The Vampire Blog Read Free Page B

goes a little bit misty over the next few weeks though.’
    â€˜Something else to look forward to,’ I muttered, ‘alongside bad breath and fangs.’
    And then I saw myself in the mirror. And I looked so stupid, I burst out laughing. I laughed away until I noticed my parents weren’t sharing the joke.
    â€˜Look,’ said Dad, ‘let me borrow it a moment.’ He swiftly put the cape on, yet with such care too, as if he were handling something very precious.
    â€˜Hey, Dad, it suits you.’
    And it did. Even though he’s not very big,the cape didn’t take him over. It just made him look much more commanding somehow.
    â€˜I’ll never forget the first time I put this on, just after my thirteenth birthday,’ said Dad. ‘And immediately it meant the world to me. And I just felt so proud to be part of—’
    â€˜The “We love blood” gang,’ I quipped.
    â€˜Can we stop the silly comments for five seconds?’ said Dad, his voice cracking with anger. ‘Is that possible?’
    â€˜Yeah, all right, sorry,’ I said.
    â€˜Because this means a great deal to your mother and me. We’re proud of our heritage and …’ Then Mum tapped his arm and Dad swallowed down what he was going to say next and just murmured, ‘Try it again, it’s your cape now, so come on, really wear it.’
    I put the cape on again. And I did try to conjure up some enthusiasm for it. I even imagined I was a great magician. But the thing just didn’t fit and flapped about very uneasily on me. In fact, I felt like a total fraud in it. ‘Dad,’ I said quietly, ‘being a half-vampire could skip a generation, couldn’t it?’
    â€˜It could,’ murmured Dad quietly.
    â€˜Well, it has,’ I said, even more quietly. ‘So, Dad, have the cape back.’
    â€˜I’ve been looking forward to this moment for such a long time,’ said Dad.
    â€˜I know, and I’m sorry – but if I’m not a half-vampire …’
    Dad breathed heavily, and then said, ‘I won’t have the cape back. Hang it on your door and one day soon I know you will wear it with pride.’
    I know I won’t.
    But I put the cape on my door. Only then I kept looking at it. And it’s just as if my dad’s left one of his suits in my room. That cape practically screams out, I’m in the wrong place! That’s why in the end I bunged it in the wardrobe. I hung it up properly though.
    Then I earwigged my parents, who were whispering away downstairs. Mum was saying, ‘You frightened him tonight.’
    Dad answered: ‘The manual said we were to do this as soon as possible.’
    â€˜Yes, but you pushed him too hard,’ replied Mum.
    I can even feel a bit sorry for Dad, desperately wanting to pass the cape on tohis son and all that. But he can’t force me to change into something I’m not, can he?
    Tuesday 2 October
6.30 a.m.
    Awake already, checking for bad smells and fangs. All clear on both counts. I shan’t be turning into a funky half-vampire today or any other day. I’m certain now it’s skipped a generation. And I’m one hundred per cent human.
    9.15 p.m.
    Strange atmosphere at home tonight, very tense and yet eerily calm. Feels as if my parents are just waiting for something to happen. Only it never will.
    9.45 p.m.
    Joel just rang, fresh from the first-ever introductory M.I.S. meeting. ‘Oooh, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. First of all, we met up with Tallulah.’
    â€˜Who are we?’
    â€˜Oh right, there were seven of us, all ladsfrom our class and her, and she took us into the woods.’
    â€˜Oooh-er.’ I laughed.
    â€˜A secret place that I can’t even tell you about. Well, I might in a minute. But anyway, she led us all in, and you know how the headmaster looks when he’s giving us a right telling-off in assembly, well that’s