I lean over and sniff at her. The scent of berries is coming from her hair, but there’s another scent under it. Not as strong as Sierra, but Sophia’s not angry enough to throw a controller across the room. “Yeah. Cotton candy.”
Sophia tilts her head. “I used berry blast shampoo. Not the princess one.”
“Okay, guys,” I say. “This is gonna sound weird, but I’m not smelling shampoo. You guys smell like stuff.”
“Is that a vampire thing?” asks Sierra.
“I think so.”
Sam runs over. “Smell me too.”
I grab his hand and sniff at his arm, getting a mild whiff of chocolate. “Sweaty socks.”
The girls laugh. He smirks.
“Seriously, you smell like chocolate.” I ruffle his hair.
“What’s up with the sniffing?” asks Dad.
“I dunno. That guy I told you about gave me some blood to drink from a thermos, and it kinda tasted like a cheeseburger.”
“Eww,” says Sophia, our vegetarian.
“What happens if a veggie becomes a vampire?” asks Sam. “Would they bite carrots?”
Sophia gasps and stares at Dad, expecting him to do something.
“It might not bother them.” I shrug. “I don’t have to kill to eat.”
“I like cotton candy,” says Sierra, snapping her teeth at Sophia.
“That is so strange.” Dad shakes his head.
“Maybe they all smell sweet because kids are like the vampire version of dessert.” I put my arms around my sisters and pull them close. “But don’t worry. I promise I won’t bite you guys. Dad would ground me until I’m thirty.”
Sam walks closer, giving me his serious look. “You can bite me if you’re gonna die. I don’t want you to die.”
Aww. I lean up and hug him. “That’s very sweet of you, Sam. But… way too awkward. Like thinking about eating the dog.”
“Arf?” asks Sam.
“We’re animals now?” asks Sierra.
“No… Ugh. Bad analogy. I mean I can’t think of you guys as a food source. You’re my family.”
“What are you planning to do for food?” asks Mom.
That’s a damn good question. “Uhh. Honestly? I have no idea. I’m just learning this stuff.”
“Perhaps I can help,” says Dalton from behind.
Dalton
9
I gasp and whirl around, staring at Dalton. I’m not sure how he got in the house since the door never made a sound. He’s ditched the jacket for a dark grey polo and white pants, which makes him look like the social studies teacher I had junior year, only way younger. Wow, it feels so strange to be free from high school.
Dalton grins at me like he’s gotten away with something and saunters up behind the sofa.
Neither Mom nor Dad react to him, and my siblings have gone catatonic. My parents also look like a pair of animatronics from Disney during a power failure.
I leap/fly over the sofa and land beside him, hands balled into fists. It’s pretty difficult to loom at a guy a full head taller than me while I’m barefoot, but I still try.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Dalton offers a disarming smile. “There are some things I still need to teach you.”
“You’ve got a lot of―” I stop shouting and gesture to my right. Why is my family tripping balls?”
“Aww, don’t mind them. They’ve merely encountered a temporary mental fog. A bit like pausing one of those video game things. They won’t remember my being here.”
“What about your being an asshole?” I shout.
He cringes. “Somewhat harsh considering I saved your life. In, umm, a manner of speaking.”
“You locked me in a mausoleum na―” I drop my voice to almost a whisper. “Naked. And said I’m supposed to be your servant or something.”
“Ahh, that.”
“Yes, that!” I yell.
“Consider it a test.” He leans closer, smiling. “Which you passed.”
I fold my arms. “A test?”
“Indeed.” He straightens, glancing around at the room. “I’m quite pleased to see that you’re no one’s pet. Call it a test of your resolve. Though, while I admire your determination, it was unwise to return to your mortal family. It would’ve been easier for them thinking you had died. Most of us disappear and create a false identity far away from anyone who might recognize us.”
“You’ve got a weird definition of easier.” I turn away, hands clasped over my mouth and nose, trying not to let my emotions get the better of me. “You didn’t see what my death did to them. I can’t be responsible for that if I have any say. Besides, they’re okay with it. Dad even helped me move my room to the basement to stay out of the sun.”
Dalton’s sigh grows into a sad chuckle. “Fair enough.”
“Did you leave your family when you, umm, sprouted fangs?” I pull my stare off the floor and glance at him.
“I didn’t have to,” says Dalton. “My father died in a prison cell when I was eleven. Mum got the consumption a couple years after that.”
“Something ate her?” I blink in shock.
The somberness in his face breaks apart into laughter. “No… Oh, child. Don’t they teach you history anymore? Consumption is what they used to call tuberculosis. After that, I wound up on my own at fifteen. Ran with a pack of grifters for a while, until I tried to sweet talk the wrong woman out of money one night.” He grins. “I took my last mortal breath in 1880, in a tiny upstairs room of the Nag’s Head pub.”
“Holy shit… you’re like old.” I fidget. “Sorry about your parents.”
“Ehh. Dad was a bit of a shite, but mum didn’t deserve her end. Ah well. Long past.” He swoops over and puts an arm around my back. “You buggered off before I was quite done going over some of the basics.”
“You locked me in a crypt.” I frown.
“Yes, yes. Fair enough. Look, meet me outside once your people are in for the night, an’ I’ll go over the lot. And buck up a bit, hey?” He presses a fist to my chin and gives a playful shove.
I gawk at him. “Buck up? Are you seriously asking me to strip naked again?”
Dalton face-palms. Like actually face-palms. “No, luv. Buck up means cheer up. How’d you get naked out of that?”
“I thought you meant like ‘in the buck.’”
“Umm. That’s not exactly what that phrase means, luv… though being naked is usually involved.” He winks. “Ahh, to be innocent again. Just, stay cheery, right? And meet me outside.”
“Do I look sad to you?”
He gazes at me for a moment. “Well, I suppose not. Just a lot of newbies spend the first few decades all hacked off and emo. Crying about living so long everyone they know dies, crying about missing the sun…”
“Considering I go from white to lobster in fifteen minutes, I can live without it.”
“Well, don’t forget, it’s white-to-ash-pile in fifteen seconds now.”
I blink. “That fast?”
“Middle of the day, no cloud cover, summer? Aye, fifteen seconds is about right. Best way to snuff it if you’re lookin’ to do it on purpose though. I hear you barely feel a thing. Sun on a rainy day’s dreadful. Can roast for hours.”
“Seriously? What about walking into a room with a window in the day, indirect light?”
“You’ll start smoking and generally feeling microwaved. Not sure what your pain tolerance is like. I imagine a normal sort of person might be able to cope for a minute or two in an emergency, but I’d not make a habit of it.”
“Got it.” I cringe. If I do ever wake up early, my ass is staying in my bedroom. I wonder what vampires did all night before the internet? “’Kay. Soon as they’re asleep, I’ll meet you outside… on two conditions.”
“Setting terms now?” He cocks an eyebrow, grinning. “All right, let’s ’ave it.”
“One. I’m going to be wearing clothes. Two. You won’t lock me up in a crypt… or anywhere else.”
“Oh.” He waves his arm in a parody of a priest blessing before offering his hand. “Cross my heart. Neither of those were on the agenda.”
I accept his handshake. “Good.”
He walks backward two steps, points at me, and spins away, letting himself out the front door in an oddly mundane way for an old-as-hell vampire. The instant the door closes, my family all yelp at the same time.
“Sarah!” shouts Mom. “Don’t do that!”
“Umm, what?” I ask, sheepish.
“How did you get back there so fast?” Dad blinks at me. “You just disappeared.”
I leap over the couch again and land sitting on the floor between my sisters. “Had a visitor. He, uhh, kinda paused you guys.”
My parents exchange a worried glance.
“New game,” mutters Sierra. “We can’t play anything versus mode anymore because you are cheating. Co-op only.”
“That’s cool.” I say, grinning at her. Oh, I should totally hop on Call of Duty once everyone’s asleep. I can just hear it now: I’ll be cursed out in a dozen languages. If you ever want to learn how to curse overseas, don’t waste money on Rosetta stone―play online games.
Sophia snags her Kindle off the couch and snuggles up against my side. She reads while Sierra and I play cooperative Borderlands for a while.
“Well, since you’ll be staying here and college is likely a non-starter… have you thought about a job yet?” asks Dad.
I about snap, I’m a damn vampire and you want me to get a job? but I don’t. Sigh. They’re still my parents, and still emotionally brittle after believing I’d died for three days. “Yeah, I was thinking of putting in an application for night shift at the blood bank.”
Mom groans. The girls snicker, and Dad rolls his eyes.
“I’m serious, Sarah. You should do something with the life you’ve still got.”
“Dad…” I peer over at him, tilted back in his recliner. “I’m a teenager… and I’m never going to be that annoying thirty-something kid that’s still living in your basement. I’m gonna be eighteen forever.”
“That blows,” says Sierra. “You’ll never be able to buy beer.”
I poke her in the side. “Doesn’t matter. It won’t do me any good to drink it. I’d probably barf it right back out.”
“So, nothing’s changed?” asks Dad.
I smirk, but wind up smiling.
“You’re still gonna be working at McDonald’s forever,” says Sierra. “No one hires kids for real jobs.”
“What are you…?” Mom fidgets, glances down. She’s quiet for a few seconds, unable to look me in the eye. “What are you going to do when we’re no longer around?”
“Guys, don’t get morbid. You’re not old.” I overdo the angsty teenage girl sigh.
“Yeah, they are,” says Sam.
Mom cackles. “Sammie!”
“Dads’ forty-six and Mom’s forty-four. That’s not old,” I say.
“But we’re not going to be around forever.” Dad shakes his head.
“Well, I’ll make you into ghouls or something. Maybe everyone… like freeze the whole family in time.”
“I don’t wanna be a ghoul,” says Sophia in a small voice. “They’re ugly.”
“At least wait for me to hit eighteen.” Sierra jabs a finger in my side. “I don’t wanna wind up like that girl in Interview.”
The parents look catatonic again, but this time it’s shock.
I can’t help but giggle. “Kidding guys. Geez. I’m not gonna do anything weird to my family. You guys are so serious.”
“If you bite us, do we turn into vampires too?” asks Sam.
I scratch my head. “I don’t think so. If it worked that way, there’d be millions of vampires. Besides. I’m not gonna bite you.”
“What are you going to do with yourself?” asks Dad.
That there is the big question, isn’t it? I think for a moment while guiding my character on the screen into a nest of bad guys. The TV erupts in a mess of explosions and machine gun fire. “I dunno. That whole sun thing is a giant pain in the ass.”
Dad mutters, “Yeah.”
I bet he’s almost as heartbroken at the idea of my education stopping at high school as he was when he thought I died. Me and college has been his topic of choice for over a year. An idea comes out of nowhere and makes me laugh.
“Hey, Dad… What about night school?”
Fangs for Dummies
10
Guilt over not calling my friends needles at me while I spend time with my family. I’m still not sure where my iPhone is. Since my parents haven’t mentioned it, I’m guessing it’s either with the police or in a box somewhere at the medical examiner’s office.
Once I’m done with Dalton―assuming he doesn’t keep me busy all night―I’ll pop over to Ashley’s. She’s my best friend, only lives a couple houses away. We’ve known each other since fifth grade when she transferred to public school. Her parents had initially sent her to Catholic school, but the nuns expelled her for ‘being defiant.’ Evidently, the they didn’t care for her calling their religion a fairy tale and constantly asking inconvenient questions.
I play Borderlands with Sierra until Dad drops the bedtime hammer around twenty after ten. Sam’s already upstairs, back to his TV or computer―I’m not sure which. Sophia’s passed out leaning against me, the Kindle upside down on the rug beside her. It’s tempting to carry her upstairs, but she wakes up as soon as I move to stand. She’s usually a deep sleeper, but I guess she hadn’t gone under all the way.
The girls trudge upstairs, leaving me with the parents. I pack away the PlayStation controllers as Dad starts hunting channels for a movie or something.
“I’m gonna go out for a bit,” I say.
“Where are you going?” asks Mom.
“Umm. Out?” I offer a cheesy smile.
Dad ceases channel surfing and looks over his glasses at me. “I realize you’re eighteen, but after that scare you gave us… would you mind tolerating a little overprotectiveness?”
“Okay, that’s fair. But you guys don’t need to worry about anything happening to me anymore. I need to talk to the vampire who brought me back. He’s got some important stuff to teach me. And if it’s not too late after that, I’m gonna hit Ashley’s and let her know I’m okay.”
Mom gasps at Dad. “What are we going to do about that? Everyone thinks she’s…” Her voice cuts off in a strangled gurgle.
“I’m not sure, Allie.” Dad flicks his thumb at the TV remote in a repetitive, nervous gesture. “We probably shouldn’t go telling everyone the truth here. Better to let them think someone incompetent gave us bad information.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I have to tell Ashley and Michelle at least. They need to understand why I’m not around during the day.”
My parents both look at me like I’ve just asked to go to a beer-fueled frat party with a high possibility of sex.
“Are you planning to roam around all night and come back a few minutes before sunrise?” asks Dad.
“I won’t be out that late.” I zip over and hug them one after the other. “I love you guys. Sorry for scaring you, and I’ll be okay.”
Mom pinches the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. She’s well past her ability to process everything, so I shouldn’t pile on too much more.
“I’ll be fine,” I say. When she opens her eyes, I stare into them. “Why don’t you go get some sleep? You look exhausted.”
“Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Mom stands. “I haven’t slept a full night since you didn’t come home last Thursday.”
She didn’t mean it in an accusing way, but I still flinch. As she goes upstairs, I hug Dad again.
“Hey, umm… did you ever get my stuff back?”
He shakes his head. “No. I think the police have it.”
“Crap. Can I borrow your house keys?”
“Yeah, suppose we’ll need to figure something out there.” He fishes out his keys and hands the
m over. “They’re still investigating your, uhh…” He just stares at me.
I look off to the side so I don’t accidentally overwrite his brain. “My stabbing. I’ll take care of it.”
“Right. You’re not dead.” Dad lets out a slow sigh. “Please be careful.”
“Thanks, Dad. I will.”
I flash my best reassuring (genuine) smile, and head outside.
Our cul-de-sac is dark, the air damp and cool, and my feet squish over the wet porch. Must’ve rained all day again. And crap. I’m in too much of a rush―forgot my shoes. After running back inside to trade my sweat pants for jeans and throw on sneakers, I jog back outside. The blustery wind and dampness make me think I should be wearing a light jacket, but I’m not cold.
Dalton flickers into view in front of me, standing at the end of the driveway next to the mailbox. The one that looks like the USS Enterprise. Gawd. Dad is such a dork.
“Whoa.” I trot up to him, fumbling for something to do with my hands. Since my jean pockets are on the tight side, I hook my thumbs. “How’d you do that?”
“I’ve been standing here for a while. I simply decided to allow you to see me.”
I raise an eyebrow.
He nods toward the road. “Let’s walk.”
We wander away from the house and onto the sidewalk at the corner. It’s strange roaming around the neighborhood I grew up this late when everyone’s inside or asleep and the lights are off. Weirder still is the lack of shadows. I can see as far as I could in the day, only the colors all wash out, heavy on the grey-blue.
“This is so eerie,” I say.
“What’s that?”
“Being able to see, but there’s no sun overhead. It feels wrong somehow.”
“You’ll get used to it. All right then. First: feeding.”
“I have to drink blood, right?”
“Correct.” Dalton nods. “You don’t have to kill to feed. In fact, it’s much simpler if you don’t.”
“Think you already told me that. Or did I hear that somewhere else?” I scratch my head.
He glances pensively at the sky for a few seconds. “I’m not sure. After a hundred and thirty years, things tend to run together. Either that or I have a shoddy memory. If anyone ever offers you opium, don’t make the same mistake I did.”
A Nighttime of Forever (Vampire Innocent Book 1) Page 7