Beyond the table was a hallway. Yes, a hallway in my bedroom! Too much. As I peered down the long corridor, I saw three more doors. Jiggling the big brass doorknobs, I found all were locked. The wall of windows continued down the hall. Between each window were old looking portraits of people I didn’t know. I wondered if they had all been vampires too. So much to figure out! I walked back towards my bed and hopped up onto it. A thick purple book lay across my pillow. ‘Le Persone Colpite Dalle Mie Azioni’ (translates to “Those Affected By My Actions”) was engraved on the leather cover. I opened the big book. The first page looked like a handwritten letter. The writing was really curvy and curly and really faded. Some of it looked like it might be in Italian. Or Latin, maybe. On the next page was a gray and white portrait of a girl. Long curly hair sat loosely pinned on top of her head. Her face was turned as if looking right at me. Her eyes were huge with thick long lashes. Dramatic and high cheekbones framed her face. Her lips were full and pouty. She looked a bit sad. Or maybe angry? At the bottom of the page it said “Sophia Roccatagliata, Sono nato del 25 gennaio anni 1751. So THIS was my great great great great great grandma Sophia?! The one that started the whole curse thing! Wow, she was a hottie! Funny, we shared the same birthday, January 25! Seeing her face made me sort of wish I could have met her. I turned page after page. More and more faces. I’d finish looking through this later. Too tired to think straight anymore, I curled up under the heavy covers.

  Chapter 7

  THE REUNION

  “Calli! Get up! It’s almost time honey!” Mom’s voice shattered my dream just as Bela Lugosi said “I vaaant your blooood!” Swoosh! Bela disappeared in a wisp of smoke as I sat straight up in bed. My bedroom door burst open. Mom stood there looking a little wild eyed. “Calli! Get moving sweetie! Listen, I’ve got the house ready and the food is all done! I think I sh
ould change my outfit. What do you think about my hair?!” Wow. It seemed like Mom might be a little excited about today. “Your perfect Mom. You always are. In fact, if I didn’t love you so much I’d probably hate you. Your beautiful.” I yawned and scratched my head. Funny. I had never really thought about how young my Mom looked. Friends always made comments about how they wished their Moms looked like her. But I never really looked at my parents. I mean, who does? Then Mom was off and running again. As she sprinted down the hall she shouted “Thanks Cal! Your so sweet! And your so late! Get it moving honey!”

  By the time I headed downstairs it was nearly 11:00 a.m. As I descended the stairways I could hear voices getting louder and louder. When I reached the second floor landing I got a clear view. The entire downstairs was filled! There had to be over 100 people! Just how big is this family?! Then it hit me. Overnight the entire house had been transformed. Gone was the dust. Gone were the sheets that covered all the furniture. Gone were the cobwebs. The walls that supported the heavy beamed ceiling had been freshly painted! Delicious smells were wafting up from the kitchen below. I knew my Mom didn’t sleep much. But this amount of work was not humanly possible in one night! Then I smiled. I had momentarily forgotten. My Moms not human. I took a deep breath and headed down to meet the family.

  “Callidora! Do come and meet your Uncle Steven! You’ll simply adore him I am sure!” Aunt Thyia had popped up next to me. She put her arm around my shoulder and steered me across the room. “Oh, hi Aunt Thyia. Um, sorry but your kind of breaking my bones a little.” I smiled hopefully at her and she loosened her vice grip a bit. “Sorry dear. I forgot. You haven’t vitalized yet! Ah, here he is! Steven, oh Steven! Do meet Callidora!” I made a mental note to ask Mom later what ‘vitalized’ meant. “Well, I’m sure pleased to finally meet you little miss. Call me Uncle Steve honey. Only my wife and my mom call me Steven.” His smile was slow and wide and very white. Uncle Steve was a tall square man. He stuck his huge paw of a hand out and grabbed mine. For such a big guy, his handshake was surprisingly gentle. Completely the opposite of his wife! His eyes were soft and brown. There were little crinkly laugh lines at the corners. I instantly liked Uncle Steve. Before I could say more than a couple of words, swoosh! Aunt Iezabel appeared behind me and whisked me away! She winked, waved at Uncle Steve and Aunt Thyia and we were off! Her curly red hair bounced with each step she took. “Sweet Calli, I. Am. So. Juiced. To have you here! I mean, we have waited 14, almost 15, years for this moment! You must have a thousand questions! I. Am. Here. For. You. Okay, let’s do this!” Aunt Iezabel headed for the kitchen. “Here, hold this.” She shoved a half eaten ham and cheese croissant into my hand. “Have some if your hungry. They are super good!” She was bent over and rummaging around in a deep cabinet. Her backside wiggled in the air as she threw things around inside the cupboard. Whoa. Awkward for me to notice, but Aunt Iezabel was quite cakey! “I know we have a karaoke machine in here Cal. We can use it to introduce you to everyone!” Oh, no. Really not okay. Please don’t find it, I thought. Just then a slender dark skinned man peeked around the corner of the cabinet. He raised his eyebrows at me, put his forefinger to his lips, smiled, and crept forward. In an instant he silently rounded the corner. With a flourish he swatted Aunt Iezabel roundly on her bottom! “Jeez, what the?” Bang! Aunt Iezabel knocked her head into the cabinet shelf. “Ouch! Son of a...” She pulled her head out of the cabinet and spun around. “Oh Zane, my lovebug!” she crooned. Zane patted her tiny tummy and said “How’s my favorite mamma and my beautiful babies?!” He looked over at me and grinned. His teeth were stark white against his brown skin. “Twins!” he laughed, and patted Aunt Iezabel’s belly again.Before I could reply they fell into each others arms. As they stood smooching and whispering I gratefully made a quick escape. Finally free from my aunties’ arms I ducked into the crowd. Time for a little recon. I was curious about my family. But I might learn more if they weren’t so busy gushing over me.

  As I made my way through the crowd I caught bits of different conversations. “...and I thought well that wasn’t very nice! So when she left I just sucked it dry and left it on the porch for her to find! Ahahahahaha!” Okay. No wonder Mom and Dad didn’t want me to meet the family until now. And “...actually the butcher that’s there on Thursdays will sell the day’s drippings. I tell him it’s for animal traps. Now, of course I wouldn’t suggest drinking it! It’s more than an hour old, so it’s just not fresh enough! BUT, if you cook it into a sauce or a bread pudding it is phenomenal!” Holy cow. I really needed to talk to Mom about this whole blood thing. I am not eating butcher shop blood pudding. I ‘ll starve or die first. Or whatever happens to a vampire that doesn’t get blood. Gross. “Cuz! Hold up!” I turned and saw Rosi slipping through the crowd towards me. Greg was following close behind her. “Hey Rosi! Hi Greg! Jeez, our family is HUGE! Do these people all live in Freedom?!” Rosi rolled her eyes and pulled out one earbud. “Ya, it’s a lot, right? Most of ‘em live here, but a few don’t. Like Gram and Gramps.” How weird. I just realized my grandparents had other grandkids. I had always thought I was the only one. “Are there others? I mean, do our grandparents have any other grandkids? Do I have more cousins?” Greg still hadn’t said a word, but he shook his head. Rosi chimed in “Not really. Like, we have a lot of Aunties and Uncles and Cousins. But really our moms are the only kids Gram and Gramps had. It’s complicated.” I felt like Rosi might have a lot of information. Information that I needed. “So how about we grab some food and head upstairs. We can check out everything from the second floor.” I pointed upstairs. There were several alcoves that looked like box seats at a concert venue. “I don’t know why our house has those, but you guys wanna go?” Greg nodded. Rosi was already headed for the food tables. “Ya don’t hafta ask me twice, cuz!” she called back over her shoulder.

  We made it through the crowd without anyone stopping us to chat. Except once. A large woman with long red hair and bright green eyes grabbed Rosi. She picked her up and hugged her so hard I thought Rosi might pop. Rosi’s feet were swinging through the air like a rag doll. “Ambrogia Ambrogia my little Ambrogia! I cannot believe you are going to be 15 this year! I swear it makes my special eyes tear right up! My little Ambrosia’s just growing up so fast!” Rosi was being squeezed so hard she could barely speak. She managed to mutter “Hi Aunt Kharis. Sorry, but I can’t really breathe. Didn’t vitalize yet...” Aunt Kharis immediately dropped Rosi. “Oh well, of course you haven’t dear. No need to apologize. You’ll be right as rain soon enough.” There it was again. I had to ask Mom about this vitalizing thing. Rosi waved “Okay, thanks Aunt Kharis. Gotta get some lunch now! You know, keep up my strength and all!” We ducked into the kitchen and grabbed whatever food was closest to the door. When we finally got upstairs to the alcove we were all giggling. “My special eyes! They are teary! And please don’t apologize for ME choking YOU!” Rosi faked a dramatic faint onto the couch. We settled in to eat and watch our crazy family below. There seemed to be an instant bond of sorts between us three now. I definitely liked it. Donna and I were as close as friends could be. But this felt different. I wondered if there was an instant bond between all cousins. If there wasn’t, there should be. This felt good.