Sam and Michael:

Why did they never bond?

I own nothing...

Michael's POV:

6 years old...

"He's a vampire, Michael, do you understand what that means?" my father explodes at me, as I ask to go and see my Grandfather, Sam.

"He drinks blood," I answer in a tight voice, understanding this in theory but not seeing how Grandad Sam could be a vampire. He cooked pretty well and he always has time to play with me for as long as I wanted with trucks and dogs and whatever else he has at his house. Mum and Dad never have enough time to play with me, "Later, Michael, later," they always say. But later never comes. But with Sam, everything is always what I want to do. I want to spend more time with him… but Dad doesn't allow it.

"And you really want to spend time with someone who could kill you?" Dad continues, frightening me. Whenever I want to see Grandad outside of the bi-monthly Sundays they arranged, this is how he always dissuades me.

Time with Sam is cool... It's better than here, at least.

10 years old...

I still prefer spending time with Sam, but I sort of see why my parents don't like it. Once, when he had to go and answer the phone, I snuck a peek in his fridge (which I'm not normally allowed in) and I saw the piles of bloodbags in there. It really did frighten me… seeing that Sam could be a vampire.

I begin to listen to my Dad about how often I see Sam and as I don't ask continually, the amount I see him decreased. Instead of being every other Sunday, sometimes it is only once per six weeks – I use the excuses of football and school work when I see him, as I really do like hanging with him when I am there. Just the idea of him being a vampire scares me now – now I'm older, I realise that if he is hungry and I am there, I'm just a walking snack pack. Not that he would do that; from what I hear around town, he's the youngest (apparently the Founder loved him and turned him to be with her forever) and has been shunned by the community (vampire). so he hangs out with us humans all the time and I think that the people he hangs with actually like and trust him.

Still, I'm only ten… I don't know. I worry that he could kill me.

18 years old…

"Michael, what's wrong?" Sam asks me softly, over the Sunday dinner he prepared. This is more of a 'come when I want to' arrangement, now that I'm older. I can come around whenever I want to, now I can drive, but I don't normally even come the twice a month I used to.

I clench the fork in my hand, still unable to entirely process that my parents have left me alone in this town. Mum was really ill, and they wanted to take me, but Sam could only swing Amelie enough to allow them to leave. He could have fought some more, but I have a feeling that he deliberately kept me here, so that he could have someone, someone who didn't entirely hate him or fear him or whatever the relationship between him and Dad is.

"Why didn't you let me go?" I state matter of factly, letting the fork clatter to the plate with a clatter.

Sam's face looks puzzled and for a second betrays longing before it smoothes over into confusion once again.

"I… Amelie only would let your parents go, Michael, I could not manage to get her to allow anything further," he lies smoothly.

"No, you mean you didn't want me to go," I retort, entirely unable to believe him.

"I assure you, Michael, that I did my damndest to get you out of here," he says, through clenched teeth.

"What's the matter?" I mock him, standing up and trying to assert some authority. Unfortunately, I don't have any against a vampire. "You gonna get angry? Turn into a proper vampire?"

"Michael, be quiet," he snaps at me, standing up against me. We're the exact same height and have the exact same appearance besides his flame red hair and my golden blonde. He stares at me coolly for a moment before breathing heavily and sitting back down. "Sit down."

"No," I say, childishly. "Why did you even become a vampire? It's not like you exactly fit in," I ask, wondering for a second why he did become one of the bloodsuckers – then I decide that I can use his answer against him. I don't want to come here anymore. I want to be able to live my life away from all adults in my life, now I've been abandoned by my parents.

"I did it because I was dying," he says quietly, his face paler than I've ever seen it before. "Someone stabbed-"

"You mean, when you were saving the vampires?" I butt in, my face screwed up. "I've heard the town story, Sam; I know why you were stabbed. You were jumping in front of Amelie."

"I turned into a vampire because I didn't want to leave my son without either parent," he snaps at me, anger evident in his tone. "It wasn't anything like that I wanted to suck blood or live forever, like some of them. I wanted to be able to stay alive and look after a three year old who would have had nobody… also, I loved her, she loved me, and to leave her wouldn't have been fair, when I had acted so rashly."

"Well, go ahead and tell me where Amelie is now," I use the acknowledgement that he at least partially turned to be with Amelie against him. "Because in the entire time I have known you, I have never seen her around here. go ahead and tell me where the woman that turned you into a vampire to be 'together forever' with is. Because I don't see her."

He shakes his head and shrugs, anger turning into rage, but also sadness. "Michael, shut up. You have no idea what has gone on or what is happening. So if you wish to comment on Amelie and I, do it when you are less bitter than you are now."

"I'm not bitter, I just think why the hell should I hang out with a bloodsucker anymore?" I shout at him, noting how his face crumples in pain at the mention of my classifying him as a vampire. "I don't want to see you ever again, Sam. Ever. Do you understand?"

He shrugs his shoulders, looking like he wants to cry. I take this as a yes and walk out of the room, breathing heavily. The adrenaline takes over my body and I'm shaking with what's just happened. I cannot believe that I have finally done it. No more awkward silences over dinner because we don't know what to say or anymore stupid video game contests because he doesn't know what to do with me. No more of it; I can be me and free…

After he is a ghost…

I wish I hadn't been so rash and fought with Sam. I was hurting from my parents leaving me and I took it out on him. He probably still thinks I hate him, that I never want to see him, as I never answer the door when he comes during the day.

I try to ring him at night, but he never answers; he's teaching his English class and he doesn't come around. He comes just afore twilight, meaning that I'm just a ghost then. Now, he comes by less and less, until I know that he is going to stop trying. Soon, I'm going to be entirely forgotten about by him.

I wish I hadn't argued with him for no reason whatsoever. He's the only family I have in Morganville, no matter if he is a vampire. I wish that I had been closer to him, so that he could realise that I am stuck in here, that I am not a human anymore… I'm a ghost, stuck in the confinement of these four walls in order to survive. If I hadn't, he would have realised that something was up.

I wish I had gotten to get to know him better, rather than just listening to my Dad that he is an evil vampire. When I hurt him, only weeks ago, I saw the true pain on his face when I said I never wanted to see him again. He loves me, he is hurting that I said that. I realise now that now I don't see him, I miss him. I want to hang out with him again, to have the opportunity to taste his cooking again. I realised that he loves Amelie, completely and utterly, and that she is making a mistake not being with him.

At least, that's my opinion…

What did you think?

I decided that it would be nice to see why Michael and Sam didn't really bond when he was alive; in Carpe Corpus (I think… or maybe Fade Out) Michael says that he wished he had gotten to know him when he was alive, so here is where this is from!

This is written as a side story for Serrated Blade, chapter seven, if you were interested!

Please review!

Vicky xx