Nicholas 02

by Renee Larsen

  They walked into the living room and sat down. Danielle looked at the family, “How did Lexie and Alex do?”

  Emily smiled. “They were perfect, and we had so much fun with them.”

  Danielle looked at Nicholas. “Drac, you’d better tell them about tomorrow.”

  Nicholas chuckled nervously. “I guess I’d better.” Her looked at his parents nervously. “Mom, Dad, we’re having human company tomorrow evening. Gram and Grand pa Joe are coming over. They’ve gotten very old and miss you terribly. We’ve bought some stuff that will age you some and I think it will be nice.” He looked from Emily to Derek waiting for their reaction.

  Emily looked at Derek. “I think it’s a great idea, now all we have to do is make this place look festive for the holidays. What time are they coming?”

  “We need to pick them up at seven-thirty.” Danielle replied.

  Derek stood up. “Then we’d better get busy figuring out what to do in this place to make it look like Christmas. Merrek did we stash anything in the attic when I bought this place?”

  Merrek thought for a moment. “Ya know, we put tons of stuff up there but who knows what it is.”

  Nicholas looked at Danielle. “Freckles, wanna go search an attic?”

  Danielle stood up. “Let’s go, you never know what treasures you’ll find in an attic.” Danielle took Nicholas’ hand and they disappeared.

  Nicholas and Danielle walked around the attic. There were boxes lining several walls, old steamer trunks, and an assortment of discarded furniture. Danielle walked over to one of the trunks and lifted the lid. “Drac look.” She said as she pulled things from the trunk.

  “Dani, not Christmas stuff, we need to find that and then we can look at this stuff.”

  Danielle frowned. “Okay,” she said softly as she walked to the next trunk and opened the lid. “Nothing here, I guess now we search the boxes.” She joined Nicholas by the wall and proceeded to open box after box.

  “Whose stuff is this,” she asked.

  Nicholas shrugged. “I think this was stuff that was in the house when my dad bought it.”

  Danielle reached out and squeezed his butt and then smiled. “Drac, I’ll check the boxes in the corner by the window. Can we come back up here before we go back to the city? I’d really like to look through some of this stuff.” She said as she walked to the other side of the room.

  Nicholas looked over at her. “Maybe we can have Christmas in the attic when Gram and Grandpa leave tomorrow.”

  Danielle opened several boxes and smiled. “Bingo, I found it.” She called.

  Nicholas walked over and stood by her side as she opened box after box of Christmas decorations. “WOW, look at all this stuff” he said in amazement.

  Danielle laughed. “Come on Drac lets start lugging it down. This is going to be so much fun. I love doing this, I love the lights, the music.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and added, “And I love you.”

  Nicholas kissed her. “I love you too, lets get busy, the higher the sun gets the more tired we’re gonna get and we have a lot to do. Go down and tell Dad and any of the guys to come up here, you and mom see to the twins.”

  The twins were asleep; the boxes from the attic were piled in the center of the living room. Emily looked at Danielle. “Dani, I’m so glad this is happening. I haven’t decorated since I was human, this will be so much fun.” She said brightly.

  Danielle walked closer to her and hugged her. “This will happen every year, we may be different, but it’s my favorite time and I want it to be the twins’ favorite time.”

  Emily returned her hug. “I’m glad, let’s have some fun,” she said laughing.

  Danielle and Emily started opening the boxes and pulling out the decorations that were not broken or ratty looking.

  Emily looked at Danielle. “Have you found any lights?”

  Danielle shook her head no and glanced at Nicholas. “Drac, can you go back up, we need lights.”

  Nicholas looked at her. “What kind of lights?”

  Danielle looked at Emily. “Come on Em, let’s go back to the attic.” She said laughing. Emily and Danielle disappeared.

  As they rummaged in the corner Danielle glanced at Emily. “Nicholas and I are gonna come back up here after Beth and Joe go home. There are several trunks with all kinds of treasures here. I can’t wait to look through this stuff.”

  Emily smiled. “What kind of things are in the trunks?”

  Danielle smiled. “Found the lights. The trunks have really old clothes, hats, letters; someone’s treasures that were saved through the years.” Danielle lifted the box of lights. “Lets go to work” she said.

  Danielle and Emily sat on the floor untangling Christmas lights, plugging them in and testing them. They piled them neatly to the side and stood up. Claire, Tanya and Eve watched them. They were old Vamps and had never done this before. They liked looking at the lights as they walked the streets or flew around but had never decorated and didn’t have a clue as to how so they watched.

  Danielle looked at the larger boxes off to the side of the room. “Em. Do you suppose we could be lucky enough to find an artificial tree in those big boxes?”

  Emily frowned. “We’re in Maine; most of the people I knew had live trees that they bought or cut down.”

  Danielle stood up and walked over to the larger boxes and began opening them. “Oh look, my mom always wanted to have one of these Christmas villages.” She took out several smaller boxes and set them on the floor. “These will be beautiful on the mantle,” she said happily. Danielle looked at Claire, Tanya and Eve, “Come on ladies, we need all the help we can get.”

  Claire smiled nervously. “What should we do?”

  Emily glanced at them. “Open the boxes with the houses and take them out, that will be a good start.”

  Emily and Danielle unpacked all the decorations and in the largest box they found an artificial tree. They set the tree up in front of the window and while Claire, Tanya and Eve set up the Christmas village on the mantle Emily and Danielle strung the lights on the tree and moved the decorations close to the tree.

  Danielle looked at Emily. “I think, tomorrow while Joe and Beth are here we should have them help us decorate the tree. We can do everything else. I think they’d enjoy that.”

  Emily nodded. “Great idea.” Emily looked at Derek. “Tomorrow as soon as it’s dark we need to go to the grocery and get human food of some sort and we have to buy them a gift.”

  Derek smiled. “We will. I haven’t seen that light in your eyes in a long time blue eyes.”

  Emily smiled at him. “I’m really enjoying this, it’s been a long time since I’ve decorated for Christmas, I’ve missed it terribly, but we were always traveling around.”

  At noon they lugged the emptied boxes to the attic and went to bed. Nicholas climbed into bed beside Danielle and pulled her into his arms. “You had fun didn’t you?”

  Danielle kissed him sleepily. “Drac, I had a ball. This is one of my favorite things in the whole world.”

  Nicholas returned her kiss. “Then we’ll do this every year. I loved the look in your eyes while you and mom decorated. You both seemed so excited and happy. Hell, even Claire, Tanya and Eve got into it.” He said lovingly.

  Danielle snuggled in his arms and closed her eyes. “Drac, I need to sleep, Alex and Lexie will be waking in a few hours.” She said kissing his chest.

  Nicholas kissed the top of her head, “Sleep.” he whispered, his own eyes heavy and wanting sleep.

  Danielle awoke when she heard Emily talking softly to Alexander as she lifted him from the porta-crib. She sat up “Emily, I’m sorry he woke you, I never heard him.”

  Emily glanced at her. “Dani, sleep, it’s early and he wasn’t crying, I just knew he was awake. Derek and I will take care of him; we don’t need the amount of sleep you do, sleep for a while. When Lexie wakes up, I’ll come get her.”

  Danielle rubbed her eyes sleepily. “Are you sure?�
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  Emily smiled. “Sleep we’ll wake you when the sun is down.” Emily said hugging Alexander then whispered “Come on little man, you have new stuff to look at and grandpa will feed you.” Emily carried Alexander from the bedroom.

  ***

  When Nicholas awoke Danielle and the kids were gone. He looked at his watch, it was almost five o’clock. He showered, dressed and walked into the living room. Danielle was playing on the floor with the twins. Lexie looked up and giggled pointing at Nicholas. “Hi sweetheart” he said as he reached down picking her up. “Danielle, where is everyone?” he asked as he tickled Lexie.

  “Mom and Dad went food shopping. How does the house look?”

  Nicholas looked around the living room. “It looks really nice. What else needs to be done?’

  Danielle stood up and walked over to the last box. “We need to wrap this garland and lights on the rails around the porch, it won’t take long, when Claire, Tanya or Eve show up we’ll let them watch the munchkins and we’ll do it.”

  Nicholas wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “Freckles, have I told you how wonderful you looked last night while you were doing this. You and my mom both looked like little girls so full of excitement and wonder.”

  Danielle rested her head against his chest. “Wait, it’ll be so much fun decorating the tree.” she said as the front door opened letting in a blast of frigid air.

  “God it’s frigging cold out there tonight.” Gerry announced stomping his feet to get the snow off his shoes.

  Nicholas looked at Danielle. “Babe, get our jackets and gloves, Gerry can watch them for a little while.”

  Gerry looked at Nicholas. “Where are you going?”

  Nicholas pointed to the box on the floor. “More decorations, these are for outside.”

  Danielle had her jacket on and handed Nicholas his. “Lets go, Drac, times a wasting,” she laughed.

  Nicholas and Danielle worked quickly wrapping the garland and lights around the porch rail and then plugged in the lights. Danielle grabbed his hand and pulled him off the porch and out to the street.

  “Look how pretty, oh shit, we need something on the door. Quick Drac, go tell Gerry we’ll be back in a little while, we have to find a wreath and we only have about an hour to do it, hurry.” She said.

  Danielle watched him go into the house. She would be ready for him when he came out. She gathered up snow making a good size snow ball. She hid behind a bush and waited impatiently. Nicholas came running out of the house to join Danielle and was immediately pelted with a snowball.

  “Not fair,” he yelled laughing. Nicholas reached out grabbing her.

  Danielle smiled innocently. “We really need to go, come on, we can play in the snow later,” she said pushing away from him.

  They dissolved into a mist and reappeared in town. They quickly walked to the only place in sight that was selling Christmas trees. Danielle walked up to a sales person, “Excuse me, do you have any door wreath’s left?”

  The man turned to face her. “You’re in luck, I have one left but you’ll need a pretty good size door,” he chuckled.

  Danielle smiled. “We have one, we’ll take it, how much?”

  The man handed her the wreath. “Merry Christmas, we’re closing, it’s my gift to you.”

  Danielle smiled warmly. “Thank you so much,” she said taking the wreath. She turned to leave but stopped and turned back. “Merry Christmas.” she called and ran to Nicholas. “Look what I found!” she said happily as she handed it to him.

  “Do you want anything else? The stores close in a little while.” Nicholas asked.

  Danielle looked down the block. “Let’s go down there to that shop on the corner. Maybe we can buy a gift for Beth and Joe.” She grabbed his hand and led him down the street.

  The clerk looked up when the door opened. “I’ll be closing soon. But you’re welcome to look around.”

  Danielle looked at her. “We’ll be quick.” she said as she quickly took inventory of the store.

  Danielle studied the items in the display case. “I need five of these, three of these, and one of each of these” she said pointing to several items in the display case. Danielle glanced over at Nicholas. “We’re almost done.”

  Danielle turned back to the sales clerk. “Ok, ring us up. Oh, by chance do you have gift wrap?” Danielle asked.

  The clerk nodded. “I can wrap these for you if you like.”

  Danielle smiled. “That would be great.”

  The girl behind the counter smiled. “Can you just write the names on these cards and put them with the items.” She asked.

  Danielle nodded and quickly wrote out the names saying, “I really appreciate this. Do we have time to run down to the clothing store while you wrap these?

  The clerk nodded. “Go ahead; this will take about ten minutes.”

  Danielle grinned. “Thank you, we’ll be back in a few minutes to pick this up.”

  ***

  Danielle and Nicholas left the stores loaded down with packages and the wreath and walked into the house just before six-thirty. They lugged everything upstairs to the bedroom. “Nicholas, grab the makeup and wax thing we bought, we’ve got to get the aging process going on everyone.

  Danielle picked up a couple of bags and ran down the stairs. Clair, Tanya, Eve and Gerry were there. “Who wants to go first?”

  Claire looked up. “First for what?”

  Danielle smiled. “For aging twenty-five years. Come on, you first.”

  Claire walked over to Danielle and sat down. “Lets do it,” she said smiling.

  Danielle took a small amount of melted wax and added some liquid makeup mixing it. “Okay Claire, let me know if this is to hot.” Danielle covered Claire’s face with the warm tinted wax. “Smile and frown, that’s it…, let me see…I think it’s good” she said as she took out some blush and brushed it on Claire’s cheeks. The she sprayed her hair with some gray color. She stepped back looking at Claire. “You’re finished. ‘Next…” Danielle called. One by one she applied wax, makeup and gray streaks transforming them. As Merrek, Nick, Tony and Frank arrived she made them up too. Derek and Emily were the last to arrive.

  Emily looked at Claire, “Wow, she did a great job, I guess we’re next. Who’s picking them up?”

  Nick turned around, “Me, I’m finished with makeup and will be leaving in a few minutes.”

  Derek chuckled. “Nick, you’re quite a hot looking fifty year old.”

  “Thanks Derek, I’m outta here.” Nick said as he pulled on his coat. “I’ll be back around seven-forty-five unless I hear from you.” He opened the door and disappeared.

  Danielle looked at Emily and Derek. “Who’s first, we don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

  Derek sat in front of Danielle. “I’ll be first, I’d actually like to see how I would look if I were fifty something. Do your magic sweetie,” he said. Danielle sprayed gray in his hair and then coated his face with a thin layer of wax. “Smile and frown, let me see…hmmm…. perfect.” She said as she dusted his face with powder.

  “You’re done; Emily, come on you’re the last.” Emily sat down and Danielle quickly applied the wax to her face, added blush and eye shadow and then dusted her face with powder. “Finished” she said as she quickly packed everything up. “I’m going upstairs to wake the twins and dress them, you guys set everything up, they’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” she said as she turned to leave the room.

  Danielle dressed the twins and quickly pulled out several wrapped boxes, “Nicholas, I need you,” she called.

  Nicholas opened the door just as she called to him. “I’m here, what can I do?”

  Danielle turned. “Hi, can you carry the twins downstairs. I’ll be right behind you with these boxes to put under the tree.”

  Nicholas took Alexander and Danielle handed him Alexis. “See you downstairs” he said as he left the room.

  Derek was coming out of his room as Nicholas walked down the hall.
“Need help?”

  Nicholas smiled. “Yeah, take Alex.”

  “Come to Grandpa.” Derek said reaching towards Alex.