"But why?" Tom asks from the back seat like an annoyed child
Hal sighs and grinds his teeth "because it's my car and I'm driving, therefore I choose the station and besides what you want to hear is nothing but noise. No music makes you want to bang your head"
"It's called 'Head banging' and it's just the one song" the werewolf corrects with a fold of his arms
"Whatever you call it, it's not playing in my car!" the vampire bites to the boy
Sunny is sitting in the passenger seat, biting her lip in nervous anticipation; she hasn't been home for so long, not since her human days, so yeah, she'd kind of tense.
Annie rolls her eyes from the back seat, covering Eve, who's in a car-seat between the ghost and werewolf, in her blanket "Tom, I have to say I agree with Hal, that sort of music is ruining Eve's nap! ...but then again his taste in music isn't that much better"
The vampire simply shakes his head as the werewolf sulks "only wanted to listen to one song"
The silence takes place as the pink haired girl sucks in a deep breath, the large Manor house coming into view. When the car stops at the front door the wendigo just looks at the house, her heart racing in her chest and stomach doing backflips. It looked the same, the worn brick dressed in well-tended vines, the windows large and gothic styled, letting the sun flood the house.
As Tom is getting Eve out the large Victorian wooden doors opens "Hello!"
A woman makes her way down the steps, her caramel tresses cut into a bob, pearls hanging around her neck and dressed like she was late for a business meeting "you must be Myrtle, I recognize you from your picture"
Her three friends share an amused smile and she offers tight-lipped smiles "unfortunately, please call me Sunny. I'm guessing your Olivia"
"That's me. And who might these be?" she smiles happily looking between the men and to the infant
"These are my friends Tom and Hal and his is our goddaughter Eve" she beams while brushing a hand over the child's head
A curious look comes to Olivia's face but she doesn't pry, simply nods and gestures for them to come inside "I'll have more rooms made up for your guests"
"Rooms?" Sunny asks while Tom and Annie look around in awe, Hal running a finger over a nearby table and examining the dust
"Well you didn't think you'd be invited without making sure your accommodated for did you?" the human smiles and leads them into a main room filled with couches and scattered with people, a lot of people
Sunny gulps slightly and looks back to her friends, marching over quickly and says "ok, if you leave me alone with these people I'll rip out your spines and suck out the marrow, ok?"
They all look around and nod in agreement, Sunny takes a deep breath and slaps on a smile "ok, let's mingle"
Two hours later and the pink haired girl feels like shooting herself, she found that some of these people are even snobbier than the ones she knew as a human and others have been in prison more times than their own bed, she even saw a bearded guy and his wife sneak a vase into her purse.
She sighs lightly, seeing a small group having formed around Tom and Eve, Annie smiling beside him and Hal leaning awkwardly on a far wall, away from the crowds, his domino in hand. The wendigo thinks back to the kiss the other day, the intensity and passion. They haven't talked about it; in fact they've barely spoken since, but Sunny can't think about that, it was just a whim, a necessity at the time that needed to be forgotten… as she scans the crowd she sees someone, a figure and her heart stops, they seem to be looking back at her in utter confusion and shock, their eyes locked
"Sunny? Can you take Eve while I go the toilet please" her head snaps to the sound of her name only to find Tom handing Eve to her
She takes the child and looks to where the figure was only moments ago, but the space is now empty. She looks to the baby and gives her a small kiss on the head while scanning the crowd, it couldn't have been…
After meeting everyone and Olivia showing them to their rooms Annie wonders the house, obviously she didn't get a room but she's fine with it, not like there's not enough to explore. The ghost smiles while she makes her way out into the sunshine, but then she sees her wendigo friend in the gardens, passing through a brick arch and rent-a-ghosts over. She stands at the entry way and sees a sign on the forced door 'Restricted Area. Museum Tours Only'
Annie remembers the posh woman who now owned the house had said that the older parts of the house had been sealed off and turned into a Museum of the family history.
She takes gentle footsteps at seeing her friend sitting on a bench in the squared off section of the grounds "Sunny?"
The pink haired girl doesn't look to her friend as she takes a seat beside her, just stares at the bright flowers with her knees pulled under her chin and her curls hiding her expression "I didn't think I'd still be here…"
"What?" the ghost asks curiously
Sunny leans on her knee with a smile, tears on her cheeks "my mum's patch. It's been over two hundred years and it's practically the same, you see all the white flowers… gardenias, she always smelt like gardenias, even when they weren't in bloom, and the rain daisies, the ones with the black center… she grew them just for me, for my room, because Eloise was allergic but I loved them and she knew it"
Annie raps an arm around her friend's shoulders and smiles "she sounds lovely"
"She was my hero… I miss her Annie; I miss her smile, her laugh, her stern looks, her smell… I miss my mum" she cries and Annie holds her close, comforting her friend in her loss, in her mother's garden
Hal finishes putting his things away in the old Victorian room and goes to look out the window, he can imagine Sunny growing up here, a place so different from his own childhood with multiple mothers in a whore house… he can imagine it, how happy she must have been, her family and friends, wanting for nothing. It made him understand her more, being here, after all she had everything and it was snatched away from her in an instant, her entire life turned upside down "excuse me?"
He turns at the sound of a voice and sees Olivia smiling at the doorway "hello, can I help you?"
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you I was just wondering about Myrtle; what could you tell me about her?" she asks while taking a step closer to the vampire
Hal raises a brow and questions "why are you so interested?"
"She's my cousin" the woman smiles innocently, but her eyes glittered with something else
"Why don't you just ask her yourself? I'm sure she'd be happy to answer your questions" he says while crossing his arms and staring back out the window
The posh woman takes a stride over to him and shrugs "people are not always honest about themselves… how did you meet, the three of you?"
"Tom and I work in a café, we kicked her ex-boyfriend out when their argument escalated" he sighs in a bored manner
Olivia smiles and leans against the wall "and the child?"
His head snaps to her and his eyes narrow in suspicion "why are you asking me these questions? What is your agenda?"
She gives a slight chuckle and looks out the window, seeing the pink haired girl walking casually, while Hal sees his two house mates talking happily "you seem like an educated man so I shall be blunt. I'm all that's left of this family, I'm thirty-four and tired and I don't wish to spend the last decades of my life stranded alone in this house."
He nods in understanding and asks "I see, so please tell me what it is you want of me"
"Just tell me what you think of the girl" she asks with a serious expression
The vampire looks out the window and answers "I haven't known her long, however I've found her to be chipper, kind, resilient, scared, sarcastic and she's a good person, a fighter"
The woman nods with a small smile and makes her way out of the room, leaving the vampire to his thoughts and he looks down to see Sunny and Annie, the two linking arms and smiling brightly… yes, she certainly was a fighter
Tom smiles as he walks with Eve into one of the many rooms "wow, look Eve, now don't go making a mess, this stuff is really old"
He walks over and finds a couple of old family portraits he feels his heart clench at the one on the far wall. A painting of a girl sat at a piano in a white feathery dress, a bright smile, rosy cheeks, golden ringlets falling down her back and bright blue diamond eyes shining "Beautiful isn't she?"
The werewolf turns and sees a man in the doorway in a white cavalier button shirt, black pants and boots; he had a slightly crooked smile as he looked to the picture through his glasses, brown hair combed neatly to the side "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"
"Don't worry, just didn't hear you is all" Tom smiles as the man makes his way over
"It's a bad habit" the man, a few inches shorter than Tom smiles and they turn back to the girl in white
"Her Name was Myrtle Sonnet Clayton, the eldest girl of Robert and Bethany" the new comer informs the werewolf
Tom smiles and rocks the baby slightly; looking to the picture of the blonde, back in her human days "she looks happy"
The other man nods and then shakes his head "I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Ragan"
As the two shake hands the vampire walks in and says "ah, there you are. The girls are looking for us, time for dinner"
He casts a glance to the picture of Sunny as Tom nods with a smile and says "alright, it was nice meeting you Ragan"
"You to Tom…" he smiles as the two leave, turning back to the picture
Dinner is awkward and tense, Hal uncomfortable with the amount of heartbeats in the room, Annie taking care of Eve up in Sunny's room, while the werewolf and wendigo chat idly, him sending her adoring glances she doesn't recognize.
Later that night Hal sits in his room, reading silently when theirs a knock, it's a little past twelve as the door opens "five minutes"
The person walks in with a small smile but doesn't say a word, it's Sunny, her hair is thrown into a pony and she's wearing a large Minnie Mouse night shirt. She raps her arm around the end bedpost and leans against it; she's just standing there, watching him. The vampire sighs, never taking his eyes off his page "what do you want?"
"To talk" she answers with a smile and a shrug
"Well go pester Tom, I'm sure he'd be thrilled" he bites while turning his page
She jumps onto the bed, crawling up slightly and swinging her creamy legs in the air "yeah because I'm going to talk to Tom about us kissing"
"Why must we discuss this?" he says while reading
The blue eyed girl plays with her black painted nails as she answers "because you've barely said more than three sentences to me since. Was it that bad?…"
At her pondering gaze he lowers the book and meets her eyes "it wasn't bad, it was nice… very enjoyable, I mean…"
He sees her playful smile and shakes his head with a bitter laugh "come on Hal, talk to me, tell me what's bugging you"
"I'm sorry if I've upset you Sunny, however it is an inept situation for me. I'm not sure how to handle it" he answers honestly
The pink haired girl shrugs "we kissed Hal; I blew your mind with my smooching magic to stop you ripping that cheating fuck in half, that's all… nothing to handle"
He narrows his eyes slightly at her, her words coated in honest kindness but her sapphire orbs glistening with something else… but he pushes it to the back of his mind, ignorance is bliss "so… we're alright?"
She beams up at him with a nod "peachy keen jelly-bean"
He smiles to her and for a moment all is quiet until the girl throws her arms around him in a tight hug and places a quick peck on his cheek the darts from the bed, just before leaving the room she smiles to him "night baby, and try not to dream of me"
He laughs as she skips out with a wink and goes back to his book; she really was the strangest girl…
As she walks to her room she sees Tom standing nervously at her door "Sunny I need to talk to you"
"Tommy what's wrong?" she asks taking a step closer and a concerned look in place
He swallows hard and then answers while pulling her downstairs "I was just going to the kitchen for some water when I saw it…"
"Saw what?" she asks as they come to an abrupt stop in the hall
She looks up at the portrait before her and asks "Tom what's going on?"
"I met him earlier… I spoke to him, Annie's gone looking for him" he says but Sunny just shakes her head
She looks to the picture and then the werewolf "no Tom, he's dead…"
"Hello Myrtle" they both turn at the call of her name
Standing there is Ragan, the man Tom had spoken to. Sunny's eyes glaze over at the site of him "Fredrick?"
"Miss me, sister?" he smiles cockily, the pink haired girl running into his arms while Tom looks from them to the painting, reading the plaque 'Fredrick Ragan Clayton, 1778-1813'