Chapter 3
Sister, Sister
Henry's eyes widened in wonderment. "You are saying that not ONLY are you Vicki's half-sister, you are married to a vampire AND you two have a child together?! This is NOT possible." Maggie could sense that Henry was upset, but not in the sense that he couldn't help her. It felt like he was confused, hurt, sad. She touched his arm lightly and again, the feeling of power poured over him, lightly, not painful but just there under the surface. This time, however, he didn't pull back. Her touch was comforting. "Let me explain myself Henry. I am Vicki's half-sister. We have the same father. I am two years older than Vicki." Henry looked at her. No way. She looked incredibly young, not that Vicki looked old. It was just that she looked-well new, for lack of a better word. "My mother was gifted. She...," she looked at Henry before she went on "..she was spiritually gifted and our father was too. He was not so happy about his gifts. When he was with my mother, his gifts were enhanced and it frightened him. He called my mother "the devil's spawn". He left before I was even born. He said he couldn't be around the spawn of satan." Henry was stunned. She went on, " So, I was born, my father moved on and married Vicki's mother and you know the rest. Let me stress, we are not the spawn of satan." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a cross, "We are Presbytarians." She shrugged her shoulders and said, "My father couldn't accept that God can give you gifts. It just depends on how you use them." She got up off of the couch and began to pace back and forth. Henry studied her intently.
She walked exactly like Vicki, her mannerisms were the same. He thought to himself suddenly how sad it was they hadn't known each other growing up, then just as quickly thought how WELL this was going to go over with Vicki. She continued, " My mother never told me about my father when I was young. She only told me that my father was good man, as IF, and that he wasn't ready for marriage. She told me he didn't know she was pregnant and she didn't want him to feel trapped so she never told him. When I was 10, I began to have my first sense of MY gifts. I was frightened and didn't tell my mother for a long time. When I finally did, she was thrilled. Not the reaction I expected of course, but it eased my suffering so much. She helped me through, guided me and made me tough." Henry chuckled. She stopped in mid-stride, a look of anger beginning to form over her face. "You find that FUNNY?!" Henry continued to chuckle and explained, "No, no, the tough part." She looked at him with a blank face, "Care to explain yourself?" "I think the TOUGH part might just be genetic. Let me take a stab..or rather a guess, you're athletic, you use some sort weapon with ease, you've never backed down from a fight, you love a good argument and before you were in the land of wedded bliss, you were in some kind of law enforcement. How close am I?" Maggie stood there with her mouth hangin open. "Careful, you'll catch flies with that," and Henry smiled that grin that would melt even the coldest of hearts. She narrowed her eyes and him and frowned. "Alright, so you are a good guesser. What's your point because we have a short time frame." He apologized, "I'm sorry, you ARE just so much like her that it is amazing. Go on please."
She began pacing again, as if that was helping her remember things and tell her story better. "Well, as I said, my mother said my father didn't know about me but he did. When I was 18, he found me. He told me I had a sister, told me her name, where she lived. I was so hurt. I was angry with my mother for lying but I realized too that she was sparing me the anger and hurt that my father had caused. I was at college," clearing her throat she said "getting my degree in criminal justice,"she shot a sideways glance at Henry just in time to see him duck and smile,"when I decided to look Vicki up. I did find her, but I just couldn't tell her. She never knew, never saw me, nothing. I still regret that. After college, I got hurt on the job, stabbed by a maniac. I was taken to a local hospital and treated. I was on night shift. While I was there, I met Will..William as you know him. I was 25." Henry thought that was interesting, that William worked nights at a hospital. William was an old aquaintance of Henry's, very old, but younger than Henry. William had been a doctor, a scientist before being turned so it shouldn't have surprised Henry. Being a vampire and needing to feed off of blood would make working in hospital an odd choice though or so Henry thought. She went on, "Will was the most handsome man, blond hair, piercing blue eyeys and muscles rippling everywhere, not too much though..." she trailed off as if she were in another time..Henry's turn to bring her back.."Maggie.."he said softly. She stopped and turned, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll just never forget the first time I saw him, not ever." Then her eyes turned sad again, "Anyway, I never had a relationship because of what my mother went through. I guess I was little guarded..." Again, Henry chuckled..."LOOK , I don't really know you that well and I'm pouring out my heart to you and you are LAUGHING! You are really starting to piss me off!" He composed himself, cleared his throat and said, "Maggie, I'm not laughing at you, it's just, you have NO IDEA how much alike you two are and I guess that in all of my centuries of living, I just am amazed that two semi-related people that have never met could almost be twins. That's all. Please bear with me." She smiled at him. "I forget that you know her so well." That statement took him by complete surprise. "How do you know that?" She walked softly over to him,"I guess I should explain my abilities to you..."
