Chapter 5. Twins
Max and Jenna were the last ones to join us. We met them Sydney, Australia, while they were trashing a classroom…
"Chen for the last time NO!" Vee yelled. Chen looked pleadingly at her.
"Please Vee? Just for a little while? An hour? Please?" he whined after her. He'd been at her for hours. It was incredibly funny.
"Chen, you are not touching my car! End of story!" she said and went upstairs. Chen slumped down on the couch. I laughed at him and earned myself a murderous glare.
"Bella, couldn't you just make her give it to me? You are the head of the coven!" Chen asked. He'd been dying to get a go in Vee's new sports car but she'd put it in the off limits category. No one but her was allowed to touch the thing.
I rolled my eyes. Everyone liked to pretend that I was the head of the coven. So when issues like this came up, I had to play peace keeper. "Chen, get over it. She's not giving it up and I can't make her." I said and I heard a loud 'ha' from upstairs. Great, Vee was listening. "However, it might be nice for her to show it off to you for a few hours." I finished. Vee couldn't resist showing off her cars. It was her hobby.
She made a loud sigh and appeared downstairs again. "Okay fine. I drive then you shut up about the freaking car! Kapeesh?" she struck a deal with Chen. He nodded eagerly. Andrew wound an arm around her waist and kissed her ear.
"I'll come to so that when Chen doesn't shut up I'll stop my wife from murdering him." He chuckled and I sighed. That meant I'd have to come or stay at home alone.
"Guess I'll come too. Only two hours though. Cars like that are bound to attract attention at this hour." I said, relieved Vee hadn't ripped my head off for suggesting it. We raced out to the new Hamann Ferrari, Vee's pride and joy. It really was a nice car. It glowed silver in the moonlight and couldn't have been more conspicuous in the suburban streets of Sydney if it had a big red arrow that said, Vampires Here!
Vee revved the engine and I swore Chen was about to swoon over it. Andrew and I were barely suppressing our laughter in the back. We drove around the neighbourhood stopping casually at the edge of some of the bushland. Chen said he wanted to taste some kangaroo before we left. Eventually we came to a high school where we would be going for school. Not that we needed it.
Vee was about to leave when a flicker of light caught my eye. I looked hard at the window of light and nearly gasped when I saw a figure in the window. With glowing red eyes. Whoever it was looked pretty mad. They were throwing tables and chairs around the classroom, ripping the black boards and wallpaper off. Talk about keeping under the radar. "Vee, Andrew come with me. Chen, come in as backup okay? Better if they don't know how many we have if their hostile." I ordered and we ran towards the building.
The door was slightly open and we filed inside, me in lead, Vee and Andrew flanking me. It turned out to be two vampires; obviously newborns, a boy and a girl. They looked slightly younger than us, maybe sixteen or seventeen. At the very least fifteen, I decided. The girl looked similar to Vee with her long blonde hair but it was matted and tangled around her pale face. She was snarling and snapping furniture with her bare hands. The boy was chucking a huge fit. He had short spiky blonde hair as well and looked exactly like the girl. I figured they were twins. He was ripping the walls apart, growling and screaming. They both froze as we entered. I put up my hands in a friendly gesture and moved closer to them.
"Who the hell are you?" the boy snarled and crouched lower next to the girl, still gripping a brick from one of the walls.
"Friends. My name's Bella, this is Vee and Andrew. Who are you?" I said, softly straightening into a relaxed position. Andrew was anything but relaxed. He was wound tighter than a rubber band.
The girl sniffed us. "Friends? Ha! You're like us! Like her! LIKE THAT MURDERING BITCH!" she screamed. I froze again.
"Yes, we're like you. But we don't want to hurt you. We just want to stop you from hurting other people. What's your name?" Vee asked, stepping forward. The girl leaned away from us, surveying our stance and position.
"My name is Jenna. This is Max. He's my brother. How do we know you don't want to hurt us?" she said, suspiciously. I moved up next to Vee, Andrew hung back.
"You don't. How did you get to be like this?" I asked, Max answered this time.
He laughed coldly. "She did this to us. Miss Penrose," he spat. "A worthless coward posing as a teacher! Told us afterwards, she 'couldn't resist and was dreadfully sorry'. But we showed her. Last week! Didn't we Jen? We destroyed her! We killed her after she killed us!" Max yelled.
Jenna looked smug next to her brother. "We ripped her limb from limb! We stabbed her in the heart with a stake!" she added. I knew they didn't understand how to kill a vampire. The knowledge wasn't exactly common. I decided to skip that detail and move on.
"Well what will you do now?" Andrew asked. The pair stopped laughing.
"We don't know. This is where she worked. This is where we used to be happy. She shouldn't have been allowed to be here. So we're going to destroy it too. So no one like her can ever come here again." Max murmured. They were too young and impulsive to make any sense of their plan.
"Have you fed yet? Do you know what you are?" Andrew pressed on. His curiosity wasn't satisfied it seemed. I wondered if they might join our coven too. Being so young, someone would have to teach them, if not to hunt animals than at least how to remain inconspicuous.
Jenna looked at Max, puzzled. "Miss Penrose said we were vampires. But we don't want to kill people! We tried but we couldn't help it! WE DIDN'T WANT TO! IT ISN'T FAIR!" she screamed again, dry sobbing into her brother's arms. He cradled her shaking frame.
"We took the old couple down the street. That's all. We didn't want to but they smelled so good. It isn't fair. They shouldn't be allowed to taste that nice. We didn't want to. Honest." Max said, gravely. Vee and Andrew moved closer to the pair, closer until they were crouched beside them. Slowly they hugged the two children.
It was heart-wrenching sight. "Chen, it's safe." I whispered and Chen slid through the door. "I was thinking of letting them join us. What do you think?" I asked softly. The others weren't paying attention.
Chen nodded. "I think they need us. They seem so lost Bella." He murmured back.
I took a breath. "Then we'll help find them." I said with a note of finality in my voice.