The Supes are coming for Christmas!

Today's contribution comes from Joseph Eastwood. Thanks for your contribution!

  

The Supes are Coming for Christmas!

By Joseph Eastwood

 

Kara and Ben were put to bed before they could sink their teeth into another slice of raw steak. It was a tradition for the family to wake with the rest of the humans for one day out of the whole year. It was also part of their ritual not to feast on them whilst they celebrated with mugs of mulled wine or took advantage of their inebriated states.

“No, you have to come around for Christmas lunch,” Marnie’s mother said. “Besides, I bet Kara and Ben would love to see their grandmother.”

“Mother, I’ve already told you. The kids are ill, I think they’ll be lucky if they make it out of bed for lunch,” she said. She pretended to choke herself as she grinned over at her husband, Chris. “And the drive to yours isn’t going to do them any good at all.”

Chris picked up the pile of the plates from the dining table and carried them through to the kitchen.

“Okay, honey. If you change your mind we don’t mind visiting you guys,” Marnie’s mother said. “Give them my love.”

“If their temperatures drop then I’ll call, but I highly doubt it. Anyway, bye.” She hung up on her mother. “Oh, god. She’s relentless. I wouldn’t even mind, but she’s only met the kids once.” She put the phone back on the hook.

Chris walked through to the dining room. He sprayed the table and wiped it clean. “Well, you’ve got to give her credit. You’ve not even told her about this whole thing,” her husband said. He grinned. “Plus, the kids are still teething.”

“That’s the point.” She rolled her tongue across her teeth. “I don’t want to chance it.”

He sprayed the table again. “Need to satisfy their thirsts first,” he said. “And make sure they can control themselves. You’re doing the right thing, hun.”

“Well, once they’re past that point they can go and see their grandparents,” she said. “Besides, I’m not comfortable with this. And I don’t want it to ruin her Christmas, because I know that’s what will happen.”

“Best get some rest though, my sister is coming down in the morning. She’s got some special AB negative for the kids,” Chris said. He kissed his wife on the cheek.

“I’ll be up later. Just going to make sure it isn’t too bright for the kids when they wake up in the morning,” she said. Chris nodded at her and walked off. “Love you.”

 

The next morning, Kara and Ben woke their parents up. They jumped on their bed. “Mum, Dad. Get up!” they both shouted. Kara had turned 10 a couple of weeks ago, and she’d told her parents off for lying to her about Santa, while Ben was only 8 and none the wiser about who gave him gifts each year.

“Can we open the presents now?” Ben asked as he ragged on his father’s arm. “Please! Please.”

“Shush, Ben,” Kara said. “Aunty Jill is bringing the good gifts anyway.”

“Ha,” their mother said. “How do you know that?” she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked up at her daughter.

“I heard you and dad talking last night,” she said. “Please can we go and see gran?”

Marnie raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “Oh, really,” she said. “Then you’ll know what I’m going to say. "

“Please, mum,” Kara said. “I bet she has the best gifts.”

“You mean human gifts?” their father said. He groaned. “Oh, she has plenty of human stuff.”

“Yay!” Kara yelled. “Please, please, please!” She grabbed her mother’s hand and started to tug on it.

Marnie rolled her eyes.

“Well, I phoned her anyway, I told her we’d be coming over,” Kara said. “I’ll be on my best behaviour. Won’t we, Ben.” She kicked her brother.

Ben frowned. “I don’t want to go.”

Chris turned to Marnie. She shrugged. “I doubt any harm will come of it,” he said. “And I can tell my sis to come later on tonight.”

“But… but… fine,” she said. “We can always erase her memory if something bad does happen. Which I can feel will happen.”

“Yay! Will she have lots of toys for us?” Ben asked.

Marnie nodded. “Go brush your teeth and we’ll go downstairs to see what prezzies you’ve got.”

Ben and Kara jumped off the bed. They ran out of their parent’s bedroom.

“I think I might have to tell her. She’ll be shocked if she sees one of them trying to eat the meat raw,” Marnie said.

“Your mother is lovely. And I’m sure if she overreacts we can control it. You can make her accept it. Just remember that you’re not the girl you were when I met you.”

“And the wrinkles. How do I explain that I’m still the girl who eloped when she was twenty, and still looks it?”

“Well, that’s why you’re telling her. So that you don’t have to create explanations and remember long speeches. Just tell her the truth.”

Marnie rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

Ben and Kara rushed back in. “Smell my breath!” Ben shouted. “It’s minty. Mmm.”

They all headed downstairs and rushed over to the fir tree in the corner of the living room. Kara and Ben immediately started unwrapped their presents.

“I can’t wait to see the back of that tree. It makes so much mess,” she said.

“Look, mum!” Kara shouted. Her lips were red and bloodied. “Where did you get these chocolate ones from?” she asked.

“I thought you’d like those,” Marnie replied. “Do you like the rest of your gifts? There’s also a few vamp tester packs in there. So that you can test your own abilities.”

“No fair. I want them!” Ben said. He scrunched his face up and huffed. “Kara gets all the good stuff.”

“Benny bee, you’ve got some amazing stuff as well. You have some chocs like Kara, and there’s also a scooter you haven’t unwrapped yet,” his mother said. “We best get ready for the three hour drive, thank you, Kara.”

 

They drove all the way to Marnie’s mother’s house. Although there were faster means of travel, being a family of vampires had its perks. Being stuck in traffic wasn’t one of those. Chris got a little tetchy as they drove and he drummed his fingers on the dashboard, constantly questioning how long it would be until they reached the house. Kara and Ben had been occupied with another present that had been hidden at the time; hand-held consoles, for when exercise just didn’t burn off that extra supe energy stored inside.

“All right, guys. Best behaviour,” Chris said. “Grandma doesn’t know about us, so keep your fangs inside your face, where they won’t scare her.”

“Grandma has a cat!” Ben shouted and pointed to the front door.

The cat was white, and its fur was as thick as the snow that had fallen around the house. The house was quite small, more of a cottage with two floors. The chimney was alive with black smoke, it spiralled out of the spouts at the top.

An old plump woman wearing various shades of purple opened the front door. She shooed the cat inside the house. It skittishly screeched and then pounced off through the snow.

“Marnie!” she shouted. She trudged through the snow in her slippers which became soggy as she approached the car door. “Oh, my little girl. Ha! Not so little anymore.” She tugged on the door handle to get to her daughter.

“Mum,” Marnie said. She opened the door and her mother threw her hands around her. “The kids are feeling a lot better now.”

“You’re such a beauty, isn’t she a beauty, Chris,” Marnie’s mother said. “Bet you’re glad you snatched her up. But it would’ve been nice to be at the wedding, love.”

“Mum,” she said and looked into her mother’s eyes. “I think you best go inside. Your feet are getting wet,” she said.

Her mother looked around for a second, a little dazed and confused. “Oh, well, I best go back inside to the stove. My feet are getting wet outside,” she said. She hurried off inside the house, trudging the snow with her.

“Did you just…” Chris gave Marnie a sly look.

“She needed that push,” Marnie said with a smile on her face. “C’mon kids, let’s see what gran is cooking up. And you best eat it all.” She grabbed the boxes of chocolates they picked out of their bags. “You can have them after lunch.”

Kara and Ben climbed out of the car. Ben rushed off after the cat in the snow, while Kara ran inside to the warmth.

“Kara!” her father shouted. “A little bit slower, please.”

She looked back and grinned at him, “Of course.”

The inside of Marnie’s mother’s house was a Christmas grotto. There was a huge tree in the corner and on the floor it was littered with pine needles. Marnie smiled at her mother as she entered. She had remembered shopping for this house when her mother had thought about downsizing from the five bedroom her and her siblings had once lived in.

“Merry Christmas, mum,” Marnie said. She handed her a bottle of sherry. “I know how you liked this.”

“Aw, thank you honey. It means a lot to have you guys over for Christmas,” she said, and kissed her daughter on the cheek and accepted to the bottle. “Make yourselves at home, and help yourself to the tin of choccies.” She winked at Kara.

Kara looked up at her mother. “Do they have…”

“No,” her mother said.

“I know what,” Marnie’s mother said. “Why don’t you come in here and help me cook the rest of this food.” She walked off into the kitchen and her slippers squelched as she waddled through.

“When should I tell her?” Marnie asked. She took a seat on the large puffed up sofa. She tugged at the sides and pulled out a moth bitten toy rat. “Maybe we could change her. She might clean up.”

“Marnie. That’s your mum you’re talking about,” Chris said. “Don’t be mean. She’s only trying to be a good mum.”

“She let me meet you,” she said with a grin. “I guess she’s not all bad.”

Chris sat beside his wife in the sunken sofa. “Maybe we should buy her a new one.” He chuckled.

“Look, mum!” Ben shouted. He rushed into the house with the snowy white cat in his arms and red around his lips. The white of the cat started to collect to the blood from where Ben had bitten into it. “It tasted well good!” he grinned.

“Oh. Shit, Ben!” his mother said. “I told you not to do anything stupid.”

“But it scratched me!” He threw the cat to the ground and it tried to squirm away, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. “I thought we were playing a game.”

“What’s going on?” Marnie’s mother called from the kitchen. “Is Ben in there? Tell him granny wants to see him.”

The front room fell silent as Ben’s parents rushed around him to try and clean him up. Marnie’s mother popped her head around the corner.

“Is he?” she asked. She stood still and her jaw dropped. “What’s he been eating?” she gasped.

“Ooh, what?” Kara rushed to the doorway. She held a huge pot of boiled potatoes.

“I think he’s been at the berries,” Marnie said.

“Berries!” Kara shouted. She dropped the pan of boiling water.

The water splashed up against the floor and scalded her grandmother’s legs.

“Arggh!” Marnie’s mother screamed. Her grip on the doorframe became loose and she skidded in the water and fell on her back. The water scalded her back and she continued to writhe beneath the pain.

A tear fell from Marnie’s eye. “Oh, you better be joking, Kara!”

“I’m sorry,” she replied. She stood over her grandmother as she groaned in pain. “How come it’s hurting her?”

Marnie rushed to her mother’s side. She picked her up and threw her onto the spongy sofa. “Because she isn’t like us, and she’s old.” She opened her mouth and bit the palm of her mother’s hand. Light blue toxins started to drip from the fangs into her mother’s blood stream. She pulled away. “Great. We were here five seconds and we almost managed to kill her and her cat.”

“I said I was sorry,” Kara said.

“And I didn’t mean to kill it,” Ben said. He looked down at the cat as it clawed at the rug and whined.

Marnie looked down at the cat. “We’ll take it with us,” she said. “And we’ll leave her alone. Until you two can control yourselves.”

“Sorry, hun. I really didn’t think they’d do any damage.”

“It’s fine. What’s done is done, and my mother thinks she had an amazing Christmas. She’ll wake tomorrow like none of this even happened.”

Kara and Ben were made to clean the whole house as an apology for ruining dinner. Although by the looks of it Ben had already feasted on the cat, and Kara was eying up the chocolates that her mother had kept on the table.

Having dinner with supes is never an easy task. And it might happen in your lifetime, you might not even know. It could happen to you every year. Your aunt who comes around and leaves a lasting impression could drink from you all and pretend like you’d have the most amazing time. I guess that’s the chance we take every holiday season.

Joseph Eastwood was born 9th June 1993, in Lancaster, England. He's always wanted to be a writer, even when he went through the stages of wanting to be every other profession under the sun. And what better way to live out all of those professions than to be an author and create people with them.

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