Accidents Happen

Hi, this is Summer.

As the title of the post says, accidents happen. With vampires around, accidents are even more likely. Unfortunately, we had an accident with Tabitha, and people are pretty stressed out about it.

I should start out by saying that in the time since we posted last (and sorry it's been so long - this is a busy time for us at school) Tabitha, our new vampire, had kind of plateaued. At first, she was just totally feral like an animal, but as she got used to living here she settled down a little. She didn't have to be tied up anymore. Obviously she was struggling a lot - especially over the blood craving thing - but she was able to carry on brief conversations with us, and at one point we felt comfortable enough that Inna and Clare took her to the woods to run around for awhile, and it went fine.

But then... it was like Tabitha decided this was good enough. She had Clare to feed her when she needed to eat. She had a safe place to live. She had company and conversation when she felt like it, and she could make us go away by acting crazy when she didn't. She knew we'd take her out of the city so she could stretch her legs if she behaved well. But that was it. That's not much of a life. Not compared to what she could have.

We were hoping she could finish school, like Clare is doing with her homeschool lessons, and maybe go on to university someday. That she could get under control enough to go outside besides the woods or the yard. That she could maybe even make some human friends someday. That sort of thing. We were hoping she could basically be a normal young woman, with the occasional vampire oddness to work around.

Tabitha didn't seem all that interested. Because living like a human is hard work for a vampire, and living like a monster, or at best an animal, is not difficult. Tabitha had found a sort of comfortable (for her, not for anyone else...) midpoint, and she seemed content to stay there - which worried us.

I think that may have changed with the accident tonight, though.

All of us girls were in the Roses' basement, watching TV with Tabitha. We know it's harder for her with that many people, but it seems like she's getting used to it, and she enjoys the company. Kiwi and Evelyn were playing quietly with Ev's toy horses while we watched the show. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but Kiwi banged her arm on the coffee table, and scraped her elbow.

There was a tiny little bit of blood.

We all froze.

Clare ran out of the room and upstairs, which was really smart, because she could potentially have made things a lot worse. But Tabitha took one quick sniff of the air, and totally lost it. She crossed the room in a single leap, and tackled Kiwi. Kiwi squeaked as her head banged on the floor, and tried to get away from Tabitha, but vampires are way stronger than humans. The rest of us yanked Tabitha off Kiwi, even as Kiwi was shifting to her cat form to try to get out from under her. We had to put Tabitha back in the restraints; she wouldn't calm down. Kiwi changed back, and we took her out of the room while Felicity and Inna tried to get Tabitha to stop freaking out.

Kiwi is pretty banged up. She's not going to die or anything, but the doctors said she will probably need surgery. :-(

Tabitha feels totally awful, like she's a terrible vampire. It wasn't really her fault. She's still getting used to this, and it's not easy for her. Kiwi doesn't blame her at all. Tabitha expected she'd get kicked out... or staked. But we still love her, and Kiwi forgives her.

It was really, really scary. I still get the shivers when I think about it. In a way, though, I think it was good. (Not for Kiwi, though - she's seriously been having the worst couple of months!) I think it finally showed Tabitha why we keep trying to get her to do better, and why we can't just let it go. Before, it seemed like she thought we were nagging. Now she knows how dangerous she can be. I don't think she ever realized this before. Tabitha seems really serious about getting herself under better control. I think that'll turn out to be a really good thing.

We'll be here for her.

Love,
Summer