Chapter 7: A Cousin's Debt

"A-Alaura! H-hey…" Gumball yelped, his ear lowering in fear while hiding the journal behind his back that belonged to someone named Aura. He secretly dropped it behind him back into the chest that he had been rummaging through. The girl that he had stalked was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and her foot tapping. "I-I was… was…" Gumball stammered, not sure what he could say. It felt like being held at gunpoint. "…going through my mom's belongings?" Alaura finished his sentence as she took a step towards him, the old floorboard creaking underneath her. "N-no! Yes, I mean… I'm sorry, I just was curious about why you were in the hospital," Gumball tried to lie, mentally praying that he could fib his way through with Rachel's suggestions from before, all of this being a coincidental occurrence.

"I wasn't," Alaura hissed while taking another step, Gumball's tail wrapped around his left leg while getting terrified. Alaura grabbed her own teeth and pulled many of them off, revealing two razor sharp teeth underneath. "I've been looking for you, Gumball, for a long time…" she claimed while getting closer to him, watching the scared kitten lean against the wall. She leaned closer into him. His eyes were closed shut and he was shivering, his fur sticking on end. He was now expecting to get killed by a vampire and not be heard from again. "Cousin…" he suddenly heard. His eyes shot open. "W-what?" Gumball repeated, seeing Alaura one inch from his face, her orange hair practically being an attention keeper. "We're related," she claimed with a smirk, her sharp teeth poking out and keeping him paralyzed in fear.

"W-what do you mean?" Gumball asked, barely able to believe it, but not wanting to argue. He swore that the more he stared into her eyes, the redder they went. "We have the same grandpa. That makes me your cousin," she declared. "W-what? B-but… Tyler s-said he shot his first wife…!" Gumball remembered his grandfather's words where he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. "He wasn't a good shot, grandma said. He only grazed her. And she was pregnant," Alaura said, looking down awkwardly. "A-and your parents?" Gumball tried to continue the query with his newfound relative. "They died young. Dad was a regular person who didn't survive the change," she claimed while finally moving her face slightly away from him. "The c-change?" gumball hesitated to continue his questions.

"…To a vampire. He finally agreed to let mom bite and turn him into one, and well… he didn't survive. As for my mom, she was found out by the government, and she was executed about a year ago," Alaura explained the reasons behind the graves beside the home. Gumball unwrapped his tail from around his leg and began to calm down, thinking he wasn't in any imminent danger. "But they all told me one thing… that it's your turn to help me make a blood gem," she declared while sitting on the old bed, some dust coming off of it. "Blood gem?" Gumball raised an eyebrow. "One of these," Alaura reached on a nearby shelf and pulled off another small box, opening it up and revealing a few red gems inside that were small size, but only two were there. "I need to drink enough blood to make one. Your great grandpa basically made a deal with my family," she tried to explain as simple as possible.

"W-what? Is there anything else I can do?" Gumball tried to find anything else to do, instead of helping her get blood. He wondered why his great grandpa would agree to do this, which confused him more. "Well… you could let me drink your blood and turn you into a vampire too. That'd also pay the debt," Alaura explained that the simple option of giving up his own life as a practical minion was the only other option. Gumball now knew why that his mother didn't want him to research her family, and he was now regretting it. Alaura flicked his ear and licked her fangs, waiting for an answer. It looked like she was ready to bite him right after he answered. "Blood gem it is," Gumball gave a forced smile.

"Great! I'll come to your house tonight. Just make sure no one knows about it," Alaura reminded him. She pulled her fake teeth out of her pocket and put them back in her mouth, covering her fangs. "C-can I have that copy of my grandpa's journal though?" Gumball asked for what he had come here for. Alaura went and pulled out a few sheets of paper, handing it to him. "Most of it is just your usual war garbage, how things are getting gradually worse by the day, all that kinda junk. The last few pages are the ones that made it worth printing though," Alaura insisted. Gumball nodded and started leaving the old home that was falling apart by the day, Alaura watching him go. Gumball was too traumatized by all of the information he had received in that short period of time that felt like an eternity.

Gumball just made his way back through the forest, and didn't waste any time rushing out of it and heading back to Elmore. He was terrified that he was going to have to help Alaura drink blood. Along the way he began to overview the journal of papers he had gotten. Alaura was correct, as the journal mainly talked about regular war information that was readable in any other war journal, though one thing confused him was the fact that sometimes he spotted a few pages that mentioned 'Dog Tag Count', and a number that got higher in every other page. Gumball got to the last few pages and found the important part that his vampiric cousin mentioned. He finally found out his great grandfather's name which was known faithfully as Jeo. Gumball started reading the first of the last four pages.

"We've been getting slaughtered left and right. I've got twenty dog tags dangling around my neck. Everyone thinks I'm a sick freak for collecting enemy dog tags as trophies, and allies' tags to return to their families." Gumball turned to the second page, wondering if there was any valuable information at all. "We got sneak attacked last night by the enemy. Our sergeants, dead. Every one of my groups, dead. I thought I was screwed too, but something saved me. He's in a business suit and cleaning up the bodies. I don't know his name, but I already owe him big. I used our only working radio to call for rescue, but it's not coming til tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to last for the night." Gumball was slightly confused while he flipped to the next page.

"Well I was right. We got attacked again by multiple people. I got shot four times. The same suit guy saved me, but he must think I'm dead, because I'm watching him drink the blood of our enemies. He's not right at all. He's a monster." After reading the third page, Gumball was starting to get an idea over what had occurred to start this deal with the vampire family. He finally flipped to the last page. "I'm alive. Breathing and riding in a helicopter. The suit guy… well… I found out his name was Ron, and he saved my life. I agreed to do anything for him during my life, and after my death. I offered him the assistance of my son and his grandson."

That was the end of the last page. Gumball just froze in place, staring at the documents of paper. He rubbed his head and sighed. "Oh, man… mom is gonna kill me if she finds out…"

End of Chapter 7