Present Day
Eric groaned as he heard his mother call out for them to wake up. He
wasn’t prepared to leave the comfort of his bed just yet. Today was their first
day at Sereneville High School and he hated the fact that he and Tristan would
have to make new friends all over again. It had always been like that though,
every town they went to, they stayed only a couple of years and then moved on.
Eric and Tristan had never asked why they did that, because their mother was
not the settling type. She was a private consultant on information technology
and was always on the road. Eric heard his mother call out again and wondered
if his brother was up.
Tristan slowly got out of bed, although you could tell with the way he
bumped into things on his way to the bathroom that he was still sound asleep.
He opened the door at the same time Eric opened his on their adjoining
bathroom. He looked at Eric’s disheveled face and hair and he chuckled. “Dude
you look stoned.”
Eric showed him the middle finger and said, “You don’t look too good
yourself there cowboy. Late night rendezvous?”
“With who you idiot we just moved here.” Tristan retorted
“Don’t remind me,” Eric said. He dunked some toothpaste on his tooth
brush and walked back into his bedroom. “Hurry up Goldie,” he called over his
shoulder, referring to his brother’s blond coloured mane.
Both boys were downstairs just as their mother called out for the
hundredth time that morning. They bundled into the kitchen, already starting
their daily ritual of arguing about nothing in particular. Athena turned as she
heard them come in, her heart lurching as she once again saw how shockingly
similar they were to their parents; Eric with his thick tousled dark hair, sky
blue eyes and infectious smile and Tristan with his shoulder length blond mane
and mischievous rich brown eyes. Both were quite tall for their age and had
grown up quite rapidly over the years, too rapidly perhaps. Athena had been
with them all along, keeping the promise she had made to her sister all those
years ago. When they had been of an appropriate age, she told them of how their
parents had died, lying that they had been in a car accident.
She told them nothing of their heritage, or of what they were. She
decided Angeline would have wanted that. Over the years, she’d been moving them
back and forth across the country as she did not want to stay in one place too
long. Everybody would have thought Julian and Angeline died with their children
in the fire that night but Athena wasn’t taking any chances. She had vowed to
her sister that she would take care of her children and that was exactly what
she had done. It had seemed odd that they still referred to Athena as their
mother since she had told them the truth but Athena guessed it was because she
was the only one who had been around all these years.
She took out a comb out of her back pocket which she kept for this
specific reason and handed it to Eric. “Comb your hair,” she said, gesturing
toward the tousled mat on his head. “I won’t have you going for your first day
of school looking like you just survived the apocalypse.”
Tristan laughed at Eric’s fallen face knowing he hated combing his hair,
saying it made him look too fresh.
“What are you laughing at mister?” Athena said. “Pull those jeans up,
this isn’t a strip club and you better come shopping with me this afternoon so
we can get you a pair that fits. It looks like there should be three people in
there.”
It was Eric’s turn to guffaw, knowing how Tristan liked his clothes
loose. He grabbed a few pancakes from the table and headed for the door, his
brother closely behind.
“Now hold on a minute,” Athena called out. “Where do you think you’re
going? Come on, I’ll drive you,” she said. Ignoring the chorus of groans, she
quickly ushered them out the door and locked the house.
Raven sighed as she heard her mother call out to turn down the volume
blasting from her stereo. She looked out her bedroom window; new town, new life
she thought. This was the fifth town in the last twelve years she and her
parents had moved to. Of course seeing as they were vampires, she guessed there
wasn’t much choice. While her parents had been vampires longer than she could
remember, Raven was still a newborn having been turned by her mother just under
a year ago. She was actually still not used to her blood lust and sometimes
went off on a bender but her parents had helped her slowly through the process
and she was getting used to the taste of animal blood now. Of course it didn’t
really satisfy her but it was the best available at the moment. Every now and
then though, her parents would pinch a blood bag or two from the hospital and
it would be a party that night.
Raven wasn’t particularly looking forward to going to school that
morning. She didn’t think Sereneville High had anything different to offer from
all the other schools she’d been to. She was sure it was just as lame and
boring as the rest. She didn’t understand why she had to go to school anyway,
she literally had forever to do that. She wished she could just kick back and
listen to the sounds of Maroon 5 all day long. Raven quickly showered and
adorned her attire for the day; a black T-shirt with a triple X banner on the
front and black pants. She put some purple flecks in her silken dark hair and
checked herself in the mirror. “Good to go,” she said, and ran downstairs.
“Morning Mom, morning Dad,” she said, as she entered the muffin smelling
kitchen.
“Morning honey,” Tabitha replied. She smiled as she looked at her
daughter pouring herself a glass of animal blood, memories of how she had come
into their lives washing over her. Even if Alistair had protested the adoption
and had not been entirely convinced they were doing the right thing after being
given permission to adopt her, he had finally come around and loved Raven just
as much as any parent could love their child. It had taken them ages to decide
whether to turn her or not, as they knew it was a very painful process but
Raven catching them drinking blood one day had been the final straw.
They had confessed their nature to her and told her everything of what
their world entailed. Oddly, she hadn’t been scared, as if knowing on some
level her parents were not like other parents. They had turned her on the eve
of her sixteenth birthday and although Raven admitted they had been right about
the pain she’d go through, in the end, she was glad that now she was connected
to her parents in a way she had never been before.
Tabitha awoke from her reverie as Alistair was asking Raven if she was
looking forward to her first day of school.
“Not one bit,” Raven confessed. “I’ve been through this plenty of times
but I still can’t bear the thought of having to make new friends again. High
school kids always make you feel like trash before they accept you into their stupid
world of booze and late night parties.”
“All activities of which you will be taking no part of,” her father
said, wagging a finger at her.
“I know the drill Dad,” Raven said. “But if I’m to act like a normal
teenager, those activities will have to find their way to my doorstep.”
“Well okay then maybe just a little and keep it to a minimum.”
“Oh get off her case Alistair.” Tabitha came to her daughter’s rescue.
“She knows the rules, and besides, she’s a woman who is capable of controlling
herself. I’m I right dear?”
Raven smiled at her guardian angel. “Definitely Mom,” she said, laughing
at the scowl her father shot at her mother. She finished drinking her breakfast
and picked up her bag. “I know I’m not leaving this house alone so which of you
is taking me?”
“I am,” Tabitha quickly answered and ran upstairs to get her keys.
“Have a good day kiddo,” Alistair said, giving her a hug.
“Thanks Dad,” Raven said. “Oh is there any way you could bring some
blood from the hospital over tonight? This animal blood is just really going
down the wrong way.”
Alistair nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
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