Double Trouble

Eli glared at Jason and Justin. It wasn’t possible. How was it possible that he could be related to Toby, Jason, and Justin Evermore? “No way,” Eli insisted. “I can’t be related to you assholes. I wouldn’t want to be related to you. Aunt Savannah spent years explaining to me how much of an impact you two had on her life; you killed her parents, my grandparents, merely because of your penchant for death and destruction. The both of you are monsters and I would never want to be related to someone who would do such a thing.”

“You take after your uncle,” Jason said.

“Which one?” Eli asked snidely.

“Toby,” Jason mumbled.

“Good,” Eli replied quickly. “I’d prefer to take after Uncle Toby. Out of the three of you, Uncle Toby is—and will always be—the better Evermore brother. Instead of turning to death and destruction as you two did, Toby turned to music. You guys killed your own parents to sustain your own life; that’s positively despicable.” Eli eyed his cousins; they could not be involved in this, not now. He removed Dawn from Justin’s arms and whispered something to her. “Dawn, Aunt Savannah was teaching you something; I need you to take hold of your uncles and concentrate on removing their vampire blood. Once they’re mortal again, I think we’ll be able to deal with this problem on a more even playing field. Make sure that vampires truly are only found in story books.”

Dawn nodded. “Okay.”

Justin took Dawn back. “You aren’t getting her.”

Eli shrugged. “Fine.” He smirked and watched carefully as Dawn did what she could to remove her uncles’ vampire blood. Justin, Eli suspected, was already weakened from holding onto Dawn for too long. Now that Eli ordered his cousin to do this, the job would soon be finished.

A few minutes went by before Dawn slipped out of Justin’s grasp. He fell to his side. “What the hell is happening to me?” he whimpered. “I feel like my insides are burning.”

Dawn walked over and took hold of Jason’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Eli knew it was to ensure that he didn’t escape as Dawn tried to expel the vampire blood from his body. “Uncle Jason, why do you keep trying to ruin my family’s life?” she asked quietly. Eli smiled and laughed. Leave it to a precocious five year-old to attempt and ask a question like that.

“That doesn’t concern you!” Jason yelled.

“But, I want to know,” Dawn insisted.

“Well, you’re not!” he exclaimed.

Eli’s hands balled into fists. He was pissed that this was even happening, that Jason, Justin, and Calarasi were bent on ruining the Meadowbrook family’s life. “You have got to be kidding me! Have you and your brother secluded yourself so much that you don’t even know how to treat your own niece? That’s despicable! You two have barely had any human contact—aside from each other—that neither one of you can have a normal relationship with any one of your relatives. And, I am going to put a stop to what you’re doing.”

“How do you intend on doing that?” Jason asked.

“You’ll see,” Eli said in a sing-song voice. He glanced over at his aunt, trying to get her attention without alerting Jason as to what he was doing. If Jason found out what he was trying to do, there was no telling as to what might happen. “Keith, I need you to do something for me.”

“What?” he asked.

“I need you to go get Aunt Savannah,” Eli explained to his cousin. “There’s something I need her to do, to ensure that your uncles don’t try to do something like this again.”
Keith nodded. “Okay.”

As Keith slipped away, Eli made certain that Jason didn’t realize he was gone. Justin, meanwhile, had slipped into unconsciousness. From all of the stories he heard, Eli knew this meant that the immortality Justin Evermore had was now gone. Once Jason’s immortality was gone, Calarasi could be dealt with. He elbowed Reuben. “Stalker uncles. Pretty weird huh?”

“You have no idea,” Reuben muttered.

“Sorry, but from the minute you told me what was going on, I knew who they were. Aunt Savannah never wanted you, Keith, or Dawn to find out of your father’s former life; not when his brothers were so despicably cruel. My mother’s family—your father’s family—clearly has issues. This was something none of us were ever supposed to find out about, but I found out anyway since Aunt Savannah and I were always so close. You can thank her for that. If she didn’t, Jason and Justin might have been able to get their revenge.”

“What are you two talking about?” Jason asked.

Eli laughed. He wondered how long it would take for Jason to realize that it was a little to quiet. Dawn still had a tight grip on her uncle, but Eli could see that his cousin was struggling to expel Jason’s vampire blood. Jason was definitely stronger, more so than his twin brother. Even before Dawn weakened Justin, Jason was more powerful. Consequently, Aunt Savannah needed to come over here and ensure that Jason Evermore’s immortality was eliminated, thus destroying any chance at Calarasi trying to obtain immortality. From the stories he heard, Eli was certain of the fact that Jason and Justin were brought back to life for the sole purpose of obtaining the immortality he desired. By eliminating all traces of the immortality, Calarasi had no reason to do something like this. “Nothing you need to know about,” Eli informed him. “I wouldn’t tell you anyway.”

“Savannah?” Jason asked suddenly. “Why are you here?”

Eli looked back and saw his aunt standing just behind him. He quickly motioned towards Jason. Savannah smirked. “I’m here to do this,” she replied, taking hold of Jason’s arm.
It was through the combined power of Dawn and Aunt Savannah that Jason collapsed a few moments later. “It worked. No more immortality,” Eli explained to his aunt. His aunt’s eyes widened. Eli nodded. “Auntie V, you and Dawn were able to eliminate all traces of vampires. Now all that’s left to be done is to deal with Calarasi and then confront my mother about the fact that she lied to us for all these years about her family.”

Aunt Savannah nodded. “They told you.”

“Damn right they told me,” Eli grunted.

“Pissed?” she asked.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he replied.

“Good,” his aunt grinned. “We aren’t the only ones.”

“Dad and Uncle Toby?” Eli asked.

Aunt Savannah nodded. “Indeed. Now, let’s gather these three up and go deal with the man that is supposedly my brother’s father-in-law. There are a few more family matters to deal with,” she explained, motioning towards where Eli’s father, grandfather, and uncle were standing.

Eli was in full agreement with his aunt’s suggestion. Given everything that happened in the past—and Eli’s revelation regarding his family—the only thing that could be done was for him to confront his grandfather as well as his mother about the family he didn’t know he had. Toby he could live with; Jason, Justin, and Calarasi he could not. With what his mother had done, Eli wasn’t so sure that he could be around his mother either. “Reuben, Keith, Dawn, come on; we have an issue left to deal with before leaving.”

“What is it?” Reuben asked.

Eli laughed. “As weird as this sounds, your great grand-nephew,” Eli replied. He was having a hard time believing that. And, he was quite sure of the fact that Reuben, Keith, and Dawn would think so as well. This would be extremely complicated to explain to them, particularly the immortal aspect of all of this that allowed Calarasi to be their descendant while they were alive. Such a thing was thought to be impossible. Even after everything, Eli had a difficult time believing that everyone within the Meadowbrook family was related to one another in some fashion; it was just far too weird for Eli’s liking.