Obsession Starts with a V

Chapter 24

Hi guys, sorry for being a day late. I've moved to Illinois because school will be starting soon! I will be starting a master's program, which is super intense. So, the good news is that I want to finish editing this story before I start. That means I'll be uploading chapters more than twice a week! Woo! 

● Ɲσω Ɓαcк тσ тнє Sтσяу ●

Veronica had run all the way to the comic book store where Alan and Edgar worked. She collapsed on the floor gasping for air as she tried to explain what had happened. "My...my mom...Kirby..."

The brothers both shot up from behind the counter. "Whoa!" Edgar said as Alan rushed around to where she was.

"Veronica, are you okay? Did something happen to them?" Alan got down on the ground and lifted her up off the floor.

"It was those vampires, wasn't it?" Edgar growled.

"No!" Veronica managed to spit out in between her gasps. The brothers waited for her to calm down, but when she did she broke out into a sob. Alan led her to the back room, sat her down on a couch, and held her in a tight hug until her sobbing turned into choked tears and soft whimpers. Edgar stayed out front, uncomfortable with the whole crying thing.

"Now start from the beginning." Alan asked when she stopped hiccupping.

"My mom has this jerk of a boyfriend who moved into my home. I've been staying with Sam to stay away from him, but she came over today and told me the worst news ever. She said he moved in because they're getting married! She can't marry him, because then he would be my dad, but I don't want him as a dad! I don't want anyone as a dad, because my real dad is dead!" She began crying again.

Alan frowned. "Did you tell her this?"

"I tried, she doesn't understand."

He let her cry some more until all of her tears dried up. He was sitting uncomfortably on the edge of a couch, patiently waiting.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I shouldn't have come over."

"No, it's alright. I'm just so sorry about the whole Kirby thing." He paused and debated something in his mind. "I'm not too keen on this idea, and you better not tell anyone what I'm about to say, okay? But, maybe you should get one of your little vampire buddies to take care of him. Maybe Michael? Or Max?"

"But then I would have to tell them the truth." She whispered.

"So? You told me."

"No Alan, the full truth."

"What?"

"Nothing." She stood up and headed for the door. Just before leaving, she turned around with her hand on the doorknob.

"You know what hurts the most? My mom came over today, but she didn't mention anything about tomorrow."

"What tomorrow?"

"My birthday." She turned the knob and left.

                                                ()()()()

Veronica strolled around the Boardwalk until nightfall to clear her head. She enjoyed people watching and feeling like she was invisible. She could pretend she was someone else living a different life. Someone older, wiser, and prettier. Someone with a hot vampire boyfriend who was super rich and helped her move far, far away from her mother. 

The sound of a motorcycle pulling up next to her brought her out of her thoughts.

"You have every single person who knows you worrying about you." David's scruffy voice remarked.

"Were you worrying?" She asked, still walking.

He turned off his engine and coasted next to her. "Stray vampires come through here every once in a while. It's not very safe for you to be wandering around alone."

"So you know?"

"That you know? Yes, Max tattled on Sam."

"Actually, I tattled on Sam."

"Well yes, but that's not the point. The point is that I got to see Max yell at him. That was fun." David smirked.

"Is he in serious trouble?"

"No, you were bound to find out eventually. Can you jump on the back now? I'm tired of pushing this thing."

She finally looked at him and stopped, shrugged, then finally climbed on the back of the motorcycle. The bike roared back to life and they headed off in the direction of Max's home.

"You stink like hunter," David frowned.

"I was at the Frog Brother's place."

"Were you sucking lover boy's face off again?"

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Veronica's face went red. "How do you know about that!"

"What?" David seemed generally confused. "I was just joking?"

"Oh." The red on her face deepened. There was an awkward silence between the two.

"You're too young to kiss boys." David finally said.

"And you're too old for young hussies like that Harley chick."

David broke out into laughter. "Hussies? Where on Earth did you learn that word? Hussies!" He snorted one last time, then went back to his normal poker face. "I'm not that old little lady. Besides, I'm forever stuck at twenty-one. You'll only be eleven for a year, so don't go around kissing boys. Save that for when you're older."

"Actually, I'll only be eleven for tonight."

"Your birthday is tomorrow? Why did nobody tell me this?"

"Because my own mom forgot about it."

"Well, we will make sure you have the best twelfth birthday you'll ever have."

The joke was almost lost on Veronica. "I only have one twelfth birth- oh wait!" She giggled, "That's the point of the joke!"

David rolled his eyes at the same time the bike rolled into Max's driveway. Sam busted out of the front door and stormed over to Veronica.

"Two times you've gone missing on us! Two times! If this is going to become a regular thing, then-"

David cut him off by wrapping his hand over Sam's mouth and putting him in a headlock. "I got your back, Little V." He said as he drug a squirming Sam into the house. Veronica followed behind and saw everyone, even Maria, in the living room. Everyone except her mom.

"You really need to stop running off like that," Paul sighed. Marko nodded his agreement and walked into the kitchen to find a snack.

"You had us so worried even Michael came upstairs for a few seconds." Dwayne added.

"Did he really?" Veronica questioned.

"Yeah, then he found out that David was out looking for you and almost went himself. Max calmed him down and now he's back downstairs moping around and stinking it up. Seriously, is he keeping dead bodies down there or something?" Paul asked.

"Mffmmffpppffft," Sam tried to speak, but David still had him in a death grip.

"David, let him go please." Lucy politely asked.

"I will when he decides to stop chewing on my hand." David glared down at the struggling boy. Sam stopped and was released. David wiped his soggy hand onto the back of Paul's leather jacket.

"That's gnarly man." Paul scowled at the new trail of slime down his back.

"Ugh! Why isn't there any food in this house!" Marko shouted from the kitchen. 

☢ ♥‿♥ 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝒇𝓸𝓻 𝓻𝒆𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰! 𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝒇𝓸𝓻𝓰𝒆𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓿𝓸𝓽𝒆 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝒇𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝒇 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝒆𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂𝒆𝓭 𝓲𝓽 ♥‿♥ ☢