Pulling into the driveway I waved to Luke.
“Don’t worry, Jason won’t kill you. He will be relieved to see you,” Luke assured.
Walking through the door Jason saw me and ran to me, hugging me. I hugged him back.
“You scared me,” Jason said pulling out of the hug.
“I can take care of myself,” I smiled.
“Where did you go?” Jason asked.
“I had to see an old friend,” I said.
“You look exhausted and upset,” Jason noticed.
“I just need to nap,” I said.
“I will have dinner ready when you wake up,” Jason promised.
I went upstairs and fell onto my bed and fell asleep thinking about Greg.
I was in Florida with Greg, Vince, and Jesse. We were at school and Greg sat with me looking serious.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My parents got a divorce. What’s worse is the woman my father cheated with five years ago wasn’t a random girl. That was his old girlfriend from college, and they had a child together. My father’s other son is a year older than us. He is eighteen and reminds me of me, but more intense and it bugs me. Was I not good enough for my father? Was my mom not good enough for my father to stay?” Greg asked.
I awoke to someone knocking on my door.
“I had the chef prepare some chicken noodle soup, you know, comfort food since you seemed a bit down,” Jason smiled.
“Oh, thank you,” I smiled and got up wanting to shake that dream.
Jason sat down at the kitchen table. I grabbed some water and sat down next to him as the chef served me some food.
“So how was being alone after your pitiful attempt at hunting?” I asked.
“Funny, I had to get stitches because of you!” Jason exclaimed.
“You’ve never killed a Vampire before,” I challenged.
“Fine, I haven’t. The one time I did go hunting, I was scared as hell. Vlad did all the work,” Jason admitted.
The rest of break I did my schoolwork, and didn’t even think about Christmas. Jason decorated the house though. When Christmas day came, I didn’t expect any presents. Vlad didn’t come home. When I awoke, I went downstairs and Jason was sitting in the living room with a huge grin on his face. I walked in and smiled.
“Merry Christmas!” Jason beamed.
“Merry Christmas,” I responded not as enthusiastically.
“Well, look under the tree,” Jason smiled.
I looked at him skeptically and bent down and there were presents under the tree and they were for me.
“What?” I asked looking at him shocked.
“Just because you ran off for a vacation doesn’t mean you are a bad kid,” Jason smiled.
“Thank you,” I said.
The only presents I got for Christmas were slaying equipment and maybe a piece of jewelry. As I opened each gift I was shocked and happy. Jason got me three dresses, new shirts and pants, some DVD’s and a Nikon D7200.
“Jason, this is too much,” I said.
“Nonsense! Think of it as making up for all the years I wasn’t there. Vlad promised me I would meet you, but he never let me until this year. So please, enjoy the gifts,” Jason smiled.
“Thank you. Christmas has never been a holiday we celebrate. It’s just an excuse for Vlad to give me new hunting equipment. I didn’t expect to get anything,” I admitted.
“What is Vlad’s problem? He should have spoiled you! I would have if Vlad had let me meet you earlier,” Jason confessed.
The last three days of break I went out and used my new camera. I couldn’t believe Jason’s kindness. I was upstairs editing the photos I’d taken in the past three days when I heard Jason shriek from outside. I then heard the front door slam. I ran to the top of the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“One of them! It’s outside! He looked like something from KISS!” Jason freaked.
“Calm down, I’ll go take care of it,” I said like I was about to squash a spider so the kid would stop crying.
I walked out the front door and looked in the front yard and saw no one. I walked down the side of the house to the back. I walked to what I called the jungle- a patch of plants that grew wildly and never was taken care of, ending up to look like a mini jungle. Since it was winter, I could see through the jungle and didn’t see the Vampire. I turned around and was jumped. I fell to the ground and looked into blood red eyes that were surrounded by black make up. I kicked him off, and got a good look at my attacker.
He had black longish hair, to his shoulders, and black liner around his eyes. He had fake stitches painted on the right side at the end of his mouth leading up to mid cheek. He had a lip ring on the left lower lip. He wore a black ripped t-shirt with a skull on it. He was covered in dirt and blood and bared his fangs at me.
“I am not going to hurt you,” I said holding my hands up, “I know you’re scared. When did this happen to you?”
He looked confused and pained and looked down.
“What is happening to me?” He asked throwing his hands to his head, shaking it back and forth.
“It’s okay. If you let me, I can take care of you, and guide you through this transition,” I said.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I…”
“Have to urge to drink my blood, I know. It’s okay. Fight the urge. I’ll help you,” I assured.
“I’m trying, but instincts…” He said and lurched at me and I rolled to the side evading his advance.
He looked sorry and he convulsed on the ground trying to gain control over the urge. I ran back to the front door and called for Jason.
“What?”
“Go get blood from a blood bank, do what you have to do, just get it fast!” I begged and Jason headed out the door to the driveway.
I knew that the Vampire wasn’t going to hold out for long. I headed to the kitchen and took a knife out and grabbed a cup, put my leg over the cup and made a small cut. Blood instantly left my body and fell into the cup. I knew how to stitch myself up. Once there was about an ounce of blood in the cup I put a towel to my leg, and opened the kitchen drawer that had an emergency kit in it. I threaded a needle and gritted as I stitched myself up loosely, and put a bandage on the cut. I stood up and felt light headed, but headed back out and the Vampire was right outside the front door.
“I have an ounce of blood to hold you over,” I said and handed it to him as I sat on the stairs.
He downed it, and looked at me in confusion.
“Don’t worry, blood is on its way,” I assured.
Twenty minutes passed as the Vampire struggled. Jason had a bucket and put it on the ground in front of the Vampire. He tore the top off and his head went in. Jason came back with a cooler that had blood bags.
“You don’t want to know what I had to do to get these,” Jason gritted heading in the house to put them in the freezer.
The Vampire downed that gallon of blood. Once he was done he looked relaxed and guilty. I looked at his eyes and they were blue, he was satisfied, for now. I welcomed him into the house and he came in. I took him upstairs and put a pair of clothes in the bathroom and got him a new towel.
“Get cleaned up and we will talk after you shower,” I assured and closed the door.
I went downstairs and Jason was shocked and furious.
“You invited it into my house? What would Vlad say if he knew you didn’t kill it but helped it?” Jason questioned.
“It’s our secret, okay?” I said.
“It won’t be for long, Vlad is coming home. He will be here in an hour,” Jason said looking guilty.
“Give me warning next time, would ya?” I said as the Vampire walked into the kitchen apprehensively.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked.
“Confused and sick.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Andrew.”
“I am Violet, and this is Jason,” I introduced.
“I never wanted this…to be …”
“A Vampire, I know. Right now, you’re going to have to stay at my friend’s house. But I promised I would get you through the transition and I will,” I smiled gently.
“What friend do you know that would take in a Vampire?” Jason asked.
“None of your business. Sorry, just spray the whole house with air freshener, make sure the bathroom is spotless, run a hose in the front yard to clean the blood, and don’t let Vlad open the freezer,” I ordered.
I headed to the driveway with Andrew following me. He was lost and confused, and I wanted to help him. I just had to.
“Where are we going?” Andrew asked.
“To my friend Luke’s. He will take care of you until my uncle is gone,” I said.
“Your uncle?” Andrew asked.
“He…it’s a long story,” I said.
Arriving in Luke’s driveway I rushed to the door, knocking urgently.
“Hey Violet, what’s up?” Luke asked looking at Andrew skeptically.
“Take care of him? Explain to him everything. Vlad is back, and I can’t have him at the house right now. He was just turned, please inform him,” I said and rushed back to the car.
Getting back to the house Vlad’s car was in the driveway. I cursed and prayed Jason took care of everything. I cursed as I realized I hadn’t cleaned up. There was no way I was going to sneak into the house unnoticed. I went into the garage, and snuck up the backstairs. I ran to my room and changed clothes, putting on PJ pants to cover my cut and sprayed myself with perfume.
“Violet, I know you’re home,” Vlad called from downstairs.
“Hey Vlad, I just wanted to change,’ I said running down the stairs into a hug.
“I missed you,” Vlad said as we walked to the kitchen.
“So how’s work?” I asked.
“Going slow. I heard you took off on your own little vacation?” Vlad said.
“Yeah, I just wanted to escape for a bit, but no worries I’m back,” I smiled.
“I heard your friend Eric met Jason,” Vlad mentioned.
“Yeah, he was nice, but he didn’t even ask for an autograph or picture,” Jason complained.
“You have plenty of fans Jason, don’t worry,” Vlad comforted, “Violet, have you been hunting?”
“Of course, check my journal,” I responded.
“I just think you aren’t spending enough time and effort on our mission,” Vlad complained.
“I am sorry but you’re the one who sent me to private school, I don’t have that kind of time anymore Vlad,” I surprisingly said.
“Okay, well I just stopped by. I am leaving in the morning, but since I knew I was passing by I thought it would be nice to see you,” Vlad said as he went upstairs.
“Jason! Does he know about Andrew? Why is he grilling me on my loyalties?” I asked.
“ I don’t know, and no I didn’t say anything. And obviously your loyalties have changed! Unless you took one look at Andrew and fell in love with him,” Jason said.
“What? No! Of course not,” I flustered, “I felt bad for him.”
“So what are you going to do? Keep him like a pet? Train him? Tame him?” Jason challenged.
“I am going to help him,” I gritted.
“If he is staying here, keep him on your side of the house,” Jason said and walked out of the room.