THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

After Ash dropped off Anaya, Dylan, and Lavender at their respective houses—while pale and sweaty, Lavender insisted she was fine and didn’t need to be taken to urgent care—he made his final stop at Brin’s driveway.

Ash turned to his right. Brin was still sitting on top of Paul.

“Home sweet home,” Ash said.

“Oh my God,” Brin said, finishing wiping all the vampire make-up off her face with a wet rag from Ash’s glove compartment. She sat upright and brought her arms to the dashboard.

“What?”

Brin looked at her friend. “I just can’t believe I’m here, Ash. Last night… in those tunnels… I had this feeling… I wasn’t gonna get out of there.” She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded. “But we did.”

“You’ve already thanked me,” Ash said. “We’re fine now. Let’s just try to go back to normal… if that’s even possible.” He glanced awkwardly at Paul, then back at Brin. “Is he really gonna stay under the same roof with you?”

Paul smiled at Ash. “I can hear you, you know.”

“I’ll be OK,” Brin said, and she opened the passenger side door. She laughed to herself: the first thought that entered her head upon exiting the car was that she had French and English homework due tomorrow morning.

Paul stepped outside the car, too, and walked toward the garage door. He stopped, as Brin leaned back down inside the car.

“I’m gonna have to pay you back for this,” Brin said. “Someday, somehow.”

“I just hope you’ll be OK,” Ash said. “I saw some crazy stuff in the last few hours. I can’t even imagine what you’ve seen.”

“It doesn’t seem real. I don’t know how affected I’ll be about it considering I feel like it was all some cheesy B-grade vampire movie.”

“Which you know you’re the biggest fan of, right?” Ash smiled.

Brin smiled back. “Oh yeah.”

“What vampire movie do you think we’re gonna start in Barker’s class tomorrow?”

“I shudder to think. Dracula: Dead and Loving It?”

“Or how about that Twilight spoof, Vampires Suck?”

“Oh God, I hope not.” Brin started laughing. It felt good to laugh. She hadn’t laughed at all in the last twenty-four hours. 

“Hopefully it will be one of the classics,” Ash said. “I love the classics.”

“I know you do. I do, too.”

“And you’ll learn, someday soon, that Alfred Hitchcock is the greatest director of all the classics. Watch one of his movies with me. Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window?”

“Are they scary?”

He shook his head. “A lot less scary than anything you took on this weekend.”

Brin smiled, but then shrugged. “Ehh… I don’t know…”

“Please?”

“Well… maybe.”

Ash smiled. “I’ll take a maybe.”

“Bye.”

“Take care.”

Brin closed the door and watched as Ash pulled out of her driveway and sped down the desolate street out of her neighborhood.

She turned around and immediately felt a chill run down her spine. She had forgotten, for a split second, that a vampire stood on her driveway.

“So here we are,” Paul said.

“Yes,” Brin said. “And in the sun! You sure you’re OK?”

“Fine,” he said. “I mean… a little nauseous, I won’t lie.”

“Oh!” Brin rushed forward and grabbed Paul by his hands, whisking him toward her front door. “I’m sorry, I misunderstood. I thought daylight didn’t hurt you.”

“It doesn’t kill us,” Paul said. “But it does make us feel sick after a while. We prefer to be indoors if possible.”

“Underground?”

“Even better.”

Brin approached the front door. She set her hand on the doorknob. “We have a basement. With a fold-out bed.”

“A basement would be perfect.”

She knocked quietly on the door three times and stepped inside. She nearly motioned for Paul to come in as well, but she stopped him from entering when Brin’s mom appeared at the end of the hallway. She wore a cheap pink bathrobe, and had no make-up on her face. She looked like she had been up all night.

“Brin,” Tessa said with disappointment. “There you are. You know, you could’ve called me if you were gonna stay over at Ash’s. I know you’re almost seventeen, but you really need to think about letting—”

Tessa didn’t have time to finish. Brin already had her arms wrapped around her. She pressed her cheek up against her mom’s and tried not to cry.

“It’s so good to see you, Mommy,” Brin said. “I love you… I love you so very much.”

Tessa didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally: “You haven’t called me Mommy in years.” Then she took a step back and analyzed her daughter from head to toe. “You look awful, honey. How did your movie thing go?”

She shook her head. “Not very well.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” Tessa looked more confused than elated by Brin’s sentimental behavior. She turned around. “Did you have breakfast yet? I was about to make healthy pancakes.”

“Healthy pancakes?” Brin said.

“Yeah. They’re made with oats, cottage cheese, and egg whites.”

“You know,” Brin said, “on any other morning, I’d say… ewww. But you could make me a snail sandwich right now. I’m starving.”

“Yeah? Great.” Tessa looked her over one more time. “Now… can you please go take a shower?”

“Sure thing, Mom.”

Tessa started walking down the hallway. She was almost around the corner.

“Uhh, Mom?”

Tessa turned around. “Yes?”

Brin opened the front door all the way, revealing Paul, pale as ever, and sporting a fake, obnoxious smile on his face.

Tessa’s eyes grew wide. She looked at her daughter in bewilderment.

Brin grinned back at her. “There’s someone I want you to meet,” she said, before turning to Paul. “Well? Are you coming?”

He stood completely still, then shook his head. “I can’t.”

“You can’t?” Brin said. “Why not?”

“You have to invite me in, first.”

Brin smiled. He’s a vampire all right. Through and through.