“Were there a lot of vampires?” I asked uneasily, still not sold on this hypothesis.
“No, I only came across three in my war days. Of course other units may have seen more. Some things we all understood but didn’t talk about. I mean, back in the States, who would believe one of our soldiers had turned vampire?”
We both nodded our agreement. After all, it was far-fetched even to me, and I was supposed to be one.
“I thought vampires couldn’t go out in the sunlight.”
“They can’t. Them toe-tagged boys arrived covered in a sheet, and we didn’t just get wounded during office hours. It was war, Colby. People killing each other at all hours of the day and night.”
My aunt looked so ferocious at that moment I could easily see a younger version, snapping out orders and operating on fallen soldiers. It didn’t take much of a stretch to see this younger version breaking a chair leg and staking an undead vampire either. Her job was to protect the soldiers and she’d done it.
“But I was out all day, in the sunlight, while I was in the ravine. Okay, maybe not the sunlight ’cause it was cloudy but it was definitely daytime.”
Aunt Chloe nodded thoughtfully.
“And fangs? What about fangs? I don’t have any.” I opened my mouth wide to prove my perfect smile was fang-free.
“What about feeding on your mother?” she countered.
I closed my mouth and looked down at my lap, ashamed. Good question. How was I going to defend that action?
My mom spoke up. “It’s okay, honey. You didn’t hurt me. If anything, you saved me from getting stitches. That cut was very deep and you healed it. I don’t think you drank my blood at all. I’m not woozy—I feel fine.”
I was grateful for her defense but couldn’t let her minimize what I’d done.
“Mom, I may not have any fangs but I drank your blood. I just couldn’t help myself. I smelled the blood and wanted it. I was just so thirsty. I didn’t drink much,” I assured her when I saw the look on her face. “As quick as the thirst came on, it went away. I was full pretty quick.”
My mom stared at me in shock and horror. I’d never seen that look before—like she was afraid of me—and I couldn’t bear it.
I dropped down to my knees in front of her and laid my head in her lap.
“Mommy, I’m sooo sorry. I promise I won’t ever do it again. I won’t hurt you, I promise. Please forgive me. Don’t be scared of me.” I sobbed into her lap, clutching her legs.
After a moment I felt her hands stroke my matted hair, like she did when I was a child begging for forgiveness. She crooned nonsense words to soothe me. I looked up at her and saw tears rolling silently down her cheeks. She braved a small smile and all I saw reflected in her eyes was love.
“There, now, that’s better. See, being a vampire isn’t the end of the world. Course, things are gonna be a little different, but we can figure that out,” Aunt Chloe reassured me.
“But I can’t be a vampire, I don’t have any fangs!” I protested again.
“Maybe they only come out when you are ready to feed?” she suggested.
“No, Colby didn’t have any fangs when she was with me,” Mom pointed out and I was grateful she didn’t use the term “feed.”
“Well, open your mouth. Let’s take a look,” Aunt Chloe commanded and I obeyed instantly.
She
ummm
ed a lot, counting my teeth and poking at them with her finger.
“You are missing some teeth,” she declared after her inspection.
I looked at Mom helplessly.
“Yes, when she was twelve she had oral surgery and they removed six teeth. Her wisdom teeth, which hadn’t broken through the gums yet, and two others.”
Aunt Chloe squinted at my mother. “Those other two, were they canine teeth?”
Mom nodded. “Yes, then she had braces for a year and wore headgear at night.”
“Well, that explains it then.”
Mom and I looked at each other and her in confusion.
“What does?” I asked.
“Your fangs are gone, dear. Fangs are canine teeth. You had those removed. So your fangs can’t grow now, can they?”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out when the logic of what she said sank in. It made sense. Before I drank my mom’s blood, I’d experienced a throbbing pain in my mouth. More specifically, in my upper gums. Crap.
“Great! That’s just great. Not only am I a vampire, but I’m a mutant vampire. I have no fangs.”
“Well, I’d say the problem is a little more than that. How are you going to feed without fangs?”
“Feed?” I asked stupidly. “I’m not going to feed again, ever.” I shivered at the thought of drinking more blood, but my stomach growled treacherously. My mind might revolt, but my body didn’t seem to share the sentiment.
“Honey, your aunt is right. You are going to have to eat.”
“No way. That is just gross.”
“If you don’t feed, you die,” my aunt said matter-of-factly.
“Who says? I’m not like the other vampires. I can go out in sunlight. Maybe I can eat real food too.” I stood up and walked to the door. “I’m going to make myself a tuna sandwich right now.” I marched out of the bedroom, straight past my father who seemed to be in the same position we’d left him in, and into the kitchen.
I opened the fridge and gasped when I saw how much food was stuffed inside. Casseroles, quiches, etcetera, filled the shelves. Mom must have been beside herself with worry.
I pushed the thought aside and pulled out the makings of a monster tuna sandwich.
By the time I was ready for my first bite, my aunt and mother joined me in the kitchen. Dad was suspiciously absent.
“Here it goes.” I saluted them with my sandwich and took a bite. Not bad, but not as good as I remembered. A little on the bland side but it was sustenance nonetheless. I swallowed my first bite in triumph. Aha! I didn’t need blood to survive. As long as I had sandwiches, I would be fine.
I was smiling smugly at the thought when my stomach revolted. I ran to the sink in time to throw up my victorious bite.
Aunt Chloe handed me a warm washcloth when I was done so I could wash my face (or wipe the smugness away). Regardless, I used it gratefully.
I rinsed out the sink then said flatly, “I am going to take a shower now.” They let me skulk away without comment. After all, finding out you’re a vampire was one thing, but adding I-told-you-so’s was like getting kicked when you’re down.
I turned on the shower and shed my uniform. It was ruined. I doubted it could be cleaned and then there was the tear in the sleeve of the sweater. Sighing, I looked at myself in the mirror to identify blonde hair, filthy and matted. I was surprised any of it had stayed tucked in its braid. The scrape on my cheek was encrusted with mud.
Disheartened, I examined my vampire hickey. It didn’t seem fair that the first hickey I received would be from the unwanted affections of a psycho bloodsucker. Such is life. If only Aidan had given me a ride home Friday night, then maybe I would be looking at
his
hickey mark and I would still be a normal teenager.
When the mirror started to steam, I stepped into the shower and groaned in pleasure. I was so cold. It took a while, but the warm water invaded the coolness of my skin and I almost felt like myself. I washed my hair (gagging over the potent fragrance of essential herbs) and scrubbed my body. I was relieved and surprised to discover I didn’t need to shave my legs or armpits. Maybe there was some advantage to being undead after all.
I jumped out of the shower and opened my favorite lotion. The overpowering scent of cinnamon pumpkin filled my senses. Ugh, maybe I would pass on the lotion. My supersensitive sniffer was definitely not up to the new Fall Harvest Edition.
I moisturized my skin with an unscented drugstore brand, brushed out my hair and did all the normal things I did every day. This felt good. This was normal. When I was doing these things,
I
was normal.
After blow-drying my hair, I was delighted to find it fall perfectly into place past my shoulders. At least I was getting a good hair day out of this ordeal.
All of my foundation was too dark for my current, uh, shall we say
alabaster
complexion. I did try some blusher to give me a little lift but ended up wiping most of it off. When you’re pale, less is more. I added a little pink gloss and skipped any eye makeup. I hardly wanted to call attention to my freakish yellow eyes.
I threw on some yoga pants and a tee that said “Cheer.” It was time to face the family. Dad hadn’t said a word, so I left it to Mom to fill him in on the details. As I walked out, I grabbed my sunglasses off the dresser and slipped them on. I glanced at myself in the hallway mirror and thought,
Not bad
. If you knew me you would think I was a tad under the weather because of the pale skin, but other than that, I looked just like me. To my surprise, the bite and scratches had faded away in the shower. My skin looked perfect again.
It was close to 11 P.M. when I finally reemerged.
Dad was still nowhere to be seen but Mom was at the kitchen computer, surfing the Net, when I startled her.
“Argh!” she gasped, grabbing at her chest.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I didn’t even hear you walk up.”
I looked down at my feet and wiggled one in her direction.
“No shoes,” I told her.
“Obviously. So I have been doing a little research on the Web about your, uh, condition. Very interesting stuff.”
I pulled up a chair next to her so I could see as well.
“What’s this?” I pointed to a site by Demonic Angel with flickering candles and gargoyle gifs, black background and yellow fonts. The title of the page was simply “The Castle” and the red font of the letters appeared to be dripping down the page, as if they were made of blood.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.
“Well, dear, to be honest, it’s not like you can type
vampires.com
and get a nice text-friendly site filled with all the information you need to know about being one of the undead.”
I hated to admit it, but Mom had a good point.
“Where’s Aunt Chloe?” I asked, looking around the kitchen.
“In bed, poor dear. She was up with me all of last night and she only took a short nap today. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
“What about Dad?”
“Your father needs a little time. I told him the situation and he headed into the office to work on a project. It helps him think.”
That explained my father’s not-so-surprising reaction to finding out his daughter was a vampire. Dad was all about avoiding unpleasantness. When things got tough, he took off to his office. He was an orthodontist for God’s sake—what kind of work was he going to do on a Sunday night? Reorganize the teeth molds?
“Sure, I understand.” I sighed. I understood all too well.
“We told the police you were found unharmed. They wanted to know if we were going to take you to the doctor and we told them it was taken care of and you had a clean bill of health. Just some minor bruises and a concussion from the fall.”
“What did you tell them, exactly?”
I couldn’t believe Mom would tell the truth, but she wouldn’t want people to be lulled into a false sense of security by not reporting the attack either.
“I told them you were surprised by the attacker but fell down the ravine and hit your head, knocking you unconscious.”
I nodded unhappily. It sounded better than the truth but either story made me look bad. I hated that.
“They want to question you, but I told them the doctor said you needed a couple of days to recover from your concussion. I figure that gives us enough time to make some plans.”
Her comment startled me. “What kind of plans?”
“Well, first we research what we are up against and decide how we deal with your new, uh, identity. Then we make the appropriate changes so that you can lead as normal a life as possible.”
My mom was so matter-of-fact. I was amazed by her calm demeanor. Not much fazed her—when she was faced with disaster, she was as cool as can be.
“That was an awful lot of ‘we’s,’ Mom.
I’m
the vampire, you know.”
“Yes, you are, but we are a family and what affects you, affects all of us. We stick together. That is what family does.”
I couldn’t help looking around the kitchen and giving her a look. “Yeah, but Dad is family and he’s nowhere to be found.”
She ignored both look and statement and pointed to something on the computer screen. “According to this, vampires must feed nightly or they go insane. They can’t go out in sunlight or they burn up and die. They can be killed by a wooden stake to the heart or holy water thrown at their face. It doesn’t say anything about a silver bullet. I thought vampires could be killed by a silver bullet.”