Chapter 3

2002

SPOV

The phone rang just as I began washing the dishes from tonight's dinner.

"I'll get it, dear." Gran said, while putting the last of the leftovers away.

I tried not to eavesdrop. Really, I did, but it was hard not to when Gran was so excited about whatever Maxine Fortenberry was telling her.

"Oh my word! . . . And you're certain it wasn't one of those movie commercials? . . . Well I'll be damned! . . . She's talking to Barbara Walters? Right now? . . . Maxine, I'll have to call you back . . . Yes, yes, thank you. Goodbye now." Gran grabbed one of my soapy hands and started for the living room.

"Gran, slow down! Who's on 20/20?" I asked, while wiping my hands on the dish towel I snagged on my way out of the kitchen.

"A vampire, can you believe it?" She turned the knob for the right channel and seemed to be speaking to herself when she said, "I always wondered if there were others."

"Others?" I asked, while recalling what happened all those years ago. Did Gran meet them too? I didn't think so. For one, I would've caught a stray thought back when I didn't know how to shield very well. And for two, other than detecting the black hole that was the vampire who took my daddy around his house those first couple of nights, I hadn't seen hair nor hide from either of them again. Pamela was crazier than sprayed roach and I was scared to death of her coming back to kill me, or worse, Jason. But I kept my promise to Him and didn't breathe a word of what happened to anyone. There were times when I prayed for Him though. When things got real bad at home, I'd run down to the river and pray for that big ol' blonde vampire to come and save me. That never happened. Michelle only stopped when Sheriff Bud Dearborn came and arrested her, but by then, it was already too late. Jason had already taken off.

Gran sat down next to me on the couch and looked at me with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Yes, others, dear. You're a mind reader aren't you?" She patted my hand and turned towards the television. "Now hush, I want to hear what they're saying."

We watched, entranced, as the teenaged vampire shyly dropped her fangs on Barbara's command. Her name was Flora and she was fifty some odd years old. She suffered from a medical condition that made her deathly allergic to the sun and gave her an extremely restricted diet. A diet that she hated. In fact, she was even squeamish of it, and was very grateful to the Japanese scientists for inventing the synthetic blood that she now depended on to keep her alive.

Flora was very pretty and very petite. Light brown hair that looked soft and inviting, downcast eyes shaded by long brown lashes, delicate features that made her almost doll-like; she wasn't anyone's idea of a monster.

After the program ended, Gran and I looked at each in silence. Then, almost simultaneously, huge grins spread across our faces.

"How many vampires do you think they went through to find one that unthreatening?" I asked. I knew darn well what they were capable of and it sure ain't shit like what Flora was trying to sell us.

"Oh, I don't know if it's a bad thing that they're so cautious. They did manage to keep themselves a secret and safe for this long." Gran replied thoughtfully.

Like I did so many times before, I wondered if my daddy really became a vampire like He ordered. What all happened during a "turn"? If he did become one, what kind of vampire was he now? Nasty like that Pamela? No, I didn't think who you were as a human got erased. While I doubt He'd ever win Humanitarian of the Year, He did seem to retain some of his humanity. I mean yeah, He did sentence my daddy to an eternity of darkness but, was that really a fate worse than death? Would Gran still consider him her son and welcome him into her home?

"Gran?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Yes, dear, I'd rather have him right here by my side as a vampire than buried six feet underground." She replied, without a beat.

Sometimes I wondered if she could read minds like me but as soon as that thought entered my mind, I shook it out of my head. I wouldn't wish my disability on my worst enemy.

Gran stood up and began walking to her room. "A vampire who's squeamish of blood," she said while shaking her long white hair, "well, now I've truly seen it all."

A/N: Sorry this one was so short! I didn't want to start another scene on the same chapter and I wanted to slip certain details in before the big reunion so it wouldn't be weighed down by huge infodumps.

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