Ch. 28

“You nervous?” Michael asked Rosemary.

She scoffed and replied, “Of course not. They’re only humans. I’ll beat them effortlessly. Those busses won’t be waiting long. Besides, if anything goes wrong with my thirst, I have sushi in my backpack. I’ll be fine. You just go and sit in the stands.”

“Okay,” Michael said, almost doubtful.

But before Rosemary could reply properly, Susan, Medeleck, and Bodoleck were standing next to them. Susan and Medeleck didn’t seem to be worried at all, but Bodoleck on the other hand, did say anything encouraging. What Bodoleck did say was, “I hope you know what you’re getting into. This could be dangerous.”

“Bodoleck, relax a bit. She’ll be fine. I don’t know anyone else who could beat a bunch of losers like these to a pulp with an un-chipped manicure in high heels,” Medeleck joked, ruffling Rosemary’s hair while she protested.

“Medeleck’s right. If anything goes wrong, we’ll all be here. And Dekanire might be coming, too. We won’t get into any trouble. None at all,” Susan reassured her brother-in-law.

Bodoleck sighed and said, “Well, I guess I don’t have any say in this what-so-ever, so do your worst out there. And please go easy on them, will you Rosemary? They’re only humans.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t touch them. They’ll be perfectly safe. They give themselves more injuries than I ever will, okay?” Rosemary became serious now. “Besides. I have to use full strength. The only reason I’m doing this is because they need to know what us vampires can do. Veripema could come any minute, and they need to know what to expect. It’s for they’re own good.”

“That is something to look forward to, isn’t it?” Bodoleck joked, now assured that this wasn’t going to do any harm. In less than a heartbeat, all three of them were in the stands cheering her on. Medeleck smiled and picked Michael up to take him over there, too.

Rosemary started laughing, and still was laughing when the football team came out onto the field.

“What’s so funny?” Drew asked her.

Rosemary, laughing harder than ever, replied, “Nothing. It’s nothing. Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Where’s your protective gear?” one of the players asked. Medeleck, Bodoleck, and Susan, hearing that, laughed so loud that they could hear it on the field.

Rosemary smiled. “I don’t need any. You won’t be able to touch me.”

“We’ll just see about that,” another player warned. Now Michael was laughing along with the vampires.

The team, looking disgruntled, turned to Drew who said, “Okay. The first team to three touchdowns and the extra point wins. No other scorings allowed. Questions?”

“Can we start now?” Rosemary asked, trying to sound as bored as she possibly could.

There was a giant frenzy where only the vampires knew what was going on, and the next moment Rosemary had the ball and was racing towards the touchdown line. By the time anyone on the team knew what was going on, Rosemary was behind the line and laughing.

“How did she do that?” Drew asked himself.

Rosemary laughed again and ran next him and replied, “Simple. I run at faster than a cheetah and am stronger than an oxen. Can I kick the ball now? You can just try and block me.”

She got into position at human speed and got ready. Drew, being the tallest, stood in front of her, arms outstretched, ready to catch the ball.

“Oh please,” Rosemary told him. She took out her wings and flew above him, kicking the ball easily into the goal. The score was seven to zero.

Rosemary laughed, smirking at the team’s dumbstruck face. Only Drew was able to stutter, “H-h-h-how d-d-did y-you do th-th-th-that?”

Medeleck was now on the field, unable to contain himself and longer, and laughed in his big, booming voice. “Rosemary, I thought my brother told you to go easy on the humans. What happened? And by the way, you pulled that one stupendously. I’ve never seen anyone take out their wings so quickly. And while laughing your heart out, too.”

“I know, I know, I wasn’t being fair. But it was hilarious to see their faces when I scored. Did you see that? I can’t wait to win, unless they want to quit now while they can.” Rosemary turned to the team and waited for their answer.

“I think . . . we should . . . see what the . . . crowd thinks,” the smallest player was able to say.

Medeleck, shaking from laughter, said, “Okay. Whatever you say. Hey, kids, what do you think? Should Rosemary give mercy on these guys and stop the game right now, or should she beat them to a pulp and have the game end with twenty-one to zip?”

The crowd, silence, fidgeted in their seats. Finally, one girl on the left side of the stands stood up and said, “I think that she should give them mercy. I mean, we all believe that she’s a vampire, right?” Everyone murmured in agreement.

They started to stand up and leave, but two black figures flying in the distance made them all stop. A few moments later, they could clearly see in the sky . . .

Lord Batwings and Miss Darkness.

Rosemary’s face hardened. Bodoleck and Susan brought Michael onto the field and stood next to her. Lord Batwings and Miss Darkness landed twenty yards away from them, smiling.

“Hello, my dear, darling granddaughters,” Miss Darkness said, walking over to embrace Rosemary and Susan. They dodged from her arms and went in front of Michael to protect him.

“What do you want here?” Rosemary asked Lord Batwings, ignoring her grandmother. 
“Why, we’re here for the ball, of course. We decided to come early, for I’m sure that the mansion will be full in a few weeks. Don’t worry, we won’t hurt any of you’re humans. We’ll behave,” Lord Batwings promised. He smiled his wide, toothy smile, showing all of his pearly white teeth.

Bodoleck stepped forward and asked them, “I thought that you didn’t like your grandchildren. That they were too good, not enough evil in them. What happened? Are you going to slit our throats at night?”

“Oh, come now, why did you spoil our fun? Killing you was going to be easy, but we had to watch this football game,” Miss Darkness pouted.

“Wait a minute. Just wait. Did you say that these are the people trying to kill you to get that spell . . . thing?” Michael asked Rosemary.

Instead of Rosemary answering, Lord Batwings said, “My, my. You keep your humans well informed, don’t you? Yes, weak one, we are the people trying to get the Forever Youth spell. It would be so much easier if your girlfriend wasn’t here to stop us. But, oh well. We’ll get it sometime, I hope you know.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Susan said through gritted teeth.

“Well, I won’t rudely spoil your fun as you have done to us, so we’ll see you on All Hallows Eve!” Miss Darkness said. She and Lord Batwings used their black wings to rise high in the air and fly away to Dekanire’s mansion.

It took a moment before Drew said, “Those were your grandparents?”

Rosemary sighed and replied, “Unfortunately, yes. They want to dominate the world, but they’ll have to go through me, first. That was the first civilized discussion we’ve ever had. Well, I have preparations to make. I remembered that I need to buy a black gown for the Vampiranese Annual Ball, and I have to hide that spell book. Again.”

Rosemary picked up Michael and ran to his house and to his room. Without a word, she cast protective spells all around it and was just about to put a shield spell on his window when Michael asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m keeping you alive. I don’t trust my grandparents, and neither should anyone else. So to keep you safe, I’m staying here until they leave the city. I hope your sister doesn’t mind.”

“I’ll only mind if you present danger,” said Anna, standing at the doorway. Her auburn hair, identical to Michael’s, fell to her waist in loose braids. Her brown eyes were bright with curiosity, even though her thin face had a frown.

“Oh, um, I guess I should ask your parents first. I’ll be right back.” Rosemary quickly left the room and went into the family room where both parents were watching the news.

Michael’s mom, Stephanie, looked up at Rosemary in suprise and said to her, “I didn’t see you there. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes, actually, there is. My evil grandparents are visiting an old friend until November first, and I was wondering, for Michael’s own good, if I could stay here with you guys until they leave. He smells frightfully delicious, and I don’t think my grandparents have enough control to not kill him. Is that okay with you? If I stay here, I mean.”

“Alex, what do you think?” Stephanie asked her husband.

Alex set down his newspaper and stared at Rosemary, thinking. After a few minutes, he finally said, “I don’t see why it would hurt. And don’t you have an older half-brother-in-law? He can come over for dinner if he wants, also. He’s a year older than Anna, right?”

“Actually one thousand and one years older, but that’s only because he’s reincarnated once. Don’t worry, I’m actually fourteen,” Rosemary quickly added.

“Okay then. We’ll see you at seven for dinner. Homemade pizza tonight. Tell the others, will you?” Stephanie asked Rosemary. She brushed her cropped-short auburn hair back, her brown eyes sparkling.

“I will,” Rosemary said, glancing nervously at Alex. He had prematurely gray hair and green eyes, which were darting across the newspaper page so fast that Rosemary doubted he was actually reading anything. But she left the room and went upstairs again, anyway.

Later that night, at about three in the morning, Rosemary was thinking. Dinner had gone well, Bodoleck decided not to push their luck and come on her first night there, and Anna wasn’t too mad. She was actually starting to like Rosemary.

Rosemary was just about to walk over to the window when Michael rolled over to face her. He was still sleeping, but Rosemary stayed still anyway.

“Rosemary,” he murmured.

Rosemary tensed up and waited for him to continue.

“Love,” he finally finished. Rosemary relaxed and pulled the covers up to his chin, for he was shivering slightly. She sat back down on the bed and lightly stroked his hair.

All was well.