After Midnight

Chapter Thirteen

Frank stared at his younger brother, not sure if he had heard correctly. "A vampire?"

Joe threw his hands in the air. "Yep. The spawn of Dracula. Night of the living undead. Super Blood Bath VI, attack of the Blood Drinkers. Now stop laughing!"

Joe had said this in a rush, as if he had been planning to say it all along, and he seemed genuinely surprised that Frank wasn't laughing. In fact, Frank seemed to be taking everything rather well. Extremely well, considering how much Frank depended on logic and reason to get him through tough mysteries and life in general. He simply said, "Oh. That explains a lot."

"You really believe me?" Joe asked incredulously. "You're not shipping me off to the Funny Farm? You're not laughing? You're not even gonna tremble in fear?"

Frank shook his head. "No, no, and no." He chuckled, "Of course, I've always known you belong in the Funny Farm, so that's not really a fair question…"

Joe smacked his brother playfully on the arm. Forgetting his own strength, he smacked a little too hard and Frank ended up with a red spot that was sure to be a killer bruise in the morning. He apologized over and over until Frank stopped him.

"Joe, I knew something like this had happened when I saw you walking today. I mean, you were so bad off three days ago that I would have been shocked if you had lived. I knew there was something supernatural about all of this but I didn't know what. Now I do. And I'm fine with it…a little shell-shocked, maybe, but okay…"

Joe grinned happily and let out an ear-splitting war whoop. Then he returned his attention back to his brother. "Okay, but I'm sure you have oodles of questions."

Frank pondered this, and realized he was just happy to be with his brother. Right now, he didn't care if Joe was a vampire, or if he was Dracula himself. All he knew was that Joe was alive and they were brothers, best friends, and co-sleuths. Suddenly he jerked to attention. "We're still solving mysteries and fighting terrorists, aren't we?"

Joe laughed. "Out of all the questions you could have asked, that's the one you pick?"

Frank frowned. "Well, what do you want me to ask?"

"Oh, I dunno," Joe said sarcastically. "Maybe…Are you safe to be around? or Do you drink human blood? or even something ridiculous like Can you turn into a bat?"

Frank looked at his brother blankly. "Can you?"

Joe laughed jovially. "No, sadly, I can't. But…Frank, before we talk about anything else, I really think I need to explain…everything."

Frank nodded. "'K, I'm listening."

Joe looked at his brother critically. "You're taking the news rather well."

"Hey, you're back, and that's all that matters. If you're so desperate to have me flip out, then you gotta feed me something a little crazier than Dracula or Frankenstein."

Joe thought for a moment, then smiled wickedly. "Frank…I'm pregnant."

For a moment there was silence, then both boys howled in laughter. "Okay, I admit, you got me, Joe," Frank grinned, wiping a tear from his eye. "Now, before we get distracted again, tell me everything." He chuckled. "Before you decide to tell me you're giving birth to a kangaroo."

It was difficult for Joe to keep a straight face as he started the story, but soon both boys were so into it that they forgot all about their jokes as Joe's musical voice wove an explanation for the chaos that had surrounded the brothers for the past few days.

~Emachinescat ^..^