Chapter Text
Once my housemates woke that morning, I told them about my encounter with the other vampire, explained the situation, and asked them to think on any ground rules they wanted to establish before my sister arrived. Once they left I sent Brett on his way home so I could sleep on my mattress again.
Now, I lay there, slowly stirring awake to the feeling of Stick kneading my stomach. I groan and roll over, causing him to run away. Upon checking my phone I see a variety of messages, mostly from Madison, obviously thinking of little things throughout the day, and two large messages from Charlee, and them going into a lot of detail about their feelings on the situation. Both messages end in the two of them saying “Ultimately, I trust you, and know you’d fight to ensure we’re safe.” which feels like a knife to the chest.
I start sobbing, tears roll down my cheeks as I curl into a ball and let myself wail.
You know you’re putting them in danger, they trust you so very deeply and you’re just going to let them be killed.
My thoughts repeat like this for a while, cycling for hours before I hear the door unlock, and Sticks’ feet patter gently across the floor to greet Madison and Charlee, arriving home together as usual. I wipe the bloody tears from my face with a couple of loose tissues, going to greet them.
I round the corner and Madison immediately pulls me into a hug.
“Oh Annie, are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Y-yeah Mads, just… thinking about a lot right now,” I say, forcing a smile.
“So,” Charlee steps forward, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’re gonna be here for you, and if you change your mind, or need any help or anything, just give the word, alright? We still have those stakes under the lip of the kitchen table as a backup, like you said.”
I nod, sniffling a little.
“Thanks you two… This isn’t going to be a long term thing, and I’m gonna ensure nothing happens to either of you, I promise,” I say between tears.
There’s a loud knock, which startles us all. The others look to me, and Charlee wipes the blood from my face, before they head over to the kitchen, and I step closer to the door. I gently slap my face with both hands, taking a deep breath before opening the door.
As expected, my sister stands outside on the landing, in a different suit with a pencil skirt, a briefcase in one hand and suitcase in another, but no less stunning or intimidating. I’m lost for words as she looks over the rim of a sleek pair of sunglasses.
“Anne, may I come in?” she says expectantly.
“We’ll be having this meeting in the kitchen, with my other housemates. If you’re gonna be staying here you need to know we resolve things communally, got it?”
She rolls her eyes.
“Fine, I’ll follow your lead,” she moans.
“Good, then you may enter.”
Unlike last time, she steps in casually, and follows me to the kitchen, where I sit her down across from my housemates.
“Hi, I’m Charlee, my pronouns are they/them,” they say, waving.
“And I’m Madison, she/her.”
Edith raises an eyebrow and looks to me, before returning to the others.
“I’m Edith, uh, she and her, though I’m sure you already knew this.”
I sigh, locking in for how irritating this would be. I sit between my housemates, holding their hands beneath the table.
“Alright Edie, starting with the absolute basics. While you’re here, you’re not to harm my friends in any way, shape, or form, extending beyond my housemates to anyone else you may encounter during your stay here.”
She crosses her arms, opening her mouth to speak before pursing her lips and nodding.
“Second,” I continue, “While you’re here, you live like me, no live feeding is to happen here, or anywhere near this house.”
“Now, hold on, that’s a litt-”
“You can always go back to your hotel and I’ll kill father’s henchmen one by one as they arrive, if that’s what you’d prefer.”
She grimaces, closing her eyes for a moment.
“Fine,” she says through gritted teeth.
I turn to Madison to continue, and she pulls up the list on her phone.
“Also,” she says, trying to hide how tense she is, “each person’s bedroom is a private space, if you want entry, you knock and wait for them to allow you in, if they aren’t home, or you otherwise can’t ask permission, the bedroom is off limits.”
Edith scoffs, and looks to me, before realising the seriousness of the request.
“I don’t see why I’d ever want to enter the rooms of a couple blood bags but fine,” she says.
“And on that note, you will not refer to Charlee or Madison as anything but their names, their pronouns, or as ‘housemates’, no blood bags, food, or anything of the sort.”
“Alright, is that all?” she hisses.
“Just a few more things. Since you’re living here, you need to help with chores, emptying the bins in the bathroom and kitchen will be all you need to do, but everyone in the house has to help maintain it if they can,” Charlee says, squeezing my hand for reassurance.
“Also,” I say, urged on by my housemates confidence, “if there’s disagreements, we sort it out with a house meeting like this, or by talking and reaching a mutual understanding, we’re all equals here, no lording over the house. If you are going to have guests over of any form, you must give notice in advance, to the best of your ability. And finally, don’t disturb or harm the cat, Stick doesn’t take to vampires well.”
Edith sneers, and lets out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. She looks to my housemates, and I can see the flash in her eyes as she ponders how easy it would be to simply kill them, though once she resumes eye contact with me she shakes her head as if to clear the thought away, and nods.
“Fine… these rules seem… amenable. And as a token of my appreciation-” she grits her teeth, but reaches down to grab the briefcase, opening it and turning it to face us, “-I have brought gifts of some relatively fresh donated blood, some seasonal fruits, and aged cheeses.”
I’m momentarily taken aback at the gesture, but as she slides the case forward, Charlee clears their throat.
“Um… thank you Edith, this is very kind…” they respond, Madison and I humming in agreement.
---
With a little fuss, the other two go to retire to their rooms, performing their nighttime routines once more while I store my sisters gifts in the kitchen. She watches me as I sort out the fridge, looming in the corner without saying a word. Once I’m done I turn to face her, a bag of blood in my hand.
“Would you like one?” I offer.
“… no, I fed recently,” she responds.
I sigh, closing the fridge and sipping from the bag, gesturing for her to follow me.
I lead her to my room, indicating the mattress.
“We’ll sleep here, this is my room, since it’s yours too you’re free to come and go as you please.”
She gags, and her mouth stays agape as she scans the trash across the floor, the stains on the mattress, and the cardboard covering the window. She closes her eyes, then nods solemnly, and steps into the room with her suitcase.
“I’m… it’s best to stay quiet while the others sleep, I usually play a video game, binge a show, or get errands done during the night so as not to disturb the others,” I explain.
She doesn’t give any response, and simply unzips her suitcase, taking stock of what she has brought.
“If you’d like to join me on the couch to watch a show or some movies, you are welcome to,” I add, out of a sense of politeness more than anything.
She stops, then turns to me.
“This… I am alright with this. I will need to have some thralls deliver additional clothing and necessities tomorrow, but for now I’ll join you for a… show.”
“The thralls aren’t allowed in unless you let the others know they’re coming, and they’re not allowed to damaged anyone or anything. They’re guests too,” I say, sternness overtaking my voice.
She nods, before beginning to unbutton her jacket and blouse.
I start to see the lacy edge of her bra before I instinctively turn away, pulling the door partly closed.
“What are you doing, Anne dear?”
“I- there’s… I’m giving you privacy,” I stammer, face going a deep purple.
“Whatever for? We’ve changed in front of each other since we were children, and I thought I would get into something more comfortable for television viewing.”
I sigh, realising again the great divide that has formed between our lives since I ran away. I let go of the door handle and move to the couch, beginning to search a streaming service for what we should watch.
Within a few moments, Edith comes out of my room wearing flannel pyjamas and with her make up removed, which didn’t make her any less beautiful and put together. She sits next to me, sitting with practised and pristine posture. I chuckle at the sight of her in such comfortable clothes sitting so formally.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Just… we’re watching this show to relax, you don’t need to be so rigid, in this instance you're allowed to get comfortable.”
She looks down at her hands, gripping her knees before nodding. She leans back, resting an arm on the chair, but leaving another hanging in the air towards me. I raise an eyebrow at her.
“That… hardly seems comfortable,” I say.
“I am… offering for you to lay down. I am most comfortable sitting like this, and the pressure of you laying in my lap while… while I stroke your hair would be doubly so.”
She doesn’t look to me, and her face goes purple as she stammers out the last half of the sentence. I hadn’t seen her this flustered before.
Surely she’s faking it, this must be some ploy, a way for me to lower my guard? Get me in a vulnerable position?
I sit there, pondering for a moment, before I adjust, slowly bringing myself down into her lap. She tenses up at my touch, but slowly relaxes as she lowers her hand to my head and begins stroking my hair.
“I understand your wariness, Anne.” She clears her throat softly. “But I… I genuinely do find it most comfortable to sit like this. Someone… your head in my lap, I mean.”
I don’t respond, though her words do calm me some. I scroll for a moment before putting on a movie that I’ve been meaning to watch, and we settle in for the night, watching a handful of movies until the sun comes up. As she said, she strokes my hair softly, reminding me of decades ago, when we would sit like this watching the fire, or listening to a friend tell a story.
As my mind drifts to the past, it begins to latch on to more memories, of blood, violence, and my sister, but I do what I can to push them down.
If I want any chance of this going smoothly, I need to simply put those thoughts aside while she’s here. A full on fight is likely to tear the house to shreds. I simply need to survive a handful of months.