Nelly met Vlad’s eyes, her voice dropping to a tone that was sweet, calm-patient, even. “Henry is not your only friend. He’s your best friend. You’ve had others, Vladimir. Like Meredith. And that nice Joss boy last year.”
Her expression darkened. “Well, up until that unfortunate wooden stake incident, anyway.”
Oh yeah. Joss had been a great friend. If Vlad ever wanted to become a pincushion, he knew just who to call. “That’s not the point.”
“The point, Vladimir, is that you have a terrible habit of comparing everyone to Henry, and if they don’t measure up, you don’t give them a chance to even be your friend. Not everyone can show you the loyalty that Henry has, you know. You boys have a special bond. It’s unfair to compare other people to that. They don’t have a fighting chance to even come close to offering you the friendship that Henry has.”
Vlad bit his lip, quieting down. If only she knew that Henry was bound by an act of teeth and blood to be Vlad’s loyal slave, his drudge. Maybe she wouldn’t be so keen on the idea of their friendship then. And what about that other stuff? Did she have a point? Vlad mulled it over for a bit before deciding she was wrong. It wasn’t that he had avoided close friendship with other people besides Henry. It was as if, deep down, they knew he wasn’t like them. They knew he was different. And maybe, in a weird way, they were afraid of that.
Her eyes brimmed with concern. “I realize the guest list might not be exactly what you’d have come up with, but could you please just allow me a little time to dote on you and brag to the world that my s… well, that you’re turning fifteen?”
All the tension melted out of Vlad when he realized what Nelly had been saying. Not about making friends or doting on him or any of that stuff. Nelly had been about to call him her son.
His heart throbbed until it had squeezed its way up into his esophagus. When he met her eyes, he didn’t know exactly how he should feel. On one hand, Nelly had been every bit like a mother to him, ever since the day the fire had brought them together as a family. On the other, no one could or ever would replace his real mom.
Vlad cleared his throat and did the only thing he could. He nodded, turned, and walked out of the room.
When he got back to the living room, Henry sucked in another lungful of helium and said, “What’s wrong, dude?”
Vlad shook his head, clearing away his troubled thoughts. Well, most of them anyway. “Nothing. Let’s just get this crap cleaned up so we can cut the dumb cake and throw the stupid confetti and celebrate the fact that I’ve survived fifteen years.”
“Hey, for most people, that’s not such a feat. But for you… well, let’s see. In the past few years, you’ve managed to outwit a psychotic vampire who chased you down with the help of thugs the size of dump trucks, as well as a stake-wielding slayer, bent on your demise, who actually stabbed you through the chest. Not to mention various math classes and the great feat of getting the girl of your dreams to go out with you.” Henry smiled, slapping Vlad on the back. “I think we definitely have reason to celebrate.”
He knew Henry was right, but he still wasn’t in much of a celebratory mood. After all, Otis had made it clear that he likely wouldn’t be visiting until after he’d located that ritual, so the odds that he’d see Otis tonight were small. And with Vlad’s present troubles reaching his uncle by telepathy, right now a conversation with Otis was all he wanted to be having-not some lame party where he was expected to be nice to people he didn’t necessarily know or even like. But… there was Meredith… and he couldn’t deny that the allure of presents was pretty enticing.
Henry scooped up the extra decorations and placed them in the big cardboard box on the floor. Vlad followed his lead, his thoughts never too far away from the evening ahead, and the fact that Nelly had very nearly referred to him as her son.
Less than an hour later, the doorbell rang.
Vlad and Henry exchanged glances, and Nelly called from the kitchen. “ Vladimir, answer that, please. It could be your guests!”
Vlad snorted. He was fairly certain it was his guests, but that didn’t make him get to the door any faster. However, he was thankful when he did, because he could see a very familiar outline standing on the other side of the frosted glass. He smiled and opened the door to Meredith, who was bundled up in her fluffy pink coat, the faux-fur collar pulled up to her ears. Meredith’s lips looked almost blue. “It’s f-f-freezing out here.”
But there was no time to think of a witty retort, because soon the porch was full of people and Vlad was busy greeting them all and taking their coats. At one point, he couldn’t even see the people he was greeting anymore, and the coats were stacked so high that he resembled a walking pile of laundry. Henry took over and Vlad stumbled his way up the stairs to lay the coats on Nelly’s bed. Afterward, he raced back down the stairs and stared in awe at the gifts that were piled in towers on the coffee table, looking like a city in miniature. He moved through the crowd, searching for the one gift he really, really wanted for his birthday, but he couldn’t see Otis anywhere. Finally, he located Nelly in the kitchen and asked, “Have you seen Otis yet, Nelly? I thought maybe…”
But the expression on her face was all the answer he needed. Otis hadn’t come, wasn’t coming. Vlad’s heart sank down to his stomach. He wasn’t angry, just disappointed. He put on a fake smile. “That’s okay. I’m sure we’ll see him over winter break.”
Nelly smiled too-hers looked just as doubtful as Vlad’s felt. “I’m sure we will, Vladimir. Why don’t we cut the cake and you can open your presents?”
That did cheer him up, because any sentence that has “cake” and “presents” in it is worthy of a smile. Nelly gathered as many people as she could into the kitchen, including Meredith and Henry, who sat on either side of Vlad at the long plank table, and they all sang “Happy Birthday” off-key until Vlad’s ears had blushed so deeply they turned purple. Then Nelly cut the cake and started serving. Vlad and Henry and Meredith talked and laughed and devoured three slices each of Nelly’s fluffy, sweet cake until finally, Meredith said the magic words. “You should open your presents, Vlad.”
Vlad grabbed Meredith’s hand and led her back into the living room, through balloons and streamers and a crowd that looked like much more than forty people, stopping now and again to say hello to people he knew. By the time they reached the coffee table, the towering city of gifts had doubled in size. Vlad gawked. “I don’t know where to start.”
Meredith smiled sweetly and plucked a thin blue box from the bottom of the stack. The tower wavered, but remained standing. “This one’s from me.”
Vlad squeezed her hand once before letting go and ripping through the paper. He lifted the lid and gasped. Inside was a lovely leather journal. On the cover was inscribed The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. Vlad met her eyes. “It’s perfect. How did you know?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Well, I noticed that composition notebook you’re always scribbling in is looking pretty ratty. So I thought you could use a new one. It’s refillable.”
If Nelly hadn’t been standing a few feet away, Vlad would have kissed Meredith on the spot. Instead, he blushed and said, “ Thank you.”