My Vampire Romance 22

We walked up the driveway towards the Johnson family home-my dream home- and where my beloved lived.
It was as beautiful as I always thought it was. The mahogany walls covered in black linings, with a black door and beautiful class windows. Black curtains hung over every window in the house that you could see, while dead woods surrounded the properly to the right, with luscious green grass, and blossoming plants were stationed in the front surrounding a stone fountain.
It was a home I would be willing to live in for the rest of my life, even if it wasn’t in Hawaii, and as long as I have Mark with me.
I could hear lots of chatter as we started towards the door, and from the shadows from inside, I could tell there was probably a lot of people in there.
I blinked. My hands suddenly grew clammy and cold as fear began to sink in. What if, no matter how hard I tried, they really didn’t like me? Would I be banned from seeing Mark? Could this really put me in a position where my family and I would have to move?
I hoped not.
Mark, noticing my nervousness, squeezed my hand gently and I looked up to find his smiling face. It calmed me.
"Everything will be fine," he reassured me. "They'll love you. Just give it time. I promise everything will be alright."
He let me stand at the door, breathing deeply in order to calm myself. I didn’t want my blood to be pulsing in a room full of vampires. I could be provoking them even more with that, than just being a human.
"You ready?" He questioned, his hand on the knob.
I nodded a bit reluctantly before he smiled to me, again trying to calm me down, and turned the knob, pushing the door open and he smiled brightly to all of his family members as he entered the room, his fingers laced with mine.
"Sorry I'm late. I had some problems with escorting my girlfriend around London." He smiled. At least he wasn’t lying. He did escort me around London, and we did have some problems there as well.
The room went utterly silent as all eyes were on the two of us. No one was even whispering to one another. They just stared straight at me with a hateful vengeance that seemed to pierce my very flesh.
I was beginning to feel nauseous.
"Everyone, this is Kristine." Mark introduced me and I smiled, curtsying a bit and smiling the best I could.
"It's a pleasure to meet you-" I was interrupted.
"You brought a human into your home, Mark?" A man with dark red hair stepped out of the crowd. He was handsome. He looked to be no older than twenty-five, and was dressed in black slacks and a white buttoned up shirt, just like most of the men in the room, but with various variations of attire.
"Of course I did." Mark spoke very confidently. "And she knows we're vampires."
Gasps escaped the crowd and the man's eyes widened in both fear and his face began to change into furry.
"Are you completely mad, Cousin?" He screamed. "She's a human! She'll expose us all!"
"No I won't!" I cried, trying to defend myself.
"All you humans are the same. You want to expose us for what we are just to gain your fortune and glory! Your kind is despicable!"
I couldn’t blame them for being upset. I couldn’t blame them for being cautious, but this wasn’t going the way Mark told me it was. I couldn’t just allow myself to be told I was a horrible person when I didn’t even do anything wrong.
"Don't you dare be like the rest of the human population and stereotype human beings of wanting to expose you! You sound just like those kids in school who make fun of me because I wear black! You're nothing more than a creep yourself!" I spat back. Gawd I hated stereotypes.
The man's face grew dark and Mark instantly intervened.
"Cousin Jasper, Please. Calm your furry. She is right. You all are judging her just because she doesn’t drink blood." Mark spoke calmly and soothingly towards his family.
Jasper stared down at me hatefully.
"I thought you said they'd like me," I whispered to Mark as I looked up to Jasper. My eyes had saddened. I was positive I just blew my only chance at getting everyone to like me.
"Don't give up just yet, Kristine." Mark whispered to me soothingly. "You just have to prove yourself to them," he paused. "Some how."
I sighed and then blinked when I felt a small hand place itself on mine. I looked down to find Elizabeth. She was smiling up at me in her cute black and pink gothic Lolita dress.
She always loved the style. Just as I.
"Don't worry, Kristine." She smiled to me and hugged my arm close. "You'll always mean something to us at least."
At least that was true.
"Thank you, Elizabeth." I smiled to her before petting her head gently.
That's when a girl, at least seventeen, maybe even slightly older, stepped out from the crowd. She was dressed in a beautiful black lace gown and long black gloves that covered her entire arm up to her elbow. Her long black hair flowed down her back all the way down to her buttocks, where it ended.
Her pale skin was almost white, even unhealthy for a vampire, and her deep black eyes shone a sadness that I have never experienced, nor seen before in my entire life.
She stepped between both Mark and Jasper and held up her hand.
Mark smiled to her gently.
"Cousin Tabitha." Jasper looked down to her, his eyes softening. There was something about this one that made the whole family seem to calm. She was entrancing, but in a more lonely and pitied way.
Her head turned to me as Jasper disappeared back into the crowd and Mark put down his forces. Her eyes stared right into mine, as if she were looking through my very soul for details unseen by normal eyes.
She was beautifully enchanting.
I tried to smile to her the best I could and a glint shined into her eyes as I did, though I could have sworn I saw her smiling at me, her face did not move from its placid look.
She held her hand out for me and I instantly took it. I felt as though I could trust this one. I really felt calm and not judged as I did with the rest of the family.
Mark smiled as he watched the two of us walk up the stairs. He was relieved that at least one person in his extended family had come to like me. And it happened to be one with a lot of power I could see as everyone went back to their normal conversations as if I was not even there.
I smiled to Tabitha.
"Thank you," I kept smiling to her.
She only nodded. That’s when something began to sink in. Something was completely right about this picture. She has yet to utter one word.
I stared at her as we turned the corner into the hallway towards the guest bedrooms.
I'm guessing Mark saw my facial expression because he quickly began up the stairs to follow us.
When I entered her room she smiled faintly to me, very, very lightly, as if she was an angelic statue that could not move, so it was harder for her to crack a smile, unlike myself.
Mark entered the room shortly after.
"I'm sorry, Kristine, Tabitha. But I have forgotten to mention some things to Kristine. Could I call her out of the room for just a moment?" Mark questioned and Tabitha nodded, motioning for the door; still not saying a word.
Mark pulled me out of the room and shut the door behind us. I blinked. I was confused.
"Is something the matter, Mark?"
"I just have to fill you in on some things about Tabitha you should know." Mark sighed, leaning against the wall next to the bedroom door. "She doesn’t talk."
I blinked. I could already see that.
"Why?" Curiosity could kill the cat.
There was a long silence before he finally replied.
"A couple years ago, a human found out about Tabitha's family." He paused, thinking deeply to himself. He obviously felt the same pity that the entire family had for Tabitha as well. "Her father was killed because of it, forcing her to leave her home and come back to live with cousin Jasper. Ever since the day he died she has never uttered a word."

[To be continued]