Adopted By Vampires: Short Story 2000 Words

Stewart sat up in his coffin, stretched toward the window and quietly pulled the curtain to one side. A thin beam of light slipped through the tiny crack to pierce the dark room. His brothers were already asleep, exhausted from a night of hunting.

He felt of his dull canine tooth with one hand and cracked open a book with the other. The door to his room creaked open and his mother whispered loudly, “What have I told you about reading during the day, close that book and go to sleep.”
Stewart slammed the book, laid back and pulled the cover over his head. Tears welled up in his eyes as he sobbed into his pillow. “What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just be like them?”

Moonrise came in what seemed like a minute and Stewart’s brothers were already bright eyed and hyperactive. These two teenagers were used to torturing their little brother. Vlad was the instigator so he tossed Clive a wooden sword that they used in their weapons training. Clive laughed and hit the side of Stewarts coffin.
The noise woke Stewart out of his deep sleep. He jumped up and complained, “Come on guys, knock it off.”
“What’s wrong? Does the little cry-baby need his sleepy time?” mocked Vlad.
“Mom! Vlad and Clive are bothering me!” shouted Stewart.

Mothers voice replied back from down the hallway, “Boys, it’s time for your breakfast!”
Vlad and Clive ran toward the kitchen but not before they scruffed Stewart's hair. Their mother had two plates set with each a raw steak and a goblet filled with blood. Stewart’s plate was special. His plate had a grapefruit cut in half, some vitamins and his goblet was full of tomato juice.

Vlad and Clive snickered and made ugly gestures at Stewart as they sat around the table. When their mother realized what was going on, she slapped them on the back of their heads and said, “What have I told you about teasing your brother? You know he is special. If your father was here he would make you clean your coffins. Now stop the horseplay and eat!”

Vlad leaned close to Clive and whispered, “She means, stop playing around and eat your horse meat.” They snickered and choked a bit.

Clive fell face first into his steak ravaging it like a wild beast eating its prey. Vlad turned his goblet up and gulped down the thick red liquid as it spilled out of the corners of his mouth and ran down his face.
Stewart rolled his eyes at his brothers then took a napkin and placed it in his lap. He then took a fork and knife and cut his grapefruit in to smaller slices. “Mother, could you please pass me the salt?”
The brothers paused for a second, looked at each other and went back to devouring their bloody feast.

Mother casually asked, “Where will you boys be hunting tonight?”
“We thought that the park near the college would be a good place to start. We saw some young people out past their curfew late last night.” answered Vlad.

“Oh, that sounds lovely. Now you need to keep a close eye on your little brother.”
You would have thought that she asked them to work in a chicken farm cleaning cages. They went on and on, complaining about their lot in life.

“That’s enough!” Mother continued, “You will take good care of your brother and that is final.”
Stewart spoke up and said, “Mother, why don't you let me stay home and help you again? You know I will just slow them down. I don’t even understand why or how they hunt.”

Mother smoothed her apron and asked, “How do you expect to survive if you don’t learn how to hunt?’
Stewart paced back and forth and said, “You know I’m not like them. The last time I went on a hunt, I broke out in hives. How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t like blood? Just look at my teeth mother!”
He opened his mouth wide as his mother inspected his teeth. She shook her head and said, “Well these should have grown in months ago. I guess you can stay home with me one more night.”

Clive and Vlad ran out of the big front door. “Be back later!” they shouted.
They did not close the door and Stewart ran behind them to shut it. He spent the night helping his mother with housework. At one point, she brought out an old sewing machine and they made a new cape for dad. As they worked with the machine, Stewart asked some questions.
“Why haven't my teeth come in and why don't I like the things that you all like?”
“So many questions my sweet boy. You worry too much.”
“But mom...look at me, what do you see?

She stroked his hair back and said, “I see my special boy that is growing and has an important purpose in life.”
As they were talking, the front door burst open. Dad stumbled in with smoke behind him. He looked like he had been beaten and burned.

“Oh my gosh, Drak what happened to you?” pleaded mom.
He crawled on his hands and knees, rolled himself onto the couch and said, “It’s a mob and they have the boys. Some people had set a trap. I tried to fight them off but they had a big fire and silver knives.”
Mom tried to console him as she tended to his wounds. “What can we do? We can't just leave them. They are still just boys. The people will kill them.” she cried.

“I will go.” said Stewart.
“No! I won't have it! I cant lose all of you in one night.” exclaimed mom.
“Drak sat up and said, “He’s right. We need to let him go. You know he’s different.”
“Yeah Mom! This could be my special purpose. You told me I had an important job to do. This could be my moment.”
Stewart ran to the sewing machine and got the new cape that they made. He put it on and it was much too big. The hem bunched up on the floor around him. He tried to lift it as he ran back to the living room but his foot caught it and he fell into a pile at his dad's feet.

Dad put his hand on Stewarts head and sighed.
Stewart could feel the disappointment in his father's touch and that infuriated him. He threw off the cape and shouted, “I will rescue them!”

He picked up the cape again and folded it in half, draped it over his shoulders and tied it in front. It was bunched up around his neck so much that he could barely see out of the small opening.
His mother sensed his determination and said, “Come here and let me straighten that.” She pulled the material up in the back and formed a hoodie and said, “Son, you are different. We new that from the day we found you on our doorstep.”
Stewart was startled and asked, “What do you mean, you found me?”

“I’m sorry Stewart, we should have told you before now. We wanted to wait until you were a little older. We can talk more about it later. Please know that your father and I love you and nothing will ever change that.”
Stewart felt so confused, but he pushed that to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand. An idea came to him and he ran to the kitchen. He took a couple of grapefruits and cut a hole in the top of each one. He then loaded the insides of the fruit with a couple of the vitamin supplements that his mother fed him every day. He taped the top of the fruit to seal the holes and then he attached a piece of yarn to make it look like a fuse. He then went to the fireplace and covered the grapefruit in soot. They looked like two explosive bombs.

He tucked them into part of his cape, hugged his mother and ran out of the door. He turned around before he got off of the porch and ran back to gently make sure the door latched.

He ran through the dark woods until he could see the lights of the college. He could hear shouting in the distance. As he crept closer, he could see a large bonfire with people jumping and chanting in a circle. Over to the right side of the fire he could see his two brothers tied to poles. They were badly beaten and hanging with their hands and feet tied behind them.
The situation was dire. Stewart doubted that his plan would work, but he did not have any other option. He built his courage and walked into the crowd of people. Nobody paid him any attention. He walked close to his brothers and said, “Hey guys, I’m going to get you out of here.”

Clive lifted his head to look at Stewart and then dropped back down in exhaustion. Vlad looked up and said, “Get out of here! Can’t you see they are going to kill us?”
“Not if I can help it.” said Stewart as he untied the ropes.”
A voice from the crowd yelled, “Hey! Look! Somebody is trying to help the devils. Stop him!”
Stewart pulled one of the grapefruit from his cape and said, “Get back I have a bomb.”
The crowd stopped and Stewart picked up a stick that was on fire and lit the fuse.

One guy in the crowd rushed Stewart. The fuse sparked and Stewart threw the bomb into the crowd. The people ran back for a moment then stopped when nothing happened. Stewart lit the other bomb and pitched it to the guy who rushed him. The guy caught it and immediately knew something wasn't right.

He squeezed the fruit and rubbed some of the soot off. “This thing is not a bomb.” He held it above his head. People cheered and laughed and then the fruit exploded. The vitamins inside the fruit had caused a chemical reaction and the explosion was no small thing.

Grapefruit pulp flew everywhere and got into their eyes. They screamed and stumbled around, blinded by the juicy pulp. As the crowd stumbled in chaos, Stewart freed his brothers and they ran toward home. Just as they were about to get past a field and enter the woods, Stewart yelled out in pain.
Someone in the crowd had fired a gun at the boys and the bullet struck Stewart in the leg. Stewart fell to the ground bleeding. Clive stopped and looked at the wound. He dipped his finger into the blood and tasted it.
Vlad said, “What are you doing? He is our brother.”

They helped him up and carried him home. When they got into the house his mother took him to the couch by his dad and tended to the gunshot wound. She pulled the bullet out with some tweezers and said, “ Look, it is a silver bullet. This would have killed any of us.”

“Son, I am so proud of you.” said Drak.
Clive and Vlad gathered around and said, “We should have eaten you, but since you saved our lives, and you are our punk brother, we didn't.” They scruffed his hair and went to the kitchen.
The next night at breakfast there were three plates. Two had raw steaks with a goblet of blood and one had a grapefruit cut in half, some vitamins and a goblet of tomato juice. Mother then added a half of grapefruit each to Vlad and Clives plates.

“Awe, mom what it this?” Vlad complained.

“Things are going to be different around here from now on, so stop your horseplay and eat.” she replied.