Free 17 Spooktacular - My Sister the Vampire by Sienna Mercer

just had to figure out how to get him started on exactly the right old story.
At least it’s good training for becoming an investigative journalist
, she told herself.
    But when she turned around, she found Olivia already standing next to the vampire caretaker, staring open-mouthed at his watercolour painting.
    ‘That’s the red dress . . .’ Olivia breathed. ‘That’s the girl who was sitting at my table on Halloween!’
    Ivy looked over Olivia’s shoulder to see that Albert’s painting was of a girl with pinned curls, wearing a red dress exactly like the one Olivia had described on the girl she had met
at the party.
    Albert’s brush stopped moving. He let out a heavy sigh. Then he looked up at Ivy’s twin, his expression pained. ‘You saw her?’ he asked. ‘If you did, I believe I
can guess exactly what she said to you that night. She asked if you had seen her sister, didn’t she?’
    Olivia nodded, gulping.
    Jackpot!
This was exactly the kind of information they needed. Ivy and the others all huddled around him to take in every word.
    ‘What can you tell us about her?’ Ivy demanded.
    For the first time that she could remember, she saw a smile on Albert’s face, though it was tinged with sadness. He carefully wiped off his paintbrush. ‘That’s a long story,
I’m afraid. But it all began over a century ago, when I first met a girl named Patience Calhoun.’ He nodded meaningfully at the dark-haired girl in his painting, lowering his voice to a
whisper.
    ‘I’ve been keeping this to myself for far too long. I didn’t even mention it to the others at the meeting because – well, I couldn’t bear to bring it up. But since
it sounds like . . .’ Ivy saw disbelief in the old vampire’s eyes, just for a moment. Then he nodded, as if making a decision. ‘. . . yes, since Olivia might actually have met
Patience herself . . .’
    He picked up his cup of tea, but he didn’t take a sip, his expression weary as he cradled the full cup in both hands. ‘The girls’ father, Cornelius Calhoun, was a wealthy
merchant from the South. He often travelled for business, and would take Patience and Hope with him to broaden their horizons. They must have moved up here when they were about your age. One
autumn, Cornelius’s business took him all the way across the ocean to England. The girls were both terribly excited about the sights they would see there. Unfortunately, when the time came
for their departure, Mrs Calhoun was too sick to travel. She couldn’t stay at home by herself, so one of the twins had to stay behind and look after their mother. After a great deal of
discussion, it was decided that Patience would stay, and Hope would go with Cornelius.’
    Oh, ouch
. Ivy had already heard the basics of this story from Camilla, but hearing the details now, in Albert’s trembling whisper, felt so much worse. ‘They never came back,
did they?’ she said quietly.
    ‘Never.’ Albert’s lips compressed into a thin line for a moment before he managed to continue. ‘In those days, of course, the journey was by ship, not by plane, and the
sea was occasionally . . . unkind.’ His face tightened again and he lifted one hand to brush quickly at his left eye, which seemed to be sparkling oddly.
    Is he actually crying?
Ivy would never have imagined it of the crotchety old vampire. ‘How well did you know the girls?’ she asked, her voice softening.
    ‘Better than anyone realised,’ he replied. ‘I was a youngster myself when this tragedy happened, and we kept our friendship secret.’
    ‘Ahhh,’ Sophia said knowingly. ‘The rich girls’ parents didn’t want them mixing with an ordinary boy?’
    ‘That wasn’t it at all.’ Albert’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. ‘No, by my family’s particular standards, the Calhoun twins were far more ordinary than
us, simply because they were human. It was
my
parents who discouraged me from getting too close to either of them, for fear of putting