Control

Control

Chapter 10: The Headmistress and the School Boy

Sophie's P.O.V

We'd finally recovered from Kirby's little visit, the routine had returned making the household a lot calmer. Hal was finally starting to relax and get into his new routine that included the baby; speaking of Hal he was washing the dishes wearing his marigolds…a very bizarre sight when you'd seen him pulling someone's guts out…but it was a nice sight to see him happy in himself as he began singing. Annie had the baby upstairs and Tom was…well he was in the basement, last night had been a full moon, his howling had kept me up for most of the night which is why I was casually relaxing on the sofa. The doorbell rang accompanied by several knocks; Hal immediately stopped singing and looked over at me before eyeing the front door suspiciously. Annie materialised near the front door to hear someone shout something through the door about Nina, George, Mitchell and her…did she know the person that was banging on the door?

"I'm back!"

"Go on. It's fine. Let him in." Annie sighed both Hal and I looked at her…what if it was the Nemesis with the burnt arm that would harm the baby? "It's definitely not the Nemesis. He's way too much of a knob for that."

Hal opened the door letting in a boy with black short hair; he was a vampire that was for sure which meant his age could be anything…but he certainly wasn't over a hundred years old.

"Who the hell are you?" the vampire asked looking at Hal, he'd obviously been expecting the previous inhabitants of the house to be here…I wonder if he even knew they were dead…

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Hal asked looking towards Annie as an older woman walked in as well closing the door behind her.

"Hal, be nice to our guests." I whispered as the pair entered the living room, to be perfectly honest they were rather an odd couple to show up at our door, sure they weren't here to harm the baby, but I wasn't expecting a vampire that looked about sixteen and an older woman to rock up at our doorstep even if Annie knew the vamp.

"Hal and Sophie, meet Adam. Adam meet Hal and Sophie." Annie introduced a she too came into the living room, Annie had described Adam as a knob…which seemed to be the appropriate term for him, with all his inappropriate behaviour, the woman who we found out was named Yvonne Bradshaw was the complete opposite of Adam she was polite and well mannered…well they always said opposites attract. At this point Tom had decided to wake up and join us in the living room, however he had yet to get properly dressed…

"Put some clothes on, man. This isn't The Jungle Book." Yvonne exclaimed looking away from where Tom stood in only his underwear, he started to walk back out of the room realising he wasn't wearing any clothes except his underwear.

"There are fresh clothes on your bed Tom." I called as he exited the room and ran upstairs; at least he had an excuse for his lack of clothing…even if we couldn't tell Yvonne…unless because of Adam she knew all about the dark underworld.

"So where are George and the others?" Adam asked looking at Annie expectantly…he didn't know, and Annie didn't seem to want to break the bad news after all she was only just starting to seem like she was getting over it.

Hal: I'm afraid they died.

"Oh, Annie, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Adam asked moving over towards Annie who seemed rather uncomfortable when he hugged her and moved immediately away from her.

"No. No, not really. Um, thank you. Thanks."

Hal's P.O.V

No one seemed to notice or point out the fact that Yvonne, who as we knew was neither a werewolf nor a vampire, could see Annie…was she something else or did she have gifts that allowed her to see…whatever the case was she wasn't an ordinary human being…if she was one at all.

"Now, sorry for imposing on you like this, and apologies too for the other trouble that's bound to follow." Yvonne said as she began to look around the room taking off her coat and hat.

"What trouble?" Sophie asked we didn't need any more trouble as it was; we had the War Child to look after and vampires were trying to kill her and well killer ghosts and of course not forgetting the imminent arrival of the Old Ones.

"Men, dear." She replied motioning towards myself and Adam…why were men trouble that was following this woman? She wasn't exactly anything great to look at…even Golda was something better to look at and she wasn't the nicest there was.

"Men? Have you run into trouble with the Mafia? Or some gangs?" Sophie questioned, she too seemed to have a hard time understanding what Yvonne was getting at as was Annie.

"Oh no, nothing of the sort, Yvonne Bradshaw never consorts with those types." She replied; right so if it wasn't people looking for money then what did she mean?

"That Brad Pitt guy, he was all over you like a rash, wasn't he? Tell 'em." Adam interjected he seemed to be infatuated by the woman…but then again he didn't seem like he had all the screws there.

"He was filming in the school chapel. We were introduced and... Well, all I can say is he has a lovely trailer. Oh and surprisingly small hands." She answered I looked down at Sophie who had propped herself up on the side of the sofa. She mouthed the words 'Yeah…right.' to me before politely smiling and nodding towards Yvonne. Once Tom had come back down, dressed properly this time, the nagging in the back of my mind renewed when Tom shook Yvonne's hand and something instantly changed about him…he seemed as though he too was infatuated by this woman…I'd seen this somewhere before…

It had been about half an hour since they had originally arrived and suddenly we began hearing people crowding outside and the distinct sound of camera flashes…what had they brought to our front door?

"Erm…guys there are reporters and photographers outside." Annie stated as she looked out of the window. We immediately looked at Adam and Yvonne was this some of the trouble they were referring to?

"I believe in modern parlance, one might say we are on the run." Yvonne stated as she sat down on the corner chair, clearly unhappy that the reporters had arrived.

"Why? What have you done?" Annie questioned looking between the both of them, this was the last thing we needed, if those cameras caught one photo of either Adam, Sophie or I, the vampire community would be found out and it would be our heads on the line…well more Adam's head on the line.

"Her." Adam replied smirking at his own crude joke, Sophie and Annie shook their heads at his rudeness.

"Adam!" Yvonne exclaimed, these two certainly were a very bizarre couple, even if she didn't know that Adam was a vampire that was older than he actually looked. The reporters obviously hadn't seen it that way, a scandal of a headmistress and a school boy.

"Oh, right. Sorry miss." Adam said though he still was smirking.

"Adam and I are in love." Yvonne explained making Sophie hide her face in my shoulder to stop herself from laughing out loud, as I held in a chuckle.

"You're in love?" Annie asked surprise written all over her face as Adam wrapped an arm around Yvonne's waist.

"Uh huh. I see you, baby. And there's nothing going on down there. What do you think of that?" Adam replied using another one of his crude jokes, this was more than likely why Annie had called him a knob.

"I'd rather not." She muttered shaking her head in disbelief, Tom on the other hand seemed positively jealous.

"What's with him?"

Sophie's P.O.V

So far we had found out that Adam and Yvonne were in love, this had caused a media spark because of the age gap most likely, because they didn't know the real age of Adam and more than likely Yvonne didn't know that fact either. Adam was quite the…ass…instead of using innuendo he didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the dirty crude 'joke'. The surprising thing was that Tom seemed to be envious of their love…but he didn't seem to care until he shook hands with Yvonne…

"Age is merely a number. And what matter lies in the heart. Sadly, the press didn't see it that way. And the headlines have been positively purple." Yvonne explained looking down at Adam with a loving expression on her face; she didn't exactly talk in the modern way.

"Positively purple?" I asked, I hadn't heard that phrase in a while, everyone just said that it was bad or good, they didn't coin it as positively purple maybe positively green with envy…

"Yeah, 'Sordid School Mistress Seduces Student'." Adam said nodding his head at his 'funny' use of alliteration however Yvonne was not best pleased.

"If one of my girls had been using sloppy alliteration like that in an essay, I'd be speaking to the parents." She stated I hid my head in Hal's shoulder once more; after all it was impolite to laugh in a guest's face. Yvonne began to look around the place even more, giving Annie the chance to speak to Adam and Hal the chance to speak to me privately.

"Don't you think it odd?" he whispered as he pulled me out into the hallway.

"Odd? Their relationship, or Tom's jealousy?" I questioned quietly…had he caught on to something?

"I can't put my finger on it, but all these men she's talking about that have become infatuated with her, like Tom, is just bizarre." He whispered back making sure that she wasn't in earshot.

"Do you think she's prettier than me? Since all these men seem to become obsessed with her." I asked he shook his head pulling me into a hug.

"You're much, much prettier than her." Hal whispered pecking me on the lips before bringing us back into the living room and over to Annie who was asking Adam whether or not she had told Yvonne that he was a vampire. Apparently he hadn't, but he told Yvonne that we were different…

"Adam warned me you were different. But never let it be said that Yvonne Bradshaw isn't "open minded". Our head of French is a member of Amnesty, so I know the drill." She announced as she came over to our little group, Tom following her like a little puppy…

"Erm…well I can tell you we're not members of Amnesty…" I replied though I remember when it was founded back all the way in the 60s while we were getting used to living with Leo. Annie gave Adam a pointed look willing him to tell her exactly what he was…the reaction to it was well the general reaction you would get when someone would tell you that they were a dead person who fed off of the blood of others…

"You're a vampire?" she questioned looking at Adam as if he had just grown another head and had started to juggle with four arms…although if I was her I would probably react the same.

"So are they." Adam stated pointing at Hal and I, Hal shook his head he knew this was a bad idea.

"And Thomas is a werewolf. And Annie is a ghost. And you're actually forty-seven." Yvonne began rambling holding her head; this wasn't good news for her.

"Mm hm. For my twelfth birthday I got an Etch-a-Sketch. Our school gym was opened by Suzie Quarto." Adam explained however Yvonne just shook her head; she didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Adam if you wish to terminate our relationship, please just say so rather than insult my intelligence with this bunkum." Yvonne said sadness spread across her face, if this were a way to break-up with someone…it was a very harsh way to do it…but this was all very true.

"No, it's not…" Adam tried reasoning with her, but she immediately cut him off.

"I have abandoned everything for you. My job. My home. My reputation. I implore you; do not repay me with this." She pleaded the room was silent for the first time since Adam and Yvonne had entered the household.

"Maybe…erm…let's leave this discussion for another day. I'm sure you're both tired from…running away." I reasoned Annie nodded in agreement as she went to pick up their luggage…the perks of 'rent-a-ghosting'.
"Sophie you couldn't look after Eve for a bit." Annie asked as she began ushering Yvonne and Adam up the stairs towards the guest rooms. Hal and I walked up the stairs after them heading towards Eve's room, with all the commotion that had been happening she wasn't unhappy one bit.

"Hello cutie." I whispered as I picked her up bouncing her up and down, Hal wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me on the cheek. "Hello handsome."

He chuckled making the baby gurgle; our little kind of moment was ruined as Adam waltzed in.

"So I hear you're Old Ones. Colour me impressed." He stated as he picked up some of the ornaments lining the drawers.

"I'm surprised that you've heard of the Old Ones." I muttered before returning my attention to Eve.

"We were." Hal replied as he began walking over towards Adam, if anyone was intimidating it was Hal. Adam began to leave the room but he stopped momentarily at the door.

"Listen, Count Dracula, don't think you'll get anywhere with her. She's mine. Our bedroom was like the Discovery Channel last night." He warned…I wasn't going to get used to his crude language any time soon.

"Lovely…"