Adopted Into the Supernatural

by Francheska Fifield

  "She says good job Selene, you accomplished your goal."

  "What about your sweetheart?"

  I roll my eyes. I really don’t have the energy to argue with her. She never listens anyway and no one on the planet would have energy after shopping with her. I mean seriously, she has more energy than a kitten high on catnip combined with the energizer bunny. How can someone hit so many stores in so short a time and not miss any departments?

  "I'm not sending the pic to Alastair. All I will get is another lecture on missing my training for something so frivolous."

  Heather can hear my sarcasm and exhaustion, so she likely knows exactly what I am thinking. Selene, however, doesn’t get it.

  "Someday you two are going to wake up and decide to admit to the rest of us how you really feel about one another. I look forward to the day my best friend stops lying to me."

  "I would have to stop lying to myself first, according to you."

  She smiles, flips her hair and poses.

  "True. I am the love expert."

  "I don’t remember you being a descendant of Cupid."

  "Ha! As if they actually exist!"

  That starts a debate that lasts us until dinner.

  Alastair:

  "It is to quiet."

  Mom has gotten so used to talking to Amber at dinner that, now we are back to silently eating, she is fidgety and talking just to hear someone talk. Dad certainly won’t indulge her in small talk and I agree with him. It is futile.

  "Someone, please tell me about their day."

  "Mom, she's only been gone half a day."

  "And it is already far too quiet. I can't take it anymore."

  "You were the one that gave her permission to go."

  "I didn’t realize it would be so quiet."

  I sigh. The downside to mom getting used to having another female around. When Amber is gone, the mother goes insane.

  "We ate in silence for years before Amber came around."

  How?"

  I look at her, frustrated. "You are acting like a child."

  "You are one."

  As far as comebacks go, it is the worst one she has ever come up with. "Calm down mom. It's only a few days. You can always text her."

  "I don’t want to unless she does first. What if she thinks I am keeping tabs on her and gets mad?"

  "If you tell her you miss her talking because dad and I are incapable, she will understand and reply without anger, I am sure."

  Mom chews on her bottom lip but doesn’t pick up her phone. The phone is right next to her plate even though she always says no phones at the table. A beep has her practically throwing her fork and grabbing it. Geez mom, don’t use vampire speed to check your text messages or anything. A smile tells me it is Amber. Mom only uses that smile for Amber.

  "She looks so grown up. I still don’t know how to feel about that. I know she's almost sixteen, and she's not dressed slutty, but she looks so much older and adult. I don’t think I am ready for her to be an adult. I want her in a pigtail phase."

  "I am sure she outgrew that long before you adopted her."

  "Yes, but she always indulges me and lets me treat her like whatever age I wish her to be. For the most part, anyway. Now she's actually growing up and acting like a teen girl preparing to leave the nest. I just got her; I don’t want her to go yet…"

  Mom has turned into a full-blown suburban mom in a matter of months. "She's sixteen; it will be at least two more years before she graduates and leaves for college."

  "That's not nearly enough time."

  "Convince her to go to community college and live here."

  "She’s far too smart for that and you know it. She deserves a good education. I'm just afraid she will go to some Ivy League school and will decide to stay in the human world. She can't go to our colleges since they are split by species. That only leaves Ivy League. What if she goes and decides she doesn’t want to really ever come back. She could fall in love, or get an amazing job offer, or dedicate her life to study…"

  "Her sister is here."

  "She could get a job which would allow her to support them both."

  I can’t say anything to that. Amber is smart enough to do anything she wants. If she wants to leave, we can’t stop her. She would certainly be safer, we can’t say otherwise. She is human in a world of monsters. Her connection to us will save her from some threats, but will also open her up to all new ones as well.

  "Just wait and see what happens."

  I glare at dad. That is not what mom needs to hear, and as oblivious to people's feelings as I am, even I can tell.

  "Her sister is happy here and she wouldn’t take her away from her new family. She wouldn’t want to leave us either. We are her family now, as much as her sister. Even if she lives in the human world she isn't going to sever all ties."

  "When you leave for the college in the vampire homeland, are you going to visit?"

  "Of course I will. You can visit me as well, or move back if I decide to stay there."

  "Then we really never would see Amber again."

  I can’t say anything to that. Only vampires and their human pets can live in the vampire hill, which is actually a mountain range covered with illusion and translocation spells. My family is completely against human pets, saying it discriminates, making humans food and slaves rather than equals. Even if they don't, Amber won’t exactly become a walking blood donor pet easily. She has far too much fire for it; and no one would do it as a favor to us, to treat her kindly enough that my mother would feel okay with it.

  "It will all work out, mom."

  She nods and responds to Amber, looking worried and sad. She has embraced Amber as a daughter, losing her will break her heart. Hopefully, we can work something out.

  Chapter Eight

  Amber:

  After the girls weekend, I am dropped off with two more bags than I left with, far girlier looking, and exhausted. My hair is slightly curled; I am wearing makeup, a tight tank top, and short shorts with my knee-high boots. It is not what I planned to go home in, but Selene threatened to drown all my other clothes unless I agreed. I thought about using some of my new martial arts skills on her, but it wouldn't have been right, so I didn’t.

  "I'm home."

  "We're in the dining room!"

  I drop my bags by the door.

  "Don’t mind my luggage in front of the door; I am starved so I promise to take care of them later."

  I take off my boots and run into the dining room. I want to eat so badly.

  "Did you skip lu…"

  Fiona stops when she sees me. I drop into my seat and quickly start filling up my plate. "Selene is of the opinion that girls should eat small portions to stay skinny. I tried to explain that I workout and exercise so I can eat what I like, but she thought I should spend the weekend getting the full girly experience. I am not a fan of being a human female if it means apples and salads make up the majority of my meals. I much prefer how we do things here."

  I go to take a bite and notice everyone staring. Fiona looks shocked, Fergus looks stern, and honestly, I am too afraid to look at Alastair after looking at the parents.

  "What?"

  "Go change, you look like a…"

  "You just look different. We aren't used to seeing you dressed up."

  "Don’t you mean dressed down…?"

  "Fergus."

  Okay, so that's an underlying argument happening when I would rather be eating. Cheers to Fiona for trying to be a cool mom.

  "Don’t worry; I am not a fan of it any more than you. Selene threatened to make the bell boys all fall in love with us and drown our clothing if we didn’t wear what she bought us on the way home. Heather and I agreed, but she will be excluded from get-togethers for a while as punishment. The eyeliner and lip gloss isn't so bad, but I prefer to be without all the other stuff caked on. Who needs blush? I mean seriously, what is its purpose? Also, I promise these shorts will only see the light of day on girl's days at h
ome. If I don’t accidentally kill them first. I actually kind of like my hair done like this. I think it looks nice, but if you don’t like it…"

  "I do. The hair makes your face look so elegant. I think it was mostly the shorts, honey. I mean we are used to you coming to breakfast in a sports bra with a cami over it, and that shirt isn't that much different, but those shorts…."

  "They aren't my idea of fun either. If Selene wouldn’t kill me, I would do away with them, but I am a terrible liar so I couldn’t lie and say it was an accident."

  "I'm relieved you don’t like dressing like that."

  "Sorry, I am just so hungry. I planned to shower and change after I ate. I can go now if you want. I just missed eating together as a family."

  Fiona smiles and grabs my hand. She looks on the verge of tears. What have the guys done to her while I was gone?

  "We missed it too."

  I smile and we all start to eat. Correction, they eat while I shovel food into me. Alastair eats quickly and leaves the table.

  "Uhh, did something happen while I was gone?"

  "After you shower and change, go to the dojo."

  Nodding to Fiona, who won’t look me in the eye and is getting glared at by Fergus, I quickly get up and run upstairs. I shower and shove on a sports bra and cami with yoga pants. Ahh, comfy clothes. I missed comfy clothing. When I am pulling my newly curled hair into a bun, Fiona drops my bags off in my room and leaves, saying nothing but smiling. Okay, so it isn’t a terminal, but still, something is odd here. I put on slip-proof socks and my clogs and head out the patio door, heading for the dojo. I will have to check my plants later to make sure Fiona hasn't killed them, but that can wait.

  I open the door slowly. He is punching a bag just like when I left. I creep in quietly.

  "Alastair."

  Suddenly he is before me, punching as I am stuck trying to block and make it back to the door. We have practiced me taking a punch but he usually holds back more than this.

  "Alastair! Stop, that hurts!"

  He keeps punching, not using full vampire speed, if so I wouldn’t be able to block any of them, but going faster than a human. He lands one good one in my stomach and I go flying back into the nearest wall. He looks crazed, panting heavily with blood vessels popping out and the look of a berserker in his eyes.

  "Fiona! Fergus!"

  I inch towards the door still on my butt, afraid to stand up. I back up, continuing to yell for the parents hoping they will come soon. He holds himself in check until I am almost to the door and then leaps on me like a leopard. He doesn’t resemble a human or even a vampire right now. I can't think of anything but a rabid killer cat.

  Alastair lands on me and pierces my neck with his teeth. It is not a gentle biting and it is not carefully done for feeding. No, he is trying to tear into me. I try to block my neck and face as much as possible, screaming at the top of my lungs because the pain is so intense.

  Then I am free. I wait for my head to stay on my shoulders and the dizziness to subside before taking off my shirt and holding it against my neck, looking over at Alastair.

  "What the hell happened?"

  "I don't know, I came in said his name to get his attention, and he tried to freakin’ kill me!"

  Fergus holds Alastair down and takes off his belt, tying up Alastair's wrists. It won’t hold for long but hopefully long enough.

  "What the hell happened while I was gone? Did anything weird happen? Did he come in contact with anything different?"

  Fiona blanches and I rush over to her.

  "What happened?"

  "I didn’t have time to check your plants this morning so Alastair said he would."

  "Oh shit! I need to check everything and get an antidote! Bring him to my cabin now!"

  I run ahead as they take the time to drag a violent and snarling Alastair. I tie my tank top around my neck so I have both hands free and look through all my plants. Shit, one of the Datura fruit is gone. He has eaten a toxic plant. I think about it. In small doses, it is used to treat asthma, which my sister has. I am growing it to make her a more effective treatment. But ingesting it before processing it causes violent behavior and delirium. It can be treated with the Calabar bean. A natural cholinesterase inhibitor.

  "Where do we put him?"

  "In the room over there."

  I have a patient treatment room.

  "It won't hold him."

  "I have to have a calabar bean to treat him. Someone has to get it for me. I don’t get it usually because I don’t need it for my usual potions and creams. I know they sell it at The Witches Cupboard, though. I need to treat myself and stop the bleeding."

  Fergus drags Alastair into the room, which has a reinforced bed and cuffs that are supernatural approved.

  "You have this in here, why?"

  Fiona is already gone to get the needed bean while I care for myself and Fergus deals with Alastair. "Fiona wanted me safe if I ever treated a supernatural. Not all treatments are gentle and I need to have them subdued to treat them."

  After Alastair is cuffed up we lock him in the room, still snarling. I hold on to the counter top to keep from falling.

  "You need a blood transfusion."

  "I'll be fine. I'm needed here to prepare the treatment."

  "How long will it last without treatment?"

  I think about it. It wouldn’t normally have been an issue for a vampire, but… "If this were a normal Datura plant it wouldn’t affect a vampire, but I had a plant witch help me to make this a stronger hybrid. I estimate it will last up to two weeks in him. School starts before then, so we can't let him ride it out."

  "Why are you growing it if it's so dangerous?"

  I grab two creams and take my top off my neck. I rub the first one on, not bothering to clean the wound first. It burns and I drop screaming. Most people would rush over to make sure I wasn’t dying. Not Fergus, he stands there, waiting for me to be coherent enough to answer again.

  I can feel the moment the blood vessels have cauterized and start healing up. My neck has stopped bleeding, but the change is taking me. I have turned werewolf venom into a cream for healing. Now I have less than a minute to smear on the cream that will push the venom out of me or I will turn. I grab the other open container and smear it on my neck which is now mostly closed because of the change.

  I thought the first stage was painful… this is worse. The pain is so bad, I see nothing but red. I can’t tell if I am screaming or not. I am not sure how much time has passed but I wake up to Fiona standing over me, pale as a sheet, holding a bag and shaking. Fergus is still in the doorway to the patient room, waiting. He is heartless.

  "It's to try to make a cure for my sister's asthma."

  My voice sounds hoarse and raspy. He doesn’t flinch, look guilty, or even try to help me up. Fiona drops the bag and gets me a glass of water.

  "Am I human still?"

  "Yes."

  I sigh. It worked. Here's to guessing being right. I will have to remember to thank my potions teacher for believing in me. I would never have taken the chance if she hadn't thought it would turn out alright. I don’t trust my own judgment that much.

  "Let me see the beans."

  "But you lost so much blood…"

  "I'm fine, the bleeding has stopped and it's mostly healed, I can get a transfusion later."

  I grab the bag and start crushing all the beans she brought. Well, I try, but I am too weak. Fiona comes over and grabs the tools from me.

  "You guide, I do."

  I nod and point to the beans. "Grind it into a fine powder without breaking my stuff please."

  She gives a small, entirely unbelievable 'I am fine' smile and does as I ask, far faster than I could.

  "Now boil some water. Once it’s boiling, get my jar of honey out."

  "Honey?"

  Ahh, it spoke! "Yes, he has to be fed this."

  Fiona sets water to boil and gets out my honey. I help her measure everything and give her step by step
instructions for every ingredient.

  "We can make it a bit watery, to squirt it down his throat. The honey helps it stay in the system longer; since he has a vampire metabolism we can't do just water and beans. Or do you think you can get him to swallow it like this?"

  I am making very little sense. I am beginning to reacting to the blood loss. I would have had to fully turn to recoup the blood loss. I just used the beginning of the change to mostly close the wound.

  "Let's try this."

  I nod, grab a syringe, and put a potent sleeping agent in it. In case he reacts too violently. I am not sure how it will affect him, with what we are giving him now, but I can’t take the chance of us not having a backup.

  "What's that?"

  Why does Fergus only speak when I can’t answer? "Don’t worry about it."

  We go in and Fergus sits on top of Alastair, holding him as still as possible. Fiona opens his mouth and holds it open. I take the bowl of honey mixture and pour it into his mouth. Eventually, it builds up and he has to swallow or suffocate. Even delirious creatures choose to swallow in this situation. Once it is gone, I collapse in the chair.

  "How long before it takes effect?"

  "I don’t even know if we made enough. I've never used either ingredient in its raw form before. I just know if anything will work, it will be this."

  Fergus storms out and slams my front door while Fiona gets up and paces. While they aren’t looking, I stick the syringe into Alastair's arm and empty it all in. He is too dangerous to keep awake and life-saving procedures will be easier with him out of it.

  "What was that?"

  "Something to help him sleep. He wouldn't want to hurt us while we are trying to help him." Fiona looks scared but nods, choosing to trust my judgment.

  "Go after Fergus. Alastair is your child, but he is your husband. Only you can calm him down. Trust me. I won't let anything else happen. I will make sure he pulls through this."

  She sighs, looks at the door and bed a few times, before nodding and leaving. Relieved, I lay my head down on the bed near Alastair's arm, listening to the sound of his breathing, making sure it doesn’t stop.