Chapter 7
Mr. Carter watched as a sleek black car with tinted windows pulled up in front of his house. His daughter and her boyfriend got out and walked towards the door with serious looks painted on their faces. He opened the front door before they were halfway up the front steps. Mary-Lynette had disappeared this morning. Claudine had said she went over to visit the Redferns, but when he had called over there to talk to her, he had been told that she and Ash had disappeared. Knowing he was being overprotective, the man still had no guilt about worrying so much about his daughter. After all, she was sick. Something could happen to her at any time.
The two teenagers reached the door, greeting the man with slight smiles. It was as if they were ashamed of something. No. It was more like they were hiding something, and Mr. Carter was determined to find out.
"Dad, do you figure we could talk to you and Claudine?" Mary-Lynette asked him quietly.
Oh. Maybe they were just going to tell him themselves.
"Sure," he consented quickly. "Would you mind finding Claudine?"
The two nodded and set off in search of Mary-Lynette's step-mother.
"Oh, Mr. Carter," Ash called over his shoulder. "My sisters and Mark are also coming over if you don't mind."
"Not at all."
Though Mr. Carter hadn't known Ash for very long – in fact he had met him only the night before – he noticed something odd about his daughter's boyfriend. He could have sworn that he didn't have brown eyes the day before. Come to think of it though, he couldn't quite remember what color his eyes had been. Mr. Carter finally dismissed the subject, thinking his mind was simply playing tricks on him.
Unbeknownst to Mr. Carter, Ash snuck out the back door quickly to grab a quick meal. His sister Rowan had told him she had a deer waiting for him just behind the house. Mary-Lynette smiled as Ash ran out the door with a quick glance back at her, smile on his face. She was amazed at vampire powers. Ash and his sisters could communicate telepathically with each other across an impressive distance. Mary-Lynette quickly went off in search of her step-mother so they could explain about Rowan and Kestrel's idea. By the time she was on her way to the living room, Ash had rejoined her, saying that the others were on their way.
This slight detour to the back door caused Ash and Mary-Lynette to arrive at the living room later than Mr. Carter and his wife. The girls and Mark were even there too! Must've taken us longer in the kitchen than I thought. Mary-Lynette thought to herself. Their detour wasn't as short as they had originally planned because the instant Ash snuck back into the house; he had wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Their thoughts began to merge as he told her that he had gotten an incredibly good feeling about talking to her father. Mary-Lynette was pretty sure that his good feeling had more to do with the fact that he had just eaten than actually being excited about explaining everything. She was so nervous that her palms were clammy and she could see her hands shaking.
When they finally arrived, the only chairs left in the living room were the two single couches. Mary-Lynette sighed slightly and went and sat in the chair closest to the loveseat where her father and Claudine were seated. Ash took the seat closest to Rowan, seated on the couch with her two sisters and Mark. She had really been hoping to sit next to Ash. How else would she manage to calm down enough to tell her parents?
Hey, just because I'm not sitting beside you doesn't mean I'm not gonna help you. Her head snapped up and she found herself looking into Ash's eyes, which were slowly changing to a pale yellow. He looked just as nervous as she felt. Their gazes locked, and they stared into each other's eyes for a moment before they were interrupted by Mr. Carter.
"So, you had something to tell us Mare?" he asked, noting her sharing some sort of silent conversation with the blonde boy across the room.
Mary-Lynette looked nervously towards her father.
You can do it, love, Ash told her.
"Well, Rowan and Kestral came up with an idea about how we can fix this whole issue of me having heart disease," she began. "It requires an explanation first though."
Her father nodded for her to continue.
"You have to promise to be open-minded and listen until the end though."
"Yes, Mare. Please tell us." He was intrigued by the idea of making his daughter healthy again and he needed to hear how they planned on doing it.
"Well, the girls and Ash are – they're – you see – " she was having trouble getting the word out.
Mare? Are you okay? She heard four voices in her head simultaneously trying to encourage her, reassure her, ensure that she was alright, and even offering to tell her father for her.
No, she thought back. He's gotta hear it from me. I want to be the one to tell him. If it's not from me, he might not take you seriously. She told this to Ash, knowing he would tell his sisters.
Mary-Lynette took a deep breath and started over. "Dad, Rowan, Kestrel, Jade, and Ash are vampires," she said, her voice rushed. She had done it. She had told them. She had also broken Night World law, but that didn't matter. Her feelings of success were short-lived for she suddenly found herself facing two very shocked faces.
"They're what?" her father half-yelled at her. "Is this some kind of a damn joke? Because that's what it feels like, and it's not very funny!"
Mary-Lynette flinched, cringing back into the cushions of the couch.
Ash, help! Please! She yelped mentally.
"Sir, please calm down. Mary-Lynette isn't trying to play a prank on you. She's telling the truth!" Ash became more frantic sounding as he went on – deeply affected by Mr. Carter's yelling, which continued on.
Not wanting them to start a fight, Rowan finally stepped in.
"Ash!" she yelled. "Shut up!" He complied.
"Mr. Carter, we know this is a shock. However, if you'll allow me to explain things to you and your wife, I'm sure you'll soon see that we are not joking at all."
Rowan had a way of calming Mary-Lynette's father down to the point where Mary-Lynette suspected mind control was involved. Her father nodded as he sat down, gesturing to Rowan to continue on and he slumped against the back of the loveseat.
"Yes, my siblings and I are vampires, but we are not your typical horror movie ones. We need blood only because our own is incapable of carrying oxygen to our cells. As such, we don't need much, just a little. We actually can get it from wild animals, which is what we do."
"We don't even kill them," piped up Jade from the middle of the couch.
Mr. Carter looked suspiciously at the sixteen-year old seated next to his son. Rowan didn't allow him to become distracted by her youngest sister.
"In fact, we are more like humans than you would think. My siblings and I are known as lamia, and we are born, age, and can have children just like humans."
As Rowan's explanation carried on, Mary-Lynette noticed her father's face becoming angrier, then more tranquil. She doubted that any of her blood sisters were using mind control, and she could clearly sense that Ash wasn't. She began to hope that her father might go along with their plan after all.
"Well then," her father began. "That was um…. Informative, I guess."
Claudine just nodded. She looked scared out of her mind.
"So, do you believe us?" Mary-Lynette probed.
"Guess I've got no choice. You've all made it pretty clear that you're telling the truth. But I don't understand how this is going to help you Mare."
At this point, Kestrel spoke up. After all, it was her idea to begin with, although Rowan was immediately on board. That was how she convinced her to take credit for half of it – Kestrel couldn't have herself looking like she cared too much for her blood-sister.
"You see, sir, vampires also have the ability to create made vampires. They're essentially like us, only they can't age or bear children."
Kestrel could see Mary-Lynette's parents come to realize what she was suggesting. Ash decided he should probably reassure them.
"That's our idea for how to save Mary-Lynette. By changing her into a vampire, it will effectively kill the disease, leaving a healthy body behind."
Mr. Carter simply stared at the teenage boy, noticing that his eyes were now yellow. Of course, the vampire thing explained that now.
"And what exactly is your purpose? If you're a vampire, why are you dating my daughter and not someone like you?"
"Well, in the Night World – that's the place we come from. Our secret society, if you will – there's this thing called the soulmate principle. It basically says that certain people have a special bond between them. They are made for one another. They're soulmates. That's what we are." He smiled at Mary-Lynette, who couldn't help but smile back.
"Jade and I are soulmates too!" Mark exclaimed, happy to be able to share this news with his parents.
They both smiled at Mark, happy that he had found someone to love. However, they were worried about him being attached to a vampire.
"Dad?" Mary-Lynette asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"
"I'm just – dealing."
"So, would you be okay with them changing me if it means that I live?"
"I-I suppose so. How exactly does it work?"
Rowan once again took the lead in the conversation. Mary-Lynette knew how it worked, but preferred having one of the Redferns explain it.
"Well, Mary-Lynette will exchange blood with one of –"
"Wait a second! Exchange blood?"
"Mr. Carter, if you just let me finish. One of us bites her, drinking some of her blood, and then she drinks that person's blood afterwards. After this process is repeated a few times over the course of a week or so, Mary-Lynette will essentially become comatose. She'll appear to be dead, but really, it'll be more like she's asleep. After a few days – when her cells are changed by the vampire blood in her body – she'll wake up as a vampire."
Mary-Lynette noticed her parents cringing as Rowan casually explained the process of changing her. Claudine looked especially pale.
"Well then, Mary-Lynette, I can see there's really no stopping you. You seem to have discussed this previously, and I don't want to keep you from being happy. Plus, I couldn't bear it if you d-died, and I knew that there was a way to keep you alive, and I didn't let you do it. Just promise me one thing."
"Anything," she breathed.
"Promise you'll keep in touch. Whether it's actually coming and visiting me, or if it's even just a letter every once-in-a-while. As long as I'm not losing you forever."
Mary-Lynette got up and wrapped her arms around her father.
"Of course. I wouldn't just disappear into the night. I'll probably even live here while I'm being changed. I'm just so happy you said yes!"
She moved over a few paces to hug her step-mother tightly as well. After, she wiggled in between them, happy that they approved of the girls' suggestion.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Rowan spoke up.
"Um, Mary-Lynette, forgive me for asking this, but where do you want to do this? Now that we have your parents' permission, I'd really prefer to do this while your body is still strong enough to survive the change."
Mary-Lynette was shocked. She figured that she'd have a few days to prepare at the very least. What was she going to do?
A/N: Thanks to a sudden burst of inspiration, I managed to finish this chapter in a few hours. :) Sorry that it's so long; I just felt that I needed to explain everything and get it all over with in a single chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it. Don't forget to review! Clearly all the reviews from the previous chapters helped inspire me to finish quickly! :D
Special thanks go out to:
Candace14: Thanks so much! Comments are always wonderful to hear! It's good to hear that my cliffhangers are doing their jobs properly. :) Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!
Nightgirl25: I have to agree with you on that one! Haha. However, Mary-Lynette loves her parents, and Ash is afraid of essentially stealing Mary-Lynette from her family. Besides, Mark would surely find out and tell her parents. It all adds to the plot though as I hopefully managed to demonstrate above. Thank you so much for the review! I really appreciate it!