"Not exactly." Olivia bounced up and down in place as she waited for her guests to ring the doorbell. She couldn't remember being more excited in her life to spring a surprise on her parents and extended family. Even serenading them with her horrible rendition of O Holy Night at Christmas when she was five couldn't top this.
She pounced on the door just as the bell chimed. "Hernando, Valori, Annara—how lovely to see you. Won't you come in?"
Olivia escorted her BloodDark friends from the entry way and into the living room proper, taking their traditional long cloaks to hang on the coat stand. "I apologize for the cold and snow. It's been a very odd autumn weather-wise in the Midwest. Last year it was almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit on Thanksgiving Day."
"You did tell me about snow, remember?" Valori's dark gray eyes twinkled as she pulled Olivia into a hug. "I didn't believe frozen water could fall from the sky. I thought you'd made it up just to laugh at me when I fell for it. Now I see you were telling the truth."
Olivia squeezed her friend and then let her go. "I'd never tell you a lie, Valori, and well you know it."
"It's good to see you again, my sister in arms," Annara said, giving Olivia a quick hug. She whispered into Olivia's ear, "Have you told Hernando about our plan?"
"Not yet. He'll be of more use to us being kept in the dark at this point," she whispered back.
"What? No hug for me?" Hernando's wicked grin made her heart beat faster. "You don't even miss me after... how long?"
Olivia pulled him into her arms and kissed him soundly on the lips. "It's only been a month since you visited at Halloween and scared all those trick-or-treaters on our front porch with your Dracula impression. Or had you forgotten?"
He returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm, letting her up for air after she started feeling light-headed. "I need a good reminder from time to time," he murmured.
The basement door squeaked opened. Olivia's father came first up the stairs. He had been demonstrating his latest model railroad layout downstairs to her eight-year-old identical twin cousins, Peter and Paul, who'd arrived an hour earlier.
"Who's this at the door?" her father asked. "Your folks said they were getting another pie and some more wine. That was the quickest trip to the grocery store on record." Julian paused and smiled a welcome as he took in the three newcomers in the living room. "Hello again, Hernando, and these lovely ladies are?"
"Dad, these are my very dear friends from BloodDark, Valori and Annara." Olivia extended her hand out to remind them of the Earth custom of shaking hands. "Valori, Annara, this is my father, Julian Brown."
Valori presented her hand first to shake. Julian let go of it in mid-shake, flinching like he'd received an electric shock. Valori grinned. "I see where Olivia gets her courage now."
"You do?" He chuckled. "I always thought it was her mother's pig-headed stubbornness. Olivia's got more than her fair share of that trait."
"She shares her mother's trait, too, but she's learned a lot from you. She senses how hard it was for you growing up, bullied for being a good student while living in a poor area, and for being looked over for promotion in your career because of the color of your skin." Valori stopped as she saw the look on Julian's face turn from one of humor to amazement. "Am I not correct?"
Olivia came to her father's side. "Uh, I forgot to tell you, Dad. Valori can see the future and learn a lot about a person just from shaking his hand." She guided Valori over to the sofa. "Why don't you have a seat now, and I'll get us all something to drink."
Annara stepped up and shook Julian's hand before he could respond. "Nice to meet you, sir. Never fear, I don't read minds. I'm just your regular girl who can shoot an insect off the top of your head at a hundred paces."
"How comforting to know." Julian mopped his brow with his ever-present pocket handkerchief. "Are all your friends from the other world this...fascinating, Ollie?"
"These are my normal friends, Dad. You'd love to meet the more fascinating ones."
The twins came crashing up the stairs and into the living room. "Cousin Olivia, do all your friends have fangs like the ones we saw in the online video?" Peter asked.
"Just me." Hernando smiled and kneeled down to tousle the strawberry-blond hair of the rambunctious boys. "See?"
"Cool," Paul said, mesmerized. "How did you get them?"
"I suppose from my father. He's half Pure Blood. It makes me what we call a Quadsang, a quarter Pure Blood. Some Quadsang have pointy teeth and some don't. I lucked out and got the cool fangs."
"Awesome!" the twins cried in unison.
"Okay, boys, let's leave your cousin Olivia and her friends to converse in peace. I can show you some of my other models in my study." Julian did his best to steer the twins out of the living room, but they'd have none of it.
"Can we take you to our school and show you to our friends?" Paul asked. "They'd never believe us if we told them we ate Thanksgiving dinner with a vampire."
"We don't call people from BloodDark vampires, remember, guys?" Olivia reminded them. "They're people just like us."
Peter giggled. "People with vampire teeth."
"All right, let's scoot." Olivia's father sighed and took Peter by the hand. Paul crossed his arms and set his face in a fixed stare, refusing to budge. "Paul? Listen to your Uncle Julian. I don't want to tell your mom and dad you didn't listen to me when they get back from the store."
"I want to borrow Ollie's camera phone and take a picture of her friend's fangs," Paul insisted. "I can send it to Aaron's phone 'cause his parents got
