The Human Condition

Four

The revelation that Luke was my relative had Dad and I quiet over dinner, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Mandy who pounced as we did the dishes.

"What's going on with you and Dad?"

"Nothing"

"Bullshit Lu, did you have a fight?" She put down the tea towel and turned to look at me frowning.

"No, I'll tell you after everyone has gone to bed" I didn't want Mum to find out, she was so fragile at the best of times when it came to vampires and she'd be more likely to invite him in to join us for dinner than threaten him with a flame thrower.

"Tell me now. Is it vamp related?" Mandy's concern went up about twenty notches, and so did her voice. Glancing towards the living room Dad looked over to us holding his finger up to us to be quiet.

"Yes" Her mouth dropped open as she clutched her chest, her panic and fear obvious and I knew why. "Not that vamp related. Luke - the guy from the store"

She breathed out relieved before realizing what I had actually said. "What about him? Oh my god, is he here?"

"No. He's actually related to us. Dad found some more old photos and oh look there he is" I slammed the plate down a little to hard in the draining rack, causing Mandy to jump and my parents to look through the doorway at us. He clearly knew who I was, why didn't he say so? He had to be around a hundred years old, so was this all just some kind of a game to him? Clenching my jaw I continued to scrub at the dishes, suddenly furious.

"Lu, relax. That's kind of cool" Mandy hesitantly put her hand on my arm and I resisted shrugging it off knowing she was only trying to help.

"Yeah it's fucking ice cold" I snapped bitterly, and we finished the dishes in silence. By the time we joined my parents in the living room, I had managed to calm down and made Mandy a cup of tea as a peace offering. After my parents went to bed I double checked all the locks on the door and took a seat beside her.

"Lu, are you ok?" Nodding, both our heads turned to the window beside us as the tree in the front yard swayed in the breeze, the movement only adding to our nerves we had otherwise been able to ignore. "Sure?"

"Yeah, you?" Coming home was nice, familiar but sometimes it was too familiar as not all the memories here were good. It was the other reason why I rarely stayed the night.

"Yup. It will be good to see your family in the morning, I wonder how things in town have changed" Breakfast was taking place in the local diner and my aunty and cousins would be coming too. It would also be our first time going there in three years and I wasn't looking forward to it.

"Dunno" This time when we looked I was positive it wasn't the tree and closed the curtains, turning off the light as I did so. In the dim light of the living room I could see Mandy was frowning, she had seen it too.

"We're safe in the house Lu, there have never been any attacks reported here. Come on lets go to bed" Getting up she nervously twisted the golden pendant that hung around her neck around in her fingers, moving quickly past the window as if what ever was out there could reach in and grab her. Instinctively I looked down at the scarred skin around my wrist, its typical ache started from the attention I was giving it but that was all. I didn't want to say that if it was who we were both thinking about it wouldn't matter that we were inside and it's the reason why I made sure Dad kept his weapons handy.

He had already been invited in.

Sleep didn't find me, every time I closed my eyes I was left with the lingering vision of bloody fangs and by the time Mum came in to wake me up to get ready I had never wanted to go home more. Rather than waiting until lunch, we'd be leaving after breakfast and entering the diner I wished we had already gone. Nothing had changed. Mr Benno was still standing in the window to the kitchen in his white chef uniform. The black and white checkered floor was still squeaky clean, the neon jukebox still played crackly out dated tunes and the red leather booths were well worn and had not been replaced in years. In our tiny country town, it was the most out of place restaurant around but the eggs were always sunny side up, the bacon crispy and the liter milkshakes came in ten different flavors for only four dollars.