DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OWN OC'S.
Chapter Four: Meeting the Family
Tony and Molly returned much later, after dark. Both raced upstairs, only to find Rudolph was gone. I shook my head from the doorway and gave them both a soft, sympathetic smile.
"I guess he needed to tell his family he was safe," I told them both. They nodded sadly, accepting the answer. We waited until about ten but then decided to go to bed. All of us went to our separate rooms.
I was woken, later that night, by Tony jumping into the middle of me. I groaned and glared at him without any heat.
"You'd best have a damn good reason for waking me, Anthony James Thompson," I growled. He just grinned.
"Rudolph's gonna take us flying again!" he said excitedly. I groaned.
"Is there a no-thank-you option?" I asked. Tony laughed.
"Nope!" he answered. "Get up and dressed! We're going out!"
I sighed and he got up, running out of the room to get Molly. I casually pulled on a pair of black stretchy, bell-bottom pants and put on a shirt that was more like a bra than a shirt, also black. This one had blue around the edges (the dark blue I loved) and had bleached-white fangs lining the bottom, vertically placed. A large sapphire was in the middle, between my breasts (Think of the top Queen La wore in the cartoon series, Legend of Tarzan). Then I walked to Tony's room where Molly, Rudolph, and Tony were all waiting on the bed. They all looked at me as I entered, Molly smirking at what I was wearing.
"Just felt like wearing something simple, huh?" she teased. I grinned.
"Absolutely," I answered, then walked to the balcony with all of them. Molly and Tony took Rudolph's hands again and, with a great deal of hesitation, I put my arms around his neck again.
"Not a word, Ru," I warned. He chuckled.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he answered, then we were in the air. Again, I buried my face in his neck.
"Tell me when it's over," I muttered, my fear lacing my voice. He nodded simply, then focused on flying.
"We live down there," Rudolph said as we slowly dropped altitude.
"A cemetary?" Tony asked. "Cool!"
I chuckled at him.
"Only you, Tony," I muttered. I heard another chuckle from Rudolph before we finally touched the ground. I quickly released Rudolph and darted away. Meanwhile, Tony began telling Rudolph all about his dreams, explaining where he'd seen an amulet.
"It is the comet Attamon, the comet of Lost Souls," Rudolph began. Now, instead of ignoring them all, I paused in my wandering and listened in. "It's the piece of the comet that fell to earth, long ago. It could mean the end of this curse."
"What curse?" Tony asked.
"The curse of being a vampire," Rudolph answered. I snorted.
"Some curse," I muttered darkly. "More like a tainted gift."
"That piece of the comet was made into an amulet of power by a powerful magician, and we lost it to the sea 300 years ago," he continued.
"Yes, yes, I saw it!" Tony said excitedly.
"Uncle Von tried to catch it... and we've never seen him since," Rudolph finished. "From that night to this, our wandering has never ended."
"Poor you," I muttered darkly. "Lucky bastard..."
"You know, I can hear you!" Rudolph said loudly. I sent him a dirty look.
"No shit, Sherlock," I replied sarcastically. Wow... Now I've been around Molly too long! Her sarcasm is starting to rub off on me.
"I can help find it!" Tony said excitedly.
"Yeah, we all can," Molly agreed.
"Thanks for asking me before volunteering me," I grumbled.
"You will help, won't you?" Tony pleaded, taking my hand into his and giving me the face. I groaned.
"Ugh!" I groaned. "Not with the face and the eyes and the... ugh! Fine! But this had better not include anything horribly embarrassing."
I pointedly ignored the highly amused grin on Rudolph's face. I crossed my arms and looked away. Then, a loud screeching noise filled the air.
"My parents!" Rudolph said urgently. "Quickly! Hide!"
"But we're friends!" Tony objected.
"They don't know that!" Rudolph answered. The other two quickly ran to where I was standing, behind one of the tombstones. Two bats soon flashed in light, revealing a man and woman.
"Mama! Papa!" Rudolph said, walking over to them.
"Rudolph!" the woman said. Her voice was warm and welcoming. "Thank the stars you're safe!"
"You must not stray so far again, my son," the male said sternly.
"We were afraid-"
"I was only taking the road less travelled," Rudolph interrupted his mother. I shook my head.
Suck up...
"And you got lost," the mother guessed. "Oh my poor Rudolph!"
I almost lost it when she started babying him. Luckily, Molly put a hand over my mouth and stopped me in time.
"Yoo-hoo!" said a younger girl. She had long blonde hair.
"Anna!" Rudolph said, walking over to embrace his sister.
"Brother, darling!" she said. Her voice was much like her mother's. "You're the nervy one, sneaking off like some day-walker."
"I wish," Rudolph answered with a rueful grin. "So, Father, did you find the stone?"
"No," he answered. "But I'm sure we're on the right path."
"Because-"
"We still have 48 hours," he continued on, seeming to not hear his son.
"But you see, that's-"
"I will not fail you!" the man vowed.
"Gregory?" came the mother's inquisitive tone. We pulled back out of sight as his mother looked right at us. Then, I heard a hiss behind us. I spun around, saw a guy's face mere inches from mine, and reacted on instinct, throwing out a right hook. I heard a loud crunch, watched him stumble back, and then I began shaking my hand rapidly.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" I repeated over and over again, accompanying my words with hisses of pain. Molly and Tony burst out laughing at me and the surprised look on the vamp's face.
"God!" I said, beginning a long stream of very unlady-like curses that would make even a sailor blush. "Punching a vampire, definately NOT recommended!"
Even Rudolph was trying poorly to restrain his laughter, holding his ribs as he shook with mirth. Slowly, I managed to downsize the pain and looked at my hand with a low whimper...
"Lovely," I muttered darkly. "Gonna love explaining this one..."
"You could say you punched the school again," Tony suggested, making him and Molly laugh again. I shot them both a mock-glare.
"So not funny," I stated, then my cell went off. "And the 'rents know we're gone..."
I picked up my phone and answered, making sure no one would hear any part of the conversation but my own.
"Hi, Mom," I greeted. "No, we didn't run away... No, Molls and I couldn't sleep so we decided to go for a walk. Tony saw us leaving and asked if he could come with. We figured the buddy-system was safest so he's with us... Yes, I know... You can yell at me later... I know... Understood... No, we're safe... kind-of... Well, I think I broke my knuckles... yes, again... Dude! I'm the biggest klutz of the century and you're asking me how I broke my hand?... Didn't think you wanted to know... Yes, we'll be home before dawn... Yep... Love ya, too... Bye."
I hung up and looked at Tony's face which was filled with admiration.
"You've got to teach me how to be that convincing of a liar," he begged. I shook my head with a grin.
"No way, little man," I answered. "You're enough trouble as it is!"
He pouted, but then seemed to remember where we were and quickly moved to Rudolph's side.
"Mortals!" the man said, rushing forward towards Tony.
"We're Rudolph's friends and he gave us a bite-proof guarantee!" he told the father. I shook my head, then snatched the man's hand before he could get it even close to Tony. I gave him a glare.
"Keep your hands away from my brother," I warned. "I won't hesitate to break my hand further."
"Might wanna trust her on that one," Molly warned, then shot me a dirty look. "She's done it before."
"You three could be anything to my son; victimizer, slave... dinner perhaps... but never his friend," he said coldly. I snorted.
"Goes to show what you know," I stated cooly. He glared at me and I clenched my pain-filled fist as a warning. He snarled.
"They don't mind vampires," Rudolph butted in, trying to save us from his father's wrath. "And he dreams about us."
"Am I in your dreams, mortal?" Anna asked, flirting with Tony. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"And they know about the amulet!" Rudolph continued.
"Then they are spies, Rookery's knaves," he snarled. I rolled my eyes again.
"Not likely," I grumbled under my breath, well aware that he heard me. He turned his gaze to me, his entire face full of threatening gestures. All I did was look back at him with a bored expression.
"Darling," the woman interrupted, coming forward to the man's side. "They don't look like spies. Besides, Rudolph could never make up such a story, could you sweetheart?"
We watched Rudolph shake his head with an angelic expression. I barely kept myself from snorting.
"Mortal or not, they are just children," she continued, pulling his hand to her mouth. "But if you insist on eating them... go ahead..."
"I never said I would," the man answered looking extremely uncomfortable. "It's impossible."
He looked at the three of us.
"Leave, I say!" he said.
"But Rudolph-"
"Should never have befriended you," he cut Tony off. "Leave I say!"
This time, I grabbed Tony's shoulder and lightly tugged him away.
"Now isn't the time to argue, Tony," I told him calmly, then pulled him out of the graveyard. Then, suddenly, I heard the sound of a machine. My head snapped back around. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion to my mind. Tony lurched out of my grasp, running over to undo the air hose to the stake-gun. Molly ran over to save him from Rookery, only for the two of them to run up the hill, then both fall down into it. Rookery was quickly gaining on them...
My body jerked into motion as I darted to him, knocking him to the ground with a powerful kick to the back of his head, then I leapt down through the hole my siblings had gone down. I spun and landed on my feet in a crouch, quickly spearing Rudolph into the nearest wall as I heard Rookery pull a trigger. I covered his body with my own as the flare went off. I waited until it died down, then stepped away, watching alertly for anything else. Finally, Rudolph's father approached the three of us.
"What you did was foolish!" he scolded.
"Foolish," the woman said, walking up to his side. "But brave..."
Tony then saw the necklace the vamp wore. In mere seconds, both he and the vamp grabbed it at the same time. The man all of a sudden seemed to look off into the distance. Tony's eyes went white... and the hairs on the back of my head stood up. I exchanged looks with Molly. She was just as worried and freaked about this as I was. I had completely spaced the vamps in this moment, none but the two joined people in the center of the room mattering.
Then, the man snapped out of it first, Tony shortly afterward. He looked at Tony in wonder, then into the distance.
"We shared a vision," he revealed.
"He has a sympathy for our kind," the woman said, her voice full of affection for Tony.
"Oh lovely!" the blonde girl swooned.
"Young Von found the stone," the man said, pacing the floor now. "Then was picked up from the sea by a merchant ship, just as rumor had it!"
"Then he could still be roaming free!" the mother said hopefully.
"There was a woman... she wore a strange coat of arms," he continued. "We must find out who she is, trace her crest..."
"We can help," Tony said.
"No," the man said immediately. "It's too risky to involve mortals."
"What have we got to lose?" demanded Rudolph. "We've been searching for three centuries!"
His father spun on him, enraged.
"This is what comes from contact with mortals!" he snarled. "Disrespect! Insolence!"
"No," I stated loudly. "That's what happens when you realize just how much the world has changed around you while you've hid in your little hole for the past 300 years."
He glared at me.
"Besides, we don't have to hide during the day and we can get in places you can't," Molly continued. "We can search all day. I'm certain we'll turn up something."
"Frederick, they do have a point," the woman said softly. I almost smirked at the power she had over her husband.
"All right," the man relented, then his tone hardened again as he advanced on us in a threatening way. While the other two shied away, frightened, I just looked at him with a bored look. "Help if you can, but do not think to betray us to our most hated enemy or you shall know my wrath. Am I clear?"
I merely nodded.
"Anything else?" I asked cooly. He bared his fangs at me and I rolled my eyes. "Try your scare tactics on someone else."
Then I turned and walked away, pulling Tony and Molly after me. Rudolph was soon with us, guiding us out of the crypt.