A lot of stupid crap has been affecting this chapter, I uploaded it Sunday but changed the Chapter name (because of a typo) and it didn't send out email alerts. Then I uploaded it again yesterday and FanFiction put Chapter 4 as Chapter 10 (But I'm sure I didn't reupload Ch.4!) But hopefully this will work. Because if it doesn't I'm going to hunt the FanFiction people down with sporks.
Anyway, today is a full moon...so at Cariba Net that means FULL MOON MADNESS!! So this is our gift to you for FMM.
Enough with the rating - Enjoy the chapter!
Fangs & Fins
Chapter 10 Horror-Scopes!
Rose's hands shook as she took deep, even breaths. It was just a dream, after all.
She climbed out of bed and slipped out to the bathroom where she splashed cold water on her pale and horror-shaken face.
You're really losing it, Rosie…
She dried her face off with a towel and turned the bathroom light off before making her way back to her bedroom with her comfy bed. On the way to her destination of comfy-bedness, she passed Byron's current sleeping quarters, Elliot's old room.
Rose could hear quiet whispers through his door. He must be on a phone.
She pressed her ear against the door and listened carefully, knowing that just the smallest sound could alert Byron of her presence or lead her to miss a piece of coveted information.
Rose picked up only a few things whilst eavesdropping. Mostly single words that meant nothing like 'apple', 'chair', and even 'sandwich'. Once she heard a full sentence, but it was only Byron discussing his need for some food.
After a few brief moments of snooping, Rose gave up and opened the door to her own room. She stepped inside and slowly and every so carefully shut the door. She than proceeded to her bed and snuggled under the dark covers.
"I need a stuffie," She mumbled softly, trying to locate the nearest stuffed animal. We'll call it 'Constance Wood' syndrome.
Rose found a stuffed animal under her bed—a giraffe who went by the name of 'Raffi'. Rose cuddled with the soft plush toy before turning off her light and hoping that she wouldn't encounter a terrifying dream again.
--
"You're a Pisces, right?" Lewis asked Lily from his seat at the table a few hours later. The sun had already risen and Lily and Lewis were setting up for breakfast.
Lily nodded as she accidently dropped the ceramic mug her mother had made before she died. It smashed into several small and sharp pieces as it hit the floor with a crash.
"Smooth," Lewis commented.
"Just read me my horoscope," Lily said while she scooped pieces of the mug into the trash bin with her left foot while using her hands to pour orange juice and coffee into various cups and coffee mugs. Lewis got up from his seat and brought the glasses to the table and placed them in the middle.
"Thanks," She muttered.
Lewis resumed his paper-reading. "Your horoscope is telling you to look for new investments. Hey, you could invest in my lures!"
"Absolutely not," Lily said, quickly changing the subject. "What's you're horoscope? Taurus, I remembered."
Lewis smirked and shifted in his seat to face her. "You want to know," He dropped his paper on the table. "It says to never date a Pisces."
Lily nearly spilt coffee all over Rose's waffles. "Rose could have heard that!"
Or worse, Byron!
"Relax," Lewis said, rolling his eyes. "You said the same thing when you thought I gave you a hickey that one time—"
Lily glared at him, her blue eyes constricted. "That was different! Thank God it wasn't a hickey."
Lewis shook his head sadly and returned to the paper. As soon as she was sure he wasn't looking, her hand shot up to her neck, right where she thought she had a hickey.
"Hi," Rose said cheerfully, which was unusual. She flung her bag down on the floor and took a seat across from Lewis. She then extended her arm to grab one of the many cups of coffee Lily had poured.
Lily joined them at the table and set Rose's waffles in from of her. Rose reached for her fork and knife (set neatly on either side of her plate by Lily of course) and cut the waffle into perfectly proportioned quarters.
Lily sat down awkwardly next to Lewis and took a sip of coffee from a mug she herself had decorated many years ago.
Lewis was studying Rose's face like it was some sort of intriguing book only he'd find interesting. "Rose, are you wearing…lipstick?"
Déjà vu, Lily thought as Rose's hand flew to her mouth with the same speed Lily's own hand had flew to her neck moments before.
"Um, I wanted to add some color to my look," Rose explained.
Lewis snorted into his coffee. "You? Color?"
Rose's cheeks turned bright magenta and she aimed a kick at Lewis from under the table. "Are you trying to impress someone?" Lily offered as she helped herself to some toast.
Rose turned a brighter shade of pink. "No, um, no! Totally not." She grabbed her coffee and took a huge sip to avoid answering truthfully.
Byron came racing down the stairs, his blonde ringlets flying. "Hey," He got himself situated in the chair next to Rose and began to devour everything insight.
Lewis looked at Lily angrily. "Byron? You have Byron as your house guest?"
Lily nodded and smiled. "I thought it would be nice." She smiled sweetly at Byron as he ate off of Lewis's plate.
Rose scooted her waffles away from Byron as she watched this.
Lewis looked at Byron and scowled.
Stupid bigger-than-me Byron! Damn him and his ability to seduce Lily!
Between bites, Byron pointed at Rose's pink-colored lips and commented. "That is not your color,"
Rose frowned.
Lily looked at her watch. "We'll it's time to get to school!"
"I thought it was Lewis's job to get to school on time?" Rose asked sarcastically.
Glad to see she hasn't lost her sarcastic wit.
--
Constance hated leaving Hugsy at home when she went to school. Everyday she made sure she was the last to leave so that no one would see her place Hugsy on the couch. She'd get him comfortable then promise she'd be back soon to dress him up in his Ski Jacket outfit she'd made James go out and fetch for her yesterday. Then she'd bid Hugsy goodbye and skip out the door.
But going to school wasn't so bad. She always had Lewis, right?
--
"Hey Rosie," Ben Wood said as he strutted down the hallways in his normal over-the-top fashion. "Did you clean your pants with Windex? Cause I can so see myself in them!"
Rose rolled her eyes and pushed past Ben's pervy figure as she walked towards the English room. Sticking her head around the door she could see James sitting at their table, his head bent as he read a book.
Rose marched over to him and dropped her things on the table. They landed with a large thump and James peered up from his book and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Hey. I'm sorry about yesterday. I had to get um…something for Constance," He explained. "Can we just forget it every happened?"
Rose crossed her arms tightly. She had expected him to put up a bit of a fight or deny it had ever happened. "Yeah. It's fine."
James smiled and Rose felt her heart race. "Okay, thanks. So…we're still going to study at my house today, right?"
She nodded and sat down next to him. Right as Rose was about to say something, their English teacher started up a class discussion and she was forced to retreat.
--
"You get our books set up and I'll get the sodas," James said a few hours later once he and Rose had arrived at his house.
Rose nodded and he went into the kitchen. Rose set their books and papers up on the Wood's glass coffee table. She then picked Hugsy up and set him on the far end of the couch, away from where she and James would be sitting.
James returned with two sodas. He tossed Rose one and opened his while standing over Hugsy.
"James, you might not want to—"
James's soda clicked open and some of the fizzy orange drops landed on Hugsy the Bedtime Penguin Pal's precious head.
"CRAP," James yelled. "Constance is going to kill me!"
Rose grabbed Hugsy and held him close to her. "Get a…a hat! A tiny little hat!" she suggested.
"Yes," James said triumphantly. "A hat, a tiny little hat…oh! I'll get Rainy Day Bear!" James stated, racing upstairs.
"Because he'll know what to do?!" Rose asked sarcastically. James returned moments later with a stuffed teddy bear close to Hugsy's size wearing a yellow rain coat with a matching hat. James passed Rose the bear and she tugged on the hat. "It's sewn on."
James grabbed Rainy Day Bear from Rose's hands and pulled on the hat, which resulted in him accidently ripping the head off the whole bear.
"Great! Now you destroyed two of your sister's stuffed animals!"
--
"Okay," James said as Rose buttoned up Rainy Day Bear's jacket on Hugsy's little body. "It looks better with the jacket. Maybe she won't even notice the hat."
Rose adjusted the hat on Hugsy's stained head just as Constance walked in. She dropped her bag on the floor and made a bee line towards Hugsy. Rose and James stood idly by as Constance examined Hugsy.
"Why is he wearing Rainy Day Bear's clothes?" She demanded.
"Um…" Rose said, looking at James for support.
"Well," James began. "We thought yellow…was like, totally his color."
Constance placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Okay. Whatever." She scooped Hugsy up into her arms and went upstairs to her bedroom.
Rose and James went back to studying and drinking sodas. They had a few side conversations about TV and music and by the time Rose left she was feeling better than she had in a long, long time.
--
Lily stayed after school to use resources from the library which was where she ran into Ash. He was sitting at the table next to her, flipping madly through book pages trying to get her attention. "Lily," He whispered to her.
Lily slammed her book shut and glared at him. "What?!"
"I need to talk to you…outside."
Lily collected her things and followed his tall figure outside. Once they were out the doors, Ash began interrogating her.
"Is your sister friends with a boy named James Wood?"
Lily thought. The name might have come up.
"Maybe. Why do you care?"
Ash sighed. "Look, Lily. You obviously care about your sister. You gave up a lot for her, right?"
Lewis, just to name one thing.
"Yeah..." Lily responded, her voice trailing off.
"Then trust me—you don't want her hanging out with James." Ash said darkly.
Lily raised an eyebrow, questioning his logic.
Ash sighed again. "Because he's a vampire!"
--
Constance sat on her bed playing with Hugsy. She was dressing him in his Ski Jacket outfit. He already had the jacket on.
She removed the hat from Hugsy's head and spotted the orange soda stains on his head.
"JAMES!"
--
Lily gasped and stared into Ash's eyes. "Don't be silly—vampires don't exist!"
Ash rolled his eyes impatiently. "Oh yeah? Then what killed your mother?"
"You have my attention," Lily said.
Ash nodded. "My names is Ash. I'm a vampire hunter. James and his family are vampires, and if James is allowing Rose to get so close to her there might be a chance he's in the process of considering telling her he's a vampire. My job is to eliminate them before she gets the chance to. Trust me… if she has feelings for him, she's not going to care. She might throw away her whole life for him. Everything she's worked for. Everything you've worked for."
Lily gulped. "So…is there anything I can do?" She asked him.
Ash smiled. "You can help me." He held out his hand. "Deal?"
Lily looked at Ash's hand timidly before slowly extending her arm and placing her hand in his own. "Deal."
And they shook on it.