The False Vampire

Trinnean kept gazing at the wall, oddly focused. It was almost as if he had forgotten my presence. If it weren’t for his white knuckled fist that clutched the edge of the table, I could almost forget his tense words only moments before.

‘You must go, and now…’

Was there a reason that he was so eager to see me out the door? It was only seconds before Nadia bumbled through the entrance, gently but firmly clasping my elbow and guiding me outside the door. For mere seconds, I silently resisted, digging my feet into the floor, feeling it as the textures scraped across the sole of my shoes.

As the wind brushed over my face from the resulting slammed door, it gave me a moment to consider my life in this past year, and how everything that I had thought was static had changed. The Folk. Were all those monsters I feared that hid under the bed true? And whom had he warned her against?

I pivoted on my heel, looking around at the dark wooden floors, accompanied by peeling dark blue paint. What the hell was Anthesteria anyways? For a moment I pulled out my phone, tossing it lightly through between my hands. After moments debate, I shook my head. He really was crazy. Or at least, he must be. There were no such things as the monsters that I feared.

I activate my phone with the push of a button, opening a blank text for my parents to pick me up. I flicked through my text messages, seeing only one from Elisa.

Do u want to come over 4 dinner w/fam? – E xx

The timestamp indicated that it was sent at 6:47 PM. Mum doesn’t start cooking until around seven. Decision made, I dialled my mother’s number, the dialling tone plucking at the very last nerves I possessed.

It was an anxious few seconds, though I knew that there was no particular reason to be nervous. The dialling tone cut off, my mother’s gentle voice floating through the speakers.

“Yes? Hello?” mother never quite remembered to look at callers ID.

“Mum? It’s me! Adrienne” a grin twitched at the sides of my lips. “Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you already started dinner?”

“Oh dear! I have why?” I could just imagine my mum, with her fingers wrapped around a sterling silver locket that hung around her neck.

“Oh it’s nothing mum. I just got invited to dinner with a few friends at their house”

“Well go! I can save the food for later” it was easy to hear her smiling, even through the phone. I quickly thanked her before hanging up.

When? – A xo

It didn’t take much waiting to get a reply.

Now.

A grin split my face, spreading so wide that I thought I would resemble the joker. I knew I wasn’t far from their home. I could imagine it already – Mrs Purswell gardening whilst talking to herself, Elisa playing video games, and the boys brooding somewhere. I never saw them when I went over, just like I never saw Anita out of garden clothes, pockets stuffed with dried herbs.

Rounding the corner, I saw it exactly as I imagined. Like always, Anita waved at me from where she was kneeling in the dirt, sleeves rolled to her elbows. I called out to her, asking how she’d been. Like always, I didn’t receive an answer. She was too busy muttering to her plants about something, I assumed I heard Jae, and money, in that sentence.

If there was one thing I could say about the Purswell house, it was like walking into home. A home away from home. As expected, I found Elisa in front of the TV, her virtual character holding nothing but a sword and hacking away at a head in front of her. I sat behind her on the lounge, watching as she played sitting crossed leg on the floor.

The instant my bottom touched the lounge, Elisa scooted back, her spine pressing into my legs. I pulled out my tablet, a small thing that I used to hold books, many books. Flicking through the titles, I couldn’t decide on any particular one, but labelling Absynthe as a ‘to-read’.

Three kill strikes later, Elisa jumped up, her eyes flashing and hair swaying in the breeze. I thought back to when I first met her, almost five months ago. Soon, in three short months, we’d be graduating. That was plain scary, and to me, it wasn’t enough time. Casting my mind back to the present, I glanced at Elisa. She hadn’t changed.

“It’s dinner time!” She whispered to me loudly behind her hand in a mocking of whispering

“Girls! Boys! To the table!” the house turned into a frenzy of motion. Anita walked in, wiping dirty hands on her apron before disappearing into the kitchen, where cluttering noises began. Elisa bounced into the medium sized room, leaving me sitting on the lounge alone. I myself made my way into the kitchen, realising that there was only a single spot next – besides Jae.

I stood frozen, just for a moment, before he seemed to realise it too. The muscles in his back tensed abruptly, but then he turned, his eyes flicking to mine for the smallest fraction of time. He pulled out the chair besides him, before lowering his eyes to his plate. On the other side of the table, Eliza grinned. The grinned in such a way that told me she was scheming something awful, and I knew in that second that I wouldn’t like it. Not one little bit. With a shrug, I sat down, starting my dinner.

Everyone finished with a clattering of cutlery against the plates, leaving only Anita and I to finish eating. The first thing I had learned about this family is that they can seriously pack away the pounds. Elisa leaned forward, elbows resting against the table in a way that would make my grandmother gasp in outrage.

“So Adrienne, do you like Jae’s new necklace?” she grinned, her head tilting to the side. I looked over at Jae, noticing the medallion on a leather cord, a golden sunburst that glimmered with every breath he took. He looked into my eyes, and for a second, I was lost. Why had I never noticed his eyes before?

A foot connected with my ankle, a yelp escaping from my mouth. Who in the bloody hell was that!