unvamped

by Elizabeth Stevens

  It was not long before Mary did come past, kissing his cheek good night.

  After he was in his pyjamas and had brushed his teeth, Arthur came past, poking his head in to say good night. He smiled at Charles and Charles smiled back.

  Charles got into bed and threw the covers over his head. It still felt weird to be going to bed while it was dark and moving around during the day, but the yawn that escaped him was enough to tell him he was ready to sleep.

  With a curse, he remembered his promise to check about his blazer. He leaped out of bed, pulled it out of the wardrobe and looked it over. It smelled musty, and there was a faint smell of wet dog that lingered about it. He had no idea if it was dirty or not, but he assumed not and put it away again.

  He got back into bed, surprised at himself, but feeling oddly pleased. The taste of blood still haunted him, but he thought he was beginning to feel better.

  Chapter Five

  A

  s her mum’s car pulled up, Ellie looked at the house with pleasure. It was a bit crooked and very eccentric, but it was home and it felt like she’d been away forever.

  “Welcome home, Pet,” Dad said.

  Ellie opened the car and let her dad help her out. She felt like she was being watched, but she couldn’t see anyone. She heard the car doors close as her mum and Morganna got out of the car too.

  “Isn’t it great to be home, Pet?” Morganna asked, laughing.

  Ellie’s dad helped her up the path and her mum and sister followed behind.

  “Hi Charles,” she heard Mum call.

  She stopped, her head whipped around and she stared at him. She frowned at him. She couldn’t quite see them, but she remembered the look of those green eyes as they stared at her, and she knew they’d look just the same now. She shivered.

  “Hi Ethel,” she heard Charlie reply and she saw that his head was still turned towards her.

  “This is my older daughter, Morganna. And, that’s my husband, who I believe you’ve met, Al,” Mum said as she followed.

  “Hi.” Charles waved at Morganna and then Ellie’s dad.

  Beside her, her dad nodded sombrely.

  “You’ve met Pet,” Morganna said stomping into the house.

  “I... Yeah...” he said, the embarrassment plain on his face.

  Ellie felt another of those twinges as he looked at her again.

  “Yeah...” Ellie heard her mum repeat as she broke away from them and went over to him.

  Ellie and her dad went inside.

  Morganna was sitting at the dining table when they got inside.

  “I can’t believe Mum talks to him so much. Even you were nice to him, Dad!” Morganna stared at their dad with accusation plain on her face.

  “Leave it be, Morg,” he said quietly. “Just because he’s done a terrible thing doesn’t mean we can’t be civil to him. Your mother and I feel the pull of other’s pain and feel the demand to aid them more strongly than…others…”

  “Than me, you mean?” Morganna said.

  “He needed my help, I helped him,” Dad replied with a shrug.

  “What happened?” Ellie asked.

  “He kicked the lawn mower through the fence.” He sat her in a chair and turned the kettle on.

  “How?”

  “It seems, Mr No-Fangs over there is having some problems adjusting to his human body,” Morganna said, inspecting her fingernails.

  Ellie looked pointedly at her father for a better explanation.

  “Charles is experiencing some…shifting between his vampire powers and his human body’s abilities. It comes and goes, seemingly at random, and I don’t think he expects half of it,” he said, getting four teacups ready, then rummaging around for some biscuits.

  Ellie looked at her hands, knowing she’d caused it. “Will it stop?”

  “Hm? Oh, your mother doesn’t seem to think so, but she doesn’t have the heart to tell him. She thinks it’s psychosomatic. He doesn’t want to be human, so his brain isn’t really letting him.”

  “So, he needs to learn to be human again?” Ellie asked.

  “Not just that. He needs to accept it before he can truly be human.” Her dad poured water and milk in the cups and put two in front of his daughters.

  Ellie wrapped her hands around the warm mug gratefully.

  She hadn’t realised that the curse would be so intricate. Once she’d found out what she’d done, she’d assumed he’d just be human, simple as that. She felt her heart flutter as her resentment for her magic flooded her thoughts. She held her mug tighter and breathed slowly.

  Her mum came into the room and sat down wearily at the table with them.

  “How is he?” Ellie asked.

  “Oh, who cares?” Morganna huffed, taking a bite of biscuit.

  “Morganna!” Mum reprimanded then turned to Ellie. “Not so good, Pet. He’s putting on a brave face and he’s doing really well by Mary and Arthur, but all the fluctuations in his abilities look like they’re wearing on him. He was in bed all last week, Mary told me, sick as anything, with a fever and throwing up most of the time. It’s definitely taking its toll, probably even more than he realises. I just don’t think he’s going to be able to adjust…”

  “Why don’t you just tell him that, Ethel? Don’t keep his hopes up,” Dad sighed.

  “Because… I’ve just promised him I’ll help him learn to control them.”

  “Ethel!” He looked at her in exasperation. “Do you even think he can?”

  “I don’t know, probably not. What harm is there in trying?”

  “The harm is in what he’ll do when he finds out you lied to him,” Morganna said grumpily.

  Ellie sat and looked towards the house next door with the human-vampire inside – although there were three rooms and no window between it and her. She wondered if she would be able to change him back. Or, if she even should.

  “I’m feeling a bit tired, is it all right if I go up to my room for a bit?”

  “Of course.” Her parents nodded.

  She kissed them both on the head, picked up the curse book off the table and went upstairs.

  They had a few visitors that day, coming to wish Ellie well. There were a few neighbours, an aunt and uncle, and Aubrey materialised in the hallway at some point.

  Ellie and her family sat outside with Aubrey and ate a late lunch. Aubrey couldn’t stay long, but she’d desperately wanted to see Ellie now that she was home. Aubrey made lots of jokes about rogue vampires seducing Ellie just to get to her fabulous witches blood. As she laughed and joked, Aubrey’s bright pink hair sparkled in the sunlight.

  Once the Coopers had the house to themselves again, Ellie took herself back to bed with the curse book. She hadn’t had much time to go through it before people had arrived, and now she sat with it on her lap, open to a random page in the hopes it would tell her what she needed to know. If she could just work out what that was, she thought that would be fantastic.

  She flicked through the book, looking for anything about accidental curses or curses that required so much power it tried to kill you, even though you were already dying…

  She stopped on a page that looked reasonably promising.

  ‘Retaliatory (Intentional) Curses’ she read at the top of the page. She flicked to the next page and saw ‘Retaliatory (Unintentional) Curses’. So, this was the page she wanted, she assumed.

  She read through the page, feeling slightly more horrified as she went. Not only were unintentional retaliatory curses generally bad – they were also bad for one’s health should one enact one; Thanks for that, Ellie thought – but they could almost never be broken, at least not easily.

  She both smiled at and felt frustrated by a note at the bottom of the page:

  If you have used this type of curse on someone, you should not worry that there is no way to break it. If you used this type of curse; they deserved it.

  Well, yes, she thought, Charlie probab
ly did deserve it, but what kind of human being does it make me for putting all that suffering onto him? A voice in her head laughed at her, no kind of human being at all, you’re a witch, it reminded her.

  She despondently dropped the book on the floor. She knew she shouldn’t be angry with a book for making her feel crappy, but she decided she didn’t care, and would be angry with it anyway.

  She threw herself under the blankets and, as she closed her eyes, wished for no dreams. Or, at least none she would remember. And, at the very, very least, none where she was haunted by piercing green eyes.

  ****

  By the end of the week, Charles had made dinner, finished painting the house and was now weeding the front yard. He saw the man from next door throughout the week, and the look on the man’s face told Charles he was doing all right.

  He was losing a battle against some nettles, grumbling and swearing and covered in dirt, when Ethel’s car pulled up in front of their house. He sat back on his heels and watched as the man helped a blue-haired girl out of the car. Charles thought that must be Pet.

  As he looked at her closely, he suddenly recognised her. He intrinsically knew it was her. He half-thought he could even smell her from where he was. But, he could not be sure the smell of berries was real or a memory.

  An older-looking girl and Ethel got out from the other side. None of them shifted in his vision. Charles shook his head, wondering why. He knew Ethel and the man had done something so that their glamour did not affect him. Still, that did not explain why Pet’s and the older girl’s glamour were not affecting him. Pet’s hair shone blue in the sunshine and the other girl’s sparkled purple. Both shades looked like they were sprinkled with glitter.

  As the man helped Pet up the path, Ethel looked over to him and waved.

  “Hi Charles,” Ethel called.

  Pet’s head whipped around and she stared at him, stopping in her tracks. A frown crossed her features and Charles could not help but notice how beautiful she was. He felt his heart begin to race and he could intimately remember the feel of her in his arms and the taste of her blood. He shook his head and stood up, rubbing his hands on his pants.

  “Hi Ethel.” He smiled, having trouble taking his eyes off Pet.

  “This is my older daughter, Morganna. And, that’s my husband, who I believe you’ve met, Al,” Ethel said, pointing them out.

  “Hi.” Charles waved hesitantly at Morganna and then Al, who nodded.

  “You’ve met Pet,” Morganna said without looking at him as she walked into the house.

  “I... Yeah...” He looked at Pet and tried really hard to convey an apology. A wave of embarrassment flooded over him.

  “Yeah...” Ethel came over to the fence as the other three went in the house. “Excuse the family.”

  “Well, I did try to kill your daughter; it is understandable.” Charles shrugged.

  They were silent for a while.

  “Weeding?” Ethel finally asked.

  “Yes. I thought Mary would appreciate it.”

  “I’m pleased that you’re taking to heart what Al said the other day.”

  Charles shrugged again. “I have nothing else to do.”

  “Don’t be modest, Charles.” She stopped him before he said anything more. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “‘Bye,” Charles said as Ethel turned away, then he remembered something he had wanted to ask her. “Ethel?”

  “Mm?” she replied.

  “I have been trying to fix the fluctuations...like you said, but it’s not working...” Charles stopped for a moment. “Do you think you could help me at all?”

  “I’ll see what I can do, Charles, but maybe tomorrow, okay?” Ethel said slowly.

  He nodded and watched her walk into the house.

  He turned and walked into his house as well, thinking it was high time for something to eat. The memory of Pet’s blood hit him again and he tried to shake it off, deciding that some leftover spaghetti would be a better plan.

  After he ate, he went up to his room. His window looked out onto Pet’s house and he could not help but look out every few minutes. Though he could not see anything, there was something about knowing she was there that was nagging at him.

  Over the course of the rest of the day, he saw a few people come and go. He saw one girl, with bright pink hair and wings, out the back but never saw her come or go through the front door.

  As night fell, he tore himself away from the window to have dinner with Mary and Arthur.

  “It’s great to see Ellie home again,” Mary said, serving the mashed potato.

  “Ellie?” Charles asked, wondering who that was.

  “Ellie, Ethel and Al's youngest,” Arthur said, looking at him in slight concern.

  “Oh, right, yeah,” Charles chuckled. He wondered why the family called her Pet... Or why Mary and Arthur called her Ellie...

  “Petronella. A bit of an unfortunate name if you ask me,” Arthur mumbled.

  Well, I suppose that explains it…

  “No one did, dear.” Mary smiled. “Poor girl, I’m not sure what happened to her, but I heard it was something awful.” Charles almost choked on his potato. “Are you all right, dear?”

  “Yeah, fine,” he answered.

  “Do you think I should take something over?” Mary looked at Arthur.

  Arthur laughed and took her hand. “You’ve been taking them something every couple of days, Mary.”

  Charles zoned out. He was having a hard time getting the scent of Pet – or Ellie’s – blood out of his head.

  “Are you all right? You don’t look so well.” Mary patted his hand.

  “What? Oh, just a bit tired. Is it all right if I go to bed?” Charles asked.

  “Of course. Are you sure that’s all?” Arthur asked.

  “Yeah, I just didn’t sleep well last night.” Charles got up and kissed Mary on the cheek. “Good night.”

  “‘Night, darling.”

  ****

  Ethel agreed to help Charles get control over his fluctuating senses. She had Charles sitting on the lawn in her backyard while she sat in front of him. Charles had his eyes closed and he tried really hard to do...something. Trying to control the fluctuations was incredibly difficult when neither of them had any idea when they would happen or how long either side of his senses would last.

  “Charles, are you even trying?” Ethel sighed.

  “Of course I am!” he snapped.

  “Okay, fine. Whose senses are you using?”

  “Um...vampire... I think....”

  “What do you mean, you think? How do you not know?”

  “Damnit, I am working on it, Ethel!”

  “Fine, are they fluctuating?”

  “I do not know... My sight is the most reliable fluctuation.”

  “Fine, open your eyes.”

  Charles looked at her and flinched. “Yes, it is fluctuating. Turn the glamour off!”

  “No, you need to learn to control it.” Ethel grabbed his chin. “Look at me, Charles.”

  Charles opened his eyes and looked at her. She shifted in his vision, and he had to force himself to keep looking at her. He took deep breaths, like she was teaching him, and tried to concentrate on just one Ethel. Neither he nor Ethel knew which lot of senses he should focus on, so the first step was working out which lot were stronger.

  “Okay. Now, what do your eyes want to focus on?” Ethel asked. As her lips moved, Charles saw two sets.

  “Neither. Both.” Charles rubbed his head but kept his eyes on the witch.

  “Mum, what’s for... Oh...” Charles turned around and saw the blue-haired girl come outside. He looked back to Ethel and he only saw the purple-haired version.

  “Hi, Pet,” Ethel said with a smile.

  “Sorry,” Pet said, not looking at him, but he knew she was talking to him. “I didn’t know you were here today.”

  “It is okay, it is over now.”
He kept his eyes on Ethel.

  “I’ll be inside.” Charles heard the door close behind Pet and suddenly there were two superimposed Ethels in front of him again.

  “Sorry, Charles,” the two Ethels said.

  “It is fine, it is fluctuating again,” he replied with a grimace.

  “Okay, so let’s try this again.” The Ethels smiled.

  ****

  At Ellie’s urging, her mum agreed to keep her promise to help Charlie get control over his fluctuating senses. Ellie watched out the kitchen window as her mum sat with Charlie in their backyard. Charlie had his eyes closed and looked like he was trying really hard to do... Well, Ellie didn’t know what, and she wasn’t sure he did either. She really hoped her mum knew what she was doing.

  Ellie watched, and couldn’t help but smile, as the two of them spoke to each other. Charlie kept his eyes closed but was waving his arms around in the air and looked very frustrated. Her mum had the exact look to her that she got when Ellie or Morganna weren’t doing what they were supposed to.

  Charlie opened his eyes and visibly flinched.

  Even through the window’s glass, Ellie heard him yell, “Yes, it is fluctuating. Turn the glamour off!”

  She watched as her mum grabbed his chin and pulled him towards her. Charles opened his eyes slowly. Ellie turned away from the window and rummaged in the fridge, wondering what her mum was planning on making for dinner. If she hadn’t planned any, Ellie thought she was in the mood for Chinese. She walked outside.

  “Mum, what’s for... Oh...” Ellie began, but stopped as she saw the look on Charlie’s face.

  She wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but it completely fried her brain. She’d thought it would be okay being near him, but… Now, it just felt weird.

  “Hi Pet,” her mum said.

  Charlie smiled but somehow it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Sorry,” Pet said. She looked at her mum, but she spoke to Charlie. “I didn’t know you were here today.” Which, of course was a lie, but he’d never know that.