Everything
I smiled as I pounced on Henry from behind. He jumped and shouted in surprise as I floated to sit next to him. He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Do you have better things to do than use your powers to freak me out?"
"Not when something's bothering you. What's up cousin?" I asked him, throwing my arm around his shoulders. He sighed and stared at his hands as his elbows supported him. He didn't answer me, this was rare for Henry. I know he has been bothered a lot this school year because of Vlad but this was too much. I lifted his chin and had him face me. "Talk to me."
"I'm tired of being his pet." He said with a firm voice as his eyes stared into mine, looking for my reaction. I knew this was coming...one day. "I'm tired of being normal when you and him can go flying around and reading minds. It's not fair."
"Then talk to him about it, Henry." I placed both my hands on his cheeks. "I regret not being so open to him, so you must feel the same. Talk to him."
"How could I say it? Just say I don't want to be his drudge anymore? He will flip, Mina." I nodded. "Can't you just do it?"
"Free you? No! Tell him for you, defiantly not. He wants to see me just as badly as he wants to see D'Ablo." I hugged him tightly. "He will be hurt, but you've been hurt a lot too. He needs to know Henry...why not just go right now?"
"That's too hard. I could never get it out of me. But I want to so badly I'm...I'm going nuts!" He ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed a handful of his hair as if he wanted to rip it out. I looked around our empty house and sighed.
"Henry...don't go to the Snow Ball."
His head snapped up and he stared at me in shock, I didn't look at him. "What?"
"Don't go." I looked at him. "Forget the Snow Ball. Let Vlad go by himself and go and tell him how upset you are. You shouldn't have to suffer tonight because you are afraid to hurt him."
I turned away from him again and he reached out a warm hand to brush my cheek. "And neither should you." When he pulled away I saw a faint sparkle on his fingertip. "I'll call Kylie and cancel. I'll go over to Vlad's before he leaves."
I nodded and he smiled faintly. I held his hand and squeezed it. "Henry, I'm so sorry if I ever made you feel inferior or envious in anyway. I really am. It's not just Vlad, it's me isn't it?" He started to protest. "No, it really is. I always talk to you about the Crypt and Casimir and my past lives and my natural vampire habits. It's like I'm rubbing it in your face!"
"Mina! You make it funny, and you don't rub it in my face. But Vlad forces me to do stuff I don't want to. He abuses his power over me. You don't do that, you can't. It's not that I want to be a vampire, I see how difficult it is every day in you...killing you. I just want to be free from his grip."
I looked at him and believed him, yet I still felt seriously guilty. But his smile melted my sorrow away. Will he still be able to smile when he is old and withered as Vlad and I are still in our youth?
"I'll be right back..." He stood and left the room to call Kylie or whatever her name was.
I stood and went to my room and locked the door behind me. The dark red of the walls and darkness of the furniture played out to give me the feel of an old vampire film. I chuckled as I imagined someone walking in and criticizing about how the 'vampire's crypt' was messy with books, cloths, and other various objects. The room of a teenaged vampire. The floor length mirror hanging from my door reflected my image as I brushed a lock of my hair from my shoulder. My bare neck was covered with my hand as I looked into the mirror.
