Chapter 4: Welcome to the Vampire Family
We arrived in front of a well lit two story house as a modest dark van with the words 'medical examiner' printed on the side pulled away from the house.
Charlie parked and walked up to the house where a short haired blond woman threw herself in his arms. behind her a blond teenage girl sobbed in the arms of a brunette one with long hair. I wasn't sure what to do so I stayed leaning on my car.
Soon the woman pulled back from Charlie who motioned me close.
"Remember Bells Liz?"
"oh my god! you're so grown up now!"
Liz said hugging me as awkwardly as Charlie does
"Ten years tend to do that to someone Liz"
"Liz? What happened to auntie Liz?"
she asked in a somewhat stern voice
"'Aunt' is a term reserved for old ladies with a gazillion cats following them around. You're too young and sexy to be called 'auntie'"
"smartass"
she snorted at my joking tone and smile and wrapped an arm around me bringing me closer to the other girls where the blond one was choking the life out of Charlie. The brunette one on her side looked suspiciously at Charlie and myself and Liz bid her goodbye basically kicking her out.
"Lets take this inside"
Liz said after making sure brunette girl drove off. Charlie nodded and maneuvered the sobbing Caroline inside and right after entering the door he threw
"come in Bells"
over his shoulder. I was buzzing with questions but was a bit more interested in Caroline's mental state. When mom died the nice paramedic gave me enough pills to send me in lala land. we sat in the family room that had a nice lived in feeling and Liz served Charlie and herself a nice healthy dose of scotch. she asked if Caroline and i wanted something a soda and only then Caroline looked at me
"Belly boo?"
she whispered through her tears
"hey Care bear"
i whispered back and she flung herself around me.
"we're going upstairs"
I announced as soon as her tears began to dry. Liz nodded casually but Charlie's eyes were on me
"are you sure..."
he trailed but I knew what he left unsaid. 'You won't kill you cousin'. I nodded in response and let Caroline lead me to her bedroom
"you like?"
"its... girly"
I said smartly looking at the pink walls and the double bed with the pink and purple comforter trying to picture her in my own room in forks and failing miserably. On top of her dresser was an array of photos featuring her life. I sat with her at the bottom of her bed.
"You're really here..."
"yeah... I am. I missed you Caroline"
"I missed you Belly boo"
I winced at my childhood nickname. Belly boo, Belly because even though Caroline stuck me with Bella for some reason she liked Belly more and boo because of my accident ratio.
"Aren't we a tad old for those nicknames?"
"Nope"
She said smartly and we burst laughing.
"I love the hair"
she exclaimed a few moments later. I touched the red mane and I told her the truth
"spur of the moment"
we stayed quiet for a while. We haven't spoken since mom married phil and we lost touch over the years.
"oh my god what is that?"
she shouted and grabbed my arm hand looking at my ring.
"my ... wedding ring?"
I turned the last work into a question watching her big blue eyes widen.
"you're married?"
I should have thought she'd notice the huge sparkly rock on my finger. I pulled the ring off my finger and gave it to her. I faintly heard Charlie downstairs tell Liz about how my fiancé died. I decided to follow his lead.
"I was engaged"
"You changed so much"
Caroline whispered still holding the ring before, in true Caroline fashion, she tried it on.
"More than you can imagine"
I muttered under my breath but she heard me somehow
"what do you mean?"
I shook my head not wanting to upset her and make her afraid of me. she shook her own head before bouncing on the bed and looking at me expectantly
"well tell me everything! What's his name, is he good in bed?"
"Caroline!"
I exclaimed feeling a blush rising on my cheeks. she giggled and pinned me with a stare. Darn that 'Swan stare'! I sighed and fell back on the bed next to her, both of us laying on out backs.
"His name was Edward, he's my age and we've been together for two years. With a six month long break. we got engaged in the spring"
I explained changing the dates a bit leaving out the part of the wedding as I was looking at this relocation as a fresh start.
"Were you pregnant?"
I jumped up. How did she figure that out?
"Why do you say that?"
"When you talk about him you sound flat. Like he's a stranger, not your long term boyfriend. plus you always hated our parents getting married young"
Huh! The Caroline I remembered wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer... i sighed again and nodded not wanting to drag it out
"I lost it a few days after the engagement"
"Are you sure? You smell funny"
Caroline muttered under her breath but I heard her perfectly
"hey! that's rude, I've been driving for twelve hours"
I exclaimed but I couldn't help but notice that she didn't smell right either. She smelled sweetly almost vampire sweetly but her eyes were their usual blue and she was warm and had a heartbeat.
"Not that... you smell really sweetly. What are you?"
She asked me getting slowly up from the bed. I followed suit thinking hard but my excuses coming up empty.
"what are you?"
I threw the proverbial tennis ball back to her court.
"I'm a vampire"
She said as is it was the most normal thing on the planet.
"So am I"
I deadpanned calling out her bluff. She can't be a vampire... she scoffed and her dove changed. Her eyes got all vainy and when she snarled i saw she had fangs. what the...?
I let a snarl of my own feeling venom coat my teeth and my eyes darken. She looked as shell shocked as me and grabbing a pillow she attacked me. I rolled on my back throwing her over me and straight to the wall my body going on autopilot. I grabbed a second pillow and we began fighting again. Snarling for all that was worth. Soon the door was picked in and both Charlie and Renee stood there their guns pointing straight at us.
both too far gone, we snarled at them. as soon as their terrified faces registered with me I swallowed back the venom pooling in my mouth and looking at Caroline, who was doing the same, I saw she was covered in pretty white feathers.
that's when I lost it and began laughing hysterically falling back on the bed. Faintly I heard Caroline's laughter joining mine.
