Chapter 527
Sarah waited for them at the motel, her car packed. "I was starting to worry." Her smile faltered. "What's wrong?"
Jorick walked past her toward their room. "Katelina signed us up for Easter dinner."
Sarah's already pallid skin paled. "I thought we were leaving?"
Katelina tried to explain. "She didn't give me a chance to say no. You know how Mom is."
"Say no to what?"
Katelina looked up to see Micah, Loren, and Xandria. Sarah stiffened, and her eyes narrowed warily. "You aren't human. Who are you?"
Micah gave her a long once over. "Better question is, who are you honey? Do you know this chick, Lunch?"
"I'm not a chick, or your honey," Sarah replied angrily.
Loren cut in front of his friend. "He didn't mean to sound like a douche. I'm Loren, and this is Micah. The human is Xandria. You are?"
Sarah stepped closer. "Are you with Claudius?"
Loren blinked and Micah sniggered. "Sugar, I don't know what planet you dropped from, but Claudius is dead. If he wasn't I still wouldn't be with him. I'm with myself."
Katelina groaned and stepped in. "This is my friend Sarah."
Loren's eyes went wide. "Your friend's a vampire?"
Katelina introduced them, tried to explain Xandria, and finished with, "They travel with us."
"If by travel you mean save your ass. So, what's this shit about you not saying no?"
"We aren't leaving until Monday. My mom invited us for Easter dinner." Katelina crossed her arms and dared Micah to complain.
"Pffft. Shit. I ain't been to Easter dinner since Gam died. I don't do holidays."
Before she could say, "Good," Loren broke into a grin. "Come on, it'll be fun. We'll get to meet Katelina's family, and smell the ham and sweet potatoes, and the pie. Man, I didn't realize I missed that stuff. Mom always had a huge dinner every year. My aunt lives in California, so she never came, but"
Katelina cringed as he rattled on. How could she look at his animated face and say he wasn't invited? But how could she take him? Maybe she could say he was Jorick's younger brother.
"Okay, you pulled my arm. Damn kid! We'll go." Micah glanced to Katelina. "You're taking your human?"
It hung like a challenge she needed out of. Before she could find the words, Jorick called from the doorway, "Why not? Misery loves company."
Katelina ignored him. "Dinner's at three on Sunday, but sundown isn't until six. I'll call her tomorrow and make an excuse about why we'll be late."
As everyone nodded, Sarah stepped close and whispered, "Do they all live with you?"
"No. Loren has a house down the beach. Micah will probably stay there. And Xandria" Katelina looked to see the woman sharing a cigarette with Loren. The spare room she'd planned to give Xandria had now been promised to Sarah. "she's staying with us for a while."
"As long as the bald asshole isn't there. I know his type." Sarah gave him a hard look. "I guess I'll see you Sunday."
She seemed as enthusiastic as Katelina felt.
***
Katelina's mother didn't sound like she believed Sarah had a "church thing" that lasted until six, but she took the excuse and hurried off the phone. Katelina could hear Brad in the background. She thought of the lingerie and had a horrible mental image of what her mother was rushing off to.
Jorick toweled his wet hair. "I don't know why modern people are bothered by the idea of their parents mating. How do they think they were created?"
"That's gross!"
"Why? You should be happy she's in a fulfilling relationship. You want her to be happy for you."
"I don't want her to think about me having sex. That would be weird."
Jorick threw up his hands. "No matter how sexually revolutionized you pretend to be, you're all puritans at heart. Like your modern problem of people sleeping together. Not mating, but sleeping. You take great pains to separate male from female, and God help you if the pair are related because, in your sick sexually-obsessed culture, you think that makes it more likely they'll participate in something illicit. In my day, being closely related made it less likely you'd have sexual relations. You could trust a brother and sister, or mother and son, to share a bed and no one thought anything of it. Now you're so sex absorbed that if people of the opposite sex stand near one another they must be mating. It's sad that modern humans assume they have so little self-control they cannot even be trusted with their own family."
A thousand arguments rose to Katelina's lips, but she settled for, "Stop saying 'in my day'. It makes you sound like my grandfather."
Jorick smiled evilly. "In that case, come here little girl."
She threw a pillow at him.
They spent most of Saturday night in an abandoned lot. Katelina sparred with Micah and Jorick read a book. At one point Katelina kicked a rock at him. He neatly dodged without ever looking up.
Sunday evening opened cool and purple. Jorick led them to the park where he enchanted turkey vultures to come down from the water tower. Katelina finished and quickly pushed the body away. It was odd. She didn't feel guilty eating cooked birds, but draining their blood made her feel like a murderer.
They all piled into the car for Easter dinner. As they drove, Katelina practiced stories to explain the extra guests. At least most of her relatives would be gone.
Except the driveway was full, and so were the spaces along the street. Jorick parked farther down the block and they walked. Katelina told herself that maybe the cars went to another house. It wasn't as if her mom was the only inhabitant.
Sarah waited for them at the end of the driveway, wearing a white knee length dress and green shrug. Immortality had paled her honey colored skin, but it had given golden highlights to her curly brown hair and made her hazel eyes sparkle like gems. In comparison, Katelina felt inelegant in her jeans and pullover.
They trooped to the porch. Katelina forced herself to act nonchalant as she pushed open the door. Inside was a scene from her nightmares. Her aunt Leandra sat on the couch with her husband Barry, and her son Gregg. His boyfriend perched uncomfortably in one of the matching chairs, and Aunt Charlotte sat in the other, her bosom barely constrained by her bright Easter dress, despite her obvious efforts.
Her husband, Uncle Henry, lurked behind the couch with a cup of coffee. Katelina's cousin Elsie sat in one of the chrome chairs from the kitchen, and her husband Ben sat in another. Their preteen daughters, Marshy and Cinna, were huddled over a tablet in the corner. A pair of toddlers zoomed in, followed by Gregg's sister Shelby. Her twelve year old son sat Indian style on the ottoman, and Shelby's twin sister and her husband took up the other two kitchen chairs.
"Here comes dessert," Katelina's mother trilled as she stepped into the room laden with a tray of sliced pie. Brad followed, carrying a coffee pot and cups.
"Kately! About time, dear. We were starting to think your church thing would last all night."
Instead of the usual long blonde hair, her mother sported a shorter cut. Her giant glasses circa 1976 were replaced with a sleek pair in a smaller modern style. The gray sweater and charcoal knee-length skirt made her look slimmer and more streamlined; like the chrome plated kitchen.
Her mother said she wanted to change, but good lord! It had only been two days!
Before Katelina could comment, the room dropped into silence and all eyes turned to her.
"Goodness, you brought a lot of friends," her mother said as she handed out plates. "Would you be a dear and introduce everyone while I get some more chairs?"
Katelina still hadn't mastered talking without flashing her fangs, so her introductions came off as mumbled. "This is Jorick, and Loren, and Micah. Xandria, and Sarah."
Aunt Leandra studied them. "Is that the man you ran away with?"
"Mom!" Gregg admonished. "You don't say things like that."
"She does to her niece," Aunt Charlotte said. "You nearly worried your mother to death, young lady."
Micah chortled and Charlotte rounded on him. "I don't know what you have to be amused about."
Katelina prayed he'd shut up. Instead he said, "A lot of things, lady." Luckily Loren jabbed him in the stomach before he could elaborate.
