Without a Shadow by Julie Steimle (red queen ebook TXT) 📖

you can influence people. Read their sneaky thoughts.” She laughed with a slight cackle and did another dance, waving her bottom at the vampires.

Taking a grand step forward, the vampire that had sired me brushed the woman imp aside as if she were a leaf falling near his face. He stared me, gazing deep into my eyes, making my heart pound ten times faster and stronger than I had ever felt in my life. His voice resonated in his chest. I felt weak.

“Leave aside such petty things, Eve. What you really want is to be with people of culture, strength, and power.”

I swallowed the rising saliva in my esophagus, stepping towards him.

“You can live forever. Love forever. And control the desires of others with just a look,” he said.

My heart was in my ears, and the echoing shrieks of the imps muted. All I could hear was his voice.

“You want to belong. You don’t want to hear those annoying impish voices again. With us, your wish will be granted,” he said.

I could see the imps shouting at me, but the beating of my own heart drowned their noise out. I gazed across the yard, thinking I would no longer be called a monster by those around me. I would be free to use my wings instead of hiding them. The increasingly handsome-looking men in the group called to me, telling me I would be loved forever, if I only joined them. Then I saw her.

“Dawn,” I whispered under my breath.

My sister’s bulging eyes stared all around her. She was shaking in her red devil costume as she stood in the yard between two vampire men that had just entered through the back garden. She searched the crowd in panic until she saw me. Fixed on me, Dawn stared at us both as my vampire father spoke into my ear. “Just think of it. One bite…one drink…and you will be an eternal being.”

I pulled back.

“She was never kind to you,” the vampire said.

I swallowed against the rising saliva.

“She has always been jealous of you.” His voice was filled with reason. I took a step forward.

“No, Eve!” Dawn shouted, her obvious panic draining every bit of rosiness from her perfect cherubic cheeks.

“She has been ignoring you all these years. She hates you,” my blood father whispered.

I lifted my chin, gazing on her more clearly. Beautiful, blonde, perfect looking Dawn. Full of life. Full of blood. Full of humanity. I took a step closer to her.

“But we have more fun.” My impish mother’s voice echoed from far away. The beating of Dawn’s heart grew stronger, blocking out all other sound.

The vampires pushed Dawn closer to me. I reached out, placing my hand on the side of her face, pulling her towards me as I opened my mouth. Everyone around held their breaths.

“Wait!” Mr. McDillan burst through the hydrangeas, lifting his crossbow. He shot.

I caught one stake with my bare hand. The other missed us both and struck the porch swing. The younger vampire hopped off, turning into a bat before any other stakes flew.

Gong! went the grandfather clock in the living room.

Gong! Mr. McDillan fixed another stake on his medieval weapon, shouting at my sister to get out of the way.

Gong!  The vampires hissed and transformed, fluttering onto the roof.

Gong! My parent’s bedroom window slid open.

Gong! My father stuck his head and shouted, “What in heaven’s name is going on?”

Gong! My mother joined him asking what was wrong.

Gong! Will and Travis sped into the yard, shouting with their swords high.

Gong! Jane skidded in after them, screaming immediately at the sight of the vampire crowd on the roof.

Gong! My brothers shouted, “Eve! Dawn! Look out!”

Gong! Jane echoed them.

Gong! I heard Dawn’s heart beat faster, and I leaned in once more.

Gong!

“Ice cream,” I said into Dawn’s ear.

She leaned back and blinked at me.

“Ice cream?!” she yelped.

I nodded. “I want some. All this talk is making me hungry. Are you game?”

She blinked, glanced at the vampire at my right, and then nodded to me. “Inside.”

I smiled.

With a whip of my wings and a flying whoosh through the open door, we landed back in the kitchen. Five steps after, my brothers scrambled in with Jane, panting for breath.

“For a second I thought you were going to bite her,” Will said breathlessly.

Travis nodded, gasping.

“So did I,” Dawn murmured, glancing at my red eyes. “Why didn’t you?”

Shaking my head with a sickened expression, I replied, “Oh, please. Me? Drink blood? Ick! You know me. I really don’t like meat. And if I ever did have a steak, it would be well done.”

“What about all that talk about belonging?” Dawn asked, still watching me as if she were not sure I was really Eve. “I heard it all. No one would ever call you a monster again. Not with them.”

I snorted at her. Hearing the footsteps of my parents made me glance at the stairs, but only briefly. “Yeah, right. Mr. McDillan was already shooting stakes at me. Besides, I had already made my choice.”

“You already decided?” my vampire father exclaimed, pressing his face against the window glass as he peered in at us. My brother stomped to it and yanked the curtain closed in front of the vampire’s face.

“When did you decide?” My imp mother appeared at my side with pouting lips.

I rolled my eyes. Of course no one else could see her. I said, “I decided it last night when my real father came and comforted me.”

“Your real father?” my father the dentist said, looking puzzled.

“Yeah, you.” I smiled at him. “I had decided that I want to be part of this family.”

My imp mother made a face and shrank back down to the size of a floating cupid again. “Pity. We could have had such fun.”

I snatched her by the back of her wings in the air (of course making everyone in the room jump) and looked her right in the face. “I wouldn’t have. You may have given me life,” and I glanced at the old vampire that was still trying to peek into the room through the gap in curtain, “and you may have saved it fourteen years ago—but this is my family now.”

The old vampire pulled away from the back window. I heard him murmur, “So be it.”

The sound of bat wings fluttered away. I let go of the female imp. She shrugged to herself, flittering off to cause mischief somewhere else.

“Wow,” Jane murmured. She glanced around the room at the others and then at me. “Well, that was a memorable Halloween.”

My mother broke into fits of relieved laughter. She came over and hugged me with tears rolling down her face—and soon all the others joined in, exclaiming that they were glad to still have me. Even Dawn smiled at me, her heart beating more calmly.

“Where is that vampire devil?” shouted Mr. McDillan, bursting through the door with his crossbow armed and ready. The door banged against the wall leaving an unsightly dent and making my mother scowl.

“Gone,” Will said with a shrug. He walked to the cupboards and opened them. He took out bowls.

“What? And that winged imp?” My History teacher swung the tip of the bow around, nearly scratching the paint of the far wall.

My father reached over and put his hand on the weapon and the other on Mr. McDillan’s chest. “Also gone. Come have some ice cream.”

“And what about that demon child? She was going to bite your real daughter.” My teacher’s eyes searched around the room skittishly, falling on Dawn and then me standing next to the fridge. Travis held the spoons, while Jane opened up the freezer.

“Eve isn’t a demon child. She’s a McAllister. So you had better get used to it,” my mother said. She took out the chocolate syrup and the whipped cream.

“She’s still here?” my teacher shouted, looking more bewildered as my father led him to a chair.

“Yes, she’s still here,” Dawn said. “And I’m glad.”

I turned to my sister and smiled. I was glad too.

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Publication Date: 11-15-2020

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