"What are we doing tonight, Mommy?" asked Savannah. She was sitting in David's chair, swinging her legs back and forth.
"We're going to see my friend Thomas" I said, running a brush through my hair. I thought my hair would've changed shape when I became a vampire, but it stayed as normal and difficult as it was before.
"Who's Thomas?" asked Silas, who was sitting on the floor of the cave, playing with a toy train David got him a few nights ago.
"He's another vampire" I said, spraying myself with perfume. "Come on, we need to get going."
"Piggy back ride!" shouted Savannah, jumping up from the chair. She jumped so high, she nearly knocked the chair over.
"Climb on" I said, turning my back to her. She jumped on and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. Silas skipped ahead of us. Every night I made it a point to leave the cave before David came back. I wanted to take the kids and leave him, but there was an unnatural force that bound us to him. It was a strange but strong feeling.
We reached Thomas' front door in record time. I knocked once and the door creaked open. Silas grabbed my hand and held it tightly. The walk way to the theatre was dark. The lanterns hanging from the ceiling were extinguished.
Like the walk way, the theatre was also dark. One lonely light filled the room where Thomas slept. Something was wrong. Thomas' silhouette appeared in the door way.
"Who's there?" he asked.
"It's me. It's April" I said. Thomas grabbed the lantern from his room and walked in the direction of my voice. He held the lantern in front of my face.
"Who are they?" he asked, pointing the light to Silas and Savannah.
I explained to him everything that happened since I last saw him. He seemed disgusted when I said they were small vampires.
"Its wrong" said Thomas as he watched them chase each other around the room. "He can't do this to you. He didn't have any right to change those kids and make you there new mother."
"I just don't know what I'm going to do with them when Mom comes tomorrow. I can't go from having no kids to having two 6 year olds" I said.
"They can stay here. I'll take care of them" said Thomas.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah. It gets lonely around here. It'd be nice to have company. Besides, it gives you an excuse to come see me" he said, smiling.
I smiled and said "I don't need an excuse to see you."
Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. The knock echoed throughout the theatre. The kids stopped playing and ran to hide behind Thomas and me.
"Stay here" said Thomas as he crept slowly and quietly. The loud knocking turned into barbaric banging.
"Thomas!" came David's voice from the other side of the door. Thomas motioned for us to hide in his bedroom.
Thomas calmly opened the door and said "David, what brings you to my humble abode?"
"Is April here?" asked David.
"April? April who?" asked Thomas.
"Don't act so dumb. You know who I'm talking about. The girl you pulled from the water. She'd have 2 little redheaded runts in tow" said David.
"Now that you mention it, I have seen a girl like that around. Try the boardwalk" said Thomas.
"Need I remind you that she and the rugrats are mine. Stay away from them. I have no problem adding another scar to that pretty little face of yours" threatened David.
"You can threaten all you want, but remember that I feel no pain so your physical threats have no effect on me. Now, if you don't mind, I've got work to do and you need to leave."
I didn't hear David leave, but I heard the door shut tight behind Thomas.
We crept out of the room to where Thomas was standing.
"You were the one who pulled me from the water?" I asked.
Thomas motioned for me to join him on the stage.
"I can't explain it" he said, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. "Normally, I would let them die. When you're human, you don't realize how lucky you are to die. But when I saw you, I knew you weren't supposed to die. Something was going to happen to you that would change your life completely and I couldn't let you miss that" he said.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"It was just a feeling" he said.
"You were right" I said, placing my head on his shoulder.
"You want to go hunting?" he asked.
"With the kids?" I asked.
"Why not? They have to learn sometime" he said.
"I don't think that's a good idea" I said.
"Do you want them to die?" he asked.
"No" I replied.
"Then they have to come with us" said Thomas. He started walking behind the stage, motioning for me and the kids to join him before he disappeared.
"Savannah! Silas! Let's go!" I yelled. The kids stopped playing and ran towards the stage.
"Where are we going?" asked Silas as he climbed onto the stage.
"We're going on an adventure" I said, "come on."
Savannah and Silas followed close behind me. The space behind the stage was dark and empty. There was an old, rusty ladder that led to a covered hole in the ceiling. Thomas was already halfway up the ladder when we started climbing. I let the kids go first. Thomas slid the cover off the hole. He helped us out one by one. We were standing in the middle of a deserted, closed off parking lot. Most of the buildings surrounding the parking lot were boarded up and shut down.
"What happened here?" I asked.
"Let's just say we vampires have made our mark around here" said Thomas.
We began strolling amongst the abandoned buildings.
"There is one thing David and I have in common" said Thomas.
"What's that?" I asked.
"We hunt the same way. We like to lure humans, especially humans of the opposite sex, back to our home base" said Thomas. "I guess you could say we like to seduce them."
"What about the kids?" I asked.
Thomas smiled and said "that's easy. They have a certain charm we don't have. All they have to do is ask someone to help them find there lost puppy and they're set." He was right. Thomas and I may have the looks, but the kids had an innocence that was irresistible.
We walked into a bar close to the boardwalk. It was lit with neon signs and filled with smoke. Anyone in that place would make a perfect victim because they were so drunk, they wouldn't understand what was happening.
Thomas and the kids went to work right away. I took my time. I walked around the room, studying each human I came into contact with. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going because I ran into a guy and knocked his drinks out of his hands.
"I am so sorry" I said as the bottles hit the floor. The glass shattered and flew in different directions.
"It's my fault. I'm a klutz" he said.
"Well at least you're cute. That makes up for being clumsy" I said. I helped the guy clean up the glass.
He laughed and said "I'm Charlie. What's your name?"
"April. I just moved here" I said.
Charlie smiled and said "you're beautiful. You want to go back to my place for a while?"
I smiled and said "I've got a better idea."
I took Charlie by the hand and led him out of the bar. As we were walking out, I saw Savannah crying to a woman by the doorway. She was telling the woman that she got separated from her mom while on the boardwalk. I couldn't help but feel proud of her for fabricating such an elaborate story.
"Poor kid" said Charlie, "you think we should help?"
"Naw, she'll be alright" I said. Charlie smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist.
"So where are we going?" he asked.
"This way" I said, leading him towards the beach. We found an abandoned cabana close to the shore line. There was a single fold out chair that folded out like a bed.
He lied down on the chair and pulled me on top of him. I helped pull his leather jacket off and tossed it to the other side of the cabana.
Charlie pulled me closer so he could kiss me. He smelled like alcohol. It wasn't the best smell, but I could handle it. I could feel his heart racing as I ran my hands under his shirt.
"Your hands are so cold" he said between kisses.
"I'm always cold" I said as I slipped his shirt off and tossed it over where his jacket lay. I had no intentions of sleeping with any one that night. I simply removed his jacket and shirt so I could get a better shot at his neck. Clothes can get in the way.
I slowly started a trail of kisses from his mouth to his neck. He was so distracted by the kisses, he hadn't noticed that I pinned his arms to the sides of the chair to hold him down. I sank my teeth deep into his neck. He started thrashing almost instantly. The screams came soon after. In an attempt to silence the noise, I tore a chunk of his throat out and spit it out. He was still kicking, but at least he was quiet.
I sucked the blood out until his arms and legs went limp. I stripped him of his clothes before devouring the rest of the body.
I buried the bones in the sand, gathered up the clothes, and walked up the beach. As I was walking back to the bar, I saw Thomas walking in the same direction, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"How'd you do?" he asked when he saw me.
"Pretty good. You?" I asked.
"I got two of 'em" he said with pride.
"I got you something" I said. I held out the clothes for him to see. He studied them for a minute before slipping the jacket on.
"How does it look?" he asked.
"Turn around" I said.
He spun around slowly, stretching his arms out. The jacket fit him perfectly.
Thomas suddenly stopped spinning. He stood completely still, listening to the night air.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Shh" hissed Thomas, placing his finger over his lips. He paced up and down the street, keeping his eyes focused on the sky.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"We need to leave" said Thomas. He rushed back to me, wrapped his arms around me, and guided me back to the bar. I glanced over my shoulder and for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of blond hair in the distance. I drew closer to Thomas.
When we reached the bar, I could see Savannah and Silas standing outside with an older man. He was balding, wearing a button down shirt, black pants, and black shoes. He looked angry. His face was wrinkled as he looked around furiously.
"Mommy!" yelled Silas, running to me with arms open. I scooped him up and held him tight.
"These your kids?" asked the man in a gruff voice.
"Yes sir" said Thomas, taking Savannah by the hand.
"Keep 'em out of my bar. Bars ain't a place for kids. I see them in here again, I'll call the cops" said the guy, waging his finger at us.
"We're sorry sir. We'll keep them out" I said.
The man grunted and said "kids raising kids. What's this world coming to?"
"Come on guys" I said to the kids, "let's get out of here."
We went back to Thomas' theatre.
"I should probably go" I said, "I need to go to my grandparents' house."
"Will I see you tomorrow?" he asked.
"Of course. I want you to meet my family" I said.
"I'll be at your house at 7" he said.
"Okay" I said. I sighed as I watched Savannah and Silas scamper down the stairs. They seemed happier with Thomas.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm just worried. What if David comes after them?" I asked.
Thomas smiled and said "don't worry. I'll protect them. David may be tough, but he can't break me."
