A MONTH AFTER THE RETURN OF KELLER
DUM, DUM, DUM DI-DUM, DUMDI, DUMDI, DUM, DUM, DUM the beat played again and again, Poppy wiggled about in her seat in some parody of a dance, stamping her feet on the floor. James peeked over at her, gave a small smile, and then turned back to the windscreen. He hadn't seen Poppy like this for a long time; excited, happy… he knew that however much she loved him, she'd always have a hole in her heart where her family had been.
Poppy had changed, but so had everyone. Rarely, she was as carefree as she was right now, having cancer had made her grow up quickly, as breaking the law had James. James admitted that he wasn't too sure about letting Poppy see her family, even if no one else had disagreed, telling them that their dead daughter isn't dead at all, and is actually a vampire, could be rather dangerous. What if one of them reached for a piece of wood? They'd informed Phil that they were coming ahead of time, Poppy had ended that phone call with a cheerful, "Move everything sharp and wooden from the house, including the toothpicks!"
They could both only hope they had.
"Gotta love this song!" Poppy yelled over the music, and James grinned back. The others in the house taunted them for listening to techno, but they were in complete agreement about which songs they liked.
"Gotta," James agreed, not moving his eyes from the road for a moment.
"I talked to Phil, y'know? And he told me that mom had bought two cats. Poppy and Pixie…" she paused, Pixie had been one of her many nicknames, mainly because she looked like one, "isn't that so sad? She got them because they were like…whatchamacallit? I don't know…they reminded her of me, they're red with green eyes."
James didn't say anything. She was such a different girl now from the one engrossed in being part of the action at Circle Daybreak that she crossed the line between being enthusiastic and reckless. He grinned.
"Do you think they'll like me, Jamie?" she asked suddenly.
"Of course, Poppet, cats have very good sense of taste," he answered good-naturedly, "sure they'll like their namesake, even if it's blatantly obvious they can't compare…"
She gaped at him, "Cliff and mom, Jamie," she gasped out, "not Poppy and Pixie…"
"Well, they liked you before just fine, didn't they?" James asked with a small smile. Unlike his parents, his parents probably wished they'd never had a child. He didn't blame them. He wasn't what they referred to as a 'real vampire'.
"Yeah," Poppy got a faraway look in her eye, and she didn't even seem to realise that her favourite song was on, "Cliff even swore for me. Cliff 'straight laced' Cliff… but, that was before I became…what I am…"
"A vampire," James supplied, "your parents wont care, Poppet. You're alive – that's all that matters."
They pulled up outside the door and James was tempted to say 'you go ahead Poppy, I'll sink down in the seat and pretend I'm not here' but that wouldn't make her happy, and she needed moral support, so he got up and opened the door while she stared at the house. "I'll tell you what," he said, "I'll go and tell them the truth, it will take some of the shock out of them seeing her."
"But then only you'd be attacked by the wooden toothpicks, or the Chinese chopsticks we have in our kitchen cupboard," Poppy said in a parody of humour, "I'll come."
they walked to the doorstep together, but the path was only big enough for one person, that's how James ended up behind Poppy when her mother answered the door.
"May I help you?" she inquired nicely, she had bags under her eyes the size of mountains and she focused wearily, as though given up. Phillip had said she wasn't good today, the anniversairy of Poppy's 'death' but neither had thought that bad. She was bony from lack of eating and now James could see the tears rolling down Poppy's face, "she doesn't recognize me, Jamie."
James personally didn't think she'd even seen her, but now he stepped forward, "Mrs. North…?"
"James?" she asked uncertainly, and he wasn't surprised that she recognized him and not her own daughter. She didn't want to believe that her daughter was there, because that would mean she was insane. "It's been a while, who's your friend?" she put the emphasis on friend, she knew how much he had meant to Poppy…
"Mom…it's me," Poppy murmured gently, and James knew she'd break down if her mother didn't remember her soon, "Poppy…"
her mother stared. Gosh, she stared. Then her face contorted into something resembling happiness, she didn't ask questions, not right then, she threw herself on Poppy instead and held her, crying.
Then she asked the inevitable question, "how?"
"Mom, remember when you said you didn't care if I had to go to the moon to get better? Well, I had to go to Las Vegas…that's where I got better…"
"But you were dead," her mother wailed, "We buried you!"
"and Jamie was my cure," Poppy had to squeeze her eyes shut at this, "after I died, I became a vampire…"
her mother looked up at this, disbelieving, but Poppy showed her her fangs, after having her dead daughter come back to life, didn't seem much of a surprise, "and James…?"
"James is one too," Poppy nodded, "he turned me, but it was against the law, so I couldn't come back," now she cried, "only Phil knew…"
James decided that he felt particularly superfluous standing there whilst those two cried. He stepped into the house and into the kitchen, where he found Phillip – eating.
He looked up, "how's she taking it?"
"Better than you."
Phillip poked his head out of the kitchen and looked back into the kitchen, "your feeling is that that's better than I did?"
James smiled, "much."
