by Cheree Alsop
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I think that’s kind-of cute.” Her cheeks turned red and she looked away.
They started walking again. After a few minutes, Adrielle asked, “What happened to Annie and Bran?”
Everett glanced down a dark alley. “They were born with genetic defects. It’s in my mom and dad’s genes. That’s why the rest of us are adopted.”
“All of you?” Adrielle asked in surprise.
Everett nodded. “Mom always knew she wanted more kids, but when Annie and Bran both had the same condition, they were told it wouldn’t be safe to have any more children of their own, so they decided to adopt.”
“So that’s why you’re a vampire and the others aren’t,” Adrielle said.
Everett glanced at her. “Vampirism surfaces when puberty hits. My teeth came in the same time that I got really sick. There aren’t many vampires out there.” He fell silent for a few steps, then said, “When they realized what I was, they could have given me back. In the research I’ve done, I found out most vampire children are discovered after being adopted. They’re given back to the government, and they aren’t heard from again.”
“Ever?” Adrielle asked, appalled.
Everett shook his head. “Vampires are becoming very scarce. Mom and Dad probably saved my life by keeping me around.”
“They seem to be very caring people,” Adrielle replied.
Everett had to agree. “I don’t imagine most parents would be too thrilled to find out their adopted child needs blood to survive. Monsters generally don’t come from happy families.”
Adrielle nodded but didn’t say anything.
Everett searched for a change of subject. “So you liked my brothers and sisters?”
“I like all of them,” Adrielle replied. “They’re wonderful. I love Annie’s smile, and I knew Bran was laughing. Celeste was so sweet about my hair.” She paused and looked at Everett. “Hey.”
“Hey, what?” Everett asked with a smile at her tone.
“I figured it out,” she said. Her eyes creased with her smile. “Annie and Bran are the oldest, followed by Celeste, then I’m guessing Donavan?”
Everett laughed. “Yeah, you got it. Then me, Finch, Gabe, Hadley...”
“And Izzy,” Adrielle finished with a grin. “Your parents named you in alphabetical order.”
“The best way to keep track of us,” Everett told her. “We always tease Mom that the next kid they adopt will have to be named Jack or Jill.”
Adrielle laughed. “Or Jadwiga.”
“You made that up,” Everett accused.
She shook her head. “I didn’t, really! I knew someone with that name.”
Everett grinned. “I’ll have to tell Mom she’s got another option.”
Adrielle kicked a partially crushed tin can. It went skittering down the mouth of the tunnel. She hesitated at the entrance.
“It’s alright,” Everett told her. “We’ll be fine, I promise.”
She looked up at him, her gaze touched with an emotion he didn’t recognize. “How can you be so sure?”
Everett shrugged. “I can be pretty scary if I have to be. Nobody will mess with you.”
Adrielle gave him a small smile. “You weren’t so scary outside Dalia’s diner.”
Everett grimaced. “Don’t remind me. That was embarrassing.”
Surprise touched her eyes. “Embarrassing? You tried to save me.”
“By passing out,” Everett replied dryly. “Not exactly knight in shining armor material.”
Adrielle laughed, then covered her mouth with her hand as if surprised it had come out. When she took her hand away, her smile refused to leave. “You, Everett Masterson, are very different than I first thought.”
“Is that a good thing?”
Adrielle nodded, her expression growing serious. “When you were just a vampire, it was easy to be afraid of you.”
“And now?” Everett asked, catching her tone.
She gave him a searching look. “I’m still figuring you out.”
“Fair enough,” he replied. He gestured toward the tunnel. “We’d better get going. Monsters come out after curfew, you know.”
At her continued hesitation, he held out his hand. “Come on, Wolfie Elle. I’ll get you home safely.”
She slipped her hand into his. Warmth ran up his arm. Everett led the way into the darkness. He searched the shadows, but couldn’t help being completely aware of the girl who held his hand.
Vampirism didn’t exactly make a boy date material. At fourteen, Everett had never even gone steady with a girl. Now he was walking through the tunnels of Nectaris holding one’s hand. He didn’t know whether he was blessed or insane. Either way, the fact that she trusted him made him feel like he was floating. The grime and garbage that cluttered the tunnels no longer appeared as disgusting. He even caught himself smiling when a rat scurried by.
He caught Adrielle’s tight expression.
“It’s rather homey,” he said.
A reluctant smile touched her lips. “It’s not at all. I don’t know how anyone ever lived here.”
“Me, either,” Everett admitted. He nudged a dark pile with the toe of his sneaker. An audible squish sounded. “It must have been really bad to drive everyone underground.”
“I guess they didn’t have a choice,” Adrielle replied. “At least down here, most of them could avoid the fallout.” She glanced at him. “There would have been a lot more monsters otherwise.”
“I wonder if it would have been easier that way.”
Adrielle’s gaze caught in an emergency light that flickered overhead. “You mean if there were more of us?”
Everett nodded. “If we were the norm instead of the freaks, maybe people wouldn’t hold it against us so much.”
“Would you wish this on others?” Adrielle asked softly.
Everett fell quiet, thinking about her words. When he was first diagnosed, he hated the way people treated him. Instead of being just another Masterson kid, he was The Vampire, The Freak, The Bloodsucker. Thankfully, time and his ability to blend in and not ruffle feathers helped people forget how different he was. Yet there were times when the things that set him apart were more than apparent, like not being able to save Adrielle because his organs had used up all his blood, or being feared by people in their neighborhood and seeing the fear in their eyes.
Or the way he craved blood every moment of every day. He was afraid his self-control wouldn’t be enough to protect those around him. He feared the day he wouldn’t be able to turn away from the lifeblood coursing through the bodies of those he passed on the street or bumped into in stores or the mall. He truly was a monster.
“No,” he admitted, glaring into the darkness ahead of them. “I wouldn’t, ever.”
Adrielle’s head lifted at the vehemence in his voice.
Everett pushed on ahead, afraid of her questions or that she would think less of him if she knew the truth. He ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. He could feel the hollow points where the blood would run if he ever bit someone. He wished he could file them down. A memory surfaced at the thought.
Everett saw his thirteen-year-old self bent over the sink in the bathroom. He held one of his father’s metal files in one hand and a pair of wire cutters in the other. No matter how hard he tried, the teeth refused to break or file away.
“Everett?”
Tears streamed down his cheeks when he turned to face his mom. She looked at the tools in his hands and tears filled her eyes as well.
“Oh, Everett,” she said. She wrapped him in a hug, holding him tight like she used to do when he was little and scraped his knees. “Baby, please don’t hurt yourself.”
“I hate what I am, Mom,” Everett replied with a sob. “The other kids are afraid of me, and I’m scared of myself.”
She patted his back. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re our Everett; you always will be.”
He shook his head. “I’m different, Mom.
I feel it inside. I want to bite people. I-I need to.” His hands shook.
His mother stepped back. She gently took the tools from him and set them on the bathroom counter. “Everett, listen to me,” she said, her voice quiet but stern. “You are a caring, kind boy with a heart bigger than anyone I know. You can control this. I believe it.”
Everett closed his eyes tight. “But it’s so hard.”
Her hands rested on his shoulders. He knew if he opened his eyes he would see the loving blue gaze that had believed in him ever since he was little and said he wanted to fly. He kept his eyes closed.
“Everett, can you do something for me?” she asked gently. When he couldn’t bring himself to answer, she kissed his forehead. “Everett, please look at me.”
He forced his eyes open and met her gaze guardedly.
The smile she gave him was filled with warmth despite his admission that he wanted to suck the other students’ blood. Her expression hadn’t lost its love when the doctor told them he was a vampire, and it contained the same love at that moment when he felt like he deserved the names the other kids called him.
“Whenever you find yourself losing control, can you promise me you’ll do one thing?” she asked.
“What?” Everett replied, his voice small.
She pushed his black hair out of his eyes. “Repeat the names of your siblings.”
“My siblings?”
She nodded. “If you feel yourself losing control, say Annie, Bran, Celeste, Donavan, Finch, Gabe, Hadley, and Izzy. Can you do that for me?”
“Why?” Everett asked, confused.
His mother smiled. “Because along with me and Dad, those are the people who believe in you and know that you’re just another Masterson kid.” She winked at him. “We’re a crazy bunch, but we’re family, and we’re there for each other. So can you do that for me?”
Everett nodded. “I will, Mom. I promise.”
A shoulder bumped his, bringing him back to the present. He found Adrielle watching him with a quizzical look, her head tipped to one side canine-like.
“Where were you?” she asked.
Everett realized he was standing at the exit of the tunnel. He wondered how long he had been there. “Uh, sorry. I was just remembering something.”
“I thought maybe you were afraid of the moonlight,” Adrielle teased.
Everett chuckled and followed her outside. “My mom used to tell me that if I ever felt like I was losing control, I should recite the names of my siblings.”
Adrielle glanced back at him. “Does it work?”
“Yeah,” he admitted with a nod. “A lot better than I thought it would.”
“Your mom’s a smart woman,” Adrielle replied.
“She is,” Everett agreed. “Extremely smart.”
Chapter Five
“Back safe, just like I promised.” Everett held open the door that led inside Adrielle’s apartment complex. Sadness touched him at the thought of her returning to the empty rooms with pretend pictures of happiness on the walls.
“Thank you,” she told him.
She walked inside. He watched her make her way to the stairs. He was about to leave when she hesitated before setting a foot on the bottom step.
“Rett?”
For some reason, her calling him by his nickname made him smile. “Yeah, Elle?”
She looked back at him. “There’s something I need to show you.”
At her motion, he stepped inside the complex and stood with uncertainty near the door.
“Come out the back way,” she said.
“To where?” he asked.
“To the Monster Asylum.” A smile lifted one side of Adrielle’s mouth as if she knew how crazy that sounded. “Trust me, okay?”
Everett figured he had gone that far. He nodded.
Adrielle led the way through the apartment building and opened a door to the back alley. Though the moonlight didn’t penetrate the darkness, she didn’t hesitate to step outside. Everett lingered at the doorway while she crossed to a thick door that looked as though it was more rust than metal. She knocked on it three times, paused, and then knocked three more times. A small panel slid back to reveal a pair of dark eyes.
Everett watched in amazement, feeling as though he had just stepped into a shady movie where mafia members would step out and gun them both down. The thought was unsettling even though all weapons had been confiscated after the war, at least those currently not being sold on the black market. The voice in the back of his mind said that the alley was exactly the kind of place he figured such things were bartered.
“The door smells like onions,” Adrielle said.
“You know that’s not the password,” a gruff voice replied.
“Come on, Xander. You know it’s me,” Adrielle told him, rolling her eyes.
“Dr. Transton said to open the door only for the password,” the voice on the other side argued.
“I’m the only one coming through at this hour. He wouldn’t want me to spend the night in the alley,” Adrielle replied.
She stepped back, and sure enough, the door opened.
“Come on,” she said to Everett.
He pushed down his apprehension and followed her inside. The door shut behind them with a heavy bang. Everett glanced back in the dim lighting and found himself staring at the biggest person he had ever seen. If there was a chair beneath Xander, Everett couldn’t find it. The man’s bulky form filled up every bit of the space behind the door. Only a small alley remained for those who entered to squeeze by.
“What are you looking at?” the man growled in a deep voice that reverberated through the bricks around them.
“Uh, s-sorry,” Everett replied.
He looked back to see Adrielle waiting halfway up the hall. He ran to catch up to her.
“Xander doesn’t like visitors,” she explained, continuing as though they weren’t walking through a place out of Everett’s nightmares.
“I noticed,” he replied, looking uneasily at a light that buzzed and blinked when they walked beneath it.
Adrielle reached a spiral staircase and paused. She looked back at him. “Just to warn you, Dr. Transton doesn’t like vampires. At all. Like run-you-through-the-heart-with-a-stake dislike. So don’t let them see your teeth. You smile too much for a vampire as it is.”
She started up the stairs, leaving Everett to either follow or risk facing Xander’s wrath if he tried to leave without her.
“Who is Dr. Transton?” Everett asked, climbing the stairs. “And what’s wrong with a vampire smiling? I know we’re all supposed to be gothic and emo depressed and all that, but it’s a little cliché, don’t you think? And a stake through the heart? That’s going to kill anyone. It’s shouldn’t just be reserved for vampires.”
Adrielle stared down at him from the steps above. “I’m trying to save you right now and you’re worried about vampire clichés?”
He fought back a smile at her exasperated tone. “You want a cliché? This winding, creepy staircase is a cliché. So’s Xander, for that matter. What’s he really going to do if he doesn’t like me? Squash me to death?”
“Xander’s an ogren.”
A shiver ran down Everett’s spine. “A what?” he asked, even though he had heard her clearly.
“An ogren,” she replied.
Named after the ogres of mythology, ogren were humans who had come into contact with chemicals from the Ending War and been greatly misshapen. Their bulky forms were a result of radiation poisoning mutating their cells. A few had survived the cancer only to be shunned in fear from society. Tales of their strength and an unmatched temper lingered, giving parents more fuel for stories to keep their children in after the curfew.
“I didn’t know there were any left,” Everett said quietly in awe.
Adrielle glanced back at him. “There’s a lot you don’t know,” she replied.
Everett looked down the dim hallway. Xander shifted in his corner. Everett hurried up the stairc
ase after Adrielle.
A scent touched Everett’s nose. It was floral, like his dad’s small greenhouse where he studied his bee hybrid creations. Adrielle opened the door at the top of the staircase and stronger floral scents rushed down. Everett took a deep breath as he stepped through. He stopped with a hand on the door and stared at the room beyond.
Instead of the narrow hallway with branching rooms he expected from a building labeled an asylum, the massive room that spread out before them was lined with more flowering plants than he figured even his father had seen in his lifetime. Everett recognized the high-intensity discharge bulbs along the ceiling that cast a stark, cool white light on the plants below. Halide bulbs gave off warm red and orange lighting in the corners to support the growth of the plants. Vines tangled everywhere, creating a jungle in so many shades of green he could only stare.
“This place is amazing,” Everett breathed.
The smile Adrielle gave him was warm. “I figured you’d like it after showing me your father’s greenhouse.”
Everett touched the leaves of a nearby vine. “It’s incredible. How do they grow so big?”
“That would be the nymphs,” Adrielle replied. “They take care of all of the plants in the Asylum.” She nodded. “There’s the twins.”
Everett followed her gaze to a leafy corner. Two girls with green skin were tending to what appeared to be a small weeping cherry tree.
“They’re nymphs?” he asked. He couldn’t help staring.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” Adrielle said. She walked away without giving him a chance to decline.
“Beryl, Midori, this is Everett,” she said.
When the girls turned, Everett realized with a start that the girls’ skin wasn’t green, they were covered in moving leaves and vines that covered every inch of the girls’ bodies.
Both girls smiled and bowed. The first girl hummed something when she held out her hand.
Everett glanced at Adrielle self-consciously.
“Tree nymphs don’t speak,” she explained with a hint of amusement at his self-consciousness. “They sing wordless songs to help the plants grow. Beryl is saying hi.”
“Oh, hi,” Everett replied, shaking her hand.
