Children of Van Helsing

Chapter Two - Footsteps in the snow

Jessica

I woke up when Lily opened the curtains and jumped on my bed, with a pillow in her hands, ready to hit me if necessary.

“Wake up, Jess! Breakfast is ready!”

I moaned, rolled over, sighed and was about to fall asleep again when Lily pulled away my blanket. Cold. Cold!

“Are you crazy? It’s winter! It’s freezing!” I yelled.

She laughed and pointed at the window.

“I know. Look!”

“Can I have my blanket back?”

“Look at of the window first.” She said, trying to sound severe. I got up, messed up her hair with my hands and looked out of the window. Snow. It was everywhere – a soft, shiny blanket covering everything, as far as the eye reached. It was beautiful. Our house was on a hill, so if it wasn’t foggy, you could see London City. All the houses, churches and monuments were covered in the cold, white substance.

“Wow.” I said softly.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lily said. “Now get dressed, so we can have breakfast, and after that I want to build a snowman. Kiss!”

I gave her a kiss and she walked out, after she had hit me with the pillow. I smiled. Lily was amazing. Just like Regina, she still had all the enthusiasm you had when you were a kid. It was one of the many things I liked about her. She fitted me perfectly. When I told her about our family secret, she didn’t run away, she didn’t panic, she just calmly asked if I had any proof. And even when I had proved it, she just said she loved me more than she feared the monsters living under the city.

I put on an old sweater with the Batman logo on it, my favourite jeans and warm boots with electric blue stars on them. The colour matched my hair’s colour. I loved it as soon as I had dyed it, even though Susanna had rolled her eyes, saying I was insane to ruin my blonde hair. I didn’t listen. I never really listened to her, actually, but I loved her all the same.

I went downstairs and smiled when I saw Lily having breakfast with my sisters. She was really part of the family, or at least this part of the family, because my grandmother was homophobic. I didn’t care, though.

Susanna was reading the morning paper as always and kind of waved her hand – that was her way of saying ‘good morning’. Regina was reading a magazine but was also talking to my sweet Lily.

“Hey, Jess.” Regina said.

I said hello back and sat next to my girlfriend. She kissed me on the cheek and handed me a mug of coffee. I smiled. She knew me so well – I always needed at least three mugs of coffee to wake up.

“Isn’t the snow beautiful?” Regina asked, with a big smile on her face, her eyes shining as if she was a kid who had just seen snow for the first time.

“Yeah, but the first one who starts singing ‘do you want to build a snowman’ is going to get punched in the face.” Susanna said.

I rolled my eyes and made myself a few sandwiches. It was a lovely Friday, and I wished Susanna didn’t have to work, so we could have a snowball fight. I knew it was for the greater good, to protect the city and stuff like that, but I missed her sometimes. She wasn’t home much lately.

“So, what are you going to do today?” Susanna asked. She was making a cheese sandwich and had put away her paper. She was already dressed in her working clothes – a black suit, a white blouse and a red tie. Though suits are mostly worn by men, it looked amazing on her.