Light in the Dark (Young Dracula) 1

Ch. 9: The Sleepover

"Alright, I'm off." Vlad said as he began to walk to the front door of the castle to leave. Out of nowhere, his dad came up and blocked the door. 

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked. 

"Anna's house, for a sleepover. You already told me that I could go." Vlad reminded him. 

"Why would I let you go to a breather's house to sleep over?" The Count asked. 

"Because she's a girl, and a breather." Vlad said. 

"Right! Vlady, you rascal. Don't forget to bite her in her sleep. Ah, you really do grow up so fast." The Count remembered. 

"Right. Well, by dad." Vlad said as he gripped the door handle. 

"Goodbye Vlady! Don't forget, do everything that I would do!" The Count called out as Vlad walked away.

Vlad made it to Anna's house and she opened the door. "Finally, I've been waiting for you! Who's ready to party people-style?" She said with an excited smile. 

"I'm ready! I'm so excited. I've never had a sleepover before." He replied and she let him in.

 "Really? Not even with Robin?" She asked and he shook his head. "Well, welcome to your first sleepover."

"How did your parents agree to this though? Obviously you can't hypnotize them." Vlad asked.

"My mom is a lot more chill than my dad and he's away with my grandparents for the night." She explained. As if on cue Anna's mom popped into the room.

"Hello Vlad, good to see you again." She spoke with a smile and quickly examined the two of them.

"Hello mrs Luke, thank you for letting me stay over tonight." Vlad responded with a grateful smile.

"Of course! Just don't mention this to mr Luke. And I'll be keeping an eye on the two of you all night." She spoke.

"Of course." Vlad nodded.

"Well, let me show you the set up, Anna worked all day on it." She spoke and had them follow.

"Mom!" Anna spoke under her breath, her cheeks rushing with blush. The living room was set up with snacks, sleeping bags, and a stack of movies and games. 

"Wow! This is gonna be so much fun!" Vlad exclaimed and Anna smiled.

"You two make yourselves comfortable. I'll get dinner started." Mrs Luke said and walked to the kitchen where she could look through the opening in the wall to watch them.

"What is all this?" Vlad asked excitedly and he set his bag down next to the coffee table.

"Well, for snacks we've got crisps, cakes, biscuits-"

"All stuff my dad would never let me have. Awesome!" Vlad exclaimed. Anna laughed.

"Right. And for games we've got Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, all stuff I brought from my old house." Anna explained.

"American games, cool!"

"And a bunch of films I thought you would like. Comedies mostly, some cartoons. No horror or vampires films." She pointed out.

"Thank you. I get enough of that every day." He replied. 

"I figured as much." She smiled.

Anna and Vlad played games until her mom was done making dinner. It was a beef roast stew made with mashed potatoes. Obviously, Vlad loved it, getting to try so many new things. "I hope you've saved room for dessert." Mrs Luke said after taking away Vlad's second plate.

"Totally!" Vlad replied.

"I've got some chocolate icecream in the freezer. I'll portion some out for you two." She said and Vlad's eyes lit up. 

After dinner Anna and Vlad picked through the stack of movies and they sat to watch one, with her mom in the room to watch too. Obviously she didn't let them sit too close to each other. Vlad enjoyed the movie very much, getting to laugh instead of being bored watching the same scary stuff he lives through. 

"Alright you two, one more movie and then it's lights out." Mrs Luke said.

"But mom, we've got the whole stack!" Anna complained.

"Those were the choices, obviously I wouldn't let you watch them all. So pick one more." Her mom explained.

After the last movie Anna's mom explained the sleep situation. Vlad would sleep on one side of the lving room and Anna would sleep on the other. Or she could go back to her room. Anna chose to stay and the two of them settled into their sleeping bags. "I will be back to check on you guys later. I better see you in the same spots as I do right now." She explained.

"Yes mom." Anna agreed.

"Yes ma'am." Vlad agreed. So Mrs Luke shut off the lving room light and walked down the hall to her room. Silence hung in the air while Vlad stared at the ceiling. It was earliest he had ever been to sleep. "Anna?" He whispered to see if she was still awake.

"Yeah?" She replied quietly.

"Do you always go to sleeo this early?" He asked.

"Actually, this is late for me." She replied. She turned over in her sleeping bag to face him. "You can't sleep?" She asked.

"Not yet I guess. I'll try to keep quiet." he apologized, trying to let her keep sleeping.

"No, it's okay. Let's talk." She said.

"Oh okay. What do you want to talk about?" He asked. She was silent for a moment while she thought.

"What do you miss most about your old home?" She asked. He tried to think about a time where he ever enjoyed living in a stricter environment.

"Maybe back when Zoltan wasn't stuffed. He would run through the forest while I was on his back. It was really fun." He remembered and a smile crossed his face. "What about you?" he asked.

"I miss my family." She said immediately. "I also miss the beach and the warm, sunny days." She added. Vlad thought about what true warmth would feel like. It never got very hot and sunny where they were but he knew Florida would be way hotter. 

"That sounds nice." He admitted. He wanted to see a real white sand beach with big ocean waves and clear water.

"It was. But here is cool too, I guess. It's the people that I like more than the scenery." She admitted. "In fact, I quite like the people." She added, looking at him but he was still looking up. He hadn't even gotten the hint that she was talking about him.