Rain Gently Tapping Against My Skin

Well, it’s been a few weeks. Alison’s been more social, no longer locking herself inside of her house day and night. But she really gets irritated with sunlight. She wears sunglasses all day, covering her face with her hand. She can’t eat anything but blood, either. She’ll shove it down her throat, but then she vomits it right back up.

“Ugh, I hate summer,” Alison groans, pulling up the hood on her jacket to hide her face. “It’s so frickin’ sunny.”

“Why do you hate the sun now?”, I ask, staring at her oddly. She used to be so happy whenever it was sunny, now she was just miserable.

“Because it hurts,” she says sadly, trying to hold down the slice of pizza she had just eaten. “I have to stop drinking from the blood bank to be able to stand it, Melody. But even then it’ll still irritate. I have to be over a year.”

“Interesting theory, blood-sucker,” Raine says sarcastically.

“Anytime,” Alison says, smiling to show her fangs, just to annoy Raine, who pushes away her food.

“Put your fangs back, leech.”

“What’s the magic word?”

“Please?”

“Nope,” Alison says smugly, her fangs still somehow managing to get longer as she removed her sunglasses, revealing her bloody red eyes. They were only red with her fangs extended. “The magic word is blood.”

“Enough, Alison,” I say disapprovingly.

“Fine,” and her fangs went back to normal as her eyes went back to their normal brown. “But it’s just too easy to annoy her.”

“Go vomit up your lunch and drink your blood.”, Raine growls.

“Fine. I’ll go. But not before this.”, and fire shot out of her hands, straight toward Raine. We all knew Alison wasn’t going to burn her. It was always just to freak her out. Alison was gone in a flash, and I knew she was doing just what Raine had said. It was always so sad how she tried to act normal around all of us, even though only the closest of us to her would feel so sorry for her. We all knew she hated it. That every time Raine cracked a joke about her, she felt a little sadder. Every time she forgets about it, and is suddenly close to dieing or feeding off one of us, she dies a little more inside. She keeps away from Sophie the most. Sophie’s not taking it very well either.

“Where’s Alison?”, Sophie asks suddenly, as she seemed to finally have broken free from Duncan’s control.

“Just missed her,” I say sympathetically. “She’s gone feeding, Sophie.”, that was only partly a lie. Alison makes me say it because she supposedly “couldn’t handle drinking from Sophie.”

“Oh,” Sophie says sadly, obviously disappointed. I may be able to get away with letting Martin watch Alison, but Sophie is a possible getting me killed move.

“Hey, Soph! Good to see yah!”, Alison says, as she walks back over to us, blood in hand.

“What are you drinking?”

“Tomato juice,” Alison lies automatically, rolling her eyes.

“You hate tomatoes.”

“Aw, you remember! Naw, I melted a red ice-pop into this cup.”

“Oh, then it’s okay if I drink it?”, Sophie so knows she’s lying.

“If you can wrestle it out of me. I need my sugar. How do you think I stay so sweet?”, I snort, rolling my eyes.

“You? Sweet?”

“Don’t flatter me, Melody. This keeps me from being a Kevin.”

“Again, why does everyone think I’m heartless?”, Kevin says grouchily.

“Because you are,” we all chorus.

“Don’t deny it, Kevin. We all know that you have no heart.”, I say, rolling my eyes. “The only person in all of your existance that you even show the slightest amount of compassion towards could pass for your twin. And she’s a blood-drinking liar.”

“But a very convincing liar, at that.”, Alison says, winking at Sophie. “And this is totally blood.”

“Hey, you told me to be a dreamer.”

“And that you shalt be.”, Alison says, smirking. “Any comments, Raine?”

“Hmm, what could I possibly say to a blood-sucking witch?”, and my knife hit right above her head.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I am such a klutz!”, I say mockingly, rolling my eyes. “Shut up.”

“Oh, excuse me for voicing my opinion.”

“Oh, excuse me for showing my opinions!”, I say sarcastically. “We can do this for eternity, Raine.”

“Hmm, that sounds oddly entertaining.”, Alison says, chugging down her glass of blood. “Yuck,” her nose scrunches up, as she coughs, opening her hand to reveal some blood that had come out.

“Alison, are you okay?”, I ask, staring wide-eyed at her hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, rolling her eyes. “That’s been happening a lot. It’s no big deal.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be spitting it back up, though.”

“It’s no big deal,” she snaps fiercely. “I’m gonna go get some more.”

“I’ll get it,” Martin says quickly. None of us really wanted Alison down in a blood-bank alone. She drank excessive amounts of blood at a time. And we were all worried that Donovan would show up the second we let her out. That’s why I’ve been looking into colleges that wouldn’t cost too much for me to attend with her. Alison’s pretty smart, and has been offered these amazing scolarships!

“Naw, Martin, I’ll be fine. I can get blood by myself.”, Alison says, rolling her eyes. “Or I could just go hunting out in the woods …”

“No, Alison, Martin will go get you some blood.”, I say firmly.

“Fine,” she grumbles, walking away quickly.

“Hurry before she finds a loophole in what I just said.”

♠ ♣ ♠

“Hmm … Brown Mackie …”, Alison says, staring at what I recognized as a college forum.

“Nah-uh, Al! You know Kevin’ll flip!”, I say disapprovingly.

“I won’t get a dorm, Melody. And it’s not like anyone would see me like this.”, her fangs extend, red eyes glowing against her pale skin. She soon pulls her fangs in, her brown eyes revealed, as her tanned skin glowed. It was an odd transformation, and obviously effected her, as she chugged down a glass of blood.

“C’mon, Al, lets break you out of this place.”

“Naw, I’m fine, Melody. I like it here, actually. Donovan hasn’t bothered me in awhile.”, Alison says, smiling. “But I wish there was a way to fix being a vampire. I can hardly hug anyone without wanting to tap a vein.”, she was so sad. It was depressing to see her so close to tears. “I tried hugging Martin last night and bit him.”

“What? Is he okay?”, I ask, alarmed, remembering when Donovan had bitten her. Hopefully he was handling it better than Alison had …

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Alison laughs, smiling at me. “I didn’t put any venom into him.”

“How are you able to do that?”

“I just pulled my fangs in. That kept me from being venomous.”

“Oh,” that was a valuable piece of information that I’ll probably be telling Kevin about. “Well, see yah, I guess.”

“Wait, Melody, please don’t tell anyone. I really don’t want Kevin freaking out.”

“Sure,” I hadn’t thought about that. Kevin would probably freak out, locking her up and everything. And if he didn’t then someone would — Raine.

I walk away, wondering exactly what would happen if anyone found out about that? Raine would never let Alison live it down, that’s for sure. But, then how is Martin handling it? Is he freaking out? Is he trying to act like it never happened? Oh, gosh, what if he told Josh?!

“Hey, Melody! What’s up?”, Oliver asks, raising an eyebrow at me. “Ah, Alison told you about what happened to her and Martin.”

“Yeah … how do you know?”

“Psychic bond,” he shrugs, adding, “Nothing gets past us. At all.”

“How’s Martin taking it?”

“Pretty good. It’s actually kind of a rush to be bitten. Alison’s more concerned that he’ll turn into a vamp-junkie.”

“How? I mean, doesn’t it hurt?”

“At first. When you heard Alison scream, it was because of the venom, and she was fighting it. With Martin, though, he trusts her. He never got the drug part of it, either. The venom.”

“So, there’s venom-druggies?”

“Tons of them.”

I walk away after that, wondering exactly what it felt like to be bitten. I mean, if what Oliver was saying was true … maybe I’ll just ask Martin. Oh, and right on cue, there he came.

“Hey, Martin!”, I say, walking over to him quickly.

“Oh, hey, Melody. Where’s Alison?”

“Over there. But, listen, what was it like?”

“What was what like?”

I lower my voice, being careful so that only he could hear, “Being bitten.”

“H-how do you know?”, his eyes were wide, startled and obviously alarmed. “Alison doesn’t want anyone to know about it!”

“Relax. She told me. I just wanna know what it was like.”

“It’s hard to describe. But I gotta go.”

♠ ♣ ♠

I had been trying to push out the questions that seem to be piling up inside of my head. Has anyone noticed that I have more questions to ask then people are willing to answer? Seems kind of messed up in my opinion.

I look around for Alison, who was oddly missing dinner. It just wasn’t like her, vampire or not. She would at least try to hold down food. Then, just as I was about to go looking for her, she appears, digging in quickly, happily.

“Where were you?”, I ask suddenly, genuinely curious.

“Hmm? I was doing some research.”

“On what?”

“Vampirism,” I wasn’t expecting that answer, even as she stayed so cheerful, which still made me wonder something.

“Ugh, can you not say that world while I’m eating?”, Raine grumbles, glaring up at her.

“Sure, whatever,” Alison says joyfully, smiling slightly. “Just as long as you shut up.”

“And what did you find out?”

“Oh, that the really only way to completely change in by dieing.”

“Ahuh, you’re dead.”

“Exactly. Then after that you have to drink blood.”

“Okay, I’m done!”, Raine says, standing up and walking quickly away.

“She has a weak stomach.”

“Get to the point, Alison.”

“Well, you know how I can heal from dieing?”

“Yeah?”

“The Summer Solstice,” she shrugs, smiling happily. “I figured if Raine drives a stake through my heart then I’ll be cured of this curse.”

“That’s suicide,” I say, rolling my eyes, nodding toward Kevin who sat furiously. “Kevin’s about to snap.”

“But that’s a very interesting idea, Aly. The Summer Solstice is a fairly powerful one for fire, which is good for anger.”, Zoey says, nodding in approval. “And Raine is just a —”

“Exactly! See! What could go wrong?”

“That you die,” we all say together.

“But that’s very unlikely!”, Alison says stubbornly. “And what if Mirabelle were there incase anything went wrong?”

“It’s worth a shot,” I say, shrugging. “Doesn’t wood kill vampires?”

“In some myths. From what I’ve gathered, it would kill me if I wasn’t a witch that could heal extremely quickly.”, she says matter-of-factly. “And, my powers are back!”

“Then I hardly see a flaw in this plan.”, I say, shrugging as I eat my salad. “I mean, it’s still reckless, but not a half bad idea.”

“It’s completely reckless and stupid.”, Kevin growls. “No.”

“Why don’t we just take a vote?”, Dylan asks, obviously noticing the arguement about to erupt between Kevin and me. “You two will never settle it otherwise.”

“Okay! RAINE!!!! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!!!!!!”, Alison yells impatiently.

“Are you done talking about your witchy blood-sucking self?”

“We’re having a vote. Last time I checked you were part of this group.”, Alison says, knowing she’d win with that statement. We were all aware of Raine’s defensiveness toward her leadership.

“All in favor of Alison attempting to get rid of her vampire-ness?”, I ask, looking around from where I sat.

“Thirty-three,” Alison says sadly. “That’s half.”

“Crap,” Kevin and I say in sync.

“So, now what?”

“Umm … who do I know that is completely indifferent no matter what?”, Alison says thoughtfully.

“Alison —”

“Oh, relax,” she walks away, dialing someone’s number. I had a feeling that that wasn’t a good idea.

♠ ♣ ♠

“Alison, what do you think you’re doing?”, I ask disapprovingly. “Who is this, anyway?”

“Hi, I’m Deborah!”, the girl says, trying to move her dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. “I’m a Lost Riddle.”

“Ahuh, what exactly is that?”

“A group of Riddles who didn’t want to be bound by the Riddle laws and lifestyle, and so broke apart and lived their own lives back down on Earth. She’s one of my best friends from Kentucky.”, Alison says, grinning at me.

“There’s probably a handle of Riddles like me. We all leave for different reasons. Some for love, some for freedom. It all varies.”, Deborah says, rolling her eyes. “Aly and I’ve been friends for a couple years now. The little witch. How yah been?”

“Good. The war was real, I died, paid my debts, then ended up here. Kevin’s my dead uncle, Melody’s my older sister. Zoey’s a witch just like me, David’s Prince of Hell and a Rebel Demon, Donovan’s a vampire. Yah know, nothing much.”

“Yeah, I guess not. Well, whatcha need me for?”

“Helping to keep Melody and Kevin from arguing. You’re playing judge!”

“Oh, I love that game!”, Deborah says, bouncing with her. “And which one’s Martin, before we start?”

“That one.”

“Okay, nice to meet yah all! Good to see yah again Chris, Kevin, Josh, Raine! Lets begin with the trial!”, Deborah says, plopping down in the chair. “State your cases. Remember, I’m gifted in the art of law.”

“Alison wants to stop being a vampire —,” Dylan says, before Deborah screams, “WHAT THE HELL!!!!!”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell yah. I’m a dead witchy-vampire.”, Alison says sheepishly. “Continue, Dylan, quickly.”

“As I was saying, Alison wants to stop being a vampire on the Summer Solstice by driving a stake through her heart and healing.”

“Ah, and Kevin’s disagreeing, saying it’s reckless and idiotic?”, Deborah guesses. “Typical Kevin. Melody, what’s your defense?”

“I object!”, Kevin yells.

“You object what? I haven’t even started talking!”, I say, glaring at him.

“I object Deborah running this trial!”

“Overruled!”, Deborah yells smugly. “Melody Jordan Knight, hurry along now. I have places to be, people to see.”

“Okay, Alison has hated being a vampire! As long as Mirabelle is around, nothing could truly go wrong! She’ll come back!”

“Alright, very well done. Kevin, quickly.”

“This is stupid and idiotic!”

“Stupid and idiotic are the same thing.”, Alison says, rolling her eyes. “But continue. I like where this is going so far.”

“This is an entirely reckless idea! Alison could get herself killed! I don’t care how quickly she heals or whether Mirabelle is there or not!”

“Who’s Mirabelle?”

“A healer. She can bring people back from the dead if they’re been dead for less than twenty-four hours.”, Alison says, rolling her eyes. “And you know how fast I heal.”

“Yes, yes I do,” Deborah says, smirking. “Melody wins!”

“OBJECTION!”

“OVERRULED!”

“I WANT A REDO!”

“NO! Now, I’ll be staying until this whole thing is over. Mainly because I don’t trust you.”, Deborah says, glaring. “Here’s your wooden stake, Aly.”

“Thank you,” Alison says, taking the stake. “Wanna see my fangs?”

“Oh, yeah!”, and her fangs extend, her eyes a glowing red. “WOW! THAT’S SO FRICKIN’ COOL!!!”

“I know, right? C’mon! You gotta see my house!”

And off they went excitedly. It was nice to see Alison happy for a change, instead of her depression for being a vampire. I really hoped Deborah decided to stay. I had a feeling I could get along with her.

“She’s not driving a stake through her heart.”, Kevin growls through his teeth angrily.

“Get over yourself, Kevin. Alison’s sixteen years old, and old enough to make her own decisions.”

“Deborah … why does that name seem familiar?”, David and Zoey say together.

“What do you mean?”

“She seems familiar somehow …”

“Deborah was one of the first of us.”, Chris says, shrugging. “Decent girl. She was the spirit of America all the way around.”

“That’s it! Outlaw Deborah Maybelle Sherwood!”, David says, looking around. “Please tell me you’ve heard of her. She went by Belle Starr during the 1800’s! One of the toughest female outlaws!”

“Belle Starr? I read about Tom Starr. That dude scared me to think about. Killing so many of the Cherokees …”, I shivered. “He was like your stereotypical bad-guy.”

“Exactly!”

“Oh, y’all talking about my dirty western history as an American outlaw? Belle Starr?”, Deborah asks, smirking. “Be glad that Katharina left me in time, Aly. You’d be having some pretty bad nightmares.”

“Wanna bet?”, Alison snorts.

“Oh, and your last name is Knight, right Melody? Felicia’s great-great-great grand-daughter?”

“Yeah, I think.”

“Felicia was one of my best friends. Before I was later marked as a looney, faking my own death by this kid I raised. He ended up marrying Felicia.”, Deborah shrugs. “Such a shame, too. Felicia gives birth to Victoria Knight, who dates Robert Scott Muse, who then leads to you. Then I can trace Scott all the way to little Aly. Daughter of the witch Meagan Rebecca, daughter of Katharina.”

“What. The. Hell,” Alison says, shocked.