Since my chapters are so long, I decided to break them up so that they wouldn't be as hard to get through all at once!
And now, the rest of story....
~*~
"You could've called or something. You have no idea how much you just scared me," Kiree berated the woman opposite her at the table.
The woman grinned, her smile was identical to Kiree's. "That would've taken all the fun out of it. Besides, you should've known that it was me. Who else would it have been?"
"I don't know, but Luke has been prowling around here lately. I thought you might be one of his cronies," Kiree elaborated.
"Oh, I didn't know that," she paused as music floated down from Alexia's room. "I take it that Gabriel stuck around."
"Yeah, he and Alexia are attached at the hip. I'm surpassed he didn't recognize you, Kaeli."
"I am too, but since he didn't I decided to play along. I heard the group coming through the woods, I figured this would be a good way to get back. Was that Vitaliy with him?"
Kiree nodded. "Don't get any ideas. He's fallen in love with Alexia's best friend."
Kaeli laughed. "Two vampires dating humans? Oh, that's good. Do either of the girls know?"
"I think Nicole does. Alexia has no idea. Alexia doesn't get an idea either, got it?"
"Got it. Did you think I was an idiot?" Kaeli pretended to be hurt.
"No, but I have known you forever. I know how you get."
"I'd hope you've known me forever. We're twins after all."
Kiree changed the subject. "I hope you've got a car or something. It would be a little hard to explain to Alexia how her favorite aunt showed up in the middle of the night without one."
Kaeli rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's in that same little lot you like to park in. I'll go get it in a minute. I just didn't want to show up without telling you first."
"Oh, like you didn't anyway?"
Kaeli stuck her tongue out at her sister before going to get her car. The silence was welcome.
It wasn't silent for long. Alexia padded down the stairs in blue flannel pants, a white tank, and fuzzy green slippers. "Can Gabriel stay the night?"
Kiree regarded the girl for a moment. What do you want to do, Gabriel?
Please? He asked nicely.
"All right, he can stay. You two had better be good!"
Alexia grinned. Kiree realized that it had been a while since the girl had really smiled. For the moment, her new "pet" was forgotten. "Oh," Kiree continued. "Kaeli called while you were gone. She'll be here when you get up in the morning."
Alexia nodded, then thundered back to her room. That was Kaeli? I'm going to kill her!
Kiree laughed at Gabriel's reaction. Tomorrow morning would be interesting.
~*~
Alexia rolled over and looked at her clock. It was nine-thirty on a Saturday morning. Far too early to be up. Instead, she rolled back over and snuggled up to Gabriel. "Morning baby," he muttered sleepily.
"Morning. Sleep well?"
He pulled her closer. "Yep. Did you?"
"Mmmhmm," she answered happily.
Gabriel had a sudden epiphany. Well, maybe not so sudden, he had just forgotten. "Happy birthday baby," he said, kissing the top of her head as she lay in his arms.
"You remembered!"
"Of course I did. Did you honestly think that I could forget?"
Alexia stuck her tongue out at him and proceeded to tickle him relentlessly. "Hey! Oh...oh, that tickles! Come on- Ale.. Quit it! Please, please quit. That really tickles. Baby, please. Oh, come on!" He struggled with her for a few minutes. He flipped so that he was sitting on her stomach with her arms pinned above her head. "Ha! I gotcha!"
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Kaeli's not-so-innocent voice came from the now open doorway.
"Not at all," Gabriel replied. He let Alexia get up so that she could give her aunt a hug.
"Happy birthday, kiddo. You're what, eleven now?"
"Eighteen," Alexia corrected her aunt defiantly. "I'm an adult now."
"That remains to be seen," Gabriel said before burying himself under the blankets in an attempt to not be tickled again.
"You little punk!" Alexia said, launching herself at the bed.
Kaeli informed them that breakfast would be ready in a few minutes, but she doubted that she had been heard. She wandered back down to the kitchen. It was odd to see Kiree standing before the stove with a pan of bacon. Vampires just didn't cook. "What is all the racket about?" "Gabriel made a smart comment and Alexia attacked him," Kaeli grinned. "She kind of reminds me of you when you were that age. Whatever happened to Sebastien anyway?" Kaeli ducked to avoid the egg thrown in her general direction. "I'm not cleaning that up."
~*~
After a hearty breakfast, Alexia opened presents from Kiree and Kaeli. Kiree's box was rather small. Inside was a dagger. It's handle was wrapped in slender copper wire, and the scrollwork on the blade was absolutely gorgeous. It was for Alexia to add to her "collection" displayed throughout the room. Gabriel suspected that at least some of the blades in that collection were worked with magick. They were all kept deadly sharp. Kiree had planted the idea that it would be a neat collection into Alexia's mind several years earlier. Now one entire wall in the girl's room was covered in various knives, swords, and two crossed battle-axes. Always handy in a pinch. "I've wanted this for months! How did you know?" Alexia exclaimed when she opened it.
"I have my ways," was all that Kiree replied.
Kaeli's present was a stark contrast. It was a simple skirt of patchwork suede and a cream colored knit tank. There was also a pair of suede knee-high boots. Alexia hugged the vampire, then ran upstairs immediately to change. Gabriel was speechless when she strutted back down. The shades of tan complimented her complexion beautifully. Her chocolate colored hair had been brushed into soft waves, and her hazel eyes twinkled. She had hunted down a slender gold chain with a tiger's eye pendant. "You look absolutely beautiful," he managed to whisper.
"Well, we know he likes it," Kaeli commented dryly. "What do you think kiddo?"
"I love it!" Alexia hugged her again.
Kiree pointed out that it was a little early for cake and ice cream, but promised that there would be some later. She and Kaeli went off somewhere. They didn't say where. Gabriel found himself alone with Alexia. He wasn't complaining. "Come here you," he teased, pulling her to sit on his lap. "You look really good in that."
She bent forward to kiss him. "I'm glad you like it."
He returned the kiss. "Oh yeah. So, what do you want to do today?"
"I dunno."
"Oh you don't?"
"Nope."
"Well, what if I said that I have a little surprise lined up?"
"Surprise?" Alexia perked up. "What kind of surprise?"
"You'll just have to see. I know for a fact that Nicole and Vitaliy are going to be here in an hour or so. We'll just have to amuse ourselves until then..."
~*~
When Vitaliy let himself into the kitchen, Alexia was perched on Gabriel's lap. His brother's skin was flushed, but he knew that it wasn't from feeding. Alexia was running a hand through his dark brown hair. "Oh, hi!" She jumped. "I didn't hear y'all come down the driveway."
Nicole laughed. "As if you would hear anything in that little world you keep disappearing into. I wasn't exactly quiet."
"No, you don't know how to be quiet," Alexia ducked to avoid the wad of wrapping paper that was flying at her head. She snagged it, then threw it back the way it came. Vitaliy got caught in the crossfire. "Hey! I am not involved in this!"
"Oh yes you are," Alexia said. "You're dating her. That automatically involves you in everything."
"Wait, that's not fair!" Vitaliy defended himself.
"All's fair in love and war, little brother."
"Then this is war," Vitaliy aimed the wrapping paper at the back of Gabriel's head.
Alexia jumped up to get out of the way. "All right boys," she warned.
Gabriel and Vitaliy fought a little more. Gabriel had Vitaliy pinned against the cabinets when they stopped. If they didn't, they were going to break something. Or someone. Gabriel let Vitaliy up then sat back down as if nothing had happened. "Oh yeah, act like your all innocent," Nicole teased him.
"I am innocent, I don't know what you're talking about!"
Vitaliy just grinned. He knew better than to answer. Gabriel glared at him, but didn't say anything either. "Is everyone ready?"
"Ready for what?" Alexia asked.
"You don't get to ask that," all three replied at once.
"Okay, okay. I give up! I'm a willing captive."
Gabriel grinned devilishly. "That was the idea."
They all piled into Gabriel's truck. Just to be obnoxious, they had blindfolded Alexia. It was all just making her even more curious. She wondered how long they had been plotting this. She had a feeling that Kiree and Kaeli were involved in it all somehow. It took them about fifteen minutes to get wherever they were going. Gabriel helped her out of the truck. She stumbled a few steps after tripping over something. "Oh yeah, watch that stick," Gabriel said belatedly.
"Gee thanks. Let me know if it decides to attack me again."
Vitaliy and Nicole had apparently snuck off somewhere. If not, Nicole was actually being quiet for once. That never happened. Gabriel lead her up a flight of stairs and then told her to stand still and not to peek. "Okay, but if anything jumps out and eats me I'm going to kill you."
Gabriel just laughed. If anything jumps out and eats you, it will be me, he thought wryly. If you bite her, I will kill you. And you know that's not an idle threat, Kiree countered.
Hey! He protested. Stay out of my mind!
He heard her laughter float through his mind. I don't have to, you already are.
Alexia's shriek broke their conversation. Gabriel whipped around. "Don't even try it, boy. You know I'm stronger than you are," Luke threatened. He stood behind Alexia, holding her by the wrists. She had gone white.
"It's okay baby," Gabriel tried to reassure her. "Everything is going to be all right."
Luke laughed. "Baby? I don't think so. If you think that you are good enough to-"
"LUKE!" Kiree roared from the hallway. "Leave her alone!"
Luke only gripped her tighter. "I only wanted to say happy birthday. Are you going to deny me that? Eighteen years. Eighteen years, Kiree, that I have never once spoken to my daughter. You and that bitch sister of yours made damn sure of that, didn't you? Do you have any idea what I've gone through?"
Alexia's head was spinning. She had no idea who this man was and he was claiming to be her father? "No, I don't." Kiree's voice was hard as steel. "But I do know what Miranda went through after she found out what you had become. It was all because you decided to play at being a hunter. When you were changed, you should have died! But no, you pretended that nothing was wrong. You got Miranda pregnant. Only then did you tell her the truth. No one thought the child would survive, even you. So you left, just like you've always done.
"Your little friends killed Miranda. They broke into her house and tortured her before finally feeding off her. If Gabriel hadn't stopped by to see how she was doing, they would have killed Alexia too. Where were your paternal instincts then?"
Alexia was crying. She had been told that her parents died in a car accident. None of this made sense. A hunter? Changed? What did it all mean? Alexia! Get down! The voice erupted into her mind. She didn't know where it came from, but she obeyed. Someone knocked into the man behind her. As soon as her hands were free she jerked off the blindfold. They were in her room! Gabriel only drove in a circle. The new knife that Kiree had given her was laying on the bed. She grabbed it and turned toward the man that had been holding her. He and Kaeli were struggling. Not knowing what to do, she lunged for him. The whole world shifted. There was no other way to describe what happened. One minute they were about to slide into the wall, the next they were in an abandoned warehouse. Kaeli and Luke were struggling. Alexia never saw either of them actually hit the other, but they staggered back none the less. She didn't know what to do. When Luke was occupied with Kaeli, she tried to sneak up on him. It didn't work. He spun to face her. "Do you really think that you could kill you own father?"
"I don't know, do you really want to find out?" She countered. Kiree had tried to give her some basic training with a knife, but she had never paid much attention to it. Alexia was beginning to wish that she had. The knife slid to a semi-familiar grip while she settled into what she hoped was a good stance.
"Okay honey, why don't you put the knife down. Let's talk about this like adults. I love you, Alexia. I just want to be a part of you life," Luke pleaded.
"Don't 'honey' me. If you had wanted to be part of my life you wouldn't have run. You wouldn't have let anyone kill my mother. We would have been a family. You might have sired me, but I will never consider you my father," Alexia was scared, but she was trying desperately not to show it. Kaeli, where are you? She wondered.
Luke took a step forward. Before Alexia could stop him, he had grabbed the knife. "That wasn't very smart," he hissed. Before he could do anything else, Kaeli came out of nowhere. They vanished. Alexia was now alone and had absolutely no idea where she was.
~*~
Kaeli slammed a knife into Luke. He hadn't yet had time to recover after she had brought them to yet another place. This time they were on an island somewhere. "Witch!" He hissed.
"Nope, but she did make the blade," Kaeli replied. "I suppose that hurts quite a bit. This is how it's going to work: I twist, you die. Got it?"
"Rot in hell!"
Kaeli twisted the knife. As she had said, Luke died. "I'm sure you will."
With that, she wiped the knife in the sand to remove the blood. Alexia's knife glinted in the sun. She picked it up, then returned to where the girl was waiting. "Ready to go home?"
Alexia only had the energy to nod. Kaeli hugged her and brought them back to the house. Everyone there was panicked. She couldn't decide if Kiree or Gabriel was more worried. As soon as Kaeli released Alexia, she fell into Gabriel's arms. He sat on the bed and held her like a child. Understandably, the girl was crying. Gabriel willed her to sleep, then lie beside her on the bed. "What the hell just happened?" Nicole asked is a shrill voice.
"I'll explain downstairs. Let Alexia rest right now. Are you going to stay here Gabriel?" Kiree didn't want to leave her alone again.
Gabriel nodded. "I can't leave her," he said.
Everyone else went down to the kitchen. Gabriel held Alexia close and didn't plan on moving until she woke.
Alexia was groggy and confused. She had no idea what had happened. She jumped when she realized that someone was holding her. "Shh, it's just me," Gabriel said.
She relaxed a bit. "What the hell happened?"
"Wait for Kiree, she needs to be here for this. Would you rather go downstairs, or stay here?"
Alexia pulled the blanket around herself more. "Stay here."
She's awake.
She snuggled more into him. If he had saved her life when she was a child, she could trust him now. Wait, if he saved my life then... She didn't even want to think about it.
"Yes, he saved your life then," Kiree said, coming into the room. "Alexia, there's something you need to know. Gabriel, Vitaliy, Kaeli, and I are vampires. Luke was a vampire, but he is dead now."
Alexia shook her head. "You have got to be joking. Vampires don't exist."
"Yes, we do," Kiree said. She bared her fangs for Alexia to see. "Your mother wasn't my sister, but I loved her as one. Your mother didn't know what I was either. At least, not until Luke confessed to her that he had become one as well. Your father hunted vampires. One of my kind thought it would be amusing to change him instead of killing him. Luke tried to pretend that nothing had happened. He went back to your mother the next day. That night, they apparently made love. She became pregnant. When Luke found out he was furious and demanded that she give you to him. Your mother refused. As Kaeli did today, I took him somewhere else so we could fight. I sent Gabriel to take care of your mother. I didn't know that she was already dead. I let the bastard live so long as he promised to stay away from both of you.
"When I found out that your mother was dead, I wished that I had killed him. True to his word, though, Luke was gone. I took you in and raised you. I figured that it was the least that I could do for your mother," Kiree paused.
Gabriel took up the story. "I ran into Luke about a year and a half ago. He had come back and was looking for you. That's when Vitaliy and I decided that it was time to move here. I didn't want to make Kiree come up with some excuse as to how she knew us, so Vitaliy volunteered to become a student at your school. I needed to know that you were safe."
Alexia was trying to make sense of what she was hearing. "Wait a minute before you say anything else. I need to think. Okay... So everyone I know kills people for food. That's always good to know."
"Not everyone. Nicole is still just Nicole. And I don't kill. I rarely feed of humans; and then only when they're willing," Gabriel defended himself.
Kiree chose not to comment. If Alexia pressed, she would tell her everything. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. "Okay, so you just drink blood. Close enough. Anyway. My dad was a vampire, but my mom wasn't. What does that make me?" Alexia's hazel eyes were pleading for an answer.
Kiree shrugged. "You're not a vampire. We know that much. You haven't shown any signs of any powers. Other than an apparently indestructible immune system. Or you just don't get sick. I never have figured that out. I think you're mostly a plain old human."
"Just how old are you?"
Kiree did some quick math. "Five hundred and twenty."
"Two hundred and eighty-four," Gabriel answered quietly. "Vitaliy is two hundred and seventy-nine, or he will be in November."
"Does Nicole know?"
"Yes, Vitaliy told her."
"I need some time to think. Can I be alone?"
Gabriel extracted himself from the bed. He and Kiree left together. Alexia curled into a ball to think. She had a lot to process. What am I going to do? She asked herself. No one answered.
~*~
Alexia wandered down around five. Her stomach was rumbling. "Pizza?" Nicole offered. Not surprisingly, she was the only one eating.
Alexia nodded and took a slice. "So much for a happy birthday," she half-laughed.
"We'll make it up to you," Kiree promised.
Alexia shrugged. "As long as you all don't run away from me now, I think I'll be okay."
Gabriel looked hopeful for the first time since he had been banished from Alexia's room. "Do you mean that?"
She nodded. "After all, you guys are the only family I've got," she resumed her place on his lap. "I still love you," she said.
"I love you too," he replied.
"Just promise me one thing."
"What's that?"
"One day, you'll tell me everything?"
"It's a deal," he promised.
Everyone pretended to ignore that exchange. Nicole had gone into the other room and come out with a small stack of presents, Kiree had pulled a caked from somewhere, Kaeli was hinting for the ice cream. "Can I light the candles?" Vitaliy asked with maniacal glee.
"Sure," Alexia laughed. She had an interesting "family." She assumed that life would definitely become more interesting in the near future.
"I guess this means no dog," she mused.
Kiree laughed. "Hell no, I'd probably eat it!"
That started a round of laughter. Nicole started singing "happy birthday" and the others joined in. Maybe it would be happy after all.
~*~
End of the story! I hoped you like it!
