Chapter 3

I made it home, still in bat form though very sentient, only to find that Jerry was home, too. And he wasn’t alone. Mom and he were in the midst of a real knock-down drag-out quarrel over something. I just couldn’t tell which. It was strange that they were both home, but my sister and stepsisters weren’t. I never got along with any of those, of course, and they were atrociously spoiled. Then again, the orange tabby cats, Felicia and Colleen, never seemed hostile to me. They didn’t even hiss at me now in bat form as I managed to use the ajar front door to enter the home.

“Bat! Oh, my, God ... Jerry, look, it’s a bat! Chase it away! Bats carry rabies!” Mom shouted as I swooped in closer and yet the cats still didn’t hiss or swipe at me, “this is your fault, Jerry. This is why the electric bill is so damned high ... you always leave the front door ajar for several minutes at a time! Am I the only one thinking of the bills around here?”

“What about Charles? We know that he sneaks around and reads those books late at night!” Jerry snapped about me now, even as he tried desperately to chase me off.

“He hasn’t done that in years, Jerry! Not since you grounded him from the books for six weeks for that! Look, I know that I’m as hard on Charles as you can be at times, mostly for his own good, but I’m getting tired at this one-note chorus of yours. Charles this, Charles that! The boy can do no right with you! He’s always to blame, no matter what! I think that sometimes, I’ve bought into your little crap, hook, line, and sinker, and God knows that I’ve strained things with the boy! Have you seen how he looks at us lately, all of us, including Chelsea?

“Damn it, Jerry, must I do everything myself? Here, give me that broom! I’ll kill that bat!” Mom was definitely in a very nasty mood right then and she showed it by trying to kill me in earnest.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you!” I spoke, still in bat form, though it was clearly my voice.

“Charles? What the fuck? How are you a bat? Am I on acid or something?” Mom freaked out, but Jerry really trembled a bit.

“Well, I believe that the term that you’re looking for is ... vampire, Mom,” I announced as I took on my more human shape, “what’s more, you must have known, at least according to Mrs. Fairfax.”

“Charles ... I thought that it wouldn’t take. I hoped that it wouldn’t take. I left your father because I didn’t want to take any further risks of vampire progeny. One chance was bad enough. But, yes, I’ve worried about that possibility, rightly so, it seems. You’ve gone full Nosferatu, haven’t you?” Mom asked me while crossing herself a bit now.

“If by that you mean the undead, yes. If by that you mean some Gothic movie vampire with a shaved head, then no. Is that why you’ve been a royal pain in my ass my entire life, Mom? Why I never caught any breaks, why it was always ‘Chelsea this, Chelsea that,’ always her being the golden girl, me the black sheep? Or bat in my case? Well, Mom? You knew that this could happen to me, but you never warned me that I could turn into a fucking VAMPIRE on my eighteenth birthday, not in the least!” I snapped at Mom.

“And you, steroid-using, doping, small-dick sporting, brainless jock piece of shit that I’d like to scrape off the bottom of my shoes, except, I’m fucking naked right now, not that you noticed, Mom, Jerry ... really? And for the love of God, close that damn door already! If I could sneak in, a fucking vampire, what about robbers?” I snarled at Jerry now, my rage in full red-flag mode.

“Wait, vampires are supposed to require an invitation from the head of the household. That’s me. I know enough vampire lore to know that you need my invite ... and I refuse it. Bye-bye, Charlie Brown! I never thought that it would be that easy to rid myself of you. If you want to stay, you gotta fight me to be man of the house. To the victor ... whatever. Put your dukes up, Count!” Jerry challenged me, making me laugh wickedly now.

I simply rushed at him and bit his hand as he tried to hit me.

“What the fuck ... you bit me! You fucking BIT me, you slimy little rat!” Jerry screamed himself hoarse at me, even as I bit him yet again.

“Charles, will you please stop biting Jerry ... please! And Jerry, that doesn’t work if it’s someone who’s grown up in the fucking house, even a novice should know that! Stop trying to hit my son! Look, Charles, I know that I’ve been ... strict, even cruel at times. I’m sorry ... I didn’t see things that way. I tended to see them ... Jerry’s way, at least in front of you, where Jerry and I had to present a united front, you know.

“Anyway, can you put on some clothes? Even as a vampire, you need clothes, I should think. And where are the clothes that you wore to school? And how did it go, going to school in daylight ... as a vampire?” Mom asked me what seemed like a barrage of questions.

“It went terrible, as if you care ... you could have warned me, Mom! My clothes ... got left at the school clinic, after my asshat principal tried to rape me orally! And I bit him right there on the cock, which served him right! That was my first feeding ... not the most enjoyable, but at least I drew first blood, get it ... first blood! I was kicked in the groin myself, slapped in the face, insulted often and bullied a lot, you get the point.

“The only people who seemed to help me out ... Mrs. Cortez, Mrs. Fairfax ... Mrs. Murphy, the school nurse, Ms. Roth, the vice-principal, Mr. Hugo, the shop teacher, who is apparently gay, not that I mind ... he called the cops on Mr. Hogan ... after Mr. Hogan ran out of the men’s room screaming that I’m a vampire, mind you! He’s gonna have a tough time explaining why his dick was exposed to my fangs in the first place...

“And of course, Lindsay Bevan and cousin Maria. Where are Natasha and Heather ... shouldn’t they be at Bullard, by the way? Oh, and Amber Dumont shocked me by standing up for me for once, very odd for her.

“Not that you care, but Coach Brown was a real dick to me, typical of him, mind you. And Trevor Barker and David Schuyler ... and Starfish Wilson, his sister Melinda, and the Horne twins, Stacey and Courtney ... they bullied me ... very typical!” I ranted while still in an impasse with Jerry, my stepfather.

“Wow ... you’ve been through a lot more than I realized ... someone actually tried to rape you ... Someone kicked you in the groin and slapped you? What’s going on here? As for your sisters ... they were on a field trip, if you must know. We signed off on it,” Mom explained, still working through her shock, “you really think that little of me ... you really think that I don’t care what happens to you? Damn it, Charles, you’re my SON ... of course, I care! Have I really made you feel hated in your own home to that extent?”

“They’re no sisters of mine, and yes, you have! I was seriously looking into the military or police as a way of getting out of this place. Hell, if the French Foreign Legion had recruiters nearby, I’d have at least given them a decent hearing. I just ... felt hated, worthless, useless, unloved, unwanted, yes, that sounds about right,” I retorted, making Mom realize the extent of the rift within the blended family, “it’s not as if any of my supposed sisters, including Chelsea, have tried to show me any love. You know who’s shown me love? Lindsay. Maria. My best friend and my cousin ... and Mrs. Cortez, and as of today, Mrs. Fairfax, Mr. Hugo, Ms. Roth, and Mrs. Murphy!”

“You ... you’re an abomination. Who would love you ... who should love you? I always knew that you were some kind of freak. I just didn’t know that you literally suck! Come on, man ... challenge me! Fight me ... fight me for the headship of this shithole of a house! If you win this bitch, you can have her, but if I win... , “ Jerry didn’t get further before Mom struck him across the face, livid as she was.

“You fucking cunt ... you little stupid bitch ... you’re mine ... I won you from that stupid ghoul fair and square ... I just didn’t know that he was a fucking vampire! A goddamned bloodsucker ... a ... that coward, who just walked away from the better man ... you stupid cow!” Jerry ranted now and I had enough.

Mom had many flaws and might not have been that much of a prize, I wasn’t blind to her flaws, and she had a mean streak a mile wide, at least toward me ... but she was still Mom ... I’d take her over the loser dumbass of a failed boxer any day. As Jerry prepared to strike Mom with his belt, I was on him like white on rice and bit into his neck this time with a vengeance. I drew no shortage of blood this time ... in fact, something in me was unleashed, pure, white-hot rage. I latched onto my stepfather and just kept sucking the blood out of him. I didn’t stop for anything.