I put it under a different name because, well, it wouldn't really sound all that great to have the title of a babysitter story be Look At the Animals, Daddy! now would it? But instead of the babysitter, Rico, (which is usually spelled Rco, but for sound's sake, it's spelled Rico) getting the surprise, it looks like it's gonna be the kiddies!!!
The Oddest Babysitting Job EVER!!!
By Ryoken
He had to get out. He just had to get out. NOW. The six little vampires were running amuck more than usual and it was driving Kain mad. To make things worse, he couldn't stop them, even when he threatened to decapitate them all with the Soul Reaver or throw the TV out the window. He had tried even sending them to their rooms, but they would just NOT obey him. Then he remembered the paper. Melchiah had given him a piece of paper with the phone number of that girl from the zoo, what was her name? Oh yes, Rico. He stood up straight and calmly walked over to the phone, which was surprisingly not broken yet by his rambunctious kids, and dialed the number.
The phone was picked up. "Hello?"
"Yes, is Rico there?"
"Yes, just a moment," said the person on the other line.
"Hello?" Said the familiar voice.
"It's me, Kain!! You gotta get over here and take care of these pests, they're driving me nuts!!!"
"Oh, it's you!! The guy with little Melchiah, right?"
"Yes, yes, that's me, look you gotta get over here, quick!!"
"Ok, how do I get there?"
"Don't tell me you don't know how to get to the Sanctuary of the Clans now!!"
"Ohhh, duh!! Stupid me, I'll be right over. Wait a second, how am I supposed to get past all those vampire guards?!"
"I'll be there waiting for you."
"Ok, be right over!" *click* Kain sighed a sigh of relief. Soon he'd be away, far away from this place and wouldn't have to listen to the voices of those little brats. He hurried out to meet Rico at the gates of the Sanctuary and after a half an hour, he caught the first glimpse of her.
"My gods, how glad I am to see you!!" Kain said, going up to the incoming girl.
"No problem, Kain. So how long are you going to be gone?" Kain hadn't thought about that. He had planned on going away for at LEAST a week.
"How long can you stay?"
"Till eleven. Why?"
"Make it midnight."
"I'll have to ask about that one, but ok," she said.
"THANK YOU!!" Kain said, and kissed her right on the lips. When he let go, she was utterly bewildered.
"Uh, I...you're welcome...I guess," she stuttered.
"Guards, take her to my boys inside. She is taking care of them while I'm gone, understood?"
"Sir!" They saluted. Then Kain ran off in the total opposite direction, free at last.
"Is he...always like that?" Rico asked the guards who escorted her to the room where the sound of crashes could be heard.
"No, only when his kids are driving him crazy."
"Oh." When they entered the room, it was a big mess. Things were broken and all over the place. "Hey you guys, what the heck are you doing?!?!" she said.
Except for the rustling of papers, the sounds had stopped. Melchiah was the first to speak. "RIIIICCOOO!!!!!!!" He yelled happily as he bounded towards his old friend.
"Hey there, Melchiah! What in the world have you six been doing to your poor dad?! He just kissed me for coming over to baby-sit you guys!"
"He WHAT????" Raziel said, getting interested in the presence of a human not bound up in chains, let alone a girl.
"He just kissed me. You guys must have been pretty bad for him to do something like that, eh?"
"Whoa, Dad's lost it...Cool!!" Turel said.
"Ohhh, so you think that's cool, huh? I'll show you cool!!" Rico said, attacking Turel with a tickle.
"AHHH!!!! STOHAHAHA, STOP THAT TIHEHEHE, THAT TICKLES!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" Turel laughed.
"That's not cool, that's just stupid that a vampire is being overpowered by a human," Dumah said.
"Stupid, huh? Ok then, what's cool, you tell me," she asked, sitting on her heels.
"Well, our dad finally going crazy, that was cool. Ooo, the Soul Reaver! And um...fights are cool...and that's it."
"Dads going crazy, fights, and the Soul Reaver, gotcha," she said.
"How long are you staying?" Melchiah asked.
"Thanks for reminding me, I have to check," Rico said, getting off her heels and going towards the phone. She dialed her number and said "Hi Mom, it's me Rico. Kain wants me to stay till midnight and he's already left...Ok, cool, thanks Mom, bye.*click* well, I guess I'll staying till midnight."
"Cool!! So we get to stay up late???" Turel said.
"I don't know...Maybe if you're ALL good, you can ALL stay up late. That is of course, IF you can stay awake that long," she said.
"We can stay up that late!! Right guys!!" Raziel said.
"Yeah!!!" They all agreed.
"Ok, if you guys are good little angel vampires, then you can stay up till Kain comes back, deal?"
"Deal!!"
"It's settled then. First of all, let's straighten up this room. It's the most messy room I've ever seen in my life."
"Aww, do we have to?" Turel whined.
"If you don't want to stay up late, then don't help," she said, picking up a toy from the strewn objects. Melchiah was already picking things up, occasionally dropping them of course, but then not knowing where to put them and dropping them again. Rico seemed to know where everything went with the boys' help and after about an hour and a half, the room was clean again.
"Good. Now, you guys drink blood, right?" She said, without any nervousness in her voice.
"Yeah," Dumah said, trying to sound scary. "I vant to suck your blood!"
Rico played along. "Oh no, please don't hurt me!!" Dumah then began chasing after her.
"I'll save you, Rico!!" Melchiah said. He tried to give chase after Dumah, but he just wasn't fast enough. So he went after the Reaver. He tried picking it up, but it was too heavy so he just dragged it along, trying to swing it at Dumah every time he got close enough. But once was the only chance he got because Rico saw him with the sword.
"Melchiah, put that down!!" She said, stopping in her tracks to take the sword from his hands. "That thing could take an eye out. What's it doing laying in the reach of kids?"
"Kain always keeps it there. He yells at us every time we get near it not to touch it, but sometimes we forget because we're having too much fun," Rahab explained.
"Not too responsible a parent, now is he?" Rico said, taking the sword by the blade and handle.
"Hey wait a minute. How come you, a human, get to even touch it when Kain says that we can hardly go near it??"
"Because I won't use as a toy, that's why," she said, placing it back into the hilt.
"But Dad says that if a human gets it, that the human'll use it for bad stuff, right Rahab?" Zephon said.
"Yeah,"
"Well then, I guess your dad doesn't know very much about women now, does he?" She said, laughing a little. They looked confused. "Never mind, you'll probably understand it when you're older. So," she said, looking relaxed on the throne. "You guys keep humans around here for eating?"
"I dunno, he always has the guards bring in some humans for us," Turel answered.
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to ask," she said. She got up and went to the doorway and asked if there was a pantry where Kain kept some food for the kids.
"Yes, ma'am. You want me to get some for them?" He asked.
"Uh, sure," she said as he hurried off to the kitchen, she guessed. "Well, I guess all we gotta do is wait then."
"Great!! But...can we have a little snack? Pleaaaaasee?" Raziel asked.
"A snack? You mean...?" He nodded. Rico laughed.
"You're not supposed to bite the hand that feeds you, you know," she chuckled.
"What's that mean?"
"It means that you shouldn't hurt the person who looks after you. If you do, then who will give you food and a roof over your head?" She explained.
"Oh. Still, can we?"
"No! Your dinner's gonna be here any minute!" She smiled.
"Dang." At that time, three humans were brought in with chains on their hands and ankles, the guards snapping at them. "Alright, dinner!!" Raziel cheered. The six vampires literally "dug in." Strangely, Rico didn't seem the least bit sickened or disturbed. Melchiah noticed this and ripped off the arm of the human he was drinking blood from and offered it to her.
"That's sweet of you, Melchiah, but I'm not hungry," she said with a smile. The little boy shrugged and continued drinking. When they finished, the bodies were dragged out by the chains. "Well, that was a new experience. So, what do you guys do other than drink blood and reek havoc?"
"Sometimes Dad lets us go on raids. It was really funny one time because this one house was burning and these two people came out with only blankets on themselves!! It was so funny!!" Dumah told her, laughing at the recollection of the memory. She laughed right along with him, but as if she truly thought it was funny.
"What do you humans do for fun?" Rahab asked.
"That's a good question. Well, we like to watch TV, play sports, talk, listen to music, and anything else you can think of," she answered.
"Ok, what do you like to do for fun?"
"That's a very good question. Most of the same I guess."
"Rico?" Melchiah said.
"Yes?"
"Didn't you tell me at the zoo that the tiger liked it when people sang? But only if they were good singers?"
"Yes, I did," she said laughing a little.
"You were a good singer, Rico," he complemented. "Hey, you're turning bright red!! How'd you do that?!"
"It's called blushing, Melchiah," she said, covering her face.
"Blushing? Is that what Kain does when he turns red?"
"No, that's called being angry."
"Oh. Well how can you tell if someone's blushing or being angry?"
"If someone's blushing, they're usually smiling," she said, laughing a little.
"Ohhhhh, I get it!!...Why?"
"Because they're embarrassed."
"Ohhhh."
"So you can sing? Let us hear!!" Raziel asked.
"Oh I couldn't."
"Please!!!" They all begged. "We've never heard anyone singing before..."
"You've never heard anyone sing? Not even on TV?"
"Well, yeah, but they were never really good," Turel said.
"Oh I see."
"So will you?? Please??"
"Well...I don't know..."
"Awww, c'mon!!" They all whimpered.
"Well...ok. But just one chorus, ok?"
"Ok!!!" They said as they got quiet.
"Black velvet in that little boy's smile.
Black velvet in that soul-southern sky.
A new religion, that'll bring ya, to your knees,
Black velvet, if you please."
"Hey, not bad, Rico!!" Raziel said. She turned red again.
"Anyway, what would you guys like to do? Must be something you like doing other than wrecking the place, right?" She asked, trying to change the subject. "You wanna play a game?"
"Ok, what game?" Zephon asked.
"What game would you like to play?" The six boys thought for a little bit.
"Hunters and Hunted," Dumah grinned.
"I don't like the sound of that one, what do you do?" She asked.
"You run and try to hide from us while we hunt you down."
"When does it end?"
"When we catch you."
"You mean when you drink my blood, right?"
"Hey...have you played this game before?"
"No, but I kinda figured that one out on my own and I think I'd like to stay alive a bit longer, if you don't mind."
"Ok...How about that game Ariel plays with Dad? The one where he always ends up wearing nothing at the end?"
"You mean strip poker?" Rico said.
"Yeah, that's it!!"
"I think I'd like to keep my dignity till I'm a bit older."
"That doesn't make much sense, but ok..."
"How about we play the go-to-bed game?" Said an unfamiliar voice.
"What game is that?" Zephon asked.
"The one where you all go to bed because it's past your bedtimes," said the voice.
"But we get to stay up late tonight, Ariel!! Rico says so!!" Raziel argued.
"Who's Ariel?" Rico asked.
"I am she," Ariel said as she appeared right in front of Rico's face.
"WHOA!!!!!!" Rico yelled as she fell backwards onto the ground in astonishment.
"They really shouldn't stay up. It takes a miracle just to get them to sleep," Ariel said, looking down at the teenager. Rico stood up with a small laugh.
"Well, I suppose I'll just have to change that then, won't I?" Ariel's only eyebrow lifted up in question. "You'll see, come bedtime."
"So, we can stay up, right?!" Raziel said eagerly. Rico turned to him and nodded with a smile. "Sweet!!" She laughed.
"If you want to have the unpleasant duty of putting them to bed later than usual, then go right ahead, but I'll no part in it, understood?"
Rico saluted. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!!" The six little vampires behind her laughed and copied her. "C'mon soldiers, march 2, 3, 4!!" All of a sudden, Rico rushed over to her small backpack that she had brought with her that was lying on the floor, and when the boys saw her, they ran after her. In her hand was a deck of cards.
"What's that for?" Dumah asked. "Are we gonna play that game?!"
"Nope, we're gonna play some else that you might enjoy," she said as she shuffled the cards. "Sit, sit." Rico dealt out three cards face down to each of them. "Don't turn them face up, yet. This game is called Idiot."
"Idiot? Does this mean someone has to be an idiot because I think Zephon would like to volunteer," Turel teased. Zephon started to hit him until Rico interrupted.
"Hey, no fighting or else you guys don't get to stay up late!" He immediately stopped. "There are no real idiots in this game, it's just a title. Now, take the three cards in front of you and place them in front of you in whichever order you want. Then take three, preferably the highest, cards in your hand and place them face up on these other three cards, ok? You always keep at least three cards in your hand by drawing a card from the deck. When there are no more cards in the deck and you've run out of cards, you play with the cards face up here. When you play a card down in the pile, it must be bigger or equal to the card that was played last. The cards of two reset the pile and you can play whatever card you want. Tens throw out the pile and if four cards are the same and placed all in order in the pile, that throws out the pile as well. Don't worry, I'll help you out as we go through," she tried to explain.
"Hey, Rico?" Melchiah asked.
"Hmm?"
"Can I just be your partner? This is confusing." She smiled.
"Course. You sit right on my lap and help me decide what card to play, ok?"
"Ok!!" Melchiah said and sat in her cross-legged lap. The game began, with quite a few mistakes in the beginning, but they were soon taken care of and the game of Idiot got quite interesting at times, with all of the comments flying around.
Soon Melchiah fell asleep, limp in Rico's lap, she put the cards in her hand into her pocket, not trusting the vampires in that they wouldn't look, and asked Rahab to show her where to put Melchiah down for bed. So he got up, also keeping his cards with him, and showed her. It looked as normal as any young kid's room, except for a few broken things and blood here and there. She put him down and they hurried back to their game, only to find that the four vampires that were left alone for a few minutes were looking through Rico's backpack.
"Hey!! What do you little rascal's think you're doing!!!" She said, not really looking mad, as there wasn't anything all that private inside. Caught red-handed, they tried hiding the notebook of paper, game boy, and other things behind them, smiling innocently.
"Nothing, just waiting for you two to come back, that's all!!" Zephon said.
"Uh huh, now put them back in there, guys," Rico said, taking her cards out of her pocket. Grumpily, they did so.
They played on until eleven, when Rico said they should go to bed.
"Awww, can't we stay up just a little longer??" Turel argued.
"No, because even I'M tired," she said, faking a yawn. The five of them groaned, but obeyed, and she made sure they went to their rooms. That was when she heard the scream from Melchiah's room. She rushed in to see Melchiah shivering under his blanket. "Hey, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Uh uh, there's something in my closet!!" he said, pointing shakily at the door for a moment before putting the blanket over his head again.
"Oh there is, is there? What did you see?" she asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"It was a man in a hat with a feather!!" Melchiah said.
"What did you say?"
"A man with a hat that had a feather in it. Rico, I'm scared," Melchiah said. He looked out and saw Rico's hand gripping the edge of his sheet tightly. He looked at her face and thought he saw a tear under her eye. She got up and flung open the door with a slam.
"BRAD, GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!" she yelled. Nothing happened. Except for another scream, but from another room. Zephon's room. She ran all the way there, Melchiah trailing behind, not wanting to be all alone. Just as she arrived, Rahab came running out of his own room and up to Rico.
"SOMEONE WAS IN MY ROOM!!!!!" He said, but Rico went past him into Zephon's room, who was also under his sheets.
"Zephon, are you alright?" She asked, concerned. He bolted out of his bed and held tightly onto Rico's leg. "I'll take that to mean no," she said, hearing a scream from Turel. She wiggled free of Zephon's grip and went into Turel's room to see him looking at the opposite wall. "Rahab, get everyone into the throne room and get the lights lit, ok?" Rico said. Rahab nodded and led the other three out. Rico immediately went to Raziel's room, who had to share it with Dumah. Nothing out of the ordinary and they were both asleep. Rico woke them up and told them to go into throne room.
"Aww, c'mon. We don't wanna get up," Raziel complained.
"Do you want to be frightened out of your mind?" She asked.
"No.."
"Then get up!" Sleepily, they walked out and down and the hall. But Rico stayed.
"Guys, what's goin' on?" Raziel asked, rubbing his eyes from the bright light.
"We all saw something in our rooms and it was the exact same thing!! That's what!!" Rahab said.
"Rahab, where's Rico??" Melchiah asked.
"She stayed in our room. What'd you guys see?"
"The figure of a man with a hat on and that had a feather in it."
"Rahab, I want Rico here..." Melchiah said, starting to cry.
"It's ok, Melchiah, she'll be here soon," he reassured. As if on cue, Rico slowly walked in, her face whiter than it was and her mouth was open. Then she fell face first to the floor, and behind her was a dark shadow of a man with a feather in his hat. The six boys were terrified.
"You six of all creatures should not fear me. Reim here, I mean Rico, shouldn't either," said the shadow. "You can call me Brad. Tell me your names, little ones." They couldn't answer. They were all scared stiff. Suddenly, Rico stirred and stood up.
"Heh, what a dream. I thought I saw Brad." Then she saw the looks on the kids' faces and turned around to see the living shadow. "Oh my gods..." She said, backing up until she saw next to the vampires. Brad held out a shadowed hand.
"Come, Rico. Let me...take you away from all this," he said.
"No way!"
"You don't have much choice in the matter, my love, my destined."
"Shut up, Brad!! I'm not going with you anywhere!! I'm staying right here!!"
"I'm sick of this little game you keep playing with me, Rico. You will come with me. NOW!!!" He bellowed.
"No!" Suddenly, Rico was thrown forward to the shadow man and he held her throat in his hand.
"Let her go you big meanie!!" Melchiah yelled.
"Shut up, little twit. She finally comes with me," he said, turning towards the hall with Rico's throat still in his hand.
"Laugh..." Rico stuttered.
"Huh?"
"LAUGH!!" she yelled, trying to get the point across. The six tried to laugh, but they were weak and very fake. So Rico had to laugh, even if she was being gagged by some unknown thing. The being let go, and covered what must have been his ears. She kept laughing until Brad had gone through the wall. Then she feel to her knees, shivering badly.
"Rico!? Are you ok, Rico??" Melchiah asked running up to her.
"I...I'm fine...Are you all ok?" She asked.
"Of course we are, but what did he want from you?" Raziel asked.
"It's a long story, and it isn't something I'm going to share."
"Oh." Rahab had brought in his blanket from his room when he ran and covered Rico with it.
"Thank you, Rahab."
"You're welcome." She was still shivering badly. "Are you sure you're gonna be ok?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. You guys can sleep in here for tonight if you want to," she said, closing he eyes.
"Ok," they all agreed. Sleep was difficult, even if Rico said that she was going to stay awake and watch over them until Kain came back.
Rico looked at her watch. It was 11:30pm. A glowing white figure appeared near the pillars. It was Ariel.
"That man. Who was he?" she asked.
"Brad."
"You know him?"
"Yeah. Sometimes I wish I didn't, but it helps when he appears to know who it is."
"This isn't the first time?"
"It's the first time this has ever happened, but I see him all the time. If you don't mind, I'd like to keep off of that subject," she said. She shivered. She had given the boys the blanket to sleep on.
"Cold?"
"No."
"But you're shivering. You must be freezing."
"No, I'm not," Rico argued. The creak of a door was heard and the two girls looked to see Kain looking in.
"How did everything go?" He asked quietly as he approached the little group.
"Good enough. They were almost perfect angels," Rico said.
"How can you say everything went well after what just happened, Rico?!?!" Ariel said without whispering. Rico and Kain hushed her.
"Almost perfect angels? That's a laugh. What happened?" Kain asked.
"Nothing impor-"
"Some shadow ghost or something came here and tried to gag Rico to death!! And SHE says that it isn't important!!!" Ariel said.
"It isn't," Rico said hauntingly. The two looked at her strangely. "Well, I'd better get home." She started to walk towards the door when Melchiah spoke out.
"Rico, will you come back and see us?" The others must have been awake as well for they too asked if she would.
"If Kain asks me to," she said. They bounded off the floor and pleaded with Kain to let her come back soon. Kain could only look at Rico in surprise until she came over and whispered in his ear.
"If you don't cause me any trouble, then I will!! Now go to bed!" He said, smiling just a little. They complained about Brad. "Brad?" Kain said as he looked back at Rico.
She crouched down to their eye level. "It's alright. He won't both you so long as I'm not around. He...seems to follow me where ever I go, so he shouldn't stay here."
Melchiah gave her a quick hug and said "Be careful..."
"I will. I always have been," she said and went out.
Out of the corner of Melchiah's eye, he thought he saw something move in Rico's direction and he somehow, felt relieved.
Well, that's it!!! I'll write another chapter sometime, but not for a while, got other things to do!!!
