Author's note: "Not Another Vampire Story" was intended to be a one-shot, but since readers kept asking for one, here is a sequel.
She had received so much of what she had never had before: love, support, friends, family, yet at times, Cydra had trouble adjusting to her new life. Within a year's worth of time, Cydra's dark and spooky appearance slowly transitioned: gone were the crazy multi-colored highlights that streaked down her naturally jet black hair, the numerous piercings across her face had reduced to one ring on her bottom lip, she had a little more color in her once pasty and extremely pale skin. In many ways, she was a new girl, yet she still struggled witht he feelings of the old girl. She had gotten used to being a vampire for so long, and abusing her control of those she could manipulate, that a normal life almost seemed strange to her. Cydra had no desire in becoming a vampire again, but at the same time, she seemed to take subject matters rather personally. She hated the vampire hype that resulted in the popularity in Twilight series, and other vampire books and movies. She cringed at hearing songs such as "That's What Ghouls and Vampires Are Made Of" and "Vampire Girl" on the radio. She also hated the holiday that was fast approaching that was loved by her friends, if there was something that could be said, it was that Cydra was the Grinch when it came to Halloween. Even she had to admit that she was surprised she still felt so much disgust and disdain for insignificant things after all this time. She feared this would drive a wedge between the people in her life, like her adoptive parents, who did find Cydra to be peculiar, even if they didn't say anything, and those who saved her from her demise, like the chipmunks and the chipettes. One afternoon, the phone rang, and Cydra's mother, Nancy, who had just returned home from work, answered the phone. It was for Cydra.
"Cydra?" Nancy called upstairs. "Cydra, dear?"
Cydra slowly approached the railing. "Yes, mother?"
"Phone!" Nancy said, as she sat the receiver on the table, while she grabbed her briefcase and laptop, and entered the kitchen.
Cydra descended the staircase, and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Cyd!" The voice on the other end responded, "Britt!"
"Hey, Britt." Cydra greeted Brittany.
"Listen, my sister and I wanna have you over tonight for a slumber party, wanna come?" Brittany asked.
"I really don't know..." Cydra said.
"Aw, come on, Cyd," Brittany insisted, "look, I promise that Jeanette will hide all of her Twilight books, and Eleanor will take down her Taylor Lautner pinups."
"You three are all heart..." Cydra remarked, with slight sarcasm.
"No, look, really, we want you to hang out with us, what do you say?" Brittany asked.
Cydra shrugged. "Oh, why not? I'll just ask my parents, I'm sure they'll let me."
"Awesome." Brittany said. "Don't bother bringing a sleeping bag, we cleaned up a cot Miss Miller had in the cellar for you."
"Sounds very comfortable," Cydra said, "I'll be there."
As the skies grew darker, and the night grew cooler, Cydra made her way down the street, a duffle bag in hand for her pajamas and toothbrush, among other things. She rang the doorbell of the Miller residence, and was welcomed in by Eleanor, who brought her upstairs to the bedroom she shared with her older sisters.
"Just in time," Eleanor said, "I got the popcorn maker going, I made sure to pour in extra."
"Great," Cydra said, "I hope you have lots of butter."
"Sure do." Eleanor said.
Up in the bedroom, Brittany was already chowing down on the popcorn that was popping out of the popcorn maker Eleanor had plugged in, but when she heard footsteps approaching, she tried to swallow her mouthful as quickly as possible. The barely chewed mouthful scratched her throat as she swallowed, causing her eyes to mist a little, as her face twisted.
"Cydra's here!" Eleanor announced, as she entered the room, followed by their guest.
"Great!" Brittany growled, with pain in her throat.
Eleanor and Cydra exchanged looks with each other.
"What's with you?" Eleanor asked.
"Nothing..." Brittany lightly choked, "I uh... threw up in my mouth a little..." she lied.
"Eww." was Cydra's simple response.
"Thanks for sharing that with us." Eleanor said.
Cydra dropped her bag on the cot that was set up in a vacant portion of the bedroom.
"We were just trying to decide what movie to watch tonight," Eleanor said, as she walked over to the case of DVDs she and her sisters had in their room, "what are you into? Comedy? Drama? Suspense? Thriller?"
"Oh, it really doesn't matter, I'm really up for anything?" Cydra said.
"I never get to watch 'My Best Friend's Wedding' anymore," Brittany complained, "I wanna watch that tonight."
"Well, we need a complete vote... where's Jeanette?" Eleanor asked.
Before Brittany could answer, Jeanette stepped into the room.
"What do you guys think?" Jeanette asked, her face immediately turning red when she saw Cydra in the room. "Oh... sorry... I didn't know Cydra was already here..."
Jeanette was embarrassed, as she applied the finishing touches to her Bella Halloween costume, knowing how much Cydra hates Twilight.
"Uh... you look fine, Jean..." Brittany said, in a tone indicating Jeanette should leave the room.
"Yeah, your costume turned out great..." Eleanor said, in a similar tone.
"Right..." Jeanette mumbled, still blushing, "um... I'll just... uh... change..."
Jeanette turned tail and raced down the hallway, while Brittany and Eleanor snuck peaks over at Cydra, who by the time, was unpacking her bag, while rolling her eyes.
"She's uh... been... working on her costume all week..." Eleanor said, nervously...
"Twilight is so over-rated..." Cydra said.
"She didn't mean it, Cydra..." Brittany said, "if it's any comfort to you, Jeanette's not even into that series for the vampire stuff... she's just into that sickeningly mushy romance fluff..."
"Yeah," Eleanor chimed in, "you know how Jeanette is, she's a lonely middle aged women in a teenager's body..."
Cydra snickered, just as Jeanette walked back into the room, in her normal outfit.
"I'm so sorry Cydra, I really didn't know you were already here." Jeanette said.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Cydra said, "you're into what you're into."
The night went on, not being able to agree on what movie to watch, the girls sat around watching reruns of Degrassi on cable. The chipettes were continuously in awe over Cydra's seemingly insatiable appetite for the popcorn that was made, even adding just about every powdered flavor they had, except for garlic. The girls also talked shop about things going on in the lives at the moment: school, grades, exams, activities, boys, the more talking that went on, the more relaxed Cydra became, she still had trouble socializing with others, even her friends, but pretty soon, Cydra was one of the girls, that is until Brittany accidentally talked more than she should.
"... yeah, I just hope I don't bump into that creep at the Halloween party this weekend!" Brittany said, as both Jeanette and Eleanor dropped their heads.
"What?" Brittany asked, before she realized what had happened.
"Oh, you don't have to act like you can't talk about this kinda stuff while I'm around..." Cydra said, a little annoyed with how her friends were treating her.
"We just don't want to offend you, Cydra." Jeanette said.
"I'm not offended," Cydra insisted, "you can talk about the party all you want, don't bother me at all, because I won't be going anyway."
"Don't you think you may be dwelling on the past a little too much, Cydra?" Eleanor asked.
"No, I just don't really like being reminded of it." Cydra said.
"Well, there's more to Halloween than vampire stuff," Brittany said, "the one thing to remember is that the only important thing about Halloween is candy!"
"Aren't we a little old to trick or treat?" Cydra asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but we still enjoy rotten our teeth on the sweets that are provided at parties and such." Brittany said.
"I have an idea," Jeanette said," why don't you come to the party with us, Cydra?"
Brittany and Eleanor's eyes widened. Was she crazy?
"I think you may be surprised at how much fun Halloween can be, without having to worry about all the silly vampire stuff." Jeanette suggested.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment, before Cydra cocked her head to one side.
"Well, I suppose I could go to a party..." Cydra said.
Brittany and Eleanor silently sighed in relief.
"So, what's the program?" Cydra asked. "What's the idea here?"
Recollecting from parties of previous years, the chipettes explained to Cydra what would happen.
"Well, basically, it's almost like a costume ball..." Brittany said.
"Yeah, just get yourself a costume, doesn't matter who you dress as or what you dress as... but you have to be really creative and imaginative, because they usually have costume contests." Eleanor said.
"Not to mention, there's all the candy you can eat." Jeanette said.
"We just basically get together with friends and have a good time... it's Halloween for older kids." Brittany said.
Cydra shrugged. "Alright, I suppose I can come along."
"Just give it a try." Eleanor said.
"Yeah, and if you're not having a good time, we'll take you home." Jeanette said.
"You mean we're all gonna leave the party if she's not having fun?" Brittany asked.
Jeanette and Eleanor glared at Brittany.
"I mean, yeah, no problem Cydra, we pull for you." Brittany said, hoping that Cydra would indeed have a good time, so she wouldn't have to leave early.
"I'll talk to my folks about it," Cydra said, "and I'll try to come up with some kind of costume..."
"The party's Friday night in the school gymnasium." Eleanor said.
"We'll all meet at the end of the street and go together, we'll want to get there early, it gets crowded quickly." Jeanette said.