Moonlit Apples

Chapter 1

My name is Andrea James. I’m twenty-five years old and am currently unemployed, but that’s okay because I live in this really old abandoned opera house. The place is beautiful and, even better, doesn’t require rent.

I’m not alone here either. I live in this opera house with three other guys, Reeve, Murph, and Christian; Oh! And did I mention that they’re all vampires? I know, pretty cool right. Now let me tell you a little bit about my vampuric house mates.

Christian is best described as a fruit loop, colorful and sweat. He often dresses like a college boy and or drug addict and has a thing for getting into my stuff. Christian is hyper, kinda crazy, and high. And I don’t mean just currently. He’s always high and very proud of that fact. See, when Christian was changed he was so lost in the haze of pot smoke that undoubtedly surrounded him that the drug never worked it's way completely out of his system.

Christian is my not-so-legally adopted son. Well, he adopted me really, and I just go along with it to humor him.

Murph is a very cool guy. He's an average height, Irish man that looks like he spends a lot of his free time climbing mountains. To my knowledge he’s hasn’t been out of the city in the last 50 or 60 years but still, Murphs got the mountain muscle, don't ask me how.

Murph is also a blue eyed mechanical genius, one hell of a cook, and I love to listen to him talk, partly because he can make almost anything sound interesting and partly because of his heavy Irish accent. I’ve always had a thing for accents.

Last but not defiantly not least there is Reeve. Reeve is my angle in the night, my protector and, for lack of a better word, my boyfriend. He’s tall, dark, and Hispanic. He wears mostly black, has a hypnotic accent and a killer smile. He also has the power to get me to do almost anything.

Reeve moves like a shadow and radiates a certain kind of unspoken authority. Not many will get into a confrontation with Reeve.

I don’t know a lot about his background, Reeve is a mysterious man. I do know he’s one of the oldest vampires in the city, and he’s been best friends with Murph since the potato famine.

Reeve was the one that turned Murph for reasons unknown to me. We’re not sure about Christian, to my understanding he just kinda showed up one day.

There is one other person I forgot to mention and that is Gir. Gir is my good buddy, always willing to listen to my problems and loves grapes, he's been with me since I moved to New York.

Gir is my pet mouse. He currently lives in a five-gallon fish tank in my bedroom. I love my Gir.

This is my life currently and I can't wait to see what happens next.

I’m currently sitting on the counter in our big kitchen with my back pressed to the fridge and my leg stretched out in front of me. The kitchen is a big professional one from when the theater/hotel was still open for business. This part of the counter was more or less my spot.

Murph had just handed me my mail, like he did every week. I don’t know how he ever got my mail, because my apartment had been fire bombed last fall. He never told, and I never asked. It was a pretty good system and sometimes it's better just not to know.

I flipped threw the stack quickly. Junk, junk, junk, hey J.C. Penny’s was having a sale, junk, a letter from my mom, junk, wait a minute. I flipped back to the letter and squished my eyebrows together. Why would my mom be sending me mail? She knows she can call anytime.

I tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. It was light pink and in ornate letters it said:

You are invited to the first annual James Family Reunion.

Where: The Home of Lisa and Rodger James

When: July 10 - July 13

Hope to see you there: Lisa and Rodger James

I smiled, wondering if mom had remembered to tell dad that they were going to be having a reunion. I deliberated on weather or not I really wanted to go all the way to Maine. It did sound like fun, and I’d love to see my brothers again. I decided that I'd miss way to much by not going. My eyes traveled back to the date.

“Crap!” I said out loud and Murph, who was doing a crossword puzzle at the table, looked up, startled. I jumped off the counter and started talking to myself, trying to get my plans straight. “Today’s what? The seventh? If I’m going to get there on time I’ll have to leave tomorrow and I’d like to leave room for the inevitable car trouble I’ll have.” I bit my lip, pacing. “I needed to pack. I needed to tell the guys and I need to find a car. Shit, most of my clothes are still in the laundry.”

My need for a car was because I only had my motorcycle and that just wouldn’t be practical for driving all the way to Maine. Maybe I could get Murph to let me borrow his jeep.

“What’s going on?” asked Murph, he was looking at me like I'd suddenly lost my mind. I handed him the invitation by way of explanation and ran my hand threw my hair.

Christian came into the room at that moment. I grinned when i saw that he was wearing his own clothes today. Well, clothes that I could see.

“What’s happening?” he asked with a grin of his face.

“I got an invitation for a family reunion back home. I need to leave tomorrow… Is the laundry done and will...” I was going to ask him if he’d watch Gir for me but he cut me off.

“Neat! I’ll go pack my stuff!” He grinned and I blinked.

“Me too!” said Murph handing me back the letter and jumping up.

“Hey,” I said. “Wait a minute you guys. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone and what are you guys going to do about the sun?” I asked them, putting my hands on my hips. I loved my boys but sometimes they didn't think things through.

Cold lips met the back of my neck as strong arms snaked around my waist and I smiled in spite of myself.

“Kitten,” Reeve said in my ear. “You should know by now; that’s a myth. The sun just hurts are eyes, we’ll wear sunglasses.”

“What about a blood source?” I asked them and Murph had an answer for that question.

“There are plenty of deer are stuff in Maine, we’ll manage.” I was starting to get hopeful. Suddenly it didn’t seem like a problem at all to have my boys come with me. I grinned, my family was going to love them.

“Ok, just let me call my mom and make sure she has room.” I pulled out my cell phone and punched in the number to my parent’s house. It rang three times and then the connection clicked open.

“Hello?” The voice was deep and gruff. I smiled.

“Hi, daddy. Is ma right there?”

“Yeah she right here.” My father voice got father away and I could hear him yelling at my mother. “Lisa! Your daughter want to talk to you!” I smiled, Daddy loved the tease both me and ma. There was a pause then my mother’s voice came on the line.

“Andrea! How are you?” Her voice was warm and exuberant and I smiled more.

“I’m fine ma. Listen, is it ok if I bring my house mates to the reunion?”

“Of course, the more the merrier! Are all three of them coming to the reunion?”

I heard my father’s voice in the background. “What reunion?” Looks like she did forget to tell him.

“Yes they all want to come,” I told her.

“Lisa, what are you two talking about?” My dad asked again, more urgently. Ma ignored him.

“Wonderful! I’ll see you in a couple days. Bye now.” And she hung up. I shook my head, my ma was as big a fruit loop as Christian.

It looked like I was bringing Gir with me. Reeve warped his arms around my waist and I leaned against him. The others, able to hear the conversation with their vamp ears, had already left to pack.

“Come on Andrea,” Reeve said in my ear. “Let go get our things packed.