Stranger than Fiction

Chapter 8

The ride to Hillhurst was passed in silence. Jo sat in the back seat behind Drew, who was driving the car. Count Fangula sat in the front passenger seat, and the fact that he was being kept separate from Jo, and that he was in the front seat instead of the back wasn't lost on him. Even so, Drew didn't have to worry about the vampire biting his sister again; he felt terrible for having done it. Indeed, every few moments his breath would hitch as he sat hunched over beneath the seat belt, and he would turn his head at regular intervals so that neither Drew nor Jo would see the cold tears that meandered their way down to his chin and dripped onto his starched collar.

Drew made no move to comfort him; he was still angry, and with good reason. It wasn't that he truly blamed the vampire, but this was his sister whom he had bitten. While he was sorry for having attacked him, he still couldn't excuse him completely.

Jo, for her part, was sitting with her eyes closed, fingering the tiny wounds on her neck. The wounds didn't hurt, but they itched a little bit and they stung when she touched them; and yet, she couldn't help doing so. It was so strange; every time Fangula's breath caught in a little half-sob, the wounds would throb in time with the sound. She felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him, to try and comfort him somehow, but she didn't, knowing that contact with her would only make it worse for him.

When they arrived at Hillhurst, it was almost one in the morning. They headed for the door in single file, Fangula in front and Jo in back, with Drew in the middle. Fangula swiped at his eyes once more, and went inside.

"Flabber?" called Drew, scanning the foyer for any sign of the phasm.

"In here, guys." Called a voice from the parlor. They filed into the room, stopping short at the sight of Little Ghoul being suspended in mid-air beside Flabber, who was thumbing through his Phasm Handbook.

"Flabber…" Fangula asked uncertainly, narrowing his eyes at Little Ghoul in sudden suspicion. "What's going on?"

Little Ghoul's glowing eyes blinked as she waved her lizard-like hands frantically. "It wasn't me, I swear! I been framed! Whatever Flabber says, I didn't do it!"

Flabber, looking angrier than they'd ever seen him, waved his hand and Little Ghoul's mouth was rendered numb. "That's enough out of you." he told her, closing the book and getting to his feet. "I'm so sorry, you guys. I thought I'd hidden the handbook well enough, but she found it anyway."

Jo moved to stand by Fangula, but her brother had accidentally-on-purpose positioned himself between them. "So you do know what happened." She said.

Flabber nodded, but Drew shook his head. The phasm's face fell. "Oh no, what else happened?"

"I…" Fangula began, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"He bit Jo."

"Drew…" Jo began reproachfully.

"Fang…" Flabber said, at the exact same moment. The vampire turned away and folded his arms, looking for all the world like a whipped child. It wasn't until he spoke that they realized that he was crying.

"I didn't mean to…" he gave a single, hiccuping sob, and covered his face with his hand. His shoulders trembled violently, and Jo elbowed her brother out of the way.

"Fang," she began, but he wouldn't let her hold him this time.

"No, I told you before…you don't know…what it means. I…You're b-bound to me. I did the worst…possible thing…It's ev-everything but okay!"

A moment later, Flabber was gently interceding himself between Jo and Count Fangula. "Here, let me…" he told her, leading Fangula into another room to get the story from him and to give him time to compose himself. Little Ghoul, for her part, was left hanging. Jo spared her one quizzical glance, and sat down on one of the dusty sofas. Drew sat beside her, and she permitted this.

"So…" Drew began, leaving the word dangling in the air in the hopes that she would take the bait.

"So." She sighed, effectively batting aside the verbal tidbit. In truth, she didn't know exactly what he wanted to ask her.

"Okay, I'll start." He slapped his thighs, and got to his feet. "You've never kept anything from me, not even when you knew I wouldn't like it. I always thought we could talk about anything. Why didn't you tell me, Jo?"

"Drew, please. I really don't know why I didn't tell you. I guess I…I've never loved anyone like I…like I love him, and it's…" she shook her head. "It's scaring me to death, Drew. I knew how you'd react…"

"No, you didn't know. The only reason I reacted like I did was because I thought he'd attacked you. I didn't know what was going on, and when I saw you lying there with him standing over you I just lost it. And when I saw the bite mark, all I could think of was how I could make him pay."

"Drew, he was crying!" she told him.

"Ever heard of crocodile tears?"

"They weren't—"

"I know." he sighed, sitting back down. "I know that now, but I didn't at the time. He's tried similar things to save his ass in the past, so I just assumed…" he sighed again. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I don't blame him for what he did. He's a vampire, and biting is what they do. What I'm getting at, though, is that if you had just come to me this could have all been avoided. If you couldn't come to me, there's Flabber."

"Drew…" Jo swallowed. "I just couldn't, don't you understand?"

He didn't. "Yeah."

The silence that stretched between them was broken only by the muffled voices that came from the other room. While Fangula was away from the sources of his distress he was a lot calmer, and while they couldn't hear what was being said, the could at least hear that his voice was level if not calm. Once they heard him yell, "She did what?!" but he was quickly silenced by Flabber, who continued to speak to him in a low voice.

"So, you really love him, huh?" Drew asked his sister.

"Yes." She whispered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Drew put his arm around her, and she rested her cheek on his shoulder.

"And how did he get close enough to bite you?" he asked.

"I…I kissed him, and then…well, you know…"

"Ah, jeez!" he muttered. He should have known better than to ask. The last thing he wanted to know about was his sister's sex life!

"Thanks a lot."

"Hey, I'm sorry. I only meant…well, never mind. Hey, they're coming back."

Fangula stepped into the room, his eyes glowing furiously. He bared his teeth as he stared balefully at Little Ghoul. The air rushed past his fangs in a hiss, and then a firm, blue hand clamped down on his shoulder. Flabber forced him down into a chair, and Little Ghoul whimpered fearfully.

"What is it?" Jo asked Fangula, alarmed by his sudden and vicious anger.

"Flabber has revealed our culprit!" The vampire bit out savagely. "Little Ghoul's the one who cast the love spell. Oh, and guess what? She got something wrong, and now…" He looked away, too angry to speak.

Flabber, laying a hand on Fangula's shoulder, said, "It's irreversible."

"What?" Drew asked, paling.

The phasm sighed, and began. "A Phasm Handbook is a very dangerous, volatile thing when it's being used by someone who isn't a phasm. Even for us, not all spells work like we think they will. The thing is, the words are mostly arranged so that they can rhyme. Love spells just won't work unless the possibility for real love is there, so all Little Ghoul did was bring about a possibility. The spell was just a catalyst; your love is real…and also, it's natural, since it wasn't created by the actual spell. Natural love can't be obliterated, so a counter spell is out of the question. I'm sorry." And he was. He reflected that he had never spoken more seriously about anything, and he couldn't even think of a simple jest to liven up the mood. And truly, such a thing would be inappropriate.

Drew was rendered speechless. Between the rage he felt towards Little Ghoul and the unfairness of his sister's plight, he found that he simply couldn't find his voice.

Fangula was the one who broke the silence. "It's not that loving you disgusts me, Jo…far from it, but I just hate being toyed with. This is one game that shrouded bitch has taken too far."

"Fangula!" Flabber chided.

"Well, I'm sorry!" the vampire snapped. "But don't you see the problem this presents? If I don't turn Jo into a vampire like me, I'll outlive her; if I do transform her, she'll lose all that she is, and what she has with her brother! And what about children? Those wouldn't even be a possibility!"

Drew sighed, and asked, "Well, what do you want to do, Jo?"

"Me?" she sat up straight; she had been sitting with her head in her hands.

"Yeah. What's done is done, and what you do now is up to you."

Jo almost smiled, but it just wasn't in her at the moment. "I…I don't know what I want to do." Then it occurred to her to ask, "What about Little Ghoul? What are we going to do about her?"

"Why don't you let me handle her, Flabber?" asked Fangula, his voice low and trembling with the force of his anger.

The phasm shook his head, and said, "Oh, don't you worry. I've got something very special in mind for her. Oh, Little Ghoul? How would you like to be human for a week?"