The next day, Vic didn't come to school.
Sam hadn't expected her to.
The night before...had been a terrible idea. After the fight and Vic's daring exit, Sam and Tucker had helped Danny to his feet. He was a little shaky at first but he got his feet. A few minutes and he was able to transform. He did it several times to be sure and tested his powers too. He was completely fine, but shaken none-the-less. The three spent the rest of the night sitting in the middle of fresh battle ground just talking.
They lay head to head staring up at the sky as Danny tried to put his feelings into gentler words. "I'm just...unbelievably frustrated." he started. At home, listening to his parents talked irritated him to no end. They seemed to just go on and on and on without ever taking a breath. "But they aren't even saying anything! Nothing worth listening to anyway." Just looking at Jazz mad him furious. The way she babied him hadn't changed but it was like suddenly she had found a new nerve that her nagging made raw the second she inhaled. At school, he didn't hear anything any teachers said to him. He couldn't over the ticking of the clocks. The sound made his heart race and his palms sweat.
"What about us?" Tucker asked the question Sam hadn't wanted to interrupt to ask. She was worried it would set him off.
Danny sighed. "You guys are they only ones who don't directly make me angry." He rolled his head to lean against Sam's. She stiffened but he didn't seem to notice. "I really am sorry for what I said that day, Sam." There were a couple beats of silence as the memory washed over the group of friends. Sam hadn't forgotten the indecent, but it hadn't been on the forefront of her mind. "It was really uncool of me...I just-"
"Couldn't stop yourself." Sam finished for him.
"Yea."
A few more beats and Sam said. "It's okay."
Danny sat up and his friends followed suite. "No, it's not! I can't keep losing my cool like this!" He gestured to the little bit of damage he had done fifteen minutes prior. Nothing was fully uprooted but the trees that had been closest were at a definite angle and the grass he and Vic had been standing on was almost completely gone.
"Well," Sam mused "You really do have to get a handle on that, but I do forgive you."
"Really?" Tucker huffed. Danny turned to glare at him (albeit, not as angrily as he had been) and Sam socked him hard enough in the chest to make him rock. He shouted and turned to look at her. Sam smiled.
"Now I forgive you." She laughed which made Danny laugh, and pretty soon Tucker joined in and they were all doubled over in tears in no time. When they caught their breath, Sam asked no one in particular "Should we talk about Vic?"
Tucker shook his head and after a few seconds, Danny agreed. "I'd really like to go home for the night. What if I promise to really try harder and to talk to her at lunch tomorrow?"
Sam and Tucker shared a look that Danny didn't miss.
"I mean it," He insisted. "After tonight..." His eyes trailed over to the wreckage then down to his hands. "After tonight," he started again, but quieter this time. "I really don't want Vic against us." Sam started to defend Vic but decided against it. "I showed almost everything I've got. I have no idea what all she's capable of."
Sam had some idea. Vic had told her all types of things that she was capable of doing but she also admitted to messing with Sam for fun. She didn't know what she could tell. In the end, she and Tucker told Danny about Vic covering up his exit from school a few days ago. Danny listened quietly but he was obviously unnerved.
"Wow," he breathed when they were done.
"Yea, she really stuck her neck out for you, dude." Sam nodded in agreement but Danny didn't look to grateful.
"How are you so sure she isn't messing with you?"
Sam shot Danny a look at the conversation was dropped. they decided to split up and get some rest. They would get together at lunch and sort things out with Vic.
When Vic didn't come to the door the next morning, Sam was pretty sure she'd be absent for the day. The theory was confirmed in Lancer's class where Vic's empty desk made Sam fell kind of cold. She made her way to the lunch table alone where Vic's absence continued to make Sam fell funny.
Danny's good mood had dwindled but he was still relatively calm and was genuinely upset about Vic being gone. Their lunch went on almost normally and there were even a few laughs, but all three friends caught another looking to the open seat at Sam's side.
On her way home, Sam saw that Vic actually had the lights on. With a laugh, Sam realized this was the first time she had seen the lights on. Most of the time Vic spent in the dark using the natural light that came through her windows. Now, after years before Vic hadn't moved in and the month or so that she had (had it only been that long?) Sam couldn't help but stand and stare at the house. It wasn't until Vic appeared in the window with a cocky smile that Sam realized her mouth had been hanging open. She snapped it shut at the same time that the front door opened.
Seeing Vic still in the window made Sam blink in confusion and turned to meet the eye of a woman who looked like she could have been one of the Mega Moms in her own mother's PTA army.
She was a smiling woman in a light blue sundress and an apron with a kerchief tied over dirty blonde hair. She wiped her hands on her apron and stepped back a half step. "Come on in, Vic was just getting to all the trouble she had caused in my absence."
Sam was ready to say no before the woman was done speaking but Vic's laughter drifted out from inside and it gave Sam a little bit of courage. 'Come on! How many Goth Girls get invited into a house of vampires?!'
So she took a deep breath and marched up the stairs and into the house. Vic's mother shut the door behind her and for the first time it made Sam jump to hear the lock. She knew they noticed but she focused on taking off her boots. She knew it was either bare feet or stockings in the house.
The house was lit up and warm. The entire front space smelt like cookies and when Vic shifted by the living room window and caught her eye, Sam couldn't stop herself from laughing. Vic sighed but there was a smile on her face as she slowly turned with her arms out so Sam could get a full view of the over sized tie dye tee she was wearing. The shirt was old and faded and came half way down Vic's legs so the fray at the end of her shorts stuck out.. She was barefoot with her hair all over the place as usual and she was carrying a glass of milk.
"You look..." Sam shook her head and giggled some more when Vic's mother walked by, kissed Vic's temple and circled an arm around her shoulders.
"She looks sweet."
Sam nodded but said no more. "I'm Samantha Manson. It's nice to meet you Miss Amelia Rebel."
The woman's smile never fell, it only shifted to show different emotions. This smile was sad and sweet as she reached to shake Sam's offered hand. "Oh, that name." Sam glanced to where Vic had been standing. How long had she been gone? If Sam lost focus on her for one second in this house, Vic was either gone or sitting exactly the same with a few of her curls flicking of their last bit of inertia.
"I'm Amelia Patterson, call me Amelia and my partner is Greg. Greg Martin." Laughter crinkled her nose and the corners of her eyes. Sam wondered how old she was and if vampires really stayed at their physical peak.
"Your last names are all different," Sam observed aloud.
"Vic change when we adopted her since Greg and I do not share a surname. It is very nice to meet you, Sam. You are the only thing Vic talks about since she started school here."
Sam looked around as she followed Amelia into the kitchen. The house was almost exactly the same. If anyone in Amityville could spot a change it would be Sam. She had been waiting for this moment and went over the private list she'd created.
Nothing had been moved like Vic had predicted. There were no pictures of the family on the walls, only art. The wooden floors were spotless and would remain unscratched since shoes weren't allowed past the front door. Lastly, there was still no dust in the air. Sam was convinced that there was no room for dust with that strange sent that filled everything. The closest thing that Sam could ever come up with to compare it to, was cold steel. It swirled everywhere, even under the smell of the cookies Amelia was taking out of the oven.
Sam had learned to ignore the smell and it didn't bother her anymore. In fact, she was sensitive to it now. She'd smelt it in her room the night after Vic had surprised her with dinner in her own kitchen with her mother. She'd been dozing off when the scent had wafted over her when the A/C clicked on. The next morning was the first time she noticed that the it fragrance came off of Vic's skin.
"Would you like a cookie Sam?" Amelia asked. She smiled somewhat stiffly while sliding the cookies onto a plate on the marble island where Vic kept her bookshelf. Vic herself knelt rearranging her books. Well, more like reshuffling them. They had been the only difference. Instead of piled on their sides so the titles were horizontal, like Vic liked, they were lined vertically similarly to the rest of the shelves in the house.
"Sure," Sam picked one up, grabbed a napkin from beside the plate and took a seat at the table. Amelia looked at Vic. "Would you like to join Sam?"
Sam could see enough of Vic's face to see her lift her eyes to glare at her guardian. "Stop messing with my things." Her voice was flat and Sam's skin tingled. Amelia shrugged and turned to walk gracefully over to the stairs and call for Greg who didn't answer. She head up.
Vic sat on the table across from Sam. "Hey," She smiled easily. "How's Danny?"
"He's fine. You really scared him. You scared all of us really." They were quiet for a few seconds. "I thought you were going to kill him."
Vic held Sam's eyes. "I was." More silence.
Sam put the rest of her cookie down. She'd only taken a bite. She studied her bite mark as they talked although Vic didn't move. "Why didn't you?"
"I remembered that I owed you one. For that argument I sort of instigated."
"Sort of?" Was that really the only reason?
"Sort of." Vic confirmed. "Also, it wasn't really worth the remaining effort I had. If we had kept going for another hour he might have gotten me." Sam didn't have to look up to see if Vic was serious. She could hear it in her voice. Vic didn't see Danny as any kind of threat. She was completely aware of how much stronger she was and she may have known all along. "How was lunch today?"
"Ok," Sam thought back and she smiled. "Actually, it was really nice."
"Good. I hope you enjoyed it, I'm coming back to school tomorrow."
They talked for a few more minutes before Sam excused herself. By the time she was unlocking her front door she was once again completely confidant that Vic meant them no real harm. Yes, she was dangerous but she had no real problems with Danny. She wasn't sorry for what she had done but she also wasn't interested in fighting Danny to the death. For today, that was all Sam needed to know.
Vic watched Sam go form the living room. Once the door was closed, she raced into Amelia and Greg's bedroom. Amelia was in the center of the room waiting. Vic was furious.
"You said you wouldn't mess with her!"
"It was an emergency, Vic! That girl is could be very dangerous! You did not drink from her di-"
"No!" Vic roared and Amelia sneered.
"Watch yourself. You are not the only one who can get loud here."
The teen snarled and gnashed her teeth, eyes darkening.
Greg pushed himself off of the wall to Vic's left and got in between the two. "All right you two," He ruffled his own jet black hair as he looked between them. "Amelia. you did swear. We all heard you."
"You were up here." Amelia sniffed and Vic rolled her eyes.
"We all know that doesn't matter." Greg smiled. "You can apologize for that."
Amelia sighed. "I am sorry. However, Vic." She waited until her daughter looked into her eyes and she could see the anger had cooled, then continued to wait until Vic announced she accepted the apology.
"Now," Greg put his hands on Vic's shoulders. "Hear Amelia out. This is actually very important."
"Uuuuuuuugh!" Vic threw herself across the room onto the bed making sure to put her feet on Amelia 's pillow. "Fine."
Amelia frowned but she ignored the slight. "That girl is not completely human. There is witch blood in her and it is not faded like most witches I encounter. It is quiet strong actually."
Vic was sitting up now. "Are you serious?"
"Of course I am! What a silly question. I know witch blood when it steps into my kitchen. She obviously isn't interested in what we are. Not with anything more like child like curiosity, but still. It made me nervous. I had to know if you had drank from her."
"Which I haven't and I won't." Vic shivered. She knew how fatal it could be if her system tried to reject witch blood. It was the very first mistake she had ever made as a vampire.
Amelia breathed a sigh of relief. "Maybe you should tell her." Her smile was back. "I would love to show her a few of the things I know for detecting and protecting herself from spirits. Maybe that will help you tow bridge the gap between yourself and Daniel."
"A-huh," Vic left the room slowly, lost in thought. Greg closed the door behind him, sound proofing the room.
"Shes always like you better." Amelia sighed. She moved to change the pillow cover before the smell of feet could seep into the goose feathers. She sniffed a few times just to be sure. Greg dropped onto his side of the bed.
"It's only because I'm closer to her age."
"She is centuries older than you!"
"And You are older than that." Greg took her hand in his when her face fell. "It isn't your fault. You should be proud of how old you are. You're just a little out of touch with whats considered normal."
Amelia nodded. "I am going to start dinner. Make sure Vic washes up."
Greg snorted. "Doubt it."