Without a Sound

(Charlotte’s P.O.V.)

Celia took one look at my bloody feet and exclaimed, “We’re getting you cleaned up before you walk through my house!”

I really didn’t blame her for making me sit on the porch steps while she went inside to get a towel and a bucket of water. If it was my house, I would’ve done the same thing.

While she wiped off my feet with the wet towel, she said, “When we’re done with this, you can go take a shower. Your poor hair is caked in mud. It’s so long! I bet it’ll be pretty when it’s down.”

I just smiled at her. I really liked her. As soon as we walked through the front door, she took me to the cranberry-carpeted stairs. They weren’t as elaborate as Mikey’s, but there was a painting on the wall of the landing. It was nowhere near as pretty as one of Mikey’s wife’s paintings, but it was better than leaving the cranberry walls blank.

“Adam, our son, is still sleeping,” she warned me in a low voice. Laughing quietly, she whispered, “Oh yeah, I forgot. You don’t talk anyways.”

Oh, yes. I definitely liked Celia. The bathroom she led me to was big, and it had green tiled floors and floral wallpaper.

“Come down to the kitchen when you’re done,” she instructed and left me alone.

At first, the warm water soothed my cuts. I sat down in the shower and pulled all the splinters I could out of my feet, but I couldn’t get all of them. When I put the soap on my body, though, it stung the cuts and scrapes on my hands and feet so much that I gasped. At least I felt somewhat clean when I got out of the shower, even though I had to put my dirty clothes back on.

I tiptoed through the hallway, not wanting to wake Adam up. I wondered how old he was. I also wondered how vampires could have children. How did that work, anyways?

I made my way through the family room, wincing with each step I took. It had white carpeting – a very good reason for Celia to make me wash my feet. The leather furniture and the walls were tan, and there was a big TV against one wall.

The family room was opened to the kitchen, and Celia saw me coming. I could smell breakfast food – she was cooking.

“It’s almost done,” she told me. “Go ahead and sit down at the table.”

I obeyed, pulling out one of the four chairs at the dark wooden table that matched the cabinets.

After a few minutes, she set heaping plates of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes on the table. What was it with these vampires and overeating? When she saw the look I gave the food, she pleaded, “Please, at least eat something. If Mikey finds out I didn’t feed you, he might kill me.”

I doubted this, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

She grinned at me. “A week or two ago he said you were extremely skinny. Either he was exaggerating, or he’s been feeding you well,” she commented. Her face twisted a little. “And judging by the condition of his skin, he’s been giving you a lot of blood to drink, too.”

A lot of things happened at once. First, I think Celia realized that I wasn’t supposed to be able to control my thirst.

Milliseconds later, a young boy entered the kitchen and said excitedly, “Mom! You made a lot for breakfast!”

Even before the little boy – Adam – was finished talking, Celia was out of her seat. She grabbed him and his him behind her. “Charlotte,” she said urgently, looking scared. “I need you to tell me if there is any chance at all that you will hurt him. Mikey said you couldn’t control yourself when it came to blood. You didn’t bite me, but…” Her eyes were begging me. “Are you sure he’s safe with you?”

I saw the panic in her eyes and the tender way she stood between me and her son. She loved him more than I could imagine. I felt empty – like I was missing something. I’d never felt that kind of unconditional love before. I was almost envious.

But I thought for a few seconds, not wanting to give her the wrong answer. I stared at them and felt their blood. Of course I wanted it, but it was overshadowed. I still had more important things to think about than their blood. Like where I was going to go when Mikey told them he didn’t want me.

I nodded to her, smiling bitterly.

“Okay. Thank you,” she replied ad she stepped out of the way so that Adam and I could see each other. His round face was tan and delicate. His eyes were dark brown with long lashes, and his hair was black. For the first time I realized his heart was actually beating; he was human, and his blood was flowing through his veins. At first I thought that would make it harder. It did, but not hard enough for me to give in.

His intelligent eyes looked me over quickly before he asked, “Who is that?”

“This is Charlotte. She’s Uncle Mikey’s friend. She can’t talk, so don’t get upset with her if she doesn’t answer you,” Celia told him.

“Charlotte?” he asked his mother. “Is that the girl you said you hoped Uncle Mikey would fall –”

“I said no such thing,” she replied, but she winked at him. I suddenly felt self-conscious. What had they told him about me before they had even met me?

“Oh,” he retorted shortly. “Well, if she’s here, is Uncle Mikey coming over?”

“I think so,” Celia replied. “Now. Let’s stop talking and eat.”

Adam smiled at me and said, “Hi.”

I smiled back in reply.

While she sat down in the chair across from me, he told his mom proudly, “You were wrong. She does answer.” His mother let that comment go.

We started eating the food (which was, I had to admit, considerably better than Mikey’s cooking), and I began to relax.

Well, only until I felt the blood approaching from very far away. I think I’d been subconsciously waiting for it, even though I never expected to see him again.

The blood was in Mikey’s veins. I knew it by the way they stretched and twisted around in his body. When Celia saw my head snap in the direction they were coming in, she smiled.

“You can recognize him already?” she asked skeptically. “It took me years to memorize Gerard’s vein patterns.”

I shrugged, but Adam looked confused. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Is Daddy coming home?”

“Daddy and Uncle Mikey are almost here, sweetheart,” Celia replied.

I was starting to get scared. Would he come in and tell me to get away from his family, too?