Another idea that came to me. I only own Hope, Christian, Grace, and Rachel. Vamps belongs to guestsurprise, who gave me permission to use him. Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man Of Action.

Scary, Yet Gentle

The little six-year-old girl ran out the door of the lunch room and outside, trying to get away from the bully that had a scary mask on and was roaring and scaring her. Hope was crying and hoping a teacher would spot her.

Suddenly, she was scooped up into someone's arms and she clung to them. "Shh, I'm here, Hope," said Rachel, cradling her niece in her arms as she glared at the young boy who stopped short of seeing her and her unhappiness at seeing her niece bullied. A teacher came running over.

"What is going on?" she demanded and then noticed Rachel. "Oh, Miss. Rachel," she said in surprise.

"I trust the boy will receive the punishment he deserves?" Rachel asked, her disapproval of the boy's actions in her voice. "I am really getting very tired of being called from work to speak to the teachers who seem eager to get my nieces and nephews in trouble and let the bullies go unpunished."

"I'm terribly sorry," said the teacher, hoping to appease the young woman.

Rachel nodded her head curtly. "Good day, then," she said, her voice still sharp with disapproval as she carried Hope inside the building to gather the rest of the first-grader's assignments and to take her home. Hope's teacher didn't protest in the slightest as she was an older woman who felt that bullying was wrong and had seen for herself that very little was done to correct it and so corrected her students if they bullied anyone. Rachel was thankful there was at least a few teachers who weren't eager to get children in trouble.

She and Hope soon arrived home. "Okay, why don't you get set up at the kitchen table to do your schoolwork while I bake some cookies?" she said to her niece.

Hope looked up at her hopefully. "Can I help you make them?" she asked.

Rachel lightly shook her head. "You have to do your schoolwork first, sweetie," she said gently. "But how about this? You can help me decorate them when your work is finished, alright?"

Decorating cookies sounded more fun than baking them, so Hope agreed, getting on her work while Rachel whipped up the cookie dough. Having done this several times before, she could mix up cookie dough in no time. As the cookies baked, she kept an eye on her niece.

The phone rang and she answered it. "Oh, hello, Grace," she said. "Hope's at the Mansion with me. Christian? I believe he's on that field trip still with his class and will be home later." She paused a moment. "No problem. I don't mind watching them. I hope the meeting goes well. Do you want to talk to Hope?"

Hope lit up at that and nodded eagerly as Rachel smiled and handed her the phone, going back to baking as she heard Hope talk to her mother and promise her mother that she'd mind her aunt and then handed the phone back to Rachel, who took it. "Don't worry, Grace, we'll be fine," she reassured her as she said farewell and put the phone away. "How's your homework coming, sweetie?"

"Just finished history," said Hope. "I don't really like it. It's so sad. Interesting, but sad."

Rachel gave a hum of agreement. "History was never my strong point in school either," she said. "I preferred Science and English. Math was another enemy of mine, but I did love Spelling and Writing."

"I like Science too," said the little girl. "And I'm getting better with Writing."

The timer went off and Rachel turned back to the cookies. "What do you have to do in Science?" she asked as she put a new batch in the oven.

"Just read a couple pages," said Hope. "Can I read them aloud to you?"

"Go ahead," said Rachel with a smile as she then listened to her niece read about water animals. Soon, the homework was done and the cookies were ready to be decorated. The cookie jars were only a quarter empty, as most of the aliens had been on missions all week, so Rachel hadn't had to make so much, but knew the gang would be happy to have more cookies to enjoy.

Soon, it was two o'clock and it was Friday too. Hope was happy it was the weekend as was Rachel. "Hopefully, you won't have to deal with bullies on Monday," she said to her niece.

"They're always there," said the little girl as she put her bag away and then hugged her aunt, who returned the hug.

"Why don't you go play?" Rachel suggested. "You've earned some playtime after that ordeal and finishing your schoolwork."

The six year old scampered off, making her aunt chuckle as she set about to cleaning the kitchen and putting some things away.

Hope headed for the rec room, but in her excitement ran into the first open door, forgetting where the rec room was, but she stopped short at seeing two figures suddenly turn to her in surprise. "Oh, sorry!" said Hope. "I didn't mean…,"

Hope didn't finish her apology as she then saw sharp teeth flash and then saw long claws on the hands of the two individuals, who looked like very frightening monsters. She tried to back up, but she was shaking as she had a sinking feeling that the two weren't wearing masks, especially as the eyeholes where their eyes were narrowed with their eyes, giving her a hint it was real. She let out a whimper as she took a step, but fell down as her shaking was preventing her from keeping her balance. The one with the green mask moved closer to her and she scooted back when he came up to her, but then he went a bit past her and shut the door. That sound scared her into jumping up and diving under the bed, her whimpering growing a bit louder.

She saw the blanket move aside as the one with the green mask found her and she saw his expression was a bit softer this time. "Come out, little one," he coaxed as he held out one hand nonthreateningly to her, but she scrambled back, only to get caught by the one with the black mask. Hope whimpered again as closed her eyes, tears starting to form.

"Shh, no tears now," said the one holding her in a gentle tone as he gently rubbed her cheek with the back of his fingers, hoping to calm her as he sat down on the bed with his brother beside him. Hope was still shivering as she looked up at them, but their faces didn't look that scary now and they weren't trying to frighten her.

"What is your name, little one?" asked the one with the green mask.

She wondered if she should tell them, but remembered something. "I can't tell you," she said.

"Oh? Why is that?" asked the one with the black mask.

"You're strangers," she said. "And Mommy said strangers are dangerous."

Both of them smiled gently. "Your mother taught you well," said the green-masked one.

A chuckle drew their attention to the door where Rachel was watching them. "It's okay, Hope," she said. "These two aren't strangers. They're your uncles and they're good friends with Gravattack, your father."

"Oh, so this is the little one who Feedback brought in the other day when she and her brother had been injured," said the one holding Hope.

Rachel nodded. "Yup, this little one's Hope," she said and then gestured to the two as she introduced her niece to them. "Hope, this is Ultimate Whampire, Vamps for short, and Whampire. They're alien vampires called Vladats."

She then looked at the two brothers. "Hope had a bad scare at school today with one of the bullies chasing her with a scary mask," she said.

"Ah, that would explain why she was so terrified," said Whampire. "Then again, we do tend to spook those that don't know us with our appearance."

"True," said Vamps as he felt Hope's shaking die down and she didn't look as scared. Smiling, he playfully, yet gently, tweaked her nose, making her giggle.

Christian suddenly burst in. "Hope!" he called out worriedly, panicking when he saw her in Vamps' arms, but Whampire jumped up and caught the teenage boy before he could escape.

"Easy, Christian," he said. "We won't hurt her or you."

Rachel saw the boy look fearfully at them and then pleadingly at her and she gave him a gentle smile. "It's okay, Christian," she said. "Vamps and Whampire would never hurt any member of the family, and that includes you and Hope."

"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice shaking a bit. Whampire quickly guided the boy to the bed and had him sit down before he collapsed. Rachel sat down beside the boy and accepted a hug from him as she rubbed his back.

"I'm sure," she said reassuringly. "They may look scary, but they're gentle, and they would never hurt a kid."

"Especially when those kids are our niece and nephew," said Vamps, placing a comforting hand on Christian's shoulder. The boy calmed down, especially after he saw Hope laid her head trustingly on Vamps' shoulder.

Whampire then grinned. "Rachel, do you remember what my brother and I do to calm someone down, especially our nieces and nephews?" he asked.

Rachel quickly caught on. "Yes," she said. "I recall you've both done it to me more than once."

"Do what?" asked Hope curiously.

Both Vladats grinned. "Tickle you," said Vamps as he began tickling Hope's stomach, making her giggle as she tried to stop his tickling hand, but she couldn't push him away as he continued to tickle her.

Rachel moved out of the way in time as Whampire gently grabbed Christian and started tickling his underarms, making him laugh. The owner of the Grant Mansion laughed as she watched her brothers tickle the kids for a bit before letting them up, seeing they weren't frightened anymore.

Hope then hugged Vamps and Whampire, who both returned her hug. "Aunt Rachel's right. You two aren't scary at all," she said.

Christian smiled. "Oh, I bet they can be really scary if they want to be," he said.

"Only when we are protecting our family and friends," said Vamps.

"Like I said, they may look scary, but they're gentle," said Rachel.

"Indeed," said Whampire as he and Vamps gently pulled the three into a group hug. Rachel, Hope, and Christian didn't hesitate to return the affectionate hugs, happy to have the two Vladats as family.

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GoldGuardian2418