The Living Dead

Tonight was a dreary night. The full moon shone through the stratus clouds and lit up the earth, casting dark shadows in corners. Rain pattered gently against the roof and windowpanes. Tonight was the night, if any night, that the monsters would come crawling out of the shadows, where Zelda was waiting. Zelda was waiting for her chance to see how her child was coming along, how she was growing up.

Zelda crept out of the shadowy corner of the Mills’ house across the street and strode toward the tan house of her daughter’s. Quickly, Zelda waltzed under Kevin’s window, being careful to keep to the side of the house. Digging her fingernails into the bricks, Zelda brought herself up to the very pane of Kevin’s window. She peered in.

Kevin was sitting at the computer, writing in what appeared to be a virtual diary. When Kevin finished and shut the computer off, she got up and walked out the door. Now was the time for Zelda to meet her daughter face to face. Zelda slid the windowpane up slowly. Now that Kevin’s senses have doubled their sensitivity, she’d have to be extremely careful. Zelda crept into the room and perched herself on Kevin’s clean sheets. A few minutes later, Kevin returned to the room, clutching a glass of pigs blood, holy water and garlic powder. When Kevin entered the room, she didn’t even notice Zelda until she had set her glass down on her computer desk.

“What are y-you doing h-here?” Kevin stammered.

Zelda looked up underneath her black eyelashes. “My child, I’ve come. Mother’s here.” Zelda stood and walked over to Kevin and stroked her cheek. “You’ve grown beautifully,” she said, stalling time. With a sigh, Zelda asked Kevin the question she was here to ask. “Would you consider coming with me to my pack. There you’d be princess, heir to the throne. You’d be able to boss people around and make them fetch things for you. Please, as my daughter, I want you to come.”

Kevin glared at Zelda. “What? I am not your daughter!” she screeched. “How dare you?”

Zelda had a look of guilt on her face. “Yes, you are my daughter. Let me tell you what really happened: When you were born my mother said I couldn’t keep you. It would hurt the pack; you were a human baby and your blood would drive the others crazy. I found a nice lady who, at the time, could not have children of her own and was on the adoption list. I looked into her background and lifestyle. She seemed suitable, so I gave you to her. I’ve silently watched you grow to a suitable age before I bit you. Fourteen. Five years younger than myself. Now, you can join me and my pack and we can live together like a normal mother and daughter. Didn’t you ever wonder how a family of blondes could have a brunette child? I love you. Won’t you join me?”

Kevin thought it over. “If you’re really my mother, then can you tell me who my father is?”

“Your father’s a wonderful man. Human, like you were. He didn’t know what I was until you were born. We fought over you, but I won. I loved your father, but I love you more,” Zelda explained.

“No, I mean what was his name. If you tell me his name, I’ll believe you, it’s a very unusual name.”

“Aeiracellison Patrick Roomer,” Zelda replied.

Kevin smiled a huge, toothy grin. “Mom?” she asked, giving her a hug.

Zelda embraced her daughter in a hug. But Zelda wasn’t cleaver. Kevin turned her head ever so slightly and bit Zelda hard on the neck, her white fangs sinking into Zelda’s stone like flesh. Zelda’s body went ridged and she fell on the floor, her mouth gaping open, a fiery glare in her eyes.

Kevin smiled and licked her lips. She could feel her soul returning to the depths of her heart. Her skin turned from deathly cold to humanly warm. Taste was back in her mouth; she tasted saliva for the first time in what seemed like years. Feeling was coming back to her fingers and her teeth were taking their normal human shape. She felt perfectly human now.

Kevin looked down at her so called mother. Zelda was now completely dead. Her bones turned to dust and drifted out the open window.

“Goodbye Mother,” Kevin said with a sly smile.