Adriel
I was going tokillPierce.
That was my first thought upon learning that I was being assigned to babysitting duty. Without consulting me prior, he thrust a huge responsibility upon me and just assumed I would be fine with it. Unlike my brother, who was apparently content to simply be a father, I had other aspirations. For one thing, I had a novel to finish writing - a highly anticipated novel, demanded by millions of worldwide fans.
And none of them even knew I was working on it.
At least Pierce had the decency to fetch my draft from my library for me.
The only one who did know about the new novel was Caleb. Benji, his older brother, had told him when he discovered the draft in my library. While I wasn’t angry with Benji, itwasslightly irritating that Caleb knew, considering that he thought of himself as my number one fan.
And now I had to live with him. Joy.
Besides that, other issues weighed heavily on my mind, like my mother’s growing illness. Caleb would have been dead when she attacked him out of the blue if my brothers and I weren’t there.
I shuddered. Even though I didn’t want to babysit Caleb, the thought of losing him - of watching him be killed right in front of me, by my own mother, no less - was too horrifying to entertain.
It’s not forever,I told myself, repeating it like a mantra. I’d lived a long life, and this situation would only be a blip of time, something I’d forget a few hundred years later. This babysitting would only last until Margaret’s illness was cured, or when she passed away.
But with Margaret’s rapid spiral into madness, it appeared that the latter was the more reliable option.
So, I can look forward to not babysitting a human any longer only when my mother drops dead. Wonderful.
* * *
The next eveningwhen I woke from my trance, I exited the room to run into Caleb in the hall. His disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes made it obvious he had just woken up as well.
“Oh, hi Adriel!” he said, his eyes lighting up. He might as well have been a puppy wagging its tail.
“Hello,” I said. Wanting to be polite, I asked, “I take it you slept well?”
His smile faded briefly. “Uh… Yeah! I slept fine. What about you? I mean, wait, do vampires even sleep? Because in your books, the vampires enter a trance that’s kind of like sleeping but notreallysleeping the way humans do, is that like real life?”
I forced myself not to sigh at the mile-a-minute interrogation. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“Wow!” His face brightened up again. “That’s so cool. I can’t believe it, I mean… I always just thought A. T. Ainsworth was just a really creative author, but it turns out a lot of the stuff you wrote was fact. I wonder what else was true?”
“Indeed.” My hand raised, wanting to pinch the bridge of my nose, but then I placed it back in my pocket. It was too early in the evening to let Caleb know I was already exhausted with his questions. “Shall we have something to eat?”
“Oh, yeah! Fully stocked kitchen, here I come!”
Caleb raced to the edge of the stairs, then paused like he was waiting for me.
“Go on,” I urged.
He hesitated. “You’re the host. I don’t want to cut in front of you.”
“This again…” I sighed. “Listen, Caleb. Didn’t Pierce tell you this was your home for the time being?”
“Yeah,” Caleb admitted.
“Then treat it as such. You don’t need to act so shy.”
“All right,” he said uneasily. “I’ll try.”
In the kitchen, Caleb remembered my words and didn’t seek permission before going through the pantry and fridge. He made himself some toast with peanut butter and jam. Not wanting to sit around uselessly, I busied myself with preparing coffee. Even if I couldn’t drink it, Caleb might appreciate it.
“Oh,” Caleb said when he noticed me. “You can drink coffee?”
