Braced to Bite (Book 1: Half-blood vampire series)

Chapter Five

“They didn’t act so welcoming,” my aunt murmured.

“Yeah, not so much,” I agreed and patted her shoulder reassuringly.

“What did he give you, honey?” Mom wanted to know. For that matter, so did I.

“I hope it’s a vampire user manual or something, but I’m not sure.” I opened it up and pulled out a bunch of official-looking documents that were notarized. Vampires had notaries?

I started to skim the letter, then slowed down to read it more carefully.

“What is it?” my mother insisted.

“It’s a summons. I am being called to some sort of vampire court.”

“Whatever for?” Aunt Chloe asked.

“Apparently, I am Undead without a license.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard—”

“What?! That’s insane—”

“Is that like traffic court for vampires?”

They all spoke at once.

I handed the paperwork to my mother, who was used to legal jargon and such. I sat down in the chair I’d occupied earlier, my head swirling with the information I’d just read.

“Colby, you know what this means, don’t you?” my mother asked seriously.

“Yeah, Mom. In three days I have to go before the Tribunal board and defend my existence. If I can’t, I will be ‘relieved of my Undead status.’ ”

“My, that doesn’t sound good,” Aunt Chloe said to no one in particular.

Nope, it didn’t sound good at all.

After the Tribunal dropped its little bombshell on us, I wasn’t in the mood for any other visitors. Our family needed to have an emergency meeting. But alas, the well-wishers just started rolling in.

Marci and Rachel gushed over me when they stopped by, which did a lot to boost my spirits.

“Ohmigod! You poor thing. Are you okay?”

“What happened?! Tell us everything! Are you sure you’re okay?”

I told them what really happened, except I skipped the biting and modified my story to include a clumsy trip into the ravine. Getting caught up in the story, I told them we had agreed to let the police tell everyone I just went out of town so the Attacker would feel safe and come out in public, where the police would nab him. You know, based on my excellent memory of what he looked like and the description I gave the sketch artist.

Really, I don’t know what gets into me sometimes, but I needed a shoulder to cry on. After the attack and those stupid Vampire Investigators, I just wanted some sympathy and attention from my friends.

“You are so lucky you’re a bit of a klutz, Colby. I mean he could’ve killed you or worse!” Rachel’s eyes were as big as plates and I couldn’t help wonder what was worse than being dead in her eyes. Being Undead?

“She’s right, you know. Stumbling during a stunt just embarrasses you in front of the whole school, but stumbling down the hill saved your life!” They both nodded in unison.

I wasn’t that klutzy, was I?

“Why are you wearing sunglasses?” Marci demanded, trying to remove them. I shooed her hands away.

“Black eyes, I don’t want to gross you guys out.”

“It’s okay, we don’t mind. We’re your friends.” Rachel looked only too pleased to see my phantom injury but I held firm. What would they do if they discovered I was really hiding yellow eyes? I imagined Rachel’s first concern would be accessorizing with the appropriate matching shadow.