Chapter 3: Mum and Dad
"Mum?” I stopped in my tracks. I took a glance at her eyes. Great, I couldn’t explain anything to my Mum.
“RILEY!” She threw her arms on me intensely, “are you okay?”
“Yeah mum.” I said flatly.
“Why aren’t you at school?” She demanded. “Come inside.”
“Mum, I can’t. I have to tell you something.”
“I’m moving out and living with some guys from high school.” I spat as I sped away leaving my Mum standing helplessly in the streets before I could change my mind. This was probably the hardest thing as I had ever done and as soon as I could, I stopped and caught my breath. Tears streamed down my pain stricken face.
“What have I done?” I mumbled to myself. I realised I was outside Darcy’s house. She said that she lived across the road and down the street at 52 Finlay Street. Sure enough, I was standing on the front porch of that exact address. It was a rather old mansion.
Did I get the right address? Just as I was about to head home, I saw the door fly open to find a rather hot looking fourteen-year-old wearing tight black jeans and a t-shirt with a logo on it representing something I had obviously never heard of. It was a circle with a fang in the middle of it. I noticed his eyes. Why was everyone here a vampire? He spoke in an unusually glittering voice.
“What are you doing here?” He sang as he shut the door behind him. Was he flirting with me?
“I am looking for Darcy.” I announced proudly. I took a step towards him.
“She is inside- I am Vladimir Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Thorsten von Steuben, Darcy’s brother, and you must be Riley.”
I was speechless and breathless so I just nodded helplessly.
He was a bright red apple when I looked behind me. I was flattered. He was hot. When I glanced over at him, again he was fixing up his jet-black hair in a pocket mirror.
“Who is it?” Darcy questioned as she sailed down the stairs elegantly.
When she saw my beaming face, she thrust herself into my arms.
“It’s so good to see you,” she whispered.
I couldn’t help but smile.
“No I’m serious!” She yelled at Vladimir.
I could tell she almost wanted to strangle he brother by the way she could not keep her eyes off him. “My brother,” she continued, “can’t stop talking about you.”
“But he is not even talking!” I whispered back.
“The boy vampires can say things in your head and read minds and the girls can control thoughts.”
“So how do I control his thoughts?”
“Clear your mind, focus on my brother, and think about what you want him to think.”
I emptied my thoughts. I concentrated on Darcy’s attractive vampire brother. I thought about how I wanted to be normal again and how I missed my Mum and Dad. Tears trickled down Vladimir Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Thorsten von Steuben’s face. I swallowed hard. I didn’t mean to think about that! He was kind of like a giant toasted marsh mellow: Tough on the outside but really squishy and gooey with a kind heart on the inside.
“Wow how did you do that?” Darcy screamed with laughter as her tough brother bawled his eyes out with tears.
“Um…wouldn’t have a clue.” I lied.
“Okay well are we going to stand here all day or can we go inside?” asked Vladimir Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Thorsten von Steuben, wiping a tear.
“Sure.” I said still in fits of laughter.
We raced inside to find a surprise waiting for me on the couch.
“DAD?” I asked as he spun around.
“RILEY!” He bolted over to me like a scared chicken, his rubicund eyes flashing.
“What have they done to you?” I asked, starting to get creeped out at how many people were bloodsuckers.
In amongst the cuddle, I was squished between Dad’s chest and his brawny arms.
“Dad. You’re killing me.” I said, smothered by his strong arms. He released me uneasily.
“What have they done to you?” He asked me.
“It’s a long story.” I whispered.
“He’s your Dad?” Darcy asked confused.
“You’re still not answering my question!”
“Look I didn’t want to tell you but you have a step sister and a step brother who happened to be Darcy and Vladimir!”
“WHAT,” I squawked. “YOU CHEATED ON MUM?”
“No we divorced two months ago.”
