Melinda was very relieved that, as a vampire, she did not have the function to poop herself, as the zombie had appeared from nowhere to rip the face off an unsuspecting truck driver. April squealed in delight and Faith looked almost bored.
The gore in the movie didn’t seem to bother Melinda as much as she remembered, but she still didn’t enjoy the sensation of fear or the lingering tension as she waited to be jolted from the sofa. She got to her feet.
“Where are you going?” April asked. “You can’t use the bathroom excuse nowadays.”
“I think I’m going to go take a walk,” Melinda said. “I won’t be long.”
Faith smiled, winked. “Don’t kill anyone this time though, yeah?”
“And don’t bring home any more undead friends,” April added, bitterly.
–
Caleb had set off on his nightly walk, leaving Lilith alone in the house. She had waited a while to ensure that he wouldn’t just pop back in, before she pulled out her laptop.
Over the last few days, she’d run a number of searches for this vampire encyclopedia that Caleb said April had mentioned. She planned to visit the girls and borrow their tome, if it existed. If it contained information about their family, information that could not be found anywhere else, what else did it contain?
And, perhaps more importantly, how had April come to it? Who else knew about it?
Her brother might think he could deal with whatever disaster was looming on the horizon, but Lilith was not so sure. The blood stocks would dry up pretty quickly, between feeding the girls and the slowdown of patients through her practice. It was inevitable that they would end up having to hunt and highly likely that April would be caught. A vampire in custody, especially one who had committed such a high-profile crime? It was another vampire hunt waiting to happen.
Now, more than ever, there was one thing Lilith needed to find.
–
Melinda hadn’t intended to go to the cliff side, but that’s where she found herself. She walked up the dimly lit path, leaving the darkness behind her. April had turned into May and had brought with it the first blush of summer. The clouds that shrouded the moon threatened rain but she didn’t mind. She smiled, feeling the warm breeze in her hair.
She was just glad to be alone, free from the worry of being shocked out of her skin.
“We meet again.”
Melinda clutched at her chest and spun around to see Caleb sitting on the bench, wearing his not-quite smile.
“Oh, it’s you.” Her face fell and took Caleb’s with it. “I didn’t see you there. Aren’t you supposed to be going to see Lilith?”
“I did go to see Lilith,” he said.
“Is she OK?”
“She is. I’ll be heading back there shortly, if you wish to join me?”
Melinda nodded and took a seat beside him. He looked at her for a while before he asked, “Is there something on your mind?”
Melinda pouted. “You and April…”
“Oh?” He smiled a little.
“You seem so into each other.” She narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t take a lot for you to fall, does it? You just needed to know she was interested and you’re promising her eternity? In that respect, you two are probably a good match.”
“I think we are a good match—“
“I think you’re leading her on.”
Well, he wasn’t expecting that. Caleb clenched his jaw, almost lost for words. “I’m really not—“
“Don’t.”
The silence fell between them like a invisible wall. Caleb was blistering at Melinda’s accusation, grasping for something to say.
“Faith is really something.”
“Yes,” Melinda agreed. “That’s one way to describe her.”
He glanced over at the moody little vamp on the bench next to him. She was staring at the sky, lost in her thoughts. He could see them playing out through the expressions on her face.
“Why are you friends with them, Melinda?”
His tone was soft but she felt like he’d hit her. “What do you mean?”
“You’re not like them. They’re both so full-on and you’re, well…”
Melinda bruised at his comment. “I’m boring?”
“No. Quite the opposite.”
Now she was the one caught off-guard. She could feel her face burning. “We’ve known each other a long time. Faith and I have been friends since pre-school. Our mothers were friends.”
“So it’s out of loyalty? Why are you friends with April?”
Melinda could feel herself getting defensive. “What does it matter? What would you know? Do you even have any friends?”
She realised, too late, that she already knew the answer. His shoulders dropped as he turned away. “No, I guess not.”
She mellowed, softened again by his broken demeanour. “Have you ever had any friends?”
“No. Not really. A few casual acquaintances. But they all die, eventually.” He thought for a moment. “Wait, I do have one, Robert. But I don’t think he counts.”
“Why not?”
Caleb smiled in his sad way. “He’s a cat. He was Marjorie’s, he started coming over to the house after she passed away. Lilith doesn’t like him, so I look after him. I have to feed him on human scraps from Lil’s pantry, though. It’s all a bit disturbing.”
“That’s just wrong.” Melinda thought for a while. “Is he white and really fluffy?”
“That’s him. You’ve met?”
“I followed him to your house, that first time. Why is he called ‘Robert’? That’s a weird name for a cat.”
“What would you call him?”
“I don’t know… Fluffybum?”
Caleb’s laugh rang out and, once again, Melinda found herself caught off-guard.
“You’re too cute, Melinda.”
Melinda wondered how much hotter her face could get before her hair would catch fire. She stumbled for a new topic. “What do you like to do for fun? When you’re not pretending to be a doctor or feeding surgical waste to your dead neighbour’s cat.”
He grinned. “Not a lot. I mostly stay home, loiter in the village, go to the bar or come here. I help out at the surgery but only on the admin side. Lilith won’t let me anywhere near the scalpels. I’m not bad at chess, but Lilith doesn’t like to play. Yourself?”
“I like to draw. I’m an art student. Well, I was.”
He looked genuinely interested. “What do you draw?”
“Mostly portraits.” Please don’t ask me to draw you.
“Perhaps you would show me, sometime?”
“You want me to draw you,” she sighed.
“Well, you can, if you wish. But mainly, I’d like to see what the world looks like through your eyes.”
People usually weren’t so curious. When they were, it was only because they wanted a portrait of themselves.
Melinda studied him carefully. She exhibited her final pieces at college but she never showed her personal sketches to anyone.
It surprised her to find that she suddenly wanted to.
She reached to retrieve her sketchbook, held it out to him, with a feeling akin to giving him her soul.
He casually flipped it open.
“Faith,” he stated, admiring the first image.
“You’ve captured her well. There’s a vulnerability in her, for certain,” he said, turning the page. Melinda nodded, surprised at him.
“April,” he whispered longingly, looking at the next image.
Melinda nodded, relieved that he hadn’t said anything else.
Those were the only two pictures that weren’t of Rose.
Caleb looked through silently for a while; carefully studying each image before slowly turning the page.
Say something. It was torture for her.
“Is this multiple versions of yourself?” he asked.
“Not exactly.” She wondered how to put it. “It’s my mother.”
“Interesting. Why does she always look slightly different?”
“Because I don’t remember her. I was adopted. This is my birth mother, Rose.”
“Rose?” he asked, pausing on one of the sketches.
“Yes. She disappeared. Presumed dead.”
Caleb nodded; still staring at the same image, but not seeing it.
Now he remembered. Now he understood why Melinda was so familiar.
< Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter >
Almost Eternal 
“the zombie had appeared from nowhere to rip the face off an unsuspecting truck driver” – That’s foreshadowing, right? I can’t wait for zombie Sandy to attack Will. (I know, I know, here I go again. Thank you for throwing me a bone in this chapter 😆)
Aye, wimpy vamps. I did say they could both use a friend. That was pretty cute, though I’m sure Caleb will get plenty of hate here. I’m into it – but then is is a surprise to anyone that I like the character that’s being an attention whore with all the girls?
Seriously though, Caleb’s lust for April is kind of superficial, and enhanced by their shared loneliness, but once that fizzles out, Melinda and Caleb could actually be nicely suited (you know, minus some potential issues lurking in the past).
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I hope you enjoy your bone as much as Sandy enjoys Will’s face.
Nope, that does not surprise me at all. I think you may be in the minority, though. What issues in the past? It’s all been smooth sailing up to this point. 😇
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Oh! This whole Zombie connection to Sandy has not been on my mind at all. I assume I think too limited. Zombies are not possible in Sims4 😆
Thanks for reminding me that Imagination has no boundaries.
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Haha don’t mind me, I was a big fan of TS2 style zombies in the University pack, so I’m fruitlessly willing the impossible into existence/driving Snuffy insane 😀
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Are you driving me insane or am I driving you insane? Maybe I’ve been double-bluffing you this whole time and Sandy actually is a zombie. 😉
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That would be a win in my eyes, so all good!
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I love this section 💖
The whole conversation between Caleb and Melinda. She is so deep and their mutual questions make the whole scene very interesting.
Melinda feels encouraged to show her drawings to Caleb. I understand her feeling of exposing her soul. A work of art is one of the most personal forms of expression.
I like Caleb and all his melancholy depth, even though he immediately seems so attracted to the superficial.
He’s friends with a homeless cat … that speaks to his care for the creatures that surround him.
Lilith is on the trail of an old hidden vampire encyclopedia … or more precisely she has become aware that it exists.
She is intelligent. I’m excited about what she’s finding and what it entails.
She is if anyone aware of the dangers lurking on the horizon.
As usual, I am left with unanswered questions … which of course is your intention as well 😄
What’s Rose’s story?
How does Caleb know her?
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Deep indeed. Even Faith hasn’t seen Melinda’s sketches.
Perhaps his melancholy depth is what attracts him to the superficial.
Yes, Lilith has been here before and is wise to the dangers.
Both of those questions will be answered next chapter. As well as one of your previous ones…
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And now I’ve got a ton of questions about Rose. How does Caleb know Rose? And she disappeared, so this implies that she might be alive? Maybe she’s a vampire? Or maybe she’s dead and Caleb knows something about it or was involved? I still don’t trust him, even though he shared a cute bonding moment with Mel. He has a weird fascination with April, like he’s put her on some pedestal and admires her from afar. Plus, he feeds his cat surgical waste. Caleb, seriously dude, just sneak into town and get some cat food, lol.
No need to answer my questions. 🙂
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OK, I won’t. 🤐😉 But you ask some very interesting ones and make a fine point.
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For some reason I really liked that first picture of them all on the couch. It showed their personalities super well!
Woops, and Caleb and Melinda meet again. Nobody tell April. Shush. She’ll raise hell if she can. xD
Oof, go easy on the insults there, Melinda. Calling out both his crush, his lack of friends and his personality in one conversation is a bit much. I can’t help but feel bad for the guy. Oh gods, and now he’s earning brownie points with me for gushing about a cat. I can’t even. Snuffy, y u make me feel so conflicted?! xD
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Melinda in a mood. Not quite the wimpy little pushover.
I know, isn’t he sweet? Taking in poor Robert, feeding him, probably indirectly contributing to the whole mutilated bodies in the woods problem.
I’m not, you’re doing that with your interpretation. 😉
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Maybe Rose isn’t death at all? Probably is. I mean there’s still something or someone out there who killed poor Paul.
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Maybe he went mad and killed himself.
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Ehehe that first line made me laugh so hard.
At least there’s advantages for giving up chocolate cake and not being able to put on make up yourself!
Man poor Lilith, she certainly suffers from eldest child syndrome, always carrying the world on her shoulders and taking care of everyone 😔 I bet she relaxes like never.
Is she the older sister? I forgot.
Look at that, Caleb can do more than just whine 😏 10 points for him taking care of the cat.
but.
Lilith said she doesn’t know a cat. Either she lied or Caleb lied that Lilith doesn’t like it? 🤔 Lilith would remember a cat she doesn’t like, wouldn’t she
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Chocolate cake is such a huge sacrifice that there have to be some perks, right? 😆
She is the older one, yes. 321 versus Caleb’s 307.
Of all the ‘pets’ he could have, a cat is probably the most likely to take care of itself so Caleb’s points may not be well-earned here. Ah, yes Lilith said she didn’t have a cat. She certainly knows it, though.
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it’s a cat, that counts enough for me 😆
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Humm… something tells me that the thing Lilith is looking for isn´t the tome itself. Something about the way you word all that… It remains to be seen if she is being wise and acting to prevent disaster or wasting her time on a fruitless endeavor.
Then there´s two things worth mentioning at once. One, I guess we now know where the cat came from. Robert, ech? The memory of his cuteness can´t distract me from the suspicion, though. He actually eats Lil´s scraps? There is something unusual about that cat. Not that the suspicion would prevent me from playing with him if he´d let me. Oh… and I guess Lilith isn´t very much of a cat person, then. Or is that dislike personal? Did Robert get into some mischief? 😀 I also noticed that Caleb completely dodged the question about Robert´s name. Maybe I´m paranoid, but that stuck out.
And the second thing… Caleb mentioning never having had any friends. That´s really sad. And really interesting. Combined with Lilith´s comments about vampirism being a lonely existence, I guess their kind doesn´t stick together much. But whyever not? Of course, several reasons come to mind and I have no way (yet) to pick which of them, or which combination, is the culprit here. Is there just too few vampires in general? Is it the fear of discovery? Possibly some possessive and/or territorial behavior? Do vampires find it difficult to coexist unless they were turned by the same master? So many possibilities.
I suppose Mel and Caleb might make passable friends, if everything goes well. But, we got bigger fish to fry, don´t we? Rose. Now whatever could Caleb know of Rose…? Humm… This is the advantage of having some characters with looong memory.
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Something tells me you may be right.
There’s nothing unusual about Robert. He’s just a fluffy little cat who can persuade vampires to love him. Except for Lilith; she is not a cat person.
It’s a combination of some of those reasons and a few more.
We certainly have some characters with long memory. 😉
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