Page 35 of Missing Moon
Crap.
Klamath has a vampire problem.
Chapter Fourteen
The Gang's All Here
Everyone is gathered in the living room waiting for me when I return to my parents’ house.
Mom’s on the sofa staring into space. She’s definitely worse now than I remember. When I was a little kid, she acted more like a scatterbrained eccentric. Now, she’s almost in a vegetative state.
Damn you, Elizabeth. Of all the things you took from me, realizing my mother was one of them makes me hate you more than I ever thought possible. And yeah, some of that anger is directed inward at myself for blaming Mom. All those years I thought she didn’t like me or didn’t want kids and resented us. Now I’m wondering if she’s been stuck somewhere else trying like hell to get back to her family and just couldn’t do it.
Paxton goes wide eyed.
Damn. I’m getting so angry it’s scaring her. I need to set that aside. A few deep breaths help. That and thinking about how nothing I can do will change the past. Can’t even get revenge since the cause of Mom’s problem is already dead. The only thing I can do is maybe change the future.
“Mom?” Paxton hurries over to whisper, “What’s wrong?”
“Fuming over what happened to my mother,” I whisper back. “Will explain later.”
She offers a hesitant nod. Confused, but she knows my being evasive means we need to talk about the supernatural stuff, and that means we can’t do it in front of people who aren’t aware that sort of thing is real. If it had just been Mary Lou here, no big deal. She’s fully in the know. Rick, her kids, my brother, not so much.
Though, I suspect Dusk would probably be able to handle it.
The sound of a car approaching outside brings various random conversations to a stop. Two doors open andwhumpclosed a moment later. Everyone sits in silence. Dusk goes to the front door, opens it, and steps outside.
“Hey you losers,” calls Dusk in a jovial tone.
“Bite me,” says a familiar voice on the deeper end. It’s been years since I heard it. I assume it’s River, my oldest brother.
“Yo,” says Clayton.
All three of my siblings walk into the room. Clayton looks pretty much like I remember him from only a few months ago when he visited for Thanksgiving. He’s sadder though. Seems news of Dad’s imminent death is hitting him hard.
River is forty-nine or fifty now. Hints of grey speckle his otherwise black hair. Yeah, he went to jail for a bit, but as far as I know hasn’t been in trouble since. Sometimes a person only needs one bad experience to figure out certain things aren’t worth it. Unfortunately, I don’t really remember where he’s been or what he’s been doing. Some vague memory wants me to think he works in construction.
“Who’s that guy that looks like Hugh Jackman?” whispers Ruby Grace to her mom.
Mary Lou bursts out laughing.
Yeah, that’s funny. No one would ever mistake River for Hugh Jackman, though I could see him being a stunt double or something.
We do the greeting and introductions thing.
Clayton’s seen me recently enough to know who I am and makes no big deal of my visible age. River, on the other hand, gives me a pat on the shoulder when he finally greets his way around the room to me.
“Hey pipsqueak, you got big fast. Is your mom here?”
I blink. “Yeah, she is.”
He tilts his head at me as if to ask where.
I gesture at Mom.
River furrows his brows. “Wait, what? You’re not Tam Tam?”
Tammy laughs, holds up her hand. “No, I’m Tammy.”