Gone to the Vampires 8

When Mason came home from work the next morning he found me on the floor coloring instead of on the couch. I had used up quite a bit of red crayon on my picture but was proud of the result. Mason was too, even after he saw that it was an explicitly detailed account of his death. I don't know if he realized it was, even though our figures had our names written under them and the way I was killing him was unmistakable. But he proudly pinned it up on the fridge nonetheless, then ordered me up to bed with him. He didn't carry me, but he didn't ask me this time, either. It was a straight up "Come on, Kayla." So I followed him and allowed myself to be snuggled with. Again.
It was harder for me to fall asleep this time though, because more thoughts and memories of Joey, my past life, and my family paraded through my head like a never ending freight train, and I couldn't turn them off. Even after I had finally drifted to sleep, still clutched to Mason, my mind wouldn't let me rest. I dreamt about Caitlin, Joey, and my parents all day long, but they were just the usual memories. I had them often, which always resulted in me waking up with a hollow, empty feeling ten times worse than the one I felt on a day to day basis.
Mason and I woke up at the same time that evening and he went off to shower before work while I went into my room to get dressed. I needed a shower as well, but it could wait until after my walk, when Mason would head off to work. In addition to hating the feel of wind on my wet hair, it would take up a small chunk of time, which was better than nothing.
There was no enjoyment to be garnered on the walk or during the night, even though when I usually went out at least something caught my eye. But this time, a filter had been placed over my emotions so not even the animals running amok or the pizza Mason made for dinner turned the corners of my lips up, and pizza was my absolute favorite.
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The familiar jingle of keys that came through the front door alerted me to Mason's presence, but I just continued to read from my spot at the dining room table. That is, until a new sound hit my ears- High heels on wood. I lifted my head and stared at the doorway of the kitchen, as if my rapt attention would prematurely tell me who was here. There were more feet besides Mason's and the high-heeled ones making their way towards the kitchen, and now my curiosity was practically about to make me explode.
"Hey Kayla! I brought you a present!" Mason's cheery words barely even registered as the procession stopped in the kitchen and I almost fell out of my chair with how fast my jaw dropped. The same woman who carted Joey off was standing next to a boring-looking man- And she had her manicured hand on my brother's shoulder! Joey looked the same as a couple nights ago; still clad in a thick coat with his unruly mop of messy hair falling in his sad eyes. I almost toppled the chair over with how fast I rocketed out of it, not caring about anything other than wrapping my arms around my only sibling. No one tried to stop us this time when we embraced, and I looked up at the three vampires standing in the kitchen.
"I asked for some help on the air last night, to anyone who knew Mrs. Roberts here. Luckily she called up the station, and we arranged for little Joey here to spend the day with you." Mason announced cheerily while jabbing a thumb at the tall woman next to him. She smiled down at us with a level of unease I'm sure was much greater than what I saw, but it didn't matter. Mason had gone out of his way to make sure Joey and I were reunited, and I couldn't help but look up at the beaming vampire with a new set of eyes.
"Unfortunately we can't adopt him because Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have become so attached, but they did agree to let Joey come over as much as they could for play dates."
My brother and I finally pulled away from each other but kept a hold on our arms, watching everyone standing before us.
"Kayla, is it?" The tall woman in the red coat bent down and held her hand out to me, and I shook it, thinking her hard red-painted nails looked more like taloned claws. "Hi! My name is Kendra Roberts, and this is my husband Greg. We adopted your brother two years ago right after the shift, but we didn't know any of his family still lived in Summit."
I matched her intense stare equally as her sharp words tried their best to sound innocent, but the way she said 'the shift' grated me wrong. Humans called it the takeover or some other negative-sounding title, but vampires all over the place liked to think of it as a shift of control. Which it was, essentially, but with much force and strict order.
My eyes flitted to her husband, who waved timidly at me before pocketing his chubby hands in his jacket pockets. He was an incredibly plain looking guy who bordered on the edge of plump, and as I glanced back to the hawkish woman in front of me I could tell who wore the pants in the relationship. And today they were black business pants that matched her ebony up-do, which was pulled up on her head so high I got a headache just looking at it.
"Anyways," Mason cleared his throat. "Joey will be spending the day with us and his dad will pick him up tonight before I go to work. But Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have to go now, so let little Joey say goodbye."
I didn't want to relinquish my brother but the plea behind Mason's sparkling eyes forced my arms to retract back towards my body. Joey glanced at me once before getting up and hugging the Roberts, who each squeezed him with a warm smile and cooed their affections. It was slightly sickening, actually, and Mrs. Roberts had to wipe a bright red lipstick mark off Joey's cheek after she smothered him in kisses.
Mason finally escorted Joey's owners to the door, and with that window of freedom I grabbed my brother's wrist and fled up into my bedroom.