Vampirism

Chapter 1

"Father! Father!" Tamsyn called walking into the kitchen of the house she and her family were currently living in (despite the fact her father and brother were technically not living).

"I'm in here, Tammy!" She heard her father call in a deep romanian accent. She walked into the kitchen and saw her father, Count Dracula, sitting at the dining table sipping on a glass of blood.

"Father, I thought we were out of blood." Tamsyn said, crossing her arms.

"We were. Then I visited the blood bank. So now we're not." Dracula explained, shrugging.

"Does dad know you went out?" Tamsyn asked.

"Was just about to call and tell him." Dracula replied, quickly getting up and walking to the phone.

"Uh huh. Sure. I'll go let Henry know that we're not out of blood anymore." Tamsyn said, walking upstairs to see what her brother and sister were up to. Elena was on her bed in her room plotting her next great scheme and Henry was sitting on a rafter, drawing.

"Just so you know, we're not out of blood anymore. Father went to the bank." Tamsyn called up to Henry, hopping onto the bed.

"Great. I was getting hungry. And we have school tomorrow. Don't wanna accidentally lose control and suck someone at school." Henry replied, swinging his legs over the rafter edge.

"And that's why I'm glad I'm only half vampire." Tamsyn said smiling.

"And it's when I'm glad I'm fully human." Elena added.

                                                                                               ******

"Kids! Dinner! You have to get to school early tomorrow so you have to get to bed early tonight." Renfield called up the stairs. The three kids came bounding down the stairs, laughing at some inside joke the three of them had.

"Hey dad." Tamsyn said. "How was your day?"

"My day was good. And yours?" Renfield asked, pulling out his seat and sitting down. Dracula and the kids sat down too.

"You kids ready for school tomorrow?" Renfield asked.

"Yeah dad. We're getting the book we'll be writing a book report on later this year." Tamsyn explained.

"Sounds great." Dracula replied.

"And I got a math test tomorrow." Elena added.

"I'm sure you'll do good." Renfield said.

"Oh! And I have a history assessment. About the civil war." Henry replied. Henry had been turned in 1860, so he knew more about the civil war than his teacher.

"Well, you're gonna ace that." Renfield and Dracula said at the same time. Tamsyn chuckled.

"Great minds think alike I suppose." She laughed.

                                                                                               ******

"Hello Tamsyn." Ms. Pearson said, smiling. "Are you excited to get the book?" 

"Very." Tamsyn replied smiling. She sat down at her desk next to her best friend Katie.

"I heard the book is really old." Katie said excitedly. Katie loved reading. One of the things she and Tamsyn had bonded over.

"Just what I like. I was hoping to be able to talk to my parents about the book, but my father hasn't read anything published after 1920." Tamsyn joked.

"Why not?" Katie asked.

"Ask him and let me know!" Tamsyn replied.

"Class! Class!" Ms. Pearson called, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "It's time to get the book!"

Tamsyn smiled. She'd been waiting for this, hoping it was a book she'd never read.

"We will be reading Dracula by Bram Stoker." Ms. Pearson said, holding up the book. The smile fell from Tamsyn's face. She'd read Dracula before. And it was in no way accurate. Her parents weren't horrible monsters. If anything, Van Helsing was the real monster. He'd hunted her family when they'd done nothing wrong, despite what the book said.

"We will be discussing the villain archetypes shown by Dracula and Renfield, the heroism of Van Helsing, and the importance of setting." Ms. Pearson continued. Tamsyn groaned. She was doomed.

"Hey Tam, what's wrong?" Katie asked.

"I've read this book before. Didn't love it. If you could say that. Lots of other things I could say about it but I won't because my dad always told me I shouldn't swear in school." Tamsyn said.

"But Dracula's a classic." Katie replied. 

"Doesn't mean it's good." Tamsyn added.

"Well I suppose that's true." Katie admitting, shrugging.

"I really don't wanna have to read it all over again. And talk about it." Tamsyn went on. She knew talking about it would mean having to say bad things about her parents. Even though she knew she had to do it to keep her family secret, it didn't mean she had to like it. She also knew she'd have to say bad things about vampires. And Tamsyn was half vampire!

"I see that." Katie replied.

"Tamsyn, do you have something you'd like to say?" Ms. Pearson asked. Tamsyn stood up.

"Yeah. I'd just like to say, I've read this book. And I didn't like it all that much. I mean, what if Dracula and Renfield weren't monsters? And what if they weren't Mina and Jonathan's enemies, but their friends? What if Van Helsing was the real monster?" 

"Interesting queries. Maybe you could write about it someday." Ms. Pearson suggested. Tamsyn smiled.

"I'd like that."