Chapter 6

Muffins at Midnight

“When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go.” ~Carol Burnett

 

I woke up around midnight, hearing some kind of clatter at the center of the house. When I staggered into the kitchen, I saw Blick busy in front of the oven cooking.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing up at this time of night?” I asked.

“I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel like making muffins. Do you want one?” He had a bowl in his hands, whipping away at the batter. A few splashes of the mixture jumped out of the bowl. Some two dozen freshly baked muffins were arranged in a large circle on the center of the island.

“No, I don’t want one. I don’t exactly eat food. Now do I? You know I digest only liquids. What time is it?”

“I'm not sure. Here, try one. I think you'll like it. I thought we may be in for a change with our planned trip and all. I think Vee is enjoying the change. Right, buddy?”

“Oh that’s right, the planned trip. Do we have to go? And why are you in the kitchen again. You destroyed it the other day. I spent all evening ordering new equipment for Mom’s kitchen. I think she banned you from cooking, if you recall? Blood smoothies only.”

He wasn’t listening.

My heart dropped. “What are you doing? You're not feeding him these, are you?” Then it dawned on me. Muffins, those bread-type breakfast foods with fruit inside. Nothing that would harm Vee. It shouldn't matter if Vee liked blueberry muffins. Who didn't?

Picking up one of the freshly baked muffins, Blick threw it to Vee.

Vee jumped up after the food, quickly gulping it down and getting ready for another. That's when I noticed a dark smudge on Vee's face.

“Vee, come here.”

He scrambled over to me and climbed up my legs and torso as if I were a tree. “What are you eating?”

Vee wasn’t interested in answering me. He played with my hands as I tried to inspect his mouth. Swiping a bit of the darkish color smudge from his fur with my fingers, I tasted it. I knew that taste.

“What are in those muffins?” I hissed to Blick, wondering how long it had been since I had tasted blood in my mouth, blood not diluted with a variety of delivery systems like teas or smoothies or protein powder. True blood. God, it tasted so good. My head fell back as I extended my vampire fangs. I wanted to sink them into something filled with flesh and blood.

“What do you mean?” Blick asked as he threw Vee another serving. “Two points! Good job, little man!”

“Blick, what are you feeding him?”

“Blood muffins. It’s what a good boy eats.” He smiled, threw Vee a third serving, and turned back to the stove, waiting for the next batch to be done. “You need to get ready so we can head to grandmother’s house. For the visit.” He and Vee broke out in a song. “We’re going to Grandmaaaaaaaa’s to eat her up. We’re going to Grandmaaaaaaaa’s to eat her up. Pom, pom, pom, POM! Grandmaaaaaaaa’s. Pom, pom, pom, POM!”

I stood frozen like I was in a nightmare. I couldn’t move. My fangs tinged with the anticipation of the kill as I smelled blood all around me.

“Why do you call them blood muffins?” I managed to ask. “I don’t see any blood. Wait, Vee isn't going with us. He can’t go with us. Can he? He can’t go with us.”

They both continued to sing and dance as Blick pulled dozens of muffins from the oven, over and over, speeding up his pace as Vee jumped around happily and I looked on, paralyzed.

Vee glanced up at me from his locked-in position by Blick's legs, smiling and dancing as he waited for yet another muffin. “Vee,” I called out. “Bring me a muffin.”

This was getting too bizarre. This couldn’t be real. I didn't know if I was awake or dreaming because the last time I had checked, Blick was not some kind of master chef in the kitchen. We barely used the kitchen except for making my blood smoothies or Blick’s occasional steak. And yet lately, Blick had become just that, a master chef.

“These look like raspberries. You’re making raspberry muffins?” I asked. As I picked Vee up in my arms, he leaned over and whisked a muffin in his grasp. With comical delight, he smashed the muffin into my mouth. The next thing I felt was the taste of blood oozing out of the bread lump.

Then Vee spoke up in language I could easily understand, not the V constant speech. “Blood berries, Mom. He’s making us blood berry muffins for the trip. Remember? You can’t be snacking on the Grand Witch who we think is a demon witch. Didn’t he tell you?” He continued to wiggle in my arms and threw out a cackling laugh of confidence.

A rising darkness entered my soul because I knew I'd never be the same after tonight, not with a pint-size demon in my arms who now understood the taste of blood.

“Oh my god,” I screamed. “Noooooooooo!”

***

“Rayea? Are you okay? Wake up, darling! Wake up!”

My mother’s calm voice came to me as the dream faded. But I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to.

“Where’s Vee? Is he okay?” I asked as I hid under the covers, with only my face showing.

“Of course, darling. He’s with Blick and Ra. They went out early this morning. I thought you should sleep in. What happened? Are you okay?”

I shook my head profusely. “Far from it. I had the worst nightmare. Blick and Vee think the grandmother is a demon witch. And Blick was making muffins with blood soaked through them. It was awful. Just awful!”

Trying to reassure me, she patted me on the hand. “Oh my goodness. That’s ridiculous. Sit up and rest for a moment. You were having a bad dream. I’ll bring you a tray. It’s just a dream, one of those blood dreams Blick told us about. You’ll be fine. You need some substance. Those blood smoothies aren’t cutting it, are they? I’ll make you some tea. Some strong tea. Rest here. I’ll be right back.”

Wait, I thought as I watched her leave the room. Vampires do exist.

I was still hiding under the covers like a scared four-year-old when my mother returned with a lavish breakfast tray. Immediately it reminded me of the muffins from the earlier dream and the treats Blick had prepared for his grandmother’s brief visit. I wanted to hurl.

“I can’t, Mom. I can’t look at it. Take it away. Please.”

She placed the tray on a nearby table; the dishes clattered. “Here then,” she said and handed me a large cup made out of blue stoneware. “Drink this down.”

Sitting up with a jolt, I yanked the cup from her hands. Red liquid splashed over the rim, but I didn’t notice. I gulped down the fluid. Euphoria hit me when the cup slipped from my hands. My mother stared at me, watching me. Methodically she retrieved the cup from the floor and returned it to the small table. She moved with some type of precision I couldn’t understand. Her long black hair, like mine, waved behind her as her slim figure moved beneath her ivory silk gown. I wanted to reach out and whisk my fingers through the electricity as it snapped and sparkled around her. Shimmers of purple and dark blue lights flowed from her fingertips.

“Mom, what did you give me?” But I knew before I uttered the words. The warmth of the blood traveled throughout my system, igniting every pour of my being. Without any hesitation, my fangs came forward, ready for more.

“There she is. I wondered what would happen if you drank a large dose of blood. Not a cap full in a cup of hot tea or a little mixed in with protein powder, but real blood. My blood actually. We have to meet with the knitting circle. I think we have a problem with Blick’s grandmother.”

“No, what are you saying?” I tried to get out of the bed, move, flee, something. I knew I had to put some distance in between me and my mother. I knew what my fangs wanted and I couldn’t. I couldn’t give in to them. I wanted more blood, more of anyone’s blood, even if it meant someone right next to me. I had my mother in my sights.

She waved her hand in front of me as if she had dismissed my intense hunger.

I saw silver glitter fall before my eyes and without any reason, I went still. I couldn’t move. Then words from the past filtered into my brain. The voice of my stepfather, Ra came to me as it had in a blood dream from long ago. “Your mother’s blood tea. It’s the best. You’ll love it. Being a healer, she has many wonderful recipes. She is gifted in the ways of white magic. Maia has taught her many things.”

One nightmare falling into another nightmare. “Mom, please. Don’t do the magic thing! I know Maia has taught you tons of stuff, but please, let’s keep the white magic out of this situation. I’m a vampire. I don’t need magic. Look at my fire power.” I tried to raise my hand and visualize a ball of red and orange flames radiating in the palm of my hand. Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing happened. I sank into the bed, defeated. “I’ll go with you. You don’t have to go nuts on me, do you?! Where are my powers?” I yelled to the heavens.

“Be patient, my child. I know I was tough with you just now, but I’m worried and I know we can’t discuss this with Blick.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The less he knows about this, the better. How do you think it will go over if you tell him you’re going to have to kill the grandmother because she’s an evil witch?”

“Let me go,” I growled to her. Suddenly I could move a little. I sat up in bed. “Mom, I’ll go with you. And I’m going to pretend I understand what you’re talking about, but this is insane. You see that, right? His grandmother is odd and ‘set in her ways’ as Blick phrased it, but she can’t be a witch. She’s just a normal old woman. Nothing more.” I finalized my statement with a confidence I hoped was set in stone. “This knitting circle of yours and the stories you guys come up with has gotten out of control.”

Having tea time with my mother’s knitting circle of friends, as they called themselves, had been a blast, and extremely educational. I had learned a lot about the history of the Fanged community from my mother’s best friend, Maia, who was a powerful sorceress and from Eos, the goddess of Immortality. Somehow though, the moral of their stories seemed to rotate around one premise: guys bad, girls good. It didn’t matter if it was gods, humans, werewolves or the like. All males were up to no good. Now I wondered what they were truly up to because I wasn’t going to get in the middle of taking sides. I had done that with my father and sister, and those days of cat fighting were over for me.

Yet here my mom was. She rolled her eyes at me, a classic Rayea move I almost laughed at, but I could tell she was serious.

“Get dressed,” she said. “I have a lot to show you in a short time.”

I grabbed my skinny black jeans, white tennis shoes and tight-fitting Ramones t-shirt, then tied my hair up in a quick ponytail. As soon as I turned around to leave the bedroom, I felt a strange taste in my mouth. Suddenly the room began to spin. “Mom,” I called out.

“Rayea!” she yelled, rushing toward me.

I felt myself fall into her arms. “My tongue feels furry. Can you get Blick?”

“I’ll do one better,” she replied.

I knew something was happening to my body. Had the blood triggered it? When I saw my legs disappear and materialize into furry muscular feline legs, I knew I was in trouble. I fell to the floor on my all-fours. “What have you done?” I hissed to my mother.

“Dear, I’m so sorry. I had to know. We have to get a plan together. It’ll be okay. You’ll be fine. Let me get the door. We have to get to Maia’s shop.”

I expected to see my mother move toward the door to the bedroom, but she didn’t. Instead she went to a corner of the bedroom, occupying herself with some type of activity that involved more glitter and banging on the wall three times. I knew she had to be up to more white magic. Then a radiant, glowing door appeared in the wall and opened up.

“Mom, I can’t walk out of the house like this.” Something summoned me to sit erect. Quickly I popped up, sitting back on my haunches. I extended my cat neck and stretched a magnificent stretch. Every bone from my shoulders down rejoiced in a loud crunching sound. When I saw my reflection in a wall mirror near the dresser, I wondered, how odd it was I could see myself. Had I not seen my jaw moving as I spoke to my mother, I wouldn’t have believed I was an eight-foot cat staring back at myself. This was almost as cool as the dragon shift. My tall feline ears caught a breeze and the sensation made me shiver. Opening my mouth, I growled. My entire mouth was a shining white, pointy mass of deadly fangs, sharp teeth like a tiger’s or lion’s. This is bitching, I thought. “What would dear father say about me now, Mom?” Flexing my large head around, I felt my huge feet underneath me move with purpose. A thought of jumping came to me. I knew I could bound out of the room and be on the beach in a heartbeat. I wanted to run so fast that I could almost fly, as if I had shifted into the body of a dragon.

“Rayea,” my mother called to me. “This way. Follow me.”

I didn’t think anything of it when she ordered me to move. I merely obeyed. I felt like a domestic cat running after a ball. I followed her through the glowing door, a door that had not been there moments before.