Stranger than Fiction
Chapter 2
"Now, let's see…" Little Ghoul mumbled, thumbing through the book. "Okay…I need two tokens, one from each of them. Ha! Step ahead of ya." she held up Jo's tube of lipstick in one hand, and Fangula's huge roll of dental floss in the other. "Hee hee…now, I just say the words, and…Okay."
She cleared her throat, held up the tokens, and said, " 'Forbidden fruit you'll long to taste, the heart goes where it will. You will let not a minute waste, this love you will fulfill. You will be bound by this magic spell, as if tied wrist to wrist. To be free you'll need no wedding bell, only to have a tryst!'"
She did a double-take. "Uh-oh…this may just go farther than I meant it to go…" she grinned behind her shroud, and laughed. "I love it!"
* * *
Jo put a hand to her forehead, and frowned. Something was…well, she couldn't put her finger on it. It wasn't necessarily wrong, but…it was just weird!
"What's with her?" asked Roland, having noticed that she seemed a bit green.
"She got carsick on the way over." Drew explained.
"I'm okay. I think I'm just tired from the ride."
* * *
Fangula dropped his book, and grunted. The room made a violent tilt, and he closed his eyes as his normally half-still heart thudded in his chest. What was wrong with him?
He opened his eyes when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Well, everything seemed all right now. "Must have been a dizzy spell." He muttered.
"Yeah, I tell ya," came Mums's voice from the hallway, "she sure has changed!"
She? Was someone at Hillhurst? Ah, yes. The kids were visiting. He must've been talking about Jo. Well, he might as well go and have a look at her. He hadn't seen them in ten years, and there was something in Mums's voice that suggested something other than culinary interest…
* * *
Jo looked up at the sound of footsteps, as did the others, but she was the only one who was stricken by something strange. It was Fangula. She remembered him, and from the look on his face, he obviously remembered her. He had stopped short, and was staring at her in slack-jawed amazement. Her heart began to pound, and her mouth suddenly became a desert. For them, time seemed to have stopped. They stared at each other, unable to look away. His eyes lowered, taking in the rest of her, but when Flabber said, "Fangula, you remember Drew and Jo, right?" the vampire blinked, and spun on his heel, leaving the room.
"What got into him?" asked Drew. Jo couldn't speak. She excused herself, and went out onto the porch.
She leaned against the side of the house, and moaned quietly. "This can't be happening…"
* * *
Fangula shut his bedroom door, and leaned against it. Not with a human…not with HER…
His chest felt like it would explode. It just wasn't natural to fall in love with your food…your food for Pete's sake! Someone must have done something…Flabber! But he…he just couldn't talk about it. It was too embarrassing. What if it wasn't Flabber? Besides, if it was only a spell, it should wear off…right?
* * *
Jo went back into the house, but she could no longer enjoy her visit. Her mind went back to the time when she had been 'the hider' in a game of phasm hide and seek, and she had opened a door to find Fangula in the bathtub, playing with his toy battleships. He hadn't seen her, (thank God!), but she had gotten a good view of his naked chest and arms…She remembered the time when Little Ghoul had stolen the pants right off his legs, and she had seen him in his vampire bat boxers. It had been funny at the time, but now she found herself wondering what else he wore under…
She almost slapped herself. She couldn't be in love with him! And she couldn't want to do…that…with him!
She was relieved when it was time to leave for the dorms. It was a coed dorm, and she and her brother would be staying across the hall from each other. She just had to get away from Hillhurst.