Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal ❯ Chapter 17

Crystal, Chapter 17:

 

 

I expected to dream, wanted it to happen so I could shed some light on the future—or the past—I wasn't picky. But my sleep was dreamless and I woke up in an unfamiliar bed to tantalizing smells of baking downstairs. I could get used to this.

 

If I had really come here as Paul's girlfriend instead of Johnny's, this could have been my future, this house, this lake with its resident vampire who was interested in me for the children I could someday give Paul. But I didn't want Paul's children. As glad as I was that Johnny was finally going to meet one of his brother vampires, I was also apprehensive. What would happen when the vampire in the lake realized I belonged to Johnny? Part of me wanted to keep what we had and not tempt fate. But I knew that Johnny was doing this because of me, so he could find out how to change me without killing me. I was willing to take my chances, but Johnny wasn't. So here we were.

 

I dressed quickly and went downstairs. Mrs. Brown had put on a pot of coffee for her former husband as if that was a well-remembered routine. The day showed grey and misty, but it was still early.

 

“Where's your young man?” she asked as I helped myself to a cup.

 

“Down by the lake,” I replied, to Uncle Robert's raised eyebrows. Well, he was.

 

“Doesn't he want breakfast?”

 

“I doubt it,” I said, smiling slightly. “He's not really a morning person.”

 

Uncle Robert choked on his coffee.

 

We headed own the narrow path which ran alongside the edge of the bluff to the loch below. That must have been the way Johnny took me last night, when it had been too dark for me to see.

 

Johnny met us by the water, dressed in the same clothes he'd been wearing yesterday. They looked dry to me, so he must have removed them before going under the water. I really liked the orange windbreaker on him.

 

I went to Johnny and he gave me a hug. Despite the overcast, his hooded face was already reddening.

 

“I see you found our loch,” Mrs. Brown commented, frowning slightly as Johnny and I embraced.

 

“This isn't your original home,” Johnny stated. Paul and Michael had told us as much on the drive over. Her ancestors had settled here, presumably with their vampire, to escape the purges of the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Mrs. Brown, surprised, glanced at Uncle Robert. “What makes you say that?” she asked. “Our family has lived here for generations.” She pointed up the hill behind her. “That's the original house. It's been passed down from generation to generation. It will belong to Paul one day.” She glanced pointedly at me.

 

“I don't recognize this loch,” Johnny said.

 

“Oh? Is your family from Scotland as well? Is that why you came?” Mrs. Brown smiled, relaxing a little. “In that case, you should have stopped at the Registry in Edinburgh. It's where the Americans usually go to find out about their ancestry.”

 

“That's not why I came,” Johnny replied softly, drawing me closer. “And my family is right here.”

 

Mrs. Brown pursed her lips, obviously annoyed at Johnny's display of affection. If only she had known how hard it was for me to get Johnny to show any affection in the first place. “Well, I don't think Crystal counts quite yet,” she said acidly.

 

I hid my smile.

 

“I want you to call the blood-drinker in this loch,” Johnny said, getting right to the point.

 

Mrs. Brown's eyes flew up to Uncle Robert's. “What have you been telling these children, Robert?” she asked, her voice just a little bit higher than normal. “Tales to frighten them to death? There's nothing in the loch except clean water and good fishing.”

 

“Rose.” Uncle Robert put his hands on his ex-wife's shoulders and peered into her eyes. “They know. That's why they came.”

 

She pushed his hands away. “There's nothing to `know,'” she spat. “You don't know anything yourself, and my boys wouldn't have said anything to make you believe otherwise.”

 

“They're my boys too, Rose,” Uncle Robert said quietly.

 

For just a moment, her eyes showed doubt, then they regained their steely look. “Even so,” she said, turning back to face Johnny. “Young man, I don't know what you think you've heard, but enough of this nonsense. Blood-drinkers, indeed!”

 

“Then you won't call the blood-drinker in the loch?” Johnny asked, his voice deceptively soft.

 

“There are no such things as blood-drinkers!” Mrs. Brown shouted, stamping her foot.

 

“Is that so?” Johnny pushed back the hood of his bright orange windbreaker, exposing his face to the dreary morning light. It was red and peeling. Still holding my hand, he took a step towards Mrs. Brown and smiled, revealing the tips of his very sharp teeth. He lifted my wrist to his mouth and bit, drinking my blood while I smiled serenely at Mrs. Brown.

 

Her knees buckled, and she fell to the sandy ground, gasping for air. Uncle Robert hurried over to put an arm around her shoulders. “I tried to tell you, Rose,” he whispered. “You wouldn't believe me.”

 

She stared at Johnny and me. “You mean he's your—he's Jonathan Price?”

 

I had thought Johnny would let me drink from him also, and complete the picture for Mrs. Brown that I was Johnny's and he was mine, and there would never be a relationship between Paul and me. But Johnny didn't . I guess he wasn't ready to show her that, yet, and I wondered why.

 

“I want to meet your blood-drinker.”

 

Mrs. Brown, still kneeling, shook her head. “I can't. Not until nightfall,” she said, defeated. “Did my sons tell you about him? What did you do to them?”

 

Johnny laughed. “Do? I could have done much worse. They belong to me, they all do.” He indicated me and Uncle Robert in the sweep of his arms. I wondered what he was up to. “But no, your sons did not tell me anything about your blood-drinker. Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?”

 

Despite my blood, Johnny's face was still red. The mist was clearing and the sun was starting to peep out. Uncle Robert made a show of walking over to Johnny's side and offering him his wrist, too. Johnny accepted, amused as he watched Mrs. Brown's face blanch. “Do you mind if we finish this conversation inside?” he asked. “I find myself needing more blood than usual.”

 

If anything, Mrs. Brown turned even paler. She nodded, and we all headed back towards the house. Michael's car was parked in the driveway. He and Paul must have driven up while we were down at the loch. Paul met us at the door.

 

He took one look at his mother, and asked Johnny, “Is she all right? Did you harm her?”

 

“Does she look harmed?” Johnny brushed by Paul and found a seat by the fireplace, as far away from the windows as he could get. I could tell he was hurting, but when Johnny was trying to make a point, he didn't let a little pain stop him.

 

First Michael, and then Paul knelt down at Johnny's feet and offered their cupped palms. “Blood of my blood,” they murmured softly. Johnny needed blood, and he needed their mother to see this. He drank from each of the brothers, and repeated “Mine,” in our secret, shared language.

 

That one word was the catalyst that let their mother believe. She didn't offer her hands, but she sat down shakily and whispered, “It's true. You are a blood-drinker. But how can you walk by day? That should be impossible.”

 

Johnny shook his head. “Difficult. Not impossible. Didn't your blood-drinker tell you?” He leaned forward. “I want to meet him. What is his name? You asked me earlier why I didn't believe this was your original home. I know where all the blood-drinkers, save one, lie. This place isn't—wasn't—one of them.”

 

Paul brought his mother a cup of tea, which she sipped gratefully. “We gave Johnny our promises when we found out who he was back in the States,” he told his mother, and I exchanged wry glances with Johnny. There was a lot more to it than that. He and Michael were lucky to be alive. “But we could not break our other promises. Johnny understands that.”

 

“Johnny?” She glanced up. “Aren't you Jonathan Price? But Robert said you had been killed. My sons went to the States partly to verify that it was true.”

 

And partly to bring back my little brothers, and possibly me, to strengthen their family's bloodline. That unspoken fact hung in the air.

 

“I had many names. I like Johnny.”

 

Michael spoke up. “I think we need to call our blood-drinker. His name is not ours to tell, and as you say, it may not be the name you knew. Better you hear it from him yourself. Tonight. We will call him tonight, but I can't guarantee he will answer our summons. He doesn't always.”

 

“I'll wait until tonight,” Johnny said, standing abruptly. “Crystal knows how to call me, but I won't wait to be called. I haven't waited to be called for over three hundred years.”

 

Johnny left, and just like my family at home, everybody turned to me. “Where is he going?” Mrs. Brown asked.

 

I shrugged. “To the lake. To sleep.”

 

All of the Browns except Uncle Robert stared at me in shock. Not for the first time, I wished I could go under the water with Johnny.

 

Mrs. Brown breathed a sigh of relief once Johnny was gone. “You should have told me,” she said sternly to her sons.

 

“We could not,” Michael replied. “He made us promise. Mother, there's something you don't know. Johnny is not only the blood-drinker our father has insisted plagued Lockwood for centuries, he also is part of the Brown family originally. By our father's blood, he is ours as well.”

 

“But that's impossible!” Mrs. Brown said again. “Robert, you found your ancestral village, didn't you? There were none of our blood left there. None.”

 

Uncle Robert nodded his head. “Now I know why. My ancestors killed or drove out every one of them, and nearly killed Johnny and old Jack Pryce at the same time. Jack managed to get Johnny aboard a ship bound for the New World, under changed names, and we never realized they were aboard. Johnny made a new life for himself in Lockwood, but it wasn't like here—he was hunted by the Brown men, including my nephew who thought he killed him a few years ago, just as blood-drinkers were once hunted here. Only Johnny didn't have any of the family to protect him.”

 

Hearing Uncle Robert describe what had happened to Johnny made my throat close up. Johnny had been alone for so long. I took a shuddering breath. “He's not alone anymore,” I said. “He has me.”

 

Mrs. Brown looked at me for the first time since Johnny had taken my blood at the edge of the lake. “Do you know what you're saying, girl?” she asked. “Do you truly understand what he is?”

 

Paul frowned in confusion. His mother didn't understand what I was. He was about to say something, but I beat him to it. “You tried to kidnap my little brothers so that they could be groomed to go under the water with your blood-drinker,” I said matter-of-factly. “You wanted Paul to marry me so our combined bloodlines would give us children to strengthen the family line. I think I understand exactly. I choose Johnny.”

 

“You want to become a vampire?” she asked.

 

I shrugged. As far as I was concerned, I already was. I drank blood. I craved blood. Going under the water was just a technicality at this point. Johnny didn't think so, or we wouldn't be here. I sighed.

 

“Do your parents know about you and—Johnny?”

 

“Yes, they do, and they're fine with it,” I told her. Fine wasn't exactly the right word, but it would do.