Sleeping In A Graveyard

Marionette hugged her sister as they stood in the bus station waiting for hers to arrive. Aurora looked over her sister one last time, smiling. She didn't want to leave, especially now that she knew about Kaeden but part of her wanted to trust him on his word, that he wouldn't bring any harm to Marionette.

"I promise, next time I come I'll stay longer." Aurora said as she picked up her bags, the bus coming around the corner.

"You better. Be safe." Aurora hugged her parents and then got on the bus.

Marionette waved at the bus as it left and then followed her parents to the car. On her way home she thought about what her and her sister had spoken about the day before. It made her worry and wonder if she could even really deal with having the both of them as friends. Then again, that's when it hit her. Lance was dead and Kaeden was alive, how could she possibly start a life with a ghost?

***

"Kaeden?" Marionette was shocked to see him waiting by the curb in front of her house. She waved off to her parents and walked over to him. She wondered what he could possibly be doing at her house on their day off.

"I wanted to come see you. Your sister still here?" Marionette shook her head and took a seat beside him on the curb.

"Really? Um, no. We dropped her off not to long ago at the bus stop." Kaeden smiled at her and watched as she fiddled with the black laces on her converse.

"Yeah, I wanted to maybe talk to her." He watched her eyebrows furrow into confusion. Of course she would wonder why he would want to her sister.

"My sister?" Kaeden laughed lightly seeing Marionette's face. She seemed sad and wondered why Kaeden was so interested in Aurora.

Then again, her sister was beautiful, charismatic, and so much more outgoing than she is. Marionette could understand why Kaeden wanted to talk to her. They probably had much more in common.

Marionette was practically the polar opposite of her sister. Sure, she had her moments when she would come out of her shell but other than those rare moments she was a shy person overall.

"We have a mutual friend I found out. Just wanted to give her a heads up I guess."

"Oh, oh." Kaeden knew what she was thinking.

"You weren't thinking I wanted to go after your sister or anything, were you?" Marionette's eyes went wide as she shook her head and began to stutter.

"O-oh, n-no, I-I-"

"Cause the only Spelling sister I'm after, is sitting right next to me."

Marionette stopped stuttering, looking at him shocked. He had never been so forward with her. Maybe with his actions but not with words. And as usual her face became as red as a tomato. Kaeden chuckled and stood up holding out his hand.

"Let's go somewhere. Ice cream?" Kaeden asked as Marionette grabbed onto his hand and stood up.

"Um, sure. Let me just let my parents know."

***

"No way!" Marionette looked at Kaeden surprised as the two of them walked through the park, eating their ice cream. Kaeden laughed hard nodding his head.

"You don't believe me? I still have the bong I used at Woodstock!" They both laughed until a voice interrupted their pleasant conversation.

"I know that pleasant aroma." The both of them looked up to see the man Marionette had been fearful of before. She could feel how much this man detested Kaeden and wanted her.

"Cain. What do you want?" Marionette just stared at her ice cream. Looking at Cain made her blood run as cold as ice. She sat closer to Kaeden and both Cain and Kaeden knew how afraid Marionette was. Cain was loving it.

"I couldn't ignore that scent. Especially when it leads me to a beautiful girl." Cain went for Marionette's hand and she pulled away. He smirked knowing that would be her reaction, when Kaeden stood up in front of him.

"Cain, not here. Not now." Cain looked at Marionette and knew that he couldn't do much. Not to Marionette when Kaeden was around and not to Kaeden with Marionette around.

"You're right. We'll...talk...later." With that Cain walked away and Marionette looked up at Kaeden. She noticed his eyes going from red to back to his deep chocolate brown eyes.

It made her wonder what made them do that. She knew eyes could change color but red was something unheard of to her. She had seen it happen to him before and decided this was the time to ask.

"Kaeden?"

"Yeah?" He took a bite of his ice cream as he began to lead them back home.

"Your eyes turn red, how come?" Kaeden looked at her shocked as he realized no other human had ever really noticed his eyes before. So, he didn't really have an excuse ready.

"W-Well, uh, it...runs in the family!" Kaeden said a bit to over enthusiastically which made Marionette suspicious. She didn't exactly buy it but let it go, there was no real reason to push the subject it's not like he was lying about something he had done. But there was one other thing on her mind.

"How do you know, Cain?" Kaeden coughed on his ice cream wondering how he was going to explain that when they came up to Marionette's house.

"Well, we'll save that story for another time. I leave you here my fair maiden." Kaeden bowed taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle kiss. Marionette laughed at this, shaking her head.

"Okay, but you better answer my question next time." Kaeden nodded his head and gave her another kiss but this time on her forehead.

Marionette walked into her house blushing as she had thought about the kiss on her forehead. She could still feel his soft lips against her skin.

"Marionette?"

"Yeah, Dad?" Her father walked into the front room, smiling at her.

"Dinner," she smiled, nodding her head walking into the dining room where her parents were waiting for her.

***

Marionette bid her parents goodnight as she made her way to her bedroom to ready herself for bed.

"Boo!" Marionette let out a small scream, turning around to see Lance there stifling his laughter.

"Gah! You know, that's just mean!" She glared at him and then stepped into her closet to change into her sleeping attire.

"I was just poking fun. So, I see you saw Kaeden today." Marionette furrowed her brow as she slipped on her black night gown. She let out her hair from the tight bun she had had it in, releasing the pressure from her head and stepped out of the close.

"Yeah. Is that a crime?" She sat down on her bed with Lance as he quickly glanced over her.

He had never seen her so revealed. She was always covering herself up and he didn't know why. She was beautiful and the way her hair fell all around her, his knees started to go weak. Then he remembered the point he was trying to portray to Marionette.

"I don't know. As long as you’re safe." Marionette furrowed her brow once again wondering why everyone seemed to be against Kaeden.

"Why do you think Kaeden is dangerous?" She asked and Lance looked up at her shocked. He couldn't tell her the real reason so he thought up of one.

"Well, that night in the park, you said he seemed to have known that guy!" Marionette's mouth dropped never thinking he would use things that she told him as a friend against her.

"Doesn't mean he's the same! Why does everyone seem to be against Kaeden? Even my sister doesn't really like him!" Lance's eyes went wide assuming her sister would be all for Kaeden since she herself, was dating a vampire.

"I just feel like he's not being completely honest with you."

Marionette was utterly confused because she didn't think Kaeden was hiding anything from her. He surely didn't show any discretion at school about how he feels for her. Most people would want to hide the fact that they like the only freak in school and here he was openly showing off that he likes her. 'What could he possibly be keeping a secret?'

"Lance, what are you talking about?"

"I just think you should be more careful about him!" Marionette stood up glaring at him. He had now real defense as to why he was being this way and saying these things.

"Please, leave." Lance looked at her shocked wondering where this was coming from.

"Marionette, plea-"

"No. Lance, please. Just go and I don't mean invisible." Lance looked at her sadly and then walked out. He didn't want to anger her anymore and figured that it would be best to just let her calm down.

She didn't want to fight about this; she couldn't even believe she was fighting about this. She let out a frustrated sigh, pacing back and forth in her room. She didn't know what to do but she knew that she couldn't go to sleep now. She would run to her sister but she wasn't there or go to the cemetery and that just reminded her of the very people she didn't want to be thinking about at the moment.

Looking at the time Marionette made a drastic decision. She threw on her sweater and black boots. She headed downstairs and out the front door making her way to the forest up the street from her property.

This was a bad idea indeed.