New Start (Morganville Vampires)

Chapter 7

I had to make a visit to the Rowell family. Oliver - who had somehow got my number - had text me, saying that I should go and see them on my own to see how they were doing.

Maybe going on my own would mean that they wouldn't be scared of me. Perhaps they weren't even scared of me at all - maybe it was just Oliver; he was that type of person who anyone could be scared of - a lot similar to The Founder, it must be their icy personalities.If I went to see the Rowell family on my own, maybe they would feel less... threatened.

I knocked on their door. I could tell that there were people inside, their quiet mumblings weren't quite quiet enough to escape my hearing.

Mr Rowell answered the door today, looking tired and run down.
'Oh, Mrs Glass,' He said, moving away from the door. 'Come in,' he looked nervous. I wished he wasn't. My hopes of the family just being scared of Oliver had gone - they were scared of me too. That was exactly what I hadn't wanted. I wanted them to know I was different.

I walked into their house. It was like any other normal house in any other normal town. Children's school bags sat in the hallway, with their shoes next to them, and coats hung up. Photos of happy smiling children and family were in frames on the wall. It was almost unbelievble that these pictures were even taken in Morganville. Being happy here seemed a lifetime away to me.

'It's okay to call me Elizabeth,' I said, trying to sound kind. Calling me Mrs Glass felt too formal - and unreal because at the moment, I really didnt feel as if I was married because it wasn't like I saw my husband.

Mr Rowell nodded nervously, but didn't say anything. All he did was turn around and show me into the lounge. Mrs Rowell looked up as I walked in.
'Hey, Mrs Rowell,' I said, trying to sound nice - well, nicer than Oliver, which wasn't hard.
'If we are behind on blood taxes, we will get down to the dontaion centre straight away tomorrow morning.' She said quickly.

I really didn't want to know what Oliver had done to them to make them like that.

'No,' I said. 'I just came to see how you are doing. Oliver told me to come,' I realised how much of a mistake it was to mention Oliver after I had said it.
'Oliver? But you're our Protector, not him.' Mr Rowell said.
'Oliver is helping me.' I said. I wasn't going to lie. If I wanted them to trust me, I had to tell them the truth. 'You are the first family under my Protection, so Oliver is showing me what to do.'
Mr Rowell laughed. 'I can't believe they are trusting you to be a Protector,' he said under his breath.
'Why?' I asked. He looked back towards me. 'Why do you not think that I should be a Protector?' I repeated.
Mr Rowell looked nervous now. 'Well,' he said quietly. 'You don't come from Morganville. You hardly know much about it.'
Mrs Rowell sent him a tense look.
'Being a vampire,' I said - and god, I hated saying it - 'I think I know about Morganville.'

There was a silence between everyone for a minute.

'So,' I said, breaking the silence. 'Why are you so scared of Oliver?' I asked.

Both of their faces froze, and they passed looked between each other. They looked as if they didn't want to tell me. I didn't want them to feel forced into telling me, but if I was to gain their trust, I had to know why they were so scared.
'Oliver said we couldn't tell anyone. I don't want the children to get hurt.' Mrs Rowell said.
'I will never do anything to hurt you, or your children. And I won't let anyone come near them. I am your Protector now, not Oliver.' I couldn't believe that Oliver had threatened to hurt their children - well, maybe I could, but it was completely evil, even for him.
'We didn't exactly get along with Oliver,' Mr Rowell said after a while. 'We never used to agree with blood taxes - I swear that we pay all of them now - and Oliver didn't like it. We went through a year without paying them, and we escaped the Bloodmobile. Oliver found us running and took the kids. No one knew. He threatened to hurt them unless we paid the taxes. We didn't get them back until we did.'

I would say that I couldn't believe it, that I couldn't believe that he would do something like that, but I would be lying. It was just like Oliver to do that. It was predictable for Oliver to have done something like that - he liked feeling powerful. He wanted to feel powerful, because he wanted to be in power. He wanted to take over from Amelie. He had changed from that though, he had called a truce with me. Maybe he hadn't cchanged at all. Maybe he was still like that.

I hoped that he wasn't. I really hoped, but I wasn't sure that would help. Oliver had taken the Rowell's children hostage before. He had tried to kill me. He had tried to kill Myrnin. Who knows what else he had been up to.