Being Human (26 page)

He changed the least. His hair had lightened and faint lines appeared around his eyes and mouth. Sometimes when he moved, he groaned, like the action was harder now that he was thirty-eight. He joked about looking like our father, but I never saw the resemblance. All I saw was my brother.

“Don't you have homework?” Dan asked my niece, looking around his newspaper.

“Yes, you need to get your butt back up there and finish your homework,” Rissa ordered. “Not dress your uncle up like he’s going to a funeral.”

“It's called Goth, Mom, and it suits him. You can barely tell he's a vampire.” My niece sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Go.” Rissa pointed to the stairs. “Tommy, stay down here.”

My niece grabbed my hand and her voice turned pleading. “I’ll do my homework, promise. Uncle’s just going to paint my toenails while I do it.”

“Oh boy,” Dan muttered from behind his newspaper.

Rissa sighed but didn’t object.

My niece beamed and pulled me up the stairs. She fell on her bed and wiggled her toes. “Do black, I’m feeling dark.”

“Why are you feeling dark?”

“And Dad says you never ask me why.” She gave me the same pleading look she gave Rissa. “Just do it, pleeeease, Uncle.”

I took the little bottle and shook it like she showed me. An acidic aroma hit me when I twisted the cap off and I wrinkled my nose. “It didn’t smell this bad earlier.”

“You didn’t have your nose stuck in it,” she laughed.

I looked at her, shocked. “You agree with me?”

“Of course, is that so hard to believe?”

“Yes, humans never agree with me.”

She turned around so we were nose to nose. “I’m not most humans, am I?” She moved back when I shook my head and placed a foot before me. “There you go. Paint, please.”

“Shouldn’t you be doing your homework while I do this?” I asked as I carefully applied the paint.

“Mom’s over reacting. It’s not like anyone will kill me if I don’t get my homework done.”

I bolted to my feet with a snarl. “Who wants to kill you? I’ll kill them first!”

She jumped back with a squeak of shock. “No one, it’s a figure of speech. Oh jeez, Uncle, you broke the bottle.” She rushed from the room and returned with a towel. “Mom is gonna kill us.” Her eyes widened. “Not literally,” she quickly added and took what was left of the bottle from me and tossed it the trash before wiping the black paint off my hand.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break it.”

She smiled at me. “It’s okay, I should know better than to say stuff like that in front of you. I know the thought of someone hurting me upsets you.”

“I never want you to be hurt or scared of monsters. I’ll always protect you,” I replied. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Uncle.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Besides going to the store and buying me a gallon of nail polish remover? Don't tell Mom and Dad.”

“Okay.”

“And don't go to the store to get me nail polish remover either.”

One time. One time she told me to get her chips from a store. It's what she wanted, so why wouldn’t I do what she asked me to? The humans in the store panicked and the one behind the counter wouldn't even take the money I tried to give him. In the end, I left it on the counter. When I returned home Dan accused me of losing my mind while Rissa waited for Vampire Forces to knock on the door.

“I wasn't going to. You don’t need nail polish remover to survive.”

My niece shook her head. “Dad is so right, you are clueless, Uncle. In high school, the right nail polish can help you survive. You don’t wear the right clothes or say the right thing and you’re singled out to be picked on.” She pinned me with a serious look. “And no, you cannot kill anyone who picks on me.”

“You and my brother are always telling me that,” I grumbled.

“That’s because we know how your mind works,” she replied. “Don’t worry, no one picks on me. I don’t give them a reason to, but not everyone is that lucky.” Her voice turned sad and soft. “Poor Jamie, she always gets the worst of it.”

****

Poor Jamie, she always gets the worst of it.

The words stayed with me all day. Immobilized because of the sun again with nothing to do but drift half away and think. Think about what my niece said and about poor...

Jamie.

Was it her, the little girl I rescued from the monster?

The question kept repeating in my head, refusing to give me any peace. I knew I shouldn’t wonder. I put her behind me, I had to. Dan and Rissa had been right, I had no idea how to care for a human child and they made sure I learned that lesson the hard way.

For one night, they let me watch my niece. They didn’t say a single word or offer any guidance on what I should or shouldn’t do. By the end of a half hour, my niece was crying her eyes out.

Apparently, even if a human child can, they should not be allowed to eat a gallon of ice cream.

While Rissa tended to my niece, Dan tended to me. He asked if I understood now why she had to go back to her family. She would be safe, he assured me. Her parents would protect her. It was best if I put her behind me. I didn’t have to forget her, but I shouldn’t dwell on her. She was with her family where she belonged and I was something I had never been before.

Sad.

I found it hard to smile and sometimes stayed in the basement rather than deal with the world. Even my hunger was affected. I couldn’t concentrate on hunting and other times I didn’t feel like it even though I needed blood. It was only when I listened to Dan and put her behind me that everything returned to normal.

Now she was back as I wondered what my niece’s words meant. What did she get the worst of? As soon as I had the energy to speak, I needed to find out.

Once the sun set, I was up the stairs and outside my niece’s bedroom door in a flash. Voices and laughter on the other side froze me. A hand grabbed me, Dan pulling me into the spare room.

“Rules, lil’ bro. You’re supposed to listen to make sure we don’t have guests.”

“Sorry,” I replied and eyed the wall. “I wanted to ask her something. Will they leave soon?”

“Yes, and normalcy will descend again.”

“I thought you said there was no such thing as normal.”

Dan sighed. “Just stay here until they leave.”

In my niece’s room, one of the humans shrieked as the others started laughing. I moved closer to press my ear against the wall. They better not be picking on my niece. If they were, I didn’t care what rules Dan and Rissa set for me, I was going to stop them.

Dan pulled me back. “Don’t, you’ll get confused.”

“Why are they here again? They just visited her.”

“They were over last month and Mackenzie likes to see her friends outside of school a little more often than that.”

“But this is my time with her.”

“Your time?”

“Yes, when I wake, everyone else is awake too, so I spend this time with my family.”

“I didn’t know you had your nights planned out,” he laughed and I scowled. “I’m teasing, lil’ bro. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time left for you to spend with us.”

“But you’re aging and one day you’ll die.”

His smiled faded. “That’s a long way away, Tommy.”

“It scares me. I’ve always had you and I wonder how will I survive without you?”

He placed his arm around my shoulder. “I’ll always be with you. It may not be in person, but you’ll feel it, promise.”

I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure if I understood.

The door to my niece's room banged open and noise spilled into the hallway. Dan and I fell silent, not wanting to alert anyone to my presence. One thing hadn't changed over the past ten years.

Humans still hated vampires.

Not long after I rescued the girl, Vampire Forces was granted unprecedented power to stop the
undead plague
. Torchings were held nightly, vampires lined up to be destroyed. Lights filled cities and roads, blotting out the darkness so there was no place to hide. In public buildings, torches were placed alongside fire extinguishers, posters in schools showed how to spot a vampire. They were thorough in their crusade, working all hours of the night and trying to wipe vampires out.

Fortunately, vampires adapted if it meant survival.

I adapted to survive. One night, I walked up the stairs with my hands in my pockets and a passive look on my face. I blinked as I looked around the living room and shifted my weight like I was unable to stand still. Dan had stared at me, asking where I learned that. I shrugged and said I needed to. Then I tossed the hood on my jacket up and walked into the night like a human.

Pretending to be human was the only way to survive and as long as the humans didn’t see my face, I could fake my way through a crowd and hunt. I had even started leaving humans alive. It was less risky than a dead body left in the woods.

When my niece came back upstairs, Dan stopped her and gave her a stern look. “Aunt Dee and Uncle Dick are coming for dinner tomorrow. I want you to be on your best behavior.” He turned to me. “And you to be scarce.”

“Aunt Dee and Uncle Dick are so boring,” my niece groaned.

“You should let me kill them,” I added.

Dan rolled his eyes. “You both are whining like a couple of teenagers.”

“I am a teenager, Dad,” my niece replied. “And Uncle will always be a teenager because he was one when he was turned.”

Dan shook his head and disappeared down the stairs.

I grabbed my niece’s hand and pulled her into her bedroom. “What did you mean by she got the worst of it? Worst of what?”

“What? Who are you talking about, Uncle?”

“The girl I rescued.”

“Oh, you mean Jamie. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“But I’ve been thinking about it all day and I want to understand.”

She glanced away and shrugged, seeming reluctant. “It’s just she’s really quiet and everyone knows what happened to her and some people are mean about it.”

“Are you?”

“No, of course not.”

“But you said you didn’t like her.”

For a moment she stared in confusion, then a light dawned in her eyes. “Uncle, I was five when I said that and jealous of the attention you were giving her.”

“You don’t hate her?”

“No, but we didn’t play much after you took her home. She became different, barely talking to anyone. Sometimes I think she’s afraid of people, scared of what might happen. I feel bad for her, alone…” Her voice trailed off.

Or maybe I had stopped listening. She was alone and afraid, but she wasn’t supposed to be! She was supposed to be safe with her family, that’s why I took her back to them. I thought they would protect her. A tight knot formed in my chest as I realized everything I thought I knew was changing again.

****

Dan stopped me at the door. I tilted my head and he shuddered. “Never going to get used to that.”

I untilted my head and relaxed my posture. “Is this better?”

A laugh escaped him. “I’m not sure; it’s odd seeing you act so human.”

I shrugged. “Did you want to tell me something?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, if you’re going out, be careful.”

I crossed my finger over my chest. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“I wish Mackenzie hadn't taught you that,” he sighed. “Seriously, be careful, lil’ bro.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll survive.” I gave him my usual assurance, then pulled my hood up and headed out to find the others.

Amy was the one who started gathering us. When Vampire Forces started hunting us to extinction, she found the survivors, brought us together and kept us from tearing each other apart.

She was perched on a tree branch with her legs dangling. When she saw me, she jumped down, a grin filling her face as she greeted me with the name I had given her, my brother’s. As much as I trusted her, I couldn’t quash the fear of having another vampire know my real name.

“Hey, Danny-boy.”

“Hey…” My words turned into a growl as another vampire appeared too close for my comfort.

He glared at me, lip twitching. “He smells like human and I don’t like it.”

Amy pushed the vampire back into the trees to hide with the others. “We all smell like human, get over it.”

I gazed warily at the trees, still feeling the vampire’s anger. His hostility wasn’t uncommon. He confronted every vampire about smelling human, but I received the brunt of it for smelling of human the worse. I swallowed my hostility and turned my attention to the only vampire I wasn’t threatened by.

“Any new ones?”

Amy sighed. “No, I haven’t found any more, but on the bright side, everyone is still here. VF hasn’t torched any more of us.”

“Do you want to go somewhere with me?”

Amy raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Are you asking me on a date? You know, I’m much older than you.”