CHAPTER THREE: SHADOWS OF YESTERDAY
1203 Words
“I miss yesterday,” Celestine grumbled into her coffee cup. “Even with that terrible date, yesterday was good.”
“Of course, yesterday was good,” Val laughed tightly. “Yesterday, our biggest issue was your terrible love life. Today, we need to worry about the vampire council living in our home.”
“I knew we should’ve sold this place,” Celestine mumbled. “It would have been better for us if we had chosen to leave the Longborn estate to live in a small and crowded apartment far away from all of this.”
“s**t, can you imagine?” Lilliane shuddered. “Twelve vampires stuffed into a shoebox apartment with us?”
“I don’t want to imagine that,” Celestine snapped. “That sounds like a nightmare.”
“At least this house has a bedroom for every visiting vamp,” Valentine said. “Hopefully, they stay in their bedrooms and only come out for the council meeting.”
“Hopefully,” Celestine said, “this doesn’t last very long. We live in a small town. If people start dropping like flies because we’re playing host to twelve hungry and angry vampires, we won’t be able to explain it away. A few people going missing here and there is one thing, but if twelve people go missing every time these vamps feed, we’re going to be in serious trouble.”
“We can ask them to hunt away from the town,” Lil offered. “Father agreed to that.”
“Right,” Celestine snorted. “Because that went over so well with him. I don’t think the council members will be easily swayed.”
“Seriously,” Val shuddered. “We can’t let them feed around here. Don’t you remember the rumors running around when the council met last time?”
“But that was around the palace. Everyone knows it’s dangerous to live near a vampire castle,” Lilliane said.
“But humans don’t even know that vampires are real,” Celestine cut in. “How can they protect themselves from a threat they don’t even know about?”
“Are you saying someone should warn the humans in town?” Val gasped.
“How?” she replied. “How can we tell the humans to protect themselves from vampires? No one actually believes we’re real, and if we went around telling folks that we know vampires are real because we’re Half Bloods, I’m pretty sure we’d be locked up in nice padded rooms.”
“I wouldn’t mind the holiday,” Val joked.
“We would probably end up in Area 51 or something,” Lilliane said. “It’s hard to be half human and half imaginary creature.”
“It is,” Celestine agreed. “You two start installing those blackout blinds in the bedrooms, okay?”
“What are you gonna do?” Lilliane asked, crossing her arms. “You’re not gonna bail on us, are you?”
“There is no way in hell I’m leaving you two alone to deal with this.
There’s just something I need to do.”
Celestine grabbed her wallet, phone, and keys on her way out the door.
Each item had a specific place in her leather jacket.
Her trusty leather jacket.
It wasn’t exactly her armor, but she never took the thing off. Not even in the summer’s sweltering heat. Her skin was a little sensitive to the sun, and she would rather be very warm than have a terrible sunburn. She slipped on a pair of sunglasses and hopped into her car.
She drove around Longville, thus named for the Longborn family. Her family. Well, her father’s.
Of course, none of the humans knew that their beloved small town had once been a vampire stronghold. Maybe if they had known, their homes would be better protected against the vampire horde coming their way.
Celestine wondered if she could put strings of garlic at every doorstep and windowsill in town. The locals would probably think she was crazy. Maybe they would lock her up. Hell, maybe they should lock her up.
After all, it was her choice to encourage her sisters to live in the family home. She couldn’t remember the reasons now, but she thought it was probably to keep an eye on them. Like her, they were Half Bloods, but they didn’t seem to hate their vampire side as much as she did.
Sometimes, Celestine feared that her sisters would one day decide to go full vamp. Especially if they were given the chance.
Maybe it was an unfounded fear, but Celestine kept a close eye on them to make sure they didn’t take a turn. A bad turn. One that would be an irrevocable step.
Celestine drove down Main Street until she arrived at the grocery store. A cursory peek in the produce section revealed there weren’t enough garlic strings to protect a single home. The garlic powder in the spice aisle wouldn’t work either. She’d need to buy the stuff in bulk, and then how would she guarantee that the powder wouldn’t be cleaned or swept away by the wind?
Besides, protecting a home didn’t mean the townsfolk were safe. Not if they were walking around the town, going about their business. What was she supposed to do? Tell every human they had to wear a string of garlic around their necks? Hello, padded room. Party of one.
More defeated by the second, Celestine roamed the grocery store for another solution.
Of course, the grocery store was busy. Mothers with their children. Men picking up odds and ends. A few teens buying junk food with their pocket money.
All of these innocent people were at risk because her father had been stupid and brought the vampire council to town for whatever f*****g insane reason Sylvester Longborn did anything.
“I have to do something,” she muttered to herself.
“Are you okay, dear?” a little old lady asked.
“Huh?”
“Oh, I might be older than dirt, but I heard you. You sound upset. I don’t know what your troubles are, but I’m sure it’ll be all right.”
Celestine smiled at the woman as her heart broke a bit. How could she let these small-town folks remain defenseless against vampires? These humans weren’t just prey. They were people. People with loved ones and lives.
“Thanks,” Celestine replied, grabbing all of the garlic powder from the shelf.
It wasn’t much, but it would have to do.
“I hope that’s not all going in the same recipe.” The old woman laughed. “That’s a lot of garlic powder. You’re better off going next door and buying it by the case.” She laughed at the thought, no doubt finding it ludicrous.
“No, no,” Celestine responded. “Not the same recipe.”
Maybe once she had bought off the town’s garlic powder supply, she would have a genius idea. An idea that would protect the people of Longville from her father.
Maybe if she could pull this off, she wouldn’t have to go around living her life as if she was cursed.
- Writer
