Looks like the two-parted chapters are going to become the norm...actually, this one might have three *headdesk* Um, just so you know, I know absolutely nothing about Luna and Jagger's parents, I'm just sorta winging it here.
~*Twelve*~
"Jagger!"
Jagger's skinny form soon emerged at the stairwell. He could see his mother in the living room, and he gave her an only-slightly-snarky questioning glance, to which she responded with a nondescript tilt of the head. Jagger sighed; he was in some sort of trouble.
Lilith Maxwell sat perfectly composed in the living (ha) room. She was perched on the arm of a burgundy sofa, one hand on the stem of a wine glass and the other holding open a glossy fashion magazine. She took a sip of the crimson liquid in her glass and glanced up at her son with her hypnotic, catlike green eyes.
"I'll bite," Jagger broke the silence as he began descending the stairs, "what is it?"
Unamused, Mrs. Maxwell raised her elegantly arched brows, "I have been finding some very interesting, very dead animals around the house lately. Care to elaborate?"
"Mother, I'm a vampire," Jagger retorted as he reached the living room, "it is in my nature to hunt things down and drain them of blood."
"Yes, well," His mother cracked a smile, "I'd rather not have to dispose of them. If you're going to snack, make sure to clean up after yourself."
"Is that all?" The boy demanded, and, knowing that it probably wasn't, took a seat next to his mother on the arm of the sofa. He wasn't in a good mood this morning (read: morning) as he was used to sleeping during the day. There was a solar eclipse today, a rare phenomenon that made it possible for vampires to be active during the day, but as far as Jagger was concerned, that didn't mean they had to be chipper about it.
"Actually, I'd like you to go pick up your sister from school," Lilith was back to her magazine, "She can come home early today if she'd like."
Jagger groaned, "Why can't you or dad do it?"
"Because we will be getting ready for the celebration," Mrs. Maxwell's thickly lashed eyes sparkled before she added, "The Sterlings will be there, you know, and Cassandra will undoubtedly have a new dress from some odd country, and you know I won't be outdone."
She said this playfully, but Jagger knew that she was only partly kidding—Lilith had spent an eternity as a femme fatale, and she refused to let anybody forget it.
"Don't worry about that, mom, Mrs. Sterling could never compete with you," Jagger assured her good-naturedly.
"Oh, that's sweet," Lilith gave him a squeeze, "what do you want?"
"I mean it, Mrs. Sterling's kind of a freak, in case you haven't noticed," The twelve-year-old stated bluntly, "she carries an umbrella around...all the time, and I think it has some holes in it."
"The moonlight is so strong!" Lilith gasped melodramatically and pretended to swoon onto the sofa cushions. Jagger laughed at the impression, and his mother chuckled along with him.
"So Alexander's gonna be there, then?" He questioned after a pause.
"Of course," Lilith stared into space for an instant, still cradling the glass that had remained intact throughout her little performance, "and I expect you to behave."
"That's a lot to expect," Jagger grumbled, "especially when Alexander's involved."
"Jagger."
Oh no, it was the Warning Tone.
"Mom, he's pathetic! Sometimes I swear, he doesn't even know he's a vampire," The boy argued.
"It's a phase, I'm sure," Lilith chided her son's outburst, "besides, all that moving around is probably hard on him. Can you imagine all the time he has to spend surrounded by nothing but humans?"
"Yeah, well—" Jagger started to respond, but he was cut off when Lilith turned a page in her magazine.
"Oh, he looks delicious!" She exclaimed as she dug out a pen from a pocket of her black satin night dress. Jagger rolled his mismatched eyes as she jotted something down on the notepad she always kept with her. His mother had been at this for as long as Jagger could remember; she was composing a sort of bucket list. Lilith spent hours leafing through magazines and copying down names of models to whom she planned... "visit" sometime in the next century.
"Uh, mom? Your fangs..."
"Oh!" Lilith's hand shot to her mouth as she worked to retract her accidentally distended fangs. Jagger looked away in embarrassment.
"Leave them, dearest" A warm voice growled from the doorway, "I find you positively intoxicating with your fangs out."
"Gabriel! You know how I feel about you sneaking about," Lilith snapped at Jagger's father, not sounding bothered in the least.
"Yes. I know you love it," Gabriel Maxwell replied matter-of-factly, "'Evening, Jagger," He added, winking a violet-blue eye at his son.
"'Afternoon, Dad," Jagger corrected as he started to edge away; he didn't want his parents to get too involved with each other while he was still in the room.
Too late. Jagger's father had moved closer, and Lilith had taken the opportunity to wrap her long legs around his torso. Jagger groaned inwardly—they were always like this. It made social gatherings kind of awkward, but interesting.
"Get a crypt," Jagger suggested as he slipped out of the room.
* * *
"Hey Val," Jagger reappeared at the doorway of his brother's room, "Come on. We're going for a walk."
The six-year-old glanced up enthusiastically from under his shaggy white bangs at his older brother, "Cool! Can I bring my board?"
"Sure, but move it. We don't have all day," Jagger grinned at the phrasing. Man it felt cool to say that.
* * *
"This is cool. It's like night during the day, only it's all weird and blue-purplish," Valentine chattered happily as he rolled along beside Jagger on his skateboard, "Hey, wanna see me grind that tree root?"
"Not now, Mom would stake me if you got hurt before the party," Valentine's face fell a bit at this, so Jagger rushed to say, "but another time."
"'Kay. That works. I get really bored, ya know," Valentine contemplated, "there are no kids my age around."
By "kids" Valentine meant vampires. Sure, he loved hanging out with his siblings, and his siblings loved him, but that didn't mean Jagger was fine with his baby brother tagging along with him and his friends, or that Luna enjoyed having Valentine bug her while she did her homework. That was why Valentine took up skateboarding—it took commitment, patience, and focus, and it was something he could do on his own without wanting anyone else around.
Valentine's favorite place these days was the park. He brought his skateboard there at night and hung around on the abandoned playground equipment, or he'd turn into a bat and play with the real bats that filled the sky. Sometimes he'd buy a bunch of raw meat and feed it to the wolves that came around late at night. Then, if he was feeling particularly mischievous, he'd zip through nighttime streets on his skateboard and shove the remaining meat in peoples' mailboxes.
Still, he'd much rather hang out with his big brother.
"Well, you could always play with the mortal kids," Jagger jibed sneeringly.
"I just wanna play with someone," Valentine missed the sarcasm in the older boy's voice, "like if we moved somewhere, there would be other kids. Alexander moves around all the time, I wish we went on trips all the time like he does."
"What, are you starting to like Alexander or something?" Jagger's eyebrows arched at the dreamy tone in his brother's voice.
"No!" Valentine shook his head vigorously. He knew that Jagger was didn't like Alexander much, and if Jagger didn't like him, then Valentine didn't like him either, "I just wish we could do what he does."
"Traveling would be kind of cool, I guess," Jagger agreed noncommittally. Frankly, he loved Romania, although there was a definite allure to other places in the world, and he did intend to visit all the important places sometime, though he fully planned on returning to Transylvania afterward.
"You and me should go somewhere fun together sometime. Just you and me, no parents," Valentine was going on contemplatively, "Actually, Luna should come too, so it would be the three of us. That would be great."
"Actually, yeah," Jagger was warming to the idea. When he and Luna were bigger, and when Luna was a vampire, they should do something together, and Valentine would be older then too. Jagger would love to find out what the three of them could get into together, "yeah, that would be pretty great."
"Mm-hmm," Valentine's nodded and there was quiet for a moment before he spoke up again, "Hey Jagger, can you promise me something?"
Jagger stopped and looked into Valentine's trusting emerald eyes. Normally, he wouldn't agree to any promise in advance, but Valentine was different, "Alright. What?"
"Promise me that if you or Luna ever go somewhere, you'll take me with you. Promise that you guys won't ever just leave me," Valentine continued to look at his brother earnestly.
"Sure, I promise. Cross my heart with a wooden stake," Jagger agreed eventually. Valentine's face lit up, and Jagger decided that the promise was well worth it.
For a while, Valentine was content with the silence, but after the two boys continued on their way, he asked, with all seriousness, "Who do you think would win in a fair fight, Batman or Spiderman?"
"There's no such thing as a fair fight," Jagger answered abstractedly. There was another brief silence as Valentine though about this, then,
"Okay, but who would win?"
* * *
Hehe, Valentine needed a little love. Sorry if I fail at writing him, he kind of got the short end of the characterization stick in the books, so I don't have too much to work with. Oh, and about Jagger and Luna's parents...I'm not sure what I was thinking. It just seemed to work. Anyway, as always, drop a review and tell me whatcha thought!