Vampire Fetish (Yumikuri)

1. Living It Up In Rainy Town

Historia didn't speak to her father for the entire car trip to the airport. She wasn't angry with him, not exactly - rather, she felt a sort of apathy towards him. Rod Reiss had given her life, but he hadn't been around for most of it. Even when he became her primary carer, he was still emotionally distant, leaving the raising of Historia to whichever adult was in the vicinity. His eldest daughter Frieda was Historia's favourite parent figure.

Historia wished that Frieda was the one she was going off to live with, but alas, Frieda's house didn't have space for anyone else, nor did Frieda have the time to look after her 16 year old half-sister. Instead, Historia was going up to live with her estranged uncle Uri, who lived in some dismal coastal town near the forest. Historia had some memories of staying at his house over summers long past. It had rained almost the whole time. 

She bid Rod a tearless goodbye at the airport, and boarded the plane without looking back. 

There wasn't much to do on the 4-hour flight. There was only one book in Historia's carry-on, and watching the in-flight movies made her travelsick. Historia spent most of that flight annoyed by the two loud preteen boys behind her, and when the plane landed at Paradis airport she was glad to be on solid ground.

Historia was greeted by her uncle inside the airport, near the baggage carousels. 

"Historia?" He asked. 

"Yeah. Uncle Uri?"

He nodded. He picked up her suitcase and carried it out to the car.

"So how's your dad been?" Uri asked on the car ride to his house. 

"Rod's been fine," Historia answered. She heard Uri take a sharp intake of breath, possibly caught offguard by her use of her father's first name. 

"Ah. Well, Kenny's kid's coming around a bit later with a truck I bought off them. I figured since you wouldn't appreciate me driving you to school."

(Kenny was the name of Uri's boyfriend, and the reason the rest of the family didn't speak to him.)

"You bought me a car?" Historia exclaimed. 

"It was secondhand." Uri pulled into the driveway of the old house he lived in. "Consider it a welcome gift to Paradis."

"Oh my god, thank you," Historia said. Uri paid it no mind and motioned for her to get out of the car, which she did.

She immediately set to work unpacking the things she'd brought with her, hanging up her clothes in the closet of the spare room. Most of her wardrobe was bought to withstand the heat of desert summers, and she figured she'd need a shopping trip if she wanted to not freeze. She was hanging up her flag above the window when she saw a red truck pull up in the driveway, next to Uri's car. Figuring that was the car Uri had bought, Historia headed outside. 

Three people got out of the truck; one was a tired-looking man not much taller than Historia but quite clearly older, perhaps in his thirties, the second a boy with messy hair and goth (or was it emo? Historia could never tell) clothes, and the third a cool girl with defined muscles under her shirt.

"Thanks for this, Levi," Uri said. The short man, Levi, nodded and passed a key to Uri, who passed it to Historia. "Are those your kids?"

"Wish they weren't," Levi mumbled. He followed Uri inside to finish up the paperwork, leaving the kids standing awkwardly outside. The girl, fed up, sighed and followed the adults. The boy caught on to Historia's shock.

"Don't worry, Mikasa's like that with everyone," he said with a laugh. "It's not just you."

Historia laughed nervously, and put her hands in her pockets. "I'm Historia. By the way."

"Eren. We used to play together as kids."

"Oh, yeah, I remember." Historia had vague memories of playing with two local kids when she stayed in Paradis, but that had been a good ten years ago now. 

"Wanna try out the car?" Eren offered.

"Oh, hell yes!" Historia ran into the truck, Eren getting into the passenger seat. She ran her hands across the truck's dashboard, admiring it.

"You do know how to drive, right?" Eren asked. 

"Yeah, I have a licence," Historia said. "This is so cool."

"Oh, and-" Eren opened the glovebox. He pulled out a CD. "Housewarming gift. I don't know if you like metal or not, but Levi doesn't so uh, welcome to Paradis."

"Oh, thank you," Historia said as she took the CD. She wasn't the biggest fan of metal, but it was the thought that counted. "So, uh, you're an Ackerman? You don't really look like the rest of your family. No offence..."

"No, yeah, I'm adopted," Eren said. "Mikasa is too, I guess, but she's also Levi's cousin or whatever so she was always an Ackerman."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Historia said.

"Don't worry, I get asked that a lot. You're not the first person who's asked." Eren smiled, and Historia smiled back. 

Mikasa tapped on the window. Eren jumped.

"Eren, get out. We're going." 

"Okay, fine." Eren rolled his eyes. 

"See you at school?" Historia asked.

"No, we go to school in the next town over," Eren said. 

"Oh, great." Historia would have loved to have known somebody at her new school, but no.

Eren smiled at her again, and got out of the car. He waved before he left, earning a wave back.

Historia spent that evening dreading the following day. She was starting school more than halfway through the school year. Everyone else would already have their established friendships and she would stick out like a sore thumb. She shared these worries with Frieda over the phone that night.

"Everyone feels like that in highschool," Frieda told her. "When you graduate, none of this will matter."

"But that's not until next year," Historia complained.

"Stop whining, Christa," Frieda said, using the nickname she'd given her when she was little. "I'm sure someone at your school will be nice."

"Okay, bye, I love you," Historia said before she hung up. She put her phone down and flopped facefirst on her bed. She hoped she'd make a friend. At least she was starting anew, right?