Chapter Sixteen
1
After Ivan was all cleaned up and in new clothes he went out to find Latianna. He was surprised to find her sitting on his bed.
“You have a nice room,” she stated, smiling at him.
“Thanks,” he said and sat down next to her.
“I want to thank you, Ivan Harvey, for saving my life and doing what was right. And I want to apologize for what all you had to go through to do that,” Latianna said.
“He killed my parents!” Ivan said, not wasting the energy to attempt to restrain his tears. Latianna met him in a comforting embrace.
“Shh, I know it is hard. But Ivan, there was nothing you could do. You did all you could, Ivan, and I love you for that. I mean that, I really, really, honest to God love you, Ivan Harvey,” Latianna said, bringing her lips up to his and kissing them.
“I love you too, Latianna,” Ivan said, bringing her close to him. His hand gently brushed across her breast for a mere second. They both felt the butterflies flutter throughout their entire bodies. He kissed her hard, wrapping his arms around her and holding her with a firm grip that sent tingles down Latianna's body. There was a passion between them that neither of them could have fathomed if they weren’t experiencing it then. Ivan sweetly pushed her over so she was lying down on his bed. He paused and looked at her. Her golden locks so beautifully strewn out upon his bed, her shirt rode up just a tad, revealing a tiny inch of her tummy.
“You are so beautiful,” Ivan cooed. Seeing her blush, he went down and lifted up her shirt another two inches. He kissed her tummy, gently but firmly. He kissed higher and higher until he reached the tippy tops of her breasts. He pulled her shirt off to reveal a pretty-pink bra with black lace surrounding the edges. Ivan tore his own shirt off and pressed his chest against hers. He began to kiss her lips again, a little bit harder this time. He moved his tongue in and out of her mouth, circling it around, gently and barely touching the tips of her lips.
They rolled over so she was on top. Her hair fell down, encircling both of them in an enchanted net of golden locks.
Ivan's hands ran down Latianna’s back and then back up, back and forth, back and forth; causing Latianna to feel tingles all down her body. Ivan fingers rested on her bra snap. He kissed her another passionate time before undoing the snap. Her breasts bounced into their natural position, no longer pushed up by the uncomfortable bra. She sat up and Ivan followed. He slowly moved the bra straps down from her shoulders and off her body. He then wrapped his arms around Latianna, bringing her so close to him, that if she were any closer, she would have been a part of him. The feeling of their skin on each other was ineffably magical. Ivan flipped back over so he was on top. His hand wandered up Latianna’s side and felt its way to her breast.
“Happy birthday,” Latianna whispered into Ivan’s ear.
2
“What are we going to do?” Ivan asked Latianna later that afternoon. He would have to pick up Christina from daycare at five. How was he going to explain all this to her? Where was he going to go? How could he get custody of her? What would he tell the police happened to his parents?
“We have to leave, Ivan. We need to get out of Riverwolf Pass. We cannot stay here and you know that. They will put Christina in a home; you will have to figure out a way to pay the mortgage, electricity, heat, water, and all the other bills. Ivan, we have to take Christina and leave.”
“You think we can take care of her?” Ivan asked doubtfully. He and his sister never got along very well, but he certainly did not want her to end up in a girls’ home or any type of orphanage or even a foster home.
“I am fairly good with kids. And deep down inside you love your sister, and you know that deep down inside she loves you too, Ivan. We can do it together, but not here. Too many lives have been ruined in this town to stay here.”
“What about Mr. White?” Ivan asked curiously. “What will become of him?”
“I suppose that he will be released and then be the town crazy for the rest of his life,” Latianna said honestly. “Why?”
“Because I care, that's why!” Ivan said, a little coldly. “He has been there for me since I was little. He’s always been the person at the library who helped me smuggle books out, and who recommended good books for me to read, and talked to me about life! I cannot just let him be the town crazy, Latianna. I have to at least tell Gracey that he is not crazy,” Ivan said.
“I am sorry, Ivan. I did not know he was close to you at all,” Latianna said contritely.
“Let’s go. We have to pick Christina up and leave town, but we need to stop by Gracey’s house first,” Ivan said, grabbing his coat and slipping it on. He helped Latianna with her coat and they both walked out the door.
Ivan was a gentleman and opened the door for Latianna to get inside the car.
“Ivan, how are we going to make it on our own with a four year old girl to tend to? People are going to look at us like we are crazy.”
“Maybe we are for taking on such a tremendous task,” Ivan coldly retorted.
“We will figure it out,” Latianna told Ivan along with herself. She needed to be reassured, and Ivan knew it. If Ivan knew how, he would have reassured her. But he did not have the slightest idea on how to do that, mainly because he had no idea how they were going tend for Christina’s needs along with their own and get out of the town all at the same time.
They pulled into Gracey’s house and sat in the driveway for a good five minutes.
“How do we explain this?” Latianna asked nervously.
“I do not know, sweetheart, I really don't know,” Ivan said. He unbuckled his seat belt, opened his door and walked around to the other side of the car to open Latianna’s door for her. She thanked him kindly, and took his hand. They walked up to the door and knocked on it. There was a scurrying from inside and within a few seconds the door was opened by Gracey.
“You!” she exclaimed looking at Latianna.
“Hello Miss Yancy, may we come in?” she asked.
“No, you are not welcome here! Neither of you are invited in!”
“Miss Yancy, please, we just want to talk,” Ivan said, putting his foot in the doorway so Gracey did not slam the door in their faces.
“I have crosses in here!” Miss Yancy threatened. “I'm a Christian, I believe in God and He will protect me!”
“Miss Yancy, I am not a vampire. We can explain everything,” Latianna said kindly.
“Well then, we can stand right here in the doorway while you tell me,” Gracey said. Her face was puffy and red, her swollen eyes and stuffy nose were enough evidence that anyone could easily deduct that she had been crying.
“We came to tell you that Mr. White is not crazy, but if you already believe in vampires too, I think you know that by now,” Ivan said, finally making eye contact.
“Laugh all you want, Ivan Harvey, but those vampires are real! She is a vampire! I do not know how she is walking in the sun right now, but she is a vampire, along with all the others from the party! She just wants to sink her teeth into you and bite your little neck! She wants to suck your blood and-”
“Miss Yancy, please!” Ivan said, almost breaking down in tears. “She is not a vampire! She was a half vampire. Her parents were full vampires. I killed them. Mr. and Mrs. Dyebuko, I killed them both. When I did that, it changed Latianna back into a human. That I can guarantee. Miss Yancy, it has been a very long day and night for me. I had to kill vampires, watch my parents burn up in the sun, and now I do not know what I am going to do about Christina. This has been a very trying day for me, and I would like it very much if I could come in and sit on your couch,” Ivan pleaded, unable to hold back his tears any longer.
“Oh, my! I am truly sorry. Please come in, the both of you,” Miss Yancy offered. They both came in and sat on her couch while she brought out some warm hot chocolate to drink.
“Now explain to me everything
that happened, please.”
Ivan and Latianna spent the rest of the hour explaining everything to Miss Yancy. When they were finished, it was high time to go pick up Christina.
“How about you bring her back to my house? I will cook an early dinner for the lot of you, help explain what happened to your little sister. And then, we can discuss things further after she has gone to take a nap,” Miss Yancy offered. It was too kind of an offer to turn down.
Latianna offered to stay while Ivan was gone, but Miss Yancy insisted that she go along with Ivan to keep him company.
“We can’t tell my sister the truth, she will be scared forever and worried that vampires are going to come and kill her.” Ivan said while in the car driving to go and pick Christina up.
“I understand what you are saying, Ivan, but do you really think it is best if we lie to her?” Latianna asked, rubbing her hands together to try to nip the cold. Ivan did not answer Latianna’s question. They rode down the rest of the street in silence, watching the little trick or treaters go up and down the street. Ivan wondered if Christina would even want to go trick or treating anymore. He assumed that she would not want to go. That would be a shame too. She was so looking forward to going trick or treating that year. She was going to be a princess. She talked about it nearly every day since the beginning of October. She went out and bought a costume just a few days ago with her mommy and daddy. They were going to go trick or treating with her. Mommy was going to be a girl from the nineteen-fifties, poodle skirt and all. And daddy was going to be a pirate. They tried to get Ivan to come with them, but he refused. Now he would give anything to go trick or treating with his parents later that night. He would dress up as the energizer bunny if he could only go trick or treating with his mom and dad later that night.
Christina ran out to Ivan, the ears to her stuffed bunny she held in her hands flopping with each bounding step she took toward the car. She climbed in the back and buckled herself in.
“What’s up Ive?” she asked with a smile on her face.
“Hey Christina, this is Latianna,” Ivan introduced them, regretting the conversation that was so soon to come.
“Hello Latianna! Are you Ivey’s girlfriend?” she asked with a giggle. Latianna laughed for a second and replied with a yes.
“Oooh! Ivey’s got a girlfriend!” Christina laughed. “Wait ‘till mommy finds out that Ivey’s got a girlfriend! Oooh! Ivey you will have to bring her over for dinner and to meet mommy and daddy!” Ivan could not help it and started to cry. Latianna placed a hand on his shoulder and told him that it would be okay in a very soothing tone.
“What is wrong, Ivan? I am sorry, I did not mean to hurt your feelings. I will not call you Ivey or Ive anymore. And I will not tell mommy you have a girlfriend if that makes you feel better. You do not have to cry,” Christina said, feeling badly she had made her older brother cry. People at the daycare had sometimes made her cry and she knew how much that hurt.
“I am not crying because you hurt my feelings, Christina,” Ivan said, swallowing his own words with a difficulty equivalent to someone attempting to swallow a boulder.
“Then why are you crying, Ivan?” Christina asked in a very small, partway scared voice.
“I am crying because something very terrible happened, Christina, and I am not sure how to tell you about it,” Ivan said, clutching the steering wheel.
“Maybe you should wait and let mommy tell me. Mommy always knows how to say things to me. Like explain why you do not like me and why you yell at me and why sometimes you never talk to me about anything.” Ivan was feeling like a terrible brother at that moment. No wonder his parents had treated him the way they did and treated Christina differently. At least Christina tried to make conversation with him. Ivan could not remember the last time he had actually sat down and talked to Christina.
“Well, all that is about to change, Christina. You and I are going to get very close. We are going to tell each other everything, never be mean to each other, and talk to each other every single day.”
“No more arguments?” Christina asked.
“No more arguments,” Ivan agreed.
“Mommy will be happy to hear that,” Christina said. “She never likes it when you argue with me.”
“Christina, this is very, very hard to explain to you,” Ivan said. “Mommy and daddy are… they were… mommy and daddy got into a terrible car accident,” Ivan finished his sentence.
“Ahuh,” Christina said, looking up at Ivan with that innocent face that didn't understand what Ivan was trying to say.
“And uh… well, Christina… they uh… I am sorry to say… they did not make it,” Ivan said, the words were painful to say and stabbed his heart like a knife.
“Make it where?” Christina asked, her wide blue eyes looking at Ivan. Her head was slightly tilted, trying her best to understand what her brother was attempting to tell her.
“Oh honey, they did not survive the crash,” Latianna said, relieving Ivan from having to say those terrible words.
“Survive?” Christina asked, she obviously did not know what the word meant.
“Christina, do you know what happens when you die?” Latianna asked her, tears building up in her eyes now.
“Yes,” Christina answered. “When you die you are no longer here with us. You go up to heaven and see God.”
“Christina, I really hate to tell you this,” Latianna said, her throat closing up and head getting dizzy. “Your mommy and daddy have gone up to heaven and are with God right now.”
Christina looked confused and sad... the rest of the drive to the White's was long and silent, except for an occasional sniffle from the backseat.