Read Online Uncle Vampire by Cynthia D. Grant - Free Book Online Page B

My voice was shrill.
    â€œI’ll handle this, Doris. Go up to your room and stay there, young lady, until you’re ready to apologize.”
    â€œApologize for what?”
    â€œFor acting like a spoiled brat!”
    â€œI’m not a brat! Nobody listens to me!”
    My father stood up. Uncle Toddy said, “Bill.”
    â€œGet up there and stay there until you’re ready to behave!” Papa shouted. Mama’s eyes filled with tears.
    I ran up the stairs to my bedroom and slammed the door. They hate it when I’m angry. Ladies don’t get mad. No matter what they say, Honey never disagrees. I have to stay awake while she wraps herself in dreams.
    I ignored her when she came in. She disgusts me.
    I put on all the lights and tried to read, but my mind was listening to the noises in the house: creaks and taps and crunching sounds. I turned on the radio and exercised. I thought Honey might complain, but she kept sleeping.
    The night dies slowly. The house is still. I mustn’t fall asleep. He tries to surprise me.
    I am reading the Bible Gram gave me when I made my first communion. My name is stamped in gold on the cover. Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil for—
    He is with me. The door opens. My uncle sticks his head into the room.
    â€œI thought you’d fallen asleep with the lights on, Carrie.”
    He speaks softly so no one will hear him. Honey sleeps through this as she has so many times. For a moment I see him through her eyes: He’s nice. Then his mask slides off. The eyes are bottomless, greedy.
    â€œGet out,” I say. “I’m going to sleep.” I don’t want to wake Honey. She wakes up screaming. I hold out my knife. “I’ll kill you if you touch us.” It’s such a little knife, not fit for a vampire.
    â€œHave you gone nuts? What’s the matter with you?” He steps inside my room and shuts the door.
    â€œYou’re killing us. You’re drinking our blood.”
    â€œAre you crazy? I love you.”
    â€œHe loves us to death.”
    Every muscle in my uncle’s face turns down.
    â€œShut up,” he says. “Are you on drugs? You’re losing weight. You look terrible lately.”
    â€œI’m going to tell the police! I’ll tell Mama and Papa!”
    â€œTell them what, that I’m drinking your blood?” He sits at the foot of my bed and regards me as if I’m an exotic bug he wants to inspect before he crushes it.
    â€œCarolyn, do you hear what you’re saying? Do you? People will think you’re completely insane. And you are, if you believe that. Sweetie, listen to me.”
    He talks and talks. He begins to fill the room, the suffocating wings of his cape inflating.
    â€œYou were never like this. You’ve changed so much. It scares me, Carolyn, it really does. They’ll take you away. And I couldn’t stop them. We’d all be so sad. Your Grammy would die. And everybody would read about it in the newspaper and your dad would be mad. He wouldn’t like that at all. But if you want me to, I’ll call him right now, and you can tell him that I’m a vampire.”
    His face glistens with tears. They tremble on his lips. I watch them drop to the blanket, entranced.
    â€œWhy are you doing this to me, Carolyn? I would never hurt you. Have I ever hurt you?”
    It doesn’t matter what I answer. He doesn’t listen. The knife and the Bible fall from my hands. He’s not going to kill me. He craves a fix. He’s addicted to my fear. There’s lots to spare. Lots of blood. Lots of hair, long and thick and slippery. He loves to tangle his fingers in it, tightening his grip to hold me still.
    The walls have collapsed and my bedroom is gone. I am trapped in the world that my uncle has made. No air, no light. The wind shrieks in my ears. His teeth nibble delicately at my neck, tenderizing the flesh