The Fangs of Bloodhaven (17 page)

“A Monster Asylum?”

Everett spun around at the sound of his mother’s voice. Her face was pale and her lips were pressed together in a tight line.

“Mom, it’s not dangerous, it’s...”

She held up the vampire book. Everett’s heart dropped.

“Is that where you got this?” she asked.

He didn’t have to answer.

Tears showed in her blue eyes. “Everett, you’re not a monster.”

Everett held her gaze. “Yes, I am, Mom. I’m not a human; we both know that.”

He could see the hurt on her face. He rose and hugged Annie and then Bran. “Sorry, guys. I’ll come talk to you again tomorrow night.”

Annie gave her little wave and Bran smiled.

“Love you,” Everett called over his shoulder.

“La,” Annie replied.

Everett followed his mother out of the room. Every line of her body showed dejection and sorrow. It hurt him to see her like that. She stopped near the stairs to his room. He could hear the rest of his family still out playing baseball.

Everett decided to speak first. “Mom, I know I’m different. As much as we’ve tried to pretend otherwise, I’m not like the rest of my brothers and sisters. I’m not even human.”

“Everett,” she began. She looked down at the book in her hands. “You’re not like the creatures the portrayed in this book, either.”

“It’s a bit biased,” Everett admitted.

“Will you please give it back?” she asked.

Everett wanted to see her smile again. He wanted to chase the disappointment from her face and have her be proud of him, but he couldn’t give in, not this time. “Mom, I’ve always wanted to know more about what I am. There isn’t anywhere else I can find that. I can’t search too hard or else the family could be in danger, and I’m tired of not knowing.” He pointed at the book. “I need this. I really do.”

She hesitated, then handed it back to him. He turned to go down the stairs to hide from the sorrow in her eyes.

“Everett?” she asked.

He paused. She crossed to him and kissed his forehead. “It doesn’t make a difference whether you’re a human or a vampire. You’re a Masterson, and that’s all that matters to us here.”

“Thank you, Mom,” he said, touched.

“I’m going to talk to Dad about this asylum. It doesn’t sound safe,” she told him.

“It’s somewhere I need to go,” he replied, hoping she would understand. “I saved a boy’s life the other day. I need to be somewhere I can make differences like that. Sitting in the basement pretending to have a life isn’t living one.” Before she could be hurt by his words, he gave her a tight hug. “I love you, Mom. I’ll always be your little boy and I will always come home, okay?”

She held him quietly for a moment before she said, “Okay, sweetheart.”

Chapter Seventeen

Everett walked beside Torrance in the darkness.

“Can you imagine cars running everywhere?” the human asked.

Everett heard the catch in the boy’s voice. Despite the fact that Dr. Transton had cleared him to go home, it was obvious Torrance was still recovering. Everett was grateful that at least he couldn’t smell blood on the boy’s bandages.

“I’ve seen pictures of city streets filled with cars, but it seems pointless with everything so close,” Everett replied, trying to picture vehicles clogging Nectaris’ streets. From the pictures he had seen, sidewalks had been built to walk on before the Ending War. Nectaris had no sidewalks because there weren’t any vehicles. As it was, the roads were clogged with people on their way to work and school in the mornings and evenings, then pretty much empty until dinner. Everett usually missed the rush, keeping his wandering time until after curfew.

“Just the same,” Torrance said, “Don’t you think it’d be nice to have the freedom to visit the other cities if we wanted?”

“You can go to school in Cognitum,” Everett told him.

Torrance snorted, his gaze on the dark shadows between the buildings. “They’re not letting someone like me in there.”

“Like you?” Everett couldn’t hide his surprise. “I’m a vampire. There’s no chance for me getting anywhere close to the city of knowledge. But if you’re smart, it seems like the type they’d want.”

Torrance shook his head. “You have a skewed picture of the world, even for a monster.” He softened the words with a small smile. “I guess it’s easy to get a sheltered view stuck in a house until dark.” He waved at the dim moonlight. “It’s creepy out here at this time of night.”

Everett shrugged. “It’s not bad.” He glanced at Torrance. “So why can’t you go to college?”

Torrance was quiet for a few steps. When he answered, he kept his voice level as if to avoid sounding bitter. “My mom’s a weeder. She works at the lowest level of the Groweries pulling weeds that were tough enough to stand the fallout. I’ll be a weeder next year when I turn eighteen, and Tricky will be, too. It’s just the way it is.”

His answer bothered Everett. “So you can’t choose to go to school?”

Torrance shook his head without looking at the vampire. “Who’s going to pay for it? Education isn’t free, and if you can’t afford it, you have no options whatsoever.”

“That doesn’t seem right,” Everett said quietly.

Torrance gave a humorless laugh. “Welcome to the Pentagrin, Rett.” He paused and gestured to a building on the right. “That’s home. Come on.”

Everett followed him to the skinny front door. The buildings nearly touched on either side. It felt as all of the apartments that lined the road had been built by cramming them into the smallest possible space. The feeling continued inside when they immediately reached a tiny hallway with four apartment doors. Torrance led the way up the small staircase, past four more apartments, then up more stairs. The sound of babies, music, people arguing, and laughter came from various apartments. They reached the third landing.

“This is it,” Torrance said. He knocked on the door to apartment 3B.

The door immediately flew open. A woman who had to be Torrance’s mother by her matching brown eyes and dark skin grabbed him in a tight hug.

“Mom, Mom!” Torrance protested in pain.

“Sorry, baby,” she said, stepping back. “I’ve just been so worried about you.” She looked him up and down. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? If you’re not, I asked you to stay one more night in case you need help I can’t give. You look a little peaked. Maybe we need to take you back...”

Torrance raised his hands. “Mom, I’m okay, I promise.”

“Torrance!” a girl shouted. She slipped past her mom and hugged her brother carefully. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking up at him with big eyes.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m fine, honest. Like I told you on the phone, it was just minor, no big deal.” He gave Everett a pleading look, asking him to keep his secret. “Mom, Tricky, this is Everett. Everett, this is my mother, Mrs. Bowers.”

His mother stared at Everett as if noticing him for the first time. “Y-you’re the, um, the...”

“The vampire,” Patricia said in awe.

“Shhh,” Torrance warned her. He looked down the tiny hallway. “We don’t want the Taskers hearing.” He motioned for everyone to go inside and leaned close to Everett. “They like to call the authorities on any sort of disturbance. This would be just the thing they need to finally get us kicked out of here.”

Everett followed the family inside and shut the door carefully behind him. He turned around to find Torrance’s mother watching him.

“Hi,” he said self-consciously. “I’m Everett. Thank you for inviting me into your home.” He held out his hand, then dropped it again when she made no move to shake it.

Torrance and Patricia were already in the tiny kitchen that branched off from the living room. Two chairs and a coffee table filled up the room Everett stood in with only a little space for walking in between.

Everett searched for a topic to break the tension he felt from Mrs. Bowers. “Torrance mentioned that you’re a weed remover at the Groweries. I’ve always liked helping my dad clear the weeds in his greenhouses.”

“Torrance said you were from the Neighborhoods,” she replied. “Must be nice.”

Everett could hear a hint of challenge in the woman’s voice. He looked around the room. “You have an aloe plant,” he noted. He crossed to it.

Mrs. Bowers followed closely behind him and hovered near his shoulder as if afraid he would hurt the plant. Everett gently touched the leaves the way his father had taught him to.

“My dad plays music for his plants. He says it helps them grow.” He smiled without looking at her. “My mom’s convinced he just likes to go out there and listen. She tries to tell him that the studies show classical music is better, but he likes rock.”

Mrs. Bowers gave a small laugh. When he looked at her, Torrance’s mom’s eyes were wide and she appeared embarrassed as though the laugh had come out by accident.

He pretended not to notice. “My youngest sister, Isabella, likes to sing to them, too. She sings songs about fairies and rainbows that she makes up. She says it’ll help the plants dream.” He smiled. “That’s a four year old for you.”

He turned to find Mrs. Bowers watching him quizzically as if she didn’t know what to make of him. “You have siblings?” she asked.

He nodded and answered the unspoken question. “None of them are vampires, just me. The rest of my siblings are human.” He gave her a knowing look. “Luckily, my mom has a soft heart; any other family would have sent me packing when they realized they had adopted a vampire.”

His honesty seemed to soften her walls. She actually smiled. “Well, we’re grateful for you. It sounds like Torrance was in pretty bad shape when you found him.”

By Torrance’s description, it seemed he had given them a much milder story of what had happened. Everett chose to play along. “He’s tough. He just needed a bit of help getting to the right place.”

Her expression warmed. “I’m glad you were there. Why don’t you come sit down? Dinner’s about ready.”

She led the way to the small folding table in the kitchen. Four plastic lawn chairs made up the rest of the furniture. Patricia had already taken a seat near the barred window. She smiled up at him with the innocence of youth.

“Do you like drinking blood?” she asked.

“Tricky,” Torrance warned.

“It’s okay,” Everett said. He took the seat across from her. Concern from her mother and brother was palpable. He searched for how to answer the question. Luckily, he had lots of practice with his own younger siblings. “I don’t really like it,” he admitted. “It tastes awful.” He made a face.

Patricia giggled. Her hair was caught back in two fluffy buns of thick black hair that made him think of Isabella’s wild brown locks. The two would no doubt get along wonderfully.

“Why do you drink it?” she asked.

“Well,” he answered. “You know I’m a vampire, right?” At her nod, he continued, “Do you know what a predator is?”

She nodded. “An animal that eats other animals.”

Everett smiled. “Right. You’re really smart.” At her beaming expression, he continued, “A vampire’s body acts like a predator to blood. Instead of using it like a human does, my body has to eat it to keep going. If I don’t get enough blood, I die.”

“That’s like the snake in Mr. Varney’s class,” she said with a knowing nod. “If he doesn’t feed it a mouse once a week, it’ll die, too.” She leaned forward and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Everett leaned across the table. “Yes.”

“I like the mice better than the snake, so I freed some of them out behind the school.”

“Patricia!” her mother scolded.

“Mom, you weren’t supposed to be listening,” Torrance pointed out.

Everett grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Patricia sat back. “Good. I like you.”

“I like you, too,” he said. “I have a little sister you remind me of. She’s a lot younger, though. She’s four and her name is Izzy.”

“Does she have dog fangs like you do?” Patricia asked.

Mrs. Bowers threw up her hands and turned away as if she gave up on the conversation entirely.

Everett chuckled. “No, she doesn’t. I’m the only one in my family who does. It’s a good thing, though.”

“Why is that?” the little girl asked.

Everett winked at her. “I don’t think she’d like to drink blood.”

The little girl grimaced. “Me, either.”

“Dinner’s ready,” Mrs. Bowers said, setting down the pan of lasagna in the middle of the table.

“It smells amazing,” Everett said honestly.

Torrance grinned. “See, Mom? Compliments before he’s even tried it. I told you having a vampire over for dinner would be a good thing.”

Mrs. Bowers gave a small smile. “Maybe he’ll rub off on you two. I could use a few more compliments around here for all I do.”

She scooped out a square of lasagna and set it on Everett’s plate. After serving everyone, she brought over a bowl of chopped salad.

“This lasagna’s excellent,” Everett said. “It’s so cheesy.” He took a forkful of salad. Tomatoes were conspicuously missing. Those in the lasagna had been canned. “My dad loves to give away the tomatoes he grows. They’re a hot commodity in our neighborhood. Would you mind if I brought you some?”

Mrs. Bowers looked as though he had offered her a diamond. “We haven’t had tomatoes in years, not since the Kingship declared the soil better used for growing spinach.”

“Spinach, yuck,” Patricia said, making a face. “I miss tomatoes.”

“I’ll bring you some,” Everett promised.

“Can we go pick them?” the little girl asked with a hopeful expression.

“Maybe,” he said. Everett took another bite of the lasagna. He wanted to invite them to his house, but he didn’t know how Mrs. Bowers would feel about it. His mom loved to feed anyone who came over, and visitors were too few for her liking. He swallowed, then took a chance. “My mom would like to have you over for dinner tomorrow night if that works for you.”

“That’d be great,” Torrance accepted. He grinned at his mother’s surprised expression. “We can’t say ‘No’ now, Mom. I’ve already accepted.”

“Are you sure?” she asked Everett uncertainly.

Everett nodded. “I’ll bet Dad will even send you home with a tomato plant. He has a few extras sitting around and he needs to make room for the raspberries my mom keeps begging him to grow.”

“Raspberries,” Mrs. Bowers repeated with a wistful expression. “I’ve heard they’re amazing.”

“Dad’s ready to start them. He says he’s just waiting for the right conditions. It’s something about perfecting his bees so they’ll be sure to pollinate accurately.” Everett shook his head with a smile. “I don’t understand it all, but I’m sure he’d be glad to explain it if you’re interested.”

“I think it’s fascinating,” Mrs. Bowers replied with a hint of amazement. She looked at her children. “Do you want to go?”

“Yes!” Patricia said with a squeak of excitement.

“Are you sure we wouldn’t be imposing?” she asked.

“Honestly,” Everett told her. “I have eight siblings and my mom always cooks way too much food even then. I swear she makes enough to feed an army. She always welcomes more mouths.”

“Like you, Mom,” Torrance said, gesturing to the lasagna pan where four squares had been cut out for their dinner and nearly two-thirds still remained.

“I’m always telling you to eat more,” she reminded him.

Everett grinned. “That’s what my mom always says.”

Mrs. Bowers laughed. “I think we’ll get along just fine.”