“Mom! Are you okay?” Gloria heaved as she rushed into Merlynn’s room just to see the sweat soaked blankets left where Merlynn had laid. Gloria pushed forward into the master bath to find Merlynn running a shower glazed in sweat her auburn hair matted against her back. “She was having a nightmare.” Claire meekly said emerging into the bathroom to check on Merlynn. “I was worried of that. Mom doesn’t handle remembering the past well, especially when she doesn’t want to.” Gloria said sullen as she helped her mother into the shower. “Is she okay?” Claire asked clenching the blanket she swaddled in tighter. “Yeah, she will be okay after she cools down. It's not the first time this has happened.” Gloria answered with an even more sullen look as she exited the bathroom.
She then riffled through the middle drawer of Merlynn’s dresser pulling out a black gown handing it to Claire. “Here, it may be loose in the chest a bit, but Mom would worry more if you were to catch cold or something.” Gloria turned around as Claire quickly changed into the gown. While long enough the gown was indeed a bit loose in the chest but fit fine otherwise. Claire then grabbed a hair bow from atop the dresser pulling back her thick silver hair into a cute bun. “How can I help!” Claire asked beaming with determination. Gloria led her into the kitchen pointing out other parts of the apartment along the way. Hiro had returned to his slumber as he appeared melted over the side of the couch.
“Is it okay, I mean would it be okay if I cooked breakfast?” Claire asked shyly. Gloria chuckled a bit then nodded as she reached into the cabinet pulling down a fresh can of coffee with a yellow sticky note on top. “Thanks, ladies, for taking care of my girl, signed GiGi T”. Gloria smiled wide pulling her phone out sending Abbey a text. “Wow I wish my fridge was this full!” Claire gleefully beamed as she pulled out eggs, a can of biscuits, some sausage, and lastly milk and flour. “Geez Claire you don’t have to do all that.” Gloria giggled as her phone pinged.
She glanced down reading Abbey’s response then chuckled. Claire stared at her with a bit of intrigue as she whisked eggs with an intense beat. “My friend sent me a silly meme. She dropped this off yesterday while we were all out still.” Gloria assured her showing her the text. “That was sweet of her and don’t mind me, when I’m stressed, I like to cook even though its usually breakfast. Oh wait! if I'm using too much, I’ll put it back, I wasn’t thinking of that.” Claire backpedaled, her whisking halting.
“Your fine Claire I promise besides I’m sure it would make Mom happy. I can’t cook save maybe some ramen, so Mom usually does the cooking, unless Aunt Daisy and Uncle Corey come over then he’s gotta take over the kitchen.” Gloria reassured her smiling sincerely. Claire softened in relief then smiled in return showing off two fanged canines unintentionally. “Ooooh! I knew it!” Gloria beamed happily. “Shit…I dropped my guard.” Claire cursed blushing extremely hard quickly averting her face. “Claire you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Gloria gave Claire one final reassurance drawing her gaze again then gestured at her body horns and all. Claire’s tension dropped drastically as she settled back into whisking while still blushing hard. Gloria giggled happily as she approached Claire and briefly hugged her. “I promise.” Gloria smiled one more time before heading to the living room standing over Hiro.
“Wakey Wakey egg and Bakey.” Gloria cooed at his melted state. “You lie. I would smell bacon if there were bacon. Do not jest about the bacon.” Hiro muttered in a melodramatic tone. “Come on dude you’re starting to look like mom’s painting. Get up and go wake up Jane.” Gloria urged him planting a foot into his melted backside. Hiro recoiled shooting up. “Okay I’m goin’!” Hiro grumbled stomping off down the hall. “Such a Good Boy.” Gloria cackled as she left the living room to check on Merlynn. She found her mother just exiting the shower patting herself dry with a pink towel.
“Hey, you okay do you need anything?” Gloria asked her voice brimmed with concern. “I could use a hug to be honest.” Merlynn admitted slightly bemoaned. “A hug you shall have then.” Gloria cooed teary eyed as she wrapped her mother in a hug. Merlynn lowered her chin resting it on Gloria’s head ruffling her white hair. Gloria squeezed tighter refusing to let go until her mother was okay. Merlynn pulled away slightly leaning down and kissed her between the horns. “You know I love you right?” Merlynn asked weeping a few tears. “I know Mom. I love you too.” Gloria responded with a few tears of her own.
“Did Jane set you off last night? Asking about me?” Gloria asked timidly, worried she might cause more harm than good. “Yeah, but it wasn’t Jane’s fault really. She was just curious, even if it was the questions that dug it up. I’ll be okay sweetie; besides we’ve got a big day ahead of us today.” Merlynn answered wiping her tears away. “Wait, I still get to go!?” Gloria beamed in excitement. “Of course. I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. Now...do I smell bacon?” Merlynn asked with a face all too serious about the bacon. Gloria giggled urging her to follow her.
Emerging into the kitchen feeling a bit better and comfortably dressed in shorts and a plain white tee, she immediately noticed Claire wearing one of her favorite night gowns albeit it didn’t fit quite right. It was however, poured perfectly in all the other right areas. The second thing she noticed was Hiro slumped against the floor, his face smashed in with a blazing circle seared in his dented gooey face. If not for his moaning Merlynn would have assumed the worst but instead erupted into laughter. “What happened here?” Merlynn asked still laughing as she approached Claire.
Claire pulled away from the stove looking at Merlynn, asking quietly if she was okay. Merlynn quietly told her yes then sweetly kissed her. Claire’s face melted from worry to warmth. “He insulted the bacon.” Claire quietly but firmly voiced with an overly serious look as she held aloft her sizzling skillet. After everyone had a hearty laugh Claire returned the skillet to the stove allowing it to cool while she quickly made Merlynn a cup of coffee.
The coffee in question Merlynn gave significant side eye until it had enough creamer and sugar to question if it was still coffee. “Thank you, Claire, you didn’t have to.” Merlynn thanked her profusely as she supped at her cream and sugar with a dash of coffee. “I wanted to. I mean your trip is today. Corey’s been making a big fuss about it for weeks now making sure everything was ready at the bar.” Claire responded sitting beside Merlynn adding a bit of cream to her own cup. “Claire about that...” Merlynn started to speak but was silenced by a quick kiss from Claire. “Don’t worry about it. I kept that in mind when I came over here. Despite the outcome I wanted to assure you that I will be right here waiting for you to return. I’ve waited forever just to hold your hand let alone speak to you. Now waiting won’t be so bad. Of course, I would worry about you and miss you, but knowing that you’ll be coming home to me gives me the strength to wait.” Claire assured Merlynn as she tenderly held her hand. Merlynn smiled so hard it began to hurt a bit. Then an idea struck her.
“Well, it doesn’t mean we can’t stay in contact though. Merlynn jumped up running to her storage room. After a few loud booms and one solid crash Merlynn returned to the kitchen with a wide box almost as fast as she left. “I meant to get these out sooner!” Merlynn squealed a little. Hiro finally managed to get up, his face still sunken in a bit. He waddled over to the table curious about what Merlynn had brought out. His one non swollen eye locked with Claire who shot him a guarded look. “Here Claire this one is for you.” Merlynn retrieved a small makeup compact from within the box and handed it to Claire. She then handed another to Hiro and one to Gloria leaving three left in the box.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“Uh I know my face is effed right now, but I don’t think makeup is going to help.” Hiro amused in pain. “It's a mirror.” Claire spoke aloud opening hers up. “I’ve enchanted them so that you can contact anyone that has one of the sets. Just speak their name and their compact will glow and vibrate until they answer, or you choose to stop trying.” Merlynn added lifting another out of the box. “Okay… so Claire knows about the supernatural already and all that?” Jane, whom had been silently eating from the time Merlynn entered the kitchen finally spoke.
“Sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what happened last night, let alone that magic is real, yet here you are talking about enchanted mirrors and then there’s that spell you cast last night too. Through it all Claire has seemed normal, quiet and a bit reserved, but still, normal. In fact, comfortable even. I get that she’s worked at the bar, but then again, I frequent the Addled Mimic enough and I’ve never seen any spooky business. How do we know she can be trusted?” Jane’s words echoed on an awkwardly quiet room.
Merlynn began fuming growing steadily irritated that Claire was being questioned, in front of her no less. “Be mad at me if you want, but I don’t know Claire and I barely know all of you. That said Merlynn did save me and has shown me incredible kindness so forgive me if I wish to flesh out my suspicions before someone, I’m really starting to care for is hurt. I owe her that much at least.” Astute and sound Jane presented her case without question, forcing Claire to admit something she wasn’t quite ready for.
“That’s because I'm a vampire.” Claire squeaked regressing into fear. She tried hiding her face in her thick silver hair when Jane erupted. “AHA! Hiro grab the holy water and garlic!” Jane exclaimed jumping to her feet. Claire shrieked instinctively burying herself into Merlynn’s arms. “Jane stop this shit!” Merlynn cursed. “It doesn’t matter to me if Claire is human or not!” Merlynn snapped, holding Claire tighter. She felt Claire ease at her words and hold onto her tighter.
“Janey calm down! Remember you said it yourself your new to all this. Being a vampire doesn’t make you a bad person.” Gloria chimed in easing Jane back down. “Well, what about blood? What about her ‘family’? Wouldn’t getting involved with her get you tied up in their business to?” Jane demanded crossing her arms across her chest. “I eat steak...a lot of red meat actually, it doesn’t have to be human blood.” Claire squeaked barely heard through Merlynn’s chest. Claire timidly pulled away and looked Jane in the eye. “I’m not a bad person I swear. Also, you watch too many movies. I’m honestly surprised you even know about the ‘Families’ though.” Claire admitted.
“I’ve heard rumors and stupid internet stories but from I’ve seen recently, a whole lot of things are realer that I would like to believe.” Jane answered releasing her intimidating posture, slightly. “I promise I only want to be with Merlynn. I stay out of vampiric affairs and politics so you don’t have that to worry about that either.” Claire affirmed by revealing her arms. “So, you're telling me that vampires don’t have to drink human blood then? You can just eat a bunch of red meat and be hunky dory?” Jane asked crossing her arms again.
“No, sadly that’s not the case for every vampire… Some can’t even eat food at all. While I can and several others can as well, we still need to ingest pure blood, be it human or animal, occasionally. Otherwise, we risk the chance to worsen our blood thirst and in turn take a step closer to savagery. Although despite what you may think the hungrier a vampire is, the more dangerous and powerful, they are.” Claire answered in a tone befitting of a seasoned teacher.
“Fine, I’m assuming then you don’t just go around biting people all the time, so I guess you're alright. Just in case though can you tell me what are my odds are against a vampire? What are some weaknesses I could exploit if ever I had the need to defend myself?” Jane asked with a bit of worry. “Do you have any abilities? Magical or otherwise?” Claire asked although she already had an idea of her answer. “No, nothing like any of you. I also have never fell into a vat of nasty goo or bitten by some crazy science experiment. So normal as it gets, I’m afraid. I can use a gun and know a little martial art but asides that nothing to write home about.” Jane answered a little embarrassed.
“Well perhaps if you were a good shot and got the drop on a weak one you might piss it off, or even seriously wound one if you're lucky, oh and I mean a weak one. Maybe, if it was freshly turned. A fully fledged vampire would tear you apart and some of the nastier ones would do worse. Even a thrall would give you a hard time to be honest. Remember Jane I mean no offense, but a thrall would be a human or beast that would get a boon along with their servitude to their master, and that boon alone would give them a serious advantage over you, but you could maybe manage if you learned some magic or gained some abilities and got a bit stronger. That said most vampires are hurt by true sunlight but, some of the strongest can tolerate it to a point. A stake to the heart is a goodie and oldie however, without some way to enhance your reflexes I wouldn’t recommend trying.
Garlic doesn’t hurt vampires, but it is good for your body so please don’t bother with that. Lastly a true Holy Relic would work, like Excalibur for instance, although that would be a bit overkill seeing as it would cause most any vampire to explode violently on contact and not just anyone can wield it either. Bibles and crosses won’t work either unless you’re a Belmont or something, extremely unlikely on that last bit but every vampire would probably laugh at you before being afflicted by them.” Claire finished seeming even calmer than before then turned to Merlynn with a sweet look on her face.
“I need a smoke now.” Merlynn grunted rising from her seat. “I’ll come with you.” Claire jumped up bubbling with happiness. “NO!!!” Everyone shouted in unison. Claire nearly leapt into Merlynn’s arms from the sudden outburst. “ITS morning you idiot! You’re really growing on me and I would be devastated if you went outside and turned into potting soil!” Gloria scolded thumping her fists on her hips. Claire stared at them hard then erupted into laughter no longer able to withstand their serious faces.
“No worries! As I mentioned before some of the strongest vampires can tolerate the sun, I however, am a bit special you could say.” Claire admitted looking a bit silly finally smiling her true smile, fangs and all. After Merlynn left the table heading to fetch her coat Hiro’s face swelled with questions. “How...” Hiro asked in disbelief only managing to produce one result. “Easy, I was born out of love.” Claire answered with another smile then quickly bounced after Merlynn, who was entering the elevator. “I call bullshit.” Hiro muttered walking off to find something to do. Gloria tried sneaking off too however was caught by Jane who urged her to help her with the dishes.
True to her word Claire did not burst into flame and become a pile of dust. In fact, she seemed to glow a bit in the morning light, her silver hair being lifted and tossed around by the chilly wind. “I’d ask if your cold, but you don’t seem bothered by it.” Merlynn commented with a chuckle pulling her coat together tightly. “I won’t say no to a snuggle either.” Claire giggled rushing into Merlynn’s arms. “Knowing now that you’re a vampire, you could go with me.” Merlynn said pulling Claire tighter to her. “No, I can’t. If I did, I would probably distract you or get in the way. I’m not confident enough in a fight, not yet at least.” Claire admitted rubbing a finger against Merlynn’s chest.
“Hey, don’t sound so down. You’re perfect to me.” Merlynn added leaning her head against Claire’s. “Always with the super mush.” Claire looked up into Merlynn’s eyes blushing, a stark contrast to her beautiful fair skin. They rubbed noses softly for a moment then settled down on a snow dusted bench holding one another. “Don’t worry about me smoke, I’ve only got you for a little while longer before you leave right? I’ll deal with it for now and we can work on you quitting when you get back. That way I can stay on your ass.” Claire giggled pressing harder into Merlynn. Merlynn smiled softly and lit her cigarette. It seemed to burn slower as the two sat there still holding one another.