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rohad93 · 3 years

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Moonlit Masquerade: Moonlit Ever After Pt 2

Luz hopped off her staff in front of the portal, letting King down to scamper back into the house with Eda and Lilith before she stepped through the door. That uncomfortable magicless feeling washed over her and she shook herself as she dashed out of the old shack.

She jogged to her mother’s house, today was Halloween, so no one walking up and down the street even blinked an eye at her as jogged past in her usual witchy attire, staff on her back.

She'd have to bring Amity here next Halloween. They could do something fun for their first anniversary and just walk around as they were and no one would think twice.

"Mami, you home?" Luz peeked her head in the door, not bothering with knocking.

"Coming, Mija!"

Her mother appeared on the stairs, her hair lying in a shiny, flat curtain against her back and dressed in a knee-length, dark green dress, a belt cinched around her waist.

"Ay, looking good, Mami!" Luz grinned, shooting her a finger gun.

"Thank you, baby, but wait until you see Amity." She smiled knowingly, and color Luz intrigued. She of course was already waiting on bated breath to see her soon to be wife, but her mother making mention of it has her even more excited.

"Was she beautiful in her dress? I mean, I know she must be, she's always beautiful, even when she first gets up and is grumpy and has bed head and morning breath…," Luz rambled excitedly and her mother just smiled knowingly at her. It was always nice to see the ways in which Luz hadn’t changed while she was away; made it feel like she hadn’t missed quite so much.

"That girl just owns you, heart and soul, doesn't she?" Camila laughed, bringing her rambling to a halt and Luz chuckled, cheeks pink, scratching the back of her head.

"Yeah." She can only nod in agreement, she couldn’t even think to deny it.

"As for her dress, you'll just have to wait and see, Mija."

"I'd rather wait till tonight anyway." Luz shrugged with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"Si, si, let's go, you need to start getting ready, your hair is a mess." Her mother fussed, trying to smooth her windswept locks.

"I'll fix it after I shower," Luz laughed, but resigned herself to letting her mother fuss over her.

When they returned to the Owl House Gus and Edric were waiting there, dressed in their matching dark blue dress shirts under black vests and coats. Luz is glad to see that Edric has shaved off his mustache. She didn’t mind it, but she knew Amity hated it and was threatening to ban him from all photos if he didn’t shave it off.

“You guys are early!” Luz smiled as they walked into the house. Camila greeted the boys before walking into the kitchen where the Clawthorne sisters were sitting at the kitchen table.

“Better early than late, right?” Edric grinned.

“Amity would kill you.” Luz grinned back.

“Too true, sis.” Edric nodded sagely, arms crossed over his chest.

“Are you excited?” Gus grinned gleefully at her, bouncing on his toes.

“Very, I gotta go shower and get dressed. You guys got everything else taken care of?”

“Everything is set up at the tree.” Gus nodded.

“We stopped by the school too, they have everything just about set up there too,” Edric gave her a thumbs up.

“Great, I’ll be back in a little bit!” she hurried up the stairs and the sound of the shower running followed.

Two hours to curtain time and everyone in the owl house was in the living room, waiting on Luz.

“Have you heard from the girls today?” Lilith looked at Edric who nodded.

“Em just messaged me that they’re leaving for the school now, so everything is on schedule,” he confirmed.

“Now if we can just get the other bride to get a move on,” Eda snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“She should be down any minute now,” Lilith replied.

As if summoned, a door closed upstairs and Luz thumped down the stairs.

“How do I look?” Luz asked nervously as she finally appeared from upstairs, making her family look up, and they went quiet.

Luz stood in front of them in her shiny dress shoes and white pants, her button-up shirt a vivid violet, tucked into her pants under the white vest and tie knotted smoothly against her neck. Her long hair combed back carefully, laying against her back atop the matching white, tailed coat.

She does a little spin and Camila is already tearing up as she looks at her, while her soon to be brother-in-law whistles.

“You look amazing, Luz!” Gus gushes.

“Sharp as ever, Kid.” Eda smiles at her softly from the couch.

“Amity will be smitten even further, if possible, the moment she lays eyes on you,” Lilith agreed with a nod and smile as Luz chuckled.

“Thanks, guys.” she fretted nervously with the buttons of her coat and smoothed the perfectly straight, bright white tie.

“Why all the white? No one here believes you're a virgin,” Eda cackled and Luz flushed brightly against the stark color. Camila shook her head, exasperated by the gray-haired witch. Edric wheezed at that while Gus just flushed.

“I just liked how it looked…,” she mumbled.

“You look wonderful, Mija,” Camila assured her, walking up to her smoothing her coat before cupping her cheeks in her hands. “¡Oh, mi bebé se va a casar!” Camila smooshed her cheeks as her eyes got misty.

“Mami, por favor…,” Luz begged, prying her mother’s hands off her cheeks.

“¡Amity es una chica muy afortunada!” Camila sniffled, making Luz smile.

“I think I’m the lucky one…,” Luz mumbled, grinning at her mother, who smiled at that.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re both very lucky, you can be sickeningly in love together for the rest of your lives,” Eda broke the moment with a grin. “Are we ready or what?”

“We got the rings?” Gus asked and King held up the two boxes in his clawed hands. “Do you have your vows?” he turned to Luz.

“Vows?” Luz repeated, blinking before she slaps her hands against her face. “...I forgot to write vows…,” she said quietly, staring wide-eyed into the air with horror, mouth hanging open and Eda starts to laugh uncontrollably, doubling over on the couch as Edric snorts, trying to choke back his laughter while Lilith sighs, shaking her head, fingers pressed to her temple.

“Luz…,” Gus sighed, pressing his hands to his face.

“Mija…” her mother is shaking her head tiredly.

“It’s okay! I got this, I am a master of improv!” she insists. “I mean, it’s basically just saying things I love about Amity, I can do that in my sleep!”

“She can, I’ve heard her yammering about her in her sleep.” King nodded, rolling his eyes.

“See?” Luz held her hands at the demon.

“I dunno if this is the best time to be practicing your improv, Luz,” Gus said, worried.

“Well we have to leave now, there’s no time to write any,” Lilith sighed.

“Ride with me kid, you can jot down some thoughts on the way over,” Eda said, finally standing, and wiping mirthful tears out of her eyes.

“I don’t need to write anything down, trust me, I got this!” Luz insists, hands on her hips.

“It’s your wedding/ funeral.” Eda shrugs and holds out her hand, something crashes in the bowels of the house before her staff flies into her hand. “Let’s get this matrimony show on the road!”

They pile out of the house into the front yard.

“Come on, Mami, you can ride with me,” Luz said as she hopped on her staff.

Camila nervously climbed on behind her and Luz grinned as she clung to her as they lifted off the ground.

Edric and Gus are already taking off on their own staves with Eda and Lilith behind them, Luz following along a little slower for her mother’s sake, who clings to her tightly.

“It's okay, Mami, I may never have learned to drive, but I am a master with a staff,” she promised.

Camila squeezed her tighter. Luz just smiled to herself and kept flying, slow and even toward the cliffside where they were getting married.

Amity and the rest of the girls were going to be at the school while Luz and the boys would go straight to the tree. The sun was starting to dip below the horizon, the moon already rising across the sky, and it’s blue hue was apparent to all, though it yet had no light of its own as the sun’s bright orange rays drowned it out as it dropped below the horizon line, casting bright oranges and pinks across the sky.

Luz smiled to herself as they approached, she could see the bright pink tree standing tall over the rest of the forest. When they touched down she grinned to herself, the tree was still in full bloom, even though its pink leaves and flowers were slowly falling from their branches with every stray gust of wind. Even better were the hundreds of little orbs of light floating in the air above them, lighting the area up with their gentle glow.

It was a simple set up, there was a long dark rug stretched from under the tree, back out into the forest toward the school, where a large curtain had been set up in the trees where Amity would appear later. The cliffs on the other side and several rows of white folding chairs on either side,

A few people had already arrived and were sitting around talking, including Bump, several of the council members, and some of her and Amity’s friends and old allies from the various covens.

It was happening here in just a scant hour. They were getting married.

Luz swallowed, suddenly feeling a little stiff as she looked around at everything. Was her tie too tight? She suddenly found it hard to breathe and wondered for a moment if her PTSD was choosing this moment to make the worst timed appearance of all time, but there’s no quiet buzzing under her skin or whispering in the back of her mind, it’s blissfully quiet, though she suddenly feels an anxiousness settle in the pit of her stomach. It feels different than the kind that usually accompanies one of those days.

She fidgeted with her sleeves, foot-tapping anxiously on the ground, drawing both her mothers’ gaze.

“Mija?” Camila looks at her, concerned.

“You okay, Kid?” Eda tilts her head.

“YEaH…” her voice cracked a little and she cleared her throat. “Yeah, I just…” She glanced around, unsure.

“Oh,” Eda smirked, seeming to catch on. “Finally getting cold feet?” she asked knowingly.

“What? No! I just… I dunno, I just feel so nervous all of a sudden.” she frowned.

“That’s perfectly normal, Luz.” Her mother laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “This is a big step in your relationship with Amity, a lifelong commitment, It's natural to be nervous," she soothed.

"Yeah, you still wanna marry her right?" Eda slapped her hand atop Luz's other shoulder.

"Of course I do!" Luz nodded. "I guess it's just… it never felt like this day was ever actually going to get here… now it is and It's like I just did a milk shot. My stomach is all squirmy." She placed her hands over her stomach, frowning.

"I felt the same way before I married your Papi," Camila admitted and that made Luz's racing nerves screech to a grinding halt.

The most she knew about her dad was that he had died before she was born, her mother had never wanted to talk about it when she was a kid, always telling her that they would talk about it when she was older, but then she'd vanished for the last six years. It had never really bothered her, she'd just gotten used to functioning as though she didn't have a dad, since she actually never had, and she had being the school weirdo to contend with most of her first fourteen years.

"Huh?" Is all she can get her mouth to say as she looks at her mother.

Camila's smile is soft and sad. It had been over twenty years, but she still found it hard to talk about, she'd even gone as far as getting rid of all the photos, they had just been too painful to look at at the time and pictures of their daughter had taken up the spaces left empty on the walls shortly after.

Till Luz had vanished, then they too had been packed away, but she had gotten her baby back and more in the form of her soon to be daughter-in-law.

"We'll talk about it soon, I promise, Luz, but for now, trust me, this is normal and once you see Amity all those nerves will go away.” Camila smiled at her daughter.

“Yeah,” Eda threw in. “I’ve been watching you two be grossly in love for six years, you two are sickeningly perfect for each other.” She grinned, squeezing Luz’s shoulder.

Luz took a deep breath and tried to quell the flipping in her stomach.

“Right, I know… I should go... talk to some of the guests…,” she mumbled before walking over to the coven heads who were seated already.

“Hmm, we should keep an eye on her…” Eda set a fist on her hip and Camila nodded as they watched Luz chat with the group of witches.

~ ~

Amity took a deep breath as she stared at herself in the mirror, smoothing the imaginary wrinkles from her dress, her fingers brushing the brooch Luz had given her, pinned to the left of her chest, she never took it off. Just next to it, beneath the top of her dress was the power amulet Lilith had given her for her fifteenth birthday, she was never without that either, it had saved her life a few times during her many battles, and powered the final spell of the war.

Another pillar crashed to the floor, in the wake of Amity’s flaming abomination, set ablaze by Luz’s glyphs shoved inside of it and raising a cloud of dust and debris that stung her eyes as the two teenagers dived behind another pillar to catch their breath while the creature distracted the weakened Emperor.

The castle was shaking and trembling as witches fired off spell after spell in every hall and corridor in the place. Rebels and loyalists fighting bitterly everywhere, dust fell from the ceiling with the force of the magics that battered the walls and ceilings from every direction. Even the floor beneath their feet is a mass of broken and loose stone from the force of the attacks being flung about the room.

Amity hissed, looking down at her leg, blood was dripping down her calf and into her boot, but she didn’t have time for that, she could tend her injuries when Belos was dead.

“I’m nearly at my limit…,” Luz panted quietly, knees shaking and Amity sucked in a sharp breath at that.

Once, Luz had claimed that her glyphs didn’t suck up energy or make her tired the way Amity’s own spellcasting did. One thing the war had taught them was that that was horribly untrue. Luz had just never needed to expend that much energy on the small glyphs she usually used in day to day life to notice the drain. Hours or even days of endless fighting had proved that her form of magic did suck up her energy, till she could barely lift her head, an alarming thing they had discovered after the first few battles of the war. After that, Luz had to learn to better monitor and sparse out her magic, though it certainly made her a much shrewder and acute fighter.

Amity grit her teeth, she’s exhausted too. It had been a blow for blow firefight just to get them to this point, then just to weaken him enough that he could no longer meld into the floors and walls. She cursed under her breath, she knows she can’t do this alone, and the others are all fighting elsewhere, their next attack is going to be their last and they need to make it count, or every spilled drop of blood and snuffed out life will have been for nothing.

An explosion sends bits of singed abomination goo across the room, beyond its ability to reform. Their time is nearly up.

Her mind is a whirling mass of thoughts.

“Come out, children.” Belos’ low voice echoed in the cavernous room, but she can tell it’s strained. They’re not the only ones injured. Amity squeezed Luz’s arm, drawing exhausted brown eyes to her, allowing her to see the long cut, seeping blood on her cheek.

“I need you to hold on just a little longer, love. I have a plan.” Amity’s voice is a tight whisper in Luz’s ear and her white-knuckled grip on her staff tightens further as she jerks a nod.

“Tell me what you want me to do.”

Stone cracks behind the pillar and Belos turns to it, eyes blazing beneath his mask.

He rounds the pillar, staff raised above his head but an abomination lunges around him, covering him in its gelatinous body, and before he can move it glows blue and ice erupts across its gooey flesh, freezing solid around him; trapped.

The crackling of a portal, makes him turn his head as far as he can to see the two teenagers appear behind him.

Amity stood behind a trembling Luz as she held a fire glyph in front of her. Between the ice glyphs and the portal, Amity’s left arm wrapped tightly around her waist is all that keeps her standing, and sheer willpower is all that stands between Amity and passing out.

Amity reached around, power amulet in hand, and grabbed Luz’s trembling hand gripping the glyph card, the stone amulet pressed between their skin is warm, alive with magic she’s been storing for months and she wills the stored power free.

They were both enveloped in the bright magenta glow and then the glyph blazed to life and fire erupted like a volcano from it, the sweltering heat licks at their skin, and the thunderous sound of the roaring blaze pounds in their ears.

Their eyes slammed shut against the blinding, white-hot light. It seemed to drag on and on, before finally, the amulet’s power is expended and the flames faded to flickering embers, leaving them in the dimly lit room, blinking away the spots in their vision.

Luz panted, slipping to her knees, and Amity drops behind her, head on her shoulder and arms limp. They poured everything they had left into that one spell.

When her vision finally cleared, Amity, with great effort, lifted her head to find that where the Emperor had once stood is nothing more than a large, smeared, black stain against the singed stone wall. A pile of ash is all that remains, along with a half-melted, broken staff.

She waits, holding her breath, eyes flickering around the room, as if waiting for him to pop out of the shadows and finish them both, it would be easy, they’re boneless and have nothing left to give, but the longer they sit there on their knees, Luz’s ragged panting the only sound in the room, nothing happens. Her grip on Luz tightens and tears prick at the corner of her eyes.

“He’s ...dead…” her choked voice is foreign to her own ears, but it makes Luz lift her head and she looks at the smeared pile of ash that is all that remains of the once tyrant Emperor of The Boiling Isles.

“It's over…” her voice is barely a whisper and she’s so tired. She relaxes and her consciousness slips away, body slumping to the floor.

“Luz?… Luz!” Amity leans down, pressing a pointed ear to Luz’s back, and relaxes when she hears the steady rhythm beating inside her chest. It takes the last dregs of her strength to pull Luz’s limp body up so her head lays against her chest.

They stay there until the rest of the rebellion bursts into the throne room and finds them, both unconscious on the floor together.

She shook her head, casting away those thoughts, and drags her finger away from the amulet. She hasn’t had to use it since, but its presence is comforting. She knows the devastating power she can unleash with it.

A knock on the empty classroom door makes her jerk.

“Come in.” She glanced over her shoulder as her sister poked her head in the door and smiled as she looked at her sister in her dress, auburn hair done in perfect, bouncy curls, and her makeup done immaculately, if Emira did say so herself, she had done it after all.

“Hey sis, we got like, thirty minutes, you bout ready?”

Amity nodded, still fiddling with her clothes as Emira stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

“Still nervous?” she smiled gently as she stood behind her and Amity looked at her in the reflection of the mirror.

“Actually, no. I was this morning, I thought I was going to throw up after breakfast but now I’m just… excited.” She smiled and Emira grinned at her and flicked a few of her curls with her finger.

“You should be, Ed was just here, apparently our new little sis looks sharp enough to cut. Said you better hold tight to your heart when you see her,” Emira laughed and Amity’s smile turned into a toothy grin. Luz was pretty content most of the time to just throw on something clean under her cloak, but Amity was intimately aware of her ability to turn the knob all the way to the max on her appearance when she wanted. More than once she had left Amity near speechless on special occasions, and as far as special occasions went, she couldn’t think of one Luz would put more effort into than their wedding.

“I’ll do my best,” Amity chuckled.

“Alright, we’ll be waiting out front when you’re ready.” She threw over her shoulder as she turned to go. Amity nodded and the door closed. She took another breath and picked up the bouquet of blood-blossoms sitting on one of the desks and smiled at them, running her fingers over the petals The flowers always made her think of Luz, being the same kind she had once put on her locker.

She’d been the first one to ever gift flowers to her.

Actually, Luz had been her first… well, everything. Crush, kiss, girlfriend, love.

She won’t say first wife, because that implied that she might have a second someday and Amity has no plans to ever let that happen, and maybe it’s naive, but she’s sure that she’s going to be with the human all the rest of her life.

They’ve known lots of other couples over the years and it always astounded both of them how some other couples could argue about things that could so easily be fixed if they just talked about it. Sure, they fight sometimes, but never for long and never anything like the screaming matches they’ve witnessed other couples have. Ugly, knock-down drag outs that leave someone in tears. The only times they’ve left the other in angry tears have been because the other did something dangerously stupid.

Usually, it was Amity, but after the battle at the knee, it had been Luz, who had screamed at her for fifteen minutes while sobbing. Maybe it wasn’t the smart thing to do, too so carelessly throw her life around, but she meant it and means it still. She would always put her life on the line for her and that argument was quickly ended by Amity telling her that she damn well would have done the same thing and she knew it, and her life was worth no more or less then Luz’s

That stopped the screaming, but it didn’t stop the tears, it took a while for those to stop.

It’s strange when she thinks about it, loving someone so wholly and fiercely that the threat of her own death seems like such a trivial thing in the face of losing her, that someone can make her feel so totally fearless in one moment and then terrified to breathe the next.

Amity huffs, smiling to herself. It sounds so sappy, like something straight out of the pair’s favorite book series, but she and Luz have a powerful bond, forged first out of love and affection, then the complete and total trust that could only come from being tempered with blood and the fires of war.

If Luz told her to jump off a cliff Amity knows she would do it because she trusts Luz above all else; she always had a plan.

Amity rolled her eyes at herself. She’s such a sap, not that Luz is any better, which makes her feel a little better.

Their friends are right.

They are gross.

There’s a knock on the door and Amity straightened.

“I’m coming, Em!”

The door opened but her sister didn’t say anything. Amity turned and stopped.

“Dad…,” she breathes as she stared back at her father, standing in the doorway.

Alador Blight smiled at her.

“May I come in?” he asked her.

“Of course!” she nods and he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

She can only stare at him as he crossed the room to stand in front of her, gold eyes aglow in the last bits of light coming in the classroom window, the sun has set, but a faint orange glow still rests on the horizon, slowly being overtaken by the blue glow of the bright, full, blue moon that is rising overhead.

“You look breath-taking, Amity.”

“Thank you, I’m glad you came.” she smiled at him, and she is. For all their disconnects over the years and her hurt feelings at his absence as a child, she can’t stop loving the man in front of her, and because she knows her dad loves her, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t.

Alador’s smile fades at that.

“I apologize for not being able to send Thrasus to you sooner, I have been rather preoccupied with your mother.” Nothing about that surprised Amity, but his next words did. “Getting her to agree to unbind our eternal oath has been a tiresome affair.” His brows furrowed between his eyes, frown deepening.

“What?!” Amity blinks wildly at that, her eyes dart to her father’s left hand, and sees that he no longer wore the gold band that had sat on his finger since before she could remember.

Alador folded his hands behind his back and looked pensive.

“I loved your mother dearly once, but I have realized in recent years that I let that blind me to certain things that I should have seen, especially things concerning you and your siblings.” He looked so tired right now, the lines in his face are deep rivers around her mouth and beneath his eyes. “When you left Blight manor to live with Luz they suddenly became clear, and after questioning Edric and Emira, I’m ashamed to admit that I let so much get by me that should not have, and for that, I am truly sorry, Amity.”

Amity chewed her bottom lip. She wants to say it’s fine, but it isn’t and they both know it. Luz told her once that it was okay to not be okay, and she was right.

“Thank you.” Is what she settles on and Alador nods.

“I've spent the last three years trying to understand and find that woman I once know, but after you came to the Manor and told us about the wedding, I realized that she does not exist anymore.” He turned his head away and Amity can see the sorrow on his face. She reached out and took his hand, drawing his gaze back to her.

“It’s over between the two of you?” she questions and he nods.

“I’m sorry,” and she means that. She’s sorry her father is hurt.

“To be completely honest with you, I don’t think the woman I knew ever existed, I chose not to see. I’ve always known that your mother did not care for me the same way I cared for her, but I hoped it was more than I thought. I could have spared myself twenty-five years of wasted time had I been willing to accept that when I was young, I did not, but despite that, I can’t find it in myself to regret all that time.”

“How can you not regret wasting half your life on someone you know didn’t love you back?” Amity can’t understand that at all.

Alador only chuckled at that as he looked at her, gold eyes the same shade as her own staring back at her. He turned his hand over to hold her, dwarfed in his much larger one as he held her hand between both of his.

“Because what I got was worth much more.”

Amity fully anticipated she would cry today, expected it, but not before the wedding even started.

Alador tuts and pulls the kerchief from his breast pocket and dabs at her wet eyes.

“There is no time for that, Amity. If you’re going to cry, then save those tears for Luz.”

She laughs, despite herself and nods, willing back the water.

“I’m glad to know that you won’t face a similar problem in the future”

“How can you know that?” she asked, she knows it’s true, she does, if there is one thing in life she doesn’t doubt, it’s Luz.

“I’ve seen the way that woman looks at you enough times to know that she cares for you just as dearly as you do for her,” Is her dad’s simple answer. “I’m sure you’ll be quite preoccupied after the ceremony, so I came to tell you that I’m proud of you, Amity, you’ve proven yourself to be so much stronger than I could have ever hoped.”

Amity just smiles and Alador pulled his pocket watch from his pocket and popped open the face.

“I believe it’s time for you to go, my dear.” He smiled and Amity nodded. He turned and started for the door.

“Dad…,” Amity called and he stopped, turning to look at her over his shoulder. She hesitates for a moment but carries on. “Would you walk me down the aisle?”

His eyes widened at that and he turned to face her completely.

He looks like he wants to question her, she can see the jump in his jaw, through his mouth never opens to voice any of them.

“Yes,” he finally said and Amity smiled, and walked up to him, slipping her arm through his.

“Then we better go.”

He nods, and they leave the school.

#Lumity #moonlit masquerade #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lilith Clawthorne #Camila Noceda #Gus Porter #Willow park #Alador Blight #gay #fic #toh #the owl house

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reveriequill-rai · 4 years

Text

Blood Candy: Chapter 2

(finally lmao. still debating on how frequently to post these chapters)

I walked down the ancient-looking stairwell to the basement. What appeared to be dark, dried red paint smeared the walls, as if someone had made some semblance of an attempt to renovate the old stairwell but somehow fainted or otherwise was forced to cut their work short. Then again, with the odd scent that filled the air, I would faint, too.

Finally, I got downstairs to the much cleaner looking, obviously renovated bottom floors. I walked down the hallway, observing the white painted walls lined with all kinds of fliers encouraging habits for better health. Some blotches of red paint stained some parts of the walls and floor, I noticed. Finally, I arrived at room 0134, where I was supposed to meet Dr. Kermit. I sat down, waiting, wondering why a doctor didn’t guide me there themselves.

The room was small and rather messy. Files were stuffed in overflowing drawers and shelves, pretty easy for the taking. The floor was lined with long scuff marks leading to the door, and there were very little pieces of doctors’ equipment in sight, save for a blood pressure monitor, a vital signs monitor (what?), and a syringe kit.

Must’ve forgot to move that vital signs monitor someplace, I thought.

“Sorry I’m late,” a male voice suddenly spoke. I jumped slightly as I looked up, startled from the abrupt entrance.

A young man who appeared to be only a few years older than me was suddenly in the doorway. He had black hair that covered one of his maroon-colored eyes. Aside from the distinctly maroon eyes, not many other features stood out to me. He wore the standard white coat and a black shirt and jeans.

“Oh! Hey,” I said. “You must be Jasper Kermit.”

“The one and only.” The young doctor smiled. “And no, before you ask, I cannot do a Kermit impression.”

“I’m guessing a lot of people ask you that?”

An exasperated look crossed Jasper’s face as he sighed.

“It’s a family curse,” he said. “Literally can’t go a day without someone making a Kermit joke. That’s why I say my last name is Kody. Was gonna do that here, too, but my little troll of a brother ratted me out.”

I chuckled.

“That’s rough, buddy,” I said.

“Yep,” Jasper sighed. “So, what grade you in…Dakota, was it? You don’t look that much younger than me.”

“Yep,” I said. “Nearly wrapping up junior year,” I said.

“Sweet. That was my toughest year…how’s it going?”

“Got an essay due in 2 days, but my parents practically begged me to get my blood drawn first. They want to know if I’m still allergic to eggs so my aunt Natalie won’t have to waste her time preparing her famous end-of-junior-year cake.”

“You’re telling me junior year is so rough that you guys need a full blown party to commemorate the end to this hellish year?” Jasper laughed. “Dang. If only I were that lucky.”

“Sorta. Normally it’s at the end of every year, but they stopped that tradition when they realized I was mildly allergic to eggs.”

“Wish my parents threw me a party with cake when I graduated from medical school,” he said. “But nope! They were so eager to kick me out of the house. What school do you go to?”

“North Clueham High.”

Jasper paused and nodded.

“I see.” He seemed shocked by my answer, but I figured it was nothing.

I smiled.

“Glad I got a doctor that actually treats me like a human being instead of a child or a freakin’ lab rat,” I said.

“‘Bout time, huh?” Jasper said, grabbing an empty syringe from the cabinet. “I try not to patronize too much. Believe me, I know that feeling all too well. Besides,” he continued, looking back at me with a slightly unnerving look, “I gotta make sure my patients are all nice and cozy before I suck the blood right out of ‘em.”

I gave a nervous laugh. Maybe Seb was onto something, I thought amusingly to myself.

“Funny you mention that,” I said. “My friend Sebastian runs a conspiracy blog with my friend Akira. It’s called AkiSeb, and right now he’s all over this theory that people who do bloodwork and blood drives are secretly vampires who use humans to gain enough blood to fuel their evil agenda.”

“Your friends seem smart.” Jasper grinned.

“More like crazy,” I retorted. “Too many horror movies.”

“Probably.”

“Well, when you and your little legion of vampire doctors and nurses finally get enough blood to awaken Dracula or whatever and you guys finally enslave the human race,” I joked, “at least spare my life and everyone else who’s given you blood. You oughta thank us for helping you out, even if unwillingly.”

Jasper laughed.

“Will do,” he said, sitting down in a chair across from me. “But humans suck, no pun intended. You oughta thank us for getting you hooligans under control. Alright, let’s get started.”

We went through the usual procedure, with me clenching my fists so he gets a good idea of where my veins are and where best to extract blood from. Finally, he chose my arm.

“Normally I would’ve gone for the neck,” he joked, “but you know how it goes.”

“Can’t give it away?” I laughed. “Smart.”

Jasper grinned as the needle pierced through my skin and into my vein, leaving a sharp, stinging feeling that lingered for what felt like ages. Normally blood drawings only took a few seconds, but it felt like I had been in that chair for almost a minute.

“Jasper,” a female voice called while I was still getting blood drawn. A nurse who looked about his age with brown, curly hair appeared in the doorway. “You better shut up with all this vampire nonsense. You’re gonna scare your little brother.”

“Serves him right for revealing my real surname to the whole freakin’ office,” he retorted. “Shouldn’t you be babysitting the little twerp, anyhow?”

The nurse glared daggers at him and disappeared back into the doorway.

“It’s not babysitting, by the way, he’s 15!” she called.

“Still a baby!” Jasper yelled back before turning back to me. “That’s Harriet, my co-worker. Major buzzkill. She babysits my little brother since our parents are at work, like, all the time, and I can’t expose the little twerp to stuff like syringes. Dude might stab my eyes out for teasin’ him so much.”

“My older sister was annoying,” I said, “so I can’t blame you. Good thing she’s married now so she can go bother her husband instead of me.”

Finally, the blood drawing was finished.

“There we go,” Jasper said, applying the wad of cotton and the bandages over it. “You good?”

“Yeah…” I said, still slightly nervous. “That felt pretty long, though. How much did you take?”

“Enough. It may have felt long, but I assure you it was only a few seconds.”

“Really? I’m positive I was there for almost a minute.” I checked my watch. “Yep. Definitely a minute, give or take.”

“Strange.” Jasper secured the syringe with my blood in it. “Maybe I’m just so used to this that it feels much shorter to me.”

I stood up, but Jasper gestured for me to sit back down.

“I’m gonna go put this in the lab so I can get the results,” he said. “Can I trust you to wait here ‘till I get back?”

I nodded.

Jasper gave me a smile as he left the room with the blood-filled syringe in hand. I went on my phone while I waited, calling Seb and telling him to get ready to pick me up.

“Oh hey! You’re alive!” Seb teased over the phone. He then said in a monotone voice, like an automated phone call, “Thank you for donating to the Clueham Charity for Vampires in Need. Your contribution to the future enslavement of the human race is very much appreciated, ya filthy mortal.”

“Oh, shut it,” I laughed. “Turns out the doctor has a sense of humor after all. He was on that whole vampire junk, too. Told him about you while he was at it.”

“Really? What’d he say?”

“He said you were smart,” I answered, “and I said you were a buffoon who watches too many horror movies.”

“I like him,” Seb said. “What’s his name?”

“Uhh…” I contemplated which of Jasper’s last names to use. “Jasper Kody.”

“Sweet. I’ll be sure to get an appointment with him next time I need one,” he said. “Hopefully he doesn’t have a stake through his heart by that point.”

I rolled my eyes. We proceeded to talk about whatever was on our minds for about the next ten minutes while I waited for Jasper to get back.

“This dude’s taking forever,” I groaned, interrupting our mini-debate/scenario on whether or not we would survive a slasher movie. “He better have my results back--and I swear if you mention anything about how he’s secretly a vampire, I will personally bash that big head of yours in and drive home myself.”

“You can’t even drive, ya killjoy,” Seb taunted. “But you know me so well. I’m almost flattered. Emphasis on ‘almost.’”

I checked the battery on my phone. Only 5%?! I swear I remember charging this thing, I thought.

“Shoot, I gotta hang up,” I said. “Remember to actually pick me up this time?”

“Fine, if I must,” Seb laughed. “We don’t want a repeat of the mall incident; Akira might actually murder me if I leave you again. See ya.”

As if on cue, Jasper finally came back. The blood-filled syringe was swapped out for a red ball in plastic wrapping that he held in his hand.

“Now, I know this seems childish,” he admitted bashfully, “but believe me, I do this to all my patients. Besides, it’s good to keep your energy up after a blood drawing.”

It was a piece of candy. A small, translucent red, probably strawberry or cherry flavored ball of hard candy. It almost looked like a cat’s eye marble.

“O-oh, thanks…!” I said. “…but I really don’t do sweets.”

Jasper raised an eyebrow, a bit of a disapproving look on his face. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that...I thought, silently cursing myself for being so rude. He didn’t have to give me the candy...so I might as well take it, right?

“B-but I can give it to my friend Seb!” I said suddenly. “Y’know, conspiracy blog guy? Yeah, he’s got a crazy sweet tooth. One time I gave him most of my Halloween candy when we went trick-or-treating...and he downed the entire thing in, like, half a day.”

The smile returned to Jasper’s face as I took the candy.

“Nice,” he said. “Have a good day!”

“You too!” I said, still slightly embarrassed that I hurt the young doctor’s feelings.

After quickly walking back upstairs, I looked around for a nearby seat while I waited for Seb. The only one nearby was taken by a kid in a dark green jacket with messy brown hair. I decided to stand. The kid, who looked rather nervous, looked at me almost pleadingly.

“You alright?” I asked the kid. He nodded. He only looked a few years younger than me.

“You got Jasper, right?” he asked me. I nodded.

“Why’d you ask?” I said.

“That’s my brother. I’m Oliver, but you can call me Oli.”

“Ah. Nice to meet you. I’m—“

“Dakota? Yeah. I overheard that whole conversation while he was stealing your blood.”

I sighed. If I hear anything related to vampires one more time—

“Your brother got you on this whole vampire mess, too?” I said. “Geez, what is it with everyone and vampires, today? First my friend, now my doctor, now his kid brother…”

“He likes to chase me around the house with syringes he brings home,” Oli admitted bitterly.

“Oof…that’s gotta be scarring.” I leaned against the wall next to the seat Oli was in. “Did he ever…?”

“Stick me with one? No,” Oli answered, then quickly added. “Only because I knocked it away from him in time.”

I froze. Now, I used to lie to my mom all the time whenever my sister and I were play-fighting, insisting that she always hurt me more than she was supposed to. So, Oli could easily be getting revenge on Jasper “stereotypical annoying older brother” Kermit by making me believe he was much more cruel than he seemed.

Or he wasn’t.

“Oh…” was all I managed to say before I got a text from Seb.

“I’m outside.”

“Shoot, I gotta go,” I told Oliver. “See ya around!” I walked off, quickening my pace so as not to deal with more of this vampire nonsense from anyone else.

“No you won’t,” the boy said bluntly. I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

“If you know what’s good for you,” Oliver said, looking me dead in the eyes, “you won’t come back here again.”

#blood candy #fiction #urban fantasy #original story #vampire

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pbpress · 4 years

Text

Blood Candy: Chapter 2

By Ruqayyah Pickel

This is the second chapter of a longer piece of writing. Chapters will be posted here as they are finished. Stay tuned for the continuation of the story.

Must’ve forgot to move that vital signs monitor someplace, I thought.

“Sorry I’m late,” a male voice suddenly spoke. I jumped slightly as I looked up, startled from the abrupt entrance.

“Oh! Hey,” I said. “You must be Jasper Kermit.”

“The one and only.” The young doctor smiled. “And no, before you ask, I cannot do a Kermit impression.”

“I’m guessing a lot of people ask you that?”

An exasperated look crossed Jasper’s face as he sighed.

I chuckled.

“That’s rough, buddy,” I said.

“Yep,” Jasper sighed. “So, what grade you in…Dakota, was it? You don’t look that much younger than me.”

“Yep,” I said. “Nearly wrapping up junior year,” I said.

“Sweet. That was my toughest year…how’s it going?”

“You’re telling me junior year is so rough that you guys need a full blown party to commemorate the end to this hellish year?” Jasper laughed. “Dang. If only I were that lucky.”

“Sorta. Normally it’s at the end of every year, but they stopped that tradition when they realized I was mildly allergic to eggs.”

“Wish my parents threw me a party with cake when I graduated from medical school,” he said. “But nope! They were so eager to kick me out of the house. What school do you go to?”

“North Clueham High.”

Jasper paused, and nodded.