Boris and the Vampire (Legends of Pinewood 2)

When Your Party Gets Crashed

Trying to get werewolf pups to sit in a circle and listen to stories was like trying to herd a bunch of donkeys with two backsides and covered in oil that made them slippery. I was sure they were interested in what I had to say about humans, but getting them to sit down was the truly troublesome part.

Ironically enough, the only one who was easy to get into the reading circle was Etienne. He sat perched on a chair, legs crossed, looking like his arrogant vampire self. A smirk played on his lips as he watched Xavier and I try to get the attention of the kids away from the toys. Neither of us with too much success.

Stalling the toys out in the living room had probably been a mistake. I already realised that without constantly having Etienne's smug, amused face in my periphery vision.

I'd wipe that smile off his face soon enough.

Walking over to Danny, I crouched down beside him. "Hey, did you already tell the others that Etienne has no scent and no audible pulse?"

Danny looked up from his stuffed animals. "Yes," he said. "Because he's a vampire."

Harold threw his teddy bear aside with wide-eyes. "He's a vampire? You didn't say that, Danny!"

Two other pups also looked up. They both sniffed the air and seemed to simultaneously notice they couldn't smell Etienne.

"If you gather around in a circle and sit, I'll tell you about the vampire," I tried to lure the pups closer.

It worked. Sally walked over to Etienne first, but stopped at a few feet distance. She looked up at the vampire with an o-shaped mouth.

Etienne's eye twitched. "What?" he asked as the little werewolf kept staring at him.

"You're very pretty." Sally giggled and then sat beside me, still a little too shy to get closer to Etienne.

A hint of surprise flickered across Etienne's face, but then he accepted the compliment. "Yes, thank you little furball. I am pretty, and it should be acknowledged more."

Aquilla scoffed loudly, while Xavier's mouth twitched. 

Amused or vexed, Etienne did manage to draw the attention of most pups. They came into the circle and plopped themselves down with Sally, all looking up at Etienne curiously now.

Etienne looked properly uncomfortable again with all this attention from the children, and I knew a way I could make it even worse. I smiled kindly. "Etienne, why don't you tell the children something about yourself?"

Etienne glared at me, and for a man who never saw the sun, he sure knew how to glare with the intensity of the rays.

"No, I—" he started saying, but Sally didn't let him finish his sentence.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Castle Logoria," Etienne replied. 

"Do you really drink blood?" Danny added.

Etienne glanced at me. Then he reluctantly replied, "Yes."

A chorus of 'ooh' went up, but the little werewolves weren't being judgmental at all. Just very curious.

"We eat steaks. Would you only drink the blood from the steaks?" another pup asked.

"Can you eat anything other than blood?" a third added before Etienne could even answer.

Much to my surprise, Etienne answered the questions the pups had despite his obvious discomfort. He told them what he told me: he didn't like 'dead' blood from steaks and he couldn't really eat anything else.