Connecting the Dots

Hi, this is Summer. After supper last night - we were getting ready to head from the Green house to the Rose house to get some sleep, actually - the doorbell rang. Cécile and Marie-Grace were standing on the front steps, looking worried. I would have been able to tell from their expressions alone that something was up. Plus the fact that it was so late at night. Plus the fact that they know that coming over might make Tabitha freak out, but they still came without warning. My immediate thought was that this was something bad.

They came inside. (Tabitha went down the the basement and killed a chair. Clare was mostly fine. Every now and then she'd start to crouch defensively like they were about to fight, but she'd catch herself and snap out of it. Ah, territorial young vampires...) After some basic hellos, they got down to business.

"We found out who killed those other vampires," Marie-Grace said. "They're a group of really old, powerful vampires who call themselves The Elders."

Inna dropped the mug she was holding, and it shattered against the tile floor. Her face was even paler than usual. She didn't say anything, though, so the girls went on explaining.

"They're looking for Clare and Tabitha," Cécile said, with obvious worry in her voice.

"Why?" I asked, although I hadn't meant to say it aloud.

It was Inna who answered me. "Vampire society isn't all that organized, in general, except at the family or local group level. But... there are a few groups who try to exert power over the others. Usually less out of the goodness of their hearts, and more because they need vampires to be a secret, so they can keep their own position of control. They enforce what has popularly come to be called 'the masquerade,' so I guess they're the vampire form of a penal system."

"Like the Mounties?" Kiwi asked innocently.

Inna shook her head. "The Mounties follow the law of the land, not just their own whims. Vampires have no official law that everyone recognizes. Also, the Mounties don't just murder people - that's the biggest difference."

"That's why they killed the vampires who turned me, I guess," Clare said. "They drew a lot of human attention. It was in the papers, and stuff, that people were being attacked and disappearing back in Denver. And that's why they're coming after us, too."

Marie-Grace nodded. "That's what they said."

"You talked to them?" I asked.

Cécile looked embarrassed. "Well, it's not like we invited them over for tea. They sought us out, not the other way around. We were just trying to stay out of their way."

Marie-Grace added quietly, "They found us because they wanted to warn us about who we make friends with here. We haven't made them angry. Not yet, anyway. But... they're upset about Tabitha and Clare. Both of those girls created a fair bit of chaos back in the United States." She added, "Sorry!" to Clare, but Clare shrugged and looked ashamed, because it was the truth.

"How do they know Clare and Tabs are here?" Kirsten asked. "They haven't caused any trouble in public here."

"Because of Kiwi's injuries," Cécile replied. "I guess they have people reporting back to them from all over the place, and... someone who read the medical reports didn't buy the 'dog attack' story. They snooped around, and figured it out."

"Do they know where the girls are?" Inna asked, sounding awfully calm under the circumstances.

Cécile shook her head. "Only that they're in this city. Nothing more specific. If they did... things would have gotten bad already. They said... to tell you that your days are numbered, too, Inna. I'm really sorry..."

"It's not your fault," Inna said rather blankly, and exchanged a glance with Maia.

This was all getting to be a bit much for me. These are people I care about!

"Why would they want to hurt Inna?" I asked somewhat angrily.

Inna answered before Cécile could. She said, "Because they tried before and I didn't die."

Suddenly all the pieces clicked into place. We weren't dealing with all kinds of different vampire groups trying to pick us off. It was all these Elders. They were the ones who tried to kill Inna, and then bound her as a servant. They're the ones who chased us here. They're the ones who have been threatening the Rose family all along. Now they're threatening Clare and Tabitha too - and this city probably drew their attention in the first place because Inna came here - they just don't realize we're all together. And from what Bree said about vampires and Fae, she and Fiona may be on the hit list too.

Not good!

Fortunately, at this point, Marie-Grace broke the silence by announcing, "There's a silver lining, though."

"Go on?" Maia encouraged her, although it was difficult to see the possibility of one.

"Well... they're gone." Marie-Grace was speaking hurriedly now, eager to get this out before the bad mood completely overtook us. "Not forever. They haven't given up. But... something happened. I don't know what. A message came while they were at our house, and they whispered about it, and then they all left. We followed them discreetly, and they boarded a ship at the harbour, and went away. We couldn't figure out where they were going - the ship's information was in Russian, I think - but they're not here anymore."

"They'll come back," Cécile cautioned us.

"Of course," Inna replied, and her smile had a sarcastic twist. "They've been playing cat-and-mouse with me for years. It's amusing to them to toy with the prey." Realizing this comment was potentially alarming, she added, "But don't forget, we have a major advantage now. We know what they're up to, and they don't know that we know. We can be prepared for them."

Clare looked pretty miserable, so I gave her a hug. "I'm sorry about all this..." she said.

"It's not your fault," I told her sincerely. "You didn't ask to become a vampire, and you didn't know how to control yourself at first. You didn't have anyone to help you like we're helping Tabitha. You aren't responsible for what happened."

"Thanks," Clare said softly. It's not like we haven't told her that before, but she obviously needed reassurance at that moment.

So now we have to come up with our next move. Our first thought was to cancel our various holiday trips instead of scattering all over the place for Christmas... safety in numbers, and all. Inna said she didn't think that was a good idea, though. They probably already have some suspicions about us, and if we suddenly had a big change of plans right after they gave Cécile and Marie-Grace a warning, it would be pretty obvious we had something to hide. Well, more like someone to hide - Clare and Tabitha. We're going to go ahead with what we intended to do for the holidays, and hope the vampire Elders stay gone for a good long time.

Love,
Summer

Not Human

Hi, this is Bree again. I had two conversations today that are kind of... blowing my mind. I'm going to share them with you, so you can help me think them through.

The first conversation was with Clare. She came to my room to bring back a book I lent her, and before she left, she said casually, "By the way, you know your new friends are vampires too, right?"

I'm pretty sure my jaw literally dropped. No, I did not know that, and I'm fairly sure Kaya and Fiona didn't either. "You mean Cécile and Marie-Grace?" I asked stupidly, although I'm not sure who else could fit the title of 'new friends' at this point.

"Yeah." Clare raised an eyebrow. "You can't tell?"

I shook my head, still trying to take in this information. I was about to ask her why she hadn't said something before, and then I realized she hadn't actually met them before last night. The first time Marie-Grace and Cécile came to our house, Clare was out hunting. Then the day they went sledding with the younger girls, Clare had gone to the snowball fight with the rest of us older ones. The tree lighting at the park was the first time Clare had been introduced to them in person, so she hadn't really been holding out.

If it was a vampires-recognize-vampires thing, why hadn't Tabitha...? Oh, wait. Tabitha totally freaked out when they were over here. At the time, we thought it was the strangers with unfamiliar human blood issue. But what if it was really some kind of territorial thing, or something? Tabitha still hasn't talked about that night. Maybe she assumed we already knew.

We didn't, though. All of us were totally surprised. I mean, we haven't seen them during the daytime... but in Newfoundland in the winter, "daytime" is over by around the end of the school day. There are a lot of regular people we haven't seen in daytime either. Plus there's the way they dress. We figured it was just personal taste - but what if they dress in older styles because they really are old? Which they must be, because they have no reaction to being around humans at all, even at ballet where the occasional bleeding injury is inevitable. They must have been practicing self-control for a long time to get that good.

I talked it over with my sisters, to decide what to do, and we decided... we're not really going to do anything. They aren't a danger to us. Kaya and Fiona are going to tell them we know, just so they won't have to worry about it anymore, but there's no reason for it to affect our friendship.

This new news was something to get used to. Mainly just because it was weird that we didn't figure it out on our own, and Clare had to tell us. Vampires aren't really very surprising to us anymore, which is an odd thing to realize.

Then came... the other thing. Which for me was even more mind blowing.

I decided to talk to Inna about the possible fairy incident over the weekend. I figured if she knew about vampires, maybe she knew about fairies too. Worth a try, right?

It may seem like a weird thing to have a conversation about, but talking about fairies was in some ways easier than vampires. Here in Newfoundland, a lot of people believe in fairies. For some people, it's even seen as sort of... disloyal... to say you don't, because it's part of the local culture. I'm not originally from here, and neither is Inna, but somehow it makes a difference.

When I asked Inna about fairies, she kind of sighed, and leaned on the kitchen counter. "I thought you might ask," she said, and she sounded kind of tired. "Bree, there's something I think you should know. I don't think you're entirely human."

I just kind of blinked. Of course I am! What else would I be?

Inna went on, "I think the reason they showed themselves to you is that you have fairy blood, yourself. I've wondered about it since I met you and Fiona, but I wasn't sure till now."

I suddenly flashed back to the earlier conversation. (Now you see why I wrote all that down for you? It was so you could follow my flashback. :-P) Clare had said she could just tell Marie-Grace and Cécile are vampires because she's a vampire herself. And that might mean...

"You know because you're one too?" I suggested tentatively.

Inna smiled, and said, "Yes. Very good, Bree."

Tomorrow, Inna is going to tell me some things I need to know about fairies. I just couldn't handle more information today. I'm still kind of in shock. Cécile and Marie-Grace aren't human. Inna isn't human. And if she's right, my little sister isn't human... and I'm not human either.

I might not be human.

This is crazy.

But it feels...

True.

Love,
Bree

Inna the Vampire Slayer

Hi, this is Clare, with more Crazy Vampire News.

As you may recall, ever since I've been here, I've had other vampires after me. That's why I came here, actually. I was running from them. I changed my name so it would be harder for them to find me; on the way here I passed a place called St. Clare's Hospital, so I decided to be Clare. They still found me... but I like my new name. I think it suits me.

There were four vampires in their hunting group. They're the ones who kidnapped me off the streets of Denver and turned me into a vampire too. They planned to keep me, and make me a part of their group. Like their trainee, or their little sister. I didn't want to be there, though, because they kill people, so I ran away. They weren't okay with that. They thought I belonged to them. They were afraid I would expose them to the humans because I'd gone rogue. Plus I think they just saw me as their property, with no right to get away. They were going to punish me for not doing what they wanted and not being a killer like them.

I ran from them for a long time... I guess I was always headed to Nova Scotia, without realizing it, because that's where I lived with my grandmother, and I was happy there. Well, they found me in Nova Scotia, so I stowed away on the ferry and went north again. That's how I ended up here. That's how I finally found a home.

Since then, the vampires have been skulking around from time to time. They would occasionally strike - like when they cornered me at the park, or when they kidnapped Kiwi - and then when they didn't win, they'd disappear again. We know they're monsters, but they're monsters who are good at hiding. You can't call the police about problem vampires, because the vampires would just eat the police. We knew we had to find some way of getting rid of them once and for all, before they killed more people. None of us knew where to look, though.

Tonight, they made a move. One of them was sniffing around the house, scouting us out, and he bumped into Inna. Who is not afraid of vampires. And who is capable of being really scary. I'm glad I'm on her side, not the other side. Inna didn't tell us all the details of how she defeated the vampire guy, but I know it involved a wooden stake and firing up the gas barbecue - so I can guess the rest. I'm glad that isn't how I ended up - and I definitely would have if my new family hadn't protected me!

Inna was able to follow the guy's trail back to where the other vampires were hiding. They had built a kind of nest in an unused downtown building, and had killed at least one homeless person to feed on. I'm glad I didn't see that. It would have been sad, and... I might not have acted human around the blood. I don't like that thought.

When Inna went further into their little makeshift lair, she found the other three vampires already dead. From the look of the scene - which wasn't much, since going with traditional lore they were burned - she said it looked like they'd been killed by other vampires.

I'm not sure whether I feel safer, or less safe. The ones who wanted me dead are gone now, but I don't think I can really say I'm safer without knowing why they were killed. 

Grudge? That probably wouldn't involve me. I haven't crossed paths with any other vampires besides the ones who turned me, plus Tabitha, so I don't see how I could have made anyone mad. 

Turf war? Depends. I'm not interested in being territorial, but if someone else wants this to be their territory without other vampires, Tabitha and I are probably also on the hit list. 

Or... something else? And if something else, then what? Why would vampires want to kill other vampires? Would whoever did it want to kill me and Tabitha, too?

Could it be that the vampires who got rid of the dangerous ones were trying to protect the humans? So maybe they're good vampires. Maybe there are nice and heroic vampires who go around making sure bad vampires don't hurt people? Inna didn't think this was too likely, but it would be a happy and optimistic possibility. She said most vampires are more about the self-preservation or at best protecting close family and allies... and in some cases protecting the secrets of vampirism... than about altruism to strangers. Too bad my wishful thinking vampire superhero theory is probably not true.

Maybe I don't want it to be true, anyway. I've done bad things. Tabitha has done bad things. Not that we had much choice, but it happened. Do we count as bad vampires because of that? If someone is "cleaning house" so to speak, are we in danger too?

In a way, it's a relief not to be scared of the vampires that made me into one anymore. I still have nightmares about when they kidnapped me and turned me. I'm glad they won't take anyone else's mortal life like that. Now I may have more things to be scared of, though. I'm glad I have my family to protect me and reassure me that it'll all be okay. No matter how things turn out with this, letting them adopt me was the smartest thing I ever did.

Love,

Clare

"Where do all the old vampires go?"

Hi there, this is Josefina. I'm just realizing I haven't written a blog entry in a long time! I've just been really distracted with school and stuff... the school newspaper takes up most of my writing time these days. It's good to be behind the keyboard for the blog again. :-)

Just to warn you, this isn't really a news post. It's more sort of a thinky post, about a conversation we had, and a question we couldn't figure out the answer to.

Several of us were sitting in the living room working on homework, when out of the blue, Kirsten asked, "Where do all the old vampires go?"

"What do you mean?" Felicity replied in a somewhat distracted way, looking up from the French verb conjugations she was memorizing.

Kirsten frowned, trying to explain her train of thought, and said, "Well, vampires are supposed to be immortal, right? So how come all the ones we've met have been turned really recently? Clare has been one for a little more than a year. Tabitha for less than two months. The ones who turned Clare and came after her don't seem all that ancient either, are they, Clare?"

Clare shook her head. "Nope. They were only turned a few years ago, as far as I know."

"Exactly!" Kirsten said. "So if they live forever, why haven't we met any old ones? Like Dracula, or something?"

"Because Dracula is fictional," Bree commented dryly without looking up from her book, her sole and oh-so-helpful contribution to the conversation.

Kirsten stuck her tongue out at Bree and rolled her eyes. "I don't mean Dracula specifically. Obviously! I mean really old ones like him. We know more vampires than the average people. How come we've never met any that were old? Like, not even that had been vampires for a few decades?"

All eyes turned to Clare, our resident insider vampire expert.

"I don't know," the resident insider vampire expert replied. "Vampires die a lot, though, I guess. We don't get old or pass away from natural causes, but we can be killed... and so far it seems like there are attempts to kill us a lot. Between vampire hunters and other vampires, the herd probably naturally gets thinned quite a bit."

We all thought this was likely true, but not a totally satisfying answer. That would explain why there weren't many older vampires. Like, why vampires don't just overrun humans and take everything over. It doesn't explain why haven't seen or heard of any, though... because there keep being new ones. Some of them are surviving long enough to create new ones, or else vampires would die out. If they can live that long, surely some of them make it to older age? Even much older?

"Maybe we should ask Inna this," Clare suggested. "She knows more than I do."

Including these two concepts - older vampires and Inna - in the same conversation made me wonder something. I wonder if that's what she's afraid of. If that's what's chasing her. She doesn't seem scared of newer vampires, like our resident ones or the ones chasing Clare. When Kiwi was taken, Inna was angry and afraid for Kiwi's safety, but she didn't seem to have any fears about surviving the rescue attempt herself; she seemed pretty confident. I'm sure some of it was for the sake of the rest of us - but I don't think all her courage was faked. When Inna manages to track the kidnapper vampires down again, she's planning to go after them, and again she seems confident about the outcome.

But there's something she is afraid of. I wonder if it could be the older sort of vampires that we haven't seen yet? Maybe she got on the bad side of one at some point, and now the vampire is out for revenge? It's just a guess, of course. But it's the only idea we've had so far of what might have scared Inna so badly she'd wonder if we were better off without her...

Love,
Josefina

An Extra Vampire

Multiple choice quiz:

The Greens and the Roses are...

A.) Suicidally insane
B.) Never going to have normal lives
C.) Probably eventually going to need to learn that not everything can be our problem to deal with
D.) Never going to run out of vampires

or

E.) All of the above!

Hi, this is Bree. Summer, Blakeney, and I are back home now, after a fun trip. I can't say it was uneventful, though. Especially not at the end.

The last weekend of our trip, we went down to Pennsylvania to spend time by the creek where our relatives have a little vacation place. We kayaked, went for walks, went wading, and read our books outside. It was a lot of fun.

A day or so in, though, we got a call from Inna, saying she'd heard rumours that the mean vampire hunters we (unfortunately) met here in Canada were hanging around nearby where we were. That was, of course, worrisome news. One thing we weren't quite sure of, though, was whether it had anything to do with us. Were they looking for us? Were they looking for me because I lied to them about where Clare was? But how would they even know where we were? How could they have found us? And yet, it seemed like too much to be just a coincidence.

So of course, we did the only thing we could: we spied on them. What we found out was at first reassuring. They didn't seem to be looking for us. They didn't seem to know we were around. We still didn't know why they were there, though... or why they built a big fire by their camp, like they were issuing a threat to someone rather than lying low. That had to be something we wouldn't like.

Inna called us again; she had figured out why they were there. It wasn't about us, but it wasn't entirely a coincidence either. They were hunting someone. It just wasn't us. Inna had heard from her "contacts" that there was vampire activity nearby. More specifically, a vampire, a red-haired girl... and from the reports of the chaos, Clare and Inna thought this vampire was newly-turned and confused. And now, to further add to her confusion, she had hunters after her, hunters that so far she'd managed to evade successfully. Eventually, though, her luck would run out.

Vampire problems tend to multiply very quickly, or so we're told. But it makes sense, because they can just bite people instead of killing them, and make more vampires. You want to get a lid on this kind of situation while it's still just a small number, if you can. That's what the hunters seemed to be trying to do.

Clare was in the background of the telephone conversation, and said she wanted to talk to Blakeney. It sounded like she was crying. I could only hear one end of the conversation, but Blakeney said, "I know," and then, "We'll take care of it." At the time, I wasn't sure I was going to like what that entailed. Then she got off the phone, and told us we were going to have to deal with the situation. (Actually she sang "I've got a theory we should work this fast/Because it clearly could get serious before it's passed," because if you can quote Buffy, you should quote Buffy. My sisters and I have decided that sometime we're going to try going a whole day speaking entirely in pop culture quotations. But anyway, what she meant was that we were going to deal with the situation.)

It would have been nice if we'd had the whole "team" there. It's easier to handle stuff like crazy vampires as a family. We'd just have to do our best, with Inna and Clare to give consultation on vampires over the phone. It was better than nothing.

I was still nervous, though... especially when we finally found her, after combing the creek and woods for several hours. It's not like I haven't hung around vampires, but I'm used to Clare, and she doesn't really act much different from the rest of us, except in the dietary sense. This girl looked totally out of it. She was crouched like an animal, her hair was tangled, her clothes were filthy and bloody... and she'd obviously already been attacked by something. She was badly hurt. One of her legs looked like it was just about torn off. I think if she'd been human, that alone would have killed her - but she was hanging on, just not very pleasantly. I was kind of scared of her. But I also felt really bad for her. I hoped she was going to be okay. Somehow...

We called for advice. The first suggestion Inna gave us was to try to reason with the vampire girl, and get her to stand down. It didn't work. At all. Summer optimistically refers to this attempt as "the time that at least we didn't get eaten." It ultimately involved a lot of running away. Fortunately she couldn't move fast with that leg.

We got out of range of the teeth - it was a close call, especially for poor Summer - and phoned Inna back. Her next suggestion was to drug the vampire with animal tranquilizers set up in a trap. That... actually worked pretty well. Pretty soon we had a drugged, sleeping vampire. For the first time, she actually looked peaceful, and I realized she had a sweet face when she wasn't snarling. I think she's about the same age as Felicity and Clare.

Shipping a drugged, tied up vampire back to Canada was easier than you might think. We couldn't leave her there. As soon as we left, she'd just break free and start going crazy again, maybe kill someone - and definitely get herself killed, with vampire hunters around. We needed to get her as far away from the scene of the craziness as possible so they wouldn't be able to track her, and someone needs to look after her. We didn't have much choice but to bring her back with us.

While we were sitting in the Toronto airport waiting for our plane, I asked Blakeney if this was what she had in mind when she told Clare we'd take care of it. Blakeney gave me a raised-eyebrow look and said I'd misheard her - she'd said we'd take care of her. Because Clare remembered what it was like to be scared and freshly vampiric, and she was worried. This was the plan all along. Well, not the drugging part - they'd hoped to just buy her a seat - but the general idea of bringing her back. I felt a lot better about that than what I had thought we were going to have to do.

Now she's in the Roses' basement, sleeping it off. She'll still be restrained when she wakes up. Inna said not to expect her to be too coherent. So far we don't even know her name. It may take time before she'll be normal like Clare. We'll just have to take care of her in the meantime, and try to help her.

So we're home... and we have an extra vampire.

Love,
Bree

Smart Vampires and Dumb Vampires

Hello. This is Clare. :-)

Our plan was to continue blogging from home while Bree, Summer, and Blakeney took their trip... but frankly, not that much that's interesting has been happening here. We've been going to school - well, homeschooling for me and some of the days for Kaya - and doing our usual activities. We didn't find much to write about.

So this isn't really a news post, but a sort of thinky, speculative post. (If you want news, Bree and Summer each posted an entry from their trip, so you can check that out in the previous posts.) What I'm writing now was inspired by some comments on the post about how we saved Kiwi from bad vampires. Several people noted that the bad vampires didn't seem like they're very smart.

I think that's true, in a way. I think there's another piece to it, though: they act more like animals than like humans. More instinctive, less good at plans... backup plans nonexistent. It makes sense, because they're hunters. Predators. Just with humans for prey.

So why am I different? I mean, I'm not claiming I'm the smartest person in the world or anything, but I can think things through. I can plan, and make choices. I don't attack people. I don't even attack the dog. But I'm a vampire too. So... why?

I think it's a matter of lifestyle. When I was first turned, I was like them, and thought like them - because they turned me, and I lived with them. Once I ran away, things changed. I'm part of society again. I have a family, that I very much do not want to eat. I do school lessons and read books, so I have more to think about than my next meal. I go places. I spend time around humans in a non-food capacity. I think that helps me focus, and remember that people are not meals. It keeps getting easier the more I practice.

So yeah, there are animal-acting, hunter vampires. And then there's me. I don't think I have anything innately special that makes me different. I think I just live in such a way that I can't disengage my emotions about other people or check out of society. I have people I care about, that I don't want to harm - and they care about me in return. It keeps me sane. In a very, very literal way. Even though it's tough sometimes, I'm glad for that.

Love,
Clare

Back to School!

Hey, this is Clare. For once, I'm not blogging about crazy vampire stuff! Or even my own weird past. I'm blogging about something normal: our first week of school. :-)

On Wednesday, our school started up again for the autumn term. (Typically schools here begin on the first Wednesday after Labour Day unless that would cause it to be extremely early or extremely late.) Our first school "week" was only three days long - I guess the point is so we can settle in and get used to things before we get back into full swing.

I think of all of us, Charissa was the most nervous, because she was starting a school she had never been to before. She used to attend a special school for hearing impaired students, but the government decided that wasn't needed anymore and closed it, so all the kids from her old school were sent to different places. Charissa now attends the same school as Fiona, Kiwi, and Evelyn. It's the local Anglican parish elementary school. So far, Charissa says she likes it. I think it helps a lot that she's in the same class as Fiona and Kiwi, so she automatically has them as friends, and their friends are spending time with her too. It's hard to tell how the schoolwork will be for her because of her learning disabilities, but the teacher is willing to help her. I think Charissa was more worried about whether she'd have friends, anyway.

Summer and Kiwi were also a little nervous because they started school last May, so they only had two months before summer break. They were afraid it would be hard to settle in again. They said it was easier than they expected, though. It was easier than moving at almost the end of the year, at least. Kiwi is getting over how scared she was when she was kidnapped - I think the school routine is helping.

The one person having a little bit of trouble is Bree. Last school year she got caught up on the studies she'd missed because of family problems, but the one class that's still an issue for her is French. French is required here because Canada is officially bilingual. When she lived in the United States - she only moved to Canada last school year - Bree took Spanish, and they didn't even start that till high school. And honestly, according to her the school she attended didn't exactly have the most academic excellence in languages, so I'm not sure how much Spanish she actually speaks anyway.

The teachers here, though, expect that at Bree's age, she'd have been learning French for ten years or so. Last year it wasn't a big deal because Bree was so behind in all her subjects, but this year she feels pretty bad about the French. She's studying really hard already, and Felicity and Josefina have been helping her. Bree likes school, so it'll be nice if she can get to a point where she doesn't have to stress anymore.

The other girls are just starting a normal year at the same schools they went to last year, and it's going well for them.

I had a big change this year, though. I'm homeschooled now, and I never was before. I actually like it more than I expected to, because I can work at my own pace, but I admit I miss the social parts, at least from when I used to live in Nova Scotia. I didn't have many friends at my school in Colorado, anyway. Going to the public high school isn't really an option, though. Sunlight and all. Vampire. Newfoundland isn't super sunny, and a lot of days are cloudy, but it's not consistent enough that I could really be enrolled in regular school.

Kaya does online classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I like that best because we can study together. We're in different grades so we can't really work together on our assignments, but at least there's some company. Tuesday and Thursdays are going to be harder because Kaya does her co-op classes with other local students that day.

Thursday actually was good this week, though, because Inna let me come to work with her. (She works as an art historian at the provincial museum.) I did my lessons in one of the empty meeting rooms, but at lunchtime I sat with Inna and during my breaks I got to look at the art, photography, and natural history exhibits. Inna says I can come any time that it's non-sunny enough for me to go out in the daytime. That'll be really good. School for vampires doesn't have to be that bad after all!

I hope the rest of our blog friends are enjoying the new school year, too! :-)

Love,
Clare

How We Rescued Kiwi

"What you've got to do is finish what you have begun.

I don't know just how, but it's not over till you've won..." 

- The Secret Garden Musical, "Hold On"

Hey, this is Bree, yet again. My sisters figured I should be the one to finish the story, since I was the one who filled you in on the beginning and the middle. I'm glad to report, so you don't need to worry anymore - it had a happy ending! Kiwi is home safely.

After we got the last letter, all we could do was wait. I read a few blogs and commented on them, because I was trying to be as normal as possible, but it was never far from any of our minds where Kiwi was, and how much danger she was in.

As it got closer to nightfall, we started trying to prepare ourselves. At first, Blakeney said none of us kids could go, but then eventually she considered our chances and relented a little and said no one under age fifteen could. Inna sharpened some stakes, and the rest of us thought about how we could use our individual powers and skills to help Kiwi.

The plan went like this: Maia would change into cat form, and scout the area. Once she figured out they where they were holding Kiwi, the others would create a diversion and/or actually fight off the vampires if necessary, while I dashed in with my awesome speed (which is apparently my special gift,) grab Kiwi and run. Once I signaled that I had her, we'd all get out of there as fast as we could.

Of course, there was one obvious downside to that. The vampires would come back, eventually, and try again, even if we got away. I'm not big on killing people or anything, but I very cautiously asked about a more permanent solution.

Inna got a very steely look in her eyes, and said that once Kiwi was safe, she would go take care of it. I wasn't scared of her, because you know... it's Inna. She's basically my sister. At that moment, though? I was glad I wasn't on the other side.

As we got ready to go, we tried to work up our morale. Blakeney gave us all a pep talk. Then Kirsten started singing rousing songs from Les Miserables to try to get us in the mood... till I kind of put a damper on things by reminding her how that story turned out. Les Mis is not a plotline I hoped to emulate! Kirsten pouted a little, but she got the point and switched to The Scarlet Pimpernel, a much better example of heroism that actually paid off.

We got to the park as the sun was setting. Maia went behind a tree (the clothes thing) and turned into her cat form, then she came out and we all petted her for good luck. She took off into the night. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. Inna and Blakeney started to get ansty. The park isn't that big. Was something wrong? At the twenty minute mark, Maia came back. She turned back into human form, and told us the vampires were in the brick gazebo at the centre of the park.

This was not entirely surprising. If I was going to pick a place to defend in the park, it would be there. The shelter is solid, the sides are steep, and it's surrounded by a wide grassy space with no trees, so it would be difficult for us to sneak up. We were definitely going to need that diversion.

Luckily, three of my sisters have pretty flashy powers. Josefina lit a pile of leaves on fire. Molly started making sheets of ice, then Kirsten would concentrate and shatter them. I'm not sure what the vampires thought was going on, but from where I was standing, it sounded like a huge battle. I was sure they would go investigate.

I needed to wait till they were out of the way... but not too long, in case they came back. I counted to ten, then dashed in. The gazebo was mostly empty. There was one of those pet carriers, which I figured Kiwi must be in. Poor thing! Unfortunately, there was also a vampire still standing guard - and the difference between one vampire and none is fairly significant.

I took a deep breath and psyched myself up. Be brave, Bree. Be fast! Before I had time to think about how suicidally insane what I was about to do was, I took off at a run toward the gazebo and pounded up the steps, keeping my eyes on the the pet carrier. Luckily for me, the vampire was startled. I think he would have expected someone to run away from him, not toward him. He didn't react fast enough. I didn't stop running; I grabbed the carrier and vaulted over the low rear wall. I said a quick "Oof!" as I took the impact in my knees, but there was no time to stop, and thank goodness I didn't fall. 

I ran all the way to the park entrance, still holding onto cat-form Kiwi in the carrier. Luckily she's the size of a normal cat. I didn't have time to stop and let her out, and I'm not sure she could have kept up with me. When I was close to the boundary of the park, I started whistling "Into the Fire," the song from The Scarlet Pimpernel that we'd used to psyche ourselves up. That was the signal.

It wasn't long before I heard running feet. The others looked pretty tense and exhausted, but they were all still okay. Inna and Clare were the last; they were holding off the vampires. Unfortunately, one of the vampires was still following them, and gaining on them.

At that moment, we discovered Felicity's power. She later told us she didn't know why, but she yelled, "Just settle down!" at the vampire... and he stopped, confused. So that is how she stops our arguments all the time! She knows how to make us calm down!

There was no time to stop and talk. We ran to Inna's station wagon, let Kiwi out of the carrier, and piled in. Inna drove like a crazy person - but she always does that, even when we aren't running from anything. 

Once we were on our way, I turned to Felicity. "That's really cool!" I told her, still kind of panting from my run.

Felicity looked very proud of herself. "You guys helped me figure it out, with all your bickering," she joked.

"You're welcome!" I replied, and stuck out my tongue.

It didn't take us long to get home. Kiwi hadn't cried the whole time she was being held captive, but when she was safe she finally did. She was really really scared, both for herself and for Clare, and she was tired of being in a tiny cage. She's okay, though, and happy to be home.

So that was our "adventure." Everyone is safe. For now, at least...

School starts next week. It would be okay for life to be boring for awhile. :-)

Love, 

Bree

Decision Time... Finally

Hi, this is Clare. I finally made a decision today. I'm going to let the family adopt me, and I'm going to be their official sister.

I know it probably seems weird that it took me so long to decide that. I've always liked them. They've always been nice to me. I've always wished I was a sister, not just a long-term guest. It was hard to say that, though.

For one thing, it's been awhile since I've been able to rely on other people. When my grandmother died and my family was arguing over who was going to be stuck with me, I kind of felt like I was never really going to be wanted. Even when the Greens said they wanted me to stay, it was hard to believe.

Also, I was worried bad things would happen to them because of me. I was worried they'd get hurt. I thought it would be better for me to run away so they didn't have to deal with my problems. I figured they'd eventually decide they'd had enough and kick me out or leave me for the bad vampires to find, so I should just cut my losses and make my own way before they could turn their backs on me.

When we got the threatening letter the other day, the family kept talking about what "we" were going to do. It was just assumed that I was staying, and they were going to protect me. It finally sank in, I guess. They already saw me as part of the family. I just had to decide what to do about it.

So... I decided I'm staying. I'm going to be an adopted Green. Finally. :-)

Love,
Clare

A Threat

Hey! This is Felicity with an update. Unfortunately, not a super upbeat one.

We hadn't heard from our unfriendly visiting vampires in awhile. The vampire hunters got sent to jail for causing a traffic accident, but the actual bloodsuckers have been on the loose. Normally this time of year would be pretty limiting for vampires - but we've been having very little sun. Most days are overcast, and a lot are rainy and misty. That's been great for Clare; she's been able to lead a fairly normal life lately, and go most places we've gone. On the downside, though, it means the other vampires are able to be active, too.

We hadn't seen any sign of them, and we hoped they had just given up, or gotten bored and forgotten Clare. No such luck. Clare says she thinks they went somewhere else to... you know... hunt. Our province has a pretty low crime rate. On average 2-5 people are murdered every year in the whole province, and it's almost always a domestic dispute when it happens. Violent vampire activity would be noticed. Fortunately Clare isn't violent, at least not to humans (although the rats might disagree.)

During the night the other vampires left us a little reminder that they're still around, though. We woke up to a note left on our door.

"Hand over the girl, Clara*, and no one gets hurt. Last warning."


*Seemingly these vampires are not detail people. ;-)

Our guardian didn't say much, and neither did Inna and Maia, but we could tell they were worried. Obviously the "choice" is no choice at all. We'd never just give them Clare. We're kind of nervous about what trick the mean bloodsuckers are going to pull off next.

Love,
Felicity

Evil Vampire Hunters Defeated by Traffic Court

"Uh, are we gonna fight, or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?" - A Vampire in Buffy Episode "The Freshman"

We haven't really said much about the car accident about two weeks ago, when Bree, Kirsten, and their driver's ed teacher were involved in a hit-and-run by the people who are after Clare. Bree and Kirsten are getting over how scary the accident was, and Clare is getting over feeling guilty over the fact the girls were involved because we took her in. Other than that, we haven't said anything because there hasn't really been anything more to report, on our end.

The police's end is another story. Ever since the girls made a police report, the constabulary has been trying to track down the people who hit their car. Our city doesn't have a lot of crime for an urban area, but our police force is really good. Eventually, they figured out who was involved. Today Kirsten and Bree had to go to court to testify about what happened. (Leaving out the part about vampires, of course.)

Turns out? Leaving the scene of an accident is a crime. So are obstruction of justice and evading the police, which apparently have happened in the meantime. The scary vampire hunters will be doing some jail time. They'll all be deported subsequently, and won't be able to return to Canada for a prescribed length of time. If they can't get into the country legally, it'll be a lot harder for them to come after our friendly local vampire.

So... for now, Clare is safe. Eventually they'll probably find a way to come back, it they're so inclined; Canada and the US have the longest undefended border in the world, and it's not impossible to sneak in. It'll be more difficult for them, though, and maybe they'll just give up.

Funny (but in a good and very relieving way!) that the mean vampire hunters were fought off not with violence, but with the consequences of a traffic offence! :-)

Love,
The Green Girls

Quiet House, Thinking Thoughts

Hi, this is Clare. :-)

Taryn suggested that I spend some of my wasted daytime hours blogging, and although I wasn't sure I'd have that much to say, I've given in to the peer pressure, and I'm going to try.

The house is really quiet without Evelyn, Charissa, and Fiona. It's sort of amazing how much chaos those three can create - I think it's just their age. Is it weird that I like the quiet, but I still miss them? I think the other girls do too, on both counts. You get used to having all the family there.

For that matter, it's strange not to have Kiwi here. I think I see almost as much of her, Summer, Inna, and Maia, as the people who actually live in this house. Even though they sleep next door, it's more like one big family during waking hours.

It feels like... I'm part of the family now, too. I didn't expect that. I'm really attached to them. I'm worried I won't be able to leave. Sometimes I think about asking them to adopt me. Then I remember how much harder I make things for them. It's silly to fantasize about it.

Today, I've been kind of philosophical, I guess. I've been thinking about good and evil. More specifically, which I am. I don't think I'm particularly good. Does being a vampire mean I'm automatically evil, though? Can a "creature of the night" still be good? Is what I am just bad, or does it depend on my actions? What if in the future, I never do terrible things? Am I still evil, because I'm a vampire? I feel bad that I have to drink blood. But is it any worse than a cheeseburger? Most people eat animals... just in a different way than I do.

I've also been thinking about the people I... you know... killed. It's hard to even type that. Yeah, the other vampires made me, but it's still my fault, isn't it? That must mean I'm evil after all. But the family here is so nice to me. Why would good people want to keep me around, if I'm evil? Maybe if I start doing good deeds, I could atone for my past or something. (Like Angel from Buffy - have I been watching too much television?)

Yeah. Thinking a lot, today. A quiet house can do that to you.

Love,
Clare

Meltdown

Hi, this is Felicity again.

Last time we posted an entry, I predicted that things were going to come to a head after the accident. Unfortunately, it turns out I was right. Sometimes I wish I was wrong about this stuff more, but I know my family.

Last night, I think the final last straw came. The power went out on our block... which means no alarm systems. Under the circumstances, that was worrisome. Our neighbours came over, and we all camped out in our living room. It was really fun, actually, but we couldn't deny that it was for safety in numbers. I could tell Clare felt even more guilty, if more guilt was even possible after the car crash.

Ever since Tuesday, Clare has been all but silent. Today she was in the bathroom for a long time, with the door locked and the shower running. Molly was oh-so-compassionately going to fuss at her for using up so much hot water, but when she got to the door she heard Clare crying, so luckily Molly was sensitive enough to drop the subject.

The last few days have been sunny. Today it was rainy and grey, though. The kind of day where vampires don't have to worry much about daylight. Apparently, that was enough to get Clare to make her move. Or maybe it was just how much guilt was already brewing in her over the changes she brought to our lives.

While the rest of us were in the kitchen working on supper - we made crêpes, so it was a bit of a project - Clare slipped off and started packing her bag.


Bree heard her rustling around. She motioned to me, and we followed her into the bedroom. "What do you think you're doing?" Bree asked.


"Leaving!" Clare replied. "Like I should have done a long time ago."


"We don't want you to leave!" Bree couldn't help feeling angry, and honestly I kind of was too. We've been sympathetic, but after all that's happened and all we've been through together, it was hard not to be mad that she was just ditching us again without a word. Bree's face was like a storm cloud. "We've already faced danger and come out on the other side. How can you just walk away now?"


"Very easily," Clare replied coldly. Her eyes weren't cold, though. She looked really sad, and I knew it wasn't as easy as she was pretending it was.


"Clare, please..." I said quietly.


Clare hoisted her bag over her shoulder. 


Bree glared at her. "Doesn't anything we've done for you matter? Isn't the time we've spent together important?"


Clare turned to walk away, and Bree grabbed her shoulders. Clare pushed Bree. Bree pushed her back. 


"Girls, stop it!" I said helplessly, unsure what to do.


Clare slapped Bree, and then so fast I barely saw her hand move, Bree slapped her too.


Suddenly they paused, like they were frozen, and stared at each other. Bree started laughing first, then Clare started giggling too. They gave each other a hug. I was baffled by this strange ritual. Five seconds ago they're hitting each other, and now they're friends? Weirdos!


Anyway, Clare didn't go. She put her stuff away and sat with us at the table, even though obviously she didn't eat any food. Clare was smiling again, and she actually joined the conversation a few times. Things seemed nearly back to normal.


So that was our meltdown. It wasn't exactly the finest moment for any of us. All families have their problems... and our family has weird problems... so I guess in the end, we did alright.


Love,
Felicity

Intervention with the Vampire

Hi, this is Bree. :-)

This has been a fun day for us. We went to Summer's horse show - she won four ribbons, and two of them were blue! We were so proud of her. Evelyn was in heaven (she loves horses) and I think she's going to be taking lessons now at the barn where Summer rides, too.

That's not what this post is really about, though. It's about our friendly local vampire.

Clare seems to be doing better since we rescued her at the park. She seems more relaxed, and she's living inside with us rather than out in the yard. She makes conversation, hangs out with us, and so on. There's one thing that worried us, though. She wouldn't commit to staying here. Whenever we brought it up, Clare would say she likes it here but she'll go if she feels she's putting us in danger. (Our guardian wants her to stay, too, but short of physical restraint there's not much she can do if Clare really gets desperate to go.) We don't want her to run again. We'd rather take the risk than leave her to face danger alone. The difficult part was convincing her.

The last couple of days, Clare has seemed more and more like she was resigning herself to leaving. She was careful to remind us she was temporary. I saw her looking up bus schedules online. We had to do something fast, or she was going to bolt. Sooner, rather than later.

After we got back from the horse show, told Clare I needed to talk to her privately. I was really nervous. Obviously I'm not scared of Clare, but sometimes I get really awkward and tongue-tied, and just stand there like a moron. I didn't want to screw this up.

Before I could lose my nerve, I blurted out, "So Clare, we can really do this the easy way or the hard way."

She looked confused. "Do what, Bree?"

"Look, we're not going to ditch you. Me and my sisters won't, and Blakeney won't. Even Inna and Maia are on your side. So this can really go one of two ways. You stay here, we defend ourselves as best we can, everything turns out fine and you lead a long, happy life. Alternatively, you flee into the wind, we follow you, we track you down, we defend ourselves and you although it's a lot more difficult since we're not on home turf, so we're in greater danger... then we bring you home, and on to the happy life. Those are the only options. You disappearing or us leaving you to your fate are not options. So really, the best thing you can do at this point is stay, and make it all less difficult."

Clare stared back at me. "What if I just run? You won't be able to find me."

I laughed. "Yeah right. They didn't let me disappear, and I wasn't easy to find. The distance of almost a whole continent didn't stop them. It won't this time, either. We're involved now. We're going to protect you, whether you like it or not. You just get to decide whether to make it easy or difficult."

"Why should I make it easy?"

I said the first thing that came to mind. "Because we have tickets to Cirque du Soleil tomorrow night. It's an early birthday celebration for Blakeney. If you leave, who's gonna sit in your seat?"

As soon as these words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. What the heck, Bree? There are a thousand reasons she should stay, and the best reason you can come up with is that you don't want to have to scalp her ticket? What is that? She's in mortal danger, and that's what springs to mind?

Sometimes I don't think on my feet very well. Weirdly, though? It seemed to work.

"You guys got me a ticket?" Clare asked in a small voice.

"Well, sure. You're practically family now, and the show is at night. We just kind of assumed. But if, you know... you don't want to..."

"I want to," Clare said quickly.

Getting her to stay at least one more day is a minor victory at best. One more step toward making her realize she's family, though? I think that may count for something.

Love,
Bree

The Story of Clare, Continued

Hi, this is Clare again. This is the second part of the story I started tell. My last post was about my life as a human. This part is going to be about how I got turned into a vampire, and why I'm running from people now.


This part is harder. It's about me doing bad things, and being around bad people. It also seems more... immediate. I've only been a vampire for a year, but in a way it seems like forever. Human life seems distant. It's easier to be objective about my human past; I remember it but it's almost like talking about things that happened to someone else.


I guess I hope even after I tell all this vampire stuff, people will still like me. I understand if you don't, though.


So here it is...

The Story of Clare

Hello, this is Clare. This is the first blog entry on my own. The sky didn't fall when I let the readers interview me, so I guess I don't mind stepping a little bit out on a limb and talking about my past.

I ended up writing kind of a lot... so if you want to read it click the link below if you're currently on the main page, or scroll down if you direct-linked.

(Our) Interview with the Vampire

So, one of our favourite things to do when we get a new family member is to interview them. (We've done so twice so far - Bree was the first, then Fiona.) Clare isn't technically a member of our family in any legal sense, and she hasn't even promised to stay for the long term, but for now she feels like a surrogate sister. We wanted to interview her, and after days of pleading and bugging her, she finally agreed.

Clare said each of us could ask her a question, and she'd answer it for the blog. After a little more begging, she said she'd answer questions from readers, too! So if there's anything you're dying to know about Clare, leave a comment, and she says she'll answer... as long as she's not revealing anything "too dangerous." Whatever that means.

So here's the interview...

Finding Clare and (Sort of...) Fighting Vampires

This is Josefina. :-)

The good news is, we found Clare, and she's alive. She's currently in our house, taking a shower. This time we're a lot more wary that she might bolt, but there's no access to outside from the bathroom, so she'd have to walk past us. Not like we could probably stop her if she really wanted to go, but at least we'd know she was leaving.

The bad news is, it's becoming more and more obvious why Clare ran. Those human would-be vampire hunters? Not the only ones who want her blood. And I don't mean that in the harmless vampire fun way, I mean in the wanting her dead sense.

Here's the whole play-by-play of what happened:

Hunters

Hi, this is Kaya.

Still no Clare. Still searching. But today we found out for sure that we aren't the only ones on the hunt. We met some of the others today, and they definitely aren't just here to look out for what's best for her.

Kirsten, Bree, Felicity, and I had taken April (our dog) out to look for Clare, when we saw them.

There were three of them. All guys. Two of them looked like they were in their twenties, and the older guy looked maybe fifty. They wore dark clothes and long duster coats. I don't think they were vampires; the sun had made a brief appearance, and it didn't seem to affect them. When they saw us, one of the guys shoved something up his sleeve that had been in his hand. I'm pretty sure it was a wooden stake. Not good.

They seemed to recognize us, and they smiled - but it wasn't a smile that reached their eyes. The oldest guy said, "Hello, ladies. You haven't seen a homeless girl about your age hanging around here lately, have you?"

We shook our heads.

Another of the guys said, "You don't have to be afraid of us. We're her family. We just want to help her."

Yeah, right. They very well might be her family, but they weren't there for her benefit. Chasing her around with stakes because you want to help. Sure!

"We don't know who you're talking about," Kirsten said stubbornly.

He frowned. "It's not nice to lie, little girl."

"We met her," Bree said innocently, without any sign of concern.

I gave her a horrified look. What was she doing? Had she not figured out these people would be lethal to Clare?

The man grinned. "Where is she?"

Bree shrugged. "She was leaving town. I think she said Vancouver..."

The three men glanced at each other. Were they going to believe her? If she was telling the truth, Clare was headed for the complete opposite end of the country. They'd have to get moving to catch up. If Bree was lying, though, it was a major wild goose chase. Clare going to Vancouver if people here were after her made sense; on the other hand if she hadn't really left and they tried to find her there, they'd lose the trail here. Me and my sisters knew Bree wasn't telling them where Clare really was... but would they?

"Thanks," the oldest guy said, staring hard at Bree.

They left.

Did they leave town? We don't know yet. We tried. At the very least, we have a better idea, now, of who is after Clare...

Love,
Kaya

Following the Trail

Hey, this is Bree.

No Clare yet, and no sign of her. We've been searching around town, asking about her when we could do so discreetly, and looking up missing persons reports to try to find out where she came from. We haven't found her, and we still have no idea about her origins.

One thing we did figure out makes things harder. We're pretty sure that "Clare" isn't her real name. At first we assumed it was, and we also think she hasn't been a vampire very long because it still seemed like she felt weird about it - so we should have found a record of her disappearing from human life. We didn't, though, and we were confused.

We were discussing this absence of information, and suddenly Kirsten got a weird look on her face. "Bree, which landmark do you remember from when you first came to our house?"

I exhaled a kind of sigh. I didn't want to say it, but I knew what she meant. "St. Clare's Hospital."

"You think she made it up because she didn't want to tell us her real name?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "I do."

We still have an approximate age (we think she's between 14 and 16) and a description. Not knowing where she's from, her surname, or probably even her real first name... this will still be tough.

There was one positive development, though. I took Ev, Charissa, and Fiona to the park for awhile this evening. When we got back, there was a small parcel on our front step, wrapped in a grocery store bag. It had "Bree" written on the bag in black marker. Inside, I found my book, Wicked, the one Clare kept when she left.

There was a note:

Dear Bree,

Sorry I took this without asking. 

Bet you thought you'd never get it back. 

It was good and I wanted to find out what happened.

Not exactly a happy ending, huh?

Such is life.

Thanks for everything you girls did for me.

Sorry I had to leave, but it was too dangerous for you with me there.

You won't see me again but I won't forget any of you.

Love,

Clare

Downer letter, huh? 

Well, except for one thing. It didn't come in the mail.

If Clare left a book on our steps today, it means she's still in town. That means we still have a chance to find her. Maybe it's not too late. We certainly haven't given up! As long as there's a chance she's still alive, we aren't going to.

Love,

Bree