“And what’s your excuse for staying out late this time?”
The both of them were out of the house doing their jobs. Samhain always said that he had the excuse of darkness. After all, his illusions looked more real when performed beneath the veil of night. And Alhena had no excuse except that she
would work during the day if she didn’t have to go to school.
“C’mon dad, I just don’t wanna be here all the time.” Alhena wasn’t turning into a nice kid, until she had to beg at her parents’ feet. And that was also questionable. “You know the only good person in this house is Uncle Harold and that’s only when compared to you guys, so I’m
kinda tired of it.”
“I don’t hate Harold either, he keeps my own dad out of my hair,” Samhain said quietly. “But listen...we’re a bizarre family, and it’s hard for me to know that everyone’s safe.”
“Then tell Marco to get his butt back home. His stupid baby isn’t that important anyways,” she said.
“His
what?”
“
Aaaaaaaand he’s gonna be out cold for the whole day,” Alhena muttered to herself. She had to admit that it was funny.
Maybe Samhain would wake up and think that Alhena was pulling an elaborate joke. And the tales about how Twinbrook has always been a suspicious, dangerous town at night would flood forth
again. She would have loved to prank him with that, but she’d rather that Marco James Drudge pranked her too instead of breaking her teenage heart a little.
Why was she even surprised? He was a lot older than her and went to school with other girls when he was a kid and before she was even born. Amelia Prudence mostly ignored him, even if Marco insisted otherwise.
She wasn’t even that ugly, even with her dour face, but she was ugly in Alhena’s heart. Marco’s only good move was never bringing her to the house.
And yes, according to Twinbrook city records, little Daria was his daughter. He still could go days or weeks without seeing her, or Amelia for that matter, and hid from Alhena a lot afterwards. She didn’t want to hurt him, though, even if his genes were wasted on Daria.
Even if they got together, would he treat their own family that way? It wasn’t like Grandma Vega would let him move out, even as opinions in the household soured like pickles. She never kicked out his mother, for instance. Or Alhena’s own mother, if she had to admit it.
She could only guess why they didn’t get along. Supposedly she and Marco’s mum didn’t either, and Beck taunted Sheila to her grave. In fact, Alhena ended up watching it. It was at one of her birthday parties.
The only comfort was Uncle Harold Assange telling her that nothing stays the same. And him in general, since he was more calm than any Ironstar. He moved halfway across the country to live with the family, and Sheena would find a younger man after he died. Sheena rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek instead. Harold gave Marco and Amelia a few years, tops, together.
But then again, Harold said that he went to university with a ton of other students and Alhena
could not relate. She could always count her classmates on one hand but the guy who asked her to prom also graduated.
Aunt Carisa was nice...and that was all Alhena could say about her. What said more was how they always ended up being chaperoned by Carisa’s elderly mother and aunt instead of anyone closer to their age. Carisa asked about the other Ironstars but Alhena pretended to not hear the question.
And there was Fred. He babysat for the Whelohffs and believed the property tax evasion conspiracy. The Ironstars did that too, but they were
different. Same went for Marco not paying child support.
Actually, Fred was kind of fun. He liked staying out past curfew and skipping class and sleeping in on the weekends. Most of that was only in theory, but they weren’t friends out of obligation. In fact, Vega would have had a fit if she learned that she
didn’t know his family from the old days of Twinbrook. In secret, Alhena loved to hear the stories of Marco’s grandparents, but she never met any of them. Things could have a meaning to Vega but it didn’t mean that anyone had to understand it either.
There was one night where they reclined in the hot tub at the city pool’s secret basement, and Alhena even put her arm around him. She was bored! It wasn’t going to last and Fred would easily break it off if she asked, albeit with some crying.
She also lied to him about Samhain, close-by and with a martini in hand. She couldn’t be his daughter...did she look grey to him? Clearly she looked more like the bartender, her actual aunt Suzanne. That night she also learned that Fred would believe any lie but also was colorblind.
“...just remember that we are weird, and my grandmother will smear the name of anyone so long as she benefits,” Samhain said to Fred. “But...I’m glad you’re nice, and I’m not the one who sows discord among mortals.”
“So you
are immortal! And Alhena's father!”
“It's funny how that happens, isn't it? Imagine who else from my species could be walking among us, looking just like us...”
Alhena may have made Fred believe that he was going to be there to witness immortality inside the house, though she never invited him over either. But she repeated the mantra to her dad, during dinner and the like: she wasn’t going to be with him, but she wouldn’t hurt him either. Somehow Samhain and Fred were becoming close friends.
“Fred? Fred’s face is like pudding, and the gross instant one at that,” said Vega one dinner.
“We can talk about this at your ceremony, Samhain.”
“Okay, so do we do goddess worship or not, that’s my question.” Alhena looked through the monument of teeth that Vega erected. Her great-grandmother seemed to worship at its altar, and was the only one who seemed connected to it at all.
“I think the question gets answered when I become immortal,” said Samhain. “It’s a lovely symbol, considering our sharp teeth, but Vega doesn’t say anything about where we come from. We shouldn’t think of ourselves as that special--”
“Alright, so get off Marco’s back then.” Alhena wanted to shove her father, but he was too strong for it. “You can’t just say that and keep trashing one family because you think they’re cursed or whatever. Grandma Vega is at least
honest.”
“I just want to care about everyone’s safety, I say it every day. My mother and your mother are also mortals, and I know they’re smart enough to see trouble...whatever it may be. And Grandma Vega has kept the Drudges from this line for long enough already.”
“Yeah, but what if she approves of this? I know she does. What if she's playing the waiting game and
waiting for the look on your face when I marry Marco James Drudge and you can’t do anything about it!”
“Please do it after your mother is gone,” Samhain whimpered. “I don’t know if she can take it. You might be my daughter with an eternity of choices, but she’s my
mortal.”
“Yeah...I don’t know why she can’t see that y’all married older spouses, but
yeah.”
Alhena liked being by her lonesome after Samhain left. Her young adult birthday approached and if she could seduce Marco, then all the two of them had to do was break up with someone else. And that had to be the easy part.
Well, other than growing up. That didn’t involve any crying or custody arrangements, and there was cake too.
