Quick little Author's Note. This is a sequel. For the original story, Changes in Sleepyside, please visit ams71080 (my collaborator) www. fanfiction. net/u/ 1404949/
Thank you, and enjoy the story!
School was over for the week. It was the end of October, and everyone was subdued, remembering the last Halloween. Only five students knew the real story of what happened, and they weren't telling.
The BWGs were coping well with having their two older members away at college. Dan and Mart were now juniors, and Diana, Honey and Trixie were sophomores. The girls were talking quietly as they got their things from their lockers in preparation of meeting the guys at the station wagon for the ride home.
The school had emptied out by the time the girls were finally walking down the hall toward the door. Suddenly, there was a crash as Trixie dropped her books. Diana and Honey looked back to see her sitting on the floor with her knees at her chest.
Rocking back and forth with tears running silently down her cheeks, Trixie started muttering. "Don't do this to me. I can't handle it."
"What's wrong?" Diana and Honey cried in unison.
Trixie took a shuddering breath. "Jonathan. Something's wrong. I know it. I can feel it. Oh, my God. He's miserable."
Dan and Mart had gotten tired of waiting and decided to see what was taking so long. They found the girls crouching on the floor. "We need to get her home and to bed," Honey said quietly. With no one home at Crabapple Farm, Trixie requested that they walk up the hill to the Manor House rather than drive for her to relax in Honey's room.
Once that was completed, the four remaining friends sat around the large living room, discussing what had set off Trixie.
"Trixie doesn't cry," Honey stated, getting angry that the boys didn't believe it. "It HAD to be real. Besides, we all know that the two of them bonded last year."
"Define 'bonded,'" Mart demanded, one sandy brow raised.
"Down, boy," Di warned, also losing patience.
"Nothing you girls can say will change my mind. Just the idea of it is insane," Mart snorted.
"This is Trixie we're talking about," Dan reminded Mart hesitantly.
"You're right," he hummed. "She's as crazy as that old black cat lady down the street."
"Lindsay is not crazy. Just because she has a bunch of cats that are all black doesn't mean anything," Honey snipped, flames starting to flicker in her eyes. Mart ducked his head slightly, pulling up his shoulders and peeked at Honey.
"HA!" Trixie burst into the room. "He's coming back! He really is coming back. I told you something was wrong!"
"And how, pray tell, sister dear, do you know that?" Mart inquired.
"I don't know. Call it a gut feeling." Trixie stuck her tongue out at her disbelieving brother.
"As if you haven't had enough of those in your short life." Mart rolled his eyes.
"You're just jealous, Twin, that you don't have the instincts that I do."
"Well, either way, we'll know soon enough," Honey interjected. "So just stop your bickering."
Mart grumbled as the siblings continued to glare at each other. It was quite obvious that they didn't want to cease. A knock on the front door however, brought them out of their staring match.
"Mart," Honey requested sweetly, wanting to separate them, "would you be a dear and go answer the door for me, please?" Curiosity overcoming him, Mart left the room without argument.
Mart peered through the peep hole and his eyes widened. He swung the door open with his jaw hanging. There in the doorway stood Jonathan.
"Hello, Mart," Jonathan greeted. Mart remained rooted to the spot with his mouth gaping. Jonathan waited patiently for a few moments before shooting Mart an annoyed look. That seemed to snap Mart back into the present.
"Don't tell me that 'we must be invited into a house' crap is true," Mart demanded. When he got no response he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Consider yourself formally invited."
Mart led the way to the living room. He was met with looks of curiosity that slowly turned to disbelief as everyone stared at the newcomer. Trixie recovered first.
"Jonathan! I knew you'd come."
Capturing her in a hug, he apologized for any discomfort. "I couldn't help sending out my distress."
Trixie waved his apology away. "It's fine. As curious as I am, I think you need to get cleaned up. Did you bring any clothes?"
Jonathan shook his head. "I didn't have time to pack anything before I was forced to leave."
Honey, ever the helpful hostess, jumped from her seat. "You can borrow something of Jim's. I'll show you where." She led him from the room.
Trixie looked pointedly at Mart. He shuddered over his next words. "All right, you win." She beamed.
Honey was soon back, and the group sat in silence waiting for Jonathan.
Almost twenty minutes later, Jonathan returned, looking as hot as he had the year before. "Honey," he started, "I was hearing some running water after I got out of the shower."
Honey nodded. "The toilet needs to be looked at. The plumber should be here tomorrow."
Diana made a face. "The last time ours did that, the sewage filter needed to be cleaned."
Trixie was looking closely at Jonathan. "When was the last time you fed?"
"Yesterday morning," he answered.
Trixie sighed. "Come on, I'll be your Bloody Mary."
Jonathan shook his head. "I can't. I need more than you can safely give me."
"We'll all help," Diana insisted. "Then you won't have to go hunting. The way you look, you'd never make it."
"We will?" Mart asked before he caught himself. Dan looked equally alarmed.
Trixie rolled her eyes. "It doesn't hurt, you know." She sat down and held out her wrist.
Jonathan, nervous about being watched, hesitated.
"Don't make me get a knife and cut myself," Trixie threatened. "I know you wouldn't be able to help yourself then."
Jonathan nodded and held her wrist. In the next second, Trixie's facial expression changed to one of pleasure.
By the time he had to stop on Trixie, Honey was there with her wrist held out to him. When Jonathan finished with Honey, Diana asked him if he was okay, or if he needed more.
"I'm okay now," Jonathan answered her.
Diana nodded. "Just let me know then. Honey and Trixie will need time to recover. I'll get them some juice." She returned to the room to hear Honey asking why Trixie seemed to enjoy being fed on more than she did.
"You only enjoyed it as helping someone. Trixie and I are bonded somehow. I'm not sure how that happened, but that's why she seems to feed off me as much as I do her, however indirectly," he added with a smile.
Sensing that Mart didn't like that comment, Diana hurriedly requested, "Just don't hypnotize me, please. It's weird missing time."
Jonathan nodded his agreement.
Dan and Mart exchanged glances. "You'd better not try that 'Are you getting sleepy?' shit on me," Dan declared.
Jonathan narrowed his eyes at them. "What blood types are you two anyway?"
They answered and Jonathan waved a hand. "You two aren't my type anyway. I don't like those." He burst out laughing at their expressions.
"Now that you've cleaned up and fed, tell us what happened," Trixie pressed. "I freaked out at school over you."
Jonathan sighed. "There are people who found out that I'm higher on the food chain than they are. Total religious fanatics. The kind that killed your mother, Dan."
Dan's face hardened.
"Cursed religious fanatics," Jonathan grumbled, continuing his story. "The stupid people don't even realize that garlic only offends our delicate nasal passages," he chuckled, "it doesn't even come close to killing us." Jonathan ranted on; debunking all the things people though killed vampires. "And silver! I don't know where these people get the idea… that's werewolves; come on people, read a damn book. Holy water only sizzles until it evaporates from the heat. We aren't even left with burns because we heal! Crosses and sunlight do nothing, absolutely nothing.
"The only ways to kill a vampire are the stake through the heart, fire, or decapitation," Jonathan finished, flinging his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"How long have you been running?" Diana asked.
Jonathan had barely finished answering her before Trixie began ushering him away, telling everyone that he needed rest. She helped settle him in one of the spare rooms, and then sat on the bed beside him. He turned the radio on and pulled her to him. He put his arms around her waist and she put her head on his shoulder. He let out a sigh of contentment.
"What have you been doing since you left?" Trixie asked, snuggling closer to him.
"Oh, a little of this and a little of that. Mostly just wandering around, laying low. Trying desperately to forget about you." When she stiffened in his arms, he hurried to explain, "I feel more connected to you than to anyone else I have ever met." She relaxed as she admitted that it was mutual.
"I just felt it best to try to forget you. It would never work. I've stopped aging, and you never stop aging. You eat food, I drink blood," he said softly, his voice reflecting his regret.
"I had finally found a place to settle down," he changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on the matter, "but the fanatics found me. I only had one choice for a safe haven. And that was you, so here I am."
Trixie smiled at him though pain showed in the depths of her blue eyes. Jonathan took advantage of her face tipped up towards his and started to lean towards her. Before their lips could touch, there was a knock at the door.
"Yes?" Jonathan called. The door opened and Honey popped her head in.
"I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable, but you don't have to answer that, I can see that you are."
Before Honey turned to leave Jonathan whooped and reached to turn up the radio. Summer Breeze, the song by Type O Negative blared out of the speakers. He turned back to the girls with a huge grin.
"I love this song." He proceeded to sing along with the song. Honey giggled and turned to leave, not wanting to further interrupt. The second she was gone, Jonathan stopped singing and cuddled against Trixie again. Completely content to lay in each others arms silently, they listened to the music. Jonathan was actually starting to fall asleep when another knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," he slurred, sleepily.
"Sorry to disturb you, man. I just, you know… I was just wondering about those religious fanatics that you told us about," Dan attempted nonchalance.
Jonathan sat up a little and proceeded to tell Dan everything he knew of the fanatics that were tracking him. A ten minute soliloquy later, Dan knew everything that Jonathan knew and took his leave.
"I thought he would never leave. You couldn't hurry your explanation up at all?" Trixie inquired. Jonathan grinned apologetically and ran his fingers through her hair. She rested her forehead against his, looking into his whiskey colored eyes.
Their lips had barely touched when someone tapped on the door and Diana wandered in. They started to pull away at the sound of her gasp, but before they managed it fully, Diana apologized profusely and scurried out of the room, slamming the door in the process. Seeing no need to stop what they were doing, now that the interrupter was gone, they deepened their kisses.
Just as things were starting to get heated, Mart entered the room unannounced. His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when he saw the embrace that Jonathan and his little sister were sharing. He had been right, then, in his assumption that they shouldn't be left alone together for too long. He cleared his throat loudly.
"Bloody Mary, mother of God," Jonathan muttered as he jerked back. He had recognized where that cough had come from.
"Knock much," Trixie growled at Mart and threw him a glare for good measure.
"I didn't mean to interrupt anything," Mart fibbed, "but everyone is getting hungry and we're trying to decide what we want for dinner. We thought it only right that we get everyone's opinion."
"Well, I've already had my dinner," Jonathan reminded him. "So it makes me no never mind."
"We're going back to our house. Everyone's invited, but at least we won't have to deal with any adults asking awkward questions," Mart said.
After a dinner of pizza and salad, Jonathan invited Trixie to go for a walk. "Sure, just let me get my jacket. Oh, do you have one?"
Mart smirked. "I'd let you borrow my cape, but I don't have one."
Jonathan rolled his eyes. "I don't need a jacket."
Soon, the two were strolling through the woods.
"I've never been in this area before," Trixie mused aloud.
"I found it last year. I don't need as much sleep as you do, so I spent a lot time walking and I though this place was peaceful. I came here just to think sometimes."
Trixie followed him into a clearing. "We're in a cemetery!"
"Wanna give the dead a show?" Jonathan teasingly asked her.
She giggled and pushed him away. "I don't think I want any of the old-timers here haunting me to give me lectures on respect."
The next morning, everyone gathered at Crabapple Farm to go shopping for Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters. Diana was looking into a wall mirror, smoothing her hair when Jonathan stepped up behind her.
"How do I look?" he jokingly inquired.
"Jonathan," she gasped. "I didn't see you come up behind me."
He pointed at the mirror. "Of course you didn't. I have no reflection during the day." He turned to the BWGs. "While you're Halloween shopping, I'm gonna have a look around. It feels safe, but I want to make sure."
When they returned from their shopping, bags loaded with candy, Trixie called out for Jonathan. When she got no answer, she was puzzled. "I'm going to look for him. I know where his thinking place is." She was out the door and out of sight before anyone could say anything.
As she arrived closer to the cemetery, she heard voices. She hid behind a tree and peeked at the goings-on in front of her. She saw Jonathan tied to a chair, wearing a bib. There were people dressed in puritanical-styled clothing, trying to feed him spaghetti. From the way Jonathan was frowning and wrinkling his nose, Trixie knew it had to be laced with garlic.
She slowly backed away from the clearing, but not before she saw the garlic bread crosses that several were angrily shaking at Jonathan. When she had backed far enough, she turned and ran. She made it back to her house in record time and burst through the door.
"Jonathan," she panted. "He's been caught. We need to get him before they realize the garlic won't hurt him." She turned and ran back out, everyone else on her heels.
"Eat it!" they heard an irate voice scream.
"Stop!" Trixie yelled, as a distraction. "No one should have to eat that. I can smell it from here."
A man stomped toward her. "You have no idea what you're stopping. He's evil, an abomination. He's a vampire."
Trixie narrowed her eyes. "I know exactly what he is. And I'm not going to let you do this to him."
"Just who are you?" the man asked.
"Call me Buffy," she sneered.
"Buffy was a vampire slayer. You're trying to stop us from killing him," a woman shouted from her spot.
Trixie shrugged. "She had her Angel. And you have now been stopped."
"How do you think to stop us? There is one of you and four of us," the man told her, as if he thought she couldn't count.
"Wrong," Trixie corrected him. "There are five of us." The other BWGs mysteriously appeared. "We should really teach you some old and very wise sayings."
"Live and let live," Diana told them.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," was Honey's contribution.
"Judge not lest ye be judged," Mart mentioned.
"Make friends, not enemies, and you will live longer." This had been Dan's philosophy when he lived on the streets.
"You can catch more vampire flies with honey than you can with garlic," Trixie shouted, making Jonathan laugh with her creative wording.
The puritanical fanatics ran away, unable to listen to sensible words.
After untying Jonathan, the group went back to Crabapple Farm. "My parents are having their adult party tonight," Diana told them.
Honey nodded. "Miss Trask has Bobby tonight."
"Good," Trixie exclaimed. "I thought we could celebrate having Jonathan safe by watching Queen of the Damned."
When the movie was over, Jonathan smiled mischievously. "That Lestat actor is quite good-looking."
Trixie rolled her eyes. "He looks just like you."
"Exactly," Jonathan winked.
After allowing Diana to donate Jonathan's dinner, the group filed upstairs to bed, since everyone had permission to stay.
The next morning, Trixie was the first one awake. She went downstairs and saw a note with her name on it.
Dearest Trixie,
I feel like the lowest coward, but I couldn't do this
in person. It's time for me to go, before we get any more
attached to each other. I'll be in touch. I'll remember you
forever. And you know forever is a very long time for me.
With all my love,
Jonathan
Honey found her sitting at the table half an hour later, tears just coursing down her cheeks.
"He's gone again, Honey."
"You know he couldn't stay, Trix. He's a vampire. Eventually someone would notice he's never gotten older than seventeen. He also needs to let you go so you can live your life."
"I don't want a life without him."
Author's Notes:
This story was a collaboration between ams71080 and myself. This story was also a writing challenge at VOTD, a general fanfiction community. The Trixie characters belong to Random House. Jonathan was a creation of mine and ams71080's, although names and other ideas were borrowed from L.J. Smith's Night World and Vampire Diaries series.
The Elements (elements used in italics):
§ Mention of Blood Type Jonathan asks Dan and Mart
§ Bloody Mary: Legend or Drink. Trixie is Jonathan's. Jonathan's mutterings.
§ Spiders, bats or black cats.
§ Use or mention of holy water, crosses, silver, wooden stakes, garlic Jonathan's rant, and the fanatics
§ A mirror Diana's fixing her hair
§ Mention of running water. The toilet
§ Cape or cloak. Mart mentions one.
§ Buffy or Blade or Abraham Van Helsing Trixie's 'alias'
§ Mention of one of the following vampire movies: Nosferatu, Dracula (1932), The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Lost Boys, Underworld, Bram Stoker's Dracula, John Carpenter's Vampires, The Hunger, Interview with a Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Salem's Lot, Fright Night
§ Graveyard Jonathan takes Trixie to one
§ Being formally invited in the house Mart has to invite him
§ Use of one of the following songs: At Dawn They Sleep - Slayer, Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde, Summer Breeze - Type O Negative, Drain You of Life - Sacred Reich, Balls to the Wall – Accept, GWAR - Vlad the Impaler. Lyrics for these songs are here.