Thief Grow Elementary, Norfolk, Virginia
He held his mother's hand. They stood in front of the school as she explained a wild tale to him. "Don't cry when I show you. Look at me, Aleigha." He gazed at her, round face, light-medium gold skin. "Ok..." he said, squeezing her hand. She looked behind her, addressing the rest of her children. "No crying, first stop is Thief Grow elementary."
"Why does Aleigha get to hold your hand!" complained the firstborn, Cassis. He shoved Aleigha who shoved him back, "Stop it!" yelled Aleigha. "Enough." Childhood grabbed the boy's arm and swung him to her left side. "Be still."
Childhood examined the structure of the school. She recalled the last time she was in the school it was on fire. One of her husbands came behind her. "Ready? It's been a while." Her husband Iarius spoke in her ear. "I'm fine. I got the scars but fuck the trauma. I'm good."
Childhood held Aleigha's hand and Cassis's. The rest followed as the family crossed the street. Her breath hitched; her mind played a horrible movie. It was as if the souls that died wanted her to remember it all and she did.
She hung from the roof, the windows bursting from the heat of the fire. A couple of hundred students racing out of the building, the sounds of shots being fire by the military. I can't breathe, here.
A tear rolled down her cheek. Aleigha looked at his mother as her grip on him loosened. "Mommy..." he shook her, casting her out of her trance.
Cassis released his mother and opened the doors to the school. A hallway splitting into a sideways T. To the left, the main office. Cassis, a boy standing 5'11 for his young age, an afro full of curls reaching his mid-back. He went into the office, "Have you heard of a girl named Childhood Lovely She?"
"I can't say I have...," said the older woman. Her lips thin and crow's feet deep. "Hold on one minute. Is she someone that goes here, currently?"
"No," said Cassis. "she used to; she was part of the Uprising back in 1969."
"Oh!" the old lady furrowed, "I surely don't know a student from that far back."
"I wouldn't think so either. How about 1996?" Childhood stepped into the office. "I'm smart as can be."
"Child..." the older lady squinted. "Maybe if I was 6 with a belly, you'd recognize me."
Her eyes spread apart, the energy in her body increased. She hopped up and down, "Ruby! Get in here!"
"I'm on the phone with a student's parents! Can it wait?"
"Child—Daughteri is back! The Rebel!"
In the smaller office to the right over the counter. The woman asked to be excused from the phone and came out, her jaw hung open upon a black woman with scars over her face. Across her lips, an eye missing, on her left cheek three claw marks. "Hey, Ms. Carter!"
"Jesus Christ..." she came jogging out the booth. "I haven't seen you since—girl you look good."
She smiles widely, "And my kids multiplied."
Aleigha let go of her hand and hopped on the counter. "Aleigha Omehia!"
Cassis introduced himself, "I'm Cassis! And this my twin Akika."
Ruby gawked at the twins. "Iarius's boys?"
"That's right, Ms. Carter." Iarius came forward, he put his hand over Childhood's shoulders. "Happy you remember us."
"How could we forget!" exclaimed the older woman. "You saved this school and saved Virginia from the goddamn apocalypse."
Thief Grow Elementary 2 years earlier.
"We have to be good." Said Cassis. "No whining y'all."
"Where's mama?" shivered one of his sisters, Penelope. "I'm tired of doing this." Her skin pale and her eyes a bright green. "We lucky as hell, that nigga is paying the system. It's 50 for each, Penny. We got to do it,"
"I don't wanna be here!" cried Adelia to his right. "Stop it!" he hissed. "Ashfield, where's Aleigha?"
"Next to me!" Ashfield struggled with his brother, pulling his arms apart. Aleigha growled and snapped at him, he pulled his face away. "Aleigha stop! You're a baby vamp!"
"I don't care!" tears ran down his cheeks. "Let me go!"
He thrashed about in the boiler room. The first sister, Sabita-Ann. She kept her gaze forward-thinking, this what they did to my mother. "This is the auction. So, she came back, and this is what they planned?"
"It was a setup the whole time." Chimed Akika. He balled up his pants leg with his fist. "They hate vampires so much; they would torture the kids?"
"This is nonsense," echoed Rishi, A dark-skinned child with a gold earring in one ear. "Where did they put our mother?"
Cassis shook his head, "We should have never come back to Virginia."
"I mean... we knew this was going to happen. I mean, fuck, it's a slave state." Khiss stated. "Mama knew what was going to happen. She had the amulet and everything."
"Mama always said it's things you can't fight. It's her path." Informed Aëllo who sat next to her twin, Kalliope. Her face was bruised and her mouth coated in blood. Her arm fixed on her chest as she rested in her sister's lap. "Does a fucking path order that hunters get their fucking teeth pulled?" barked Khiss. "This is fucking ridiculous. And this fucking cannibal chased off Deidre, only god knows where the fuck he is!"
"Shut the fuck up K!" Cassis stood up and charged at his brother sitting on the floor in the middle of the basement. He caught his collar and lifted him from the floor. "Mama said it's shit in this world that has to fucking happen. She looked at the damn eye multiple fucking times and here you are bitchin!"
"Fuck you, I'm scared like shit!" Khiss hollered. "They ripped out Kalliope's teeth!"
"Stop panicking!" he pushed his brother's head to the floor. "Get off me." Khiss screamed and kicked. "Stop it, just go to sleep!"
The door rolled open, a pale-skinned man with two sixes on his cheeks, a long nose, and round eyes. He wore a long black leather coat and a blue jewel necklace. "You vampire kids are mighty fucking nosy." He moves over to Khiss and Cassis. He grabs Cassis by the neck and throws him off his brother. "I took the girl's teeth because she bit me. She shut up, guess I'll shut the rest of you up." He goes through his pockets and pulls out a pair of pliers with a red handle.
Khiss scurries across the floor, the man grabs his legs, dragging him towards him. "Say Ah,"
"No!" Khiss puts his hands up pushing the pliers away from his face. "Help!"
"Get off my brother!" Cassis bolts from the ground and chomps down on the ankles of the stranger. "Fuck!"
"Pata Po-me," Penelope whispered, her body cast a black smoke. Three dark shadows emerged from the ground in a pool of darkness. The beings snapped their small sharp teeth and pounced on the unknown man. Biting him, Cassis released, grabbing the man's ankles. He pulled the pants legs back, making him lose his balance. He fell flat on his nose, breaking it.
Aëllo left her sister's side, laying her down gently then racing to grab the pliers. "My sister just got her fucking baby teeth!"
Aëllo forced the man's mouth open, "Usinicas" she uttered. The man laid motionless, his eyes a solid black with a white dot in the middle. Aëllo went through his coat and grasped an ID card, "His name is Griswol Arnold. He's a DOHRCC employee."
"Obviously," says Akika. "He's wearing the uniform underneath too."
"Get to the door!" rushes Cassis. "We got to find the rest! We can use the card key on locks in the building.
"We can't," Aëllo examines the card, "He's a certified DRAINER. So, he can only get into the DRAIN ROOMS."
"Then let's go! They're probably in the rooms." Cassis raced out the door, he looked down the corridor making sure no one was in sight. He beckoned his sister Aëllo put the card away and grabbed Kellipoe. "come on! Let's go."
One by one, Penelope, Ashfield, and the twins exited the room. When it came time for Aleigha to leave, he sat there chewing on his hands. "Cass, what about—" Penelope sputtered, Cassis seizes Penelope's hand, yanking her from the room. "Leave him!"
Aleigha's teeth sunk into his dark flesh. Closing his hand halfway, his teeth broke the skin around the wrist. He made a pumping motion and the blood oozed, flowing into his mouth, and dripping on his close. The taste intoxicating, yet he gagged and coughed.
Aleigha threw his head back and roared into the empty room. His lips trembled, a burning sensation in the corners of his lips. His eyes fluttered, his vision fading in and out.
Aleigha rocked back and forth, he held himself up and allowed himself to fall to the floor. Noiseseemed to stop, his heart drummed in his chest, eyes turned over as a breath escaped.