Chapter 8: Oh, What a Party
suggested track: Chandelier- Sia
The knock at the door was loud and rather unexpected.
Jackson awoke from his nap and answered, and he was surprised to see Graverobber standing there holding a piece of paper.
"Uh, how do you know where I live?" Jackson asked, somewhat alarmed.
Graverobber shrugged, handing over the piece of paper. "Lucky guess. Also, here's an invitation to a party tonight. It's at the hotel."
Jackson quirked an eyebrow, looking over the paper. "A party? And you're inviting me?"
Graverobber nodded. "Yep, wanna go?"
Jackson chewed on his lip. "I would, but usually when I go to parties, I'm never me."
Graverobber didn't understand. "What?"
"Well...you'll know what I mean when I get there."
There was an awkward pause, and Graverobber walked away. "Well, see ya there."
Not that far away, there was a knock on the door of the Wolf family's house. Harriet answered the door and was face to face with Anna.
Anna smiled shyly. "Hi. Is Howleen here?"
Harriet crossed her arms, somewhat suspicious. "Why?"
Swallowing nervously, Anna fiddled with the paper in her hands before handing it over. "If she's here, can you give this to her?"
Harriet took the paper and read it with a skeptical look. It read, "you are invited to the 150th annual TVC party! Goes from 8:00 pm to whenever!"
Harriet nodded. "I see. Well, I'll give it to her."
Anna breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you! Howleen's going to have a great time!" And with that, she left.
Once inside, Harriet approached Howleen at the table and gave her the slip of paper. "Some girl left this for you. What do you think?"
Howleen took the paper, her brow furrowing. "A party? At 8:00?"
Harriet sighed, picking up some plates and heading to the kitchen. "I don't know, lovebug. You might just wanna stay home tonight."
But, Howleen knew that there had to be some reason why she was invited to this party. So, later, she discussed her concerns with Clawd and Clawdeen.
"That's wierd," Clawdeen stated, wrinkling her nose. "You shouldn't go. They probably wanna do something awful to you."
"Unless..." Clawd murmured, rubbing his chin in thought.
Clawdeen gave her brother an irritated look. "Unless what?"
Clawd cleared his throat and presented his idea to his sisters.
"We'll have Draculaura go with her to the party, and while they distract the other vampires, we can break in and maybe find out what really happened to you, Howleen."
Howleen shrugged. "Okay, I like that idea."
"Wait, wait," Clawdeen shook her head in disbelief. "You mean you actually wanna go?"
Howleen puffed out a sigh. "I mean...it might be fun. And maybe I can find out things, too."
Clawdeen looked at her brother for help. "Clawd..."
Clawd gave her a serious look. "Come on. It would be easy. The other vampires would be too busy with the party and we could totally break in."
After exchanging glances with both Clawd and Howleen, Clawdeen sighed in defeat. "Fine. But I'm not gonna be the one calming down Mom after she finds out where we were."
Clawd called Draculaura, and after several minutes of arguing, she agreed.
"But that means you have to let me be on top tomorrow night!" She demanded.
Clawd rolled his eyes. "Yep."
So, at about 8:00 pm, Jackson pulled up in his car with Frankie, Duece and Cleo. Soon, Draculaura and Howleen joined them. Unnoticed around the back, Clawd, Clawdeen, Romulus and Brocko figured out how to sneak in.
Stepping out of the car, Cleo took in her surroundings with a raised eyebrow.
"This old place? Vampires live lives of luxury, and I can say for certain that this place is not luxury."
Duece shrugged, taking Cleo's arm. "It looks different on the inside, believe me."
Jackson looked up, seeing flashing lights up on the roof. "It looks like the party's up there. Now, remember, you guys are here to take note of clues just in case Holt takes over, and he probably will."
Draculaura looked up at the flashing lights with eyes of worry. "TVC is one of the most dangerous gangs around! Are you sure we wanna go in?"
"Hey, it'll be fine," Duece assured. "As long as I'm here, everything's under control."
At this moment, Graverobber came out to greet them.
"Hiya, Jackie!" He exclaimed, giving Jackson an unexpected hug. "Glad you could make it!"
Graverobber's attention was then focused on Howleen. "Hey, I know you! What are you doing here?"
Howleen backed away. She remembered him. "I-I-I got an invitation."
Graverobber nodded. "Okay, whatever. Oh, and sorry about...what happened."
Howleen looked away and muttered something no one understood.
There was an awkward pause, and Graverobber led them into the building. "It's on the roof. Come on, let's go!"
It was the biggest, loudest party anyone out of the group had ever witnessed. Vampires were everywhere, and many of them were drunk. They glanced over at the newcomers in confusion, but said nothing. Howleen was surprised nobody approached her. Usually, if she was in a place with that many vampires, one of them would make some remark to her.
Graverobber looked around, seeing Jackson was gone. "Where'd he go?"
Frankie looked off towards the DJ table. She noticed Holt talking enthusiastically to the female DJ and clapping his hands.
Not knowing how to explain Jackson's transformation to Graverobber, Frankie said simply, "You'll see him around."
Draculaura and Howleen walked around a little without speaking, until Draculaura asked, "How are you feeling? Do you wanna sit down?"
Howleen shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay."
A group of mostly drunk vampire girls rushed over to Draculaura excitedly. "Lala!" One of them exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
Draculaura's worries momentarily disappeared and she gave this vampire a hug. "Oh, my goth, how are you?!"
While Draculaura caught up with her old friend, Howleen heard someone calling her name. She looked around and soon realized it was Anna.
Anna was sitting in the pool dipping her feet in the water, and beside her was a smaller, skinnier girl with a round belly.
Howleen approached and sat beside Anna. "Hi, again," she smiled.
Anna put her arm around Howleen and gestured to the other girl. "Howleen, this is Tessa,"
Tessa took a bite of a peach and shook Howleen's hand. "How are ya?"
"W-well, I feel better than I did," Howleen smiled weakly, and tried to break the ice. "Do you have one blue eye?"
Tessa winked at her with that eye. "I guess, yeah. I'm completely blind in this eye."
"Seriously?!"
"Seriously."
Howleen started to feel a little better around these girls. She straightened up as Tessa continued to speak.
"So, Howleen, I heard you're pregnant?"
Howleen's ears flattened against her head. "Uh, yeah."
Tessa smiled, giving Howleen's hand a little squeeze. "It's not so bad. Well, it won't be for you, anyway. You don't gotta eat every fifteen minutes." She then pressed Howleen's palm to her stomach, and the baby inside gave a kick. Howleen gasped.
"Whoa! That doesn't hurt, does it?"
Tessa shook her head, rubbing her stomach tenderly. "No. It just feels like a nudge, like Cricket's saying hi to me."
Anna gave her friend a puzzled look. "Cricket?"
Tessa sighed, getting into a more comfortable position. "That's what John's started calling it. I thought it was weird at first, but now I think it's kinda cute,"
Holween had been told that she wouldn't feel her baby kick until her fourth month of pregnancy, and that by then the baby would also recognize her voice. This thought made her inner battle with abortion grow stronger.
"Howleen," Anna said, yanking Howleen out of her thoughts. "I wanna give you something."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a little round stone. She handed it over, saying, "This is a memory stone. Put this into a hot drink, and when it melts, drink it, and your memories of everything that happened to you will come back."
Howleen took the stone, looking it over. "I'll remember who got me pregnant?"
Anna nodded. "Yes, but don't tell anyone I gave this to you." As Anna drew her arm back to her side, Howleen saw a dark purple bruise on her wrist.
There was silence, then Howleen put the stone in her pocket. "Thank you," she looked away and noticed a refreshment table. "I gonna go get something to eat."
She made her way to the table, avoiding the other party goers and their gazes. Howleen delicately picked up a slice of coconut cake and tried to get back to Tessa and Anna, but a crowd had suddenly formed around the pool and made it impossible to enter, so Howleen found a secluded area to eat her cake in silence. That is, until someone came and stood over her.
"Why, hello, Howleen dear!"
Howleen jumped, seeing another vampire with white hair and a red dress.
"My name is Eris," the woman greeted, leaning closer to look Howleen right in the eyes. Part of Eris's left breast had popped out of her dress and was now very much exposed. Howleen tried not to look.
"We've been waiting for you, love," Eris grinned, stroking Howleen's cheek. Howleen shuddered.
"Okay," was all she got out.
Eris gave her a lipstick caked smile, then walked off, leaving Howleen disturbed and very confused.
After a moment, Howleen looked around to make sure Eris was gone, then threw the remains of cake into the trash. She tried to make her way back to the pool, but bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Howleen apologized quickly. The stranger chuckled.
"Don't be sorry, Howleen."
Howleen looked up, realizing she had bumped into Valentine.
"Valentine!? What are you doing here?"
Valentine smiled, giving Howleen's hand a squeeze. "My cousin owns this building. And geez, I haven't seen you in awhile," Howleen noticed that Valentine had a hard time meeting her eyes when he said this.
She nodded, and the two went quiet for a minute. Suddenly, there was a splash, and someone shrieked, "Oh, my God, Tessa!"
The party quieted as a crowd swarmed around where Tessa had been sitting. The group broke up when Graverobber rushed in, screaming, "EVERYBODY MOVE!"
Bending down, he reached in and pulled out Tessa very gently. Tessa stumbled out, dripping wet and looking quite shocked. Graverobber looked her over with a worried expression. "You okay?"
Tessa nodded and murmured, "I slipped,"
Graverobber turned to everyone else, declaring, "She's okay, everyone! She just slipped."
This explanation was accepted, and everyone went about their business. Valentine turned his attention back to Howleen.
"You wanna get away from all the noise?"
Howleen like that idea. "Yeah, okay,"
Why, hello there! It's been awhile, hasn't it?
I had a good trip to Washington DC (despite the fact that it was hot enough to kill an elephant), but unfortunately I couldn't find time to take a video. I really wanted to, though.
So, what do you think of this chapter? Sorry it's so long and it ends so abruptly. But still, i'd like feedback if at all possible!
Well, see you next time, fellow monsters!
