A/N: Here we go again! I forgot to say this in my previous message, but this story came about because I was tired of stories where all of the humans - except Rookery, of course - just rolled over and did basically whatever the vampires told them to.
Don't get me wrong, I actually usually don't mind that part of the story, but I couldn't find a single story where a vampire's human partner was truly equal to the vampire. I'm a big believer in relationship equality, so I looked for a feasible reason that a human would be able to stand up to a vampire lover. I got back to the idea that all the humans, except Rookery, wouldn't be able to do it. Then I wondered what made Rookery able to do it, and it hit me!
An equal partner for a vampire should be a vampire hunter. And that's how this story came about
Now you know. ^^
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine
Sunday
I hate flying.
No, I don't think you understand.
I HATE flying.
Which leads to the question: what the bloody hell am I doing in an airplane? Actually, that's pretty easy to answer.
I'm having a panic attack in the airplane. Yep, that's what I'm doing.
Why I'm in the airplane is another story.
See, someone up in Headquarters – someone who obviously didn't do their homework very well – decided that yours truly would be the perfect little lackey to send out to take care of the little mess in Scotland.
To be fair, it really wasn't exactly a bad decision. There's not many people left in the organization who have the pure power to take out a clan of vampires. Hell, there's not that many hunters left in the organization, period. Which will really suck if the vamps decide to ignore the treaty now…
Anyways, back on track. I'm here, in this plane, over 30,000 feet up in the sky, because some lovely person in Administration ignored the big, red "DO NOT PUT THIS PERSON ON AN AIRCRAFT" in my file. Oh well, no biggie, right?
Ten hours and innumerous paper bags later, the aircraft touched down on the tarmac of Edinburgh airport. I think I cried a bit, and I could've sworn I saw some of the flight attendants brushing away a few tears as well. Dear God, I was so happy to be back on the ground.
To my embarrassment, my whole compartment broke into applause when the staff let me off the plane first. I took the stairs to the ground at a dead sprint, before flattening myself against the ground, kissing it and mumbling incoherently my joy at being reunited with it.
I only pulled myself together after one of the flight attendants, in a rather frightened voice, asked if I would please move to let the other passengers off.
Still shaking, I managed to get to the baggage claim and retrieve my luggage, before trudging towards the doors of the airport. I knew, from the looks on the faces of the people around me, I looked more like the creatures I hunted then I had ever especially wanted to…
"SAIDA!"
I froze. Oh, no, they didn't…
"Saida! Wait up!"
Yep. They did.
I reluctantly turned to face my mother, Dottie, who rushed towards me. Her husband, Bob, and my step-brother, Tony, followed rapidly in her wake. Don't get me wrong, I love my family. However, they aren't ready to know the truth about the world. Remember what I said about hunters and how we get into the business?
Yeah. Bob is my step-father.
Dottie slammed into me with all the force of a mom who hasn't seen her daughter in… wow, had it really been two years? I was there for Tony's seventh birthday party, but after that…
A wave of guilt swept through me, causing me to drop my bags and wrap her into my arms. "Hey, Mom."
She hugged me tighter for another moment before she pulled away again, discretely wiping away a tear. "Goodness, you've grown. What happened to my baby girl?"
This was one of my favorite things about my mom. She looked like a little blond doll, but she had more inner strength than anyone I knew.
"Saida, Saida!" Tony wouldn't be able to tolerate the attention being off of him for long. I smirked as I ducked down to his level.
"What's up, little man? Still driving your racecar bed?"
He grinned back. "You bet! C'mon, let's go! Do you know how long it takes to get back home from here?"
His parents laughed as the little blond ball of energy scurried to the door as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.
"Tony, on the other hand," his mom laughed, "hasn't grown a bit!"
As my brother had said, it took us several hours to get back to their home. Thankfully, Tony fell asleep about halfway there, leaving me free to talk to my mom about how she had known I would be there.
She sighed, "Saida, just because I am not an official member of the organization does not mean they won't tell me when my daughter needs my help. And you do need my help," she cut me off before I could argue. I unbent a little.
"Mom, of course I need your help. I always do. But why did they tell you about this mission? Or rather, what did they tell you about my mission?"
Her lips tightened angrily. "They refused to tell me, of course. I even pulled the 'She's My Daughter, and You Have No Right to Keep This From Me' card, but they weren't buying it. The representative I talked to kindly reminded me that you were 'already an adult, and a fully fledged member of the society.' Unlike me, of course."
It was my turn to sigh as I reached over to her shoulder from my place in the backseat, giving it a comforting squeeze. "You know perfectly well that I don't want you to be a part of this life. Dad wouldn't have wanted it, either." We were silent for a moment.
"Besides, just look at these two!" She followed my direction to the two sleeping men of her family, the two of them looking endearingly alike in their slumber. "Do they look like prime vampire hunting specimens to you?" We giggled as a line of drool made its way out of Bob's mouth and Tony clutched his beloved stuffed monkey tighter.
"Who are you to talk!" She laughed. "You may have grown, little girl, but you're still tiny as ever!" I laughed with her. Who am I trying to kid? I'm no Kate Beckinsale, or Angelina Jolie. I'm nineteen years old, but frozen at five-foot-two, to my perpetual horror. With my white-blond hair and ice blue eyes, an older hunter once called me a snow faerie. He is no longer in this line of work.
But in the spirit of never being called that again, I took to wearing my short hair in a pony, the spiky ends dyed a violent crimson. That, combined with my recent infatuation with eyeliner, has officially dropped the snow faerie title... and earned me 'fire pixie'.
Yep, I love my coworkers.
I was distracted from my rather twisted thoughts when we pulled up to the house. Che, house? Freaking castle!
No, literally, it was a castle, albeit a rather small one.
"Wow, mom. Whatever you guys are doing that gets you a castle, I want in." She whacked me, of course. I probably deserved that.
"Saida Alexis Lusin, you know better than to insinuate something like that with your brother in the car! What if he woke up and thought his parents were doing something illegal? What if he repeated it to others? What if-" I laughed ruefully, rubbing the sore spot on my head.
"Sorry, mum. But if you keep that up, you're the one who's going to wake up-"
"Are we there yet?" The man of the moment asked groggily, rubbing one hand over his eyes as he blinked into the sunset. "Why's everything so blurry? Oh" He picked up his glasses from where I had taken them of while he had slept and pushed them back on. He looked around again, before lighting up like a jack'o'lantern.
"Yes! Finally!" He crowed. I laughed.
"What are you so impatient about, squirt? You slept the whole way here!" As I spoke, we clambered out of the car, stretching sore muscles and enjoying the long-absent mobility. I followed Bob around to the trunk, assuring him that I could carry some of my bags.
"Yeah, but now it's almost night time. You know, when the vampires come out!" I froze, one of my bags slung across my shoulder. The other, filled with my gear and tools, I clutched tighter and tighter in my hand. Luckily, Tony didn't seem to notice.
"You know," he said conspiratorially, "I keep dreaming about vampires."
Trying to get myself back under control, I managed a shaky smile. "Oh yeah, buddy? What were the vampires doing? Did they 'vant to suck your blood'?" I used my best Transylvanian accent. Which is actually pretty good, considering I spent a year there.
"Nooo!" He giggled as I used my free hand to tickle him. Bob hoisted my last bag and followed his wife into the house. I began to herd Tony in after him; it wasn't safe here in vampire territory.
"They were doing something with this stone. There was a whole bunch of them, too! At least a dozen, and all of them were wearing really old clothes!" I began to subtly hyperventilate then. More than a dozen? We had information on less than half that number!
"Is that so?"
Oblivious, he nodded excitedly. "Yeah! And the moon's weird. There's this red light next to it, and then the main vampire says something and this bright light goes from the moon to the stone, and they look really happy. And there's this woman right next the main vamp, and she's got all this jewelry, and this girl with long blond hair, and these two guys and one looks my age and the other's all tall, and then this guy yells "Vampires!". Then he pulls up in this wagon, and he's got torches and wooden swords that turn into crosses and-" I cut him off.
"Woah there, sport. Slow down." We made it safely inside, and I took a moment to admire the open lightness of the room. I was used to impressive architecture, sure, but it was rare that you got imposing and beautiful in the same package.
"Come on, Saida!" The little booger yanked on my arm with a surprising amount of force. Our mom laughed as I stumbled.
"Go on, Tony. Why don't you show your sister her room? I think we all need to get some sleep."
"But I'm not tired!"
"I wonder why that is, Mr. Slept-The-Whole-Way-Here," I teased. He pouted for a moment, then resumed dragging me up the stairs.
"Come on, come on. I have to tell you what happened next!" We made our way up to my room, a medium-sized, tastefully decorated chamber with a balcony that I was willing to bet connected to Tony's.
Thank you, Mom
She had even remembered my preference for a futon on the ground as opposed to a four-corner bed. Even at almost twenty years old, I still had nightmares about finding one of the insane creatures I hunted, lying in ambush under the bed. The truly scary part was that it could - and had - happen.
My little brother bounced over to my bed, throwing himself across the covers with a cry of relief. "Finally! We're in your dumb room. Now will you let me tell you?"
"Tony, language." He looked at me like he was going to burst in excitement before continuing with his story as if I hadn't interrupted.
"Ok, so the vampire slayer-" I looked at him sharply.
"How do you know what a vampire slayer is?" My heart was pounding in my chest. Had he discovered his family's broken past? Please, don't let him know.
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Who doesn't know about vampire slayers? Even I've watched Buffy."
"You have? And Mom LET YOU?" I was shocked. I knew I wouldn't have watched Buffy at his age.
He looked slightly uncomfortable. "Well... not exactly. I sort of watchedthemwhileshewasn'thome." It took me a second to deduce what he had said, before I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "But that's not important," he finished quickly.
"Anyways, so the vampire slayer comes out, and the head vampire fights him, and they're pushing each other and yelling and hissing," Tony spoke faster and faster, waving his arms around his head to illustrate his words. "And the other vampires are yelling at him not to drop the stone, like it was really important. But in the struggle, the stone falls out of the necklace! And it goes sailing over the cliff and into the ocean!" He looked at me to gauge if I understood how impressive this dream was. Seeing that I was paying attention, he leaned forward to whisper, "The last bit was this blond vampire. He watched the stone go over. And then he jumped after it!"
All was silent. We could feel the magic in the air as Tony's last words seemed to echo around the room.
"Wow, Tony. You have way better dreams then I do."
The spell broken, Tony hopped off my bed to go brush his teeth, as the sun had sunken below the horizon while we spoke. After he left, the cheerful smile dropped off my face. Tony really had no business knowing what he did about the situation, but there was nothing I could do to prevent what I knew were visions; aside from guarding his body as he slept, but I already knew I would do that for the whole family.
Lost in thought, I almost didn't notice Mom poking her head in through the door.
"Goodnight, sweetie."
"Ah, goodnight, Mom." She smiled, and made to withdraw into the hallway, but paused looking conflicted. Concerned, I rolled up into a crouch, muscles instinctivly tightening as adrenaline began to pound through my veins.
Over reaction, you say? Ha, say that after it saves your life.
"What is it?" She looked up and smiled sadly at my tensed form.
"Nothing, really, love, just..." She faded off again.
"Mom?"
"It's really good to have you back home, Saida. I know it's been hard all around, but I've really missed you." I swallowed the lump in my throat, letting my stance relax.
"Yeah. I missed you too, Mom."
Do you see the pretty little review button? Well, then click it and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
I was reading another story (I don't remember which, unfortunately) but the author had the genius plan of asking a question to help you get into the mood to review. So I will shamelessly steal this wonderful idea. (If the person who came up with this is reading this, 1. I'm honored and 2. Please don't sue me!)
This is my question: Gregory or Rudolph?