Sweet Blood of Mine Read Online Free

Harry gobbled down the school cafeteria mush and talked animatedly about our upcoming Kings and Castles tournament. A patch of darkness caught in my peripheral vision. I glanced right. Large black-lined eyes gazed back at me. The Goth girl. Her raven-dark hair cascaded like a curtain over the white makeup covering her face. I looked behind me and then back at her. She was definitely looking at me, I decided. She quirked an eyebrow and then scribbled something in a notebook.
    Just great. Was she jotting down something about me? I could just imagine her notes: Subject is still alive, but death by football players is imminent. Will drink his blood for the Dark Master.
    I arrived home from school and whisked into my room, easing the door shut and locking it. I didn't want to deal with my parents right now. They were such a happy couple I felt like a complete failure for being a loser when it came to love and life. Oh boo hoo hoo. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Easier said than done.
    I buried myself in homework to forget my troubles.
    Loud voices jerked me from a particularly difficult calculus problem some time later.
    "It's foolish, Alice," my dad said. "They'l never let you or her come back."
    "I don't care, David. I don't give a damn what they do to me," Mom said, the words raw with anger.
    "But I do." The tremble of pain in my dad's voice stabbed me in my heart. What in the world was going on?
    Had something terrible happened?
    I rushed from my room and crossed the halway to I rushed from my room and crossed the halway to theirs. My parents were hugging, their tear-streaked faces red and tortured.
    "Who died?" I asked, unsure what to feel since I didn't realy know any of my relatives and I didn't think my parents would be this upset over one of my classmates.
    They leapt apart like two teenagers caught on the couch, wiping away tears from wide startled eyes.
    "Your aunt Petunia," Mom said, first as usual to regain composure in a pressure situation.
    "Tragic," Dad said, offering me a timid smile though his eyes looked red with grief.
    I stared at the two of them with narrowed eyelids for a moment. They were hiding something, but Mom already had her cool façade back in place. She crossed the room and pressed a hand to my head. "Are you feeling okay?"
    I sighed and pushed her hand away. "I'm fine.
    Everything is peachy keen and perfect in my life." I turned to walk out the door. "Which side of the family is dear Auntie Petunia on?"
    "Mine," Mom said. "She was a fine woman."
    "Since I've never met any of my relatives, I guess I'l have to take your word for it."

    "Justin, we've been over this before," Mom said.
    "Your father's family and mine don't get along."
    "That's putting it mildly," Dad chimed in.
    She gave him an exasperated look. "David, please!" She turned back to me. "As a result, we're not on the best of terms with either of our families."
    "But Aunt Petunia is special?"
    "Yes."
    Dad clapped his hands together. "Now that's settled, how about some supper?"
    In the kitchen five minutes later, Mom dropped a microwaved meal in front of me. It made a moist squishy noise when the plastic tray hit the table. The poof of steam rising from it looked vaguely like a mushroom cloud. I couldn't remember the last time she'd made something in the microwave. She loved to cook. I loved to eat what she cooked. That was part of the reason for the extra-large spare tire around my waist.
    "How are you feeling, honey?" she asked, pressing a hand to my forehead and murmuring the same mumbo jumbo she did every so often. She said it was good luck, and I think she'd brainwashed me into believing her superstitions because my forehead usualy tingled afterward.
    "I told you earlier I'm fine, Mom." I wasn't about to mention my headaches to my parents. They seemed to be real worrywarts when it came to my health, and I was irrationaly frightened of the hospital.
    She kissed me on the forehead, stood, and vanished down the halway to her office. Dad