The Vampire Next Door

It was a bright sunny day, and I was baking some cookies. My name is Loneofneo, or you can call me Loney. I'm a yellow Yurble. And I was baking the cookies for my new neighbors. My brother Ifi didn't think much of it, but my sisters Soruna and Paigeo were stopping by all the time, and occasionally my Mom would pop in for a while. But Soruna seemed to think the cookie dough was a punch bag, and pretty soon we had to stop baking to help her clean the gooey mess from her wings.

     When I was done helping I turned over to the dough to see what had become of it. Blue feathers stuck out everywhere. I sighed. It looked like I'd have to make more. I took the bowl over to the sink, washed it out, and peered into the refrigerator. Typically, it was empty.

     "Soruna, Paigeo, do you know the next time Mom is going shopping?" I called out. They both shook their heads no.

      "Do you at least know where Mom keeps the shopping list?" I added hopefully. Once more they shook their heads. But Ifi walked out of the shadows.

     "I know, but I'm telling you you're wasting your time," he said grimly.

     "You're just saying that because you don't know the joys of making cookies!" I replied, and in my opinion that was the best comeback ever.

     "Really," he said. "It's not about the cookies. I just know there's something wrong about it." When he became a mutant Kiko he seemed to gain a sense of destruction. He knows if it's going to happen most of the time. But I just didn't want to believe him. Baking cookies is fun, and I was sure the new neighbors couldn't be too bad. It's not like Sloth was moving next door!

     "Ok, so where's the list anyway?" He pointed to a shelf. I went over and pawed around. Finally I found a piece of paper, and a pen right next to it. I grabbed them, and sat down to write. Unfortunately, Mom doesn't go grocery shopping much, according to the small note at the bottom that read "Buy whenever". So I took the opportunity to write down some other things we needed. And it was a good thing too, because most of the items on the list were plushies. The only non-plushie item was 'Toothpaste'.

     When I was done we waited for the cookies we had in the oven to finish. Then we laid them all on a nice plate, and wrapped them in plastic. Before doing this though, I took one to try. It was delicious, chocolate chip, sugar, and peanut-butter cookies all rolled into one. Soon we were all on the doorstep, a collection of colors. I was wearing my Solitaire Champion shirt and a Red Bandana, Soruna was wearing her favorite BFM T-shirt, Paigeo was wearing Denim Coveralls and a Tombola T-shirt, Ifi was wearing his Skeith T-shirt, and Mom was wearing a pink shirt that read 'I know I'm cute' with jean shorts. I held the plate of cookies in my hands, the sweet aroma rising from them and hitting me smack in the nose.

     Soruna flew up and rang the doorbell. Soon some footsteps could be heard, and the door opened, revealing a Halloween Cybunny glaring at us. There was an evil gleam in his eyes, and I could've sworn he was looking hungrily at us. Not just that, but he was staying far from the light, as if the sun hurt him. But Mom didn't seem to notice and began to introduce herself.

     "Hi, I'm Pet. These are my neopets, Loney, Ifi, Paigeo, and Soruna. And you are?" He grunted and said a very complicated name that you'd have to be a genius to remember. Mom also looked confused, but Paigeo looked ready to say, "Hi insert name here!"

     After a few seconds of silence she finally spoke, "Um, that's a nice name. But could we call you 'Mike' for short?" Once more he grunted, then nodded. Before we could say anymore, he stepped back into the dark room behind him, making it even more difficult to make him out. We stepped inside, but the door slammed behind us, eliminating all light. For a while we walked around blindly, but I noticed Ifi's eyes seemed to glow. In fact, he could probably see okay, but didn't really feel like looking for a light switch. It was the Skeith in him. After five minutes, a light clicked on, and a gloomy man with graying hair stood there, with the Halloween Cybunny nowhere in sight.

     I gasped at the sight of the man. Another glance at his hair showed something red smothered here and there. Surprising me, he interrupted my thoughts by saying, "Sorry for the messy appearance. We're having spaghetti, and dinner's never the cleaning convention." Well, that explained the red stuff in his hair. He invited us to the kitchen, where he took my cookies and placed them on a counter, then asked, "These homemade?" I nodded, and he looked a little amused.

     I turned to the table, where three neopets sat, covered in more spaghetti and tomato sauce than the man. At first glance I thought they were grey, but when I took a closer glance I noticed they were all blue neopets. There was some odd, grayish air to them, probably why I mistook them for grey pets at first. They looked so light, so wispy; if a breeze blew in they would probably carried away. And above all that they had circles under their eyes, with a huge frown to match. There was a Lupe, a Skeith, and a Lenny. I could just imagine how they were treated, and smirked slightly. Then I remembered the Cybunny, and looked around the table. He wasn't there.

     "Where's…uh…Mike?" I asked.

     "Mike?" he replied, but he looked as though he knew who I was talking about; as if everyone called him Mike. "Yes, he's in his room. He never comes down during the day, it surprised me he even went to answer the door. I guess it has something to do with that I found him in a graveyard. He must like dark, spooky, places." My eyes widened at the word 'graveyard'. First thing that struck me: What would an abandoned neopet be doing so far away from the pound? Another question found its way to my brain, and so I asked,

     "Did you find him painted?"

     He seemed to ponder for a moment, then replied, "I'd have to; I could never afford to get even one of my pets painted. I'm a huge spender. It's a miracle I managed to afford this neohome!" I felt myself fill with dread. Out of curiosity I glanced over at Ifi. His eyes were also wide.

     Just then, the man told us, "Ok, each of you can tour the house with one of my pets. Since one of you will be partner-less, the remaining pet may go upstairs to Mike." Each of us began picking partners. Soruna took the Lupe sitting at the table. He may have been looking sad, but I'll have to admit, he was very handsome! She settled on his shoulder, and both looking happy (or as happy as the Lupe could look, no matter what he would still look tired and unhappy) they trotted out of the room. I could hear the Lupe beginning to tell a story about the Battledome in a weak voice, and Soruna give a tweet-ish giggle. Ifi predictably chose the Skeith, which, just happened to be a female. Even though he has the body of a mutant Kiko, he will always be a blue Skeith at heart. They walked out of the room, but I saw them settle down on the living room carpet when I edged over and fall asleep. Paigeo was perfectly happy with the Lenny, and they also went out of the room, probably talking to each other about various books and complicated equations. That's all Paigeo ever talks about anyway, and they were deep in conversation. So that left me with Mike. The man told me to go upstairs.

     "His room is at the end of the hallway," he told me. I gulped and ventured on, leaving Mom behind. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and the hallway stretched a mile. I got to the room though, and knocked. No reply. I opened the door a little, and peered in. No one was there. I opened the door all the way, and made my way inside. Wow, it looked like the Darigan Dungeons! There were weapons of all sorts scattered here and there, some portraits of villains hung on the walls, and the room was painted a gloomy color, the color of old bricks. The window was open, and I noticed night had fallen over Neopia. But I paused as I came to the bed. Something told me to look under it, so I did. I found a big wooden coffin, sitting half-open.

     I ran out screaming, found Mom, and hugged her tight. She tried to coax me off, but I refused to let go. Mom, seeing it was her only choice, bid good night to the man.

     "We'd better be off," she told him, "Loney doesn't like to stay in a strange house too long." So we rounded up the others and left.

     That night when I was snuggled in my bed, I told Mom what I thought as she sat by my bedside.

     "Mom, I think Mike's a vampire." I didn't tell her anymore, and she told me he only looked like a vampire, and that a good night's sleep would make me feel better. But when she turned off the lights and closed the door, I went to my drawer. I rummaged inside for a bit, found what I was looking for, and went back to bed, smiling. Carefully I tucked a bit of garlic into my nightshirt. "I'd like to see that vampire try," I said to myself, then fell into an uneasy sleep.

     I woke up refreshed and happy. It was the next day, and I could smell pancakes and syrup in the kitchen. Quickly, I took off my nightshirt and ran downstairs. But when I saw what was there I almost screamed. Paigeo was sitting there, but she looked just like the neopets next door. Wispy looking, as if she could have been blown away by a gentle breeze, she looked uncannily tired and unhappy. I could imagine what had happened: Mike had come in the night and attacked Paigeo. Mom seemed to notice too, but she just thought Paigeo was sick. She felt her forehead, mumbled something, and asked Paigeo how she felt.

     "Not good," she said weakly. There was a few seconds silence, then she continued on, "Last night I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. When I did fall asleep, I had these…nightmares." She shook her head, signaling she would say no more, and rested it on the table. I sat down and took a big pile of the pancakes, and ate them all in two gulps. I felt like Ifi when we first took him from the pound.

     "May I be excused?" I asked, and when Mom said I could, I took Paigeo and dragged her to my room.

     "Wazzgoingon?" she asked, but she seemed to be faraway, and I almost looked into the distance to find the source. Wow, Mike works fast, I thought to myself.

      "I think I know why you're feeling so crummy," I explained, and signaled her to sit down on my bed. She did, and I rummaged around in my laundry, until I found my nightshirt from the night before. I pawed through the pocket, until I found the clove of garlic.

     My attention turned to Paigeo again, and I told her, "If it stings, or hurts in anyway, let me know by nodding." I held out the garlic, and slowly walked toward her. When I was two feet away, she began to nod.

     "Just as I thought," I mumbled, and asked her to tell me as much as she could about the nightmare.

     "Well, I was in bed, and something opened up my window. It was too dark to see who it was, and he got nearer and nearer to my bed, so close I could smell his rancid breath, and then…" she shuddered, then continued, "I can't remember any more." I was too sure this was Mike. So I told her she could go to her room. She got up without being told twice, but needed a little help walking. As soon as she left the room, I went to the device she made once for each of us. It was designed so we could talk to each other if we were grounded. I selected Ifi's room, and soon he was at my room's door. We told each other our suspicions, and we both came up with the same conclusion. We asked Mom if we could have a sleepover at our neighbor's house that night.

     For a Moment she looked at me, then said, "If they say it's alright, you can. Just be home for breakfast tomorrow." We went to my room again, and I wrote a neomail.

     "Could we please have a sleepover at your house tonight? We have to do it at 8:30, because Ifi and I are going to be busy until then. It's just the two of us, because Paigeo got sick, so Soruna and Mom have to take care of her. Yours Truly, Loney," Ifi read out loud. He glanced at me, then turned his attention back to the neomail.

     "Not bad, and the 8:30 thing is true, we have to do some research on vampires," he commented. We sent the neomail, and waited anxiously for the reply. It arrived in a minute

     I tore it open and read, "Dear Loney, the pets and I would be glad to have you two over! See you then!" After reading it, Ifi and I decided that I'd go to the library and try and get a book on vampires, while Ifi would gather as much garlic as possible. At the library I found a pretty good book, and without hesitation began to read.

     "Vampires are creatures of the night. They venture at nightfall to find victims that keep them supplied with blood. There are two ways to destroy a vampire completely, and several ways to keep them away. The most popular way to stall the vampires is of course, garlic. Now, for a vampire to be destroyed, they must either meet sunlight or have a wooden stake through their heart. Sunlight is the easiest way. If you know where the vampire returns every night, sprinkle every way in with garlic, and put more on the coffin. If you get to the vampire during the day, make sure you've practiced how to get it with the stake, for if their eyes are open, they will know it's you and will come for you. Remember, vampire hunting is a very dangerous job." The book burst into a cloud of purple smoke, and I pondered on what I had learned.

     When I ran home I checked the clock. It was a quarter past eight. I met Ifi in my room, shared some of my knowledge, and we went outside with all our vampire hunting stuff in a backpack, sleeping bags in both of our hands. For a while we looked around for a good stick to use as a stake. We doubted we'd need it, but you can never be too sure. After a while we found one, sharpened it against a stone, and stuck it with the other stuff.

     The sun was just setting when we opened the door, and the man with the graying hair greeted us. He offered to take our backpacks, but we refused the offer, and stepped inside. Right beside him was the Skeith. Though she looked weak (similar to Paigeo though I knew she had been like that longer), she waved a lazy paw at Ifi, who smiled and waved back. We went to the table like we did yesterday, and talked a bit with the other pets. The cookies I had made with Soruna and Paigeo's help were between us, so I took one. It was delicious, even better than the one I sampled.

     When the stars came out I asked where the bathroom was. I grabbed our backpack, ran upstairs, and followed the man's directions. It was the room right next to Mike's. When I had locked the door, I suddenly remembered why I was there. In the small window I could see a shadowy figure flying off. Now was my chance. I ran out of the bathroom and into Mike's room, finding it empty once more. I put garlic on the coffin under the bed. I sprinkled the window with a little bit of garlic, then ran from room to room doing the same, until the only entrance was the front door. I used all the garlic left to seal it. The only thing left to do was to wait until morning. I shared the guest room with Ifi that night.

     The next morning I woke with a jolt as the doorbell rang. Nobody else seemed to have heard. Not wanting to wake anyone else up, I went and opened the door. It was Mike, but he looked different. There was no longer an evil look in his eyes, and his expression was still hungry, but not hungry like he looked the first time we met. This time, he looked hungry for waffles.

     "You…" he said pointing a finger at me. "The first day you came… I saw you in my room… you knew what I was…" He kept on blabbering, gasping in between some words, but he didn't look angry. He actually looked happy.

     "You're the one who saved me, you're the one who destroyed the vampire!" He started doing a little jig. I was confused.

     "But, um… weren't you the vampire?" I asked, unsure. At that moment he stopped dancing.

     "Yes, I was," he said slowly. "I was under a curse. I was not a true vampire, but I still acted like a vampire. When you locked me out, the sunlight destroyed every trace of it, leaving just me!" It felt very odd to me, talking to someone who I had just feared, but now was expressing joy to me.

     "So the others, those you bit, they'll be back to normal, won't they?" I asked.

     "Of course they will," he said. "You've just saved everyone!" I gleamed like a diamond inside. At that moment I told him to wake up his family to tell them that Ifi and I were leaving. While he did so I woke up Ifi. The two of us waved good-bye later on to the group of happy neopets. All of them looked much better. The Lupe looked brave and strong, with muscles bulging out of every part I could see. The Skeith looked like… a Skeith, and was lying down. I giggled at that point. And the Lenny had gleaming feathers that shone like sapphires. But my eyes fell once more on Mike, whom now I felt much more deeply for.

     The next day, as we gathered in front of the house, the man made an important announcement: "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to leave. What with all that's been happening I'm surprised there isn't an angry mob with pitchforks running down the street. So we're moving to Roo Island."

     I wanted to cry at that moment. No, my new friend would be leaving! It was just too soon! But then I remembered neomail. And from then on we've always been in touch.

The End