Round Three

Bloody New Year

“Joey? Gina?”
I look about me for a moment at first, wondering if I was heard.
“Hi Dad,” comes Joey’s cheery greeting, as both my children spring into view from nowhere. I don’t bother to ponder where they’d materialised from, instead giving a little expectant smile before I speak again.
“I’ll need you to help me clean up,” I tell them, before I look down at a spot on the floor. “We’ve got a nasty mess to dispose of.”
Both children follow my gaze, and their spirits sink. Joey scowls as he delivers a kick to the untidiness in question.
“Serves them right,” he growls.

“That’ll teach them to mess with Mum and Dad!”
A fond smile momentarily plays upon my lips as I watch him. He reminds me of my cousin Kian; aggressive tendencies, but his heart’s in the right place.
“Yes,” I muse with an air of sadness as I begin to drift, “It will.”
Not exactly the kind of mess you’d expect to find after a New Year’s bash, I know. They weren’t even invited… but I’m jumping ahead of myself here.

What with our children being older, Chris and I had decided to welcome the new year in style, mostly to lift our spirits after all that’s already happened. Could 2008 be any worse to us than this past year? To be honest, I’m starting to wonder. As it was, we had to be very choosy over who we invited, although we still managed to fill the house, in more than one way.
“They’ve got kids!” Chris protested.
“So do we!” I told him, “They can bring them along, they’ll have someone else to play with.”
We didn’t invite Mum – I doubt she’d have attended if we had – but we did invite her parents. I could picture their eyes lighting up even from the other end of the phone.
“Fireworks?” Granddad challenged, “You don’t want fireworks! I’ve a much better idea!”
“Oh, you fancy yourself as an entertainer do you?” I grinned, “Look forward to seeing what you have planned!”
I also became grateful very quickly that one of my Uncles runs the city hospital, as I found myself asking if he’d be able to supply any blood bags – we wouldn’t normally ask, but I knew first hand what happened if you let even one vampire get hungry, let alone the group we were waiting for. I therefore heaved a sigh of relief when he said he’d arrange something, but told us not to expect him at the party as it’d be a full moon.
“Okay,” I smiled wryly, “That’s three people off the guest list right there.”
It wasn’t just vampires though. A good portion of hu… well, mortals were coming too, so it was worth setting up a buffet table, whereupon I faced a different challenge.

“Oooh, that looks good!” Emily drooled, "Can I have some?"
“Hands off!” I told them as I continued to serve out the food, “There won’t be any left for the party!”

Said party got into full swing very quickly. We very carefully scheduled it for eleven thirty so we’d have enough refreshments to last the night. In the meantime, as midnight crept ever closer, Granddad Patrice – or Pat as he preferred to be called – and Grandma Fabio snuck off, after strongly suggesting that we should move the party outside.
“Are we having fireworks?” one of the children asked excitedly.
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully, with an air of suspicion, “They have something up their sleeves, no idea what.”
The older couple returned in heavy overcoats and flip-flops, with something wrapped in sackcloth. While Fabio uncovered the bundle, Pat addressed the audience before them in true showman style.
“Ladies, gentlemen and others,” he began with a devilish grin, prompting a series of sniggers, before changing his manner. “Okay, okay,” he chuckled, “Well, after our long break away, and coming back to this,” he paused to indicate the snowy ground, “We decided to bring a taste of summer to this cold night, warm things up a little.”
“A little?” Fabio challenged with a wink as he rose.
“Okay, maybe more than a little,” he shrugged in reply, “You ready?”
“Si,” Fabio agreed with a grin, their hands lifting to their coats.
“Un,” Pat began, following his husband’s lead in reverting to his mother tongue.
“Duo,” Fabio continued, looking as though he was bracing himself for something – the cold?
“Trois!” Pat finished, and in a flash they whipped off their overcoats, kicking off their shoes. At first I burst out laughing at the sight of these tropical skirts they were wearing, but something in me took over, and by the sound of things Chris too, as his wolf whistle echoed mine.
“Hey you two, behave!” Pat winked, while Fabio passed him what seemed to be a staff as he took over the introductions.
“Straight from the tropics,” he grinned, torching the ends of his staff, “We bring you a sizzling start to the New Year!”

My eyes widened in delight as the penny dropped, and I began to chuckle in glee.
“Wow, this beats fireworks any day!” I beamed, watching with wonder as the men masterfully tossed and twirled the burning rods, both above their heads and below. Not surprisingly, once they’d finished, they were quick to pull on their coats and sandals.
“You learnt that on holiday?” I asked, intrigued.
“Certainly did,” Pat grinned, “Enjoy it?”
“Loved it!” I replied happily, “You’ll have to teach me sometime!”
“We might be able to arrange something,” he winked, “Let’s get back into the warm, eh?”
“Good idea,” I agreed, about to move when I felt hands on my hips. A loving smile stretched across my face as I looked back at Chris.
“I don’t know,” he teased, “Bunch of lightweights!”
“You were human too once,” Pat reminded playfully, leaving us to each other as he retreated to the cosy interior.
“You know, if you’re cold, you only have to ask,” he smiled knowingly, planting a kiss on my cheek before I turned to face him.
“Mm hmm,” I murmured, my arms hooking round his neck as I watched the others move inside, before looking back into his red eyes. “Happy New Year sweetie.”
“Happy New Year,” he grinned, placing a tender, lingering kiss on my lips. I soon became lost in his touch, our mouths melting together as we clung tightly to each other.
“Come on you two!” Evan teased, beckoning us inside, “You’re meant to be hosting a party!”
I gave him a good view of my emerald tongue in reply, before following them back inside. I couldn’t believe the sight before my eyes at first, but it became infectious after a while.
“Come on!” Fabio encouraged us, holding out his hands invitingly. “It’s easy!”
Chris and I exchanged looks, before I went to join them, finding out just how easy this was meant to be. Not even Chris could escape this dance’s clutches as he appeared by my side.

The alcohol flowed, the blood bags were drained, the buffet table was emptied, and we even let our human children sample some of the wine, “only because it’s New Year, so make the most of it.” Chris and I could snuggle up to each other in the company of others, and that in itself lifted the mood considerably. Just as we’d forgotten our troubles though, we were rudely interrupted as they came back to haunt us.
Bang bang bang.
With the music as loud as it was, we became grateful a lot of us had sensitive hearing. One of the vampires used thought to turn off the stereo while Fabio answered, still in his grass skirt but not the sort of person to care, with or without the alcohol.
“Maybe a complaint about the music?” Rowan sniggered.
“They’ve never complained before,” Chris supplied, but our musings were cut short on seeing Fabio pushed roughly aside. As the gatecrashers came into view however, my heart sank as I recognised their faces.
“Well well, look who it is,” I observed coldly, crossing my arms, “Six years since we left school, and you’re still looking to give us trouble?!”

“Oh, things are much different this time,” one sneered as they advanced, “Seems there was more going on back then than we thought.”
“What’s it to you?”
“We thought you were sick before?!” another spat, “Couldn’t believe it when I spotted you in your garden. Kissing another man is bad enough, but your brother?! Last time I checked that was illegal.”
I swallowed hard, rooted to the spot as the panic crept up my body, encasing my being like ice. The men before us, once the kids who’d bullied us at school for preferring other guys and even me for my colour, were far from done too, especially when they spotted our two dhampir children, Joey and Gina.
“Hold everything,” another stalled, a glimmer of recognition in his eyes as he realised how much they resemble me, “When we thought you both had spare tyres… you were pregnant?”
“With each other’s kids??” yet another deduced, “Now that is disgusting.”
Chris moved towards them while my grip tightened on the little hands felt in mine, as I struggled to control the pace of my breathing. It all seemed to play in slow-motion like a dream, and I was only vaguely aware of one of the older vampires pulling the human children away from the scene unfolding before us.
“I missed the part where any of this is your business,” he stated slowly.
“Wow, look at you!” one observed, and I idly wondered whether or not he was genuinely impressed by what he saw. “New face and bigger biceps too! You’ve been busy!”
“Certainly have,” Chris concurred, crossing his arms, “Now, is there a point to your impromptu visit, or did you just come to preach morals at us?”
“Oh, you can be sure,” Dad piped up as he joined his side, “My two sons have been there plenty of times already. What makes you think a bunch of homophobes are going to cut any ice, or even that they have the right to try?!”
They paused in their tracks for a moment as they looked about themselves.
“What is this, Transylvania?!” one pondered aloud.
“The whole town is by now,” another answered, before their manner changed as odd looks seemed to pass between them. “Pays to come prepared these days.”
“Certainly does,” came the strangely sinister reply.
I saw glints of silver, and Dad recoiling with a look of horror on his face. The fear etched on the other vampires told me they could only be stakes. I silently prayed that Chris wouldn’t do anything hasty, mentally reminding him he had four children to consider, and his slow steps backwards prompted a small sigh of relief at first.

Without warning there was a blur of movement, his leg melting into a smear of black treacle as he demonstrated his physical knowledge, combined with the predatory instincts and lightning mobility of a vampire, with alarming accuracy. In one sweeping movement his foot collided with each man in turn, and the deadly silverware clattered to the hard wooden floor. Disarmed and disorientated, the hunters had become the hunted, and now easily succumbed to Chris’s wrath as he gripped one by the throat, snarling with fangs bared like a lion defending his pride. Following their Mum’s lead, my hands became empty as the twin dhampirs lunged forward, and others moved in to claim the remainder. Meanwhile I just watched, still frozen with fear, as my friends and family turned 2008’s welcome party into a bloodbath. My head spun as past and present blended into one, tears of distress and confusion trickling down my cheeks as I watched them fall one by one. The scent of blood was strong, hanging in the air like smoke, but it did nothing to pull me from my teary trance. Only when Chris walked back to me with bloody lips did I move, and even then just to fall into his waiting arms.

“I’m scared Chris,” I uttered, holding him close to me.
“Me too,” he confessed, clutching my head as we clung to each other.
Understandably the others started to leave, the mortals to their beds and the immortals to the cover of their homes, not knowing how much longer the sun remained curled up under the sparkling black duvet of the night sky, and how long the moon would keep its canine companions entertained as they frolicked in the woods with their four-legged counterparts. Among those I knew to be our Mum’s brother, as well as Dad’s Mum and twin sister, who were no doubt celebrating the New Year in their own way, oblivious to the new threat looming over the heads of their extended family.

I still wonder now what there was really to celebrate. With all sense of time lost through the absence of sleep, I have no idea how much has passed as I continue to peer down at the corpses of our old school bullies, new tears tracing the tracks of the old. If they saw me with Chris, how many others did? What would happen to our children if word reached the wrong ears?
“Dad?”
The little voice carries on the air, reaching through my ears into the depths of my mind, pulling me free from the thick fog of memories as I trace the sound back to my daughter Gina; the little lady who tore my throat open at the tender age of two, making me into the blood-sucking creature I am today. I dread having to explain the night’s events to not only her, but the rest of our children.
“Is everything okay?” she asks innocently.
“I don’t know,” I reply softly, looking back at the fallen bodies, “I hope so.”