Max jumped out of her skin when she heard the first strikes of midnight, from the church away in the town center.
Stupid, stupid Max! What kind of vampire is afraid of the night?
Still, she couldn't help but shiver and cast nervous glances around as she hurried to keep up with Chloe.
"Hey, wait for me!" she called out.
"Come on, slowpoke!" Chloe chuckled as she strode along the foggy path among the headstones without showing any sign of actually slowing down.
She was trying to play it cool, but Max could sense the tension in her. Well, the thin rain that had started to fall without warning was a good enough telltale sign. That made Max nervous.
Actually, everything made Max nervous tonight. As Chloe'd said, misting out of the lair through the ventilation shaft was a piece of cake, and once outside they'd jumped in the truck and headed straight for the cemetery. All they had to do now was dig Rachel up, bring her back to the lair, give her blood, and see if it worked… which it mostly likely wouldn't. And this failure would most likely devastate Chloe, no matter how Max had tried to warn her about it. But somehow, the young photographer felt more nervous than she probably should, she felt oppressed actually, without really understanding why.
It was probably the scolding. She was still pretty shaken up after Lacroix's words, and his attitude! It was the first time she saw him actually lose his cool, and it was pretty scary. Now, dicking around in the cemetery while she was supposed to be grounded, imagining him pop up behind her to yell at her again… yeah, no wonder the hairs of her neck rose at the slightest sound!
In front of her, Chloe reached Rachel's grave, and without further ado, dug her shovel into the soil and started digging.
"Are you really sure about this?" Max asked softly as she joined her. "I mean, she's been here for-"
"Way longer than a month, yes I know!" Chloe retorted, annoyed. "You've been repeating this all the way, Maxi-pad!"
"I just want to make sure you understand it's probably not gonna work!" Max defended herself, kneading her elbow. "And, what if Lacroix finds out we've left-"
"For fuck's sake, Max! Gimme a break with Lacroix! And yes, I remember the one-month time limit, and you know what, I don't give a shit! I'm gonna see it with my own eyes whether it works or not!"
"I-I just want to make sure we're not doing something hella stupid…"
"Like what?" Chloe suddenly stopped digging and straightened up, her eyes shooting daggers. "Seriously, what's the worst that could happen? If it doesn't work, it won't change a thing and nobody'll ever know we tried! If it does work, I get my other best friend back. I say it's worth a shot! What are you afraid of? Your teacher yelling at you for disobeying?"
Max didn't answer, but she didn't need to: her subdued look of shame told Chloe everything she needed to know.
"Look, my father's dead, my mom married some wannabe Hitler who treats me like a fucking criminal, my best friend left me, I fucking died, and do you know how it feels like to wake up in your own coffin and find out to everyone else you're a goner? It doesn't feel any good! So fuck Lacroix, fuck the rules, I just want my fucking life back! Like I told you before, I'll be forever grateful of you for bringing me back, but I can't keep going like this, having only you to rely on while you spend your days with your friends and your girlfriend, and thinking of the girl who was there for me when you weren't, thinking how I'll never see her again and…"
She stopped abruptly, her voice choked. Slowly, she swallowed back her tears and finished: "I need to do this, Max. If it doesn't work, then at least I tried, you understand? I just have to. So, you can stand there lecturing me about obeying orders and shit, or you can get down and dig. Your choice."
And on these words, she went back to work, furiously ripping lumps of dirt from the grave while tears streaked her cheeks. Max opened her mouth, wanting to say something, wanting to come and give her friend a hug, but she shut up and reconsidered: a hug wasn't what her best friend needed right now. She knew what Chloe really needed. So she went down on her knees, plunged her white hands in the soil, and started digging. The two girls' eyes met, and Max perceived a look of gratitude in Chloe's. She smiled warmly. And they focused back on their work.
Back at the lair, the girls took the freshly unburied coffin from the truck bed and carefully carried it down the concrete stairs to set it down in the middle of their lair. Then they paused to catch their breath and consider the soiled wooden box and its macabre content.
"Well," Chloe sighed, trying to hide her nervousness, "I guess it's time, right?"
"You want to do it?" Max asked as she handed her the crowbar. "Or do you want me to-"
"Nah, I'm okay. I'll do it."
The young punk snatched the tool from her friend's hand and went to work. The coffin was easily cracked open, and as Chloe lifted up the lid, Max couldn't help but take a step back, covering her mouth in horror.
"Oh, dog! Oh, I'm sorry Chlo…"
"Nevermind," Chloe muttered, dejected. "Shit, Rach, you don't look too good, do you?"
It was indeed difficult to believe the lively eighteen-year-old blonde who was the Queen of Blackwell and the miserable body lying in that coffin were the same person. The corpse was gray and shrunken, with the black dress it was wearing reduced to tatters that barely covered anything anymore. The once flowing hair now looked like hay. What little skin was left on the body now hugged the bones, looking thin and desiccated like old parchment paper, and had taken a sick greenish hue. Its belly was open in an indecent exposure of the ribcage and the internal organs, which to Max now evoked a basket of rotten, dried fruit. And the face… there was barely a face anymore. Three quarters of what used to be Rachel's beautiful face were now a bare, darkened skull, its rotting teeth frozen in an eternal grin like a furious Halloween pumpkin. The remaining skin covered only the left portion of the forehead, a piece of the left cheek, and the left eye. The eyelid was still closed, and as Max saw it, she noticed the stark contrast with the black gaping hole that was its right eye, and for a brief moment, the young photographer's morbid curiosity took over and she wondered if there was really an eye left behind this closed lid. She also noticed, fascinated, that the dragon tattoo on her calf was still visible. Funny how decay works, right?
"My poor, poor Rach," Chloe muttered, her voice quivering as she softly caressed the patch of green skin on the left cheek. "What happened to you?"
Seeing a tear roll lazily down the punk's face, Max stepped forward and lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. Chloe sighed and lay her own hand on top of her friend's.
"I'm here with you, Chlo," Max said, struggling to contain her own emotions to sound strong. She knew that was what Chloe needed right now. A strong friend.
"Thanks," Chloe murmured. "I'm gonna be okay, let's… let's just do it, right?"
"Right."
"So… how does it work?" she asked as she looked up to her friend. "Is there a ritual to do or something?"
Max shook her head: "All you need to do is inject your own blood into her heart. With this," she added as she produced the pint-sized syringe. "That's what I used for you."
Chloe nodded ceremoniously and slowly, as if it was made of priceless and fragile crystal, she took the syringe from Max's hand and dug the needle into her arm. She stopped halfway.
"I… I'd fill it all if I were you," Max commented. "Just to be sure, you know."
"Yeah, but… I was thinking…"
She stopped and bit her lip, looking at Max with puppy eyes.
"What?" her friend encouraged her. "You can tell me."
"Do… do you want to do it with me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… fill the other half with your blood? I know, it's probably stupid, but I thought, since we're doing this together… I dunno, it sounded cool to think we both brought her back."
For a moment, Max froze, not knowing what to say to that. She had to fight tooth and nail to swallow back the tear that was threatening to come out. Then she smiled.
"Yes," she murmured tenderly.
Smiling back, Chloe presented her with the syringe. Max gently took it and filled it up while Chloe looked back down at the corpse and took a deep breath.
"Okay," she exhaled as she settled herself into the coffin, straddling the body of her late girlfriend. "Here goes nothing…"
Rachel's hands were clasped on her chest. Cautiously, Chloe grabbed her wrists and pulled to loosen the flayed, claw-like fingers and expose her heart. Or what remained of it. Now, shrunken and wrinkled as it was, it looked more like a rotten apple. The punk felt a wave of despair wash through her at this sight.
She's been dead for too long, she thought. It's never gonna work…
But then Max gave her back the syringe, cutting off that chain of thought, and Chloe took it, and with a final breath, she stabbed it into the dead heart and pushed the piston down.
Red shadows began to dance before her eyes, and the punk realized she'd lost track of time and had been holding her breath for a while. She gasped, and looked up at Max:
"What now?"
Max shook her head, a look of despair and disappointment in her eyes: "I… I don't know… you took twenty-four hours to wake up, but your heart started beating again after just a couple minutes… she… I can't hear anything… I'm sorry, Chlo…"
"But she's gonna be fine, right? It's gonna work, it just needs a little more time, right?"
"I don't know. I've done it only once, with you, and you weren't in that bad a state… I can't tell, it might start beating in five more minutes, or in an hour, or never… I'm sorry but I really don't know."
Chloe closed her eyes, sighed, and nodded in acceptance.
"It's alright," she whispered. "It's alright, we'll just… wait, then."
"Do you want to… I dunno, go out and feed?"
"No… as much as I hate pig blood, I won't be able to go out now, and leave her. I… I'd rather stay here if you don't mind."
"Not at all. It's okay."
"Thanks, Maxi-pad. We could… I dunno, watch a movie or something? I feel like I need to change my mind."
"Sure!" Max smiled. "Do you have movies on your laptop?"
"Yeah, I got some… I got, uh, a bunch of Pixar."
"Pixar?"
"Yeah, I feel like watching something happy and fun, you know?"
"No problem, Chlo. I love Pixar!"
And they settled on the couch, snuggling under a blanket, and soon, the two best friends in the world were enjoying animated movies in each other's embrace, like in the good old days of their carefree childhood.
The end music of WALL-E woke Max up and she yawned and looked at the time: five in the morning. She stretched, and gently nudged the sleeping beauty who had taken her lap for a pillow. Chloe groaned, which made Max chuckle.
"It's five, Chlo. Maybe we should go to bed?"
"Yeah," she mumbled dreamily as she sat up, yawned… and suddenly opened her eyes wide, gasped, and made a dash for Rachel's coffin.
She opened the lid eagerly, almost panting in excitement… and let out a deep, disheartened sigh.
"Still nothing?" Max asked as she joined her.
"No," Chloe replied in a whisper, her voice choked. "Still nothing…"
"I'm sorry," Max sighed as she gently rubbed her friend's back. "Maybe tomorrow, then? I mean, later today… crap, our new sleep schedule is really messing with my perception of time… anyway, we should go to bed, there's nothing more we can do now."
"Right… uh, Max?"
"Yes?"
Chloe shuffled her feet, looking bashful.
"Can… can I sleep with you tonight?" she finally asked. "I-I think I need a cuddle… just a friendly cuddle."
Max's lips parted in a warm smile: "Of course you can! Come on, you'll be my big Chloe bear for the night."
Max was awakened by the sound of her alarm.
Already? She thought, annoyed. Man, it feels way too soon!
Grumbling, she fumbled around to find her phone, struggling to move in the cramped space of her coffin which, with her stuffies plus Chloe, was getting way too crowded! Not that she complained much, though. That sleepy time together had been so peaceful! Even though it wasn't very comfortable, they'd both sighed in contentment as Max closed the lid and they lay in each other's arms, and had fallen asleep almost immediately. Chloe's snoring hadn't even bothered her!
Now, to find that damn phone, hit snooze, and she could enjoy ten more minutes of coffin time. Maybe more. There, found it! What, only one pm? Oh, wait… her heart stopped. That wasn't the alarm. It was a call. From Victoria.
"Shit!" she whispered as she struggled to open the lid and slide out as quickly and silently as possible. Luckily, Chloe sure was a heavy sleeper.
"Hello?" she answered as soon as the coffin was closed behind her, her heart drumming in her chest.
Why am I feeling like this? I didn't cheat on her, I just slept with my best friend, so why would I-
"Max?" Tori asked.
"Yeah?" the brunette replied hesitantly. "What's up, Tori? Is everything okay?"
Victoria's voice was quaking with barely contained… what? Panic? Excitement? Fear? It was hard to tell. And there was another girl with her, Max could hear her cry hysterically in the background. Wait, cry or laugh?
"Max," Victoria almost yelled, "I'm with Tay and we have to tell you this! It's about her mom!"
"What about her mom?" Max asked, feeling the stress come up a notch.
Did it go wrong? Did I kill her?
"Well she… she…" Victoria struggled, but then Taylor shouted in the background:
"She's cured!"
"What?"
"Wait!"
There were sounds of movements coming from the two girls' side, and suddenly Taylor's hysterically sobbing voice came to her loud and clear:
"Hi Max, you're on speaker!"
"Uh, hi Taylor! So what's this about your mom? Did you say she's-"
"She's cured yes! Oh God Max you were so fucking right! Miracles do happen!"
Mental high five! Oh, fuck, it worked! Okay, now, have to pretend you don't understand a thing about it.
Luckily, on the phone neither Victoria nor Taylor could see the huge goofy grin on her face.
"Whoa, what, how, when? I mean, wait, I don't understand, this is wonderful but how did this happen?"
"Okay, okay, wait…" Taylor said, and then sighed, giggled, swallowed, struggling to calm herself down enough to speak clearly. Then she started her story: "We went to see her yesterday and she looked just as bad as before. But then… the doctors called my dad this morning, who then called me to tell me everything. Mom woke up this morning and complained about the light being too bright, and also about starving. The doctors were worried the sudden sensitivity was a sign of her tumor getting worse, so they ran a couple tests on her. Brain scans and the like, and… oh, God, I still can't believe it, they found nothing! Nothing at all! They don't understand, it's like she never ever had cancer! And… they say she's got the internal organs of a sixteen-year-old girl! It's… it's just unbelievable, she literally got younger inside! And she had two breakfasts this morning, and she's so full of energy they have to fight to keep her in bed… it's… it's a fucking miracle!"
And Taylor broke out sobbing again, tears of joy and relief that filled Max with warmth.
"Taylor," she said, "I don't know what to say, except this is wonderful! I'm so happy for you and your mom!"
"Thanks, Max," Taylor sniffled. "And thank you for your kind words all this time. It meant a lot."
"You're welcome."
"I think we'll be having a little party in the TV lounge tonight, will you be there?"
"I, uh… I'd love to but I'm not sure yet if I'll be available. Usually I spend time with Joyce and David on Sunday."
"Is this where you've been tonight?" Victoria asked with concern. "Cause I tried knocking on your door before I called, but it looked like you weren't there…"
"Yeah, yeah after our work was done with Lacroix I went straight to Joyce's."
"Oh. Well, I hope we'll see you around soon, cause it looks like you've not been sleeping much in the dorms these days."
"Oh, uh, yeah," Max giggled sheepishly, "I've been on kind of a hectic schedule lately."
"I just hope things will get back to normal soon enough. I… I kind of miss you."
Max felt her cheeks heat up at this revelation. Victoria Chase being sentimental with me with Taylor around? Wowser!
"I, yeah, I kind of miss you too Tori."
"Max?" a third voice asked behind her, startling her so bad she almost dropped her phone.
In shock, she spun around to see the coffin open and Chloe sat up, looking at her with a puzzled look on her face.
"Who was that?" Tori asked.
"Nothing! Just Joyce calling me!"
"Are you sure? It didn't sound like-"
"I, uh, I gotta shoot, she needs me for something. Talk to you later Tori! XOMAXO!"
"Uhm, okay, see you later…"
She hung up before Victoria could finish, and sighed, her hands still shaking.
"Am I interrupting?" Chloe asked, an amused grin on her face.
"That was close!" Max complained. "Dog, she heard you!"
"And you handled this like a pro, Max! Never thought you were that good a liar! Looks like I'm a good bad influence on you."
Max rolled her eyes: "I had to learn to lie before I brought you back, dork. Lying is kind of second nature for a vampire. And dog knows it's hard…"
"Says the girl who doesn't have to pretend she's dead every fucking day!"
Chloe chuckled, stretched, yawned loudly… and, upon remembering the events from the night before, dashed out to open Rachel's coffin, her fingers trembling with anticipation… and once again, disappointment struck her heart like a tidal wave, and she moaned.
"Still nothing?" Max asked, coming in to hug her from the side.
"Nope. Still nothing. Max, does it mean it… didn't work?"
"I'm afraid so, Chlo. I'm so sorry."
"Nah, it's okay," she said, sniffling. "I mean, I've been dreaming a lot about her lately, you know? I think… I think knowing she was so close and thinking about I could have even a tiny chance to bring her back made me crazy. Now, I tried, and… well, if it didn't work then she wasn't meant to come back. I guess."
"What do you want to do? Put her back in her grave?"
"Yeah, I guess we're gonna have to do that tonight. In the meantime…"
"Yes? What?"
"Well, just thinking about what we talked about yesterday, in Portland… thinking… maybe it's time we stopped lying, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
Chloe didn't answer, but the look in her eyes said it all. Max's jaw dropped.
"Chloe, are you really sure about this?"
"Yes. She doesn't work on Sunday, usually, so she should be at home now. It's time, Max. If I couldn't have Rachel, at least I want my mom back. Are you with me?"
Max smiled and took her hand, squeezing it tight.
"All the way, Captain."
The country music was so loud Joyce barely heard the doorbell. At first, she wasn't sure she'd really heard something, so she dropped her sponge and hurried to the hi-fi system to turn the music low. It rang again. David was back so soon? He was putting in extra hours at Blackwell because, as he said, "some punks" had managed to break into the swimming pool on Friday night and turned it into a freezer (don't ask, he'd added, I don't know how that could've happened), so now Wells needed him to work on an overhaul of their security procedures, complete with a stack of resumes to check for new agents. Of course, Joyce would've preferred to have her husband at home with her on her day off, but she knew just as well as he did that they needed the money, so she didn't complain. Max, however… she'd promised she'd spend time with them on the weekend, and now she seemed to have disappeared! The older woman tried not to be too hard on her, after all, she was a kid, and between her friends and school and her work with her photography teacher, it was expected that she wouldn't always find time to hang out with a sad old couple.
Still, it made her sad, not having kids around. She'd tried to relax, reading, watching TV, but she'd quickly found out whenever she remained still for more than five minutes, she'd start thinking about her daughter and feeling miserable, so she'd proceeded to put on William's favorite country artists out loud and clean the house floor to ceiling. And she was right in the middle of it when the bell rang.
"Coming!" she chimed as she took off her rubber gloves and opened the door.
The sight of the shy brunette standing on the threshold, grabbing her elbow and fidgeting around, startled her.
"Max!" she exclaimed with cheerful surprise. "Now that's a sight for sore eyes, I thought you wouldn't visit at all this weekend!"
"Hi Joyce," Max mumbled nervously. "I'm sorry, I've been quite busy with… stuff, lately."
"Don't worry, hon, I understand, at your age you sure have better things to do. But I'm happy to see you, come in!"
"Thanks," the girl said as she stepped in. "Uh, I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"No, not at all, I was just doing some cleaning. Do you want a cup of coffee? Or tea? Oh by the way, I noticed some of Chloe's stuff was missing from her room, did you borrow anything? Just to be clear, hon, I wouldn't mind because I know how much Chloe meant to you, but I'd appreciate if you asked first."
At first Max frowned, wondering what she was talking about, then she remembered Chloe's heist on her own room two days ago. "Oh!" she said. "Yes, of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean, uh…"
"Max?" the older woman frowned. "Are you alright? You look very nervous, is there something wrong at school?"
"No, I, uh…" she took a deep breath, then grabbed the older woman's hand. Joyce winced at the cold touch. "Listen, Joyce, there's something I need to show you, and it's not easy."
"It's not easy?" Joyce repeated, confused.
"No, it's not. Listen, it will most likely be a terrible shock to you, so before I show you, you have to promise me to please stay calm."
"Stay calm?"
"Yes, please promise you won't scream."
"Max, you're scaring me here."
"Please promise!"
"Okay! Okay, I promise I'll stay calm, now will you please tell me what this is all about already?"
"Okay," Max whispered as she let go of her hand. "Okay, here we go then…"
Then, trembling, the young girl stepped back outside and froze on the porch, her gaze pointing toward her left, as if she was signaling to someone who was hiding there.
Joyce shook her head, increasingly confused. Seeing Max so stressed made her own heart beat faster. What the hell was that all about?
Then she stopped breathing. Her mind froze, and she remained there, standing still, eyes wide staring. The other person came out of hiding, slowly, to stand on the porch in front of Max, directly facing Joyce. A girl. A tall girl with blue hair, who was looking down, her hands in the pockets of her ripped jeans. A girl Joyce loved dearly and thought she would never see again.
Chloe.
For the first couple of seconds, her brain kept telling her: It can't be Chloe, no it can't be, Chloe is dead, you're hallucinating, she's a girl who looks like but it's not her, it can't be her.
But her heart knew, as soon as she saw the young woman.
Chloe was alive and standing in front of her.
"Hi Mom," she muttered sheepishly as she raised her hand in greeting. "Been a helluva long time, right?"
Joyce said nothing. As she had promised Max, she didn't panic, she didn't scream. She just stood still and calmly turned pasty white as her figure began to sway back in slow motion, like a falling tree.
Thanks to her quick reflexes, Chloe jumped in and caught her before she hit the floor.
"Well," she sighed as she contemplated her unconscious mother in her arms. "Didn't go too bad, I guess?"
"Vampires?" Joyce asked, incredulous, as she sat at the dinner table, cradling a steaming mug of coffee in her hands and staring at the two girls sitting in front of her. "You mean like… Dracula? Like, actual vampires that drink blood and sleep in coffins?"
The two girls nodded. Again.
When Joyce had woken up, a couple hours before, it had been a heartwarming parade of tears and hugs and "I missed you so much" and "I can't believe this is happening". But once the outburst of emotion had settled, the time had come for explanations. And so far… it was going surprisingly well.
"But… but it's ridiculous," Joyce remarked, chuckling nervously. "I mean, you can't be real vampires, they're… I mean they don't exist!"
"We do, Joyce," Max intervened. "We're just very good at hiding."
"I…" the older woman sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry Max, but I still can't believe that. I mean, I see my baby girl is back, and this is a miracle I can't explain but… vampires? This is too much, this is too… wild."
Chloe nodded with a devious smirk on her face. "Fair enough," she said, "I guess it's demo time then?"
She winked at Max who rolled her eyes and groaned: "You've been waiting for this, haven't you?"
"Yup, you bet I have! Ready, Mom? One… two… say cheese!"
And as Max facepalmed, Chloe smiled wide at her mother, flashing her long fangs. Joyce jerked back in shock, almost falling from her chair, shouting: "Sweet Jesus! How did you do that?"
"They're my teeth, Mom. I can retract them, like a cat with its claws, you know? Look."
And she did so, and returned to her normal appearance.
"M-Max," Joyce stuttered, "do you have that too?"
Max nodded and showed off her teeth as well, albeit much less theatrically.
"I know it looks scary, but this is just the way we feed," she explained as she retracted them.
"Feed," Joyce repeated thoughtfully. Then, with dread: "So, does it mean you… kill people?"
"What? No! Okay, Joyce, first thing about vampires: we're not bloodthirsty monsters. This is movie stuff. In reality, we're just like everyone else! Except we have to drink blood to survive, but we can feed on multiple people so we don't have to kill anyone. Heck, we don't even need human blood, pig blood is fine too, even if the taste sucks. And we don't age. And we sleep in coffins. And we can do all sorts of weird-ass stuff. But other than that, I'm still Max, and Chloe is still Chloe."
Joyce took a moment to ponder on this, then added:
"Alright, I admit you too sound pretty convincing, and I have no better way to explain your teeth or Chloe's…" tears strangled the words into her throat and she had to stop to regain her composure. "Sorry baby, I guess I'm still processing here. But I saw you two on my doorstep! It's daytime, you should've… burned, or something, right?"
"Bullshit," Chloe interjected.
"She's right," Max added. "It doesn't actually work this way, we… a lot of things about us you see in the movies are right, but some things are also false. The sun doesn't kill us, it just prevents us from using magic."
"Magic?" Joyce raised an eyebrow.
"Vampire magic, yeah. It's, uh, pretty cool I have to admit. And bright lights hurt our eyes. Yeah, that's why, the sunglasses."
"That's why the…" Joyce repeated absent-mindedly, then her jaw dropped in sudden realization. "Wait a second, Max, so when you complained of having pink eyes, you were… you were actually a vampire then?"
Max nodded. "Yes, Joyce. Last Sunday, when I slept in Chloe's room, I… I snuck out in the middle of the night to meet a vampire."
"Wait, hon, you've lost me here: if you guys are as good as hiding as you claim, how does one just 'meet a vampire'?"
"Long story short, it's someone I know, who came out to me a couple weeks ago and offered to make me one of them."
"Someone you know? What do you mean, there are people around Arcadia Bay who are actually vampires and nobody knows? How many?"
"As far as I know, there's only three of us in Arcadia Bay: me, Chloe, and the other one."
"Is this someone I know too?"
"I can't tell you, sorry. Vampire etiquette. Outing another vampire without their consent is a huge no-no. But, if you're concerned about being surrounded or something, don't worry: there's only like, a thousand of us in the whole world, we're really, really scarce. Anyway, this vampire offered to make me one of them, and I said yes."
"But Max, why would you say yes to such a thing? It's… I'm sorry but it's crazy! You basically… sold your soul or something, didn't you?"
Max took a deep breath. Now was the time for the true reveal.
"Because this vampire promised me I'd gain the power to bring Chloe back. Which I did as soon as I could. My transition was complete on Halloween night when I drank human blood for the first time. Then… on November 1st, I dug Chloe up and…"
She paused, not knowing how to finish this. Eventually, she gave an awkward shrug and muttered: "And here we are now. We've been hiding until-"
She was interrupted when Joyce literally jumped on her and pulled her into the tightest hug the girl had ever experienced.
"Thank you, Max," Joyce wept, and Max felt the woman's tears against the side of her head. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You can't believe what it means to me! You went through so much… to bring my baby girl back!"
"It… it was my pleasure Joyce," Max replied after a moment of hesitation. "You know how much Chloe means to me, even if I haven't been a very good friends for the past five years. I had to do this."
Joyce nodded and thanked her again silently, then she broke the hug and looked at her daughter, her arm raised as an invitation. Chloe groaned.
"Seriously, again?"
"From now on," Joyce retorted with a tearful smirk, "I will expect as many hugs as possible, every day until the sun dies. Come on, my baby!"
Chloe groaned once more, but good-naturedly complied and came to snuggle against her mother's shoulder.
"Mom?" she asked as her mother was petting her hair. "Does it mean you don't mind? I mean, about us being… y'know…"
Joyce shook her head. "I would lie if I said it doesn't freak me out a bit, hon, but you are my daughter, and you'll always be. Whatever you become, I will always love you. And I'm sorry I haven't always been there for you. I guess after… after William died, I haven't been the best mother to you. But I promise, I'll never let you go… never again."
These words stung Chloe's heart and as she nodded in appreciation, she started sobbing messily, letting out at once all the sadness, the frustration and the rage she had held back for so many years. Yes, her mother had made mistakes. She had made mistakes too. But thanks to the most amazing friend in the universe, she was given a second chance. For the first time in five years, this house started to feel like a home to her again.
And then the front door opened and a dreaded deep voice echoed in the house, breaking the spell:
"Evening, honey! Jesus, I'm exhausted! How was your day? Wait, do you have visitors?"
Max could feel Chloe tense all of a sudden, as if she'd just put two fingers in a wall socket, and she turned swiftly to gaze upon the ghastly pale, slack-jawed face of David Madsen, frozen in the entrance of the living room.
"What the…" he whispered faintly.
What happened next was so quick neither Max nor Joyce had time to react at all: Chloe snarled at the intruder like a Rottweiler, and the next thing they knew, she had grabbed him by the throat, pinned him against a wall and lifted him off his feet, all with a single hand.
"Chloe!" Max and Joyce yelped in unison. "What are you doing?"
"Bet you weren't expecting that, were you, Step-dildo?" Chloe growled at David, ignoring them.
David tried to speak, but the girl's hand closed his throat completely, leaving him with barely enough space to breathe. Shadows began dancing in front of his eyes and only the sheer terror of this… this cold thing that looked like his dead stepdaughter, leering at him with its razor-sharp fangs and a murderous orange glow in its eyes, kept him conscious.
Joyce pried at her daughter's arm, trying to free her husband while persuading Chloe to let go, but eventually, David was freed only when Max grabbed Chloe's waist from behind and pulled her back.
The man collapsed against the wall, coughing. He felt his wife kneel beside him and checking on him, asking if he was okay, but her voice seemed to come from a long way. After a few seconds, the shadows in front of his eyes faded and he returned to his senses. He glared at the girls: Max was still holding the Chloe-thing and trying to calm it down.
"What the hell is going on here?" he asked, his voice coarse from the abuse his throat took.
"David, hon, I'm so sorry for that, I didn't know she was gonna… but you're not gonna believe it," Joyce said, still shaking and in tears. "Chloe's back! It's her!"
"It's… her?" he asked, casting a suspicious glare at the blue-haired girl. "It… can't be! Chloe is…"
"I know, honey, I know!" Joyce replied excitedly. "But she's back. Max brought her back."
The man's look turned to the shy brunette, his brow creased with confusion. "Max… but… it doesn't make any sense!"
Yet, he had to admit: the young woman standing before him was Chloe. There was no mistake. No matter what little sense it made, he had to believe it because he saw it with his own eyes.
"Who cares?" Chloe retorted, her teeth and her eyes now normal again. "I'm back, is all that matters. I'm back, and you're out, stepdouche! Now get the fuck out of my house!"
"Chloe!" Joyce scolded. "You can't just kick my husband out of my house!"
"I didn't come back from the grave to have to put up with his shits again, Mom! We'll have our house and our lives back and we'll start all over, just the two of us!"
"Now that's not gonna happen this way, sweetheart," Joyce retorted with her commanding tone Max had learned to fear when she was younger.
"What?" Chloe yelled. "After all we've been through, you'll still choose him over me?"
"Calm down, Chlo," Max murmured, tightening her hug. "Calm down, it's gonna be alright."
The young punk let out a sigh as she felt her shoulders slack a bit. She had to admit, her friend really had a soothing effect on her.
"I'd rather have you both," Joyce explained patiently as she helped her husband back on his feet. "Chloe, I know the two of you got off on the wrong foot, but David has been a tremendous support to me, and Max, while you were... while we thought you were... I just wish you could see him for who he really is. He made mistakes with you, and he regrets-"
"He hit me! I call that more than 'mistakes', I call that being an abusive prick!"
She expected her mother to be shocked by this revelation. She expected her to be angry and kick David out right away. She expected her to cry. She expected anything but that:
"Yes," Joyce muttered. "I know."
Chloe blanched. "You… you know?" she mumbled, her wrath all but forgotten now.
Joyce nodded. "He-"
"Wait, honey," David interrupted. "I… I should tell her."
With a nod of approval from his wife, David stood straight and faced his stepdaughter:
"Chloe… I told your mother about the times I hit you shortly after you… you passed away. I… I just couldn't live with the guilt of… listen, I love you Chloe, I really do… I always did my best to treat you like my own daughter. But I have to admit, my best wasn't good enough. I've been a shitty stepdad to you, and I put all the blame on you and your rebellious attitude, and it wasn't right, and there were times when I lost my nerve and hit you, and it wasn't right either. After you…" he sighed, and for the first time in her life, Chloe saw tears form in the eyes of this man she'd always thought to be an emotionless asshole cyborg.
"After you died," he continued, "I realized that none of this would've happened if I had been a better father to you. If I had just… listened, instead of constantly telling you what to do and trying to control your life. I tried to keep you safe, I really did, but… I just didn't know how to do it. And for all of that, Chloe, I'm sorry. And… I still can't believe you're really here, standing in front of me, but if this is a real miracle and not some sort of dream, then… then I'm willing to let you teach me how to be a good stepfather. I'll do anything it takes to make it up to you. I promise."
He reached out his hand, a coy smile appearing under his moustache. Chloe considered the offered hand. She'd never, ever have thought it possible… David Mad-Step, step-führer in chief, apologizing to her and promising to act like a decent human being? But then again, before this week, she'd never have thought it possible to die and return as a vampire, and now she thought about it, she was amazed at how quickly she had adapted to this new situation.
Could he really be trusted, then?
She turned to Max, her eyes begging for advice. Max who had gotten to know David while Chloe was underground, Max who had seen the man behind the stuck-up asshole ex-marine… Max nodded, of course.
She snorted: "Nice speech. How many times did you rehearse it?"
"About a thousand times in my dreams," he admitted sheepishly.
She took another moment to ponder on his words, then finally gave her verdict:
"Fine," she scowled, ignoring the offered hand. "I'm willing to not gut you like a fish for now. Best I can do. The rest is up to you."
David looked disappointed, but as he withdrew his hand, he nodded and said: "I guess that's the best I can ask for now, so I'll take it. I won't disappoint you."
"You better not," Chloe snapped back as she turned her back on him and went to lounge on the couch, Max following along to sit by her side, leaving the two confused adults in the entryway.
"Now, uh," David started hesitantly. "Would any one of you mind telling me how Chloe came back to us?"
Joyce let out a chuckle: "Sit down, honey, I'm gonna make coffee. It's a long story, and you're not going to believe it…"