NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: A Bloody Tea Party
Evelyn
“Who is it?”
A voice called out from inside the Fletcher’s house. I shifted my feet awkwardly as I stood on their doorstep. I understood now what Cass had been trying to do, and I really did appreciate the effort, but it had felt like she was pushing me into something I wasn’t supposed to be doing.
Aoife and Willow hadn’t really pushed at all. They just did their best to show me that I was allowed to do this. They showed me I could try something new and find what worked for me, and since this felt like such a fresh start, I figured it’d be a good chance to start fresh with the Fletchers.
“That’s… kind of up in the air right now. I’m the vampire who lives with Cass.”
The door swung open, and I was faced with the inquisitive eyes of a young rat girl. Sammy, if I remembered right.
“Oh! I thought you were always all locked up in the daytime! That always seemed lame to me though, your really pretty and vampires are so cool n’ stuff. Anyway, you're Ethan, right?”
I suppressed a grimace as she said the name. I was going to have to go through this with everyone, wasn’t I? I really hoped I’d be happy with Evelyn then, I wouldn’t want to do this more than once.
“I’m actually trying a different name out right now.” I offered my hand to the diminutive rat kid. “I’m Evelyn. It’s good to meet you!”
She clasped my hand in both of her’s, shaking it with the kind of enthusiasm and energy you only find in kids. I remembered when Matt was her age, he used to-
Fuck, I missed him.
Not the time, Evie. You can worry about finding your son when you have a safe place he can come home to. Deal with the genocidal dragon first, and the child in front of you before that. I tore my thoughts away from my worries, and did my best to smile.
“Are your parents around, Sam?”
“Umm… I think they’re in the basement right now.” As though to punctuate her words, the low rumbling of unknown machinery erupted from beneath our feet, and for just a fraction of a second, the lights above our heads flicked on. “Me and Jess aren’t s’posed to go down there while Mom and Dad are working cuz it’s all dangerous n’ stuff, but Mom’ll probly be up in a second.”
Moments later, a door swung open behind her, and Nori staggered out, with hands stained by oil and an exhausted look in her eyes. I raised my hand as she turned towards us, still standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Hey Nori.” I flashed her a toothy grin. “How’s the generator going?”
“You’re very funny.” She rolled her eyes. “It’ll go much better when I find a new alternator, but that can wait. What brings you here, Eth-”
“Evelyn.” I cut her off. I was quickly beginning to realize that even if the whole woman thing didn’t end up working out for me, I was pretty done with the name Ethan either way. “I’m trying some stuff out, so I’d appreciate it if you'd call me Evelyn for now.”
Her smile told me everything I needed to know. I really was the last person to figure this out, wasn’t I? Even the Fletchers, who I hadn’t really talked to at all, didn’t believe the whole Ethan act for a second. She beckoned me inside, closing the door to the basement, where an acrid smell was beginning to drift out.
“Alright then, Evelyn. What’s up?”
“Well, I guess I wanted to come and introduce the new me. Past that, I…” It took me a few moments to work up the courage to continue. I was still the same person, at my core, and that meant people were still pretty scary. “I was hoping… that maybe I should try getting out more, talking to people, socializing, that kind of thing.”
“Well in that case, would you like some tea? I could certainly use a break.”
“Um… “ I bared my fangs briefly, gesturing vaguely at my mouth. “You can have your tea, I can just hang out or something.”
“Right. Sorry about that. Give me just one second.” She walked briskly down the hall before disappearing around a corner. Moments later, her older daughter, Jess, popped out and hurried into the kitchen. Nori reemerged after her, opening the basement door once again and shouting down. “Honey! Would you please grab the blood draw kit and come upstairs?”
There was a muffled reply followed by a clattering of metal, but Nori seemed to view that as enough of a response, and closed the door once more.
“You really just have that stuff lying around?”
“Whoever used to live here did, at least. I think they were a doctor or something.” She turned towards the kitchen, beckoning me to follow her. “You can have it if you want. You’d probably make better use of it than we ever could.”
As Nori, Sammy, and I entered the kitchen, I was struck by the sheer mundanity of the scene. A (mostly) ordinary kitchen connected to a well furnished dining room, the kettle on the stove being closely watched by an attentive 9 year old. There were oddities, sure, the rat child currently circling around me and the propane tank that had been wedged within the dismantled oven chief among them. There was no way to forget what happened to the world outside, but inside this lovely kitchen, I got pretty damn close.
As I turned to ask Nori about the propane tank in question, she’d already begun to answer it.
“When all the plants had their little explosion of growth, there were a lot of fuel lines that got cut or damaged. A few of the houses in this neighborhood were unscathed, like you and Cass’, but some weren’t so lucky. Eric and I chose to stay in this one because we needed something to keep us occupied, to take our minds off the nightmare we’d just lived through, so we picked our little fixer-upper here.” She stepped in Sammy’s path, scooping up the energetic girl and ruffling her fur. “We rigged up the stove to run on propane tanks. It’s not a permanent fix, but it’ll last us a while, at least.”
“We’ll probably be building a wood stove soon.” Eric’s voice from behind startled me as he stepped silently into the room. Aoife mentioned the ratfolk had natural sneaking magic, I’d forgotten about that. “It’ll be a lot easier to keep fueled, and it’ll help us stay warm when winter comes. With Willow’s help, we should be able to get however much wood we need just from the trimmings of the garden.”
He walked past us into the dining room, laying out some kind of unusual syringe, along with an elastic band and a few plastic vials. Nori followed close behind him, grabbing the band when he was done and wrapping it tightly around her upper arm, and Sam, who had been gently released once again, watched on with interest. After squeezing her fist a few times, Nori found a vein she was satisfied with, and promptly jabbed herself with the needle. I cringed slightly at the sight, I’d always been a bit squeamish about needles, but that discomfort gave way to greedy thirst as she began filling one of the vials.
She winked when she saw me staring, gently removing the needle from her arm and covering it with a band-aid.
“I used to donate blood pretty often. I’ve seen this done enough times to figure it out.”
As Nori removed the top from the vial and began pouring the contents into a large shot glass, Eric began setting the table. This whole family moved with such coordinated efficiency, I could hardly believe it. Before I knew it, we were sat around a large oak table, cups in hand, just enjoying each other’s company.
I think I could get used to this.
