Suspicion Killed the Kate
Edgar's POV
"Guys." Sam said breathlessly as he entered our comic book shop. It was a slow day, during work hours on a Tuesday midmorning. Alan and I were playing BS on top of the counter when Sammy nearly fell into us in a burst of energy.
"We're busy." My brother murmured. "Got an 8?"
"Nope." I replied, barely glancing down at my deck.
"I'm calling you're bluff." My brother retorted and smirked.
"Guys, no, this is serious!" Sam interrupted our game. We turned and glared at him. Then I blinked.
"You look…. Normal." I gasped in shock, and swung my legs so they were hanging off and I was facing our friend. Instead of all the bizarre prints he usually wears, he just had an un-tucked grey shirt on with jeans. Nothing unusual. Nothing to call attention to.
"What? Yeah. Kate and Sarah gave me a make-over." He frowned, looking down at himself, and then back at us. "But about Kate, I think she's a vampire."
"What?" Was Alan's sharp reply. His face was closed off and wary, but I knew him well enough to know he was scared. You see, he and Kate had been growing really close lately, and he told me that last night… They kissed.
"That's a very serious accusation." I glared. "Are you sure?"
"Y-yeah. She sleeps all day, wears sun-glasses all the time, has a badass attitude…. And her nails are kinda long." Sammy stuttered to us. Alan and I shared a look, and I saw a flash of pain in his eyes. This sounded serious.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. We'll stake her." I said to our friend, and he immediately calmed down. No way to get out of this now.
"Can we get out of this now?" My brother whined for the first time in his life. I glared at him as we made our way on our bikes over to where Kate was staying you must with Sarah and Steph.
"No, Alan. We have to do this, if it not for Sam, then it's for truth, Justice, and the American way." I persuaded my brother and he just glared at me. He knew my logic won out his feelings. Not that he had to like it.
When we arrived at their house, Sarah and Steph were just walking out. I blinked. And I blinked again. Why the hell was everyone looking so… normal?
"Sarah, what in God's name are you wearing?" Sarah had on a tight, satiny bright pink dress that was way to short for my comfort. It had a few ruffles that made up the skirt and I saw a lot of skin. While women usually wore leg warmers with their outfit, Sarah didn't. On her hands were black, lacy gloves that were open for her fingers, which were also painted the same color as her dress. Her shoes brought her so she was taller than me, and with her hair straightened, she looked much older than 14. She was pushing her crimped bangs out of the way when she noticed us.
"Hi guys!" She called and energetically waved her hand at us, which made the bracelets clank obnoxiously. Sarah then grabbed Steph's wrist and pulled her over to where Alan and I were parking our bikes. Steph's outfit was (unlike Sarah's) very normal looking and not at all anything to be concerned over. Tight turquoise halter tucked into black pants with a leather jacket on. Her hair was in a lopsided ponytail, as was the style.
Again, I asked, "What do you have on?" Her face fell slightly as she glanced down at her outfit, unsurely. Good.
"My party dress…."
"And what's that on your face? You look like a freaking clown." She just pursed her lips at my comment. Her eyeliner was an obnoxious hot pink color, same as her mascara, and her cheeks were unnaturally rosy. And don't get me started on her lips. They were horrific. This look would be great on anyone else—except Sarah.
"Hey, don't be an ass." Was Steph's interlude, immediately coming to the aid of her friend.
I looked her sharply in the eye and said, "You and I both know how ridiculous she looks."
"So? It's not yours or mine to say. Just back off, we have a party to go to." Steph snapped at me, and pulled protectively on her friend's hand. With that, they started their trek.
I grunted at Steph's bluntness and then I turned to Alan who was looking at me with an amused expression. "What." I snapped at him, my question sounding more like a statement.
Alan smirked, and said, "….Nothing, it's just… you really hate it, don't you?"
"Cut the cryptic shit, Alan. What do you mean?"
"It's just that… look, you obviously like Sarah." I opened my mouth to argue but my brother just glared at me to shut the hell up. "You know that although she looked incredibly horrible, there are people out there who find it… attractive." Both of us curled our lip at the horrifying but very real occurrence.
"Whoever finds that attractive, is someone I feel sorry for." I growled at the other Frog, and then hurried up the drive way to the door. I hoped he knew this conversation was over.
As my hand latched onto the doorknob, the raven haired boy grabbed on my other arm and pulled my roughly so I was facing him. "It's alright to love her, you know. It doesn't make you weak."
Alan and I stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever, before I snapped, "Let's just stake your girlfriend, okay?"
I turned and pulled open the door immediately, but not fast enough to miss the look of hurt in my only brother's eyes. We snuck into the silent house, and quietly unsheathed our various weapons.
When Alan saw that I pulled out my stake, he glared and nudged me. I gave him a pained look and then slipped it back into my boot. Out of my belt, I replaced the wooden weapon with another water gun, and the garlic cloves inside it thunked mutedly.
We looked around the house. Dammit! We should've memorized the layout! My fellow vampire hunter and I paused in the middle of a very high tech kitchen, feeling incredibly lost. I furrowed my brow and thought. Okay, so everyone knows that vampires sleep in a coffin, 'cause they'll burn up if sunlight touches them. And didn't the girls say something about a Kate Cave?
My questions were soon answered when guitar music suddenly filled the silence. Alan and I swiveled around and looked at the door that was slightly ajar. Slowly, so as not to make a sound, we glided over to the entrance of the basement. I shared a look with my colleague. What the hell was the bloodsucker doing up?
We loped silently down the stairs and when we reached the bottom, we looked around. There was a living room on one side, with a ton of couches and a TV. It was connected to a short hallway with three regular doors and one double set. From our position, we saw that one of the rooms held a tank that had one turtle in it. In another room, it just held tons of tools. As soon as my brother and I thought wise, we stepped further out onto the beige carpet.
Suddenly, lights blared and the door straight across from us flew open and a Nerf gun was pointed at our heads. Once Kate recognized us, she visibly relaxed and smiled. She then threw her Nerf gun to the side and I heard it land on something with a squish.
"Hey guys. I didn't hear you come in. Wanna enter the Cave of Kate?" Alan and I exchanged glances. Hey, she may be a vampire, but she is a girl. We've never been in a girl's room before so….
We walked in and were taking aback instantly by all the posters of Harrison Ford. He covered one of her entire walls with pictures of him as Han Solo in the Star Wars movie, and even some from his role as Indiana Jones. "You jealous?" I whispered to my brother jokingly as we walked around her small room.
He glared and then turned to his girlfriend. "So…" They started at the same time. A smile spread across both of their faces. "Sorry—" They started again. "You—" Again with the same time! "—go first." My brother finished, and get this, Kate actually giggled!
"Gag me with a spoon." I grumbled, taking one of Kate's sparkly gold nail polishes in my hand and twirling the stem with my finger.
"Quoting Sarah, now, are we?" Alan asked me mockingly, and I flipped him off.
"Well, I was wondering what you guys are doing here." Kate was saying to us, as she adjusted a metal stool with black leather padding on it. She then sat and picked up an electric guitar and started strumming. "And what the hell is with the water guns? If you were hoping to see through my shirt, you'd be disappointed. I don't own anything white."
Crap. Alan and I exchanged glances and then tiredly, we hefted up our weapons and pointed them at Kate. She was too busy paying attention to her damned precious instrument to notice her impending doom. Girls.
"I'm sorry Kate." Alan whispered. She glanced up at him then with a look of concern.
"For what?"
"This." And with that we shot the vampire-killing liquid straight at her and into her eyes. She screamed in pain and her hands shakily flew to her eyes. I braced myself for an explosion and then—nothing. All that happened was Kate screaming and cursing.
After her irritated eyes calmed down, she glared at us, and her green irises were unusually bold against its bloodshot background. "What the hell, guys? Did I not tell you of my lack of white?" Suddenly, she raced to the mirror and groaned. "Great. Now my hair is curling!" She reached next to the sewing machine on her vanity and produce very long, very dangerous scissors. "Explain yourselves, or I swear on my Jedi honor that you are so dead!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a sec. You mean… You're not a vampire?" Alan asked her confused.
"No, not the kind you're thinking of."
"You're not making any sense, Kate. Cut the cryptic shit. What do you mean?" I snapped, recalling me saying something very similar to my brother.
"I'm a psychic vampire. I steal people's energies, not their blood. Think of my as a diabetic and them as my insulin. That's how Sarah puts it anyway."
"Yeah, but—"
"Hold on." Kate walked over to her closet and moved aside the sheet that served as a door. She turned on the switch and pulled her sheet closed behind her. We heard a bit of ruffling and then a dark object was thrown and landed at my brother's feet. With a blush, he picked it up and I realized it was her shirt. "Sorry—it was wet."
Kate stepped out wearing an exact replica of the shirt (same design and etc) but in a dark, muted purple.
"Yeah, anyways, I'll explain more upstairs, as soon as Alan makes me a sandwich." Kate said, obviously forgiving our misconception.
"Sorry we tried to kill you." My brother said to her with a tad bit of sorrow. Kate giggled and latched onto his hand and pulled him out the door.
"I'll forgive you as soon as I get that sandwich." Kate said to him. I huffed and followed their loud footsteps up to the high tech kitchen. The sunlight filtered through and made Kate's hair shine prettily. I blinked and looked down. She's my brother's girl. What the hell was I just thinking?
"But really, guys. How could you think I was a vampire?"
"Well, I mean, you sleep all day, party all night…. Typical vampire behavior." I defended. I didn't want to nark on Sam, because I know for a fact that Kate wouldn't be as lenient with him as she is with us.
Kate raised an eye brow at me and for a moment looked scarily like Sarah. As Alan slid the sandwich in front of her and sat down next to me, she said, "I think you forgot one important detail about me."
"And what is that?"
"We met during the middle of the hottest day of the summer." With wide eyes, my brother and I shared a look. We were so stupid. "Dumbasses."