Vampire High Sophomore Year - By Douglas Rees Page 0,7

to be polite. I could always kill my cousin later.

“These are for you from Ileana and Justin,” I said, handing Turk the boxes.

“What? Do I open them now?” Turk said.

“It might make it easier to say thank you if you knew what was in them,” I said.

“Sure. Whatever,” Turk said.

She opened the one from Ileana first.

Inside was a turquoise pendant set in silver and hanging from a chain.

It was fun to watch cousin Turk just then. She wanted to look so unimpressed. And she couldn’t.

“It’s Hopi,” Turk said. “Classic Hopi.”

“From Cochiti Pueblo,” Ileana said.

Turk turned the jewel in her hands.

“Nobody’s doing this kind of work anymore,” she said.

“My grandfather brought it home from one of his trips,” Ileana said. “His friend Kit Carson gave it to him. That is the story in the family.”

Turk put the jewel back in the box. Carefully.

“Well. Thanks,” she said.

Then she opened Justin’s box.

Inside was a folded-up piece of paper.

“This is kind of a certificate,” Turk read. “It’s good for any two of my angelfish, any kind you might like. I can help you set them up. I have plenty of spare aquarium stuff, and can give you plenty of tubifex worms. They really go for tubifex worms as a supplement. Welcome to New Sodom, Justin Warrener.”

Turk gave him a thin little smile.

“Thanks, man,” she said. “But I kill fish. Goldfish see me coming and they turn belly-up. Neon tetras commit mass suicide. Guppies eat themselves. I don’t want to ice a couple of your pets.”

“Bet I could help you keep ’em alive,” Justin said.

“Justin knows everthing about angelfish,” I said. “He’s got a room full of them. He sells them all over the country.”

“If you like angelfish,” Justin added.

“They don’t fit with my lifestyle,” Turk said. “Thanks anyway.”

“Oh. Okay,” Justin said.

I cringed inside.

Dad rolled his eyes.

“Let’s have dinner,” Mom said.

Mom had gotten out the best china. There was a French soup that would have been good enough for the dining room at Vlad, and quiche and salad. Dad had spent all day caramelizing his patented flan for dessert.

Ileana and I sat across from Turk and Justin, with Mom and Dad at the ends of the table. There were flowers and candles.

In the flickering light, I couldn’t help noticing how much more my cousin looked like a typical jenti than Justin did. He was short and brown-haired like most of the old New England jenti. Dark and rangy Turk in her black-on-black-on-black ensemble could have slouched down the hall at Vlad Dracul without getting a second look, except for her paint and tattoo.

We got through the soup and salad all right. Mom and Dad and I talked with Justin and Ileana mostly. We tried to include Turk, but most of her answers were shrugs. That suited me. I hoped she wouldn’t say more than three complete sentences, one of which would be “Good night.” But it was not to be.

“So, you’ll be going to school with us?” Justin said when we were starting on the flan.

“Yeah, I guess,” Turk said. “If I like it. If not—” She shrugged.

“What will happen if you do not?” Ileana wanted to know.

“Drop out, grab my stuff, head for Europe,” Turk said. “Or back to Mexico. Doesn’t matter. I won’t be staying long anyplace from now on. But, yeah. I’ll go to school until then. The only reason I agreed to come here was to try out Vlad.”

“We are so glad you did,” Ileana said. “Cody has found it quite interesting.”

“Interesting and hard,” I said.

“Hard,” Turk said. “Well, let’s face it, Cuz. I’m the one with the brains in our little duo.”

I could tell this was going to be a dinner party I’d remember for years to come.

“Cody’s smart enough,” Justin said, which may not have sounded like a ringing endorsement of my intelligence but meant a lot in Justin-speak.

“Perhaps you’d like to tell Justin and Ileana about your art,” Mom said.

“No,” Turk said. “There’s no point in talking about it.”

“I would be very interested to hear,” Ileana said.

“Sure would,” Justin agreed.

“It’s personal,” Turk said. “But I’ll tell you what I would be interested in talking about. I’d be interested to hear about being a vampire.”

“Hey,” I said. “I told you about that word.”

“That’s what interests me,” Turk said. “One of the things. If it’s what you are, why not use it? It’s just a word.”

“Just a word,” Justin said.

“As a lawyer, I know something about words,” Dad said. “They’re weapons.”

I could feel the tension building in the room. Most