Chapter 48 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

I have sneaked back into Sugar Valley completely undercover and in secret.  Officially I am not back in town for another two days yet, as far as my family at home are concerned.  Something that I have had to do to spend more than just a few hours with Shadow!!  I hate all the lies and deceit, especially having to lie to Crystal, Vanilla and Snow!!

I drop my bags down in the small cold room, and start taking off my disguise - the jacket, hoody, shoes, clothes, hat, glasses and remove the orange contacts that I was wearing to slip back into my home town unnoticed, most of which I bought off a homeless guy in Berry Plains after I bought him a whole new load of clothes.  I looked like a travelling busking bum, with my tatty clothes and battered guitar case that I brought from a charity shop.  Surprisingly the disguise worked!!  Not a single person clocked onto who I am, not even the taxi driver, who knows me very well, that dropped me off near to the park.  The hoody hood hid most of my face so nobody could see my face properly for the most part, and I only spoke when I had to.

Just as I am fastening up my shoes my phone starts to ring.  I am amused to hear the ring tone that I have set for Shadow.  I answer the phone but say nothing - testing him out.  He has strict instructions not to speak until he knows it is me answering the phone.  Up until now he has managed to do it ever time.  I have warned him that it might not always be me answering the phone, especially if I am at home, and if he messes up I will have to take the phone off him.

     "Speak little man."  I laugh into the phone
     "Can you bring me some juice out of the fridge on the way past the kitchen please Dad."  Shadow laughs  "And crisps I am hungry."
     "You are always hungry!!"  I laugh, guessing he can hear that I am now inside the den.  "You cheeky little monkey, what did your last slave fade of?"
     "He has not faded yet.  Thanks Dad!!"  he giggles then cuts the call off.

I can not help but laugh at him.

Sunny, Dad and River know what I am up to and that I am sneaking into town, but nobody else does.  The three of them have bets on whether I can actually pull it off, and as usual, only River has faith in me to do it!!  Dad and Sunny did not think that I could get from Berry Shores to here without being recognized, which I have surprisingly managed to do, and yet again, proved them wrong!!

I have been out in Berry Shores for a few weeks with Rocky, putting the final touches to our joint album.  There was no need for Prelude to come with me this time, so I traveled alone which has given me the opportunity to slip out of existence for the next 48 hours, so that I can spend a few days with Shadow.  The thought of living in this place for the next two days is not a nice one, even if I will get to be with Shadow.

Shadow had got very upset when I told him I could not visit him for a few weeks because I was away working.  While I found it quite cute, It broke my heart to see him crying his little heart out because he did not want me to go.  I seriously hate this situation and wished there was something that I could do to change it!!  I ended up having to buy him a phone so that he could talk to me all the time that I was away.  A phone of his own is something that he has wanted for a while anyway, apparently, so it put a smile on his face for a little while.  He has already phoned me half a dozen times today asking what time I will get here.

I am finding Shadow very strange to get my head around, and not because he is a vampberry.  He is only a toddler in body, but his mind is far from being child like.  Talking to him is like talking to a much older child, adult even sometimes, he is so clever he astounds me most of the time, and a lot of the time he makes me feel stupid and thick.  I am just glad that neither Vanilla or Shadow have inherited any of my disabilities.

After doing a detour to the kitchen Shadow is waiting for me out in the corridor, right outside the kitchen and living room door, ready to pounce.  The little monkey could have fetched his own juice and crisps.  He is excited to see me and runs at me, he throws himself at me with force and knocks me flying onto my backside, which he thinks is hysterical.  Once I have picked myself up and dusted myself off, I pick him up.

     "Sorry!!  I forget you are just a mortal weakling."  he giggles at me  "I'll be careful next time!!"
     "Yes, because the last thing I need is broken bones right now!!  I am due to go on tour in a month and I could really do without broken arms, legs or worse!!"
     "Tour ... doesn't that mean you will be traveling?  How long are you going to be away for?"  he pulls a pouty face
     "Two months."  I cringe as I watch his face drop  "Don't worry, it will fly by and I'll speak to you every day on the phone.  River is going to show us how to use Face Time on the computer."
     "It's not the same!!"  he mumbles
     "I know but I'm sorry, its my job, it is something that I have to do to promote the album!!"  I smile at him  "If I could take you with me I would, but you know that is impossible!!"
      "Is Nilla going with you?"  I frown at him wandering why he is calling her Nilla suddenly  "Storm calls her Nilla." he answers my question obviously listening to my thoughts.
      "No she is not coming with me this time."

I am excited and nervous about our first tour.  I am glad that the Rocky Storm album is going out first rather than my own solo one.  Touring is all new to me and I will get to learn the ropes on this tour with Rocky who has done it many times before.  It is the time that I am having to spend away from home that I am not looking forward to, especially with Crystal being pregnant, a tour that we kept short for just that reason. 

It always upsets me when Shadow mentions Vanilla, and he does it a lot.  I really hate that I have to keep Shadow and Vanilla apart, and especially hate that I can not take him home with me, where he should be.  I am really struggling with this whole situation.  I give myself headaches agonizing over whether Vanilla and Shadow should ever meet when they are older.  I don't worry about Shadow, it is Vanilla, I do not really want her to know about this world, because if she knows about it she might get involved in it, and it has not done me a lot of good so far!! 

     "Are you really sleeping over?"  he asks me in excitement
     "Yes!"  I laugh at him  "For two days.  Who told you, it was supposed to be a surprise."
     "Nobody, I hear them thinking remember."  he grins at me  "Did you bring your guitar?"
     "Yes I've brought it"  I laugh at him

I find it a little ironic that Shadow is into music and appears to have inherited my musical talent, when Vanilla is not interested in it at all.  Even for a toddler he sings really well and he can play a lot of tunes on his xylophone, I know when he gets older I am going to have to have to buy him a load of musical instruments, he is already asking for them, and wants me to teach him how to play the guitar.  It makes me think about what kind of life he is going to have, and makes me really sad that he will never be able to have a normal life, marriage, children, a career, all he has to look forward to are centuries of being a blood sucking vampire trapped in this place.

I hand him one of the first copies of the finished Rocky Storm album, that is being released in a few weeks time.  He grins at me as he takes the CD off me that I just pulled out of my jacket and he starts to inspect it, opening the cover and starts to read what is inside, which is more than I can do.

While we walk down the corridor and the two flights of stairs to get to Shadows rooms with me carrying him, he drinks the carton of juice really quickly and starts on the crisps.  While he is eating I tell him about the house I am buying out in Berry Shores and where I will be going on the up and coming tour, taking advantage of his silence because when he is eating and sleeping, that is the only time he stops talking and you can get a word in edgeways most of the time.

He screws up the empty crisp packet, and stuffs it into my jacket pocket which amuses me.  I just stare at him wide eyed and laugh at him as he grins at me cheekily.

     "Dad, I need to warn you.  It is like a war zone in this place right now!"  Shadow tuts  "They are giving me a right headache with their shouting!!"  he says dramatically.
     "Why what is going on?"
     "Mommy and Daddy have made a baby and everyone is mad with them."  he starts laughing
     "Don't be silly, vampberry's can not make babies!!"
     "Oh yes they can!"  he laughs  "Daddy did not realize he was not firing blanks."
     "And what do you know about firing blanks?"  I snigger as I stare at him wide eyed
     "Plenty."  he grins at me  "I know exactly how babies are made and how the male and female reproduction organs work.  I can tell you if you like."
     "No you are okay, I think I know how it works!!"  I laugh at him

He frightens me sometimes by how much and what he knows, far more than a child should at his age!!  Shadow has always got his head stuck in a book, I've even seen him researching things on the internet. 

River and Dad are loving the new little family geek, their conversations together are way over my head, I can not understand a lot of the vocabulary that they use when they are talking to each other.   Shadow's Granddad and Uncle are both fueling his thirst for knowledge and information, by supplying him with all the books that he wants and asks for, especially medical journals, which amuses me no end.

I do not like some of the things that he sees, reads or has to hear, however there is nothing that can be done about it.  There is nothing that can be hidden from him, he's hearing everyone's thoughts, not even the adult content can be kept censored away from him.  He is so sensible and intelligent, there is nothing that gets past him and nothing that he probably has not seen, heard or knows about already.

     "Have you seen your Mom while I have been away?"  I ask him wandering if by some miracle Honey has calmed down any.
     "NO and I don't intend to!!!"  he snaps  "I don't like nasty Honey and she is NOT my Mom!!  My Mommy is green!!"
     "I might go down and see if I can talk to her again while I am here."  I mumble out loud because I know that he is listening to what I am thinking anyway.
     "OH NO YOU WON'T!!"  he frowns at me  "She's nasty, she has not calmed down any, she has got worse if anything!!  Even Daddy keeps away from her, and so should you, she wants to fade you remember!!"
     "Okay, okay keep your shirt on!!  It was just an idea."  I laugh at him trying to lighten the mood, because he now looks cross.  Suddenly I feel like the child being told off by a parent.
     "A VERY silly idea Dad!!"

It makes me really sad to hear him saying he does not like Honey, even though I can understand why, she is still his Mother at the end of the day, and if she was not a vampberry she would be her old sweet self and she would have loved both Vanilla and Shadow.

We decide to sit down to watch the television together.  I thought it would give me a chance to chill out, relax and switch my head off for a few hours.  I need to unwind after a very busy few weeks, as well as I feel a little drained probably from jet lag.

Shadow crawls onto my lap and has the controls and starts to flick about all the music channels which really irritate me, Storm was always a terrible channel hopper, and I used to hate it, the moment you start getting an interest in something, it has gone because the channel has been switched.

At first the cold coming from Shadow's body, as he sits on my lap, is very unpleasant, it stings my legs and makes me shiver.  However I know that the longer that he sits on my lap, the warmer he will get until he does not feel that cold to me anymore.  It is not my body getting used to his coldness either, it is Shadow and another one of the strange things that he does that none of the other vampberry's do.  His body seems to absorb and retain heat, especially other peoples body heat and the heat from the sun.  It is like his body warms up and adjusts it's temperature to suit its surroundings, when he is in contact with warm objects.  Jazz really can not get his head around it.

Shadow stops flicking channels suddenly and I see why.  We sit watching the music video for the newest Rocky Storm song that is in the charts.  I seriously hate seeing and hearing myself on the television.  Shadow sits there singing away like he knows the song already which surprises me.

     "Why is that lady all over you?"  Shadow asks pointing at the screen  "Who is she?"
     "She is just a dancer."  I laugh at him
     "She looks more like a pole dancer with hardly any clothes on, and you are the pole!"  this really makes me laugh because that is actually how I had felt at the time while we were shooting the video.
     "It is just a music video, and part of her dance act, she is only dancing round me for a minute, see she's moved away now."  I frown at him  "Anyway what do you know about pole dancers?!"
     "Pole dancing - a form of entertainment in which a scantily dressed woman dances erotically, turning on and posing against a vertically fixed pole on a stage.  A type of erotic dance performed around a fixed vertical pole"
     "You have been reading the dictionary again!"  I laugh at him 
     "Yeah, but I have seen lots of them in different movies."  he grins at me   "They try to look sexy and men throw money at them."  

     "I am surprised they have not banned that song and especially the video!"  he starts laughing
     "What?!"  I frown then laugh at him  "You think it should be banned because of the scantily dressed dancers?"
     "No silly!!"  he starts having hysterics at me  "It is the statement you are making metaphorically, I doubt it goes down too well in the colour coded world.  You would have to be 'colourblind' or stupid not to see it!!  The song is bad enough on it's own, but the video really helps to smack it home."  I stare at him wide eyed  "Anyone would think you and Rocky are trying to stir up a rebellion against the Colour Code!!"
     "So go on clever clogs, how did you work that out?"

I laugh at Shadow, surprised that he can actually see the underlying meaning to that song, something that not even Grumpy Grape spotted until it was too late and already out there in the charts.  He kicked off at both me and Rocky royal style!!

     "You are not using the word colourblind in it's literal sense of being medically unable to see colour, you are using it as in the choice to be blind to colour.  You with your orange and white clothes, Rocky with his green and black clothes, those dancer draped all over you and Rocky are not exactly orange or green are they.  You have stamped colour mixing all over it, you've even switched guitars!!"  he starts laughing  "I've studied the Colour Code and that song is a little rebellious!!"

"You little geek!!"  I laugh at him  "I seriously don't know where you get your brains from!!"

As soon as the song is finished he starts flicking the music channels again constantly until he finds another one of my music video's.  I am amused that he sits there singing again.

     "You sing!"  he glances at me
     "Seriously Shadow, I need to give my vocal cords a rest, I have just spent two weeks constantly singing, and I don't really want to sit here all day watching myself on the television!"  I laugh at him  "Can't we just watch a movie instead, because your channel hopping is driving me nuts!!"    

Shadow tuts at me as he picks up the remote and flicks to the movie channel listings and finds a movie that is just starting.

     "Yay!!  I have been waiting to see this movie, I have watched the other four."  he grins at me.  "Storm will be mad when he finds out he has missed it!"
     "What film is this, remember I don't read."
     "Wrong Turn V."  he grins at me  "It's a horror movie."
     "I might have known if Storm has anything to do with it!"  I roll my eyes at him.  "Aren't you a little too young to be watching horror movies?"
     "No, they don't scare me!"  he laughs  "I am a vampire remember!"  he hisses and shows me his teeth then starts to giggle at me.

After about fifteen minutes I sit irritated because I do not have a clue about what has happened in the movie so far, because I can not hear half of what is being said on the television because Shadow is constantly nattering, distracting me, constantly telling me all about what happens in Wrong Turn one, two, three and four.

 

     "Shush!!  Motor mouth, do you ever give your mouth a rest!?"  I laugh at Shadow  "Doesn't it ever get tired?!"
     "No!"  he laughs
     "I can not get into this movie because you don't stop nattering!!  My brain is not like yours, I can only concentrate on one thing at a time.  Unless I am singing and playing my guitar, then it can do two."
     "Sorry Dad!"  he says laughing at me  "Daddy says I talk too much."
     "Yeah and he is right ... you don't even stop talking in your sleep either do you!!"
     "I don't know because I am asleep."  he giggles at me
     "I'll do you a deal, sit and watch this movie WITHOUT talking and I'll get you that keyboard you want."
     "Okay."  he grins at me.

He makes me laugh when he lies on my sucking his fingers.  I would not normally like him doing that and I would tell Snow and Vanilla off for doing it, especially if they have been crawling around on the floor, but if it keeps Shadow quiet then he can do it.

I only count to 15 in my head before his fingers have left his mouth and he starts rattling again.

     "Oh no, she is getting her boobs out ... she is going to fade!!"  Shadow starts chuckling as he points at the television.  "Silly woman, keep your clothes on!!"  he shouts at the screen.
     "What?!"  I frown at him.

I was actually starting to become uncomfortable with the direction that the movie was taking - I could see it was probably heading towards a sex scene.  I am a little disturbed by what he has just said.

     "They always fade when they start getting naked, something or someone will come and get them in a minute, all these horror movies are the same, they get faded while they are having sex." 

Seriously I can not believe he has just said that.  I am just about to say something when he starts to laugh hysterically.

     "See look .. I told you, the inbred ugly men are coming to get them!!"  he tuts  "That will teach them to do it in a silly place!!"

When I look back at the screen I am pretty shocked by what he is sat there watching.  A full blown sex scene, that leaves nothing to the imagination.  I grab his head and turn it away from the screen so he has to stop watching it.

   "You shouldn't be watching that!!"
    "Why not?"  he mumbles "It's not like I have not seen it before, and that was quite tame, it's not exactly pornographic, I have seen worse on the adult channels!!"
     "SERIOUSLY!!"  I stare at him wide eyed  "I am going to have words with Jazz about what he is letting you watch!!  You should not even know what pornographic is let alone have seen any!!"  I am shocked
     "I see and hear it in all your heads, it is not like you can hide it from me."  he giggles  "And you have just sat and let me watch an 18 rated movie!!"  he smirks at me
     "Only because I can't read you crafty little monkey!!!"  I roll my eyes at him  "You are not watching the rest of that movie!!"
     "What are we going to watch then?"  he pouts
     "Try the sports channels, we can't get into trouble with sports, then you can natter all you like and it won't matter!!"

After Shadow pulls a face at me for making him turn the movie off, he does a little flicking around the sports channels, and we are now sat watching a football match.  While Shadow has finally gone quiet because he is so engrossed in the game of football, however, for me, the distracting noise has not stopped.  All I can now hear in the background is Cosmic and Jazz having an argument.

     "If there is any justice in this world, that baby will be a vampire and it will chew her insides up good and proper!!  And I hope it damn well hurts her!!"  I hear Cosmic yelling  "After what she did to me and Lilly - she deserves her baby to fade!!"
     "That is MY baby too remember!!"  I hear Jazz yelling 
     "I'm sorry Jazz, I am finding it very hard to have any sympathy for you right now!!"  Cosmic snaps  "Lime Soda, seriously!?  After everything she has done to all of us!!  You have taken her being your pet WAY too far!!  You make me sick!!  Well I hope when you are standing staring at the spot where your vampire baby is buried that you will understand just how I am feeling and just how low you have stooped!!"

Shadow looks up at me and laughs

     "I told you!!  It has been like this all day."  he pulls a face at me.  "Omri, Cos, Storm, River and both my yellow and orange Granddads have been kicking off at them, especially at Daddy."
     "Where is your green Mommy anyway?"
     "Mommy is in their bedroom trying to get some sleep, but they keep waking her up with their yelling."  he rolls his eyes  "Daddy won't leave her alone for a second, he's neurotic over the heart beat stopping.

I hear a door slamming and Lime starts yelling because she is sick of being continuously woken up.  Jazz comes into the living room and throws himself onto the couch quite forcefully which makes the coach shake.  I sit cringing expecting and waiting for the couch to break and fall to pieces underneath me, but it doesn't.

      "Now even she is yelling at me!!  I can't do right for doing wrong!!"  Jazz mumbles as he looks at me, Lime has obviously kicked him out of the bedroom  "And you can shut up Tap, before you even say anything, I've had and heard enough!!"
     "I wasn't going to say a word!"  I laugh at him.  "It is not your fault that you did not know you weren't firing blanks!!  I know how you feel, being kept in the dark then getting yourself into trouble in your ignorance - thats the story of my life!!"
     "You are a strange one Tapestry!!"  he pulls a face at me  "You are the only one who has not kicked off at me yet!!!"
     "I've got enough problems of my own without worrying about yours!!"  I laugh at him  "Just as long as this does not affect Shadow, I am not bothered!!"
     "Don't worry it won't!!  Keeping Lime safe and alive for Shadow's sake is our main priority.  That is why if the babies heart does stop beating, making it evident it is a vampberry, then we are terminating the pregnancy straight away. "  Jazz mumbles

I just stare at him quietly, not really knowing what to say to that.

     "While you are here and I think about it - something Honey said weeks ago is continuously bugging me ... I want to get close to Vanilla ..." he starts to say
     "OH NO!!"  I snap at him  "She is not having ANYTHING to do with this place or your world!!"
     "I don't mean for you to bring her here, I don't even want her to see me ... I just want to get close enough to her to see if she is silent like you and Crystal.  She see's spirits doesn't she - and I am wandering if she has any of your abilities."
     "No Jazz!!  You can forget about Vanilla right now!!  The only reason I am here is because of Shadow, I was quite happily forgetting about this place, you vampberrys and my abilities until I found out you was hiding my son away from me.  I know how dangerous it is for me being here, and I am not putting her in the same danger of even finding out this world exists, just to satisfy your curiosity."
     "It is not for curiosity reasons, I, WE, need to be prepared for what could possibly come in the future.  Say the Originals find out about Shadow and especially you.  I don't doubt that they will check out your children to make sure that you have not passed on your strange abilities onto them.  It is already obvious to me that you already have, with Vanilla seeing and communicating with spirits ... Her just being Shadow's twin will probably draw their attention to her.  Then there is your baby with Crystal, who is another silent spirit seeing mortal like you, so odds on you two will produce another child with the same oddities and abilities." 

I just stare at him for a moment

     "Whether you like it or not Tap, Vanilla might have to learn about this world, that she is unwittingly a part of, especially if she is silent and has any of your abilities, because like you, she will need to be looking over her shoulder at all times."
     "Why do you say that?"  I frown at him
     "You are running around freely now in the colour coded world, and taking her with you, where there are vampberries also running around, it only takes one to get close enough to spot your silence and you will have the Originals down on you like a tonne of bricks.  When you were just going to be sat quietly in Sugar Valley, I was not so worried, however, you are famous now, and while I trust that you will keep our existence a secret verbally, you have put yourself right out there for the whole world to see, which is worrying the HELL out of me!!"  he pulls a face  "Then there is Shadow, do you seriously think you can keep him and Vanilla apart forever?"
     "I want to for her sake, she can live quite happily without knowing about this world or any abilities that she might have, just like I was oblivious to it all, until I was dragged into this place.  However,  I am scared, if she ever finds out about Honey and Shadow being here, that she will hate me for hiding them from her."  I pull a face at him  "Either way, If she has to find out about this world, then I hope it is later rather than sooner, when she is old enough to be sensible with it ... we are struggling to keep her from talking freely and openly to the four spirits who keep wandering around our house, because she is not old enough to understand, that only we can see them!!"

We sit silently for a moment as my mind starts racing.

Shadow stands up on my lap, holding my neck and jumps up and down as he shouts 'shoot' 'shoot' at the television and starts to get excited when a goal is scored.  Me and Jazz both laugh at him for a moment.  I decide to get something off my chest that has been really playing on my mind.
    
    "I am not sure that I can keep Shadow a secret from Crystal for much longer.  I am struggling enough with this situation, and I could do with her by my side instead of in the dark.  I really hate lying to her about it, like now, she thinks I am in Berry Shores still!!"
     "I don't like the idea of you telling anyone else, there are already too many mortals running around this place who know about our existence.  Everyone who knows is in danger just from being here and knowing."
     "She is in danger anyway isn't she - she is silent and sees spirits, you say that me and Vanilla need to be looking over our shoulder all the time, doesn't the same apply to Crystal?"  I frown at him and he just stares at me for a moment.
     "Yeah ... I guess, the same does apply to Crystal."  he pulls a face
     "So I can tell her?"
     "How can I trust that she will keep this a secret."
     "She will!!  She keeps the spirits a secret, she is not stupid she knows there is a chunk of her memory missing and I have something to do with it, she even knows who the 'bad men' as she calls them are who were chasing her all her childhood."  I laugh at him  "I'm thick but sometimes Jazz you are even thicker!!"  he pulls a face at me
     "What the hell is that supposed to mean."

"Well you only got me to wipe her memory only so far, she still has the vampberrys running around in her head from her childhood, because you got me to leave them in there."
     "Oh fudge!!"  he mumbles as he rolls his eyes
     "She knows the scar on her arm and my neck were done by a vampberry."  I laugh again  "She knows that there are not just mortals and spirits in this world, and vampberrys were not all she was fighting and dodging as a child, she knows about the wereberry's, she has seen them, she calls them shiny eyed dogs, they run around in Rainbow Valley at night."  I smile at him  "So she is already keeping a lot of immortal world secrets, and I seriously need her to know about Shadow!!  I can not look her in the eyes properly, scared she might dive through them and see for herself, you forget she has the same abilities as me, she just does not realize it yet."
     "What do you mean?"  he frowns at me
     "I have felt her, falling through my eyes.  I have broken eye contact to stop her and I don't think she realizes what she is doing but I think if I let her, she could get into my head quite easily, just like Shadow does."  I smile at him  "If she can get into my head when you vampberry's can not, then logically she should be able to compel and everything else that I can do."

     "Hell you two are strange mortals!!"  he pulls a face and laughs  "In that case, yes I think you better had tell her, I want you to bring her into the den, I need to find out what she is capable of."
     "Not until after the baby is born!!  I am not having her upset by anything or anywhere near this place while she is pregnant!!  Not that I want her here at all, but I know when I tell her about Shadow, she will want to see him, I doubt she will believe it until she does see him."  he laughs at me  "I will tell her about Shadow after the baby has arrived.  We went through hell to get this baby, and her pregnancy is not a nice one, so I don't want to take any risks that might put the baby in danger or upsetting Crystal."
     "Yeah, I know that feeling!!"  he laughs at me, then his face drops and he starts to look glum  "We are kind of in the same boat on the baby front, however, I think my boat is going to sink.  Your baby will be fine, I'm sure!!" 
     "Fingers crossed so should yours, it has a 50% chance of being mortal doesn't it?"
     "Hell No!!  I wished the odds were that simple!!"  he pulls a face  "According to Maizie there is only a 1% chance of it being mortal.  So it is most likely to be a vampire, so it will not survive, unless it is a 50/50 mortal / vampire slit like Shadow, but we can not take the risk with Limes life to find out."

I can not help but feel really sorry for him, I thought it was bad enough being in my shoes, but being in his shoes right now, must be a very awful place!!

After an uncomfortable night and hardly any sleep, I feel drained.  It is not that the bed was uncomfortable, because it wasn't.  I think it was more for the fact that I know I have slept in that particular bed before, with Honey, back when we were teenagers and captive in this den.  Even though the bed has now been brought upstairs and put in Shadows room for me, it still did not make a difference.

The whole experience of sleeping here again, the cold, the smell, just the feel of the place, brought back a lot of unwanted memories that I would rather forget.  I spent a lot of time just watching Shadow sleeping, who played up and insisted on sleeping in the bed with me.  The cold coming from his body had not helped me a lot either at first until he warmed up, or the constant jabbering that he does in his sleep, funnily just like Vanilla does, they both talks a lot in his sleep.

The whole set up of this den amuses me, while there is only one kitchen in the whole place, upstairs where the other vampberry's live, Shadow has his own floor and set of rooms, where he lives with Lime and Jazz.  So Shadow has to go upstairs to eat which Omri or Lime usually take care of, as they both do most of the cooking in this place.  The cooking and housework was something that soley Omri took care of before Lime was given the freedom from her cage, now they both do it, but neither of them complain because they are both neat freaks, which is something that has really surprised me about Lime.

When me and Shadow make our way back downstairs and walk into the living room, after breakfast, Lime and Jazz are sat on the couch together talking quietly.  He has his arm around her and she has her arm and hand on his leg.  I am not sure I am ever going to get used to seeing those two all loved up, or how different Lime is now to the way that she used to be.  Jazz sits laughing at me, he can see Shadow's hand on my face, I think he knows that I am listening to their thoughts.

     "Shadow can you do a very important job for me."  he smiles at Shadow  "Can you listen to babies heart beat while I go upstairs and feed.  I won't be long."
     "Okay Daddy."
     "Tell me straight away if the heart beat stops.  You remember how important it is don't you?"
     "Yes Daddy!"  Shadow laughs at him
     "Aren't you fussing just a little too much Charming?!"  Lime laughs at Jazz  "Twelve to fourteen weeks is the time that we need to worry, which is weeks away.  Isn't it just a little too early to be getting paranoid over the heartbeat now?"
     "I'm not entirely sure I can believe everything that Maizie says completely.  It is better being safe than sorry!!"  he frowns at her  "I can't help but keep thinking about Shadow, his heart stopped beating virtually straight away when the venom took a hold of him, Honey was not anywhere close to twelve or fourteen weeks when Shadows heart stopped beating."
     "Seriously you are going to constantly suffocate me from now on aren't you!"
     "Yep!"  he rolls his eyes at her.

Jazz gets up off the couch, a worried look on his face.  I know that he is scared of leaving Lime alone for a minute without a vampberry presence listening to the heart beat.  He flashes out of the room and says he will not be long, which I don't doubt.

  
I had not noticed that Lime has a sick bowl on the floor by her feet, until she promptly leans over and starts to throw up in it.  This makes my stomach turn, which is full of unwanted cereal that I have just had to sit and eat to keep Shadow happy, even though I was not really hungry.  My eating breakfast was in exchange for him drinking the one bottle of blood that Jazz insists he has every day, even though Shadow hates it and thinks he can live without.

     "Charming!!  You might have warned me!"  I mumble as I hold my stomach which is now doing somersaults  "I've just eaten breakfast!"
     "Sorry!!"  she manages to mumble before she starts throwing up again  "Blame the sprog!!"

Like I do not hear enough projectile vomiting at home already with Crystal continuously throwing up still!!  Sunny walks into the room and he starts to laugh at me standing holding my stomach and heaving, I am afraid that the cereal that is weighing heavily on my stomach is about to come back up.

Me and Sunny had only been stood talking for a few minutes, while Lime played with Shadow.  Suddenly the door flies open violently and then slams shut with force.  We all turn to look to see who has come into the room in such a hurry. 

On seeing who has entered the room I become instantly scared.

Honey is standing there and she looks very angry as she glares at Lime then me.

Shadow stands up and starts to hiss at her, baring his teeth, which makes me even more nervous.

How the hell did she get loose?!

More to the point, without any of the spirits or vampberry's here, how much trouble are we in?!


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