Silver Eyes

True Blood

We got to my Aunt's house at 2 pm exactly and I was the first brave soul to get out of the cars. Then Johnny got out and threw me a nervous smile. I smiled back and my mom and Jack got out, both looking dark in their mostly black outfits with their heads bowed. My heart was beating harder than I expected at the idea of my extended family's reaction to my sexy vampyre boyfriend. I guessed it would be worse than my mom's when I had invited him over without letting her know.

We went down the recently shoveled walkway at a unusually slow pace behind my mom in her tall heels and she hesitantly rang the doorbell that seemed to fill the house with a deep, rich dinging noise. Even through the door, the sound made my ears ring. Jack must've seen me flinch, because he took my hand as if to comfort me. I could smell the anxiety off the group and wondered how much of it was my own when we saw the shape of Marisol through the stained-glass inserts on either side of the wreath-laden front door.

She swung the wide door open with a jolly red-lipped smile for her little sister, whom she immediately pulled into a Christmas sweater hug. Her blue eyes glanced over the group of us widening noticeably when she noticed Jack and when she pulled away, they went back to my mom with concealed effort.

"You guys look awesome!" she exclaimed, with a friendly expression plastered on her face as she stepped back and held her hand out for us to step through. Her eyes showed her shock, though I could tell she was trying to hide it and I thought I saw my mom exchange a knowing look with her. Johnny closed the door behind us as Jack and I slid in to the side behind my mom.

"This is my boyfriend, John," my mom introduced, pulling him over to stand next to her. Uncle Henry was the first to come out of the kitchen into the brightly lit foyer in time for their introduction. "and Silver's boyfriend, Jack." My mom motioned back to us. Henry shook Johnny's hand with a friendly smile and I could tell Johnny was uncomfortable with the attention, but he smiled politely with a blush on his cheeks. They exchanged greetings quickly before Henry's eyes moved to Jack. He was better than his wife at concealing his surprise at Jack's unconventional appearance and smiled personably when Jack offered his hand to shake.

"I'm Henry." He introduced himself before turning his attention back to the conversation Marisol had started with Johnny as Uncle George and Kate appeared from the kitchen with festive eggnog drinks in their hands. Jack took my hand again and I sent him a knowing smile when I realized he was using my overly warm hand to heat up his own. He couldn't completely hide his smile for a moment and it made me lose my grasp on my small giggle that filled my throat.

Uncle George and Aunt Kate's eyes seemed to judge my mom in her sexy black dress before they found Jack's red eyes, black hair, and pierced eyebrow. The phoniness perfected by my Aunt Kate practically floored me and I was surprised how well Jack conducted himself, even under their scrutiny. He seemed used to awkward gatherings and I guessed he was used to the staring.

"Hi, Silver. It's been so long since we've had a Christmas together." Kate called to me brightly as she made her way over. I returned a friendly smile, but could feel her judging me as her eyes raked up and down my outfit before moving to Jack.

"Hey Kate, this is my boyfriend Jack." I explained, looking to her and then to George, who smiled and offered his hand to shake. Jack shook it with a subtle smile and then held his hand out to Kate whose eyes were still wide as if she was so shocked at the sight of him that she had frozen.

"It's nice to meet you." She said in the fakest voice I had ever heard as she shook his hand like a robot and couldn't keep her widened eyes from wandering to Jack's eyebrow piercings, red eyes, and raven's feather black hair.

"Nice to meet you too." He lied with his smooth, low voice as he put his arm around my waist.

Unlike our more formal outfits, the others were all dressed up in colorful sweaters. It's like we didn't get the memo... Marisol had white reindeer running across her light green sweater and like me she only wore leggings, though mine were an obnoxious metallic gunmetal and hers were a low-key black. She had paired them with some enormous furry red and green socks and I was surprised my usually so composed Dr. Aunt would wear something so goofy. Kate was as colorful as can be with candy cane earrings, a gold cross around her neck, a Christmas tree sweater layered over a turtle-neck, and a long green and red plaid skirt. I was glad to note that I wasn't actually related to her in any way and saw that my Uncle George wore some plain beige pants and a textured red sweater with a white dress shirt underneath.